This survey was conducted from January 1991 to May 1991. Two hundred and eight residents in 4 government supported homes for the aged and hundred and eleven living in the community in Taegu, Korea, were examined to evaluate the depression and the anxiety of the aged with combined anxiety and depression scale (CADS) and somatization symptom check list (SCL). There are no significant differences between residents in the home for the aged and those living in the community on the total scores of CADS and SCL. However, in the case of the total score of CADS of the female subjects in the home for the aged were significantly higher than those of the community residents. The elderly in the home for the aged tended to have pure depression, while community residents were likely to have anxiety and depression. Fifty-two subjects of home for the aged and sixty-nine of the community scored over 50 points of CADS, which indicates considerable depression or anxiety. In psychosocial factors, the subjects who in the following situations had statistically significant higher scores than others. The results were as follow. Poor health, unhappiness, unsatisfaction to the past occupation, pessimistic thought in future view for both group and unsatisfaction of the relationship with familiar people for the elderly in the community. The SCL scores of two groups subgrouped by under 49 and 50 on CADS showed significant differences between each subgroup on all of the SCL items. It could be suggested that somatic symptoms for the aged is a sign of depression.
Aged* ; Anxiety* ; Daegu ; Depression* ; Female ; Homes for the Aged ; Humans ; Korea ; Occupations ; Psychology

No abstract available.
Autopsy* ; Statistics as Topic*

PURPOSE: Recently, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have become one of the major nosocomial pathogens in Korea. However, there have been few studies on the epidemiology of VRE colonization among neonates. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of VRE colonization, risk factors for VRE, and how to control the spread of VRE infection in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Pusan National University Hospital (PNUH). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 192 neonates who were admitted to the NICU of PNUH from March 2006 to March 2007. Surveillance cultures from rectal swabs for detecting VRE were obtained weekly during the study period. We analyzed the prevalence of VRE and various risk factors. RESULTS: The rate of VRE colonization among NICU patients was 25% (48/192). Thirty five of these VRE colonized patients were transferred to the NICU from other local hospitals. Compared with the non-VRE group, the risk factors associated with VRE colonization were lower birth weight, congenital heart disease, applied mechanical ventilation, use of a central venous catheter, chest tubing, a history of surgery, and use of antibiotics. CONCLUSION: VRE colonization among patients admitted to the NICU is rapidly increasing. Monitoring and managing premature neonates from the beginning of the birth process, avoiding many invasive procedures, avoiding antibiotics such as vancomycin and third generation cephalosporin are important for preventing the emergence and spread of VRE colonization in the NICU.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Birth Weight ; Central Venous Catheters ; Colon ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Intensive Care, Neonatal ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Parturition ; Prevalence ; Respiration, Artificial ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Thorax ; Vancomycin ; Vancomycin Resistance

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of preoperative fine needle aspiration biopsy cytology (FNAB-C) in predicting lateral lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer patients. METHODS: A total of 592 patients who underwent thyroid cancer surgery and intra-operative lateral cervical LN frozen section or RND, from January 2002 to December 2011, were evaluated retrospectively. Among them, 228 cases had suspicious findings in FNAB-C of lateral nodes. We reviewed their radiological and pathological reports. RESULTS: Intra-operative frozen section examination was performed in 540 cases and RND was performed in 314 cases. This study included 534 women (83.4%) and 106 men (16.6%). Patients' ranged in age from 9 to 83 years (mean, 45.65 years). FNAB-C was performed in 228 cases. The sensitivity and specificity of FNAB-C was 71.5% and 78.6%, respectively; 35.9% of cases had a false negative result. The combination of FNAB-C and intra-operative frozen section test sensitivity and specificity was 87.2% and 93.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results for sensitivity in FNAB-C actually appear low, and false negative results were very high. In papillary thyroid cancer in patients with FNAB-C, even if the result is negative, if lymph node metastasis is suspected based on radiologic evidence, frozen section examination should be performed for determination of metastasis.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Female ; Frozen Sections ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroid Neoplasms*

No abstract available.
Dermatitis, Exfoliative ; Phototherapy ; Psoriasis

No abstract available.
Electromyography* ; Hand* ; Humans ; Muscle Spasticity* ; Stroke*

Patients with acromegaly have a reduced life expectancy rnainly due to cardiovascular, respiratory or cerebrovascular diseas-. Malignancy also seems to occur with greater than the expected incidence. In particular, the published retrospective or prospective studies have suggested a strong association of colonic neoplasia with acromegaly. But, there were a few reports of thyroid cancer in acrornegaly. We report a case of thyroid papillary cancer derived from diffuse goiter in acromegaly, sugge- sting the possible carcinogenic role of growth hormone.
Acromegaly ; Bites and Stings ; Colon ; Goiter ; Growth Hormone ; Humans ; Incidence ; Life Expectancy ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms

PURPOSE: The axillary reverse mapping (ARM) technique to identify and preserve arm nodes during sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) was developed to prevent lymphedema. The purpose of this study was to investigate the location and metastatic rate of the arm node, and to evaluate the short term incidence of lymphedema after arm node preserving surgery. METHODS: From January 2009 to October 2010, 97 breast cancer patients who underwent ARM were included. Blue-dye (2.5 mL) was injected into the ipsilateral upper-inner arm. At least 20 minutes after injection, SLNB or ALND was performed and blue-stained arm nodes and/or lymphatics were identified. Patients were divided into two groups, an arm node preserved group (70 patients had ALND, 10 patients had SLNB) and an unpreserved group (13 patients had ALND, 4 patients had SLNB). The difference in arm circumference between preoperative and postoperative time points was checked in both groups. RESULTS: The mean number of identified blue stained arm nodes was 1.4+/-0.6. In the majority of patients (92%), arm nodes were located between the lower level of the axillary vein and just below the second intercostobrachial nerve. In the arm node unpreserved group, 2 patients had metastasis in their arm node. Among ALND patients, in the arm node preserved group, the difference in arm circumference between preoperative and postoperative time points in ipsilateral and contralateral arms was 0.27 cm and 0.07 cm, respectively, whereas it was 0.47 cm and -0.03 cm in the unpreserved group; one case of lymphedema was found after 6 months. No difference was found between arm node preserved and unpreserved group among SLNB patients. CONCLUSION: Arm node preserving was possible in all breast cancer patients with identifiable arm nodes, during ALND or SLNB, except for those with high surgical N stage, and lymphedema did not develop in patients with arm node preserving surgery.
Arm ; Axillary Vein ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymphedema ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nitriles ; Pyrethrins ; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

PURPOSE: Erythropoietin (EPO) has neuroprotective effects in many animal models of brain injury, including hypoxic-ischemic (HI) encephalopathy, trauma, and excitotoxicity. Current studies have demonstrated the neuroprotective effects of EPO, but limited data are available for the neonatal periods. Here in we investigated whether recombinant human EPO (rHuEPO) can protect the developing rat brain from HI injury via modulation of NMDA receptors. METHODS: In an in vitro model, embryonic cortical neuronal cell cultures from Sprague- Dawley (SD) rats at 19-days gestation were established. The cultured cells were divided into five groups: normoxia (N), hypoxia (H), and 1, 10, and 100 IU/mL rHuEPO-treated (H+E1, H+ E10, and H+E100) groups. To estimate cell viability and growth, a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was done. In an in vivo model, left carotid artery ligation was performed on 7-day-old SD rat pups. The animals were divided into six groups; normoxia control (NC), normoxia Sham-operated (NS), hypoxia- ischemia only (H), hypoxia-ischemia+vehicle (HV), hypoxia-ischemia+rHuEPO before a HI injury (HE-B), and hypoxia-ischemia+rHuEPO after a HI injury (HE-A). The morphologic changes following brain injuries were noted using hematoxylin and eosin (H/E) staining. Real-time PCR using primers of subunits of NMDA receptors (NR1, NR2A, NR2B, NR2C and NR2D) mRNA were performed. RESULTS: Cell viability in the H group was decreased to less than 60% of that in the N group. In the H+E1 and H+E10 groups, cell viability was increased to >80% of the N group, but cell viability in the H+E100 group did not recover. The percentage of the left hemisphere area compared the to the right hemisphere area were 98.9% in the NC group, 99.1% in the NS group, 57.1% in the H group, 57.0% in the HV group, 87.6% in the HE-B group, and 91.6% in the HE-A group. Real-time PCR analysis of the expressions of subunits of NMDA receptors mRNAs in the in vitro and in vivo neonatal HI brain injuries generally revealed that the expression in the H group was decreased compared to the N group and the expressions in the rHuEPO-treated groups was increased compared to the H group. CONCLUSION: rHuEPO has neuroprotective property in perinatal HI brain injury via modulation of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors.
Animals ; Anoxia ; Brain ; Brain Injuries ; Carotid Arteries ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Survival ; Cells, Cultured ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Erythropoietin ; Hematoxylin ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Ligation ; Models, Animal ; N-Methylaspartate ; Neurons ; Neuroprotective Agents ; Pregnancy ; Rats ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate ; RNA, Messenger