BACKGROUND: Iron deficiency still remains the most common single nutrient deficiency disorder in the world, especially among young children and adolescent girls. As little is recently known about iron deficiency in infants and preschool children in Korea, this study is aimed to determine the prevalence of iron deficiency in healthy population and to determine the proportion of children in whom iron deficiency goes undetected using the current screening technique. METHODS: We collected venous samples from 410 apparently healthy preschool children during March to June, 1997, as a part of a regular health check-up program. We measured hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume(MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin(MCH), serum ferritin, serum iron, and total iron binding capacity(TIBC). RESULTS: A total of 410 infants and preschool children aged 1~6 years were included in this study. The prevalence of anemia was 7.9%(3/38) in infants and children aged 1~2 years, 6.3%(12/190) in 3~4 years and 1.6%(3/182) in 5~6 years. The prevalence of iron deficiency(ferritin <10 ng/mL or transferrin saturation <10%) was 31.6%(12/38) in 1~2 years, 23.7%(45/190) in 3~4 years and 14.3%(26/182) in 5~6 years. The prevalence of IDA was 5.3% (2/38) in 1~2 years, 1.1% (2/190) in 3~4 years and 0.5%(1/182) in 5~6 years. Microcytic anemia was found in only 2 cases, both of which is included in 1~2 years of age. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of iron deficiency and IDA was relatively high in 1~2 years of age, critical period for neurologic development. Nutritional education including iron fortification for mothers having caring babies especially of this age group should be warranted.
Adolescent ; Anemia ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Child ; Child, Preschool* ; Critical Period (Psychology) ; Education ; Female ; Ferritins ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Infant ; Iron* ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Mothers ; Prevalence* ; Transferrin

PURPOSE: The recently developed method of rapid immunohistochemistry (IHC) was applied to the intraoperative examination of sentinel lymph node (SLN) because as their routine frozen-section examination is liable to yield a false-negative results. This study is devoted to establish a reliable protocol for rapid IHC of SLN. METHODS: Between August 2004 and April 2005 a retrospective study was performed. SLNs from 50 breast cancer patients with clinically negative SLN were examined intraoperatively using hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) stain and immunostain for cytokeratin by rapid IHC assay. After examination of the frozen section, the SLNs were paraffin embedded and serially sectioned at 5 micrometer intervals. RESULTS: The median age and tumor size of the patients was 61.0 years and 1.4 cm (6% Tis, 70% T1, and 24% T2), respectively. The total number of dissected SLN was 112, with a mean of 2.2 (range, 1~4) SLNs per patient. Seven SLNs were found to be positive from metastasis in permanent pathological sections. Of these, 5 were stained by both intraoperative rapid IHC and H&E stain while one was not stained at all. The remaining SLN was initially stained with only the rapid IHC assay. The mean turn around time of the rapid IHC was less than 20 minutes, with sensitivity, true negative value, true positive values and accuracy of 85.7, 99.1, 100, and 99.1% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The rapid IHC was a very sensitive and rapid technique for the intraoperative detection of metastatic involvement of SLNs, whitch may be helpful at increasing the accuracy of detecting the micro-metastasis of sentinel lymph nodes during an operation.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Frozen Sections ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry* ; Keratins ; Lymph Nodes* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Micrometastasis ; Paraffin ; Retrospective Studies

We have designed the multi channel detector for the quality assurance of clinical photon beams. The detector was composed of solid phantom inserted by six plane-parallel ionization chambers at different depth. The chamber as a mini plane parallel chamber was made of carbon coated microfilms. In this study the electrical characteristics of the six chambers in the solid phantom were evaluated using 6 MV photon beam. The leakage currents were less than 0.5 pA, reproducibility was less than 0.5%, linearity was less than 0.5%, and dose rate effect was less than 0.7%. In addition the effect of dose variation from other chambers was estimated to maximum 0.8% approximately. The developed detector can be used for quality determination in output dosimetry or measurement of percentage depth dose approximately for clinical photon beam.
Carbon* ; Electrodes*

We present a case of severe hyponatremia in a 64-year-old man who had a pituitary tumor. He had nausea and recurrent vomiting with a severe headache, and was admitted to Chungnam National University Hospital for further evaluation. On physical examination, he was alert, and had bitemporal hemianopsia. There was no indication of dehydration or edema. Laboratory data showed a serum sodium level of 126 mEq/L, plasma osmolality of 259 mOsm/kg, and urinary osmolality of 544 mOsm/kg. The plasma argipressin level was 2.88 pg/mL, despite marked hyposmolality. Otherwise, pituitary function was normal. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed a pituitary macroadenoma measuring 25x16x13 mm and no visible normal pituitary stalk or gland in the sella turcica. After the adenomectomy, the serum sodium level maintained normal without treatment. Histology showed the presence of a pituitary adenoma. These findings indicate that a non-functioning pituitary tumor may cause the exaggerated secretion of argipressin, resulting in inappropriate antidiuretic hormone syndrome.
Arginine Vasopressin ; Brain ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Dehydration ; Edema ; Headache ; Hemianopsia ; Humans ; Hyponatremia ; Inappropriate ADH Syndrome* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Nausea ; Osmolar Concentration ; Physical Examination ; Pituitary Gland ; Pituitary Neoplasms* ; Plasma ; Sella Turcica ; Sodium ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: Although remarkable progress has been made in efforts to control measles since measles vaccines became available for use, the longterm success of their vaccination programmes has been questioned, with the worldwide resurgence of the disease. This resurgence has increased attention on the inadequacy of current immunization programmes. In 1993 there have been measles outbreaks in Seong-nam city located near the sourthern Seoul, Korea. To characterize further the epidemiology of measles in Seong-nam city, we analysed demographic characteristics of measles cases reported for the year 1993. METHODS: With the cooperation of the nurse teacher in elimentary school, the data of measles cases were collected and each case was confirmed at local clinics, hospital or general hospital, including inha General Hospital. RESULTS: 1) Out of 645 cases(male: female = 1.08:1) the children above 5 yrs of age were 586 cases of which 529 cases(90.3%) were vaccinated on after 15 months of age. After the survey, measles occurred in 1.9% of the 11 elementary school students. Children with past MMR vaccination history showed milder course of measles than those without the vaccination history. 2) Out of 87 patients who had been brought to Inha General Hospital, 55%(n=48) was 6 to 1 5 months of age, 13%(n=11) was 15 months to 4 years of age, and 32%(n=28) was 5 to 14 years of age, which showed two major outbreaks: those in which of the cases occurred below 16 months of age and those in which considerable cases occurred among school-age persons. 3) Below 15 months of age, most of the cause of the unvaccination were inadequate access to medical care and lack of public awareness in some communities, with the resulting lack of d emand for immunization services. The causes of unvaccination above 15 months of age were neglect or oblivion in 35%(n=2 0), mild acute illness not contraindicated to vaccine use in 21%(n=12), economic difficulty in 8. 8%(n=5), vaccine omission after natural measles before 12 months of age in 7%(n=4). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the high uptake of measles vaccine there is currently a nationwide e pidemic of measles, especially among the school-age groups. Secondary vaccine failure is also thought to be important cause of measles ortbreak as well as primary vaccine failure. A booster dose of measles vaccine may be necessary to reduce the measles outbreak to allow the goal of measles elimination to be achieved, with the reinforcement of age-appropriate Immunization.
Child ; Disease Outbreaks* ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do* ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Immunization ; Korea ; Measles Vaccine ; Measles* ; Seoul ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

BACKGROUND: Frailty is a wasting syndrome that presents loss of physiological function by aging, lowering of reserve capacity, and disability of body system. It is currently being considered an important issue in geriatrics. This study examined frailty level of Korean elderly in community and whether frailty can be meaningful a predictive factor for functional disability. METHODS: Demographic characteristics, the number of chronic diseases and medications, cardiovascular health study (CHS) frailty index, study of osteoporotic fractures (SOF) frailty index, activities of daily living, Instrumental activities of daily living, depression, mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and fall history were examined for 302 men and women over 65 years old who visited the three community seniors welfare centers from February 2008 to June 2008. RESULTS: There were definite differences of frailty status by age, educational level, marital status, monthly income, body mass index, the number of chronic diseases, the number of medications, depression, MMSE and fall history (P < 0.05), except in gender (P < 0.432). In logistic regression analysis for functional disability with frailty status defined by SOF frailty index, odds ratio to dependency of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) from the healthy to the prefrail stage increased 6.84 times while from the healthy to the frail stage increased 130.87 times. These effects still increased after covariate adjustment. Also, the CHS frailty index showed the same result although there was some difference in odds ratio. CONCLUSION: There were meaningful correlations of frailty with functional disability when dividing Korean elderly's frailty levels into the healthy, the prefrail and the frail stages.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Aging ; Body Mass Index ; Chronic Disease ; Dependency (Psychology) ; Depression ; Female ; Geriatrics ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Marital Status ; Odds Ratio ; Osteoporotic Fractures ; Wasting Syndrome

The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) is a national program designed to assess the health and nutritional status of the noninstitutionalized population of South Korea. The KNHANES was initiated in 1998 and has been conducted annually since 2007. Starting in the latter half of 2008, ophthalmologic examinations were included in the survey in order to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of common eye diseases such as visual impairment, refractive errors, strabismus, blepharoptosis, cataract, pterygium, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, dry eye disease, and color vision deficiency. The measurements included in the ophthalmic questionnaire and examination methods were modified in the KNHANES IV, V, and VI. In this article, we provide detailed information about the methodology of the ophthalmic examinations in KNHANES in order to aid in further investigations related to major eye diseases in South Korea.
*Epidemiologic Methods ; Eye Diseases/*epidemiology ; Humans ; Nutrition Surveys/*statistics & numerical data ; Ophthalmology/*methods ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; *Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: To determine the publication rate of abstracts presented by Korean investigators at national and international radiological meetings, and to identify predictive factors of publication. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Abstracts presented at the annual meetings of the Korean Radiological Society (KRS), and abstracts presented by Korean investigators at the annual meetings of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and European Congress of Radiology (ECR) from 2001 to 2002 were searched for subsequent publication, using PubMed and the Korean Medical Database. The following variables were evaluated. 1) The overall publication rate; 2) the publication rates according to the radiological subspecialty, presentation type (oral or poster), sample size (< or = 20, 21-50, or > 50), study design (prospective or retrospective), statistical analysis (present or absent), and study outcome (positive or negative); 3) the time to publication; 4) the journal where the study was published; 5) consistency between the abstract and the final publication. RESULTS: Of 1,097 abstracts, 301 (27.4%) were subsequently published, at an average of 15.8 +/- 13.8 months after presentation in 48 journals. The publication rates for studies presented at the RSNA (35.4%) and ECR (50.5%) conferences were significantly higher than that for the KRS conference (23.6%, p < 0.05). Vascular/interventional radiology studies had the highest publication rate (33.1%), whereas musculoskeletal radiology studies had the lowest publication rate (17.1%). Other factors associated with subsequent publication were prospective design, use of statistical testing, and a positive study outcome. CONCLUSION: The publication rate is significantly lower for the KRS (23.6%) meeting abstracts as compared to those of the RSNA (35.4%) and ECR (50.5%). Prospective design, use of statistical testing, and positive study outcome have a statistically significant effect on the publication rate.
Congresses as Topic ; Europe ; Korea ; North America ; Publishing/*statistics & numerical data ; *Radiology ; Research Design ; Societies, Medical

PURPOSE: Metastatic biliary tract cancer (mBTC) has a dismal prognosis. In this study, an independent dataset of patients with mBTC was used to implement and validate a routine clinico-laboratory parameter-based scoring model for risk group identification. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From September 2006 to February 2015, 482 patients with mBTC were assigned randomly (ratio, 7:3) into investigational (n=340) and validation datasets (n=142). The continuous variables were dichotomized using a normal range or the best cutoff values determined using the Contal and O'Quigley statistical methods. Following a Cox’s proportional hazard model, the scoring model was derived by summing the rounded chi-square scores for the factors identified by multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 3-4), hypoalbuminemia (< 3.4 mg/dL), carcinoembryonic antigen (≥ 9 ng/mL), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (≥ 3.0), and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (≥ 120 U/mL) were identified as independent prognosticators (Harrell’s C index, 0.682; integrated area under the curve, 0.653). Survival was clearly correlated with the risk groups (low, intermediate, and high, 14.0, 7.3, and 2.3 months, respectively; p < 0.001). The prognosis was also discriminative in the validation data set (median survival, 16.7, 7.5, and 1.9 months, respectively; p < 0.001). Chemotherapy did not offer any survival benefits for high-risk patients. CONCLUSION: These proposed prognostic criteria for mBTC can facilitate accurate patient risk stratification and treatment-related decision-making.
Biliary Tract Neoplasms* ; Biliary Tract* ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; Dataset ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Hypoalbuminemia ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Reference Values ; Social Identification

PURPOSE: To investigate the care patterns for radiation therapy and to determine inter-hospital differences for patients with laryngeal carcinoma in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 237 cases of laryngeal carcinoma (glottis, 144; supraglottis, 93) assembled from 23 hospitals, who underwent irradiation in the year of 1998 and 1999, were retrospectively analyzed to investigate inter-hospital differences with respect to radiotherapy treatment. We grouped the 23 hospitals based on the number of new patients annually irradiated in 1998; and designated them as group A (> or =900 patients), group B (> or =400 patients and <900 patients), and group C (<400 patients). RESULTS: The median age of the 237 patients was 62 years (range, 25 to 88 years), of which 216 were male and 21 were female. The clinical stages were distributed as follows: for glottis cancer, I; 61.8%, II; 21.5%, III; 4.2%, IVa; 11.1%, IVb; 1.4%, and in supraglottic cancer, I; 4.3%, II; 19.4%, III; 28.0%, IVa; 43.0%, IVb; 5.4%, respectively. Some differences were observed among the 3 groups with respect to the dose calculation method, radiation energy, field arrangement, and use of an immobilization device. No significant difference among 3 hospital groups was observed with respect to treatment modality, irradiation volume, and median total dose delivered to the primary site. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that radiotherapy process and patterns of care are relatively uniform in laryngeal cancer patients in Korean hospitals, and we hope this nationwide data can be used as a basis for the standardization of radiotherapy for the treatment of laryngeal cancer.
Female ; Glottis ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Korea ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; Male ; Retrospective Studies