Pelvic visceral pain associated with both cancer and chronic benign conditions may be alleviated by superior hypogastric plexus block (SHPB). The complications of SHPB include infection, bleeding, or intravascular injection because of the adjacent location of the iliac vessel to the route of needle insertion, and pelvic visceral damage. However, acute ureteral obstruction leading to acute renal failure (ARF) as a complication of SHPB has not been reported to date in the literature. We report a patient with ARF that resulted from acute ureteral obstruction following SHPB performed for the relief of lower abdominal pain and tenesmus in metastatic ureter cancer.
Abdominal Pain ; Acute Kidney Injury ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypogastric Plexus* ; Needles ; Ureteral Neoplasms ; Ureteral Obstruction* ; Visceral Pain

Traumatic dislocation of the peroneal tendon is an infrequent injury. This injury is caused by forceful dorsiflexion of the foot accompanied by a powerful contraction of the peroneal muscles. This mechanism of injury tears the superior peroneal retinaculum and allows the tendons to snap anteriorly. We experienced a case of chronic recurrent dislocation of the peroneal tendon, which was treated by bone block surgery using autograft of lateral fibula and reattachment of the superior peroneal retinaculum. The clinical result was satisfactory.
Autografts ; Dislocations* ; Fibula ; Foot ; Muscles ; Tendons*

No abstract available.
Electrocardiography* ; Family Practice* ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: This study measures serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in tire-manufacturing workers, and attempts to find occupational or non-occupational factors that related to their PSA levels. METHODS: A total of 1,958 healthy male workers (1,699 were production workers and 259 were office workers) took PSA measurement for analysis. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, body mass index, hypertension, regular exercise, alcohol drinking and smoking, which were significantly related to serum PSA levels or known related factors of serum PSA levels, the geometric mean PSA levels were significantly high in the office workers (p = 0.017), the older age group (p < 0.001), the group with hypertension (p = 0.046) and the group of individuals that do not exercise regularly (p = 0.015) and the office workers were more likely to have a serum PSA level of > or =4.0 (OR 7.73, 95% CI: 2.78-21.46) or 2.5 ng/mL (OR 2.74, 95% CI: 1.49-5.08). After stratifying by age and adjusting aforementioned covariates, office workers 50 years of age and older had the significantly higher geometric mean PSA levels (p = 0.017) and were more likely to have a serum PSA level of > or =4.0 ng/mL (OR 12.90, 95% CI: 3.65-45.64) or 2.5 ng/mL (OR 3.90, 95% CI: 1.64-9.25) than production workers 50 years of age and older. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that serum PSA levels were significantly higher among the group with hypertension or the group of individuals that did not exercise regularly or group of office workers who were considered to have lesser physical activities.
Alcohol Drinking ; Body Mass Index ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Male ; Motor Activity ; Occupations ; Prostate-Specific Antigen* ; Sedentary Lifestyle ; Smoke ; Smoking

BACKGROUND: An outbreak of eye diseases occurred among workers at a poultry abattoir in South Korea from December 2012 to June 2013. An epidemiological investigation of the causative agent was conducted. The workers were given a special health examination and workplace environmental monitoring was performed. Workers with ocular symptoms subsequently underwent an ophthalmic examination. CASE PRESENTAION: From a total of 41 workers, 26 (63.4 %) were diagnosed with keratoepitheliopathy by ophthalmic examination. Environmental monitoring of the workplace revealed that the ultraviolet (UV) apron-disinfection lamp had not been turning off at the set times, and so the workers’ faces had been exposed to UV radiation. Effective radiation dose measurement showed a UV-B exposure of 7-30 μW/cm2, and a UV-C exposure of 40-200 μW/cm2; both values exceed the occupational exposure limits. The outbreak ceased after the lamp was repaired. CONCLUSIONS: This case shows that inappropriate use of the UV disinfection lamp can cause mass photokeratitis. In order to prevent this, the UV disinfection lamp must be checked regularly, workers must be educated on the health effects of UV radiation, and appropriate eye protection must be worn.
Abattoirs* ; Disinfection* ; Environmental Monitoring ; Eye Diseases ; Keratitis* ; Korea ; Occupational Exposure ; Poultry*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic disease that characteristically has a relapsing and remitting course. Probiotics might possibly induce remission in the treatment of active UC. Aims of our study were to assess the efficacy of VSL#3 on clinical response and colonic tissue cytokine concentration changes in patients with active UC. METHODS: Twenty-four eligible patients with mild to moderate UC received open-label VSL#3 4 sachets daily in 2 divided doses for 8 weeks. The disease activity pre- and post-VSL#3 therapy was assessed by ulcerative colitis disease activity score and colonic tissue cytokine profiling done at baseline and at week 8. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients (mean age, 43.7 years; range, 20-70 years; male/female, 15/9) were enrolled and 2 patients did not have the final endoscopic assessment. A total of 22 patients were analyzed. Intent to treat analysis demonstrated remission in 45.8% of subjects (n=11); partial response in 20.8% (n=5); no change or worse in 25.0% (n=6) of subjects. The mean ulcerative colitis disease activity index (UCDAI) scores decreased from 7.09+/-1.81 to 1.45+/-1.29 in patients with a remission (p<0.001). The mean endoscopic scores had also significantly decreased from 1.91+/-0.54 to 0.63+/-0.50 in patients with a remission (p<0.001). The concentrations of colonic cytokines did not change significantly during treatment in patients with a remission. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that VSL#3 is effective in achieving clinical responses and remissions in patients with mild-to moderately active UC, further supporting the potential role in UC therapy.
Adult ; Aged ; Colitis, Ulcerative/*therapy ; Cytokines/metabolism ; Drug Administration Schedule ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Probiotics/*therapeutic use ; Severity of Illness Index

No abstract available.
Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; Bacterial Proteins/chemistry/genetics/metabolism ; Brucella melitensis/classification/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Brucellosis/*diagnosis/drug therapy/microbiology ; Doxycycline/therapeutic use ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Phylogeny ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Republic of Korea ; Rifampin/therapeutic use ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Spondylitis/diagnostic imaging

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between insomnia and hearing impairment among workers exposed to occupational noise. METHODS: This study included 809 male workers exposed to occupational noise. The participants underwent audiometric testing, and their insomnia was examined based on the Insomnia Severity Index test. Hearing impairment was defined as hearing threshold >25 dB hearing level in the range of 1–4 kHz. RESULTS: According to analysis of covariance, it was observed that pure tone audiometry thresholds at 1–2 kHz in the right ear and at 1 kHz in the left ear were significantly higher among workers with insomnia compared to those with no insomnia. Multiple logistic regression analysis of insomnia for hearing impairments was performed, which showed the odds ratio was 1.806 (95% confidence intervals: 1.022–3.188, p = 0.042) after adjustment for age, working period, noise level, snoring, use of protection devices, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, smoking, alcohol consumption, regular exercise, waist circumference, total cholesterol, triglyceride and high density lipoprotein cholesterol. CONCLUSION: Insomnia could be associated with hearing impairment in workers who are exposed to occupational noise. Additionally, insomnia may be associated with decreased hearing at low frequencies. Especially, more efforts are required to improve the quality of sleep for workers who are exposed to loud occupational noise. Further well- designed prospective studies are needed to clarify the relationship between insomnia and hearing impairment.
Alcohol Drinking ; Audiometry ; Cholesterol ; Cholesterol, HDL ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Ear ; Hearing Loss* ; Hearing* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Logistic Models ; Male* ; Noise ; Noise, Occupational* ; Odds Ratio ; Prospective Studies ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Snoring ; Triglycerides ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Colorectal cancer (CRC) with microsatellite instability (MSI) has a better prognosis than CRC with microsatellite stable (MSS). Recent studies have reported biological differences according to tumor location in CRC. In this study, we investigated the clinical significance of MSI in patients with right-sided CRC. METHODS: The medical records of 1,009 CRC patients diagnosed at our institute between October 2004 and December 2016 with MSI test results were retrospectively reviewed. The long-term outcomes of CRC patients with MSI were assessed with respect to tumor location using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression models. RESULTS: The median follow-up duration for all 1,009 study subjects was 25 months (interquartile range, 15–38). One hundred twenty-four of the study subjects had MSI (12.3%) and 250 had right-sided CRC (24.8%). The patients with MSI and right-sided CRC had better disease-free survival (DFS) than those with MSS as determined by the log-rank test (p=0.013), and this result was significant in females (p=0.035) but not in males with right-sided CRC. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed MSS significantly predicted poor DFS in patients with right-sided CRC (hazard ratio 3.97, 95% CI 1.30–12.15, p=0.016) and in female patients (hazard ratio 4.69, 95% CI 1.03–21.36, p=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: The study shows MSI is a useful predictor of DFS in patients with right-sided CRC, especially in female patients.
Colorectal Neoplasms ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gender Identity ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Records ; Microsatellite Instability ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to present the normative information of the Mini-Mental State Examination-Dementia Screening (MMSE-DS) and its short form (SMMSE-DS) in the Korean elderly. METHODS: The MMSE-DS was administered in a standardized manner to 1,008 healthy volunteers aged 60 years or over recruited from participants in the Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging or from volunteers in the National Dementia Screening and Registry Program. The SMMSE-DS was consisted of 13 items from the MMSE-DS based on the diagnostic accuracy of individual items for dementia. RESULTS: Age and educational level were found to have significant effect on the SMMSE-DS score, but sex was not. Based on this result, overlapping age normative table (60 to 74, 70 to 84, and 75 to 90 years of age) with 4 educational strata (0 to 3 years, 4 to 6 years, 7 to 12 years and 13 years and more) was developed for the SMMSE-DS. For resulting 12 normative units, 5 percentile, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, mean, standard deviation and -1.5standard deviation were calculated. CONCLUSION: The normative data from this study can be widely used as reference values to objectively interpret the MMSE-DS and SMMSE-DS scores of the Korean elderly.
Aged ; Aging ; Dementia ; Humans ; Longitudinal Studies ; Mass Screening ; Mild Cognitive Impairment ; Reference Values