Free migration of health professionals in the WTO Doha Development Agenda has become a major concern among member countries. Keeping up-to-date registers of qualified doctors with good standing is crucial to protect the society. The Ministry of Health is the medical licensing authority in Korea. However, the stamping and distribution of the licences for the 21 different health professionals are the only functions of the authority so far. Once licence is issued, it can be used without further super-vision or evaluation, even when fitness to practice may be in doubt. To claim the equivalence of quality of the licence, each country should develop sophisticated systems of supervising maintenance of competence of doctors like the General Medical Council of the U.K., The Provincial Licensing Authorities of Canada, or the National Medical Council of France. These licensing bodies are established by national law for the public interest and not by doctors themselves, as opposed to the regional medical associations whose main concerns are money and work. This type of social system represents an effort to keep the autonomy of health professionals by rigorous self-control. Therefore the public supports the decision of licensing authorities regarding the conflicts raised from medical malpractice. By doing so, these organizations can lead the good medical practice and promote high standards of medical education. Faced with the globalization phenomena, it is the right time to establish an independent civilian licensing authority in Korea which would enable fellow doctors to devote themselves to the maintenance of high standards of professionalism.
Canada ; Education, Medical ; France ; Health Occupations ; Internationality ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Licensure ; Malpractice ; Mental Competency ; Professionalism ; Self-Control

Surgical techniques for facial rejuvenation have become highly progressed in the last decade. Until recently, little attention has been paid to the intrinsic mechanisms of skin changes, such as wrinkling, surface irregularities, and alterations of pigmentation, and other various aging phenomena. Superficial facial wrinkling was not embraced seriously. This attitude has changed for the better, and among the many methods and techniques now available are Trichlor Acetic Acid(TCA), Phenol, Alpha Hydroxy Acid, and several different types of laser peeling methods. Skin resurfacing has undergone many changes and still is in the process of evolution. My personal experience with Phenol, TCA, and dermabrasion began in 1990. In this article, I tried to explain the basic methods of skin resurfacing for physicians and surgeons who are not in the esthetic fields. Chemical peeling, laser peeling, and dermabrasion share common characteristics of would healing. For compiling the subtopic that relates to the resurfacing, I rather concentrated my writing on chemical peeling due to the short life-cycle of laser peeling technique with ever-developing new laser machines. New techniques and procedures continue to evolve rapidly. I have no doubt that what is written in this article will be improved or become obsolete, or even be discarded in the future. Since the ideas and techniques are not static, but incessantly moving forward toward perfection.
Aging ; Dermabrasion ; Humans ; Phenol ; Pigmentation ; Rejuvenation ; Skin* ; Surgeons ; Writing

No abstract available.
Fever*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant* ; Neurofibroma*

It has been reported that kanamycin, a useful agent in the treatment of gram-negative and other infectious disease, has a negative inotropic action in isolated cardiac muscle preparation and also it decreases the amplitude of high K+ -induced action potential of guinea pig atrium. These findings imply that kanamycin has a property of Ca2+ antagonist. In this study, the effects of kanamycin on cardiac Ca2+ current were investigated in isolated rabbit ventricular cells by using a whole cell clamp nethod.The results are summarized as follows ; 1) Kanamycin caused a depression fo cardiac Ca2+ current in a dose dependent manner and its effect was observed in a whole memberane potential renge. 2) The decreasing effect of kanamycin on Ca2+ current was inhibited by high Ca(2+)-Tyrode solution and such inhibition was also observed in high Sr2+-Tyrode solution, but in the case of Cd2+, well known inorganic Ca2+ antagonist, the current through Ca2+ channel was greatly decreased when the perfuaste was changed from high Ca(2+)-Tyrode to high Sr(2+)-Tyrode solution. 3) In the presense of kanamycin, the decreasing pattern of Ca2+current by repetitve depolarization was not specific as in the case of verapamil. 4) Neomycin decreased Ca2+ current similar to kanamycin.From the above result, it may be concluded that kanamycin has competitive antagonistin effect on cardiac Ca2+ current.
Action Potentials ; Animals ; Calcium* ; Communicable Diseases ; Depression ; Guinea Pigs ; Kanamycin* ; Muscle Cells* ; Myocardium ; Neomycin ; Verapamil

After briefly reviewing theories of standard setting we analyzed the problems of the current cut scores. Then, we reported the results of need assessment on the standard setting among medical educators and psychometricians. Analyses of the standard setting methods of developed countries were reported as well. Based on these findings, we suggested the Bookmark and the modified Angoff methods as alternative methods for setting standard. Possible problems and challenges were discussed when these methods were applied to the National Medical Licensing Examination.
Developed Countries ; Licensure* ; Psychometrics

The educational goal of premedical education is to provide a desired college-level training in liberal arts as well as sciences, and to provide a basis for future medical studies. However, there has been concern that the current premedical education at Korea University has been unproductive and has not met the educational goals. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the current premedical academic curriculum at Korea University and to provide baseline data for developing an improved premedical curriculum. A survey involving faculty, residents, and students from Korea University Medical School was conducted. The results of the study suggested that the current premedical curriculum was not relevant to future medical studies and the General Studies Program as a source for learning liberal arts and humanities, were not appropriate. There was a growing need for structural and functional integration between premedical and medical studies and in addition to requirement of reinforcing the social and human sciences into the premedical curriculum.
Curriculum* ; Education, Premedical ; Humanities ; Humans ; Korea* ; Learning ; Schools, Medical

The Journal of the Korean Medical Association (JKMA) established a new web site in July, 2010 available at http://jkma.org/. Here, we introduce the basic structure and concept of the new web site. The new web site provides current medical information from Korea to KMA members as well as global readers. The history of Korean medicine will also be organized in an easily accessible. Starting from this basic platform, JKMA will improve and expand other online functions in the near future. We hope every member of the Korean Medical Association enjoys browsing the content of JKMA through the new site and using the information they find in their clinical practice.
Korea

PURPOSE: The present study examined the possibility of standardization of medical education in three Asian countries-Korea, China, and Japan, by comparing their medical education and licensing systems. METHODS: As the criterion for comparison, we divided medical education system into three stages- basic medical education, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education. In addition, we analyzed the history and social and cultural backgrounds of medical education in each country. Recent changes were also examined. RESULTS: While little difference was found in the medical curriculums and courses between Korea and Japan, China's differed significantly from these two countries. But all three countries do attempt to keep up with international standards. CONCLUSION: To improve the quality of medical education in Korea, China, and Japan, these three countries need a plan to standardize medical education compatible with international standards but one that differs from western medical education by incorporating traditional medicine.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; China* ; Curriculum ; Education, Medical* ; Education, Medical, Continuing ; Education, Medical, Graduate ; Humans ; Internationality ; Japan* ; Korea* ; Licensure ; Medicine, Traditional ; Schools, Medical

BACKGROUND: Histamine, released from mast cells in atheromatous plaque, has been known to cause cardiac ischemia or sudden cardiac death in atherosclerosis patient. Previous reports have suggested that histamine induced coronary vasoconstriction was due to increase in IP(3) and DAG, which induce release of Ca2+ from SR and increase the Ca2+ sensitivity of contractile element via activation of PKC. Recently, it was reported that application of histamine cause depolarization of intestinal smooth muscle, which may contribute to histamine-induced contraction via augmenting Ca2+ influx through activation of Ca2+ channels. However, the underyling mechanism of histamine-induced depolarization and its contribution to the magnitude of coronary vasoconstriction are still uncertain. METHOD: To elucidate the underlying mechanism of Ca2+ influx change during histamine-induced vasoconstriction, we examined the effect of Ca2+ channel antagonist and PKC blocker on histamine-induced contractions, and then measured the effect of PKC antagonist on whole cell K+ current using patch clamping method in rabbit coronary smooth muscle cells. RESULTS: Application of histamine induced phasic and tonic constraction of coronary rings via activation of H(1) receptors. Pretreatment of Ca2+ channel antagonist (nifedipine, 1 microM) or PKC blockers (10 nM staurosporine and 10 microM Go6976) markedly inhibited histamine-induced tonic contraction, which suggest that the magnitude of tonic contraction depend on the Ca2+ influx. Application of 4-AP, a blocker of voltage-dependent K+ channels, increased resting tone of coronary rings, and combined treatment of nifedipine blocked this 4-AP induced increase of resting tone. Application of active analoge of DAG (1,2-DiC(8)) significantly inhibited the activity of voltage-dependent K+ current in single smooth muscle cell, meanwhile the inactive analogue of DAG (1,3-DiC(8)) has no apparent effect on the activity of voltage-dependent K+ current. Furthermore, pretreatment of calphostin C (1 microM), a blocker of PKC, diminished the 1,2-DiC(8)-induced inhibition of K+ current. CONCLUSION: PKC dependent inhibition of voltage-dependent K+ current may be responsible for the maintaining of histamine-induced tonic contraction in rabbit coronary artery.
Atherosclerosis ; Constriction ; Coronary Vessels* ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Histamine ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Mast Cells ; Muscle, Smooth ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Nifedipine ; Protein Kinase C ; Staurosporine ; Vasoconstriction