PURPOSE: This study was done to examine how medication contamination in a single-dose glass ampule is affected by minute glass flakes generated in different methods of cutting the ampule. METHOD: Sixty medicationcontaining glass ampules were randomly assigned to two groups. The number of glass flakes, resulting from two different cutting methods (with cotton and without cotton), were counted under the microscope. Contamination was evaluated by extracted the medication with a syringe and culturing it in E. coli, coliform, and aerobic bacteria culture media. Result: Fewer glass flakes were found in the ampules when the ampule was cut with cotton. The use of cotton, however, did not significantly change the degree of drug contamination. CONCLUSION: Although minute glass flakes generated in the ampule cutting operation did not significantly contaminate the medication and the use of cotton decreased the number of glass flakes in the ampules, glass flakes injected into the blood and tissues of the patient remain a risk factor. Therefore, pre-filled syringes or syringes with filters would be alternative methods and safeguards against the possible injection of glass flakes generated while cutting the ampule.
Bacteria, Aerobic ; Culture Media ; Drug Contamination ; Glass ; Humans ; Risk Factors ; Syringes

No Abstract Available.
DNA* ; Interleukin-12* ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Mycobacterium*

No abstract available.
Plasma Exchange* ; Plasma*

Foreign bodies in genitourinary tract are not infrequent and the reported cages are almost those within the bladder. Fortunately, the purposes and types of instrumentation are more simple especially in our country than in others. We present two cages, one was a stell pipe inserted on the penile shaft and the other was painting brush inserted within the urethra, and intend to review them reported in literatures.
Foreign Bodies* ; Male ; Paint ; Paintings ; Penis* ; Urethra* ; Urinary Bladder

Cystic teratoma on the floor of the mouth is infrequent disease and known as congenital origin. Teratoma has no sex distribution. Treatrnent of the cystic teratoma is completely surgical excision and recurrence is rare. The authors have experienced a case of cystic teratoma on the floor of the mouth in neonate. We reported this case with review of literatures.
Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Mouth* ; Recurrence ; Sex Distribution ; Teratoma*

Prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) is a putative premalignant change in the human prostate, which is an intraluminal proliferation of the secretory cells of the prostatic duct-acinar system that is enveloped by a basal cell layer and displays a spectrum of dysplastic cytologic features ranging from minimal atypia (low grade PIN) to those which are ultimately indistinguishable from carcinoma cells (high grade PIN). To evaluate the clinical significance of the PIN in prostatic tumor and BPH, we reviewed the serum prostate specific antigen (PSA), prostate specific antigen density (PSAD), and pathologic findings in the specimen of 21 BPH and 11 Prostate cancers, which were pathologically confirmed. The distributions of PIN are 7/21 (33%) in BPH and 8/ 11 (73%) in prostatic ca (P<0.05). The mean value (+/-SD) of PSA and PSAD in BPH patient were 8.42+/-5.57 ng/ml, 0.16+/-0.09 for PIN(-), 10.13+/-5.97 ng/ml, 0.17+/-0.09 for PIN(+), and in prostatic cancer patient were 60.53+/-1.83 ng/ml, 1.42+/-0.25 for PIN(-), 54.15+/-34.61 ng/ml, 1.28+/-0.84 for PIN(+), respectively. The mean value (+/-SD) of PSA & PSAD according to histologic types of BPH were 9.04+/-3.88 ng/ml, 0.17+/-0.06 for glandular type, 5. 57+/-1.31 ng/ml, 0.10+/-0.03 for stromal type, and 11.18+/-8.93 ng/ml, 0.19+/-0.13 for mixed type. The distributions of PIN according to histologic types of BPH were 30% (3/10) for glandular type, 40% (2/5) for stromal type, and 33% (2/6) for mixed type. All 7 PIN(+) BPH were low grade, while, of the 8 PIN(+) prostatic Ca, 1 was low grade and 7 were high grade. From these results, the frequent of PIN was higher in prostatic cancer than BPH (P<0.05). PIN had no significant influence on PSA elevation in prostatic cancer and BPH. There was no correction between PSA, PSAD and histologic types of BPH (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the distribution of PIN according to histologic types of BPH. And high grade PIN was observed only in prostatic cancer. Therefore, if high grade PIN is observed in pathologic specimens, undetected prostatic cancer should be found.
Humans ; Prostate* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen* ; Prostatic Hyperplasia* ; Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia* ; Prostatic Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVES: The low benefit coverage rate of South Korea's health security system has been continually pointed out. A low benefit coverage rate inevitably causes catastrophic health expenditure, which can be the cause of the transition to poverty and the persistence of poverty. This study was conducted to ascertain the effect of catastrophic health expenditure on the transition to poverty and the persistence of poverty in South Korea. METHODS: To determine the degree of social mobility, this study was conducted among the 6311 households that participated in the South Korea Welfare Panel Study in both 2006 and 2008. The effect of catastrophic health expenditure on the transition to poverty and the persistence of poverty in South Korea was assessed via multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The poverty rate in South Korea was 21.6% in 2006 and 20.0% in 2008. 25.1 - 7.3% of the households are facing catastrophic health expenditure. Catastrophic health expenditure was found to affect the transition to poverty even after adjusting for the characteristics of the household and the head of the household, at the threshold of 28% or above. CONCLUSIONS: 25.1% of the households in this study were found to be currently facing catastrophic health expenditure, and it was determined that catastrophic health expenditure is a cause of transition to poverty. This result shows that South Korea's health security system is not an effective social safety net. As such, to prevent catastrophic health expenditure and transition to poverty, the benefit coverage of South Korea's health security system needs to the strengthened.
Aged ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; *Health Expenditures ; Housing ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Poverty ; Republic of Korea ; *Social Mobility ; *Social Security

No abstract available.
Iron*

Purpose: This study was performed to investigate the influence of the condition with and without external support on the strength of hip flexor in supine position in subjects without core stabilization. Hip flexor muscles are very functional in the hip joint structures. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the strength of hip flexor in a clinical and precise way. Methods: Twenty subjects participated in this study. The double bent leg-lower test was used to evaluate subjects without core stabilization. The strength of hip flexor muscles was evaluated in supine position, both with and without external support condition. The paired t-test was used to compare the strength of hip flexor muscles according to external support. The level of statistical significance was at α=0.05. The intra-rater reliability of the repeated measures of hip flexor strength was estimated by calculating the intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). Results: In subjects without core stabilization, the strength of hip flexor in supine was greater with external support than that without external support (p<0.05). In addition, the intra-rater reliability with an ICC (3, 1) of the strength measurement of hip flexor with external support was higher than that without external support. Conclusion In subjects without core stabilization, the condition with external support can contribute to the strength of hip flexor in supine position and the strength measurement of hip flexor should be considered with the condition with and without external support.

Purpose: A hyperextended knee is described as knee pain associated with an impaired knee extensor mechanism. Additionally, a hyperextended knee may involve reduced position sense of the knee joint that decreases the individual’s ability to control end-range knee extension movement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of visual biofeedback information for plantar pressure distribution on knee joint angle and lower extremity muscle activities in participants with hyperextended knees. Methods: Twenty-three participants with hyperextended knees were recruited for the study. Surface electromyography signals were recorded for the biceps femoris, rectus femoris, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior muscle activities. The plantar pressure distribution was displayed and measured using a pressure distribution measuring plate. Knee joint angle kinematic parameters were recorded using a motion analysis system. The visual biofeedback condition was the point at which the difference between the forefoot and backfoot plantar foot pressure on the monitor was minimized. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine the significance between the visual biofeedback condition and the preferred condition. Results: The knee joint angle was significantly decreased in the visual biofeedback condition compared to that in the preferred condition (p<0.05). The rectus femoris and gastrocnemius muscle activities were significantly different between the visual biofeedback and preferred conditions (p<0.05). Conclusion The results of this study showed that visual biofeedback of information about plantar pressure distribution is effective for correcting hyperextended knees.