This study was done to evaluate the health and nutritional status of female college students in Seoul. The subjects were 63 healthy college students aged 20 to 29 years. Their body composition, dietary intakes, clinical blood indices were investigated. Their body composition was determined by means of a multifreqency bioelectrical impedance analysis. Their dietary intake was determined using 3-day record method and their nutrient intake was analyzed by Computer Aided Nutritional analysis program for professional (CAN-pro). Their hemoglobin, hematocrit, red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) were determined by semi-automated microcell counter (F-520). Their plasma total cholesterol, TG, and HDL-cholesterol levels were measured using test kits. All data were statistically analyzed by SAS PC package program. Their average consumption of calcium, iron vitamin A, vitamin B2 and niacin were 63.3%, 65.0%, 85.2%, 89.2% and 95.2% of RDA, respectively. The overall mean values of the hematological indices in the female college students were within the normal range. However anemic subjects with hemoglobin (< 12 g/dl) and hematocrit (< 36%) accounted for about 20% of the subjects. The mean levels of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and TG were 188.4 mg/dl, 69.9 mg/dl and 67.4 mg/dl, respectively. The percentages of the subjects with plasma total cholesterol level (> 200 mg/dl) and LDL-cholesterol (> 130 mg/dl) were about 41% and 30.4%, respectively. The data showed a significantly positive correlation between either body fat (%) or BMI and TG. However, there was a significantly negative correlation between either body fat (%) or BMI and HDL-cholesterol. These overall results suggest that it is necessary for college women to be educated regarding consuming more iron and vitamin C and less fat, in order to prevent iron deficiency anemia and/or cardiovascular diseases in later life.
Adipose Tissue ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Ascorbic Acid ; Body Composition* ; Calcium ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Eating* ; Electric Impedance ; Erythrocyte Indices ; Erythrocytes ; Female* ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Iron ; Leukocytes ; Niacin ; Nutritional Status ; Plasma ; Reference Values ; Riboflavin ; Seoul ; Vitamin A

PURPOSE: The purpose of this clinical trial was to evaluate the fixation method for treating alveolar fractures in an emergency department. METHODS: The efficiency of using the fixation method was judged on the basis of clinical criteria. Stability, occlusion state, bleeding amount after fixation, operation time, and difficulties during procedural operation were recorded. RESULTS: Eight patients were enrolled in this study. In all instances, the fixation method was effective in bleeding control. Each patient had a noticeable decrement in bleeding. A wire was used for four of the eight patients, and nylon strings was used for the others. The average operation time was 6.3 minutes for the wire patients and 2.8 minutes for the Nylon string patients. No specific problem was identified during the procedural operation. However, the difference in the fixation material influenced the effectiveness of the procedure, the operation time, and the satisfaction of the doctor. CONCLUSION: In the emergency department, the fixation method using wire or nylon string in the treatment of alveolar fractures is effective in bleeding control.
Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Fractures, Bone* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Nylons

PURPOSE: The p27 gene as a tumor suppressor gene is associated with colorectal cancer, gastric cancer and breast cancer. Some studies have shown a relationship between the underexpression of p27 and lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between a p27 expression of the papillary thyroid cancer cells obtained by fine needle aspiration (FNA) and cervical lymph node metastasis. METHODS: This study included 60 patients with papillary thyroid cancer and who underwent total thyroidectomy or lobectomy. Central lymph node dissection was routinely done. Out of these patients, 30 patients underwent a FNA procedure during the operation. Immunohistochemical staining for p27 antibody was performed on the papillary thyroid cancer tissues and cells. RESULTS: Cervical lymph node metastasis is correlated with the tumor size and lymphovascular invasion (P<0.001). The underexpression of p27 for the papillary thyroid cancer tissues and cells was associated with lymph node metastasis (P=0.009). CONCLUSION: An evaluation of the p27 expression for the papillary thyroid cancer cells obtained by FNA may be useful as a predictor for lymph node metastasis before surgery.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Breast Neoplasms ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes* ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms* ; Thyroidectomy

PURPOSE: This research was done to assess the effectiveness of two manual reduction techniques for elbow subluxation and to determine which technique was less painful during trial of manual reduction. METHODS: A prospective, controlled, randomized survey was conducted on children who presented to the Emergency Department (ED) of an inner-city university hospital with clinical features and physical findings suggestive of an elbow subluxation between Mar 1, 2007 and February 28, 2008. We evaluated the success rate of each reduction technique and the pain scale during trial of manual reduction. We classified each group into 2 subgroups (under 3 years of age and over 3 years of age) for evaluating the pain score. The degree of pain was determined using the FLACC scale (under 3 years of age) and faces pain scale (over 3 years of age). RESULTS: One hundred and four children were enrolled in our study and they were equally divided into a supination group (SG) and a pronation group (PG). There was no statistically significant difference with regards to the demographic data between the two groups. The success rate for the SG was 85.7% and for PG was 91.7% (p=0.32). For patients under 3 years of age, the FLACC scale for the SG was 5.14 and for PG was 3.82 (p=0.01). For patients over 3 years of age, the face pain scale for the SG was 5.5 and for PG was 5.54 (p=0.83). CONCLUSION: Both reduction techniques are useful for reducing elbow subluxations. In case of children under 3 years old, we believe that the pronation technique is a better option due to lesser pain produced compared to the supination technique.
Child ; Dislocations ; Elbow ; Elbow Joint ; Emergencies ; Facial Pain ; Humans ; Pain Measurement ; Pronation ; Prospective Studies ; Supination

BACKGROUND: Recent evidences indicate that early rapid renal function decline is closely associated with the development and progression of diabetic kidney disease. We have investigated the association between carotid atherosclerosis and rapid renal function decline in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and preserved renal function.METHODS: In a prospective, multicenter cohort, a total of 967 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and preserved renal function were followed for 6 years with serial estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) measurements. Common carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and presence of carotid plaque were assessed at baseline. Rapid renal function decline was defined as an eGFR decline >3.3% per year.RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 6 years, 158 participants (16.3%) developed rapid renal function decline. While there was no difference in CIMT, the presence of carotid plaque in rapid decliners was significantly higher than in non-decliners (23.2% vs. 12.2%, P<0.001). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, presence of carotid plaque was an independent predictor of rapid renal function decline (odds ratio, 2.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.48 to 3.68; P<0.0001) after adjustment for established risk factors. The model including the carotid plaque had better performance for discrimination of rapid renal function decline than the model without carotid plaque (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.772 vs. 0.744, P=0.016).CONCLUSION: Close monitoring of renal function and early intensive management may be beneficial in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and carotid plaques.
Carotid Artery Diseases ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Carotid Stenosis ; Cohort Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; ROC Curve

BACKGROUND: The intestinal microbiota plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile-associated diarrhea, and regional and racial characteristics influence the microbiome composition and diversity. We investigated the intestinal microbiome characteristics of patients with C. difficile colitis (CD+) compared to those of patients with colitis not due to C. difficile (CD−), patients with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) colonization, and healthy controls, in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We collected stool samples from 24, 18, 11 and 13 subjects within CD+, CD−, VRE and healthy control groups, respectively. The microbial communities were evaluated by 454-pyrosequencing of bacterial 16s rRNA. RESULTS: The species richness and microbial diversity were significantly lower in the CD+ group compared to those in healthy controls, but not compared to those in CD− and VRE groups. Phylum-level analysis showed that the proportion of Actinobacteria in the CD+ group was significantly lower than in the healthy control, but was unchanged compared to that in CD− and VRE groups. At the genus level, compared to the healthy group, the CD+ group showed significantly lower proportions of Blautia, Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium et al. Compared to the VRE group, the CD+ group showed a significantly higher proportion of Anaerostipes. CONCLUSIONS We could identify the intestinal microbiome characteristics of Koreans with C. difficile colitis. It might help to develop microbiome based diagnostic and treatment modalities.

BACKGROUNDS: Living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been established as an efficacious option to resolve the shortage of cadaveric donor organs for pediatric recipients. This surgical innovation has significantly reduced the pretransplantation mortality for children, but the crisis of increasing scarcity of donor organs in our hospital has led us to extend LDLT to adult recipients. However, the extension of LDLT from pediatric recipients to adult recipients has been made only with limited success largely because of the inability of a relatively small-size left-lobe graft to meet the metabolic demands of an adult recipient. It has been postulated that a left-lobe graft smaller than 40% of the recipient's standard liver volume will not result in a successful adult-to-adult LDLT in chronic parenchymal liver disease. METHODS: From February 1997 to October 1997, 10 LDLTs, using 9 extended left-lobe grafts and 1 right-lobe graft, were performed on patients with end-stage parenchymal liver diseases (9 cases of B-hepatitis-induced cirrhosis with or without an associated hepatocellular carcinoma and 1 case of alcoholic cirrhosis) at the Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center. The ratios of the graft to the standard liver volume of the recipients were in the range of 30% to 55%. RESULTS: All grafts showed immediate function, but delayed normalization of the serum total bilirubin was demonstrated in all recipients receiving left-lobe grafts. There were no mortalities and serious complications in donors. Two recipients died of sepsis 21 days and 40 days after transplantation, and 8 recipients (80%) are alive with good liver function at a median follow-up of 5.1 months (range 2~10 months). CONCLUSIONS: The aim of this article is to report our experience with adult-to-adult LDLT shows that a graft size greater than 30% of the recipient's standard liver volume is able to meet the metabolic demands of adult recipients with chronic parenchymal liver disease and that LDLT might open a new donor pool for adult recipients when the supply of cadaveric organs is severely restricted.
Adult ; Alcoholics ; Bilirubin ; Cadaver ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Child ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Fibrosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Living Donors* ; Mortality ; Sepsis ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants