OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of social supports on the relationship between grief level and suicidal ideation of the elderly living alone. METHODS: We analyzed data from a questionnaire administered to subjects aged 65 years or older living alone for a 2017 community mental health project in Gyeongnam S city. To investigate the moderating effects of variables, we conducted a hierarchial regression analysis and confirmed the change R2. RESULTS: When adjusted for education and economic level, grief level had not a direct impact on suicidal ideation. And it was found that interdependent social support was moderating variables in the relationship of grief level and suicidal ideation of the elderly living alone. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for appropriate programs that reduce suicidal ideation and therefore suicidal action. Moreover, it is especially necessary to enhance interdependent social supports.
Aged* ; Education ; Grief* ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Suicidal Ideation*

PURPOSE: Neonatal jaundice is one of the most common problems in our country leading to hospitalization. Agar is low cost, low risk, and easily fed orally; it can bind bilirubin in the intestine, decreasing its enterohepatic circulation, thereby decreasing serum bilirubin levels. At present, however, the effectiveness of agar in the prevention and treament of neonatal jaundice is quite conflicting and controversy. Recently we have read Caglayan's 'Superiority of Oral Agar and Phototherapy Combination in the Treatment of Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia'. The result was very hopeful and attractive enough, and which gave us a motivation to study if it was really of value. METHODS: From May 1995 to April 1996, a total 50 term neonates admitted in nursery of Dong-Eui Medical Center with the capillary serum bilirubin levels greater than 10mg/ dl were enrolled in the study. Those with pathologic causes and breast fed infants were all excluded. The neonates were randomly devided into two groups; 25 of conventional phototherapy alone (P group) and 25 of oral agar plus conventional phototherapy combination (A+P group). The study was terminated when the capillary serum bilirubins were decreased to 8mg/dl. Pastagar B (Pasteur Institute 64946) 500mg in 10ml distilled water were fed four times a day using 10ml syringes prior to bottle feeding. Capillary serum bilirubin levels were measured daily at 10:00 a.m. with heel pad samples. Daily stool frequency and adverse effects of treatment were observed closely. RESULTS: 1) The decrement of the serum bilirubin levels at first 24 hours of therapy was significantly different between P and A+P groups showing as 1.7+/-1.2 and 2.4+/-1.0mg/dl respectively (p<0.05). 2) Mean time for bilirubin to decrease to 8mg/dl was shorter in A+P group than in P group showing as 45.7+/-20.8 and 57.5+/-32.3 hours each other, but those differences were statistically insignificant (p>0.05). 3) No adverse effects such as rashes or abdominal pains were observed during treatment. Differences of mean stool frequency were significant between P and A+P groups showing as 3.7+/-1.2 and 4.7+/-2.0 times per day respectively (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The agar plus conventional phototherapy combination was superior to conventional phototherapy alone at first 24 hours of therapy in neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, but further more careful researches would be necessary for using it routinely in the treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in future.
Abdominal Pain ; Agar* ; Bilirubin ; Bottle Feeding ; Breast ; Capillaries ; Enterohepatic Circulation ; Exanthema ; Heel ; Hope ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia, Neonatal* ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Intestines ; Jaundice, Neonatal ; Motivation ; Nurseries ; Phototherapy* ; Syringes ; Water

Chyle leakage is a rare complication of surgery for thyroid cancer that generally develops after lateral neck dissection. Here, we describe chyle leakages experienced after central neck dissection (CND). A total of 615 patients with thyroid cancer were treated by total thyroidectomy with CND between Jan 2012 and Dec 2012 at our facility, and three (0.49%) developed chyle leakages. The amounts of leakage were all less than 100 ml/day. One patient was resolved with conservative management, while the others were treated with conservative treatment and fibrin glue injection in chylous lymphocele. Chyle leakage after CND is very uncommon, and most cases involve minor leakage. Fibrin glue could be a treatment option for chyle leakage following CND.
Chyle* ; Fibrin Tissue Adhesive ; Humans ; Lymphocele ; Neck Dissection* ; Neck* ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroidectomy*

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*pathology ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Keratin-7/metabolism ; Liver Neoplasms/*pathology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged

PURPOSE: Bilirubin values may vary depending on the site of sampling. The purpose of this study is to compare simultaneously obtained capillary and venous serum bilirubin to assess neonatal jaundice. METHODS: The subjects for the study included 135 healthy inborn as well as outborn full-term infants admitted to Dong-Eui Medical Center for evaluation of jaundice from May 1997 to February 1999. A paired capillary and venous sample was simultaneously drawn from each neonate, and their serum bilirubins were measured by direct spectrophotometric method. RESULTS: A high correlation between capillary and venous serum bilirubin(correlation coefficient(r) =0.949, P<0.05) was observed. No significant difference between mean capillary and venous bilirubin was detected when capillary bilirubin was less than 10 mg/dL(P>0.05), however, the mean venous bilirubin was significantly higher than the mean capillary bilirubin(mean difference;0.65+/-1.04 mg/dL, P<0.0001) when the capillary bilirubin was greater or equal to 10 g/dL(P>0.05). CONCLUSION: There was a trend toward venous bilirubin being higher than capillary bilirubin at higher serum bilirubin levels. However, further studies are needed to ascer-tain the relationship between the site of the sampling and methodology in measurement of bilirubin.
Bilirubin* ; Capillaries* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Jaundice ; Jaundice, Neonatal*

Neonatal lupus is a model of passively acquired autoimmunity in which immune abnormalities in the mother lead to production of antibodies that cross the placenta and injure the developing fetus. The serologic markers for the diagnosis of neonatal lupus are auto-antibodies specific to SS-A/Ro and/or SS-B/La. More than 95% of affected infants are anti-SS-A/Ro positive. We experienced a neonatal lupus with acute myocarditis at 2 months of age. The baby was born in gestational age of 36 weeks with a birth weight of 2,350gm by Caesarean section. At birth, chest X-ray showed mild cardiomegaly, but electrocardiography and echocardiography were normal. Laboratory findings for LDH, CPK and CK-MB were increased above the normal range. At 2 months of age, controlled echocardiography showed dilated left ventricle(LV) dimension with decreased fractional shortening and ejection fraction. However, this infant did not show clinical symptoms of congestive heart failure. We followed up on this patient without giving any medical treatment. At 1 year of age, controlled echocardiography showed increased thickness of the posterior wall of LV, but the fractional shortening and ejection fraction returned to normal range.
Antibodies ; Autoimmunity ; Birth Weight ; Cardiomegaly ; Cesarean Section ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Fetus ; Gestational Age ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Infant ; Mothers ; Myocarditis* ; Parturition ; Placenta ; Pregnancy ; Reference Values ; Thorax

Congenital self-healing reticulohistiocytosis (CSHRH) typically presents at birth or in the first few weeks of life as a widespread eruption of cutaneous red-brown papulonodules that resolve spontaneously without involvement of other organs. While multiple lesions are common, a solitary lesion is rare. We describe a solitary type of CSHRH in a full-term, male neonate. He had an erythematous papule with a yellowish crust on the left heel without any systemic symptoms. Four weeks later, the skin lesion had disappeared spontaneously.
Heel ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Parturition ; Skin

PURPOSE: We evaluated the clinical characteristics of respiratory viruses that were frequently found in children during spring/summer, namely, human bocavirus (hBoV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), parainfluenza virus (PIV), and human rhinovirus (hRV). METHODS: This study enrolled patients with acute lower respiratory infection in whom respiratory virus reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was performed between March 2013 and August of 2013. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records to collect the patients' data. RESULTS: A total of 96 patients were enrolled and divided into 5 categories: hBoV in 19 patients (19.8%), hMPV in 18 patients (18.8%), PIV in 16 patients (16.7%), hRV in 20 patients (20.8%), and negative result in 23 patients (24.0%). The mean age of the patients was 8.2+/-5.9 months (median, 7.5 months; range, 1-24 months), and the male-to-female ratio was 1.1:1. The most common diagnoses were acute bronchiolitis (62.5%) and pneumonia (30.2%). Compared to other patients, those with hBoV were older (12.3+/-4.9 months, P=0.001) and more frequently diagnosed with acute bronchiolitis (P=0.005). In addition, they showed higher incidences of tachypnea and rales (P=0.039 and P=0.035, respectively), and were more frequently treated with oxygen and systemic steroids (P=0.044 and P=0.001, respectively) than the other patients. CONCLUSION: We compared respiratory viruses in children during spring/summer and found that hBoV may have more severe clinical manifestations than other viruses.
Bronchiolitis ; Child* ; Diagnosis ; Human bocavirus* ; Humans ; Humans* ; Incidence ; Medical Records ; Metapneumovirus ; Oxygen ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; Pneumonia ; Respiratory Sounds ; Retrospective Studies ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rhinovirus ; Steroids ; Tachypnea

No abstract available.
Humans ; Interleukin-2* ; Interleukins* ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Plasma*

BACKGROUND: A two-dose measles vaccination schedule is recommended routinely for either school entry or 11 to 13 years of age in America since 1989. But, several studies were performed on measles antibody in Korea and it remains controversial whether a second dose measles vaccine after 15 months is necessary. To generate baseline data, measles antibody prevalence and its levels according to different age groups in children and young adults in Taejon area were studied. METHODS: A total of 261 subjects at 3 to 21 years of age, who had received a single dose of measles vaccine, were tested for measles antibody by quantitative alpha enzyme immunoassay. The subjects were divided into five age-groups based on the educational system (preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, young-adult). RESULTS: The seropositivity rates were 97.7% and not significantly different among groups. The expected tendency of declining antibody levels with advancing age, as reported by other studies, was not observed in this study. Except for between Group I and Group II, no significant difference was noted in the antibody levels among the five age groups. Group II showed significantly higher antibody levels than those of Group I (P=0.0025). CONCLUSIONS: No declining tendency of measles antibody levels with advancing age is different from many other studies and contradicts the current recommendations for supplementary vaccinations after 15 months. These might reflect the regional characteristics of the study population in Taejon area and current vaccination rate. Therefore, futher studies with larger population in different geographic regions by quantitative EIA would be needed.
Americas ; Appointments and Schedules ; Child ; Daejeon ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Korea ; Measles Vaccine ; Measles* ; Prevalence ; Vaccination* ; Young Adult