OBJECTIVE: Recently some behavioral features and affective traits are considered important for the phenotype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The purpose of this study was to assess some specific behavioral, temperamental, emotional features of OCD patients and to investigate if there is any change in patterns of temperament-character after 4-month pharmacotherapy. METHODS: Fifty-six patients with OCD and 70 normal controls were enrolled in this study. Four self-report questionnaires were employed to assess temperamental characteristics and affective traits: The behavioral inhibition system and behavioral activation system scale, the Baratt impulsiveness scale, state-trait anger expression inventory, emotional intelligence inventory. Among 56 OCD patients, 21 subjects started pharmacotherapy and 4 months later, they repeated 4 self-report tests as the same above and Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale (Y-BOCS). And then we investigated the changes from initial results. RESULTS: Patients with OCD showed significantly greater expression of behavioral inhibition system (p<0.0001), more cognitive impulsiveness (p<0.0001), motor impulsiveness (p=0.0067) and increased level of state anger (p<0.0001), trait anger (p<0.0001) than healthy controls. Compared to the controls, the OCD patients also expressed significantly lower level of emotional intelligence for using to facilitate thinking (p<0.0001) and managing emotions (p<0.0001). After 4-month pharmacotherapy for 21 OCD patients, Y-BOCS scores significantly decreased while self-report tests showed no meaningful differences from baseline assessments. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that patients with OCD may have some differences in behavioral and affective tendencies including behavioral inhibition, impulsiveness, anger experiences, and emotional patterns. And short term pharmacotherapy during 4 months improved the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms but didn't influence these traits. These results provide some perspectives about possible vulnerability or trait markers of OCD. Further research is needed to examine the effects of long term treatment and other investigation might be helpful to assess the relationships between these behavioral and affective aspects and clinical phenotypes of OCD.
Anger ; Emotional Intelligence ; Humans ; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder ; Phenotype ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Temperament ; Thinking

Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) is a rare entity, defined as a muscle tumor in association with one or more smooth muscle tumor of the uterus and without evidence of any extra uterine primary site. The lung is the most common site of involvement,(2) and the etiology of BML remains unknown. We experienced a case of BML arising in pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes and report with a brief review of literature.
Leiomyoma ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Muscles ; Smooth Muscle Tumor ; Uterus

The publication of this article unfortunately contained several mistakes.
Humans ; Orthognathic Surgery ; Publications ; Snoring

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The incidence of inflammatory heart diseases is not yet as high as those of other cardiovascular diseases; however, inflammatory heart diseases do have relatively high mortality rate. Therefore, update information on the economic burden of inflammatory heart diseases are necessary in order to appropriate policy making on these diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study used a number of resources to obtain data, national health insurance statistics, the Korean Health Panel, and the causes of death report by the Korean National Statistical Office. The total costs of inflammatory heart diseases were estimated as the sum of direct medical care costs, direct non-medical care and indirect costs. RESULTS: The total direct cost of inflammatory heart disease was higher in Korean men than that of Korean women and cost due to inpatient was higher than that of outpatients cost. The costs to cover premature death were highest among all of the components used to determine the total costs for inflammatory heart disease, representing 66.3% of these costs in Korea. CONCLUSION: Inflammatory heart disease has a relatively high mortality rate, and the costs that are associated with premature deaths consume the greatest proportion of the costs associated with this disease. In spite of some limitations of study, this could be a reliable evidence of economic burden of inflammatory heart disease.
Cause of Death ; Cost of Illness ; Endocarditis ; Female ; Health Care Costs ; Heart ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inflammation ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality, Premature ; National Health Programs ; Outpatients ; Policy Making

PURPOSE: To verify the efficacy and safety of lamotrigine (LTG) monotherapy in newly diagnosed children with epilepsy. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 148 children who had undergone LTG monotherapy at our institution between September 2002 and June 2009. Twenty-nine patients were excluded: 19 due to incomplete data and 10 were lost to follow up. The data of the remaining 119 patients was analyzed. RESULTS: We enrolled 119 pediatric epilepsy patients (aged 2.8-19.3 years; 66 males and 53 females) in this study. Out of 119 patients, 29 (25.2%) had generalized epilepsy and 90 (74.8%) had partial epilepsy. The responses of seizure reduction were as follows: Seizure freedom (no seizure attack for at least 6 months) in 87/111 (78.4%, n=111) patients; partial response (reduced seizure frequency compared to baseline) in 13 (11.7%) patients; and persistent seizure in 11 (9.9%) patients. The seizure freedom rate was in 81.6% in patients with partial seizure (75.9% for complex partial seizure and 90.9% for benign rolandic epilepsy) and 44.8% in patients with generalized epilepsy (30.0% for absence seizure, 35.7% for juvenile myoclonic epilepsy patients, and 100.0% for idiopathic generalized epilepsy patients). Adverse reactions were reported in 17 (14.3%) patients, and 8 patients (6.7%) discontinued LTG because of rash and tic. No patient experienced severe adverse reaction such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome. CONCLUSION: LTG showed excellent therapeutic response and had few significant adverse effects. Our findings report may contribute in promoting the use of LTG monotherapy in epileptic children.
Child ; Epilepsies, Partial ; Epilepsy ; Epilepsy, Absence ; Epilepsy, Generalized ; Exanthema ; Freedom ; Humans ; Lost to Follow-Up ; Male ; Myoclonic Epilepsy, Juvenile ; Prospective Studies ; Seizures ; Stevens-Johnson Syndrome ; Tics ; Triazines

BACKGROUND: It is reported that approximately 10.7% of Korean reproductive women use rhythm method to avoid pregnancy, which is higher in comparison to other countries. However, few surveys on practicing natural family planning methods have been done and awareness of it is also very(low). Our study examined women's interest and related factors in using natural family planning either to become pregnant or to avoid it. METHODS: A questionnaire was given to 1,700 women, ages 18 to 50, who visited general hospitals in Seoul and Kyounggido for health examination from the months beginning July and ending September in 1998. RESULTS: Of the 604 answered questionnaires, 361 were from women who were potentially fertile. Of these women 45.4% indicated that they would likely use natural family planning in the future to avoid pregnancy, and 30.5% indicated that they would likely use natural family planning in the future to become pregnant. Past use of any method of natural family planning to avoid pregnancy was associated with interest in future use of modern methods of natural family planning to avoid pregnancy. Age under 30, past use of natural family planning to become pregnant and the possible desire for future pregnancy were associated with interest in future use of natural family planning to conceive. CONCLUSION: Interest in future use of natural family planning is associated with past use of natural family planning including other factors. Many women who have not used natural family planning showed interest in using natural family planning, either to avoid pregnancy or to conceive. Therefore, clinicians should include modern natural family planning method in all of their discussions with women about family planning options.
Family Planning Services ; Female ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Natural Family Planning Methods* ; Pregnancy ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Acne Vulgaris*

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of a mammography boot camp (MBC) to improve radiologists' performance in interpreting mammograms in the National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January and July of 2013, 141 radiologists were invited to a 3-day educational program composed of lectures and group practice readings using 250 digital mammography cases. The radiologists' performance in interpreting mammograms were evaluated using a pre- and post-camp test set of 25 cases validated prior to the camp by experienced breast radiologists. Factors affecting the radiologists' performance, including age, type of attending institution, and type of test set cases, were analyzed. RESULTS: The average scores of the pre- and post-camp tests were 56.0 +/- 12.2 and 78.3 +/- 9.2, respectively (p < 0.001). The post-camp test scores were higher than the pre-camp test scores for all age groups and all types of attending institutions (p < 0.001). The rate of incorrect answers in the post-camp test decreased compared to the pre-camp test for all suspicious cases, but not for negative cases (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The MBC improves radiologists' performance in interpreting mammograms irrespective of age and type of attending institution. Improved interpretation is observed for suspicious cases, but not for negative cases.
Adult ; Aged ; Breast Neoplasms/*radiography ; Education, Medical, Continuing/*standards ; Education, Professional, Retraining ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; *Mammography ; Middle Aged

PURPOSE: To review the 5-year outcomes of our modified mandibulotomy technique. Retrospective review of a tertiary level oral cancer center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During a 5-year period, 30 patients who had a uniform surgical technique consisting of a lower lip-splitting, modified stair-step osteotomy with thin saw blade and osteotome after plate-precontouring and combination fixation with monocortical osteosynthesis (miniplate) and bicortical osteosynthesis (maxiplate and bicortical screws), with at least 14 months postoperative follow-up, were selected and reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: There were 8 women and 22 men with an average age of 56.5 years. All the patients involved malignancies were squamous cell carcinoma. The main primary sites of the those who underwent a mandibulotomy were the tonsil, the base of tongue, the oral tongue, the retromolar pad area, and others. Others included buccal cheek, floor of mouth, and soft palate. 23 patients received postoperative radiation therapy, and among whom 8 patients also received chemotherapy. Total four (13%) mandibulotomy-related complications occurred, only two (6.7%) requiring additional operation under general anesthesia. CONCLUSION: Our modified mandibulotomy meets the criteria for an ideal mandibulotomy technique relatively well because it requires no intermaxillary fixation, can precise preserve the occlusion in a precise way, allows early function, requires no secondary procedures, and has few complications.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mandible/*surgery ; Mandibular Osteotomy/adverse effects/*methods/standards ; Middle Aged ; Oropharyngeal Neoplasms/*surgery ; Postoperative Complications/*prevention & control ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome(RPLS) is a complex condition affecting gray/white matter of parieto-occipital lobes from multiple and different etiologies. This study was aimed to analyze clinical characteristics of this condition in Korean children. METHODS: A total of 36 patients from tertiary care medical centers were involved in the study. They were diagnosed as RPLS mainly by clinical and radiological manifestations. Their medical records and radiological features of brain MRI were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Thirty six patients were involved in the study(21 males and 15 females, mean age: 9.8+/-4.1 years of age). Main underlying causes included drug induced(47%), renal diseases(28%), neurogenic tumors(8%) and so on. Initial manifestations were seizures, headache, visual disturbance, mental change, and nausea/vomiting. 13 patients(36%) had two or more symptoms. The brain MRI showed typical pattern of fairly symmetric, high T2 signal intensity in both parieto-occipital regions in 23 patients(64%) and various, atypical pattern in 13 patients(36%). 26 patients had the lesions affecting predominantly white matter, but 10 patients had the lesions affecting predominantly gray matter. 34 patients(94 %) had bilateral lesions, but 2 patients(6%) had unilateral lesion. This complex syndrome was associated with acute rise of blood pressure from a variety of conditions. A patient ended up a visual deficit despite the good prognosis. CONCLUSION: RPLS in Korean children seems to be complex, but a better understanding of this complex syndrome will lead to better clinical outcome by avoiding unnecessary investigations and appropriate management.
Blood Pressure ; Brain ; Child ; Female ; Headache ; Humans ; Leukoencephalopathies ; Male ; Medical Records ; Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome ; Retrospective Studies ; Seizures ; Tertiary Healthcare