On October 27th, 2005, The Constitutional Court repealed the old law regarding advertising by the medical industry. Because the old law had been repealed, it was necessary to create a new law to take its place. Under the previous law on medical advertisement, both the advertisers and the industry were less regulated. Thus there was a concern about the potential widespread damage because of the lax controls regarding the advertisement of medical products. On January 3rd, 2007, a new law was passed to put tighter restrictions on medical advertising. The new law allows for higher quality advertising, allowing the consumers to make a more reasonable and safer decision, while stopping advertisements trying to exaggerate the functions or efficacies of certain medical products. The new system has been developed to better protect both the patients and the medical institutes. For this system to work, the cooperation and self regulation of the Korean Medical Association, Korean Dentist Association, and the Association of Korean Oriental Medicine is needed along with the cooperation of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Academies and Institutes ; Dentists ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Self-Control ; United States Dept. of Health and Human Services

No abstract available.
Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Estradiol* ; Female ; Follicular Fluid*

In order to study the range of flight and feeding activity of Anopheles sinensis, the dispersal experiment was conducted in Paju city, located in the northern part of Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea, during the period of 7th to 28th September 1998. Unfed females An. sinensis were collected in cowshed and released after being marked with fluorescent dye at 23:00 hours on the same day. Released female mosquitoes were recaptured everyday during 21 days using light traps, which were set at 10 sites in the cowsheds located 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 km north-northwest and north-northeast and at 3 sites located 1, 6 and 9 km toward south-west from the release point. In addition, to study the longest flight distance in one night, we set the light traps at 16 and 20 km toward north-northeast from the release site. All the collected mosquitoes were placed on filter papers and observed on UV transilluminator after treatment with one drop of 100% ethanol. Out of 12,773 females of An. sinensis released, 194 marked females mosquitoes were recaptured, giving 1.52% recapture rate. Of 194, 72 mosquitoes (37.1%) were recaptured in light traps from three places set at 1 km from the release point, 57 mosquitoes (29.4%) from two places at 1-3 km, 41 mosquitoes (21.1%) from three places at 3-6 km, 20 mosquitoes (10.3%) from three places at 6-9 km, and 4 mosquitoes (2.1%) from two places at 9-12 km. Since 170 female mosquitoes (87.6%) out of 194 marked mosquitoes were captured within 6 km from the release point, this flight radius represents the main activity area. An sinensis was found to be able to fly at least 12 km during one night.
Animals ; Anopheles/*physiology ; Entomology/methods ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; *Flight, Animal ; Fluorescent Dyes ; Korea ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic disease that can affect the cervical spine, especially the atlantoaxial region. The present study evaluated the risk factors for atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS) development and progression in patients who have undergone surgical treatment. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 62 patients with RA and surgically treated AAS between 2002 and 2015. Additionally, we identified 62 patients as controls using propensity score matching of sex and age among 12667 RA patients from a rheumatology registry between 2007 and 2015. We extracted patient data, including sex, age at diagnosis, age at surgery, disease duration, radiographic hand joint changes, and history of methotrexate use, and laboratory data, including presence of rheumatoid factor and the C-reactive protein (CRP) level. RESULTS: The mean patient age at diagnosis was 38.0 years. The mean time interval between RA diagnosis and AAS surgery was 13.6±7.0 years. The risk factors for surgically treated AAS development were the serum CRP level (p=0.005) and radiographic hand joint erosion (p=0.009). The risk factors for AAS progression were a short time interval between RA diagnosis and radiographic hand joint erosion (p<0.001) and young age at RA diagnosis (p=0.04). CONCLUSION: The CRP level at RA diagnosis and a short time interval between RA diagnosis and radiographic hand joint erosion might be risk factors for surgically treated AAS development in RA patients. Additionally, a short time interval between RA diagnosis and radiographic hand joint erosion and young age at RA diagnosis might be risk factors for AAS progression.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; C-Reactive Protein ; Diagnosis* ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints ; Methotrexate ; Propensity Score ; Retrospective Studies ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Rheumatology ; Risk Factors* ; Spine

Myasthenia Gravis can be considered a lymphocyte dyscrasia. We report four cases of myasLhenia gravis, who were treated with whole body irradiation. Total of 180 rad was delivered in 9 fractions for 3 weeks with every other day treabmenL Three out of four cases showed remarkable symptomatic improvement on follow-up during 3 months.
Follow-Up Studies ; Lymphocytes ; Myasthenia Gravis* ; Pilot Projects* ; Whole-Body Irradiation*

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the associations between 30-day mortality and various radiological and clinical factors in patients with traumatic acute subdural hematoma (SDH). During the 11-year study period, young patients who underwent surgery for SDH were followed for 30 days. Patients who died due to other medical comorbidities or other organ problems were not included in the study population. METHODS: From January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2014, 318 consecutive surgically-treated traumatic acute SDH patients were registered for the study. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to analyze 30-day survival rates. We also estimated the hazard ratios of various variables in order to identify the independent predictors of 30-day mortality. RESULTS: We observed a negative correlation between 30-day mortality and Glasgow coma scale score (per 1-point score increase) (hazard ratio [HR], 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52–0.70; p<0.001). In addition, use of antithrombotics (HR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.27–4.33; p=0.008), history of diabetes mellitus (HR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.20–4.32; p=0.015), and accompanying traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (hazard ratio, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.27–3.58; p=0.005) were positively associated with 30-day mortality. CONCLUSION: We found significant associations between short-term mortality after surgery for traumatic acute SDH and lower Glasgow Coma Scale scores, use of antithrombotics, history of diabetes mellitus, and accompanying traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage at admission. We expect these findings to be helpful for selecting patients for surgical treatment of traumatic acute SDH, and for making accurate prognoses.
Brain Injuries ; Comorbidity ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Hematoma, Subdural* ; Hematoma, Subdural, Acute ; Humans ; Methods ; Mortality* ; Prognosis ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Traumatic ; Survival Rate

Clinically, the infarction of posterior spinal arteries is rarely recognized due to rich anastomosis. As a result, there have been few clinical reports of posterior spinal artery infarction. A 38-year-old man experienced severe transitory neck and occipital pain after his friend had struck him on the cervical area. A few days later, he developed dysmetria, dysdiadochokinesia, and decreased vibration and position senses on the right side of his body. Routine laboratory find-ings, an echocardiogram, a work-up for connective tissue diseases, and CSF studies were all found to be normal. A MRI showed increased signals in the right posterior and posterolateral part of the lower medulla and some portion of the first cervical cord on T2- and proton-weighted images without significant enhancements. A cerebral angiogram showed a long narrow thread-like segment in the distal portion of the right vertebral artery, which was indicative of a dissection. The right posterior inferior cerebellar artery was not visualized.
Adult ; Arteries* ; Cerebellar Ataxia ; Connective Tissue Diseases ; Friends ; Humans ; Infarction* ; Lateral Medullary Syndrome ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neck ; Proprioception ; Spinal Cord ; Vertebral Artery ; Vibration

Bruxism has been defined as an oral parafunctional activity characterized by clenching, bracing, gnashing and grinding of teeth while asleep and or awake. While bruxism has been associated with a number of neurological diseases, it has been mostly highlighted following drug medication. We report 2 female patients of awake bruxism after citalopram medication. The bruxism in these patients was completely or significantly improved after cessation of citalopram. We discuss the pathophyisological mechanism of bruxsm associated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). These cases highlight that bruxism can occur in response to citalopram, as do in other SSRIs.
Braces ; Bruxism* ; Citalopram* ; Female ; Humans ; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors ; Tooth

Hydatid disease is a parasitic infection caused by the larvae of the cestode worms Echinococcus. In humans, the most commonly affected organ is the liver, the next second common organ is the lung. The third common affected organ is the spleen. In the case of splenic hydatid cyst, most cysts remain clinically silent and are diagnosed incidentally or when complications occur. We experienced a case of splenic hydatid cyst in a 28-year-old man. The patient complained of abdominal pain for 1 month. Abdominal ultrasound revealed a cystic lesion with daughter cysts in the spleen. The CT imaging also showed a cystic lesion with daughter cysts. We diagnosed it as a splenic hydatid cyst which was confirmed by pathology after surgery.
Abdominal Pain ; Adult ; Cestoda ; Echinococcosis ; Echinococcus ; Humans ; Larva ; Liver ; Lung ; Nuclear Family ; Spleen

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is known to involve the cervical spine up to 86%. It often causes cervical instability like atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS), subaxial subluxation, and vertical subluxation (VS). In order to find the relation between RA and cord compression, we will evaluate the characteristics and risk factors of basilar invagination (BI) and cervicomedullary junction (CMJ) compression.METHODS: From January 2007 to May 2015, 12667 patients administrated to Hanyang University Medical Center. Four thousand three hundred eighty-six patients took cervical X-ray and 250 patients took cervical computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Radiologic parameters, medication records were obtained from 242 patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed with correlation of CMJ compression, basin-dental interval (BDI), basin-posterior axial line interval (BAI), pannus formation, BI, and AAS.RESULTS: In the point of CMJ compression, atlantodental interval (ADI), posterior-atlantodental interval, BAI, AAS, and BI are relatively highly correlated. Patients with BI have 82 times strong possibility of radiologic confirmed CMJ compression, while AAS has 6-fold and pannus formation has the 3-fold possibility. Compared to the low incidence of BI, AAS and pannus formation have more proportion in CMJ compression. Furthermore, wrist joint erosion was correlated with VS and AAS.CONCLUSION: BI has a very strong possibility of CMJ compression, while AAS and pannus formation have a high proportion in CMJ compression. Hence bilateral wrist joint erosion can be used as an indicator for the timing of screening test for cervical involvement. We suggest the early recommendation of cervical spine examination for the diagnosis of cervical involvement in order to prevent morbidity and mortality.
Academic Medical Centers ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Logistic Models ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mass Screening ; Mortality ; Risk Factors ; Spine ; Wrist Joint