OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to examine the difference in attitude toward health-specific locus-of-control and medical care among western medical students, oriental medical students, and non-medical school students. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 667 students who agreed to respond the questionnaire : 212 western medical school students, 190 oriental medical school students, and 265 non-medical school students. The health-specific locus of control was measured by the structured questionnaire developed by Lau and Ware. The attitude toward western and oriental medicine was also measured by the questionnaire. RESULTS: Western medical students and non-medical school students were more likely than oriental medical students to place high value on 'the provider control over health' and 'the general threat to health' scales (F=20.47, F=19.98). But oriental medical school students ranked 'the self control of health' scale as more important than any other locus of control scale (F=19.34). The health specific locus of control was also different from the grade. When the grade was increased, 'the provider control over health' scale was slowly decreased, especially in western medical students and non medical school students. However, the 'general threat to health' scale was increased in oriental medical students. Western medical school students expressed more positive attitude toward western medicine. Oriental medical school students put a higher score on oriental medicine. Nevertheless, as the grade was increased, the positive attitude toward oriental medicine slightly decreased in oriental medical school students. CONCLUSIONS: There is a difference in health-specific locus of control and attitude toward medicine among western medical students, oriental medical students, and non-medical students. The locus of control and attitude of medical students towards medicine may affect both how they behave towards patients and how they help shape future public policy. Therefore, interdisciplinary educational initiatives may be the best way to handle this issue.
Complementary Therapies ; Humans ; Internal-External Control ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Public Policy ; Schools, Medical* ; Self-Control ; Students, Medical ; Weights and Measures

A primary hepatic sarcoma is a rare tumor, that most frequently arises from hepatic connective tissue or vascular channels, and is usually located in the intrahepatic area. Pedunculated, or bulging, lesions have also been reported. We encountered a pedunculated primary hepatic leiomyosarcoma occurring in a 61-year-old woman. A giant exophytic hepatic mass measuring 15x10cm in size, was located in the left lateral segment of the liver, which was compressing the stomach. A left lateral segmentectomy was performed. Microscopically, the tumor was composed of spindle cells reactive to muscle specific actin. The mitotic figures were 5/10 high power fields indicating the tumor was malignant. No other primary sites were recognized from clinical studies.
Actins ; Connective Tissue ; Female ; Humans ; Leiomyosarcoma* ; Liver ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Middle Aged ; Sarcoma ; Stomach

PURPOSE: Multiple primary cancers are not a rare disease. The clinicopathologic characteristics of a hepatocellular carcinoma with extrahepatic malignancies, have not been identified. To address these points, the clinical data of patients with a hepatocellular carcinoma, with extrahepatic malignancies, treated with surgical resections at our hospital, were retrospectively reviewed. METHODS: We reviewed the clinical records of ten hepatocellular carcinoma patients, with extrahepatic malignancies, who had undergone an operation between January, 1986 and December, 2002 at the Hanyang University Hospital. RESULTS: 10 patients were comprised of 9 males and 1 female, with a mean age of 58.6 years, ranging from 34 to 75. There were 9 stomach cancers and 1 rectal cancer extrahepatic malignancies associated with the hepatocellular carcinomas. Four of these were synchronous type and six were metachronous type. The treatments used for the HCCs were: 1 extended right lobectomy, 6 right lobectomies, 1 each of a TAE with RFTA, a segmentectomy with RFTA, and a segmentectomy. The operations for the extrahepatic malignancies included 1 low anterior resection, for the rectal cancer and 9 subtotal gastrectomies, for the stomach cancers. During the mean follow up time of 66.1 months, five patients survived and five died. CONCLUSION: Patients who have a hepatocellular carcinoma, associated with extrahepatic malignancies, have been treated with aggressive operations and combination therapies. Stomach cancer is the most common extrahepatic malignancy associated with a hepatocellular carcinoma.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Male ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Rare Diseases ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms

PURPOSE: Whole liver transplantation, an effective therapy for many inherited and acquired hepatic disorders, has limitations including donor shortage and fatal surgical complications. Hepatocyte transplantation, which is simpler and less expensive than whole liver transplantation, allows the use of living related donors, permits the use of a single donor organ for multiple recipients, and makes possible the cryopreservation of hepatocytes for future use. However, choosing a proper scaffold for hepatocyte transplantation hampers wide use of hepatocyte transplantation. We performed hepatocyte transplantation using fibrin gel, as a cell transplantation scaffold and evaluated their effectiveness. METHODS: Female, five week old FVB mice, were prepared for donors, and two male, five week old nude mice, were used as recipients. Liver cells were isolated from FVB donors. The cell viability exceeded 95% as assessed by the trypan blue exclusion method. For three nude mice, 5x10(6) cells resuspended in 500microliter of fibrinogen were mixed with 500microliter thrombin, and were injected into the peritoneal cavity of each mouse. One nude mouse was transplanted with 5x10(6) cells resuspended in 500 microliter medium, which served as a negative control. Specimens were retrieved at one week, and histological and immunohistochemical analyses wereperformed. RESULTS: In the negative control, all transplanted hepatocytes disappeared at one week. In mice transplanted both fibrin gel and hepatocytes, conglomerates containing hepatocytes were observed on the intestinal mesentery. The hepatocytes were identified by H & E staining and immunohistochemistry using anti-hepatocyte antibody. Functional activity was evaluated with PAS staining. CONCLUSION: In this preliminary study, stable hepatocyte engraftment was achieved in hepatocyte transplantation with fibrin gel, but not in hepatocyte transplantation without scaffold. More studies on comparison between fibrin gel and injectable scaffolds would be necessary. Improvement on both initial vascularization and proliferation of transplanted hepatocytes is a target of our future work.
Animals ; Cell Survival ; Cell Transplantation ; Cryopreservation ; Female ; Fibrin* ; Fibrinogen ; Hepatocytes* ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Liver ; Liver Transplantation ; Male ; Mesentery ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Peritoneal Cavity ; Thrombin ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants ; Trypan Blue

PURPOSE: There are an insignificant number of studies done on the demographics of intoxication patients and on the characteristics of toxic exposure on a long term basis in Korea. The objective of our survey is to investigate the epidemiologic characteristics of intoxication in a metropolitan emergency department in order to more efficiently manage intoxication patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of intoxication patients who visited the emergency department of a high end medical facility between January, 1998 and June, 2009. We investigated the trend of the substances people became intoxicated with during the study period and we analyzed the age, gender, year and distribution of patients and the outcome of the patients. RESULTS: There were 1544 cases of intoxication during the study period, and the cases made up 0.37% of the total visitors to our emergency department, which is a high end medical facility located in the city. Most of the patients were female (70%) in their twenties and thirties. The most commonly ingested intoxication substances were sedatives, analgesics and pesticides. Unlike in the province, antidepressant abuse is on the rise while pesticide abuse is falling. The overall admission rate was 24.8% and the mortality rate was 1.6%. Pesticides intoxication was the most common cause of death (76%). Pesticides intoxication, a male gender and old age were the most significant fatality-related factors. CONCLUSION: We think that there is a need to investigate the actual conditions of drug intoxication in the city and prepare measures to prevent drug intoxication.
Analgesics ; Cause of Death ; Demography ; Emergencies ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Korea ; Male ; Medical Records ; Pesticides ; Retrospective Studies ; Suicide