No abstract available.
Busan* ; Cytogenetics*

OBJECTIVES: The challenge of an increasing elderly population has coupled with everpresent social concerns in Korea. A major problem in health center for the frail older people is that medical, healthcare, and welfare services are often fragmented in terms of providers and settings without appropriate coordination. The purpose of this study was to investigate the need of health center-based integrated healthcare services and its related factors for the elderly. METHODS: A total of 110 elderly people who had visited at a county Health Center were interviewed using a self-administered questionnaire from November to December, 2005. The questionnaire consists of five domains according to the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly. RESULTS: Respondents had high need (total mean score with the 5-point Likert-type sacle: 3.67) of health center-based integrated healthcare services including home visiting service (mean: 4.08), chronic disease care service (mean: 4.06), and transportation service (mean 4.05). According to the results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis, among three regression models the magnititude of the variance of full model that is explained by the need of welfare-domain service was significantly larger than two reduced model. Income was a significant variable in increasing the need of health care and welfare services. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the health center-based integrated healthcare services for the elderly must be continuously developed and provided for the health promotion and improved the quality of life of the elderly who live in rural area in Korea.
Aged* ; Chronic Disease ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Health Promotion ; House Calls ; Humans ; Korea ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Transportation

We report a case of hereditary trichilemmal cyst with proliferating trichilemmal tumor in a 64-year-oid man, who has generalized 157, variable sized firm cutaneous nodules for 40 years. The cystic nodules are chiefly located on the scalp and trunk which showed characteristic histopathologieal findings of trichilemmal cyst and proliferating trichilemmal tumors. His son also has multiple trichilemmal cysts and his mother seems to have had clinically similar lesions. The patient and his son were treated with surgical excision and therapeutic trial of oral isotretinoin for 2 months. Isotretionoin was ineffective in the patient, but the lesions of his son were decreased in size.
Humans ; Isotretinoin ; Mothers ; Scalp

BACKGROUND: Death statistics is the most basic one among health-related statistics. This study was conducted to propose actual data to improve the quality of death statistics through a review of the contents of total registered death reports which are primary sources of death statistics. METHODS: The author reviewed the recent regulations about the death registration and analyzed contents of the total 1,383 death certificates written out from January, 1998 to December, 1999 in a county of Kyungsangnamdo, Korea. RESULTS: The two laws - the Family Registration Act and the Medical Act that mainly control death registration, and the two legal forms - death certificates and death report form that actually used were not accorded. This is a reason why there occurred frequent mistakes in the current death registration. Also, there was no way to correct the incomplete contents of death certificate primarily written by doctors. Among 1,383 death report cases, 83.9% of death was due to illness. The causes of the death were generally incredible; diverse expression even on the same disease, incorrect and inadequate expression, not standardized by standard classification of disease, and unwritten or 'unknown' especially in case of the intermediate underlying and underlying cause. The major place of death was home(67.8%) and medical facilities(22.3%). And, it considered that the welfare facilities should be added as one of the place of death. The proportion of the doctors' diagnosis for death was as high as 96.6%, however, the death certificates issued by a clinic had many problems in aspect of accuracy and completeness. In the time spent for the death report, 98.0% reported within the legal term of one month. CONCLUSIONS: The authors propose the followings to improve the quality of death statistics. First of all, contents of the two laws should be unified. Secondly, concerns and professionalism of the personnel who deal with death registration are should be strengthened. Thirdly, the regular and reinforcing training for the doctors and the officials who issue the death certificates should be emphasized with consistent upgrade of the standard guidelines. Fourthly, the death reporting system should be qualified through the validation of the contents of the death report forms, i.e., checked by medical doctor or medical professionals in the Community Health Center in the process of the receipt, informing, and report.
Classification ; Community Health Centers ; Death Certificates ; Diagnosis ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Korea* ; Social Control, Formal

Sustained abnormal liver function is closely associated with chronic hepatitis in Korea with high prevalence of hepatitis B infection. Follow up about AST and ALT on 839 adults(male 727, female 112) was executed with interval of at least 6 months for 2 years to evaluate the factors contribute to the progression of chronic hepatitis. HBsAg, HBsAb, anti-HCV, body mass index(BMI), total cholesterol, fasting blood sugar(FBS), Clonorchis sinensis in stool(Cs), fatty liver on abdominal sonogram and alcohol habit were also checked. We defined abnormal liver function as both of AST 35 U/L and ALT 50 U/L. As the result of first time liver function test(LFT), the frequency of abnormal liver function was 13.6%(114/839). The positive rate of HBsAg and HBsAb was 7.0% and 73.9%, respectively, and the positive rate of anti-HCV and Cs was 0.7% and 1.3%. As the result of the follow up, 6.2%(52/839) in total has a tendency of chronic hepatitis with sustained abnormal LFT. Among abnormal LFT, 45.6%(52/114) was sustained LFT abnormality, and 12.8%(93/725) was aggravated LFT abnormality from normal LFT at the first check. From these results, male and hepatitis B infection were evaluated as important factors for the progression of chronic hepatitis. HBsAb considered that has a protective effect to the progression of chronic hepatitis. Therefore, even though no symptoms or sign, periodic examination for hepatitis B marker and LFT is important to control the chronic hepatitis, especially for male. Furthermore, because only 25%(13/52) of sustained abnormal LFT was HBsAg positive, it suggests that further study for evaluating the factors except hepatitis B infection would be needed for the control of chronic hepatitis.
Cholesterol ; Clonorchis sinensis ; Fasting ; Fatty Liver ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis, Chronic* ; Humans ; Korea ; Liver ; Male ; Prevalence ; Transaminases*

To evaluate the changes of the central corneal endothelial cell density and morphology after phacoemulsification and foldable silicone intraocular lens(IOL) implantation through a 3.2mm temporal clear corneal incision under topical anesthesia. On 43 patients(43 eyes) who had no systemic and ocular disease to influence the status of corneal endothelium , central corneal thickness, central corneal endothelial celldensity, pleomorphism index and polymegathism index, there was significant increase at 1 day postoperatively and recovery to preoperative state at 2 months poeroperatively. Central corneal endothelial cell losses were 8.92% at 1 day postoperatively and 15.95% at 2 months poeroperatively(p=0.00) and statistically significant increase of polymegathism index was noted at 1 day and 2 months poeroperatively. However no significant difference in central corneal endothelial cell loss and polymegathism index was noted at 6 months postoperatively. From the above results, we concluded that the phacoemulsification through a temporal clear corneal incision under topical anesthesia decreases the central corneal endothelial cell density and increase polymegathism index of the corneal endothelial cells, but these changes become stabilized after postoperative 2 months. Also proper control group must be set up to detect causes of corneal endothelial cell loss and it is neede to estalblish a new criteria for safe corneal endothelial cell density.
Anesthesia* ; Corneal Endothelial Cell Loss ; Endothelial Cells* ; Endothelium, Corneal ; Phacoemulsification* ; Silicones

1. The plain abdominal films of 246 cases of intussusception preceding hydrostatic barium enema were analysedin order to reassess the diagnostic reliability of the abdominal plain film examination. Then, these were comparedwith 42 cases in which the diagnosis had been rejected by means of barium enema. 2. It was found that diagnosis ofthe intussusception was possible in 80% of 246 cases on the basis of plain film findings alone. 3. The most commonand reliable findings of intussusception in plain film diagnosis are those of sparse faecoloid bowel content andsparse amount of intestinal gas. 4. The loops of distended small bowel in cecal or ascending colon area andintraabdominal soft tissue mass are considered to be relatively reliable findings. 5. In 42 cases in which thediagnosis had been rejected by means of barium enema, intussusception was excluded in 745 of the cases on thebasis of plain film findings alone.
Barium ; Colon, Ascending ; Diagnosis ; Enema ; Humans ; Intussusception

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and related factors of work related musculoskeletal symptoms in hairdressers. METHODS: Informations on general characteristics, job strain, and musculoskeletal symptoms were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire, through adopting NIOSH instrument and JCQ(Job content questionnaire), from 267 hairdressers, between March and May, 2000. RESULTS: The symptom prevalence by NIOSH surveillance criteria in total was high as 94.4%; shoulder (61.0%), neck (59.9%), low back (53.2%), hand and wrist (41.6%), etc. In multiple logistic regression, significant factors affecting the symptoms by body region; job insecurity on neck' gender, alcohol, decision latitude on low back; alcohol on hand and wrist; smoking on thigh and knee,' smoking, decision latitude on ankle and foot; job insecurity on upper back. CONCLUSIONS: Musculoskeletal symptoms of hairdresser were highly prevalent, and associated with job strain and their health habits. This is a basic data of work related musculoskeletal disorders among hairdressers who are not the subjects of occupational health service at the present time in Korea.
Ankle ; Body Regions ; Foot ; Hand ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U.S.) ; Neck ; Occupational Health Services ; Prevalence ; Questionnaires ; Shoulder ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Thigh ; Wrist

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of positive psychological characteristics on posttraumatic stress symptoms after traumatic experiences. METHODS: The subjects were 97 firefighters (83 males and 14 females), who completed the Life Events Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised Korean version. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were computed to examine the relationships among the variables, and Structural Equation Modeling was used to investigate the mediation process in the relationships among traumatic experiences, positive psychological characteristics, and posttraumatic stress. RESULTS: The results showed that self-esteem had a mediating effect on the relationship between traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Traumatic experiences affected posttraumatic stress symptoms not only directly, but also through self-esteem to posttraumatic stress symptoms. Therefore the lower firefighters' self-esteem was, the more posttraumatic stress symptoms occurred. Resilience, however, apparently had no function as mediating variable in the relationship between traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Traumatic experiences and resilience each seemed to affect posttraumatic stress symptoms directly. Hence, the lower firefighters' resilience was, the more posttraumatic stress symptoms occurred. CONCLUSION: This study showed that self-esteem had a mediating effect on the relationship between traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms. We also found that resilience affects posttraumatic stress symptoms directly, regardless of the number of traumatic experiences. Likewise, these results showed that we should be concerned in positive psychological characteristics such as self-esteem and resilience in order to prevent posttraumatic stress symptoms.
Firefighters ; Humans ; Male ; Negotiating

We report a case of polycythemia vera combined with coagulation disorder. The patient was 54 years old man who complained of continuous bleeding after incision of skin abscess 20days ago. Laboratory tests were revealed prolonged aPTT and slightly prolonged PT. Coagulation factor, I, VIII, IX, XI and fibrinogen decreased, however FDP did not increased. It appears that patient with polycythemia vera have chronic activation of coagulation system, probably initiated by activation of factor XII. Platelet aggregation test to ADP, collagen, epinephrine was also revealed poor response.
Abscess ; Adenosine Diphosphate ; Blood Coagulation Factors ; Collagen ; Epinephrine ; Factor XII ; Fibrinogen ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Platelet Aggregation ; Polycythemia Vera* ; Polycythemia* ; Skin