BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that adolescent smokers are increasing in Korea, an effective smoking cessation program is not widely available. The purpose of the present study was to develop and evaluate a short term smoking cessation program. METHODS: The subjects involved in the smoking cessation program were 89 students from 9 different middle and high schools located in Seoul. They were referred to our program by their school teacher as a penalty for smoking in school. The duration of the program was a total of 270 minutes and the program was carried out in 3 sessions during a period of one week. The program included cigarette related experiments and life skills enhancement training, such as self-assertiveness, cigarette refusal skills and self esteem enhancement. The students considered to be smoke free at the end of the program were those who declared themselves to be smoke free and achieved an expiratory CO level of less than 8 ppm. The stage of smoking cessation was also assessed at the beginning to later evaluate if any progress in stage had occurred. Certification was given to those who succeeded in meeting the smoke free criteria. The students who were not able to meet the smoke free criteria were given the certification only under the condition that they achieve a level of expiratory CO measurement close th that of a nonsmoker's. RESULTS: Eighty seven students out of the 89 received the certification and 90.7% had attempted smoking cessation during the program. 39.1% Among, met the smoke free criteria used in this study. There was a significant difference between those who declared to be smoke free (54.1%) on the questionnaire and those who actually met the smoke free criteria. There was an average of a 0.75 stage advancement in terms of the stage of smoking cessation (P<0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The program yielded high smoking cessation attempt and cessation rate in spite of the short duration of the program.
Adolescent* ; Certification ; Disulfiram ; Humans ; Korea ; Self Concept ; Seoul ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking* ; Tobacco Products ; Tobacco Use Cessation

The fetus is an unstable subject for an isolated physiological and biochemical study. To study the fetus in a controlled and stable environment, a trial was done using 12 goat fetuses. Extrauterine incubation system was devised using an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation system. The system consisted of a venous reservoir with a servo-controlled roller pump and a membrane oxygenator. The extra-corporeal circuit and membrane oxygenator were primed with the maternal whole blood of 200 mL. Fetal umbilical cords was exposed by Cesarean section. Fetal umbilical arterial blood was drained via the drainage cannula. The drained blood was perfused to the oxygenator by the roller pump. The highly oxygenated and decarboxylated blood was returned to an umbilical vein via the perfusion catheter. The blood flow rate was controlled manually using a roller pump. Fetal heart rate, blood pressure, and electrocardiogram were continuously recorded. Gas analysis of drained and perfused bood was performed hourly. With this system, the fetuses were able to survive under fairly stable physiological condition for periods of up to 34 hr. The extrauterine incubation system used in this study could therefore be a encouraging future experimental model in researching the artificial placenta for premature fetuses.
Animals ; Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation/adverse effects/*methods ; Female ; Fetal Blood/metabolism ; Fetus/*blood supply/*physiology ; Goats ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Models, Animal ; Pregnancy ; Time Factors ; Umbilical Arteries ; Umbilical Veins

Background: There is limited information on the clinical characteristics of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Methods: We performed a retrospective case series of patients with COVID-19 enrolled from February 22 to March 26, 2020. Forty cases of COVID-19 were confirmed using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction among patients who underwent screening tests and were consecutively hospitalized at Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, Korea.The final follow-up date was May 19, 2020. All COVID-19 cases in Ulsan were included.Demographic and epidemiological information, comorbidities, clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory and radiologic findings, medications, treatments, outcomes, and main durations of patients with COVID-19 were compared according to supplemental oxygen requirement. Results: Forty patients were included (median age, 30 years; interquartile range [IQR], 25–57 years; 58% female). Six (15%) patients required supplemental oxygen. The prevalence of asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was 5% and that of presymptomatic infection was 13%. Cough, fever, myalgia, rhinorrhea or nasal congestion, and diarrhea were the screening criteria for diagnosing symptomatic and presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections. Sputum production, chest discomfort, a large number of symptoms, abnormal procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels, and abnormal chest X-ray or chest computed tomography findings were more common in patients requiring supplemental oxygen than in those not requiring supplemental oxygen. Overall mortality rate was 3% (1/40). Four patients (10%) were readmitted after testing positive by reversetranscription polymerase chain reaction again. Incubation period was 5 days (IQR, 4–6 days), and the duration of viral shedding was 21 days (IQR, 14–28 days; maximum, 51 days). Conclusion The prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection was 5%, which is much lower than that previously reported. This finding suggests that careful interviews and follow-ups should be performed to identify SARS-CoV-2 infections. Cough, fever, myalgia, rhinorrhea or nasal congestion, and diarrhea are adequate screening criteria for covering all symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further evaluation is required to create representative screening criteria for COVID-19.

Purpose: To compare long-term disease-free survival (DFS) between patients receiving tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil (S-1) or capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CAPOX) adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) for gastric cancer (GC). Materials and Methods: This retrospective multicenter observational study enrolled 983 patients who underwent curative gastrectomy with consecutive AC with S-1 or CAPOX for stage II or III GC at 27 hospitals in Korea between February 2012 and December 2013. We conducted propensity score matching to reduce selection bias. Long-term oncologic outcomes, including DFS rate over 5 years (over-5yr DFS), were analyzed postoperatively. Results: The median and longest follow-up period were 59.0 and 87.6 months, respectively. DFS rate did not differ between patients who received S-1 and CAPOX for pathologic stage II (P=0.677) and stage III (P=0.899) GC. Moreover, hazard ratio (HR) for recurrence did not differ significantly between S-1 and CAPOX (reference) in stage II (HR, 1.846; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.693–4.919; P=0.220) and stage III (HR, 0.942; 95% CI, 0.664–1.337; P=0.738) GC. After adjustment for significance in multivariate analysis, pT (4 vs. 1) (HR, 11.667; 95% CI, 1.595–85.351; P=0.016), pN stage (0 vs. 3) (HR, 2.788; 95% CI, 1.502–5.174; P=0.001), and completion of planned chemotherapy (HR, 2.213; 95% CI, 1.618–3.028; P<0.001) were determined as independent prognostic factors for DFS. Conclusions S-1 and CAPOX AC regimens did not show significant difference in over-5yr DFS after curative gastrectomy in patients with stage II or III GC. The pT, pN stage, and completion of planned chemotherapy were prognostic factors for GC recurrence.