It is well-known that multiple sclerosis (MS) has a higher prevalence rate in occidental countries than in Asia and Africa. In addition to their lower prevalence rate of MS, oriental countries may have different clinical characteristics. It has been shown in the previous studies performed in Japan that there is more frequent involvement of optic nerve and spinal cord during the course of disease. These results were also confirmed by the study of MS in Hawaii which compared orientals with caucasians in their clinical features. In Korea, there has been no estimate for clinical features and prevalence rate of MS except two studies. We performed this study to evaluate the clinical features and estimated prevalence rate based on a series of 50 consecutive cases of MS seen over 8 and a half year-period in the Seoul National University Hospital.
Africa ; Asia ; Hawaii ; Japan ; Korea* ; Multiple Sclerosis* ; Optic Nerve ; Prevalence* ; Seoul ; Spinal Cord

Phosphoglucomutase was studied by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the Thailand and Hawaii isolates of Parastrongylus cantonensis (also known as Angiostrongylus cantonensis). Two loci were present. The faster-moving locus (PGM-1) was polymorphic in the Hawaii isolate, represented by two alleles - the faster-moving, less common Pgm-1A and the slower-moving, more common Pgm-1B . It was monomorphic for the faster-moving allele Pgm-1A in the Thailand isolate. The slower-moving locus (PGM-2) was invariant, with a single band of enzyme activity, in the female worms of both the Thailand and Hawaii isolates. There was no detectable enzyme activity at this PGM-2 locus in the male worms of both isolates. The non-expression or 'null' PGM-2 phenotype in the male worms was presumed to be sex- limited. The present findings differ significantly in several aspects (polymorphic locus, proportion of polymorphic loci, heterozygosity, deviations from Hardy-Weinberg expectations, sex-limited expression) from the Japan isolate of P. cantonensis reported in the literature.
Gender ; 7-hydroxy-5,11-dioxotetranorprostane-1,16-dioic acid ; Thailand ; Phosphoglucomutase ; Hawaii

Incidence was derived from published data from 2 population-based registries - the Philippine Cancer Society - Manila Cancer Registry and the Department of Health-Rizal Cancer Registry, which covered 8.5 million residents (1990 census) of a 1,674 square kilometer area that comprises Metro Manila and Rizal province. Thirteen registry clerks actively sought new cancer cases in 96 hospitals and 30 Civil Registry offices. Both registries are members of the International Association of Cancer Registries and received continuing professional assistance from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). For the period 1988-1992 the combined age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) was 9.9 per 100,000 for male stomach cancer (ranked fifth, 4.5% of all male cancers), and 5.9 per 100,000 among females (ranked ninth, 2.8% of all female cancers). Stomach cancer among Philippine residents had lower ASRs and age-specific rates compared to Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Singaporean Chinese and Vietnamese populations. Age-specific rates among Filipinos reached 10 per 100,000 or higher at age-group 50-54 years among males, and 55-59 years among females. Significant differences in incidence were observed in only few cities and municipalities. There were little differences in ASRs between 2 populations during 3 time periods between 1980-1992, in both males and females with an indication of a slight decrease. Incidence of male Philippine migrants to Hawaii, San Francisco and Los Angeles were comparable to those of white residents covered by the Manila registry. Among females, stomach cancer incidence of Philippine residents and Filipina migrants to Hawaii were similar, and were slightly higher than those of white residents in Hawaii and both migrants and white residents in San Francisco and Los Angeles

Human ; Male ; Female ; San Francisco ; Los Angeles ; Transients And Migrants ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Hawaii ; Philippines ; Censuses ; Registries ; European Continental Ancestry Group ; Research

Family planning is a very complex matter and has many ramifications so that one may expect a variety of problems besetting operation of family planning programs. One of the problems advocated so far is the drop-out rate or delinquent appointment rate of family planning clinics which is known to be as high as to deserve special attention. It is an urgent issue to be studied so that the family planning clinics could take measures to insure the continued optimal utilization of the services offered. Hence, the Nanakuli Family Planning Clinic was chosen as a sample to study and find out any differences and similarities between the "Delinquents" and "Non-delinquents" of the clinic, hoping that any meaningful facts brought out by this study could get the clinic to have the optimal utilization of the services by it's clients. Specific conclusions resulting from this study are the optimal utilization of family planning service by clients could not be expected without providing provisions for the biological, situational, and environmental problems of the clients as well as the administrative and managerial problems besetting the clinic operation itself.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Contraceptive Agents/supply & distribution ; Contraceptive Devices/supply & distribution ; Contraceptives, Oral/supply & distribution ; Family Planning/manpower ; Family Planning/utilization* ; Female ; Hawaii ; Human ; Middle Age ; Pregnancy

The practice of outpatient breast cancer surgery has been controversial in the United States. This study aimed to update time trends and geographic variation in outpatient breast cancer surgery among elderly Medicare fee-for-service women in the United States. Using the 1993-2002 linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare claims data and the Area Resource Files, we identified 2 study samples, including the women whose breast cancers were the first-ever-diagnosed cancer at age 65 years or older from 9 regions continuously covered by the SEER registries since 1993. The first sample included the women receiving unilateral mastectomy for stage 0-IV cancer; the second included the women receiving the breast-conserving surgery with lymph node dissection (BCS/LND) for stage 0-II cancer. The proportions of patients receiving outpatient surgery increased from 3.2% to 19.4% for mastectomy and from 48.9% to 77.8% for BCS/LND from 1993 to 2002. We observed substantial geographic variation in the average proportion of the patients receiving outpatient surgery in the studied areas across the 10-year period, ranging from 3.9% in Connecticut to 27.2% in Utah for mastectomy and from 54.7% in Hawaii to 78.1% in Seattle, Washington, for BCS/LND. As the popularity of outpatient breast cancer surgery continues to grow, more evidence-based analyses related to quality and outcomes of outpatient breast cancer surgery among various populations are needed in order to facilitate the public debates about state and federal mandated health benefit legislations.
Aged ; Ambulatory Surgical Procedures ; statistics & numerical data ; trends ; Breast Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Connecticut ; Fee-for-Service Plans ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Hawaii ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; statistics & numerical data ; Mastectomy ; statistics & numerical data ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; statistics & numerical data ; Medicare ; Neoplasm Staging ; SEER Program ; United States ; Utah ; Washington