This study analyzed various aspects of what glaucoma patients think about their quality of life(QOL), knowledge of glaucoma, and compliance to treatment. For the study, survey and multifactorial analysis were performed in 165 patients in 10 subject with 60 questions. After the diagnosis of glaucoma, 25.5% of patients were not satisfied with their life compared with 7.3% of them before the diagnosis. Life satisfaction could be decreased from 3.76 point in Likert scale before the diagnosis to 3.07 point after the diagnosis. Life satisfaction decreased significantly in the highly educated group, in the upper or lower income group, and in those who thought as though they were generally healthy. Beside these results, 87.3% of patients were afraid of losing their vision, 78.2% of the patients who had not been operated preferred medical treatment to surgery.
Compliance ; Diagnosis ; Glaucoma* ; Humans ; Quality of Life*

No abstract available.

Keratomileusis-in-situ was performed on 18 eyes(15 patients) to correct high myopia. Average preoperative spherical equivalent was -19.26 diopter(D) with a range of -13.25 to -30.50D. The mean postoperative myopia was -4.80D(-0.00 to -9.00D), checked at 6 months postoperatively. Preoperative corneal refractive power was +43.63D, while it decreased to +35.41D at 6 months postoperatively Of all the cases, there was no significant complication except the one who had irregular astigmatism caused by the epithelial ingrowth in the interface. Uncorrected vision of all the patients improved markedly, compared to those preoperatively. In conclusion, keratomileusis-in-situ is a feasible technique for correcting high amounts of myopia, though the calculation program might be improved to obtain adequate prediction.
Astigmatism ; Humans ; Myopia*

A 22-year old female visited CNUH due to palpable neck mass. Cytologic examination of a fine needle aspiration was performed and the result was Pap class II. Routine chest x-ray shows solitary pulmonary nodule. For rule-out malignancy, FNA at neck mass was repeated and pathologic finding was dysplasia. She was admitted to MI department for evaluation of solitary pulmonary nodule and percutaneous needle aspiration was done. Pathologic diagnosis was adenoid cystic carcinoma. Thereafter, the lesions were treated by excisional biopsy of submandibular gland mass with left supraomohyoid neck dissection and wedge resection of right lower lobe at ENT department and thoracic and cardiovascular surgery department, respectively Final diagnosis was adenoid cystic carcinoma arising in submandibular gland with solitary lung metastasis. According to TMN staging system, surgical staging is stage IV of T2N0M1. Clinical follow-up to postoperative 13 months in this case showed that she is alive and well without evidence of recrrence.
Adenoids* ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lung* ; Neck ; Neck Dissection ; Needles ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Salivary Glands* ; Solitary Pulmonary Nodule ; Submandibular Gland ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding is not common in Korea despite its known benefits. The role of family physicians is important in promoting breast-feeding since they can provide prenatal and postnatal care on lifelong basis. This paper analyzed a survey of family physicians on their knowledge, attitude, experience, and training concerning breastfeeding. METHODS: The survey was carried out by e-mail enquiry to the residents and board-certified physicians registered in the Korean Academy of Family Medicine. The enquiry was developed by Gary L. Freed composed of 18 questions about knowledge, attitudes, experience, and training. The answers to the questions were analyzed to give frequency and the associations between the variables. RESULTS: Among the total, 64% of the residents and 76% of the physicians answered yes to whether breastfeeding was the best means of feeding an infant under 6 months of age. Also, 83% of the residents and 85% of physicians answered it was right to quit breastfeeding completely when breast abscess developed. The breastfeeding promotion was done more frequently by those who had personal experience. They had higher rate of educating patients than those who did not (28% vs. 9%, P<0.0001). Despite its importance, 86.5% of the residents and 77.6% of the physicians answered that they did not have enough opportunity to learn about breastfeeding during their training years. CONCLUSION: Although family physicians are required to play a role in promoting breastfeeding, they are insufficiently trained under the current system. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a traning program to educate the residents on breastfeeding.
Abscess ; Breast ; Breast Feeding* ; Electronic Mail ; Humans ; Infant ; Korea ; Physicians, Family ; Postnatal Care

BACKGROUND: Recently, the diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been made more frequently, as the use of ultrasonography on health screening has been on the rise. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between NAFLD and the metabolic syndrome defined by NCEP-ATP III criteria. METHODS: A total of 1,675 subjects, who attended for routine physical check?ups, were screened. Among those, 401 subjects were selected after excluding the subjects with either significant alcohol consumption, evidence of viral or toxic hepatitis, significant liver or renal dysfunction, or overt thyroid disease. NAFLD was diagnosed if the subjects had a "bright liver" on ultrasonographic examination. The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was made according to the criteria of NCEP-ATP III established in 2001. RESULTS: The prevalence of NAFLD was 27.2%. Blood pressure, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and serum levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting glucose and liver enzymes were higher among the subjects with NAFLD than the control. The prevalence of obesity, IFG/DM, dyslipidemia and hypertension was higher in the NAFLD group. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 19.2%, which was higher in the NAFLD group than the control group. The odds ratio of NAFLD for the metabolic syndrome was 6.458 (95% C.I. 3.178~13.124). CONCLUSION: NAFLD was closely associated with the metabolic syndrome regardless of the presence of obesity.
Alcohol Drinking ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Diagnosis ; Drug-Induced Liver Injury ; Dyslipidemias ; Fasting ; Fatty Liver* ; Glucose ; Hypertension ; Liver ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Thyroid Diseases ; Triglycerides ; Ultrasonography ; Waist Circumference

Neurofibromatosis (NF) is a dysplastic disease which consists of multiple cafe-au-lait spots and neurofibromas from neural sheath. The 61-year-old male patient complained of sudden severe pain on the left buttock started one month ago. On physical examination, multiple "lentigines" were seen on his left buttock which spreaded to the thigh and small soft protruding nodules were observed on the right side of the back and left shoulder. Histopathologic finding of a specimen obtained from a nodule was consistent with neurofibroma. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography revealed asymmetrical hypertrophy of neurovascular bundle located in the left greater sciatic foramen. On diagnosing as NF, he was treated with medication, physical modalities and therapeutic intervention (caudal block). Visual analogue scale (VAS) went down to 3/10 with these treatments and he was discharged. We report successful treatment of buttock pain rarely associated with segmental neurofibromatosis.
Buttocks ; Cafe-au-Lait Spots ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neurofibroma ; Neurofibromatoses ; Physical Examination ; Shoulder ; Thigh

The structure and function of short-length amino terminal PTH analogues were studied. The substitution of Leu7 with Phe in [Ala3, 10Leu7Arg11]rPTH (1-11) NH2 analogue peptides did not show any reduction in cAMP formation. Replacement of the 1st, 7th and 8th residues revealed different activities, depending upon the residue type. The substitution of Ala1 by Ser in [Ala3, 10Leu7Arg11]rPTH (1-11) NH2 caused nearly a complete loss of cAMP formation. Meanwhile, NMR analysis of [ (Ala1/ Ser1) Ala3, 10 (Leu7/Phe7) Arg11]rPTH (1-11) NH2 revealed an alpha- helical backbone structure with a flexible conformation at the carboxyl-terminus. The overall results suggest that 11-residue short oligopeptide analogues of PTH tend to form an alpha-helical structure and the different activities of those analogues could be associated with residue specificity rather than the secondary conformational structure.
Amino Acid Substitution ; Animals ; Circular Dichroism ; Cyclic AMP/metabolism ; Human ; LLC-PK1 Cells ; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular ; Parathyroid Hormone/*chemistry/*metabolism ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Receptor, Parathyroid Hormone, Type 1/genetics ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Swine

In diamnionic dichorionic twins, the type of placenta consists of fused and separate types. The expansion of one twin placenta often occurs in the direction of the other implantation site in fused type. Placental development often leads to collision, and the growth of one or both placentas may be hindered, which can cause intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). We represent a single case of one placental implantation above the another which caused IUFD in one fetus in diamnionic dichorionic twin pregnancy with a brief review of literatures.
Fetal Death* ; Fetus ; Humans ; Placenta ; Placentation ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Twins*

Opioids are known to decrease plasma cortisol and testosterone level in human and other mammals. Nowadays, opioid use is exponentially increasing, but little is known about its side effects. With the help of progressive human science, we can habit longer life and as result, are becoming more avid for healthy life. In this respect, analgesics play important role in maintaining good and healthy quality of life. For this reason, it is important to fully understand its side effects and handle it with special precaution. We are reporting a 22-year-old male who had been taken opioid analgesic for more than six years to relieve chronic, intractable headache. Then, his hormone test revealed hypogonadotropic hypogonadism combined with hypoadrenocorticotropic hypoadrenalism but showed no definite clinical features except for sexual frigidity. After two years of oxycodon discontinuation, we reevaluated that his hormone test, and all other laboratory tests returned to the normal range.
Adrenal Insufficiency ; Analgesics ; Analgesics, Opioid ; Headache Disorders ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Hypogonadism* ; Male ; Mammals ; Oxycodone ; Plasma ; Quality of Life ; Reference Values ; Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological ; Testosterone ; Young Adult