This study was done to compare the nutritional status of antioxidant vitamins between college women smokers and nonsmokers. Dietary intakes and serum levels of antioxidant vitamins were determined in 33 smokers and 42 nonsmokers residing in the Seoul area. Dietary intakes of vitamin A and C were determined by a quick and convenient dietary intake method. Serum vitamin C level was measured by 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine method and serum levels of vitamin A and E were measured by HPLC. The mean A intake of nonsmokers and smokers was 504.3 microgram R.E./day and 450. 4 microgram R.E./day and the mean vitamic C intake of nonsmokers and smokers was 51.6mg/day and 50.2mg/day, reapectively. There was no difference in the dietary intakes of antioxidant vitamins between smokers and nonsmokers. The serum vitamin A level, 0.71mg/1 in nonsmokers was not significantly different from that of 0.74mg/1 in smokers. However, the serum vitamin C level, 7.94mg/1 in smokers was 15% lower(p<0.05) than that of 9.30mg/1 in nonsmokers. The serum vitamin E level, 18.15mg/1 in smoders was also 34% lower(p<0.05) than that of 27.58mg/1 in nonsmokers. There was no significant correlation between dietary intakes and serum levels of vitamin A and C for both smokers and nonsmokers. These results suggest that cigarette smokers need more dietary intakes of vitamin C and E than do nonsmokers to reach the same serum level.
Ascorbic Acid ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Female ; Humans ; Nutritional Status* ; Seoul ; Tobacco Products ; Vitamin A ; Vitamin E ; Vitamins*

This study was carried out to obtain basic data required to plan and develop Rehabilitation Day Care Program for the stroke survivors at home in Korea. The subjects comprised of 118 stroke survivors who discharged from 4 hospitals in Seoul during the past 2 years. The data were collected from August 3, 1998 to September 18, 1998, through interviews with questionnaires about general characteristics, activities of daily living, depression and service need of rehabilitation day care program at the outpatient clinics by trained nursing graduates. Data were analyzed with descriptive analysis, Pearson's correlation analysis, and Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis using SPSS/WIN program. The results obtained are as follows: 1. The mean score of the general need of rehabilitation day care program of stroke survivors was 2.78(range 1-4). The highest need among the service categories of the rehabilitation day care program was self-care and restorative activities category, and health services referral category, recreation category, psychosocial activities category in order. The needs of each category are as follows ; 1) In the health services referral category, the need for speech therapy was highest, followed by the need for physical therapy and occupational therapy. 2) In the psychosocial activities category, the need for self-help group was highest. 3) In the self-care and restorative activities category, the need for bathing was highest, followed by bowel training, and ambulation training. 4) The need for the recreation category was 2.62. 2. Among the need for the effect related to the utilization of day care program, the need for survivors' physical and psychological well-being was highest and was followed by the need for caregiver's physical and psychological wellbeing. Pearson's correlation analysis revealed following results; 1. The need for rehabilitation day care program service displayed a correlation with the level of education, ADL, and the level of depression, and a reverse correlation with age. 2. The need for the effect related to the utilization of rehabilitation day care program displayed a correlation with the level of education, ADL, and the level of depression. The stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed following results; 1. For the need for rehabilitation day care program service, 28.4% of the variance was initially explained by one variable, level of depression. The level of depression plus two variables, survivors' age and ADL, explained 34.2% of the variance in the need for rehabilitation day care program service. 2. For the need for the effect related to the utilization of rehabiJitation day care program, 12.4% of the variance was initially explained by one variable, level of depression. The level of depression plus one variable, level of education, explained 20.4% of the variance in the need for the effect related to the utilization of rehabilitation day care program. In conclusion, above characteristics should be considered when we are planning to develop stroke survivors' rehabilitation day care program.
Activities of Daily Living ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Baths ; Day Care, Medical* ; Depression ; Education ; Health Services ; Humans ; Korea ; Linear Models ; Nursing ; Occupational Therapy ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Recreation ; Referral and Consultation ; Rehabilitation* ; Self Care ; Self-Help Groups ; Seoul ; Speech Therapy ; Stroke* ; Survivors* ; Walking

PURPOSE: This research with one group pre-post design was carried out to test the practical feasibility to administrate the Music' Movement program developed for the stroke patients. SUBJECTS: 12 stroke survivors at J Public Health Center in Seoul. were participated in. The average age was 68 years old. the ratio of sex was almost 5.8 :4.2, the duration of was almost over 1 year. METHOD: Music' Movement program was conducted for 2 hours x 1day x 6 weeks. The contents of Music' Movement program were consisted of the preparatory activities, main activities and the wrap up activities. The preparatory activities are ice braking, greeting, explanation of the aims of music' movement program, and introduction of stroke disease and ROM exercise. The main activities are the body motions with singing and playing musical instruments. The wrap up activities are stretching and joints and discussion of home activities. Data Collection: The outcome variables are muscle strength, finger pinch power, ROMs. flexibility, depression, and life satisfaction. Depression was measured by CES-D(Kim, I. J., 1999), life satisfaction by ladder scale(McDowell & Newell. 1996), and ADL state (Holbrook & Skilbeck, 1983). Data Analysis: SPSS/PC 10.0 for Window was used. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to analyze outcome measures. The level of statistical significance was set at p .05. RESULTS: This program was effective to decrease the depression level of subjects(p .05). The muscle strength, hand grip power, ROMs, life satisfaction. and rehabilitation state of the subjects were slightly increased but no significant differences were found between the pre and post test. Additionally every patient replied that they were very satisfied and expressed their appreciation for this program very much. Of course they strongly want to continue to participate in and meet the peer group again. CONCLUSION: Considering these results, the practical feasibility of Music' Movement program can be supported. Therefore, this Music Movement program can be examined with the quasi-experimental design with control group and ongoing reviews. After that, this program would be applied in public health centers, medical institutes, and welfare centers for the rehabilitation of stroke patients.
Academies and Institutes ; Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Data Collection ; Depression ; Fingers ; Hand ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Ice ; Joints ; Muscle Strength ; Music ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Peer Group ; Pliability ; Public Health ; Rehabilitation ; Seoul ; Singing ; Statistics as Topic ; Stroke* ; Survivors

PURPOSE: To evaluate types of gray matter heterotopias, associated brain anomalies, and its correlation with the patterns of seizure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated retrospectively 19 patients(male :female=10:9, mean age 21 years) with gray matter heterotopias on brain MRI. Using 1.0T superconducting MR unit, spin echo TI-, proton-density- and T2-weighted images in axial, coronal and sagittal planes were obtained. RESULTS: Types of gray matter heterotopias were single subependymal in four patients, multiple subependymal in one, focal subcortical in eight, diffuse subcortical in two, mixed multiple subependymal and focal subcortical in four. Associated anomalies were seen in 11 patients:other neuronal migration anomalies in eight patients, corpus callosum agenesis in two, and combined holoprosencephaly and Dandy-Walker malformation in one. Fifteen patients had seizure. The patterns of seizure were not correlated with the types of heterotopias. CONCLUSION: In addition to subependymal, focal subcortical, and diffuse subcortical types, gray matter heterotopias included mixed variant of of multiple subependymal and subcortical type. Schizencephaly was the most common form of accompanying anomalies, and patterns of seizure were not correlated with types of gray matter heterotopias, even though main clinical menifestation was seizure.
Agenesis of Corpus Callosum ; Brain ; Dandy-Walker Syndrome ; Holoprosencephaly ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Malformations of Cortical Development ; Neurons ; Retrospective Studies ; Seizures

PURPOSE: Endoscopic variceal sclerotherapy(EVS) has been considered the mainstay therapy for bleeding esophageal varices in adults. However, recent data have shown that endoscopic variceal ligation is just as efficacious and has fewer complications than EVS. Although there are many reports concerning EVL in adults, only a few studies have been done of children. METHODS: We performed EVL in 9 children under 6 years of age(mear age, 2.5 year) with esophageal varices. Outcome was assessed with respect to survival, rebleeding, and complications. RESULTS: The causes of portal hypertension were 3 cases of congenital hepatic fibrosis, 3 cases of biliary atresia, 2 cases of portal vein thrornbosis, and one case of portal vein fibromuscular dysplasia. The age at diagnosis ranged from 10 months to 6 years. The patients underwent a mean of 2.6+/- 0.7 sessions of EVL(ranging from two to four). The numbers of bands per person were 5.6+/-1.8, and the numbers of bands per session were 2.2+/-1.0 Two complications of esophageal rebleeding were noted, and none of the cases experienced symptoms of esophageal stenosis, nor gastroesophageal reflux. CONCLUSION: EVL is safe and effective in controlling variceal hemorrhage in children with portal hypertension, regardless of etiology. The cornplication rate is low and EVL is an acceptable and perhaps preferable altemative to EVS in children with esophageal varices. But regular periodic examination for recurrence of varices after eradication should be required.
Adult ; Biliary Atresia ; Child* ; Diagnosis ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices* ; Esophageal Stenosis ; Fibromuscular Dysplasia ; Fibrosis ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; Ligation* ; Portal Vein ; Recurrence ; Varicose Veins

Over the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the incidence of multifetal pregna-ncies, primarily because of the introduction of ovarian stimulants for ovulation induction and assisted reproductive technology ( ART ) in infertile patients. It is well established that multifetal pregnancies are associated with an increased frequency of the maternal complications and gre-ater perinatal morbidity and mortyality. The adverse outcome of multifetal pregnancies is dire-ctly proportional to the number of fetuses, primarily as an consequence of prterm delivery. Re-duction in the number of fetuses in multifetal pregnancies has been proposed as a way to impr-ove the perinatal outcome in this situation. Therefore, selective fetal reduction ( SFR ) is sugges-ted as a therapeutic option for continuation of pregnancy with fetuses mature enough to survi-ve. In this paper, we report our infertility clinic experiences with 6 patients who carried mult- ifetal pregnancies including 1 quintuplet, 1 quadruplet, and 4 triplets. from January, 1991 to May, 1996, transabdominal SFR was accomplished by fetal intrathoracic KCl injection at 9~10 weeks of gestation. After the prcedure, 4 patients remained as twin pregnancies, and 2 patients as single pregnancy. There have been 3 sets of twin deliveries and the 2 sets of single delivery. One case was aborted. Two patients were delivered after 37 weeks of gestation, 2 patients were at 35 weeks, and 1 patient at 24 weeks. All babies have been healthy after birth in patients after 35 weeks gestation. There was no fetal anomaly related to the procedure in the 6 cases. We concluded that transabdominal SFR is a rather safe and useful procedure that may improve the outcome of multifetal pregnancies.
Fetus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infertility ; Ovulation Induction ; Parturition ; Pregnancy Reduction, Multifetal* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Quadruplets ; Quintuplets ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Triplets ; Twins

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental illness that can lead to deterioration in the social and occupational functioning of affected individuals with a major cost to society. A wide range of studies suggest a genetic component to the inheritance of schizophrenia. The molecular genetic studies on schizophrenia have been actively performed since late 1980s. In linkage studies, no loci were replicated across studies and there were no loci surpassing genome-wide significance. Candidate gene association studies showed generally inconsistent results and there were no enrichment of smaller P-values. In the GWAS era, the community has coalesced into large international consortia. The largest schizophrenia GWAS to date is 50,000 samples and efforts are ongoing to accumulate 50,000 cases and 50,000 controls as part of 'PGC2' collaboration. With the limitation of GWAS results, several alternatives are being explored. In genotyping, the concepts of allelic spectrum including from common polygenic to rare penetrant variation are emerging. Phenotypes include all phenomena beyond DNA. The developments in transcriptomic & proteomic approach and intensive research on endophenotype will bring crucial insights into the nature of schizophrenia in the future. But there still remains our task about research on many factors including environment that influence gene expression (epigenetics), age, and gender.
Cooperative Behavior ; DNA ; Endophenotypes ; Epigenomics ; Gene Expression ; Genetic Association Studies ; Molecular Biology ; Phenotype ; Schizophrenia ; Wills

Development of various antidepressants such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant has led to a tremendous progression of pharmaceutical treatment for depression, but still there are some limitations of current antidepressants, such as treatment-resistant depression and delayed onset of antidepressants. The pathogenesis of depression is unclear because depression is a heterogeneous disease state, and the mechanisms of antidepressants remain uncertain as well. Nevertheless, in an attempt to develop novel antidepressants, some trials have been conducted based on the potential biological mechanism discovered in the numerous research results. This review will provide information about the potential novel antidepressants and the current states of clinical studies using them. In particular, some potential novel antidepressants anti-inflammatory agents, antioxidants, anticholinergics, modulators of Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis, glutamate, and opioid systems, as well as some neuropeptides such as susbstance P, neuropeptide Y, and galanin will be discussed.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Antidepressive Agents ; Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic ; Antioxidants ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Cholinergic Antagonists ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Drug Therapy ; Galanin ; Glutamic Acid ; Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors ; Neuropeptide Y ; Neuropeptides ; Norepinephrine ; Serotonin ; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors

The circadian rhythms have been gradually important in psychiatric field. Several studies have shown that major psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and dementia, were highly associated with the abnormalities of circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms might have an influence on the pathogenesis and prognosis of psychiatric disorders. Understanding the impact of circadian rhythms on psychiatric disorders became crucial to psychiatrists. Therefore, this review investigated the types of the circadian rhythms to be used in psychiatric field. The measurement of circadian rhythms were performed by several ways, such as sleep diary, self-reported scales, heart rate, heart rate variability, polysomnography, electroencephalography, actigraphy, melatonin, cortisol. Using these data related to circadian rhythms might be utilized to evaluate the relevance of the pathogenesis in psychiatric disorders and predict the treatment response and prognosis of illness. Furthermore, if the real-time monitoring of circadian rhythms is possible, the novel diagnostic and therapeutic model using circadian rhythms could be applied in psychiatric area.

In the field of psychiatry, studies on circadian rhythms are increasing. This research trend is based on the emerging evidence on the relationship between circadian rhythm and pathophysiology and prognosis of psychiatric disorders.As performing the research on this area, the difficulty in analyzing large amount of data that are sequentially collected according to time change exists. In order to properly analyze the data in research on the circadian rhythm, it is necessary to effectively apply analysis methods of time series data. Therefore, this review aimed to summarize the analysis methods of circadian rhythms that show time series data. Understanding the analysis method of circadian rhythm will be useful for utilizing clinical data in the form of a time series data in the smart medical field in the future.