No abstract available.
Vasculitis*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Young Adult*

No abstract available.
Fluorides*

To provide the information necessary for the insurance medicine management plan, price discount rates among the insurance medicines were studied. A total of 2,107 items of insurance medicine of which prices were discounted via government inspections of real transactional process of insurance medicine were analysed. The conclusions are as follows; 1. Among the variables relevant to the characteristics of manufacturers, price discount rates of insurance medicines were statistically significant with production rankings of manufacturers, incorporation year, existence of investments by foreign corporation, existence of a research institute, and enrollment in the exchange. And among the variables relevant to the properties of medicines, the number of enrolled items which have the same components, classification, the date of new enrollment, the sales of items, and the number of raw materials in the items were statistically significant. 2. Stepwide multiple regression was done to identify the factors which affect the price discount rates of insurance medicines. The number of enrolled items which have the same components, production rankings of manufactures, classification number (medicines for function of tissue cells), incorporation year (1940-1949), existence of investments by foreign corporations, classification number (anti-germ medicines), number of raw materials in the items, the sales of items, and medicines whose major objective is not treatment were significant variables and the R2-value for these variables was 21.2%. Considering all of the above results, for management of insurance medicines, it seems important that the real transactional prices of insurance medicines should be identified systematically, focusing on the properties which affect the price discount rates of insurance medicines.
Academies and Institutes ; Classification ; Commerce ; Insurance* ; Investments

No abstract available.
Crowns* ; Glass*

Glutaraldehyde is commonly used as a biocide to disinfect delicate instruments such as dental instruments, to treat warts, hyperhidrosis and bullous diseases and as a preservative in various materials. Contact sensitivity to glutaraldehyde may not be detected, because it is not included in the standard screening chemicals recommended in the screening tests. We report a case of allergic contact dermatitis caused by Wydex(2% glutaraldehyde). A 54-year-old female made a visit to our departrnent with eczematous dermatitis of both hands, neck and face. She worked as a cleaner in delivery room and newborn nursery, and had developed the dermatitis 1 month after Wydex' containing 2% glutaraldehyde had been to clean the rooms. She had no family or personal history of atopy or contact dermatitis. Patch tests with Korean Standard(KS-1000) and Wydex were performed, and patch tests with 2% glutaraldehyde, 0.2% gluteraldehyde and rubber mix followed. The positive results were, Wydex 2% ++, 0.2% +, 0.02% + and. glutaraldehyde 2% aq. +, 0.2% aq. + on day 2 and day 4. We confirmed that the skin lesions had been caused by Wydex . The symptoms were eradicated after she changed her work environment and there has been no evidence of recurrence.
Delivery Rooms ; Dental Instruments ; Dermatitis ; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact* ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Eczema ; Female ; Glutaral* ; Hand ; Humans ; Hyperhidrosis ; Infant, Newborn ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Nurseries ; Patch Tests ; Recurrence ; Rubber ; Skin ; Warts

BACKGROUND: Herpes zoster is an important and troublesome disease. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was the elucidation of the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of herpes zoster through patient assessrnent. METHODS: During a 5- Year period, January 1990 to December 1994, 215 patients with herpes zoster were assessed with regard to annual and monthly frequency in occurrence, age and gender incidence. Associated conditions, dermatomic distributions, the relationship of onset of pain and skin lesions, Multi-CMI test and complications were also evaluated. RESULTS: 1. The annual freguency of herpes zoster ranged from 0.88% to 1.78% (mean 1.23%) during the 5-year period. The highest number of herpes zoster patients was observed in winter (p<0.001) especially in January. 2. Herpes zoster was found to most frequently afflict persons aged 50-59 (27.9%). 71% of the patients were over 40 years of age. 3. In 76 patients (41.8%), neuralgia occurred several days (4 days mean) before the development of skin lesions. In 92 patients (50.5%), pain and skin lesions developed simultaneously while skin lesion development occurred before the onset of pain in 14 patients (7.7%). 4. Among the patients, 42.8% had associated conditions such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, pulmonary tuberculosis, liver diseases, peptic ulcer, hypothyroidism, pharyngitis, fracture, etc. 5. The dermatomic invclvement of herpes zoster patients having one dermatome was most frequent in thoracic dermatome ca. es (52.6%). Others included cervical (16.7%), trigeminal (11.6%), sacral (6. 0%), lumbar (4.2%), facial (0.5%). Cases having two different dermatomes constituted 8.4%. 6. The most common complication of herpes zoster was postherpetic neuralgia although instance of ophthalmologic compiications, secondary bacterial infection, scar formation, Ramsay-Hunt syndrome, keloid formation, and urinary difficulty were also documented. 7. Multi-CMI (Cell-mediated immunity) tests were done on 88 herpes zoster patients. Thirteen of them (14.8%) were found to have comparatively depressed scores. Ten of the 79 single dermatome involvement patients (12.7%) and three of the 9 two dermatome involvement patients (33.3%) exhibited similar scores. CONCLUSION: These results are in accordance with those of previous reports with the exception of the higher incidence ot two different dermatome involvements and seasonal variation.
Bacterial Infections ; Cicatrix ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Herpes Zoster* ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Hypothyroidism ; Incidence ; Keloid ; Liver Diseases ; Neuralgia ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; Peptic Ulcer ; Pharyngitis ; Seasons ; Skin ; Tuberculosis

No abstract available.
Pancreaticoduodenectomy*

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of an improved method of endotracheal suction on nosocomial pneumonia (NP) and tracheal colonization by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii in intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS: The study was carried out in both the medical and surgical ICUs of a tertiary-care university hospital; 2,347 patients were admitted in the ICUs from January 2003 to December 2004. The method of endotracheal suction to remove secretions was improved by using a sterile, individually packed catheter and sterile fluid filled in a small container for a single use instead of sterile catheters and fluid packed or filled in large containers for a multiple use. Then, we compared the incidence of NP, the colonization rates of P. aeruginosa and A. baumanni in the respiratory tract, and their carbapenem resistance before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The incidence of NP (1,000 patient-day rate) was decreased from 4.08 to 2.46 in the SICU and from 1.4 to 0.8 in the MICU after the intervention, but the differences were not significant. The colonization rate by A. baumannii was decreased significantly from 35.7% to 4.6% in the SICU (P<0.001) and from 12.7% to 7.6% in the MICU (P<0.001). The colonization rate by P. aeruginosa was decreased significantly from 17.7% to 7.4% in the SICU (P<0.001), but not in the MICU. There was also a marked decrease in carbapenem resistance, 21% to 8% in P. aeruginosa and 70% to 16% in A. baumannii. CONCLUSION: Endotracheal suction with a sterile catheter and sterile fluid is important in preventing respiratory infections and colonization by P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii in the ICU.
Acinetobacter baumannii* ; Acinetobacter* ; Catheters ; Colon* ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Pneumonia* ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa* ; Pseudomonas* ; Respiratory System ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Suction*

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate whether maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin(hCG) level measured during second trimester could be used as a predictor of pregnancy-induced hypertension. METHODS: Between March 1996 and November l997, 505 pregnant women undergoing second trimester(14-22 weeks of amenorrhea) triple marker screening for neural tube defect and Down syndrome who delivered at our institution were reviewed. All samples were assayed in the same laboratory and medical records were reviewed about medical and obstetrical history. RESULTS: Maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin level(multiples of the median, MoM) was significantly higher in the pregnancy-induced hypertension group than in the control group. With the use of 2. l multiples of the median as a cutoff value, the sensitivity of human chorionic gonadotropin as a screening marker for development of pregnancy-induced hypertension was 38.7%, the specificity was 95.9%, positive predictive value was 38.7% and negative predictive value was 95.9%. Conlusion: We suggest that second trimester maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels can be used clinically as an early predictive marker for pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Chorion ; Chorionic Gonadotropin* ; Down Syndrome ; Female ; Humans ; Humans* ; Hypertension* ; Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced ; Mass Screening ; Medical Records ; Neural Tube Defects ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnant Women ; Sensitivity and Specificity