BACKGROUND: Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), one of the eosinophil granule proteins released during allergic reactions, may play a major role in the allergic inflammatory process. The measurement of ECP in serum may be a useful indicator of eosinophil activity in ongoing inflammatory processes. We investigated the clinical utility of ECP measurement in serum in patients with bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis, after standardizing sample processing. METHODS: We measured the serum ECP levels in patients with bronchial asthma (n=38), chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) (n=13), respiratory symptoms (n=19), allergic rhinitis (n=26), non-allergic rhinitis (n=24), and atopic dermatitis (n=10) and in normal healthy controls (n=16) by the fluoroenzyme immunoassay using Pharmacia CAP System, and evaluated the correlation between ECP level and blood eosinophil number, or ECP and IgE levels. Blood eosinophil number was counted by the automated cell counter. RESULTS: Serum ECP levels were significantly higher in patients with bronchial asthma (15.6+/- 12.6 g/L), COPD (13.3+/-7.2 g/L), allergic rhinitis (23.8+/-13.2 g/L), and atopic dermatitis (20.6+/- 18.4 g/L) than in normal controls (7.5+/-4.2 g/L) (P <0.05). ECP levels were also significantly higher in patients with bronchial asthma and COPD than in patients with simple respiratory symptoms (6.9+/-4.7 g/L), whose ECP levels did not statistically differ from those in normal controls. ECP levels were also significantly higher in patients with allergic rhinitis than in patients with non-allergic rhinitis (9.5+/-5.1 g/L), whose ECP levels did not statistically differ from those in normal controls. Serum ECP level and eosinophil number in peripheral blood were correlated only in patients with bronchial asthma (r=0.53, P <0.01) and no correlation between ECP and IgE levels was found in all of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: ECP is the one of the secretory components released from the eosinophil granule and measurement of ECP in serum might be one of the noninvasive tool to assess the activity in relation to eosinophil involvement in various allergic diseases.
Asthma ; Cell Count ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Eosinophil Cationic Protein* ; Eosinophil Granule Proteins ; Eosinophils ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunoassay ; Immunoglobulin E ; Lung Diseases, Obstructive ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Rhinitis

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the relationship between the experiences of workplace violence and post-traumatic stress disorder and the moderating effect of resilience and social support at work on the relationship in tertiary hospital nurses. Methods: This was a descriptive correlation study to confirm the moderating effect of resilience and social support at work on the factors affecting post-traumatic stress disorder for nurses who have experienced violence. A total of 146 registered nurses were recruited from a tertiary hospital from March to July 2020. The Participants who worked for more than one year and experienced violence at work completed self-reported questionnaires that measured the experiences of workplace violence and post-traumatic stress disorder, resilience, social support at work, and demographic information. The collected data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and hierarchical regression analysis. Results: The nurses experienced verbal abuse an average of 3.70±2.06 times a week, physical threat an average of 2.30±1.71 times a month, and physical assault an average of 0.76±0.82 times a year. The Experiences of workplace violence were significantly increased post-traumatic stress disorder. The result also showed that resilience moderated the relationship between the experience of verbal abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder in hospital nurses. However, there was no significant moderating effect of social support between workplace violence and post-traumatic stress disorder. Conclusion The experiences of workplace violence influenced post-traumatic stress disorder in nurses and were moderated by resilience. Therefore, hospital administrators need to develop and provide a workplace violence prevention and resilience reinforcement program to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder in nurses. In addition, we suggest further research on the effect of social support in a workplace on the experiences of violence.

Pleural involvement in paragonimiasis is relatively common, either unilateral or bilateral, and may occur without pulmonary parenchymal infiltrates. Common radiologic findings of pleural paragonimiasis are pleural effusion, pneumothorax, hydropneumothorax, empyema and pleural thickening. However, pleural calcification as a manifestation of paragonimiasis is a rare condition. We report two cases of paragonimiasis manifested only as pleural calcifications which were confirmed pathologically.
Empyema ; Hydropneumothorax ; Paragonimiasis* ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumothorax

BACKGROUND: Much of the recent understanding of hypertensive has focused on the importance of concomitant atherosclerotic risk factors in addition to the blood pressure itself and has created new therapeutic challenges. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a prospective study to determine the prevalence rates of hyperlipidemia, smoking, diabetes, obesity and left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH) in 185 hypertensive subjects. Serum levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol were measured by enzymatic method. 1) Mean values of serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and atherogenic index were not significantly different between sex and resident area. 2) The most frequent risk factor in hypertensive subjects was overweight, followed by M-mode echocardiographic LVH, hypertriglyceridemia, high LDL-cholesterol levels, low HDL-cholesterol levels, hypertriglyceridemia, electrocardiographic LVH, and diabetes. 3) The prevalence rates of both total cholesterol levels over 240mg/dl and LDL-cholesterol over 160mg/dl were about 20%, regardless of sex and resident area. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that hypertensive subjects have many concomitant risk factors of atherosclerosis. Hypercholesterolemia(> or =200 mg/dl), M-mode echocardiographic LVH and overweight among the selected risk factors were observed in more than a half of the hypertensive subjects, regardless of sex and resident area. These findings suggest that for the effective management of hypertensive subjects, physician should not only treat hypertension itself, but also control the concomitant risk factors.
Atherosclerosis* ; Blood Pressure ; Cholesterol ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Hypertriglyceridemia ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Triglycerides

The Korean law on medicine was amended in 2003 to introduce new provisions for telemedicine, electronic medical record, and electronic prescription. However, this has not satisfied the realities of the increased demand on medical services and related technology development, resulting in calls for a legislative amendment. In this regard, recent active promotion projects and the advance notice proposing a new amendment by the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs have raised the need for active discussions on telemedicine because the current law on medicine and its amendment do not adequately address the individual privacy protection aspect in the telemedicine environment. In this regard, this study examines current domestic and foreign legal systems on telemedicine and privacy protection, drawing and reviewing subjects to be discussed for individual privacy protection in telemedicine, and proposes plans that may improve Korea's legal system. The domestic and foreign literature on telemedicine and privacy protection was reviewed, recent legislations on telemedicine and views of interest groups were considered, and expert opinions were collected. In addition, the main discussions on privacy protection in telemedicine were identified and reviewed, including information ownership, the scope of privacy protection, the right to review and request correction, and privacy protection matters related to foreign patients. The recent amendment to tele medicine contains a provision only on penalties for privacy protection violations. The main discussions in this study on privacy protection are expected to be reflected in future amendments to enforcement rules and sub-ordinances such as the enforcement ordinance.
Electronic Health Records ; Electronic Prescribing ; Expert Testimony ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Ownership ; Privacy ; Public Opinion ; Telemedicine

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify correlations in hospital nurses' work environment, emotional labor and happiness index to provide basic resources for nurses' happiness at work. METHODS: Resources were gathered from 291 nurses who agreed to participate. Random sampling of nurses in nine hospitals in G-do was done between July 15 and August 14, 2014. Data were analyzed using chi2 tests, independent t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple hierarchical regression with SPSS/WIN 18.0. RESULTS: Mean scores (scale of 5) were nurses' work environment, 2.81, emotional labor, 3.24, and happiness index, 2.94. There were significant differences on the happiness index for: age, marriage, children, clinical experience, position, payment, and future work plans and a negative correlation between work environment and emotional labor, emotional labor and happiness index but a positive correlation between happiness index and work environment. Happiness index was influenced by work environment, emotional labor, future work plans. Explanatory power of these variables was 26%. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, so it is necessary to improve the work environment and reduce the frequency of emotional labor in order to increase the happiness index of hospital nurses.
Child ; Happiness* ; Humans ; Marriage ; Personal Satisfaction

Pulmonary histiocytosis X is a rare granulomatous disorder of unknown etiology that alters the interstitium of the lung. When confined to the lung, it is known as primary pulmonary histiocytosis X or eosinophilic granuloma of the lung. The chest radiograph shows characteristic nodular, reticular, and cystic abnormalities, which are most apparent in the upper and middle lung zones, but spare the costophrenic angles, The CT demonstrates innumerable small cysts with thin walls, and fine nodules. Recently we experienced pathologically proven primary pulmonary histiocystosis X in 35 years old male patients who had recurrent pneumothorax.
Eosinophilic Granuloma ; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell* ; Humans ; Lung ; Male ; Pneumothorax ; Radiography, Thoracic

Malignant tumor is found in 1-2% of ovarian benign cystic teratomas. Among these malignant neoplasms, squamous cell carcinoma is by far the most common malignancy, whereas the incidence of struma ovarii is less than 5% in mature teratoma. As far as concerned the struma ovarii, a very small percentage is associated with carcinoid, mucinous or serous cystadenoma, or Brenner tumor. However, any reports of struma ovarii associated with squamous cell carcinoma in the same ovary could not be found in English literature. Recently we have experienced a case of squamous cell carcinoma and struma ovarii arising in an ovarian benign cystic teratoma in 72 year old female patient.
Female ; Humans ; Incidence

BACKGROUND: The product of oxygen-free radicals inf1ict oxidative injuries on healthy cells. Antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase(SOD), glutathione peroxidase, and reduced glutathione(GSH) are present in almost all cells and play important roles in metabolism, transport, and cellular protection. We measured blood GSH levels in healthy controls and patients with non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus(NIDDM) for evaluation of the clinical usefulness of GSH. METHODS: Erythrocyte GSH levels were measured in fifty healthy controls and thirty NIDDM patients with diabetic retinopathies by Beutler's method. We also tested within-run precision, between-run precision, linearity and recovery rate to evaluate this method measuring erythrocyte GSH levels. RESULTS: The GSH levels (mean +/-SD) of NIDDM patients (5.03+/-0.67mumo1/Hb) were significantly lower than those of healthy control group (6.46+/-0.85mumo1/Hb)(P<0.001). The results of within-run precision and between-run precision when stored at 4degrees Cwere excellent (coefficient of variation were 2.79% and 2.42%, respectively), however, when stored at the room temperature the GSH levels were sharply declined. The linearity and recovery rate were acceptable. CONCLUSIONS: The prescision, linearity, and recovery rate of GSH measurement were excellent. The GSH levels in NIDDM patient group were reduced, and this probably contributes to the defective defense mechanism against increased oxidative stress. Additional measurement of other antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione Peroxidase may be required to clarify the pathologic significance of glutathione metabolism in various diseases.
Antioxidants ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Diabetic Retinopathy ; Erythrocytes* ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; Glutathione* ; Humans ; Insulin ; Metabolism ; Oxidative Stress ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Superoxides

No abstract available.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma*