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*

PURPOSE: To identify age, gender, medication, seasons and place of fall, and areas of the fractures from the fall among the hospitalized elderly patients in order to provide the basic data for future fall prevention program for the elderly. METHODS: This study was conducted for 106 elderly patients admitted into a university hospital by fractures from the fall during the period from January 1, 1999 to December 31, 1999. Data on the age, gender, medication, season and place of the fall, areas of the fracture were collected based on their medical records. RESULT: The age range of the subjects were from 60 to 96 years old. The subjects were aged between 60-69 years old 49(46.2%), between 70-79 years old 31(29.2%), between 80-89 years old 24(22.6%), and over 90 years old 2(1.9%). Male patients comprised was 34(28.3%), while female patients comprised 76(71.7%). The fall occurred in Winter most frequently 34(32%). The place of the fall included room 81(76.4%), streets 13(12.3%), bathroom 6(5.7%), stair 4(3.8%), and mountain 2(1.9%). Twenty-two subjects (20.8%) had medication regularly, while 84 subjects (79.2%) had no medication. The areas of the fracture from the fall included upper extremities 20(18.9%) and lower extremities 86(81.1%). Radius fracture (7.5%) was the area where the fracture occurred most frequently in upper extremities and femur fracture (52.8%) was the area where the fracture occurred most frequently in lower extremities. A significant difference was found in the fracture area by age, season and place of the fall (p<.05). No significant difference was found in the fracture area by gender and medication. In all age groups, seasons and places of the fall, occurrence of fracture in lower extremity was significantly higher than that in upper extremity.
Aged* ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Femur ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Medical Records ; Radius Fractures ; Seasons ; Upper Extremity

No abstract available.
Iron*

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

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*

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

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*

Successful repair of lacerated tendons must restore continuity of the tendon and should yield a strong tenorrhaphy. Mechanical strength of repair should be adequate to early postoperative motion and mobility, The optimal repair technique must be able to withstand the rigors of early motion and also must not interfere with tendon healing. The relative strength of three suture methods of lacerated tendon were measured by mechanical disruption in effort to determine the strength of suture technique. Fifty-four Calcaneal tendons of 27 the New Zealand white rabbit were transected at mid portion and repaired with the three suture technique: group 1, Kessler suture, group 2, Pennington’s modified-Kessler suture and group 3, augmented- Becker suture technique. Each group was composed of 18 calcaneal tendons. Nine rabbits were sacrified immediately after suture, nine in postoperative 2 weeks and nine in postoperative 4 weeks Six calcaneal tendons in each three experimental group were obtained immediately after suture, at postoperative 2 and 4 weeks respectively. Tensile strength, maximum strength and modulus of elasticity of all experimental specimens were measured with Instron-UTM-4-100(Toyo-Baldiwin, Japan). The results were evaluated statistically to compare the strength of the three suture technique at three different periods. The tensile strength was predominantly strongest in augmented-Becker method among three suture technique at immediate suture, postoperative 2 weeks and 4 weeks respectively. The augmented Becker repair was strongest in maximum stress among Kessler and modified Kessler repair at immediate operation, postoperative 2 weeks and 4 weeks respectively. The augmented Becker repair was highest in modulus of elasticity than Kessler method and modified-Kessler method at immediate operation, postoperative 2 weeks and postoperative 4 weeks respectively. Tensile strength, maximum stress and modulus of elasticity were gradually increased from immediate operation to postoperative 4 weeks, but there were not statistically significance between experimental three suture methods at postoperative 4 weeks.
Elastic Modulus ; Methods ; New Zealand ; Rabbits ; Suture Techniques ; Sutures ; Tendons ; Tensile Strength