BACKGROUND: The high concentration of plasma total homocysteine is recently considered an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to provide reference ranges for plasma homocysteine levels and to investigate the relationship between plasma homocysteine and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy Korean men. METHODS: Anthropometric parameters, alcohol intake, cigarette use and nutrient intake were determined in 166 healthy men within a wide age range(30-69 yr). Serum levels of lipids, glucose and insulin levels during oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT), plasma amino acid concentrations and levels of antioxidant nutrients and enzymes were also measured. Hyperhomocysteinemia was defined as plasma homocysteine levels above the 90th percentile(> or =15micromol/L) of respective plasma homocysteine distribution in study subjects. Characteristics of hyperhomocysteinemic men(n=16) were compared to normohomocys- teinemic men(n=16) matched for age and body mass index. RESULTS: Plasma total homocysteine values ranged from 2.4 to 38.1micromol/L, a skewed, right-tailed distribution. The homocysteine levels of 25th, 50th and 75th percentile were 7.02, 9.61 and 12.4micromol/L, respectively. The mean concentration of plasma total homocysteine was 10.7micromol/L. Plasma total homocysteine level was positively correlated to body mass index, serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels and alcohol intake, but negatively correlated to serum bata-carotene concentration. In multivariate analysis, serum triglyceride level was the strongest determinant of plasma total homocysteine concentration. There were no significant differences between two groups in waist to hip ratio, alcohol intake, cigarette use, blood pressure and serum levels of glucose and insulin during OGTT. Hyperhomocysteinemic men had significantly higher mean values of serum triglyceride(258mg/dl), total cholesterol(226mg/dl), and LDL-cholesterol(140mg/dl) than normohomocysteinemic men. Hyperhomocysteinemic men showed a decrease in lipid corrected values of serum bata-carotene and alpha-tocopherol and plasma concentrations of serine and taurine, when compared to normohomocysteinemic men. The mean intakes of vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12 and bata-carotene tended to decline by 25-30% in hyper- homocysteinemic group, when compared to normohomocysteinemic group. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that healthy Korean men with hyperhomocys- teinemia show signs of hyperlipidemia and decreased antioxidants nutrients and these factors increase risk for coronary artery disease. In addition, hyperhomocysteinemia may affect amino acid metabolism related to homocysteine.
alpha-Tocopherol ; Antioxidants ; Atherosclerosis ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Folic Acid ; Glucose ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Hyperhomocysteinemia ; Hyperlipidemias ; Insulin ; Male ; Metabolism ; Multivariate Analysis ; Plasma* ; Reference Values ; Risk Factors* ; Serine ; Taurine ; Tobacco Products ; Triglycerides ; Vitamin B 12 ; Vitamin B 6 ; Waist-Hip Ratio

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Hospitals, General* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens* ; Hospitals, General*

Bladder tumors initially may be diagnosed by excretory urography. In this study, 60 excretory urogramsincluding 40 cases of biopsy proved blaadder tumor and 20 cases of cystoscopically normal bladder were analyzed.Five experienced readers reviewed five radiographs of each case. The results were as follows: 1. Male to remaleratio was 5.7:1, and the highest incidence of age distribution was between 60 and 69 year with 48%. 2. The tumorswere chiefly located in lateral wall of bladder. (67%) 3. Among 40 cases, pathologic diagnosis was as follows:Transitional cell ca. 39 cases, and squamous cell ca. lcase. 4. The I.V.P. finding showed 82% of normal upperurinary tract, 13% of hydronephrosis, 5% of non-visualization, and 58% of filling defect in bladder. 5. Originalinterpretation of urogram was as follows: Of 40 cases with bladder ca., 45% as positive, 13% as suspicious, and38% as negative. Of 20 cases with normal, 95% as negative, and 5% as positive. 6. Analysis by this study was asfollows: Accuracy 68%, sensitivity 62%, specificity 80%, false positive rate 38%, and false negative rate 20%. 7.25 min A-P radiograph was most valuable projection and oblique projection did not significantly increasesensitivity.
Age Distribution ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Epithelial Cells ; Humans ; Hydronephrosis ; Incidence ; Male ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder ; Urography

In an attempt to treat the cold urticaria, a new bradykinin inhibitor, homoclomin was administered orally and effective result were obtained. The urticaria was confirmed by the employing the ice cube test on the patient and the positive reaction was appeared generally 10 sec. to 15 min. after application of ice cube on the forearm. After oral administration for 3 days (40mg/day) clinical symptoms were relieved temporarily and weakly positive or negative reaction observed in repeated ice cube test.
Administration, Oral ; Bradykinin ; Forearm ; Humans ; Ice* ; Urticaria*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Whabyung is a Korean cultural disorder characterized by a combination of emotional stress and physical symptoms. Acupuncture, herbal medicines and other complementary medicinal treatments are used to treat the symptoms of whabyung. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of acupuncture treatment and herbal medicine treatments on anger, anxiety and depression of whabyung. METHODS: Using PubMed, CENTRAL, AMED, MEDLINE, EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cnii, CNKI, J-SATGE, PsycArticles, KISS, KoreaMed, kmbase, NDSL, RISS, OASIS and Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal, articles published by March 2017 for whabyung or whabyung-related syndrome were searched. The quality of selected articles was evaluated using RoB and RoBANS. The effects of acupuncture and herbal medicines on anger, anxiety, and depression levels of whabyung patients were considered for meta-analyses. RESULTS: Of the total 2408 articles retrieved from the database, 11 were finally selected and 4 articles were used for meta-analyses. Acupuncture reduced whabyung patients' anger and anxiety. Especially, the state anxiety was significantly reduced (effect size= −0.676, p= .026). Herbal medicine had effects on reducing anxiety and state anger while trait anger was increased without statistical significance. CONCLUSION: The present study showed the effectiveness of acupuncture and herbal medicines for whabyung patients in general. However, considering the limited availability of articles and the heterogeneity between them included for the meta-analysis, the results should be generalized with caution. In the future, more studies within the structure of evidence-based medicine need to be conducted to generate objective and valid evidences of korean medicine.

No abstract available.
Hypopituitarism* ; Hypothyroidism*

No abstract available.
Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and the validity of the Korean version of Personality Disorder Questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+). METHODS: PDQ-4+ was administered to 540 subjects of general population group and 37 subjects of personality disorder group. For measuring concurrent reliability, we tested internal consistency, split-half reliability, test-retest reliability and correlation of item score of subscale and mean of subscale. And also, we performed factor analysis for the evaluation of validity, and t-test to group difference of the total scores between general population group and personality disorder group. RESULTS: In general population group and personality disorder group, internal consistency was above .500 (range of Cronbach alpha: .4007 to .6693) in most of the Personality disorder categories. Split-half reliability was .839 between even and odd items. Test-retest reliability done 2 weeks interval was .868. Item scores of subscales and mean of subscales showed high correlation coefficient. Group difference of the total scores between general population and personality disorder group showed very significant difference (t=9.146, df=76, p=.000). CONCLUSION: The PDQ-4+ shows a reasonable degree of reliability and validity and could be a valuable tool in screening for overall personality disturbances.
Humans ; Mass Screening ; Personality Disorders* ; Population Groups ; Reproducibility of Results*