BACKGROUND: Although the rate of smoking in adults is decreasing, its rate in adolescents keeps increasing gradually. Especially, smoking in adolescents is a serious problem that may be deeply related to drug abuse and is the main cause of a number of diseases. Anti-smoking program is essential to prevent this matter. Therefore, analysis of smoking status and its related factors in adolescents in a region where such a program was performed may be useful. METHODS: Questionnaire-survey was performed on 1,516 students of six high schools in a city who wished to participate in the anti-smoking program and analyzed the results concerning smoking status and the related factors on 1,380 students which consisted of 862(62.5%) males and 518(37.5%) females who completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: Smoking prevalences were 40.1% in males and 17.6% in females. Height, weight, educational level of parents and occupation of father were assessed. In the case of male students, the taller they were the more they smoked. In the case of female students, the higher their mother's educational level the more they smoked. Siblings' and close friends' smoking status had influence on smoking in both males and females. Drinking status affected smoking status in both males and females. The total mean of knowledge and attitude score was 1.39 and 1.32, respectively. There was a significant difference in men's knowledge and attitude score and in women's attitude score categorized by smoking status. The men's knowledge and attitude scores were significantly higher than women's. In the results of regression, the knowledge score had a negative coefficient and the attitude score had a positive coefficient as the dependent variable was smoking status in males, and the same results were shown in females. The attitude score, drinking status and close friends' smoking status were factors that influenced smoking in males and the knowledge score, the attitude score, drinking status, close friends' smoking and siblings' smoking in females. CONCLUSION: If we apply these results in school-based anti-smoking program, it will be an effective program for high school students.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Drinking ; Fathers ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Occupations ; Parents ; Prevalence ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Substance-Related Disorders ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was carried out to investigate survival rate and the factors affecting survival among lung cancer patients who have been registered in Daejeon Cancer Registry from 1998 to 2000. METHODS: Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard model were used to evaluate the factors affecting survival of lung cancer patients. RESULTS: Lung cancer was more common in men than women, with an overall sex ratio in Daejeon, Korea of roughly 3:1. The incidence of lung cancer was 17.1 per 100,000 population in 1998, 21.4 in 1999, and 22.4 in 2000. Average age of incidence was 64.8 years old and 11.7% of study subjects having family history of lung cancer. Forty eight % of lung cancer was diagnosed as Stage III and 40.6% as Stage IV. Histologically, squamous cell carcinoma was 39.7% of all and most frequent, and then adenocarcinoma 25.5%, and small cell carcinoma 19.3%. 3-year survival rate of female was higher than that of males, and that of smoker was the lowest among groups according to the smoking level. Survival rate by age fell dramatically in group over 70 years. Lung cancer patients diagnosed as Stage III and Stage IV had a much lower survival rate than those diagnosed as Stage I or II. Stage, LDH and age were proved to be important variables that affect the mortality of lung cancer patients. CONCLUSION: We found that the stage at diagnosis was a critical factor that affected the survival of lung cancer patients from this study. So It is essential to develop early diagnosis of lung cancer and then it needs to evaluate the effectiveness of that.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Small Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Male ; Mortality ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Sex Ratio ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Survival Rate*

Hydranencehaly is an abnormality consisting of complete or almost absence of the cerebral hemispheres, which are replaced by a large fluid-filled cavity. The midbrain and brain stem are relatively intact, and rudiments of frontal, temporal and occipital cortex may be present. We diagnosed it through the evaluation of clinical features, prenatal US (intrauterine pregnancy, 37 wks) and brain CT. Authors have experienced a case of hydranencephaly combined with twin pregnancy and reported with a brief literature review.
Brain ; Brain Stem ; Cerebrum ; Humans ; Hydranencephaly* ; Mesencephalon ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Twin* ; Twins*