BACKGROUND: It is well-known that a decline in the prevalence of smoking among physicians has preceded a decline in the general population. For the purpose of finding out the reason for lower smoking rate in Korean medical doctors than that of general population whether it is due to knowledge of toxicity related to smoking perceived as health professionals or as the only leader group in society this study was investigated. We selected lawyers as a representative of other professional groups. We investigated smoking rate, habits and attitudes towards smoking in Korean lawyers and compared the smoking rate and attitudes to wards smoking in lawyers with those of medical doctors. METHODS: This study investigates smoking rate, habits and attitudes towards smoking in Korean lawyers. An anonymous self-administered postal survey was used. One-third of registered lawyers were sampled according to stratified random sampling. Among 1,401 target population, 463 (38.3%) responded. RESULTS: Among male lawyers, 38.0% were current smokers, 38.9% were ex-smokers and 23.1% were non-smokers, while 7.7% were ex-smokers and 92.3% were non-smokers among female lawyers. The direct age-adjusted smoking rate among Korean male lawyers was 42.1%. CONCLUSION: In comparison of the direct age-adjusted smoking rate among male lawyers, medical doctors and general population in Korea, the rate in lawyers was 42.1%, medical doctors 34.9%, and general population 67.6%. The smoking rate of lawyers was found to be higher than that of medical doctors, but considerably lower than that of general population. In comparison of the attitudes towards smoking between lawyers and medical doctors, the lawyers were found to have a lower level of support in questions of the knowledge about the harmful effects of smoking and smoking bans on health than medical doctors.
Anonyms and Pseudonyms ; Female ; Health Occupations ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Korea* ; Lawyers* ; Male ; Prevalence ; Smoke* ; Smoking*

Cutaneous larva migrans(creeping eruption) is a rare cutaneous serpiginous erution caused by the accidental invasion of the skin by parasites. We report herein a 27 year-old female with a mild pruritic erythematous serpiginous linear skin lesion located on the patient's back for a month. Histopathologic examination revealed a larva in the dermis with dense iinfiltrates of eosinophils and lymphocytes. After treatment with oral anitiparasitics, the skin lesions resolved with post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. This is the first case of larva migrans showing the larva on the biopsy specimen in Korea.
Adult ; Biopsy* ; Dermis ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperpigmentation ; Korea ; Larva Migrans* ; Larva* ; Lymphocytes ; Parasites ; Skin

No abstract available.
Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic*

BACKGROUND: Calcineurin inhibitor-induced nephrotoxicity is the main cause of renal dysfunction after liver transplantation (LT). The aims of this study were to investigate the changes in kidney function after LT and to determine the optimal tacrolimus level in order to minimize nephrotoxicity at various time points after LT. METHODS: We enrolled 37 LT recipients with a preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) > or =60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and all received immunosuppression including tacrolimus. Renal function was assessed by eGFR. eGFR and tacrolimus level were estimated at 2 weeks, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after LT. Multivariate regression analysis was applied for determination of mean tacrolimus level minimizing the decrease in eGFR at those time periods. Age, sex, presence of diabetes or hypertension, and use of Simulect were the covariates. RESULTS: Mean eGFR showed a decrease from 88 to 58 mL/min/1.73 m2 by 3 months after LT. Thereafter, eGFR remained stationary until 1 year. By multivariate regression analysis, mean tacrolimus level minimizing the decrease in eGFR could be obtained. Decrease of eGFR was lower in 12 patients with a mean tacrolimus level below 7.96 ng/mL compared to 25 patients with a mean tacrolimus level above 7.96 ng/mL (0.29 mL/min/1.73 m2 vs. 23.38 mL/min/1.73 m2; P=0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Kidney function had declined by three months after LT. However, thereafter, it was stationary until 1 year. Renal dysfunction could be decelerated by optimizing tacrolimus level at various time points.
Calcineurin ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Immunosuppression ; Kidney ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Tacrolimus*

PURPOSE: Thyroid cancer is the most common malignancy in Korean females and can be treated with good prognosis. However, drugs to treat aggressive types of thyroid cancer such as poorly differentiated or anaplastic thyroid cancer have not yet been established. To that end, we analyzed the effects of berberine on human thyroid cancer cell lines to determine whether this compound is useful in the treatment of aggressive thyroid cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The two thyroid cancer cell lines 8505C and TPC1, under adherent culture conditions, were treated with berberine and analyzed for changes in cell growth, cell cycle duration, and degree of apoptosis. RESULTS: Following berberine treatment, both cell lines showed a dose-dependent reduction in growth rate. 8505C cells showed significantly increased levels of apoptosis following berberine treatment, whereas TPC1 cells showed cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. Immunobloting of p-27 expression following berberine treatment showed that berberine induced a little up-regulation of p-27 in 8505c cells but relatively high up-regulation of p-27 in TPC1 cells. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that berberine treatment of thyroid cancer can inhibit proliferation through apoptosis and/or cell cycle arrest. Thus, berberine may be a novel anticancer drug for the treatment of poorly differentiated or anaplastic thyroid cancer.
Antineoplastic Agents/*pharmacology ; Apoptosis/drug effects ; Berberine/*pharmacology ; Cell Cycle/drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects ; Humans ; Thyroid Neoplasms/*metabolism

We experienced a case of malignant mucinous tumor of ovary developed in 17-year-oldnulliparous women and brief review of the case and its literature are presented.
Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous* ; Adolescent* ; Female* ; Humans ; Mucins* ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Ovary

Objective: We conducted this study to address the incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and similar psychosis in South Korea with Health Insurance Review and Assessment (HIRA) database. Methods: We used HIRA database, which includes diagnostic information of nearly all Korean nationals to collect number of cases with diagnosis of schizophrenia and schizophrenia-similar disorders (SSP), including schizophreniform, acute/transient psychotic disorders, schizoaffective disorders, and other/unspecific nonorganic psychosis (ICD-10 codes F20/23/25/28/29) between 2010 and 2015. The annual prevalence and incidence were calculated using the population data from the Korean Statistical Office. Results: The 12-month prevalence of SSP of Korea between 2010 and 2015 were 0.48–0.66%. The 12-month prevalence of schizophrenia were 0.40–0.52%; The annual incidence rates (IR) of SSP between 2010 and 2015 were 118.8–148.7 per 100,000 person-year (PY). For schizophrenia, IR per 100,000 PY were 77.6–88.5 between 2010 and 2015. Conclusion The 12-month prevalence found in the present study was higher than that reported in community-based epidemiologic studies in South Korea but similar to those from other countries. The annual incidence of SSP and schizophrenia was found to steadily increase and was higher than that of other countries. The high incidence rate observed in the current study needs to be studied further.

Adult ; Alzheimer Disease ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Long-Term Care ; Mental Health ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Seoul ; Social Isolation ; Suicidal Ideation

BACKGROUND: One quarter to one third of patients with NSCLC present with primary tumors that although confined to the thorax are too extensive for surgical resection. Until resently standard treatment for these patients had been thoracic radiation, which produces tumor regression in most patients but few cures and dismal 5-year survival rate. The fact that death for most patients with stage III tumors is caused by distant metastases has promped a reevaluation of combined modality treatment approaches that include systemic chemotherapy. Therefore, we report the results observed in a study to evaluate the effect of multimodality treatment in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer from 1/91 to 8/93 in CNUH. METHOD: We grouped the patients according to the treatment modalities and evaluated response rate, median survival and the effect of prognostic variables. Among 67 patients evaluated, twenty seven patients classified with group A, received cisplatin and etoposide containing combination chemotherapy alone, eighteen patients, classified with group B, received chemotherapy and radiotherapy, fifteen patients, group C, received neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy and surgery with/without radiation therapy, seven patients, group D, received only supportive care. RESULT: The major response rate for group A and B was 37% and 61% respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in response rate between A and B groups(p=0.97). The analysis of prognostic factors showed that differences of age, sex, pathology, blood type, smoking year, stage and ECOG performance did not related to improvement in survival. Median survival time was 8.6 months for group A, 13.4 months for group B, 19.2 months for group C, and 5.4 months for group D, respectively and there was statistically significant difference(p=0.003), suggesting that multimodality therapy was associated with signigicant improvement in survival. Subset survival analysis showed a significant therapeutic effect for earlier stage and good performance state(p=0.007, 0.009, respectively). A possible survival advantages were observed for major response groups. CONCLUSION: It was suggested that multimodality therapy for the management of patients who had stage III disease, has yielded good median survival and long survival for seleted patients. But, it is necessory to validate above result with further investigation in large scale and in prospective randomized trials.
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cisplatin ; Drug Therapy ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Etoposide ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pathology ; Prospective Studies ; Radiotherapy ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Survival Rate ; Thorax

Laminin, an extracellular matrix glycoprotein composed of three polypeptide chains such as alpha , beta, and gamma is distributed in basement membranes of epithelium, muscle, and nervous tissues. Laminin functions as an extracellular cytoskeleton and regulates the differentiation and polarization of cells adjacent to the basement membrane. Along with type IV collagen and heparan sulfate proteoglycan, laminin forms a spike -like structure in the renal glomerular basement membrane (GBM). It has been previously demonstrated that the distribution and immune reaction of laminin are changed in response to the conditions of glomerulonephritis and that laminin plays a role in the reformation of GBM as well as the regeneration of renal glomerular cells. In the present study, the profile of expression and distribution of laminin/laminin beta1 chain were examined in different developmental stages and upon adriamycin administration. Kidney obtained from fetuses (16, 18, and 20 days old) and infants (1 and 7 days old) of Sprague -Dawley rats were either cryosectioned for immunohistochemical assays or ultrathin -sectioned for electron microscopy using immunogold staining methods. The results were as follows: 1. Intensive expression of laminin was observed in the GBM and surrounding mesenchymal tissues obtained from 16, 18, and 20 days old fetuses and in the glomerulus from one day neonates, whereas the level of staining decreased in the glomerulus from 7 days old infants. 2. Immunogold particles were observed in the comma -shaped nephron, in particular in cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum, vesicles and nuclear membrane of endothelial cells and mesangial cells obtained from 18 days old fetuses. 3. The immune reactions of laminin beta1 chain were trace detected in the kidney from fetuses (16, 18, and 20 days old) and weakly in tissues surrounding blood capillary and mesangial tissues from one day old neonates. 4. After 24 hours following adriamycin treatment, the reactivity of laminin was slightly enhanced in the renal glomerulus, when compared with that of untreated controls. This enhancement persisted up to 1 week of adriamycin treatment. Laminin beta1 chain was weakly detectable, while further treatment with adriamycin for another 24 hours reduced the intensity of laminin beta1 chain. Taken together, these results suggest that laminin is localized in the GBM at the high level during early fetal stages but the expression levels decrease after birth. Moreover, administration with adriamycin may result in an increase in the immune reactivities of laminin and laminin beta1 chain by renal tissue damage followed by renal regeneration.
Animals ; Basement Membrane ; Capillaries ; Collagen Type IV ; Cytoskeleton ; Doxorubicin ; Endoplasmic Reticulum, Rough ; Endothelial Cells ; Epithelium ; Extracellular Matrix ; Fetus ; Glomerular Basement Membrane ; Glomerulonephritis ; Glycoproteins ; Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Kidney* ; Laminin* ; Mesangial Cells ; Microscopy, Electron ; Nephrons ; Nuclear Envelope ; Parturition ; Rats* ; Regeneration