A growing number of studies related to human remains in Korea highlight the need for developing professional ethics codes and laws that govern disposition and treatment of human remains. In order to provide models for developing ethics codes and regulations relevant to the field of biological anthropology in Korea, the current paper presents a review of ethics codes in the United States related to the procurement, curation, and study of human remains. In the first half of the paper, we provide a full treatment of ethics codes of major professional organizations, including code definition, development, and revision. The latter half of the paper is dedicated to discussions of ethical issues surrounding a United States federal law, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), and a high-profile case of the Kennewick man, the Ancient One. These two examples will demonstrate the difficulty in anticipating ethical issues and unintended misconduct in the course of research. NAGPRA and the Kennewick Man further emphasize three simple yet important take-home points for biological anthropologists and other professionals working with human remains: 1) to be reflective about potential ethical issues related to their research, 2) to be collaborative and encourage involvement of descendant communities at all stages of research, and 3) to be respectful of different worldviews of death between (sub)cultures. Finally, we close our discussion with possible sources of ethical conflicts in Korea to help prepare biological anthropologists as more excavations of human remains take place in Korea.
Anthropology ; Codes of Ethics* ; Ethics ; Humans ; Indians, North American* ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Social Control, Formal ; Societies ; United States*

The Diego blood group system consists of two pairs of antigens, Dia and Dib The incidence of Dia is low among pure Caucasian, Blacks, Polynesian and Eskimo, however, the rnongolians and American indians have both Dia and Dib. We report a case of two days old male who was admitted on first day of life for jaundice and subsquently exchange transfusion was performed on second day of life for bilirubin of 20 mg/dl. The blood groups of patient and his mother were both Rh D positive 0 type. Direct and indirect Coombstest were strong positive in the patient and indirect Coombstest was positive in his mother. We found anti-Dib antibody in his rnother's serum. The phenotype of Diego blood group system of the patient and his mother were Di (a+b+) and Di (a+b- ), respectively and hemolytic anemia in this case was due to anti-Dib antibody.
African Continental Ancestry Group ; Anemia, Hemolytic ; Bilirubin ; Blood Group Antigens ; Humans ; Incidence ; Indians, North American ; Inuits ; Jaundice ; Male ; Mothers ; Phenotype

PURPOSE: All masks are created by craftspeople. Accordingly, most masks are generally predictable in dimensions, and the portraitures usually depict the faces and heads of humans. The authors found some masks representing the features of facial asymmetry, such as hemifacial microsomia and rerely lateral facial cleft. METHODS: Reviewing the legends of wearing masks with a medley of grotesque features, the authors could deduce the tone of society in those days. RESULTS: A mask, 'crooked mouth', of Native Americans shows typical lineament of hemifacial microsomia. The deformity of the face was legendarily regarded as resulting from trauma caused by either 'one's fault' or a 'curse of God'. 'Grandmother' mask, used in the Korean masque dance of the Kosung province and Sooyoung province also shows the typical features of hemifacial microsomia which represent the old, deserted wife. 'Kori sanni yakka' mask in Sri Lanka, shows the facial asymmetry. In the legend, the child who became demon captured humans and caused illness through wind, phlegm, and bile to revenge on his father who killed his mother by deception of her maid. CONCLUSION: The authors presume that the victims of severe facial asymmetry were treated contemptuously at that time.
Bile ; Child ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Deception ; Facial Asymmetry ; Fathers ; Head ; Humans ; Indians, North American ; Masks ; Mothers ; Spouses ; Sri Lanka ; Wind

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to obtain information about the experiences of sensations after breast cancer surgery characterized by prevalence, frequency, and severity, distresses, and disturbances in ADL using the BSAS (Breast Sensation Assessment Scale) and to develop the standardized Korean BSAS. METHODS: Thirty two women from 3 to 100 days after breast cancer surgery (BCS) completed Roberta's BSAS. The 18 sensations of BSAS were translated using the references of Lee's Korean Pain Rating Scale and English-English, English-Korean dictionaries and the consultation from two native Americans, one bilingual permanent resident of the States, and one nursing professor. The Korean-translated BSAS has high reliability in test-retest. Likert type 4-point scale and 100 mm VAS were used for assessment. RESULTS: Certain sensations remained prevalent (tender, pull, pain), frequent (numb, nag, throb), severe (throb, shoot, numb), causing distress (throb, penetrate, shoot), and influencing on ADL (throb, penetrate, nag). The most frequently experienced sensation other than BSAS was itching. There was little difference in the prevalence of symptom experiences between sentinel lymph node biopsy and axillary lymph node dissection. CONCLUSION: The women after BCS are suffering from neuropathic sensations. The Korean- translated BSAS could be used in effectively assessing breast sensations after BCS in Korean women.
Activities of Daily Living ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Female ; Humans ; Indians, North American ; Lymph Node Excision ; Nitriles ; Nursing Assessment ; Prevalence ; Pruritus ; Pyrethrins ; Sensation ; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy ; Stress, Psychological

Systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE), a rheumatic disease of unknown causes, is characterized by autoantibodies directed against self-antigens, resulting in inflammatory damages to target organs including kidney, blood-forming cells, and central nervous system. The prevalence rates are higher in Native Americans, Asians, Latin Americans and black people. A female to male ratio of approximately 2 : 1 occurs before puberty, and 4 : 1 after puberty. Children of SLE most frequently present with fever, fatigue, arthralgia or arthritis, and rashes. The diagnosis is confirmed by clinical and also laboratory manifestations satisfying at least 4 out of 11 criteria. A central nervous system is not rarely involved in children of SLE with the prevalence rate of 23-44%. However, cerebral infarcts are not a common phenomenon and can be seen only for 6% of children with SLE. There have been no cases reported in Korea. This is why we present a case of basal ganglia infarct associated with SLE in a 19-month old girl. We report this case with a brief review of related literature.
Adolescent ; Arthralgia ; Arthritis ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Autoantibodies ; Autoantigens ; Basal Ganglia* ; Central Nervous System ; Child ; Diagnosis ; Exanthema ; Fatigue ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Indians, North American ; Infant ; Kidney ; Korea ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Male ; Prevalence ; Puberty ; Rheumatic Diseases

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The Central California Valley has a diverse population with significant proportions of Hispanics and Asians. This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in healthy blood donors in the Valley. METHODS: A total of 217,738 voluntary blood donors were identified between 2006 and 2010 (36,795 first-time donors; 180,943 repeat donors). RESULTS: Among the first-time donors, the HBV and HCV prevalence was 0.28% and 0.52%, respectively. Higher HBV prevalence seen in Asians (3%) followed by Caucasians (0.05%), African Americans (0.15%), and Hispanics (0.05%). Hmong had a HBV prevalence of 7.63% with a peak prevalence of 8.76% among the 16- to 35-year-old age group. Highest HCV prevalence in Native Americans (2.8) followed by Caucasians (0.59%), Hispanics (0.45%), African Americans (0.38%), and Asians (0.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Ethnic disparities persist with regard to the prevalence of HBV and HCV in the Central California Valley. The reported prevalence may be an underestimate because our study enrolled healthy volunteer blood donors only. The development of aggressive public health measures to evaluate the true prevalence of HBV and HCV and to identify those in need of HBV and HCV prevention measures and therapy is critically important.
African Americans ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Blood Donors ; California ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; Hispanic Americans ; Humans ; Indians, North American ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Tissue Donors

Jimson weed, also known as Datura stramonium, is a member of the Solanaceae family. Jimson weed was used by American Indians for medicinal and religious purposes. All parts of the Jimson weed plant are poisons, containing the alkaloids atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine. So, it is caused by these components to make a anticholinergic toxicity within 6h after ingestion. Initial manifestations include dry mucus membrane, blurred, vision, thirst, difficulty swallowing and speaking, and photophobia, and may be followed by hyperthermia, confusion, agitation, combative behavior, hallucination, urinary retention, seizure and coma. We experienced two patients who developed combative behavior and agitation with pupil dilation caused by Jimson weed. They discharged with improvement after supportive for 2days.
Alkaloids ; Animals ; Atropine ; Coma ; Comb and Wattles ; Datura stramonium* ; Deglutition ; Dihydroergotamine ; Eating* ; Fever ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Hyoscyamine ; Indians, North American ; Membranes ; Mucus ; Photophobia ; Plants ; Poisons ; Pupil ; Scopolamine Hydrobromide ; Seizures ; Solanaceae ; Thirst ; Urinary Retention