The exact etiology and pathogenesis of myopia are not known yet, although various studies of the development of myopia in experimental animals have been made. Authors attemtped whether rabbits developed axial myopia by fusing their lids at birth in one eye, or not. The monocular vision was deprived by suture of upper and lower lids in 12 rabbits which were 5 day-old. The other eye was unsutured as the control. Ten months later, we assessed refractive error, corneal curvature, axial length, and intraocular pressure and enucleation was done. We observed the histologic change of sclera with light microscope. The eyes with lid suture were more myopic(-3.35 +/- 0.99D) than the controlled eyes(-0.21 +/- 0.46D) (p<0.01). The corneal curvature and intraocular pressure were not significantly different between two groups. The axial lengths of the sutured eves were increased(21.27 +/- 1.70mm) in comparison with those of the controlled(17.39 +/- 1.83mm)(p<0.01). We conclude the difference in axial length was caused by the elongation of the posterior segment of eyeball. since lens thickness, depth of anterior chamber, and corneal curvature were identical in both groups. These were correlated with histologic change that showed thinner posterior parts of sclera of the sutured eyes than those of the controlled eyes. The results of this study demonstrate that monocular lid fusion in rabbits produced an expenmental axial myopia.
Animals ; Anterior Chamber ; Eyelids* ; Intraocular Pressure ; Myopia* ; Parturition ; Rabbits* ; Refractive Errors ; Sclera ; Sutures* ; Vision, Monocular

Background: Reporting rate of notifiable communicable diseases has been assumed to be low in Korea. To encourage timely reporting of notifiable communicable diseases and to improve the reporting process by the Infection Control Unit, a disease code-based electronic surveillance and in-house electronic reporting system was developed and implemented in February 2003. We evaluated the reporting rates of notifiable communicable diseases before and after the implementation of the electronic reporting- system. METHODS: The electronic reporting system, which was integrated to the computerized physician order entry system, was designed to monitor KCD-4 codes at the time of every order entry. Whenever the system recognized the predetermined codes of notifiable communicable diseases, it generated an alert box to recommend reporting: and then a physician could fill up an electronic report form, which was collected and faxed to the local public health authority by the Infection Control Unit. Reporting rate of notifiable communicable diseases in 2002, when the conventional paper-based reporting system was used, was assumed comparing the number of cases reported actually and that of cases identified to be reported by reviewing the medical records and electronic database. RESULTS: From March to July 2003, 181 cases with tuberculosis and 14 with other communicable diseases were reported whereas 106 and 9 cases were reported respectively for the same 5-month period in 2002. Reporting rate using the conventional reporting system in 2002 was assumed to be 61% and 39% respectively. Conclusions: Using a disease code-based electronic reporting system, reporting of notifiable communicable diseases could be improved compared with conventional paper-based reporting system.
Communicable Diseases* ; Disease Notification ; Infection Control ; Korea ; Medical Informatics Applications ; Medical Order Entry Systems ; Medical Records ; Public Health ; Tuberculosis

No Abstract available.
Infection Control*

No abstract available.
Nucleic Acids*

No abstract available.
Thanatophoric Dysplasia*

The celiac disease is an immunologic disorder, related to dietary gluten and morphologically characterized by a striking loss of villi in the small intestine and, with it, a marked reduction in the absorptive surface area. The authors experienced a rare case of pathologically confirmed malinant histiocytic lymphoma of jejunum, associated with celiac disease which was histologically manifested with ulcerative jejunitis in a 25-year-old Korean female who had suffered from projectile vomiting for 2 months. We report this case with literature review emphasis on the pathogenesis of malignant neoplasm in celiac disease and pathogenetic relationship between ulcerative jejunitis and celiac disease. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of malignant histiocytic lymphoma complicating celiac disease with ulcerative jejunitis, in Korea.
Female ; Humans

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to explore the degree of depression, perceived health status, chronic disease and quality of life(QOL) among rural elderly and to determine the factors related to their QOL. METHOD: The design of this study was a correlational study. The subjects were 423 elderly consisted of 157(37.1%) men and 266(62.9%) women dwelling in a rural area of N City. Data were collected from May to December, 2003 using a structured questionnaire. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to identify the factors related to the QOL. RESULT: It was found that the mean score of QOL was in total with 2.15 out of 5.00 and women elderly's score was significantly lower than men(t=2.20, p=.028). Perceived health status showed statistically significant positive relationship with QOL(r=.608, p<.05), while depression(r=-.751, p<.01) and chronic illness(r=-.336, p<.01) showed statistically significant negative relationship. Depression was found to have the highest correlation with QOL among the subjects. Depression score explained QOL at the most, accounting for 36.8% of the variability, followed by perceived health(8.2%) and the number of chronic illness(.7%). Other factors related to the QOL were economic status and absence of spouse. CONCLUSION: In order to increase the QOL of rural elderly, it is necessary to decrease the depression, to increase their perceived health status and to decrease the number of chronic illness. We suggest the implementation of a program not only to promote physical health status and self-care ability but to take care of mental health for the rural elderly.
Aged* ; Chronic Disease ; Depression ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Health ; Quality of Life* ; Self Care ; Spouses ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Pierre Robin Syndrome*

This study was done to evaluate the quality of clinical nursing care using the variables of structure, process, and outcome and to analyze the relationship between the variables. This study also explored which variables are validating indicators to evaluate the quality of nursing care. The results analyzed by multiple regression showed that, generally structural variables did not contribute to the variance in outcome scores, but process variables of nursing care contributed significantly to the outcome variable of patient satisfaction. A combination of structure and process variables more than structural variables alone. Also, patient satisfaction and hospital preference were significantly related to each other. Therefore, if nursing quality evaluation relies solely upon on structural variables such as number of available nurses and workload, it would be inaccurate because process variables of nursing care are strongly related to outcome variables and the two categories of structure and process variables helped to strengthen the relationships. Thus, it is important to focus on variables of structure, process, and outcome together in evaluating nursing care quality.
Nursing Care* ; Nursing* ; Patient Satisfaction

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant, Newborn*