Background: Many countries need help with the problem of an unbalanced distribution of physicians and hospitals. Moreover, various policies and strategies have been proposed to solve this problem. This study aimed to examine the determinants of the unbalanced distribution of physicians. Methods: From the 2020 Korean Physician Survey data, 4,181 physicians practicing in Korea were limited to the subjects of the study. We analyzed the factors influencing physicians’ choice of practice location and their willingness to change their practice location from an urban to a rural area. Results: The region of physicians’ hometown, medical school, and residency training hospitals determined their choice of practice location. The type of affiliated healthcare organization and the location of physicians’ hometown, medical school, and residency training hospitals affected their willingness to change their practice location from an urban to a rural area. Furthermore, the concordance rate of the regions of physicians’ hometown, medical school, and residency training hospitals with the region of their practice location was 24.9%. Conclusion In South Korea, policies for doctors have been designed without considering why they are reluctant to work in rural hospitals. To have a balanced distribution of physicians and hospitals, it is necessary to accurately analyze the status of medical resources based on regions and identify the current and future medical demand. The social situation, such as future demographic change and regional extinction, must also be fully considered. Furthermore, policies should be implemented that encourage physicians to work in rural hospitals.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to determine the factors which affect the resilience and quality of life for cancer patients with radiotheraphy. METHODS: Collecting data was conducted by self-administered questionnaire that 205 cancer patients with radiation therapy in one university hospital participated from 15th to 31st May 2015. The data analyzed by SPSS v18 and AMOS v18. RESULTS: This research found that the side-effect of treatments, social support, self esteem, depression, uncertainty and resilience are verified to be the variables having not only direct but indirect influence on the quality of life of patients receiving radiotheraphy. The side-effect of treatments was found to have direct influence on the quality of life of patients receiving was, and social support was found to have indirect influence on resilience through uncertainty and self esteem, and resilience was found to have direct influence on the quality of life. for cancer patients. CONCLUSION: It's necessary to come up with the approaches to develop the realistic practice guideline in order to raise the quality of life of patients receiving radiotheraphy, and to lower social support, self esteem, uncertainty in order to have higher resilience.
Depression ; Humans ; Quality of Life* ; Radiotherapy* ; Self Concept ; Uncertainty

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence, location, and risk factors for the peripheral nerve entrapments of upper extremity among the crutch or cane users. METHOD: We performed the clinical and electrodiagnostic assessments of both upper extremities in 43 crutch or cane users and 49 able-bodied controls. RESULTS: The prevalence for the nerve entrapment of upper extremity among the crutch or cane users was 27.9% by the clinical criteria and 86.0% by the electrodiagnostic criteria. Electrodiagnostically, the median nerve entrapment was 76.7%, and the ulnar nerve entrapment was 72.1% among the crutch or cane users. The carpal tunnel was the most common site for the entrapment. Body weight, duration of disability, and duration of crutch or cane use were found to be significantly correlated with the emtrapments of median nerve, whereas duration of crutch or cane use alone was significantly correlated with the entrapments of ulnar nerve. CONCLUSION: The peripheral nerve entrapments of upper extremity is associated with the chronic crutch or cane use and the preventive strategies need to be developed for the patients with risks.
Body Weight ; Canes* ; Humans ; Median Nerve ; Nerve Compression Syndromes ; Peripheral Nerves* ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Ulnar Nerve ; Ulnar Nerve Compression Syndromes ; Upper Extremity*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this descriptive, cross-sectional study was to identify the factors affecting health-related quality of life by examining the relationships among posttraumatic stress, health-related work limitations, and family support in firefighters. METHODS: The data were collected from 390 firefighters working in four fire stations located in the G district using self-report questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA along with the Scheffé test, and multiple regression. RESULTS: As per the results of multiple regression analysis, the factors affecting health-related quality of life in firefighters were posttraumatic stress, health-related work limitations, and family support. This model explained 31% of the variance in health-related quality of life (F=30.03, p<.001). CONCLUSION: Considering the findings of this study, there is a need to reduce posttraumatic stress and health-related work limitations and develop family support toward firefighters.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Firefighters* ; Fires ; Humans ; Quality of Life*

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is an important period with respect to health promotion, because development of health behavior at this stage is the foundation of health in adalts. Among the social factors, family factor which affects the primary social function can be the most fundamental. We investigated the effects of father's health behavior on the health behavior of their children during adolescence. METHODS: From June to August 1999, 300 adolescent students from middle schools and high schools of areas including four cities (Seoul, Incheon, Anyang, Gunpo) and their fathers were questioned about general characteristics and health behavior such as smoking, alcohol drinking, exercise, duration of sleep, body weight, height and eating habits for breakfast ('Alameda 7'). The relationship between father's health behavior and their adolescents' health behavior was analyzed by chi-squared test. RESULTS: Among 300 adolescents and their fathers, 211 pairs responded appropriately to the questionnaires. Adolescent's smoking was not associated with father's smoking. In drinking there was no significant association between father and adolescent, but in drinking amount, father's high drinking amount was significantly associated in all students, especially in females and high school students. Regular diet, exercise, sleep did not show significant association between father and adolescent. The proportion of obesity in adolescents whose fathers were obese was significantly greater compared to those whose fathers were not. CONCLUSION: High drinking amount and obesity had a statistical significance of association between fathers and adolescents. When we consider adolescents' health behavior, their fathers' health behavior must be considered.
Adolescent ; Alcohol Drinking ; Body Weight ; Breakfast ; Child ; Diet ; Drinking ; Eating ; Fathers ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Health Behavior* ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Incheon ; Obesity ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is an important period with respect to health promotion, because development of health behavior at this stage is the foundation of health in adalts. Among the social factors, family factor which affects the primary social function can be the most fundamental. We investigated the effects of father's health behavior on the health behavior of their children during adolescence. METHODS: From June to August 1999, 300 adolescent students from middle schools and high schools of areas including four cities (Seoul, Incheon, Anyang, Gunpo) and their fathers were questioned about general characteristics and health behavior such as smoking, alcohol drinking, exercise, duration of sleep, body weight, height and eating habits for breakfast ('Alameda 7'). The relationship between father's health behavior and their adolescents' health behavior was analyzed by chi-squared test. RESULTS: Among 300 adolescents and their fathers, 211 pairs responded appropriately to the questionnaires. Adolescent's smoking was not associated with father's smoking. In drinking there was no significant association between father and adolescent, but in drinking amount, father's high drinking amount was significantly associated in all students, especially in females and high school students. Regular diet, exercise, sleep did not show significant association between father and adolescent. The proportion of obesity in adolescents whose fathers were obese was significantly greater compared to those whose fathers were not. CONCLUSION: High drinking amount and obesity had a statistical significance of association between fathers and adolescents. When we consider adolescents' health behavior, their fathers' health behavior must be considered.
Adolescent ; Alcohol Drinking ; Body Weight ; Breakfast ; Child ; Diet ; Drinking ; Eating ; Fathers ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Health Behavior* ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Incheon ; Obesity ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Recent studies have suggested that nitric oxide (NO) exerts various effects on aspects of tumor biology, including angiogenesis and metastasis. There have been, however, scanty reports on nitric oxide synthase (NOS) response for tumors of the head and neck. This study was carried out to assess the distribution of both endothelial NOS (eNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS) in normal salivary gland tissue and in pleomorphic adenoma by using immunohistochemistry. In the present study, eNOS and iNOS were higher expressed in pleomorphic adenoma than adjacent normal salivary gland tissue, suggesting that up-regulation of this enzyme is associated with tumor progression. Additionally, eNOS and iNOS expression were higher in epithelial components than in mesenchymal components. Overall, iNOS expression was higher than eNOS expression in pleomorphic adenoma. In normal tissues adjacent to pleomorphic adenoma, iNOS expression was higher in the mesenchymal type than in the epithelial type of pleomorphic adenoma. It is suggested that NO may play a role in the tumorgenesis and propagation of pleomorphic adenoma.
Adenoma, Pleomorphic* ; Biology ; Head ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neck ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nitric Oxide Synthase* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Salivary Glands* ; Up-Regulation

A nodular density was detected on a chest radiograph taken from a 57-year-old Korean woman who was visiting a hospital for a routine check. Chest computed tomography revealed a 4.8 cm lobulated mass in the right lung and another focal nodular lesion in the left lung; biopsies of both lungs revealed adenocarcinoma. We conducted DNA sequencing and peptide nucleic acid clamping to investigate the potential double primary lung cancer. The results verified that the mass in the right lung had a mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor, whereas the nodule in the left lung had a wild-type sequence, showing that these two were genetically different cancers from one another. Thus, we demonstrate that genetic testing is useful in determining double primary lung cancer, and we herein report on this case.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Biopsy ; Constriction ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Female ; Genetic Testing ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung* ; Middle Aged ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Thorax

A nodular density was detected on a chest radiograph taken from a 57-year-old Korean woman who was visiting a hospital for a routine check. Chest computed tomography revealed a 4.8 cm lobulated mass in the right lung and another focal nodular lesion in the left lung; biopsies of both lungs revealed adenocarcinoma. We conducted DNA sequencing and peptide nucleic acid clamping to investigate the potential double primary lung cancer. The results verified that the mass in the right lung had a mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor, whereas the nodule in the left lung had a wild-type sequence, showing that these two were genetically different cancers from one another. Thus, we demonstrate that genetic testing is useful in determining double primary lung cancer, and we herein report on this case.
Adenocarcinoma ; Biopsy ; Constriction ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Female ; Genetic Testing ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung ; Middle Aged ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Thorax

OBJECTIVE: We used data from the 2010 to 2012 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys to investigate whether the age at menopause is related to age at last delivery. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of the data for 714 women who became menopausal within the 3 years preceding the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. RESULTS: Smoking, exercise, drink, educational level, and income were adjusted in model 1, and the mean ages at menopause were 50.5±0.3, 51.2±0.2, 51.2±0.3, and 50.2±0.4 years for women with <25, ≥25 and <30, ≥30 and <35, ≥35 years age at last delivery, respectively (P=0.049). Smoking, exercise, drink, educational level, income, age at first delivery, age at last delivery, and gravidity were adjusted in model 2, and the respective mean ages at menopause were 50.5±0.5, 50.7±0.4, 50.3±0.4, and 49.2±0.5 years (P=0.03). In both models, older age at last delivery showed higher age at menopause compared with women with younger age at last delivery. CONCLUSION: Korean women with older age at last delivery were associated with younger age at menopause. Increased number of pregnancies was related to older age at menopause.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Gravidity ; Humans ; Korea* ; Menopause* ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Pregnancy ; Smoke ; Smoking