BACKGROUND: It is well known that Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is hardly controllable organism among pathogens of nosocomial infection. The MRSA infection control measures have been initiated at a brand new tertiary care teaching hospital which was opened in June, 1994. However, the control measures did bring out little effect. In 1997, reenforcement of all control measures were practiced in intensive care units. The measures brought out a significant improvement in reducing the incidence of MRSA infection, subsequently the same control measures were implemented through-out the entire inpatient area. METHODS: The following control measures have been reenforced since March 1997: first, application of thorough surveillance of confirmed MRSA infected patients: second, providing cohort care: third, enforcing handwashing practices after patient contact; fourth, establishing infected patients isolation zone: fifth, tagging infected patient's bed and medical record, providing disinfectant spray for washing hands, identifying and treating carriers among patient contact staffs, separate disposal of contaminated wastes, and finally repeating education of nursing staff and family members of the patients. Each month the number of incidence in MRSA nosocomial infection were followed and the leu supervisors were notified the outcome. RESULTS: The incidence of MRSA infection started to decline soon after the initiation of the control measures, from 132% in March 1997 to 5.8% in July 1997. In 1998, the infection rate maintained close to 2-3%. There had been 467 MRSA infected cases (5.7%) out of 8,253 discharges during the study period; among them 319 cases were infected once; 40 cases twice; 15 cases three times: four cases four times and 1 case seven times. The order of preference of organs infected are lungs (56.3%), wounds(11.8%), blood (7.9%), and urinary tract (1.9%). The highest incidence of this infection was found in Medicine (34.8%) and Neurosurgery (22.8%) CONCLUSION: The implementation and reenforcement of infection control measures are key to successful control of nosocomial infection, in particular, hand washing of patient contact staffs and eradication of carriers could be the most effective measures.
Cohort Studies ; Cross Infection* ; Education ; Hand ; Hand Disinfection ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infection Control ; Inpatients ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Lung ; Medical Records ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Neurosurgery ; Nursing Staff ; Tertiary Healthcare ; Urinary Tract

Gene expression of nm23 has been investigated in many kinds of tumors, including breast cancers, colon cancers, hepatocellular carcinomas, papillary carcinomas of the thyroid and malignant melanomas since the nm23 was dislovered by Dr. Steeg as a tumor metastatic suppressor gene. Reduced expression of nm23 gene implicated in high metastatic potential in a variety of malignancies. However, there have been only a few reports on genetic alteration and expression of nm23 in human gastric carcinomas even though gastric carcinoma is a leading malignancy in Korea. In this study, we examined the expression of nm23 protein by immunohistochemistry in advanced and early gastric carcinomas, adenomas, matching normal mucosa to elucidate the role of nm23 in the development, progression and metastasis of human gastric carcinomas. The results are as follows; 1) Nm23 was expressed in 39 cases(69.6%) of 56 advanced gastric carcinomas. Among them, strong positive cases(grade 3) were 26(46.4%) and weak positive cases(grade 2) were 13(23.2%). 2) Nm23 expression was significantly different (P<0.05) depending on the site of the neoplasm. Antral carcinomas showed grade3 positivity in the 22/37 cases(60%), but carcinomas of the body showed negative (grade 1) result in about half(42.1%). 3) Nm23 expression was more intense in the neoplasm than normal mucosa.(67.9%) 4) Nm23 expression was not significantly related to the lymph node metastasis, invasion of lymphatics or veins and depth of invasion. 5) In the well differentiated carcinomas, grade3 were more common(64.0%). But in cases of signet ring cell carcinoma, many cases were negative(50.0%). 6) Nm23 expression rate and intensity was significantly increased from the normal mucosa to the gastric adenomas, early gastric carcinomas and advanced gastric carcinomas.
Humans ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Breast Neoplasms

Pulmonary endometriosis is a rare disease which is characterized by hemoptysis during menstruation (catamenial hemoptysis). We report a case of pulmonary endometriosis in a 33-year-old housewife. She has had regular menses with moderate flow and minimal dysmenorrhea. She had undergone curettage in May 1995 for artificial abortion. In July 1995, she experienced the first episode of hemoptysis. A chest CT scan revealed a 2.0 1.0 cm sized ill-defined soft tissue density in the periphery of anterior segment of the left upper lobe with a surrounding irregular ground-glass opacity. A left upper lobectomy was done under the diagnosis of pulmonary endometriosis. Cut section of the resected lung showed a round red-brownish solid lesion, measuring 2.0x1.0cm in cross. Microscopically a focus of the endometrial tissue, which was composed of endometrial glands and stroma, was found in the lung parenchyme and many hemosiderin laden macrophages were seen in the surrounding alveoli. The postoperative course was favorable with no further episodes of hemoptysis.
Adult ; Curettage ; Diagnosis ; Dysmenorrhea ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Hemoptysis ; Hemosiderin ; Humans ; Lung ; Macrophages ; Menstruation ; Rare Diseases ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

No abstract available.
Adenoma* ; Toes*

No abstract available.
Adhesives* ; Crowns* ; Resin Cements*

No abstract available.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome*

PURPOSE: We reviewed all the articles on effect of smoking cessation intervention to find out the way of improvement of it. METHOD: 48 researches were published in Korean journals from 1980 to 2007. The research were analyzed according to: major of first author, subjects, application of theoretical framework, contents of intervention, a term of intervention, the time of evaluation on effect of interventions, research design, dependant variables, and effect of interventions. RESULTS: Research on effect of smoking cessation intervention increased rapidly in the 2000's. At this time. 72.9% of research was published. Most of research subject were students. Theoretical framework were applied in 20.8% of articles. The most common intervention was education(39.4%). The effect of combined program on outcome variable was found to be stronger than only education program. Experimental design was used in 29.2% and quasi-experimental design was adapted in 43.8% of articles. 1-6 months intervention was in 35.4%. The long term intervention more than 1month was found to be effective. Health behavior related index was measured as a dependant variable in 62.3%. CONCLUSION: Accordingly, long term program to apply to various subject is needed.
Education ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Research Design ; Research Subjects ; Smoking Cessation*

PURPOSE: This study was carried out to identify premenstrual discomforts and coping patterns and their effects. METHOD: The participants of this study were 297 female university students in C area. The Menstrual Discomfort Questionaire (MDQ) and coping method lists were used as measurement tools. RESULTS: There were significant differences premenstrual discomforts according to age (F=5.76, p=.003) and according to health condition (F=3.43, p=.034). The mean scores of the sub-categorical factors of premenstrual discomfort were 2.35 points for pain, 2.29 for instability and 2.25 for water retention. The worst symptoms among the subcategories of premenstrual discomfort were as follows: backache (M=2.68) in the pain subcategory, irritability (M=2.53) in the instability subcategory and swelling(M=2.40) in the water retention subcategory. Their common coping patterns were "coping according to menstrual period", "active behavioral coping" and "evasional coping". Frequently used coping methods were "taking a rest and sleep (99.3%)" and "taking a warm shower (86.2%)". Effective coping methods were "taking a rest and sleep (89.5%)" and "taking a warm shower (87.1%)". CONCLUSION: Most participants have their own coping pattern. Some methods were very effective to PMS but some were not effective to PMS. To manage PMS, effective coping methods should be encouraged for female university students. To keep up with effective coping, education and counseling should be continued. It is considered necessary to make the same research with a larger number of samples and more specified assessment.
Back Pain ; Counseling ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Water

PURPOSE: This research is to understand the effects of senior simulation on employees of elderly care facilities and utilize it in their job training. METHODS: This research is a nonequivalence control group pre-to-post quasiexperiment research. 18 employees who have experienced senior simulation are set as test group and 18 other employees who have not experienced senior simulation are set as control group. RESULTS: The hypothesis that 'the test group which has experienced senior simulation will show a positive change in their attitude on elderly care, compared to the control group' and 'the test group which has experienced senior simulation will show a positive change in understanding of elders, compared to the control group' was supported. The hypothesis that 'the test group which has experienced senior simulation will show a positive change in job satisfaction and performance of duties, compared to the control group' was dismissed. CONCLUSION: The senior simulation seems to contribute to elderly care facilities employees' change in their viewpoints of elders and broaden their understanding of them. The senior simulation was meaningful to provide basic help with implementing job training programs.
Aged ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Nursing Homes

Sjögren-Larsson syndrome(SLS) is a rare hereditable disease characterized by congenital ichthyosis, spastic diplegia and mental retardation. Along with the typical triad of symptoms, many patients with this disease have short stature, kyphosis and glistening dots in the retina of the eye. The pathogenesism is unknown but recent studies suggest that SLS might be, at least in part, a disorder of fatty acid metabolism. We describe a patient with a pathognomonic finding in the fundus and with the classic features of SLS.
Cerebral Palsy ; Humans ; Ichthyosis ; Intellectual Disability ; Kyphosis ; Metabolism ; Retina ; Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome*