No abstract available.
Methicillin ; Methicillin Resistance ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus aureus

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is that the prevalence of rotavirus infection was evaluated by each group and clinical features of group A, B and C rotaviruses infections were described respectively to compare one with another. METHODS: Between January 2010 and December 2010, we enrolled a group of children below 10 years of age admitted for management of acute diarrhea at the Catholic University of Korea Bucheon St. Mary's Hospital. A total of 310 stool samples documented to be free of common bacterial pathogens were collected from children with diarrhea. The presence of group A, B or C rotavirus is indicated by amplification of DNA segments of the expected lengths after the first and second PCRs. RESULTS: In a total of 310 stool specimens, 40 (12.9%) specimens were positive for rotaviruses. These included 23 (7.4%) positive for group A, 5 (1.6%) for group B and 12 (3.9%) for group C rotaviruses. Group B rotavirus infected patients had significantly less diarrheas per day (group A: P=0.01, group C: P=0.01) and shorter duration of vomiting days (group A: P=0.03, group C: P=0.03) than those with group A and C rotaviruses infection respectively. All the group B rotaviruses had been isolated in March and October. Group C rotavirus infections were prevalent during late summer and early winter and peaked in October. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that group B and C rotaviruses are notable causes or the contributing causes of diarrhea among infants and children in Korea.
Child* ; Diarrhea ; DNA ; Gastroenteritis* ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Infant ; Korea ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence* ; Rotavirus ; Rotavirus Infections ; Vomiting

To determine effects of the direction of the rotational work shifting on the circadian rhythm and adaptation of physiological and psychological components were investigated with nursing students. Two groups of seven volunteers participated as experimental subjects, and eight nursing students participated as a control group. The directions of rotation work shift were as follows : CW(clockwise)-shift system rotation in the direction of day shift(3 lays), evening shift(3days), off duty(1day) and night shift(5days). and CCW(counterclockwise)-shift system rotation in the reverse direction. Urinary free cortisol and 17-hydroxycorticoster oids in the urine were measured by the solid-phase radioimmunoassay and the colorimetry methods, re spectively. Plasma melatonin was measured by radioimmunoassay. The urinary free cotisol rhythm changed to ir-regular on the evening and night shift in the CCW shift system, whereas the rhythm seems to adapt on night shift in the CW shift system. The daily rhythms of urinary 17-OHCS indicate that they are well synchronized to shift work. These results show that the rotation of shift in the CW direction is more acceptable in terms of the adaptation of hormonal rhythms. These results indicate that the CCW rotation of shift work makes it more difficult for the workers to adapt on a physiological level, and has many more negative effects on nurses when compared with the CW rotation. Thus, a clockwise rotating shift systern seems to be more desirable for the optimal health and performance of nurses.
Circadian Rhythm* ; Colorimetry ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone* ; Melatonin ; Plasma ; Radioimmunoassay ; Students, Nursing ; Volunteers

A 31-year-old woman with surgically proven spinal extradural granulocytic sarcoma was examined with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. This patient had no evidence of systemic leukemia. The signal intensities of the mass on T1-weighted and gradient echo images were higher than those of spinal cord, which were different from iso-intensity of cases reported by other authors.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Leukemia ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Sarcoma, Myeloid* ; Spinal Cord

OBJECTIVE : The purpose of this study was to identify the current trends of the incidence of hyperbilirubinemia and the results of the auditory evoked potential and to evaluate the correlation with early and late evidence of bilirubin-induced brain injury. METHODS : We reviewed the medical records of all neonates who were admitted to the Holy family hospital of CUMC exclusively for management of neonatal jaundice from January, 2002 to December, 2006. The gestational age, the age at peak bilirubin level, the peak bilirubin level, feeding method and brainstem auditory-evoked potential (AEP) were reviewed. RESULTS : We investigated 121 term and 101 preterm infants treated for management of neonatal jaundice. The mean peak bilirubin values of term and preterm infants were 22.7+/-0.5 and 13.7+/-0.3 mg/dL. The mean age at peak bilirubin level of term and preterm infants were 7.5+/-0.5 and 4.7+/-0.2 days. All were breastfed (46.3% vs. 30.7%) or fed a combination of breast and bottle feedings (53.7% vs. 44.5%) in term and preterm infants. Comparison of peak bilirubin levels and age at peak bilirubin level in the serum of term and preterm group with AEP results showed no significant relationship. Trend in peak serum indirect bilirubin level in term infants were significantly increased in the recent 3 years. Trend in AEP abnormality showed no significant changes during the study periods. Only two preterm infant showed abnormal AEP at follow up study. CONCLUSION : Recently, increased frequency of breast-feeding, shortened hospital stays, and inconsistent follow-up after hospital discharge may cause the increased incidence of severe hyperbilirubinemia in healthy preterm and term newborn infants. But it is not clear such early onset hyperbilirubinemia may cause acute bilirubin encephalopathy or permanent brain injury.
Bilirubin ; Bottle Feeding ; Brain Injuries ; Brain Stem ; Breast ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory* ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem ; Feeding Methods ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia* ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Jaundice, Neonatal ; Kernicterus ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records

No abstract available.
Infection Control* ; Seoul*

BACKGROUND: As information technology evolves rapidly computer-based surveillance systems for nosocomial infection have been developed. Well designed computerized system could provide an opportunity for improving, enlarging, and conducting hospital-wide surveillance more efficiently in the situation with limited resources. Recently, we launched a new computerized monitoring system in a hospital where digital medical information system has been operated without paper chart. METHODS: We developed a new surveillance program based on the total Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. Numerous critical medical information can be easily accessible through this system without further work. This includes major demographic data, essential information from the inpatient medical record, the laboratory information system, and the pharmacy information, Comprehensive Clinical Data Repository (CDR) system was also developed. CDR is potentially very useful to conduct a hospital-wide surveillance by integrating all the available information. RESULTS: This system consists of several programs in the EMR and the CDR environment. In the EMR system, inquiry for patients with fever, case ascertainment and registration of nosocomial infections, inquiry for patients with indwelling devices, microbiological reports, and data on antibiotic prescriptions were included. The CDR has integrated comprehensive inquiries for frequency of major pathogens in clinical isolates and their trends of antibiotic resistance, nosocomial infection rates based on the duration of the devices or hospitalization, and the history of antimicrobial usage based on defined daily dosage. Data obtained from the EMR and the CDR systems could be easily accessed by infectious diseases specialists and healthcare workers of infection control services at any place within the hospital. A new reporting system has been built up to facilitate identification of notifiable diseases among the list of diagnoses on the EMR. In addition, the "Alert" notice was designed to highlight isolation precautions for indicated cases. CONCLUSION: This new computerized surveillance program might be a valuable model to which other hospitals can refer to develop newer version of programs in the future.
Clinical Laboratory Information Systems ; Communicable Diseases ; Cross Infection ; Delivery of Health Care ; Diagnosis ; Drug Resistance, Microbial ; Electronic Health Records* ; Fever ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Information Systems ; Inpatients ; Medical Records ; Pharmacy ; Prescriptions ; Specialization

Dural metastasis associated with chronic subdural hematoma is very rare in patients with malignant neoplasms; it may be difficult to distinguish malignant neoplasms from chronic subdural hematoma. Chronic subdural hematoma is usually a late manifestation of malignant tumors, which contributes to the severity of the prognosis. The scans obtained by using magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography may be misleading when a subdural hematoma masks the underlying tumor. Herein, we report a case of a subdural hematoma with dural metastasis of unknown origin in a 45-year-old woman; however, the neoplasm was not detected until autopsy.
Adenocarcinoma ; Autopsy* ; Female ; Hematoma, Subdural* ; Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Masks ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis

After global eradication of smallpox, the World Health Organization(WHO) launched a campaign to eradicate polio. In 2008 December, Global Polio Eradication Initiative(GPEI) Strategic Plan 2009-2013 was declared, and movements to reorganize the acute flaccid paralysis(AFP) surveillance were also started in South Korea. The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention set out to intensify the AFP surveillance by rearranging the centers to hospitals with neurology and pediatric neurology specialists, actively promoting surveillance, and modifying the transportation system of samples. This article provides a comprehensive review of newly reorganized AFP surveillance.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Korea ; Neurology ; Paralysis ; Poliomyelitis ; Republic of Korea ; Smallpox ; Specialization ; Transportation ; World Health ; World Health Organization

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of desferrioxamine as a chelating agent in iron overloaded patients with severe aplastic anemia due to multiple transfusion. METHODS AND MATERIALS: From Oct. 1995 to Aug. 1996, 15 patients with aplastic anemia, diagnosed from May 1995 to Jan. 1996 at St. Mary's Hospital, who had a transfusional hemosiderosis were included in this study. They received 19 courses of high-dose desfer-rioxamine therapy for 6 days(20 to 30 mg/kg daily as a 24-hour intravenous infusion) . Before and after treatment, we measured serum ferritin, iron, TIBC, 24-hour urinary excretion of iron. RESULTS: 1) The range of iron load before treatment was between 4.5 and 20.0 gram. 2) Because of limit of detection(1,800 microgram/L), it was difficult to compare the changes of serum ferritin level after therapy to those of before therapy. 3) There was no significant differences between the levels of serum iron before and after therapy(214.3+/-62.8 vs 220.0+/-53.3). And there was no significant differences between TIBC before and after therapy(235.8+/-64.6 vs 259.4+/-60.1). 4) Iron/TIBC ratios were significantly deceased after desferrioxamine treatment compared to those of before therapy(0.90+/-0.04 vs 0.85+/-0.04, P<0.001) and mean urinary excretions of iron were increased by high-dose desferrioxamine compared to those by test dose(6.5+/-7.6 vs 29.1+/-14.3, P<0.001) CONCLUSION: High-dose desferrioxamine therapy is very effective for chelating and excretion of iron in iron overloaded patients with severe aplastic anemia due to multiple transfusion. A repeat administration of desferrioxamine is necessary for the iron overloaded patient to eliminate the risk of a transfusional hemosidersis.
Anemia, Aplastic* ; Deferoxamine* ; Ferritins ; Hemosiderosis* ; Humans ; Iron ; Iron Overload