Mortality rate and causes of death are regarded as an index of strength as well as level of development of a country. However, there is no accurate data for the causes of death in Korea due to lack of systematic vital data collection system. The objective of this study was to define the causes of death of the school teachers, its changing pattern, cause-specific mortality rate, and geographic variation. The study population included all of the teachers in primary school, middle and high schools, and college who joined in Korean Teachers' Union between 1968 and 1985 that provided a total of 1,972,069 person-years to observe (1,384,911 man-years, 587,158 woman-years). There were 3,678 deaths in this period (3,377 males, 301 females). The most common cause of death was neoplasm which was followed by the diseases of circulatory system. The proportion of death of neoplasm was 1.5 times higher than that of the general population. Causes of death were classified into 5 major group (neoplasm, diseases of circulatory system, accidents and poisoning, diseases of liver, and all others). The mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system and all others for general population were 4 to 5 times higher than those for the teachers. However, mortality rates of neoplasm and diseases of liver were only about 2 times higher than those for teachers. Mortality rate of liver cancer for teachers was higher than gastric cancer mortality rate which is the reverse in general population. The crude death rate was 2.12 per 1,000 person-years for male and 1.00 for female which is one-third of the crude death rate of general population. Crude death rate of study population was higher in rural area than in urban area. However, mortality rate of neoplasm for male was higher in urban area than in rural area while mortality rates of all other causes were higher in rural area. For female, mortality rates of neoplasm and diseases of circulatory system were higher in urban area and the rates for all other causes were higher in rural area. Crude death rate was lowest in Gyeongin area and highest in Yeongnam area. The mortality of neoplasm for male accounted the highest proportion of all death in Gyeongin, Chungcheong and Yeoungnam areas while the mortality of neoplasm and mortality of circulatory system accounted the same proportion in Jeonra area. For female, the mortality of disease of circulatory system accounted the highest proportion in Gyeongin and Yeoungnam and Jeonra areas. Proportion of death due to accidents and poisoning was high in Chungcheong area and death due to all other causes was high in Yeoungnam area. The most common cause of death for male by city and province was neoplasm in Seoul, Pusan, Daegu, Gyeonggi, Chungnam, Chungbuk, Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk. Diseases of circulatory system was the leading cause of death in the rest of city and provinces. The leading cause of death for female was diseases of circulatory system in Seoul, Incheon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Gyeongbuk, neoplasm in Pusan, and accident and poisons in all other cities and provinces. The mortality rates of male were above 2 per 1,000 person-years in Jeju, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Daegu, and Chungbuk, and it was below 1.5/1,000 in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi. The mortality rate of female was above 1.2/1,000 person-years in Gyeongnam and Incheon while it was below 0.5/1,000 in Daegu, Geonggi Chungbuk and Jeju. The leading cause for male by school of employment was neoplasm in all levels of school with a remarkably higher rate in the professors of college. Leading cause of death for female was disease of circulatory system in primary schools, high schools and college but neoplasm in middle schools. There was no death due to liver diseases in middle and high school teachers and college professors and no death due to all other category in igh school teachers and college professors, in females. High school teachers and the highest mortality rate and college professors showed the lowest mortality rate. Temporal trend of mortality was examined in three periods; period I (1968-1974), period II (1975-1979), and period III (1980-1985). The leading cause of death for male was diseases of circulatory system in period I and II but neoplasm in period III. Such trend of decreasing diseases of circulatory system and increasing neoplasm was observed in female. Overall mortality rate was decreased over the 3 periods. The mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system, liver disease and all others were decreased in male but the mortality rates of neoplasm and accident and poisons was increased. Female showed a similar trend to male but the mortality rate of liver diseases was increased. Mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system, neoplasm and liver diseases increased with age of teachers up to 50 years of age but decreased in 60 years of age. Mean age at death due to each cause was higher in male than female by 4-10 years. However, the mean age at death of the teachers was 2-5 years lower than that of the general population in all causes of death and the sex difference in the mean age at death was smaller (2-3 years) in general population. In sex ratio of mortality, male was higher than female in almost all diseases except suicide and maintained a high ratio. The general population showed universally high ratio in male like teachers, and more or less did regular patterns in mortality with ratio smaller.
Busan ; Cause of Death* ; Chungcheongbuk-do ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Daegu ; Data Collection ; Employment ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Incheon ; Korea* ; Liver ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Neoplasms ; Male ; Mortality ; Poisoning ; Poisons ; Seoul ; Sex Characteristics ; Sex Ratio ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Suicide

During the summer season(July-August) in 1967, the insecticide tests for resistance on adult A. sinensis and C. tritaeniorhynchus were carried out in Gobu-Myun Jeongup-Gun, Chollapuk-Do, where many Japanese encephalitis cases occur every year. The mortality by 4.0% DDT in A. sinensis was 88.9% and by 4.0% dieldrin was 84.4%. Therefore the LC-50 of DDT for A. sinensis was 1.75%, while LC-50 of dieldrin was 1.1%. The mortality by 4.0% DDT in C. tritaeniorhynchus was 36.7%, and by 4.0% dieldrin was 6.0% The result indicates that A. sinensis in Korea is susceptible to DDT and resistant to dieldrin. C. tritaeniorhynchus is highly resistant to both DDT and dieldrin.
parasitology-arthropoda ; vector ; mosquito ; Culex tritaeniorhynchus ; Anopheles sinensis ; chemotherapy ; DDT ; dieldrin

No abstract available.
Hepatitis B, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic*

No abstract available.

Questionnaires and blood pressure measurements were administered to 279 medical school undergraduates in 1987 to investigate the relationship between psychosocial factors and blood pressure as well as reliability and validity of the Framingham Type A Behavior Scale(FTA). The reliability coefficients of SCL-90-R and FTA measured by Spearman-Brown haves split test were 0.57-0.91, The factors of FTA extracted by principal component analysis were hard-driving competitiveness factor and impatience factor(2-factor solution). The total score of FTA was positively correlated with relative weight and place raised but the correlations were insignificant, and had significantly positive but weak correlations with depression, anxiety hostility, paranoid, and psychoticism subscales of SCL-90-R. In the univariate analysis of blood pressures, relative weight and family history were significant in systolic pressure in males and economic status was significant in blood pressures in both sexes. For diastolic pressure, relative weight and frequency of alcohol intake were significant in males and relative weight was in females. After controlling relative weight, the frequency of alcohol intake for diastolic pressure and economic status for systolic pressure were significant in males. The important variables selected by stepwise regression analysis were relative weight and economic status for systolic pressure of males and relative weight and the frequency of alcohol to the model, changing coefficient of determination 0.206 to 0.217. In females, economic status and relative weight were selected for systolic pressure and for diastolic pressure body mass index alone, but the model of blood pressure for females was considered to be unstable due to small sample size(56). FTA was unrelated to the blood pressures in both sexes.
Anxiety ; Blood Pressure* ; Body Mass Index ; Depression ; Female ; Hostility ; Humans ; Male ; Principal Component Analysis ; Psychology* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results ; Schools, Medical

No abstract available.
High-Frequency Ventilation*

The therapeutic properties of Ginseng have been known as popular Chinese midecine since time immemorial. It has been used in Korea, China, Tibet, Indonesia and India for thousands of years under various presentations, such as tes, tinctures, wines, pills, and unguents for the prevention of aging, tireness, headaches, amnesia, tuberculosis, diabetes, illness of the liver, heart, kidneys, nervous system etc. The main effective component of Ginseng has recently been considered to be saponins according to the chemical studies by Shibata's group and the pharmacological studies by Takagi et al., and also through the studies of Brekhman. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the response of topically applied Ginseng total saponin against inflammation. To induce the inflammation of skin the backs of 20 volunteers were treated with 10% sodium lauryl sulfate solution under occlusion for one hour. After removal of sodium lauryl sulfate. Gineseng total saponin ointment in various concentrations(2.5, 5, 10%) is topically applied under occlusion for 48 hours. Erythema on the areas treated with Ginseng total saponin ointment was significantly reduced than the control area. It is suggested that Ginseng total saponin has an anti-inflammatory effect on the inflammation of skin induced by sodium lauryl sulfate.
Aging ; Amnesia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; China ; Erythema ; Headache ; Heart ; Humans* ; India ; Indonesia ; Inflammation ; Kidney ; Korea ; Liver ; Nervous System ; Ointments ; Panax* ; Saponins* ; Skin* ; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate ; Tibet ; Tuberculosis ; Volunteers ; Wine

No abstract available.
Thymoma*

The antihypertensive effect of verapamil, a calcium channel blocker, was studied in 12 cases of essential hypertension (mean age 49, range 24-64). After 6 weeks administration (80-160mg t.i.d.), the following results were obtained : 1) Before medication, average systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 176.3/108.6mmHg. After completion of therapy, blood presure fell significantly down to 154.8/94.2mmHg (p<0.01). 2) Heart rate decreased slightly from average 74.3 per minute prior to medication to 69.3 per minute at the end of study (p<0.01). 3) Side effects, among which constipation was most common, were mild and did not compel any patient to diacontinue therapy. In conclusion, verapamil seems to be a safe and effective first-line drug for hypertension along with diuretics or beta blockers.
Blood Pressure ; Calcium Channels ; Constipation ; Diuretics ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Verapamil*

In general, meningiomas are slowly growing benign neoplasms originating from specialized meningothelial cells in arachnoid granulation, but have a tendency to be locally invasive and recurrent. Meningiomas very rarely metastasize outside the nervous system, occurring in less than 0.1%. We report the CT and MR findings of a case of a solitary benign syncytial meningioma showing recurrent multiple tumors and malignant progression with eventual bone metastasis to rib after six surgical extirpations during six years.
Arachnoid ; Meningioma* ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Nervous System ; Ribs