The ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament of the spine(OPLL) is newly recongnized clinical entity,although compression of the spinal cord by an OPLL was reported by key as early as in 1839 in Guy's HospitalReport. OPLL was noticeable in lateral tomography as an abnormal dense radiopacity along the posterior margins ofthe vertebral body. Authors retrospectively analysed the diagnostic values and findings of lateral tomography ofthe cervical spine in 11 cases at Kang Nam General Hospital Public Corporation during 1 yr from July 1984 to June1985. The results were as follows; 1. Among suspected 11 cases of OPLL, 9 cases were confiremd as OPLL on lateraltomogram. 2. Age range was 25 years old to 55 years old and more prevalent age was over 5th decades & male wasmore involved than female. 3. Frequent involvement was C2-C5 level and number of vertebral bodies involved was 3.6in average. 4. This ossification developed 4 modes, a continuous type 11%, segmental 33%, mixed type 33%,circumscribed type in 22%. 5. OPLL thickness were from 2mm to 4.5mm and spnal canal narrowing ratio were form 25%to 44% and there were norational relationships between clinical symptom and thicknness of OPLL. 6. On diagnosis ofOPLL, lateral tomography is accurate and recommendable screening study due to easy, noninvasive, indisipensable and less harmful technique, compared to those of myelography or computed tomography.
Diagnosis ; Female ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Myelography ; Ossification of Posterior Longitudinal Ligament ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord ; Spine

A survey was carried out from August to December 2004 in Pusan, Korea to document the presence of free-living amoeba (FLA), including the genus Acanthamoeba, in both contact lens storage cases and domestic tap water. Acanthamoeba was isolated from 5 (4.2%) in 120 contact lens storage cases. Four house tap water samples from residents, whose contact lens storage cases had been contaminated by Acanthamoeba, were also found to be contaminated with Acanthamoeba. Therefore, the contamination rate of FLA and Acanthamoeba in domestic tap water was investigated in order to examine the role of domestic tap water in Acanthamoeba contamination of contact lens storage cases. FLA and Acanthamoeba were identified in 97 (46.8%) and 16 (7.7%) of the 207 domestic tap water samples, respectively. There were no significant differences between the contamination rates of FLA in tap water according to the filtration plant of origin. No FLA was detected in the tap water directly supplied by the water purification plants. Water storage tanks appear to promote FLA colonization, including Acanthamoeba, in domestic tap water. This increases the risk of Acanthamoeba contamination in contact lens storage cases as well as increasing the risk of Acanthamoeba keratitis.
Acanthamoeba/*isolation & purification ; Amebiasis/epidemiology ; Animals ; Comparative Study ; Contact Lenses/parasitology ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Korea/epidemiology ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Risk Factors ; Water/*parasitology ; Water Supply/*standards

An appreciation of the normal variation of the Talar Tilt angle under stress roentgenogram on the ankle joint may throw some light on the diagnosis and treatment in an ankle joint injuries. The purpose of this study is to show the normal range of the Talar Tilt angleof the ankle joint under various circumstances and has been to compare the results of each angle. The author have undertaken the neutral ankle mortise view and inversion and eversion stress roentgenogram in all ankles and measured its Talar Tilt angle. The data were based on study of free chosen 50 normal Korean adult male 25 and female 25 respectively. The results were summerized as follows; 1. Talar Tilt angle was O degree in neutral ankle mortise view. 2. In inversion stress roentgenogram, Talar Tilt angle ranged from 0 to 15 degrees, 97% of cases were less than 10 degrees. 3. In eversion stress roentgenogram, Talar Tilt angle ranged from 0 to 7 degrees. 4. In inversion stress roentgenoram, the difference between right and left of same male and female ranged from 0 to 7 degrees. 5. It is very important to check accurately Talar Tilt angle under the same method and same conditions.
Adult ; Ankle Joint ; Ankle ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Reference Values

A computer progrem which performs obstetric calculation on Clipper Language using the datas from ultrasonography was developed from personal computer. It was designed for fast assessment of fetal development, prediction of gestagional age, and weight from ultrasonographic measurements which included biparietal diameter, femur length, gestational sac, occipito-frontal diameter, abdominal diameter, and etc. The Obstetricel-Ultrasound data-Base Managemant System was tested for its performance. The Obstetrical-Ultrasound Data-Base Management System was very useful in patient management with its convenient data filing, easy retrieval of previous report, prompt but accurate estimation of fetal growth and skeletal anomaly and production of equation and growth curve for pregnant women.
Female ; Femur ; Fetal Development ; Gestational Sac ; Humans ; Microcomputers* ; Pregnant Women ; Ultrasonography*

Astrovirus is frequently associated with diarrhea in children. It can not be readily isolated by cell culture, and an electronmicroscope is usually used for detection of this agent. Recently in 1995 a combined method of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was designed for easier detection of astrovirus, which is based on the conserved sequence in 3'-end of genomes of the 7 known serotypes of human astrovirus. As of yet there has not been any report of astrovirus data in Korea using the RT-PCR methods. The purpose of this study was to detect astrovirus incidence, severity of symptoms, seasonal variation and coinfection rate with rotavirus in Korean children inpatients with diarrhea. Fecal specimens from 61 young children hospitalized with gasteroenteritis Korea from Jan. 1996 through Mar. 1997. They were examined for astroviurs infection by RT-PCR method. Results are as follows: 1. Astrovirus was detected at 9.8% (6/61) from fecal specimens of children with severe diarrhea by EIA using monoclonal antibody coated plates. 2. Astorvirus was detected at 29.5% (18/61) from fecal specimens of children with severe diarrhea by RT-PCR. 3. The age of the 18 children affected by astrovirus ranged from 2 monthes to 7 years with mean of 3.0 years. 4. Mean hospital stay of the 1S children was 6.1 days. 5. Five (27.8%) astrovirus RT-PCR positive strains were confirmed in November and in December, respectively out of 18 specimens in total. 6. Astrovirus coinfection with rotavirus type G1 was confirmed in 15/16 specimens (93.8%), and with type G2 was in 1/16 specimens (6.3%).
Cell Culture Techniques ; Child* ; Coinfection ; Conserved Sequence ; Diarrhea ; Feces* ; Genome ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Length of Stay ; Mamastrovirus ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Reverse Transcription* ; Rotavirus ; Seasons

Human rotavirus has now been established as the leading cause of gastroenteritis in young children worldwide. At least fourteen serotypes of group A rotavirus have been identified on the basis of antibody responses to major neutralizing glycoprotein, VP7 (G type for glycoprotein), present in the outer capsid of the virus. Serotype 1, 2, 3 and 4 are the most highly prevalent in human. In Korea, rotavirus is also the principal cause of severe nonbacterial diarrhea requiring hospitalization in infants and young children, which is commonly detected by EIA method. The epidemiology of rotavirus infection has been monitored by only serologic methods without electropherotyping in Korea. This study shows seasonal and age related variations .of rotavirus infection in Korea according to the genotype using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Fecal specimens were obtained from 39 children hospitalized with acute watery diarrhea and gastroenteritis in Ewha Womans University MokDong Hospital in Seoul from Jan. to Dec. of 1996. All four (1, 2, 3, 4) major G serotypes were identified by amplification of segment of the gene for VP7 using RT-PCR. Rotavirus Gl 749 bp, G2 653 bp, G3 374 bp and G4 583bp were shown on 2.9 or 3.3% NuSieve agar gel. Results were as follows: 1) Rotavirus was detected at 53.8% (21/39) by EIA and 89.7% (35/39) by RT-PCR. 2) Serotype Gl, G2, G3, G4 when detected by RT-PCR accounted for 80.0% (28/35), 14.3% (5/35), 2.9% (1/35) and 2.9% (1/35), respectively. 3) Thirty five strains of rotavirus were detected at the frequency of 17.1% (6/35) in Oct., 20.0% (7/35) in Nov. and 20.0% (7/35) in Dec. 4) As for the age range, children affected by rotavirus were mostly under 1 years.
Agar ; Antibody Formation ; Capsid ; Child ; Child, Hospitalized* ; Diarrhea* ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Gastroenteritis ; Genotype* ; Glycoproteins ; Hospitalization ; Humans* ; Infant ; Korea ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Reverse Transcription* ; Rotavirus Infections ; Rotavirus* ; Seasons ; Seoul

No abstract available.
Pilomatrixoma* ; Vaccination*

This descriptive study measured the quality of life and the sexual satisfaction for ostomates as an attempt to give nurses basic data to improve life satisfaction of ostomates. The research design was a descriptive study and the data were obtained by Quality of Life questionnaire, and Sexual Satisfaction questionnaire. These data were collected from 21 ostomates undergoing treatment in four university hospitals and one hospital and 36 ostomates depending on one medical agency by direct obtaining method and mailing method from March. 3, to March 24,1997. Data analysis was cone by the SAS computer program and Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation Coefficient, and Cronbach-alpha were used. The results of this study were as follows : 1. The item mean score for quality of life for the ostomates was 3.03. For six subscales in the quality of life scale, the mean scores of subscales were in order of the highest 3.46 for family relationship, and the second scored subscales were economic life(2.84) and physical state(2.96). 2. The item mean score of sexual satisfaction for the ostomate was 2.86. 3. The result of analysis of relationship between quality of life and sexual satisfaction was significant(r=0.21, p=0.05). The relationship between sexual satisfaction and each subscale of quality of life were significant with the self-esteem (r=0.34, p=0.01), physical state(r=0.21, p=0.01). In conclusion, it was found that the quality of life and sexual satisfaction of ostomates were low. The quality of life and sexual satisfaction was correlated. Although chronic disease affect to quality of life and sexual satisfaction, an adequate nursing intervention will improve the life satisfaction.
Chronic Disease ; Family Relations ; Hospitals, University ; Nursing ; Postal Service ; Quality of Life* ; Research Design ; Statistics as Topic ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the degree of burnout of 119 rescuers, to determine factors influencing their burnout, and to provide basic data for development of intervention programs to prevent the burnout. METHODS: Subjects of this study were all 119 rescuers working at fire stations located in Busan and Gyeongnam. The data were collected from May 1, 2010 to June 30, 2010. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS/WIN 17.0. RESULTS: When the difference in the degree of burnout by general characteristics was investigated, the means of burnout were significantly different depending on age, period of service, position, license, annual salary, desire to work continuously and types of working hours. Job stress, job satisfaction, social support, self efficacy and self esteem showed a statistically significant correlation with burnout. The degree of burnout became higher with more job stress and lower job satisfaction, social support, self efficacy and self esteem. As a significant factor affecting the degree of burnout of 119 rescuers, job stress showed 47.3% of explanatory power. The explanatory power of all of job stress, job satisfaction, self efficacy, types of working hours, annual salary and license was 62% and the power of job stress was the highest. CONCLUSION: From these results, job stress, job satisfaction and self-efficacy were found to be factors affecting the burnout of 119 rescuers. Therefore, intervention programs to reduce job stress and to improve job satisfaction, social support, self efficacy and self esteem should be developed to lower the degree of burnout of 119 rescuers. In addition, further researches to analyze works of 119 rescuers and legal and institutional strategies to improve their treatment are necessary and supplementary training in various practices by different circumstances based on standardized protocols should be conducted.
Emergencies ; Emergency Medical Services ; Emergency Medical Technicians ; Fires ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Licensure ; Salaries and Fringe Benefits ; Self Concept ; Self Efficacy

Control of tuberculosis is threatened by widespread emergence of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Understanding the molecular basis of resistance might lead to development of novel rapid methods for diagnosing drug resistance. Rifampin is a key component among therapeutic regimens for the tuberculosis; therefore, patients who have drug resistance do not convalesce satisfactorily. The molecular mechanism of resistance to rifampin in M. tuberulosis has been elucidated. Substitutions of a limited number of highly conserved amino acids encoded by the rpoB gene are responsible for the ""single-step"" high-level resistance of M. tuberculosis to rifampin. Currently, two genotype-based protocols allow drug test from minimally grown cultured materials: (i)mutation identification by direct sequencing of PCR-amplified material. and (ii)mutation screening by PCR-SSCP. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the both methods. A sample of 75 isolates of M. tuberculosis was studied, and it inculded 36 rifampin-resistant strains and 39 rifampin-sensitive strains by conventional methods. Mutaions were identified in 36 rifampin-resistant isolates but in none of 39 sensitive isolates. All mutations were clustered within a region of 23 amino acids. Both methods allow detection of rifampin resistance in 2 to 3 days and will thus help in the early management of infection by M. tuberculosis.
Amino Acids ; Drug Resistance ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Mycobacterium* ; Rifampin ; Tuberculosis