It is well known that Bowen's.disease, a precancerous dermatosis can be associated with internal malignancy. We report 2 cases of Bowen's disease of probable arsenic origin associated with. internal malignancies. Case one, a 55 year-old man, who had the past history of arsenic intake and herb medication for the treatment of suspicious leprosy, had Bowen's disease and arsenical keratosis on his palms and soles with bronchogenic and stomach carcinoma. The other case, a 65 year-old man, who had history of intake of arsenic and herb medicine for epilepsy, had Bowen's disease and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin with stomach cancer. We suggest that in these 2 cases, the ingestion of organic arsenics might be the causative factor for the internal malignancy.
Aged ; Arsenic ; Bowen's Disease* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Eating ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Keratosis ; Leprosy ; Middle Aged ; Skin ; Skin Diseases ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms

The objectives of this study were to: (a) examine the overall operating conditions of both government-dominant and non-governmental food bank programs, (b) understand the operational management attributes on the target based on IPA (importance performance analysis)(c) analyze the present status of donating management, and (d) suggest a direction based on the analysis of advantages and disadvantages of food banks in each part. The random samples of 120 food bank operators were selected by a proportionate stratified random sampling method. A total of 60 government-dominant food banks and 25 non-governmental food banks were analyzed. The main results of this study were as follows: According to the Importance-Performance Analysis of operational management, "assistance for operating funds" and "deployment of experience staff" were placed at "Focus Here". There was a great shortage of experienced staff with food bank-specific knowledge. The average number of the government-dominant and non-governmental food bank program employees was 0.29 and 0.30 respectively, while the ratios of employees with other jobs were 0.96 and 0.83 respectively. Shortages of refrigeration facilities were an area that needs to be addressed. While 51.6% of donated food required cold storage, only 45% of government-dominant and 60% of non-governmental food bank programs had refrigeration facilities. Most of food bank operators (96.3%) were required to visit the donators' locations to pick up the donated foods. And the foods were distributed to the people in need, especially to the livelihood protectee.
Refrigeration

The purpose of this study was to examine the donators' characteristics and donative foods of both government-dominant and non-governmental food bank program, to understand the problems and benefits of food bank program, and to find the solutions to activate food bank program. The questionnaires were distributed to 120 food bank operators and 3 donators were selected from each food bank for the survey from April 2002 to May 2002. 118 sheets (32.8%) from government-dominant food bank and 53 sheets (20.1%) from non-governmental food bank were collected. The main results of this study were as follows: The largest donators to either government-dominant or non-governmental food bank programs were bakery and confectionery companies 31.4% and 45.3% respectively. The majority of donated foods were "goods in stock" (55.6%) and frequency of donation were largely on a daily basis (27.1% for government-dominant and 22.6% for non-governmental). Some of the donators who had more donative food did not donate, and the reasons were closeness to expiration date of food (67.3%), lack of legal protection in the event of food poisoning (54.5%), and poor public image of food related accidents (52.3%).
Foodborne Diseases

BACKGROUND: Recently, a lower incidence of late potentials has been reported in patients with acute myocardial infarction after successful thrombolysis when compared with conventionally treated patients. In another recent study, however, no significant effect of thrombolytic therapy on any abnormal signal average electrocardiography was found at 13 days after acute myocardial infarction. The present study was designed to determine the prognostic significance of the signal average electrocardiography and to evaluate the possible value of this technique as a noninvasive tool for monitoring of coronary occlusion and reperfusion. METHODS: Signal averaging was performed by using a signal average electrocardiography with bidirectional filterings before coronary artery occlusion, at 5 minutes after coronary occlusion and on reperfusion in 20 cats. Three of them died due to malignant ventricular arrhythmia during reperfusion. In all cats, approximately 250 beats were averaged. All data were analysed at filter frequency 25 to 250Hz, 40 to 250Hz and 80 to 250Hz. The following quantitative high resolutional electrocardiographic variables were calculated by computer : 1) filtered total QRS duration, 2) duration of HFLA(high frequency low amplitude) signals under 40uV, 3) RMS voltage of terminal 40ms, 4) mean Voltage of terminal 40ms, 5) average noise voltage. RESULTS: At the filter frequency of 40 to 250Hz and 80 to 250Hz, the filtered QRS duration and duration of HFLA signals 40uV were significantly prolonged at 5 minutes after coronary artery occlusion than before coronary occlusion(p<0.01). At the filter frequency of 40 to 250Hz and 80 to 250Hz, the RMS voltage(terminal 40ms) and mean voltage(terminal 40ms) were significantly prolonged at 5 minutes after coronary artery occlusion than before coronary occlusion(p<0.01, p<0.01 respectively). At the filter frequency of 80 to 250Hz, the filtered QRS duration and at the filter frequency of 25-250Hz, the duration of HFLA signals at 40uV were significantly shortened during reperfusion than at 5 minutes after coronary artery occlusion(p<0.01, p<0.05 respectively). At the filter frequency of 40 to 250Hz and 80 to 250Hz, the RMS voltage(terminal 40ms) and mean Voltage(terminal 40ms) were significantly shortened during reperfusion than at 5 minutes after coronary artery occlusion(p<0.01, p<0.01 respectively). There was no significant change of the filtered QRS duration, duration of HFLA signals 40uV,RMS voltage(terminal 40ms) and mean Voltage(terminal 40ms) after reperfusion compared with those of control at the filter frequency of 25 to 250Hz, 40 to 250Hz and 80 to 250Hz respectively. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the signal average electrocardiography could be a valuable tool for monitoring the state of coronary artery occlusion and reperfusion.
Animals ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Cats* ; Coronary Occlusion ; Coronary Vessels* ; Electrocardiography* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Myocardial Infarction ; Noise ; Reperfusion* ; Thrombolytic Therapy

PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the extent of heterogeneity in medical terminology between South and North Korea by comparing medical terms related to the colorectal system. METHODS: North Korean medical terms were collected from the sections on diseases of the small intestine and colon in a surgery textbook from North Korea, and those terms were compared with their corresponding terms in a South Korean medical terminology textbook. The terms were categorized as either identical, similar, showing disparity, or not used in South Korea. In a subsection analysis, the terms were allocated to pathophysiology, diagnosis, symptoms and examination, drugs, testing, treatment, or others according to the categorization used in the textbook. RESULTS: We found 705 terms in the North Korean textbook, most of which were pathophysiological terms (206, 29.2%), followed by diagnostic terms (165, 23.4%) and symptom and examination terms (122, 17.3%). Treatment-, drug-, and testing-related terms constituted 15.5%, 5.8%, and 4.1% of the 705 terms, respectively. There were 331 identical terms (47.0%) and 146 similar terms (20.7%); 126 terms (17.9%) showed disparity. Another 102 terms (14.5%) were not used in South Korea. The pathophysiological terms were the least heterogeneous, with 61.2% being identical terms used in both countries. However, 26.8% of the terms in the drug category were not used in South Korea. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that less than 50% of the terms for the colorectal system used in South and North Korea were identical. As the division between South and North Korea persists, the heterogeneity of medical terminology is expected to increase.
Colon ; Colorectal Surgery* ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea* ; Diagnosis ; Intestine, Small ; Intestines ; Korea ; Population Characteristics

Utilization of the colostomy site for laparoscopic reversal of Hartmann's procedure was recently introduced, and several studies have shown the feasibility of the procedure, which allows the colostomy site to serve as an access port for the operation. We demonstrate a method utilizing an accessory 5 mm trocar to assist in the operation while employing a colostomy-deepened glove port.
Colostomy* ; Laparoscopy ; Methods ; Surgical Instruments

Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon does not occur with common hemangioma, rather it is associated with the more aggressive Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma and rarely with other vascular neoplasm. We report the case of an adult who was diagnosed as Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma complicated by Kasabach-Memtt phenomenon. This is the first report in Korea of an adult with Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon who has osteolytic changes of femur, pelvic bone, and lumbar spine.
Adult* ; Femur ; Hemangioendothelioma* ; Hemangioma ; Humans ; Kasabach-Merritt Syndrome ; Korea ; Pelvic Bones ; Spine ; Vascular Neoplasms

The objectives of this study were to (a) examine the users' characteristics of both government-dominant and non-governmental food bank programs, (b) understand the supporting quality of the food bank program, and (c) analyse the effectiveness of the programs from the users' perspectives. The random samples of 120 food bank operators were selected by proportionate stratified random sampling method and from each food bank, 3 users were selected for the survey. A total of 205 users were participated in this survey. The main results of this study were as follows; Average profile of food bank users were 58 year old, female, livelihood protectee (56.6%). Food assistance frequency were mostly once a week (34.1%), and everyday (22.4%). The survey also showed that non-governmental food banks delivered the food directly to the 42.7% of users, otherwise the users of government-dominant ones went to the food bank to receive the foods. Most of the donated foods were cooked food (50.0%), and the users also wanted to receive that kinds of food. Saving food expenses (55.6%) and overcoming hunger (16.6%) were found as the effectiveness to the users.
Female ; Food Assistance ; Humans ; Hunger ; Middle Aged

A free-floating ball thrombus in the left atrium is a rare complication of the mitral valvular disease. A 53-year-old man was admitted for pain and paresthesia on both legs. On admission he had auscultatory sign of mitral stenosis and mitral regurgitation, and the roentgenogram of his chest revealed a slight pulmonary ve..ous congestion, enlargement of the pulmonary conus and cardiomegaly. Laboratory findings including complete blood counts, coagulation studies and blood chemistry were normal. An echocardiographic examination revealed a mitral stenosis and a free-floating ball thrombus in the left atrium. We performed the emergent open heart surgery for removal of the ball thrombus and mitral replacement successfuly with Duromedics 29 mm valve. The size of thrombus was 39 X 32 X 30 mm.
Blood Cell Count ; Cardiomegaly ; Chemistry ; Conus Snail ; Echocardiography ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Heart Atria ; Humans ; Leg ; Middle Aged ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency ; Mitral Valve Stenosis* ; Paresthesia ; Thoracic Surgery ; Thorax ; Thrombosis*

OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical risk factors associated with the mode of delivery decision and to compare cesarean section rates after adjusting for risk factors identified among Korean hospitals. METHODS: Data were collected from 9 general hospitals in two provincial regions by medical record abstraction during February 2000. A total of 3,467 cases were enrolled and analyzed by stepwise logistic regression. Performance of the risk-adjustment model (discrimination and calibration) was evaluated by the C statistic and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. Crude rates, predicted rates with 95% confidence intervals, and adjusted rates of cesarean section were calculated and compared among the hospitals. RESULTS: The average crude cesarean section rate was 53.2%, ranging from 39.4% to 65.7%. Several risk factors such as maternal age, previous history of cesarean section, placenta previa, placental abruption, malpresentation, amniotic fluid abnormality, gestational anemia, infant body weight, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and chorioamnionitis were found to have statistically significant effects on the mode of delivery. It was confirmed that information about most of these risk factors was able to be collected through the national health insurance claims database in Korea. Performance of the risk-adjustment model was good (c statistic=0.815, Hosmer-Lemeshow test=0.0621). Risk factor adjustment did lead to some change in the rank of hospital cesarean section rates. The crude rates of three hospitals were beyond 95% confidence intervals of the predicted rates. CONCLUSIONS: Considering that cesarean section rates in Korean hospitals are too high, it is apparent that some policy interventions need to be introduced. The concept and methodology of risk adjustment should be used in the process of health policy development to lower the cesarean section rate in Korea.
Abruptio Placentae ; Amniotic Fluid ; Anemia ; Body Weight ; Cesarean Section* ; Chorioamnionitis ; Female ; Health Policy ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced ; Infant ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Maternal Age ; Medical Records ; National Health Programs ; Placenta Previa ; Pregnancy ; Risk Adjustment* ; Risk Factors