PURPOSE: Frailty is a wasting syndrome common in old age and to confer high risk for morbidity and mortality. There is a growing consensus of the definition of frailty, but until now the diagnostic criteria is not clear yet. In the older male patients, almost of studies about testosterone replacement therapy performed to normal healthy population. And also only few studies were performed to the frail elderly patients. So we would like to investigate the effficacy of testosterone supplementation in the frail elderly. METHODS: Since May to Sep 2001, ambulatory elderly patients who were 65 years and over were recruited in the outpatient clinic of Asan Medical Center. All of them showed the typical characteristics of frailty symptom-weight loss, loss of muscle mass, weakness, fatigability, anorexia, inactivity. The patients who have sleep-apnea or previous history of prostate cancer were excluded. All patients were checked the serum PSA, total testosterone level, routine CBC, lipid, liver function test and evaluated prostate status with US or digital rectal examination, and treated with oral formula testosterone unde- canoate 80 mg daily. All patients were surveyed with ADL, IADL before the testosterone therapy and 3month later. RESULTS: A total of 6 male frail patients(mean age: 80+/-8.5) were enrolled. During 3 month Follow-up period, one was expired, 5 were finished the study. Before the testosterone replacement, mean total testos- terone level was 3.0+/-0.5 ng/ml and mean PSA was 1.3+/-0.7 ng/ml. After 3 months, blood hematocrit, cholesterol, total testosterone were not changed significantly and the body weight also showed insig- nificant increase. But after 3 months, all of them reported the increased well-being sensation, improved fatigability, weakness and improved ADL level. There were no significant adverse effects associated with testosterone replacement. CONCLUSION: In male frail elderly patients, the testosterone replacement therapy can be used safely, and can be improve the frailty associated symptom and ADL ability.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Anorexia ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Consensus ; Digital Rectal Examination ; Follow-Up Studies ; Frail Elderly* ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Liver Function Tests ; Male ; Mortality ; Prostate ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Sensation ; Testosterone* ; Wasting Syndrome

No abstract available.
Humans

No abstract available.
Allergy and Immunology*

No abstract available.
Korea*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the health status between foreign workers and native workers and to examine the influencing factors of health status of foreign and native workers. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of the data collected from the 3rd (2011) Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS). The sample included 101 foreign workers and 101 native workers matched by age and gender. RESULTS: The difference in health status between foreign workers and native workers was not statistically significant. The most commonly complained health problem of foreign workers was muscle pain of the upper limbs. Among foreign workers, hazard exposure, coworker support and supervisor support were significant predictors of health status. Among native workers, income level and obesity were significant predictors of health status. CONCLUSION: For health management and health promotion of foreign workers, employers and health providers need to establish coworker supporting systems in workplace and improvement strategies of work environment. Particularly, they must pay closer attention to management of foreign workers' musculoskeletal disorder.
Health Promotion ; Myalgia ; Obesity ; Upper Extremity

No abstract available.
Diagnosis-Related Groups* ; Korea*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Parturition* ; Spouses*

BACKGROUND: The recent surge of tuberculosis in association with AIDS and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in the world has made even apparent the need for more rapid and accurate technologies of detecting and characterizing mycobacteria in the clinical microbiology laboratory. The BACTEC radiometric method which is known rapid alternative to traditional culture methods has been reported to be useful for the rapid detection and identification of mycobacteria from clinical specimens. I report the experience for the use of the BACTEC 460TB for detection of mycobacteria from clinical specimens. METHODS: All clinical specimens received in the department of clinical pathology from July 1993 through August 1994 were used for this study. Smears were prepared and stained for acid-fast bacilli(AFB) by Ziehl-Neelson method Middlebrook 7H12 medium(BACTEC 12A) containing a 14C-labeled palmitic acid was used as the basal medium. Quantitation of the liberated 14CO2 was used as a measure of cell growth. A BACTEC 460TB instrument was used for the detection and quantitation of 14CO2 liberated in the culture bottle. NAP tests for differentiating the M. tuberculosis complex from mycobacteria other than tuberculosis(MOTT) were performed. RESULTS: A total of 111(9.6%) mycobacterial isolates were recovered from 1.151 clinical specimens. The sensitivity of the BACTEC 460TB for detecting M. tuberculosis in acid-fast smear-positive specimens was 93.8%. The mean time required for the primary isolation of mycobacteria(GI of > or =10) was 9.8 days and the mean detection time of M. tuberculosis complex was 19.3 days. In according to the acid-fast smear results, the mean detection times of M tuberculosis complex in smear-positive and smear-negative specimens were 14.9 days and 20.9 days, respectively. The mean detection time of M. tuberculosis complex in smear-positive specimens was better for respiratory specimens(14.7 days) than for extrapulmonary specimens(21 days). All 111 isolates were susceptible to rho-nitro-alpha-acetylamino-beta-hydroxypropiophenone(NAP) and the contamination rate was 4%. CONCLUSIONS: The BACTEC radiometric method for detecting and characterizing mycobacteria requires expensive instrument and reagents using radioisotope and additional expenditure of time and effort, but The BACTEC 460TB is extremely useful for the rapid detection, isolation and identification of clinically important mycobacteria in clinical laboratory.
Health Expenditures ; Indicators and Reagents ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Mycobacterium* ; Palmitic Acid ; Pathology, Clinical ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Epilepsy*