BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death in industrialized countries including Korea. METHODS: The methodology of cardiovascular disease clinical trials, published in 'The Korean Circulation Journal(KCJ)' and in 'The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine (KJIM)' from 1971 to 1993 were reviewed. For the study period, a total of 169 research papers in this field, includion 155 papers in the KCJ and 14 in the KJIM, were reviewed. To review the methodology behind the cardiovascular disease clinical trials, presence of a control group, set up a primary end point, determined sample size and the statistical method to be used, report on the side effects, and consent of patients were checked. In cases involving clinical trials using control groups, rendomization and blinding were also analysed. RESULTS: Among clinical trials reviewed only 6 (4.0%) of the 169 papers were used a control group, and 46.7% were set up with a primary end point. There was no clinical trial which used statitical methods to estimate the sample size. Clinical trials which reported results with statistical methods were 107 to 169 papers;most of these used the student's paired t-test. The number reporting the side effects of intervention was 143(88.7%) and papers reporting with the consent of patients was 15(8.8%). CONCLUSION: Most of clinical trials reviewed did not use appropriate method for clinical trials. Methodologically well-designed clinical trials in cardiovascular disease should be performed to guarantee the validity of study result.
Cardiovascular Diseases* ; Cause of Death ; Developed Countries ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Korea* ; Sample Size

The purpose of this study was to identify the incidence of urinary incontinence in adult women and to identify factors related to life style and sexual intercourse that were related to incontinence. The sample consisted of 1,065 women living in Seoul or one of five provinces. Data for this study were collected from January 16 to June 23 using structured questionnaires. The Urinary Symptom Questionnaire developed by Jackson and a demographic questionnaire were used to collect the data. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage with and SPSS/PC+ program. The major finding are as follows : 1. The distribution of age of subjects was as follows : 20-29(10.1%), 30-39(17.8%), 40-49(27.3%), 50-59(22.3%), 60-69(12.9%), 70-79(6.1%), 80-89(2.8%), more than 90(0.6%). The frequency of normal delivery, 0(15.5%), 1-2(36.0%), 3-4(29.2%), 5-6(13.0%), more than 7(6.3%). The rate of subjects with menopause was 40.8%. 2. It was reported that 50.7% of the subjects experienced urinary incontinence with stress, mixed, and urgency incontinence being 49.8%, 43.4%, 6.8% respectively. 3. The lower urinary symptoms and incidence with urinary incontinence were as follows : Daily frequency, 22.3%, nocturia, 40.8%, urgency, 71.2%, bladder pain, 47.8%, unexplained incontinence, 32.4%, nocturnal incontinence, 16.1%, and frequency of incontinence, 37.7%. In term of quantity of incontinence, drop/pants damp, 29.5%, dribble/pants wet, 20.5%, flood or soaking through to outer clothing, 1.7%, and flood or running down legs or onto floor, 0.2%. 4. The symptoms related to sexual intercourse and incidence of urinary incontinence were as follows : dry vagina, 39.1%, sex life trouble, 10.8%, pain during sexual intercourse, 27.4%, and urine leakage during sexual intercourse, 8.8%. 5. Life style problems related to urinary incontinence were as follows ; fluid intake restriction, 20.0%, affected daily task, 24.5%, avoidance of places and situations, 35.0%, interference in physical activities, 30.6%, interference in relationships with other people, 19.0%, interference in relationship with husband/companion, 8.1%, and time after attack of urinary symptoms, 76.9%. In term of the feeling about the rest of their lives the women reported : perfectly happy, 11.3%, pleased, 16.9%, mostly satisfied, 20.2%, mixed feelings, 21.0%, mostly dissatisfied, 21.0%, very unhappy 8.5%, and desperate, 1.0%. In conclusion, this study was a preliminary study to provide nursing practices guidelines for incontinence in adult women. Nurses working with adult women should develop and provide adequate care for these women.
Adult* ; Clothing ; Coitus ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Leg ; Life Style ; Menopause ; Motor Activity ; Nocturia ; Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Running ; Seoul ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Incontinence* ; Vagina

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine smoking status and the relates factors in the rural elderly. METHODS: This study was conducted with 2,421 elderly people(male 1,273 and female 1,148) residing in the selected 25 villages, and face-to-face interviews with the subjects were made from January 1 through March 30, 2002. RESULTS: The average age of the male subjects was 72.7 and that of the female subjects 72.8. The investigation of smoking states showed that for male subjects, smokers accounted for 49.4%, nonsmokers 26.9%, and abstainers from smoking 23.7% and that for female subjects, smokers accounted for 18.3%, nonsmokers 75.4%, and abstainers from smoking 6.3%. The level of 'low ADL' was significantly higher in abstainers. In men, smoking rate had higher in alone, non-job, queerstreet, 'high ADL'. In women, smoking rate had higher in younger age, queerstreet, unhealthy, 'high ADL'. CONCLUSIONS: The smoking rate of the elderly was relatively high, especially at abstainers. The smoking status of elderly was correlated with age, family type, job, economic status by self-assessment, Self-recognition of health status, ADL level.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Self-Assessment ; Smoke ; Smoking

Paraquat is a bipyridilium nonselective contact herbicide and well-known pulmonary toxicants. Concentrated solution of paraquat may causes severe corrosive injury and multiple system organ failure. It is poorly absorbed from GI tract, but is extremely toxic and so one swallowed mouthful of Gramoxone(about 5ml) will be fatal. We experienced 3 cases of paraquat poisoning through injection and examined pathologic findings, medical records and concentration of paraquat in blood and tissues. We reviewed the mechanism of action of paraquat, pathologic changes of organ system, concentration of compound in the various organ and cause of death in autopsy cases.
Autopsy* ; Cause of Death ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Medical Records ; Mouth ; Paraquat* ; Poisoning*

Serum levels of T3, T4, TSH, 24-h RAIU and Thyroid antibodies were examined in 13 cases of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis who were diagnosed at the pediatric department of Yonsei University hospital during the period from 1978 to 1980. The results were as follows: 1. The age distribution was dispersed between 8 and 15 years of age and all the cases were female. 2. Common symptoms were Goiter, Poor Weight gain, fatigness, cold intolerance, lethargy, constipation and cold sweating. But in 5 cases(38%), there were no subjective symptoms. 3. The patients were classifed by their thyroid function state, as 1 case of hyperthroid group, 10 cases of euthyroid group, and 2 cases of hypothyroid group. 4. In the Euthyroid patients, Serum T3 concentration was 115-230ng/100ml)mean 167.4ng/100ml), T4 concentration 4.8-18.6microgram/100ml(mean 7.3 microgram/100ml) T3/T4 ratio 0.020-0.028(mean 0.024) and TSH was 37-60microU/ml(mean 49.5microU/ml). In the hyperthyroid patient, serum T3 concentration was 310ng/100ml. T4 concentration 14.9microgram/100ml, T3/T4 ratio 0.020 and TSH was 1.35microU/ml. 5. In 24-h RAIU, Euthyroid patients were in 2 cases of decreased state(15%), 2 cases of normal range (15~45%), and 6 cases of increased state(45%). All Hypothyroid patients were in normal range and hyperthyroid patient was in increased state. 6. Thyroglobulin antibody was positive in all the patients except 2 cases and microsomal antibody was positive in all the cases. 7.1 year of follow up study was performed in 4 cases of euthyroid patients, 1 case of hyperthroid patient, and 2 cases of hypothroid patients. There was no euthyroid patient who became hypothyroid state in the follow up study.
Age Distribution ; Antibodies ; Constipation ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Goiter ; Hashimoto Disease ; Humans ; Lethargy ; Reference Values ; Sweat ; Sweating ; Thyroglobulin ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroiditis* ; Weight Gain

No abstract available.
Trisomy*

PURPOSE: This study was to compare short arm double splint allowing forearm rotation with sugar tong splint in terms of loss of reduction and incidence of shoulder stiffness after closed reduction of the distal radius factures. METHODS: From June 2012 to February 2013, we retrospectively reviewed patients with distal radius fractures applied short arm double splint or sugar tong splint after closed reduction. Patients with more than 18 years old, acceptable reduction in X-ray and followed up at least 4 weeks were enrolled. Short arm double splint (SD) group was applied in 47 cases and sugar tong splint (ST) group was 34 cases. Gender, age and fracture types were not significantly different between two groups. The radiographic parameters were measured for palmar tilt, articular step-off, radial length, radial inclination, ulnar variance. The incidence and time of the reduction loss were also evaluated. In functional outcomes, the occurence of ipsilateral shoulder stiffness and the disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) score were evaluated with the medical records or telephone questionnaires at 6 months after initial trauma. RESULTS: Loss of reduction was occured 16 cases in SD group (34%) and 10 cases in ST group (29.4%), which did not differ significantly between the groups (p=0.169). The DASH score and shoulder stiffness were not statistically different between two groups. CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference in loss of reduction after closed reduction of distal radius fractures and functional outcomes in both groups.
Arm* ; Forearm ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Medical Records ; Radius Fractures* ; Radius* ; Retrospective Studies ; Shoulder ; Splints* ; Telephone

From June to October 2012, severe outbreaks of rust disease on Solidago virgaurea var. gigantea were observed in 5 different regions of Ulleung-do, Korea. Typical rust symptoms appeared as yellow spots, uredinia on leaves, and massive urediniospores covering the entire plant. Severely infected plants became discolored and died. On the basis of its morphological and molecular characteristics, the causal agent was identified as Coleosporium asterum. This pathogen has been reported as rust disease on S. virgaurea in the Canada and United States. In Korea, rust disease on S. virgaurea var. gigantea was reported as Uromyces rudbeckia in 1992. To the best of our knowledge, C. asterum is a novel rust pathogen on S. virgaurea var. gigantea in Korea.
Canada ; Disease Outbreaks ; Korea ; Plants ; Rudbeckia ; Solidago* ; United States

Four Cladobotryum isolates were collected from four different commercially grown mushroom types infected with cobweb disease in Cheongdo-gun and Chilgok-gun of Gyeongbuk Province, Korea in 2010. The isolates were identified as C. mycophilum from Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus eryngii, C. varium from Flammulina velutipes and Hypsizygus marmoreus. The cultural characteristics of the four isolates were investigated using potato dextrose agar (PDA) media under nine different temperatures ranging from 5~32degrees C. Rapid growth of the isolates to colony diameters of 47~82 mm was observed at conditions of 18~22degrees C. No growth was observed at 32degrees C. C. mycophilum produced a yellowish red pigment while C. varium produced a cream colored pigment after cultivation for 25 days on PDA. Phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region and partial 28S rDNA from the four isolates confirmed they were C. mycophilum and C. varium. Cross pathogenicity tests revealed that the two isolates of C. mycophilum were highly pathogenic toward three mushroom types, but not toward H. marmoreus. The two isolates of C. varium were less pathogenic than those of C. mycophilum, but were pathogenic toward all mushroom types evaluated.
Agar ; Agaricales ; Agaricus ; Cultural Characteristics ; DNA, Ribosomal ; Flammulina ; Glucose ; Korea ; Pleurotus ; Solanum tuberosum

Marssonina coronaria associated with apple blotch disease causes severe premature defoliation, and is widely distributed in Korea. Thirteen isolates were collected from orchards located in Gyeongbuk Province from 2005~2007. All isolates displayed over 99.6% and 99.2% sequence similarity to each other in internal transcribed spacer regions and partial sequences of 28S rDNA, respectively. The isolates were phylogenetically closely related to Chinese isolates. Selected isolates did not differ in their pathogenicity. The optimum conditions for fungal growth were 20degrees C and pH 6 on peptone potato dextrose agar (PPDA). Peptone and mannose were the best nitrogen and carbon source, respectively. Fungal growth was better on PPDA than on common potato dextrose agar. This study provides valuable information for integrated disease management program and facilitates the routine culturing of M. coronaria.
Agar ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Carbon ; Diazonium Compounds ; Disease Management ; DNA, Ribosomal ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Korea ; Mannose ; Nitrogen ; Peptones ; Phylogeny ; Pyridines ; Solanum tuberosum