OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify factors influencing the willingness of healthcare consumers to use personal health records (PHR) and to investigate the requirements for PHR services. METHODS: A face-to-face interview was conducted with 400 healthcare consumers from the 3rd-18th of July 2008 using a structured questionnaire. To identity factors affecting the willingness to use PHR and to pay for PHR services, logistic regression analysis was performed. To investigate the requirements for PHR services according to the willingness of the consumers to use PHR and to pay for PHR services, t-test analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Of the 400 healthcare consumers, 239 (59.8%) were willing to use PHR and 111 (27.8%) were willing to pay for PHR services. The willingness to use PHR was higher in the elderly, those with a disease, and those with experience to use health information on the Internet, and the willingness to pay for PHR services was higher in those with a relatively high income (p<0.05). The willingness to use PHR was approximately 13.5 (95% CI=1.43-126.55) and 3 times (95% CI=1.18-8.74) higher in those with average monthly household incomes >6,000,000 won and 4,500,000-6,000,000 won, respectively, than in those earning <1,500,000 won, and approximately 1.96 times (95% CI=1.18-3.27) higher in those with experience using health information on the Internet than in those without experience. The willingness to pay for PHR services was approximately 5.9 times (95% CI=1.84-19.06) higher in those with an income of 4,500,000-6,000,000 won than in those with an income <1,500,000 won (p<0.05). Demands for test results, medication history, family history, problem list, genetic information, clinical trial information, and social history were significantly higher in those with a willingness to use PHR and those with a willingness to pay for PHR services than in those without willingness to use PHR and those without a willingness to pay for PHR services (p<0.05). Compared to those without a willingness to pay for PHR services, those with a willingness to pay for PHR services showed a significantly higher demand for all the functions (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that healthcare consumers potentially have a considerable demand for PHR services, and although it is not recognized and used widely yet, PHR is an essential service. In order to enhance people's awareness of PHR and to promote people to use PHR services, we need efforts and initiatives to execute campaigns and education for people to ease access to the service, and to reduce the gap in service utilization skills.
Aged ; Delivery of Health Care ; Electronic Health Records ; Family Characteristics ; Health Records, Personal ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: There are different models of skin substitutes, but no skin substitutes have the characteristics of native skin. It was reported that the incubation of skin substitutes in medium containing ascorbic acid extends cellular viability and promotes formation of an epidermal barrier in vitro. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of ascorbic acid on the proliferation of keratinocytes and on the reconstruction of epidermis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Normal human keratinocytes and fibroblasts were isolated and used for culturing living skin equivalent (LSE). RESULTS: When ascorbic acid was added, the expression of p63 and a6 integrin was definitely increased compared to control models. In addition, ascorbic acid increased the proliferation of normal human keratinocytes at a dose dependent manner. Especially, ascorbic acid induced the phosphorylation of ERK and up-regulation of EGF-R CONCLUSION: Results suggest that ascorbic acid is essential in the control of keratinocyte proliferation and basement membrane formation. Ascorbic acid-related keratinocytes proliferation is seemed to be mediated by ERK phosphorylation and EGF-R up-regulation.
Ascorbic Acid* ; Basement Membrane ; Epidermis ; Fibroblasts ; Humans ; Keratinocytes* ; Phosphorylation ; Skin* ; Skin, Artificial ; Up-Regulation

BACKGROUND: In Korea, 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) neonatal screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) has a high false positive rate. Preterm infants have higher levels of 17-OHP than term infants. We established the separate cutoff values of 17-OHP under the guideline of the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute C28-A3 to reduce a false positive rate. METHODS: The 17-OHP enzyme-immunoassay was used in blood spots of 22,601 newborns. To decide whether to partition cutoff values based on sex, sampling date and birth weight was assessed by Z-test and standard deviation (SD) ratio. If the result was significant, we estimated the cutoff value with 90% confidence intervals (CIs) using the nonparametric method. RESULTS: In the subclasses based on sex and sampling date, the results were not significant. However, the birth weight-adjusted subclasses (SD ratio > 1.5) showed that it was necessary to distinguish low-birth-weight infants from the others. We selected the subclass categories to reflect the concept of low- or very-low-birth-weight infant. The maximum percentile to define a 90% CI was chosen in each subclass. After applied the re-estimated cutoff value, the recall rate was decreased from 0.6% to less than 0.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The birth weight-adjusted cutoff value of 17-OHP in neonatal screening for CAH can be reduced the false positive rate of low-birth-weight infants. This approach would decrease unnecessary blood draws, medical evaluation, parental anxiety and burden on health care resources.
17-alpha-Hydroxyprogesterone ; Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital ; Anxiety ; Birth Weight ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Korea ; Neonatal Screening ; Parents ; Parturition

The prevalence of group B streptococcus (GBS) among pregnant women and disease burdens in neonates and adults are increasing in Korea. Colonizing isolates, collected by screening pregnant women (n=196), and clinical isolates collected from clinical patients throughout Korea (n=234), were serotyped and screened for antibiotic resistance. Serotype III (29.8%) and V (27.7%) predominated, followed by Ia (17.0%). Antibiotic resistance was higher among clinical than colonizing isolates for erythromycin (35.1% and 26.9%; P=0.10) and for clindamycin (49.4% and 42.1%; P=0.17). erm(B) occurred in 91.9% of erythromycin resistant isolates, and 84.0% of isolates resistant to clindamycin. Only five isolates (4.2%) resistant to erythromycin were susceptible to clindamycin; by contrast, and unique to Korea, 34% of isolates resistant to clindamycin were erythromycin susceptible. Among these 60 erythromycin-susceptible & clindamycin-resistant isolates, 88% was serotype III, and lnu(B) was found in 89% of strains. Four fifths of the serotype V isolates were resistant to both erythromycin and clindamycin. Further characterization of the genetic assembly of these resistance conferring genes, erm(B) and lnu(B), will be useful to establish the clonal lineages of multiple resistance genes carrying strains.

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma developed in tracheobronchjal tree is one of rare lung tumor. It is histologically divided into low grade malignancy of relatively benign course versus high grade malignancy of fatal course. In low grade malignancy, it can be curative with a surgical resection. We experienced a case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma in a 28-year-old woman who complained sudden dyspnea and presented right total lung collapse on chest roentgenogram. It was diagnesed as a low grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma and removed by the surgical excision.
Adult ; Carcinoma, Mucoepidermoid* ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Humans ; Lung ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide (NO) in articular chondrocytes regulates dedifferentiation and inflammatory responses by modulating MAP kinases. In this study, we investigated whether the Src kinase in chondrocytes regulates NO-induced dedifferentiation and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. METHODS: Primary chondrocytes were treated with various concentrations of SNP for 24 h. The COX-2 and type II collagen expression levels were determined by immunoblot analysis, and prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) was determined by using a PGE(2) assay kit. Expression and distribution of p-Caveolin and COX-2 in rabbit articular chondrocytes and cartilage explants were determined by immunohistochemical staining and immunocytochemical staining, respectively. RESULTS: SNP treatment stimulated Src kinase activation in a dose-dependent manner in articular chondrocytes. The Src kinase inhibitors PP2 [4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-7-(t-butyl)pyrazolo(3,4-d)pyrimidine], a significantly blocked SNP-induced p38 kinase and caveolin-1 activation in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, to determine whether Src kinase activation is associated with dedifferentiation and/or COX-2 expression and PGE(2) production. As expected, PP2 potentiated SNP-stimulated dedifferentiation, but completely blocked both COX-2 expression and PGE2 production. And also, levels of p-Caveolin and COX-2 protein expression were increased in SNP-treated primary chondrocytes and osteoarthritic and rheumatoid arthritic cartilage, suggesting that p-Caveolin may play a role in the inflammatory responses of arthritic cartilage. CONCLUSION: Our previously studies indicated that NO caused dedifferentiation and COX-2 expression is regulated by p38 kinase through caveolin-1 (1). Therefore, our results collectively suggest that Src kinase regulates NO-induced dedifferentiation and COX-2 expression in chondrocytes via p38 kinase in association with caveolin-1.
Cartilage ; Caveolin 1 ; Chondrocytes* ; Collagen Type II ; Cyclooxygenase 2* ; Dinoprostone ; Nitric Oxide ; Phosphotransferases*

Mucinous borderline tumors (MBT) of the ovary with mild to moderately atypical epithelial cells that produce mucin rarely recur and very rarely become malignant after surgery. Due to their low malignant potential and large tumor size, most cases are diagnosed in stage I and have a good prognosis. The authors reported a case of MBT, which had been left untreated after diagnosis, progressed to stage IV, and caused massive pleural effusion (>3,000 mL) resulting in death. Grossly, severe abdominal swelling, a huge multiloculated cystic mass in the left ovary, and a metastatic mucinous mass in the pleura and peritoneum were observed. Histological findings include gastrointestinal type epithelial cells with mucin secretion, degenerative and autolytic nuclei, and occasional infiltration of inflammatory cells. Because sufficient sections cannot be made according to the clinical pathology criteria in forensic autopsy, efficient decisions are required during autopsy for diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: The increasing incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has become a serious worldwide problem. However, there is insufficient data regarding the current status of MDR-TB and XDR-TB in Korea. This study examined the recent status of MDR- and XDR-TB using the data from 7 laboratories, in which almost all drug susceptibility tests (DST) for Mycobacterium tuberculosis were performed. METHODS: The patients' identification data and DST results were collected from all 7 laboratories from 2001 to 2006 and the number of patients with MDR-TB and XDR-TB were calculated. RESULTS: The number of DSTs was 140,638 for 6 years with an increasing incidence each year (p<0.001). The number of DST with MDR results was 18,510 and personal identifying information was obtained in 16,640 (89.9%) tests. The number of MDR-TB patients from 2001 to 2006 was 2,329, 2,496, 2,374, 2,300, 2,354, and 2,178, respectively, when counting the duplications in a year as one patient. The number of MDR-TB patients when counting the duplications in 6 years as one patient was 2,281, 1,977, 1,620, 1,446, 1,512, and 1,373, respectively. When the same method was adopted, the number of XDR-TB patients was 191, 238, 282, 260, 272, and 264, respectively, and 189, 150, 130, 90, 122, and 110 patients, respectively. CONCLUSION: Despite the national efforts to control TB, there are still a large number of MDR- and XDR-TB patients in Korea.
Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant

Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is one of the most serious complication occuring after solid organ transplantation. In general, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma of stomach has not been considered to be part of this spectrum, because most of the MALT lymphoma are associated with not EBV but H.pylori. Until now, there have been only a few cases of MALT lymphoma after transplantation. We report case of gastric MALT lymphoma following renal transplantation and review the reported cases in the literatures.
Herpesvirus 4, Human ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Kidney* ; Lymphoid Tissue ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone* ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders ; Organ Transplantation ; Stomach ; Transplants

Purpose: Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET-CT) is gaining evidence as a predictive factor in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) is the standard treatment in early-stage NSCLC when a patient is unsuitable for surgery. We performed a study to assess the prognostic clinical significance of PET-CT after SABR in early-stage NSCLC. Materials and Methods: Seventy-six patients with stage I NSCLC treated with SABR were investigated. Total radiation dose ranged from 36 to 63 Gy in three to eight fractions depending on tumor location and size. Respiratory motion control was implemented at simulation and during treatment. PET-CT prior to SABR was performed in 66 patients (86.8%). Results: Median follow-up time was 32 months (range, 5 to 142 months). Local control rate at 1, 2, and 5 years were 95.9%, 92.8%, and 86.7%, respectively. Overall survival (OS) at 1, 2, and 5 years were 91.0%, 71.3%, and 52.1% respectively. Cause-specific survival at 1, 2, and 5 years were 98.6%, 93.1%, and 84.3% respectively. Tumor size and pre-SABR maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax) demonstrated statistical significance in the Kaplan-Meier survival analyses with log-rank test. In multivariate analyses pre-SABR SUVmax remained statistically significant in correlation to OS (p=0.024; hazard ratio [HR], 3.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2 to 8.8) and with marginal significance in regards to regional progression-free survival (p=0.059; HR, 32.5; 95% CI, 2.6 to 402.5). Conclusion Pre-SABR SUVmax demonstrated a predictive power in statistical analyses. Tumors with SUVmax above 6 at diagnosis were associated with inferior outcomes.