PURPOSE: To establish a medical informatics curriculum for premedical students. METHODS: The author conducted a questionnaire survey on 202 second year premedical students from two medical schools, one in Seoul and one in Asan. The chi-square test was used to do a statistical analysis comparison of the results from these two school groups. In addition, the reliability test was used for the questionnaire' s reliability. RESULTS: The results of the survey show that computer skills in second year premedical students differ by gender. The results also indicate that differences exist between the two schools, as the curriculums of the freshman year differ between the schools. Moreover, it is observed that more than 60 percent of the subjects have difficulties dealing with complicated problems such as fixing or replacing hardware. CONCLUSION: The survey was conducted to assess the level of computer skills in premedical students at two medical schools. Through careful analysis of this survey, we were able to define the necessary level of computer skills required in premedical students in the Medical Informatics curriculum.
Chungcheongnam-do ; Curriculum* ; Humans ; Medical Informatics* ; Schools, Medical ; Seoul ; Students, Premedical* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

This study was conducted to collect data on the educational needs for hospital administrations and related departments to redesign the existing hospital information management and administration programs for Bachelor and Master degree students of medical informatics in one university. We surveyed the web sites and admission brochures of all the educational facilities of hospital administration related workers in Korea. We also surveyed hospital workers in hospital administration departments at three university affiliated hospitals using a questionnaire developed by the author. The survey results showed that most hospital employees indicated a need to take very fundamental classes in their fields. In order to satisfy the needs of the students up to date, the department of medicine in one university developed a new medical informatics course specially designed for Bachelor and Master degree students in hospital administration. In addition, the Graduate School of Industrial Information Engineering of one university decided to offer basic as well as a specialized training courses for the graduate students who are hospital administrators.
Curriculum* ; Education ; Hospital Administration* ; Hospital Administrators ; Hospitals, University* ; Humans ; Information Management ; Korea ; Medical Informatics ; Pamphlets ; Surveys and Questionnaires

These days, the computer network has become the most popular and widely used source of information. There are two kinds of computer networks, the first one is multimedia internet world wide web site and the second one is text based commercial network (etc. Hitel, Chollian. Nownuri, Unitel). With the rapid development of internet, various kinds of medical-related sites are newly appearing on the internet. Even in Korea, several medical-related information sites are on service, however, there are very few compared with foreign sites. World wide web is popular, and creating the homepage for each hospital is becoming more important. In Korea, the number of homepage of about medicine and medical institutes, is increasing. For the construction of Soonchunhyang University Hospital's Computer Information Network, the authors first investigate Korean medical-related information sites available in internet and commercial network. After researching the authors then construct the Computer Information Network of Soonchunhyang University Hospital. This article is written with the intent of assisting those interested in creating and managing their own computer information network system by means of providing relevant data obtained during this process.
Academies and Institutes ; Information Services* ; Internet ; Korea ; Multimedia

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, which invades a wide range of hosts including humans. The exact mechanisms involved in its invasion are not fully understood. This study focused on the roles of Ca2+ in host cell invasion and in T. gondii replication. We examined the invasion and replication of T. gondii pretreated with several calcium modulators, the conoid extrusion of tachyzoites. Calmodulin localization in T. gondii were observed using the immunogold method, and Ca2+ levels in tachyzoites by confocal microscopy. In light microscopic observation, tachyzoites co-treated with A23187 and EGTA showed that host cell invasion and intracellular replication were decreased. The invasion of tachyzoites was slightly inhibited by the Ca2+ channel blockers, bepridil and verapamil, and by the calmodulin antagonist, calmidazolium. We observed that calcium saline containing A23187 induced the extrusion of tachyzoite conoid. By immunoelectron microscopy, gold particles bound to anti-calmodulin or anti-actin mAb, were found to be localized on the anterior portion of tachyzoites. Remarkably reduced intracellular Ca2+ was observed in tachyzoites treated with BAPTA/AM by confocal microscopy. These results suggest that host cell invasion and the intracellular replication of T. gondii tachyzoites are inhibited by the calcium ionophore, A23187, and by the extracellular calcium chelator, EGTA.
Animals ; Calcium/*physiology ; Calcium Channel Blockers/pharmacology ; Calmodulin/antagonists & inhibitors ; Chelating Agents/pharmacology ; Hela Cells ; Host-Parasite Relations ; Humans ; Ionophores/pharmacology ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Toxoplasma/drug effects/pathogenicity/*physiology

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the needs, uses and evaluation of Internet health information among students in a provincial university. METHODS: Nine hundred and sixty one student from seven different classes of S University located in Chungnam province participated in this study from 2nd to 9th May, 2005. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect data. Collected data were analyzed on SPSS 11.0. RESULTS: 58.2% of them have needed some health information before and 84.6% of them needed the health information offered by a University. 67.2% of them use the Internet more than any other resource to acquire Health Information. 90.9% of them used a search engines to get health information on the Internet. 57.6% of them have searched for Internet health information to get information about specific disease or medical problem. The most frequently searched topics were LASIK(laser in-situ Keratomileusis), diabetes, and contraception. 39.6% of them evaluated the Internet health information was reliable and 55.8% of them satisfied with the Internet health information. CONCLUSION: Universities and their in-campus health centers are needed to offer the trustworthy Internet health informtaion on their official homepages so that the student can refer to the reliable and qualified Internet health information.
Chungcheongnam-do ; Community Health Centers ; Consumer Health Information ; Contraception ; Humans ; Internet* ; Search Engine ; Student Health Services

Thesedays, the computer network has become the most popular means of communicating and sharing of information. With the rapid growing of Internet usage, various kinds of medical-related Internet sites are appearing. Due to the popularity of World Wide Web, many hospitals and medical centers establish their own homepage. In Korea, the number of home pages about medicine and medical institutes is increasing. Although many medical-related sites in Korea are providing Internet services on WWW, the quality is still far behind from foreign countries. For constructing the homepage for each department in Soonchunhyang University Hospital Homepage, this paper first investigates the University Hospital's Internet Homepage. After rewiewing the homepage, the new homepage of Soonchunhyang University Hospital has een implemented. From the experience in implementing the homepage for Soonchunhyang University Hospital, this paper suggests the method to build and manage a homepage for other medical related sites.
Academies and Institutes ; Internet ; Korea

A laryngocele is an uncommon, air-filled dilatation of the laryngeal saccule or appendix of the laryngeal ventricle with an unclear etiology. This abnormality is generally classified into internal, external, or mixed type depending on their relationship to the thyrohyoid membrane. Many laryngoceles are asymptomatic and are discovered incidentally when radiographs of the neck or endolaryngeal examinations are performed for unrelated symptoms. We have experienced a case of bilateral mixed type laryngocele.
Appendix ; Dilatation ; Laryngocele* ; Membranes ; Neck ; Saccule and Utricle

PURPOSE: We investigated the influence of age, rate of obesity, hepatic function and renal function on serum prostate-specific antigen in healthy men older than 50 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 1999 to December 2000, 2,296 healthy Korean men older than 50 years who visited Health Promotion Center at our hospital for a routine health checkup were entered into a prospective study. All men underwent detailed clinical examinations, including serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) determination using Hybritech Tandem-R assay, anthropometric measurements, tests for liver disease, tests for renal function, and other constitutes. We determined the risk factors of the increase of serum PSA among these clinical parameters using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The univariate logistic regression analysis indicated that age, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), hemoglobin, potassium, albumin, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were the risk factors of the increase of serum PSA. In the multivariate model used, age, ALT, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, HDL and cholesterol were an independent predictors of the increase of serum PSA, whereas hemoglobin and potassium lost their statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the health status as well as may influence on serum PSA level of healthy men older than 50 years. Additional work is needed to determine and validate the clinical significance of these findings.
Alanine Transaminase ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Cholesterol ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Liver Diseases ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Obesity* ; Potassium ; Prospective Studies ; Prostate-Specific Antigen* ; Risk Factors

It is known that physicochemical conditions (e.g., pH, temperature, and ionic strength) affect the size of trichomonads. In this study, the sizes of 4 isolates of Trichomonas vaginalis cultured for more than a year (called "old T") and 3 isolates freshly isolated from vaginitis cases (called "fresh T") were compared by scanning electron microscopy. Although the fresh T had shorter body length, body width, and flagellar length than old T, total length (about 26 microm), including body length, flagella length, and axostyle length was almost the same in the 2 groups. A striking difference was observed between the axostyles of the 2 groups; the axostyle length of the fresh T (8.2 microm) was more than twice as long as that of the old T (4.0 microm). However, in several parasitology textbooks, the length of T. vaginalis is said to vary widely from 7 to 32 microm, and its undulating membrane is said to extend about half way (53.5%) to the posterior end of the body. On the other hand, in our study, the undulating membrane was observed to extend more than 3/4 of the body length (72.1%) in old T, whereas in fresh T it could not be measured. Taken together, we suggest that T. vaginalis averages 26 (21-32) microm in total length, with 9.5 (7.4-11.4) microm of body length and 6.8 (5.3-7.7) microm of width, and its undulating membrane extending 3/4 of its body length. Therefore, these findings may provide useful information for morphological characteristics of T. vaginalis.
*Biometry ; Female ; Humans ; *Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Organelles/ultrastructure ; Trichomonas Infections/parasitology ; Trichomonas vaginalis/*cytology/isolation & purification/*ultrastructure

No abstract available.
Chlamydia trachomatis* ; Chlamydia* ; Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Nasal Cavity* ; Polymers* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Third* ; Pregnancy*