In this study noise source in a ward at four general hospitals in Seoul area has investigated and analysed. The degree of reaction against noise by 171 randomly has also been examined. The results of the study have shown that the source of noise is the speakers of wired broadcasting or from visiting guests in two hospitals located in residential area. The patients at the two other hospitals located at commercial site have been suffered more from traffic noise, However, because of their separated living at hospital from their ordinary houselife, sixty on percent of the inpatients have wished a music sound of around 60 dB (A). After having considered the results of the investigation and wishes of the inpatients, following suggestions have been made: 1. Reduce the number of guests or their length of stay. 2. Wired bodadcasting system should be substitued by sireless one, or if it's unavoidable, it should be used in office rooms only. 3. Since the stops and starts of vehicles induce much noise, Seoul City Government be requested to prepare an appropriate administrative measure for the vehicles around hospital area and ti should prevent the establishment of new hospitals along high way site. 4. By using earphone, inpatients can choose a wireless channel according to each individual's taste. This through the masking effect, would cover up the noise source. 5. Rooms along the streets should be utilized as offices, otherwise double windows should be set up for inpatient's wards.
Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Length of Stay ; Local Government ; Masks ; Music ; Noise* ; Seoul

No abstract available.
Carbon Disulfide* ; Carbon* ; Korea*

The carpal tunnel syndromes is one of the most common peripheral nerve entrapment syndromes. The typical symptoms are pain, numbness and paresthesia in the median nerve territory of the hand. Recently, it is widely recognized that occupational factor is regarded as the important cause of the carpal tunnel syndrome. Clinical study is performed in the 42 female workers who is repetitively working at packing department in a rayon manufacturing factory from November 1991 till March 1992. The study included a questionnaire, physical examinations, and the neurophysiological test. The summary of the results obtained was as follows: 1. Among 42 packing workers, 9 workers(21.4%) were diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome by electromyography. The affected side was bilateral in 4 workers(9.5%), right in 4 workers(9.5%), and left in one worker(2.4%). 2. Among 42 subjects, 28 workers(66.7%) complained the clinical symptoms related to carpal tunnel syndrome, 11 workers(26.2%) showed positive Phalen sign, and 7 workers(16.7%) showed positive Tinel sign. 3. Researchers regard electromyographic finding as the gold standard for diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome. The sensitivity and specificity of the clinical symptoms to diagnose the carpal tunnel syndrome were 0.89, 0.39 respectively. If the carpal tunnel syndrome is diagnosed by the combination of the positive findings of the symptoms and the physical examinations, either Tinel of Phalen sign, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.67 and 0.76 respectively. Considering above results, though this small number of worker is not adequate for epidemiologic conclusions, carpal tunnel syndrome seems to be an important occupational disorder among packing workers in a rayon manufacturing factory.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome* ; Diagnosis ; Electromyography ; Female ; Fibrinogen ; Hand ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Median Nerve ; Occupations ; Paresthesia ; Peripheral Nerves ; Physical Examination ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Sensitivity and Specificity

No abstract available.
Solvents*

Animal experiment was carried out to measure the physiologic changes of thoracic or thoracolumbar spine that occurred as a result of electrical stimulation, and to evaluate the usefulness of electrical stimulation as a possible treatment for scoliosis. Unilateral electrical stimulations were applied to the back muscle of immature rabbits.They were subgrouped into medial, intermediate, and lateral muscle stimulated groups in order to observe the effects of various electrode placements. The radiograms were taken every other week to observe the changes of the spinal curvatures for the period of 12 weeks. The histological studies of the muscles, which were obtained from the stimulated(right) and the nonstimulated(left) sides at the same level, also were carried out to determine the response of the muscles to the electrical stimulation. The results were as follows. l. A significant scoliotic curvature was observed two weeks after electrical stimulation, and those curvatures did not change more for the next six weeks in spite of prolonged stimulation. 2. Scoliotic curvature induced by electrical stimulation for eight weeks remained unchanged for another four weeks after stopping stimulation. 3. There were no statistical differences in the induced scoliotic curvature among the three groups stimulated at different sites of the medial, intermediate, and lateral regions respectively. 4. A prolonged unilateral electrical stimulation could induce the scoliosis, and may be used as a method for treatment of scoliosis.
Animal Experimentation ; Back Muscles ; Electric Stimulation ; Electrodes ; Methods ; Muscles ; Scoliosis ; Spinal Curvatures ; Spine

Recovery from potentially lethal damage (PLDR) after irradiation was studied in plateau-phase culture of Vero cells in vitro. Unfed plateau-phase cells were irradiated with dose of 1 to 9 gy using Cs-137 irradiator. Cells then were incubated again and left in situ for 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 24 hours and then were trypsinized, explanted, and subcultured in fresh RPMI-1640 media containing 0.33% agar. Cell survival was measured by colony forming ability. An adequate number of heavily irradiated Vero cells were added as feeder cells to make the total cell number constant in every culture dish. As the postirradiation in situ incubation time increased, surviving fraction increased saturation level at 2 to 4 hours after in situ incubation. As the radiation dose increased, the rate of PLDR also increased. In analysis of cell survival curve fitted to the linear-quadratic model, the linear inactivation coefficient (alpha) decreased largely and reached nearly to zero but the quadratic inactivation coefficient (beta) increased minimally by increment of postirradiation in situ incubation time. So PLDR mainly affected the damage expressed as alpha. In the multitarget model, significant change was not obtained in D0 but in Dq. Therefore, shoulder region in cell survival curve was mainly affected by PLDR and terminal slope was not influenced at all. And dose-modifying factor by PLDR was relatively higher in shoulder region, that is, in low dose area below 3 gy.
Agar ; Cell Count ; Cell Survival ; Feeder Cells ; Shoulder ; Trypsin ; Vero Cells*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Deep neck space infections, which affect soft tissues and fascial components of the head and neck, were frequently encountered in the preantibiotic era, but their frequency has been remarkably reduced after the development of chemotherapeutic agents and antibiotics. However, they may still result in significant morbidity and mortality despite the use of chemotherapeutic agents and antibiotics. The purposes of this study has been to assess clinical findings and the effectiveness of the treatment of deep neck infection through statistical analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on 86 cases of deep neck space infections in patients admitted for diagnosis and treatment during a 9-year period from January 1988 to December 1996. RESULTS: All cases were treated with either conservative treatment only as in 47 cases (55%), or surgical drainage and antibiotics as in 33 cases (33%), or surgical drainage with tracheostomy and antibiotics as in 6 cases (7%). At the end of the treatment, 83 cases were cured of the disease and 3 cases were reported to have complications. CONCLUSION: We concluded that treatment of deep neck infection requires knowledge of the natural history of the disease and a detailed understanding of anatomy. Management guidelines include (1) hospitalization, (2) culture and sensitivity tests, (3) antibiotic therapy, (4) diagnostic radiographic procedures, and (5) surgical intervention.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Diagnosis ; Drainage ; Head ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Mortality ; Natural History ; Neck* ; Retrospective Studies ; Tracheostomy

Pancreas divisum is the most common congenital anomaly of the pancreas. Whether pancreas divisum is the cause of chronic abdominal pain, acute pancreatitis, or chronic pancreatitis is a matter of controversy yet. We recently experienced a case of acute pancreatitis due to an impacted stone at the orifice of the minor papilla in a 58 year-old man with pancreas divisum who showed clear radiologic evidences of dorsal chronic pancreatitis. The bout of acute pancreatitis recovered rapidly after endoscopic treatment (minor papilla sphincterotomy, stone removal, and endoscopic nasopancreatic drainage). We herein report an unusual manifestation of pancreas divisum in which endoscopic treatment was effective.
Abdominal Pain ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pancreas* ; Pancreatitis* ; Pancreatitis, Chronic

Gossypibomas, retained surgical sponges are prone to creat adhesions and to encapsulate, or to provoke an exudative response, with or without accompanying bacterial infection. Often a process of transmural migration can occur and we experienced a case which was diagnosed by colonoscopy. A 24 year-old female patient who had a history of Cesarean section 4 months ago came to the hospital with a complaint of intermittent right lower quadrant pain. A thread of surgical sponge was found by colonoscopy from ascending colon to cecum. At laparotomy, a transmurally migrating surgical sponge through the colonic fistula at the cecal base with surrounding abscess cavity was found. Adding a case report, the fate of intraperitoneal forgotten surgical sponges is reviewed.
Abscess ; Bacterial Infections ; Cecum ; Cesarean Section ; Colon ; Colon, Ascending ; Colonoscopy* ; Female ; Fistula ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Pregnancy ; Surgical Sponges* ; Young Adult

Spermidine is a naturally occurring polyamine compound that has recently emerged with anti-aging properties and suppresses inflammation and oxidation. However, its mechanisms of action on anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects have not been fully elucidated. In this study, the potential of spermidine for reducing pro-inflammatory and oxidative effects in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages and zebrafish was explored. Our data indicate that spermidine significantly inhibited the production of pro-inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β in RAW 264.7 macrophages without any significant cytotoxicity. The protective effects of spermidine accompanied by a marked suppression in their regulatory gene expression at the transcription levels. Spermidine also attenuated the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 subunit and reduced LPS-induced intracellular accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Moreover, spermidine prevented the LPS-induced NO production and ROS accumulation in zebrafish larvae and was found to be associated with a diminished recruitment of neutrophils and macrophages. Although more work is needed to fully understand the critical role of spermidine on the inhibition of inflammation-associated migration of immune cells, our findings clearly demonstrate that spermidine may be a potential therapeutic intervention for the treatment of inflammatory and oxidative disorders.
Antioxidants ; Cytokines ; Dinoprostone ; Genes, Regulator ; Inflammation* ; Larva ; Macrophages* ; Necrosis ; Neutrophils ; Nitric Oxide ; Oxidative Stress* ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Spermidine* ; Zebrafish*