No abstract available.
Female ; Humans ; Prevalence*

No abstract available.
Snake Bites* ; Snakes*

No abstract available.
Snake Bites* ; Snakes*

No abstract available.
Amniocentesis* ; Chorion* ; Chorionic Villi Sampling* ; Chorionic Villi* ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women*

BACKGROUND: Community-acquired pneumonia is one of the main causes of hospitalization and death, especially in elderly patients. There have been many studies on prognosis for community-acquired pneumonia, but few in Korea. We sought to identify characteristics on admission predicting mortality in elderly patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia and to compare mortality rates by PORT score with PORT study's ones. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 267 patients aged 65 years and over admitted with community- acquired pneumonia from January 2000 to December 2002. We reviewed demographic, clinical, laboratory, microbiological and radiologic data and identified independent factors associated with the mortality using logistic regression analysis. We classified patients into risk classes by PORT score and calculated the mortality rate. RESULTS: Among of 267 patients, 48 (18.0%) died. We identified six independent predictors of mortality; male (OR, 2,496; 95% CI, 1,012~6,153), lung cancer (OR, 3,409; 95% CI, 1,302~8,920), general weakness (OR, 5.218; 95% CI, 2,140~12,718), unable to walk (OR, 9,232; 95% CI, 2,228~38,257), BUN > or =30 mg/dL (OR, 3,327; 95% CI, 1.072~10.327), albumin <3 g/dL (OR, 3,219; 95% CI, 1,351~7,670) and pleural effusion (OR, 3.135; 95% CI, 1,052~9,342). Mortality rates of risk class II-V by PORT score were 6.7%, 9.5%, 30.4% and 34.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: There were factors that were associated with mortality in elderly patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia.
Aged* ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Lung Neoplasms ; Male ; Mortality* ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumonia* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.
Cervix Uteri* ; Female

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the relationship of occupational class and educational background with proportional mortality ratios in Korea. METHODS: Mortality was investigated using the entire registered death data from 1993 to 2004, obtained from the Korean National Statistics Office. Proportional mortality ratios (PMRs) for specific diseases were calculated according to the occupational class and educational background of men aged 20-64. RESULTS: Manual workers were found to have higher PMRs for liver disease and traffic accidents, as did the lower educated group. Especially, this study showed trends of an increasing of the wide gap between lower and higher socioeconomic stati for liver disease, traffic accidents, diabetes mellitus and cerebral vascular disease. The mortality for cerebrovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, traffic accident and liver disease showed increasing trends according to the calendar year for the lower than the higher social class. CONCLUSIONS: The specific conditions that had higher PMRs in the Korean lower social class were liver disease and traffic accidents. Especially, there was an increasing trend for a widening of the gap between manual and nonmanual groups in relation to mortality from liver disease, diabetes mellitus and traffic accidents.
Socioeconomic Factors ; Odds Ratio ; Occupations/*classification/statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Liver Diseases/mortality ; Korea/epidemiology ; Humans ; *Educational Status ; Diabetes Mellitus/mortality ; Cerebrovascular Disorders/mortality ; Cause of Death/*trends ; Adult ; Accidents, Traffic/mortality

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) is performed conventionally with cold knifes and electrocautery under general anesthesia. Although laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP) reduced the need of general anesthesia and bleeding, it still has such problems as severe pain or scar contracture. Coblation electrosurgery is known to be less painful by thermal ablation with low heat. However, comparative studies on the merits and demerits between various surgical techniques are lacking. The aim of this study is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each surgical method by comparing the surgical outcomes between conventional UPPP and Coblation-assisted UPPP (CUPPP), and between LAUP and Coblation-assisted uvulopalatoplasty (CAUP). MATERIALS AND METHOD: Conventional UPPP (N=25) and CUPPP (N=18) were performed on 43 patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and LAUP (N=21) and CAUP (N=7) on 28 patients with mild OSA or snoring, respectively. Postoperative subjective degrees of apnea, snoring and pain, operation time, amount of intraoperative bleeding and episodes of delayed bleeding were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Early postoperative pain and intraoperative bleeding were observed less in the CUPPP group than in the conventional UPPP group. Operation time was shorter and intraoperative bleeding was less in the LAUP group than in the CAUP group. Early postoperative pain was less in the CAUP group than in the LAUP group. CONCLUSION: Thorough knowledge regarding advantages and limitations of different UPPP or uvulopalatoplasty methods is required for clinicians to make appropriate use of surgical tools.
Anesthesia, General ; Apnea ; Cicatrix ; Contracture ; Electrocoagulation ; Electrosurgery ; Hemorrhage ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Pain, Postoperative ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Snoring

A 28-year-old primi gravida visited our department at 20 weeks gestation. The ultrasound screening revealed twin gestation, and follow up screening revealed a bilobed large fetal neck mass in the 1st twin. We measured thyroid volume with ultrasound which was 5.072 cm3. Other fetal organs appeared normal. Cordocentesis was performed for fetal thyroid function and congenital hypothyroidism was confirmed. In addition, maternal thyroid hormones were checked. The other fetus was normal. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in the maternal serum was increased, but thyroxine (T3) was (within normal range). Two weeks later, we checked TSH and free T4 in amniotic fluid and administered intra-amniotic thyroxine (200 ?g). We repeated the procedures 2 more times in two consecutive weeks. After 3 intra-amniotic thyroxine injection, follow-up cordocentesis revealed euthyroid status of the fetus. Although the thyroid gland had decreased in size and volume, it was still goitrous. At 36 weeks of gestation, the patient was admitted for preterm premature rupture of the membranes and the twin was delivered vaginally. The 1st twin was proved as an euthyroid status and antithyroid antibody was not detected. During the 3 years follow up, the baby had no considerable developmental problem. The intrauterine recognition and treatment of congenital goitrous hypothyroidism may not only reduce the obstetric complications associated with large goiters, but possibly improve the prognosis for normal growth and mental development of affected fetuses.
Adult ; Amniotic Fluid ; Congenital Hypothyroidism ; Cordocentesis ; Female ; Fetal Membranes, Premature Rupture ; Fetus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Goiter ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; Mass Screening ; Membranes ; Neck ; Pregnancy ; Prognosis ; Rupture ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Hormones ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine ; Twins

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of multiple cardiovascular risk factors. There are many suggestions that decreased Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is associated with cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to find out the association between metabolic syndrome and HRV and to find out the affecting factors to HRV. METHODS: The study subjects were people who visited a health promotion or obesity center of a medical college in Suwon from January to February, 2002. Healthy 149 subjects were divided into two groups of metabolic vs non-metabolic syndrome. Mean Heart Rate (MHR), Standard Deviation of N-N interval (SDNN), The Square Root of the Mean Squared Difference of successive NN intervals (RMSSD), Total Power (TP), Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF), and LF/HF ratio were used as the indices of HRV. T-test was used to compare the HRV of metabolic and non-metabolic syndrome, and multiple regression analysis was used to find out the affecting factors to HRV. RESULTS: HRV indices were significantly lower in metabolic syndrome. The mean+/-SD of SDNN, RMSSD, TP, LF, HF of metabolic vs non-metabolic syndrome was 39.2+/-14.5 vs 32.9+/-10.8 (ms, P=0.015), 30.5+/-14.6 vs 23.3+/-11.6 (ms, P=0.006), 1270.0+/-975.3 vs 893.2+/-652.6 (ms2, P=0.028), 354.4+/-410.8 vs 198.3+/-259.2 (ms2, P=0.008), 273.3+/-292.1 vs 148.9+/-137.2 (ms2, P=0.001), respectively. RMSSD and LF significantly decreased in the hypertensive group. Parameter estimate was 5.52 (ms, P=0.041), and 217.63 (ms2, P=0.002), respectively. TP and LF decreased as HDL cholesterol decreased. Parameter estimate was 24.31 (ms2, P=0.02), 11.12 (ms2, P=0.008), respectively. CONCLUSION: The HRV decreased in metabolic syndrome, and BP and HDL-cholesterol significantly affected HRV.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol, HDL ; Gyeonggi-do ; Health Promotion ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Obesity ; Risk Factors