PURPOSE: To report a case of conjunctival lithiasis with clinical manifestations of superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis. CASE SUMMARY: A 40-year-old male complained of pain, foreign body sensation and injection in the left eye lasting 1 month. The slit-lamp examination revealed injection of the superior bulbar conjunctiva, linear corneal band opacity, fine punctate staining and epithelial defect in the superior cornea area. After eversion of the left upper eyelid, there were many various-sized conjunctional concretions and inflammation in the superior tarsal conjunctiva. Therefore, we considered conjunctival lithiasis-induced clinical manifestations of superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis and then removed the conjunctival concretions using a 30-gauge needle. After the procedures, artificial tears, antibiotic eye drops, steroid eye drops and a therapeutic contact lens were applied. After 1 week, all symptoms and signs improved and there was no recurrence for 4 months. CONCLUSIONS: Mechanical stimulation by severe conjunctival lithiasis can induce clinical manifestations of superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis. Therefore, in patients with clinical manifestations of superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis, conjunctival lithiasis should be considered by observing the superior tarsal conjunctiva more closely.
Adult ; Conjunctiva ; Cornea ; Eyelids ; Foreign Bodies ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Keratoconjunctivitis* ; Lithiasis* ; Lubricant Eye Drops ; Male ; Needles ; Ophthalmic Solutions ; Recurrence ; Sensation

Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is the most severe peripheral artery disease and caused by thrombus formation in blood vessel. The current strategies for treating CLI does not protect limb amputation and reduction in the risk of mortality. Recently, human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BD-MSC) were reported to have a paracrine effects on angiogenesis in several ischemic diseases. So, we validate to determine whether BD-MSC protect against ferric chloride treated CLI and induce angiogenesis. To characterized human bone marrow derived stem cell, BD-MSC differentiated to osteocytes and adipocytes and validated stemness using flow cytometry. Endothelial cell induced angiogenesis followed by mesenchymal stem cell cultured medium treatment in HUVEC in vitro. We also mimicked CLI patients condition using FeCl₃ treated CLI mouse and injected one hundred thousand of BD-MSC along the femoral artery to leg muscle. We validated stem cell survival, blood vessel formation, leg muscle condition and fibrosis compared by saline injected mice 28 days later. In this study, BD-MSC cultured medium treatment increased migration and tube formation of HUVEC and BD-MSC injection had an effective blood vessel formation in FeCl₃ treated CLI. As well as blood vessel formation, limb salvage rate also improved and fibrosis area statistically decreased in BD-MSC injected mice. In conclusion, bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cell improved not only blood vessel formation but also reduction of fibrosis in FeCl₃ treated CLI mice and finally protected limb amputation.
Adipocytes ; Amputation ; Animals ; Blood Vessels ; Bone Marrow ; Endothelial Cells ; Extremities* ; Femoral Artery ; Fibrosis ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Ischemia* ; Leg ; Limb Salvage ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Mice ; Mortality ; Osteocytes ; Peripheral Arterial Disease ; Stem Cells ; Thrombosis

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify the differences nursing needs and satisfaction with medications in patients admitted to hospital. METHOD: The participants were 258 patients admitted for 3days or more to D hospital. The data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, t-test and ANOVA. SPSS-WIN 11.0 was used to assist analysis. RESULTS: The results are as follow: 1. Variables effecting nursing needs were education and economic level. All scores of nursing needs were higher in the group with less than middle school education compared to those with high school education or higher. 2. The scores for nursing needs were higher than the score for satisfaction in common item and injection domains. The scores for nursing satisfaction were higher than nursing needs in the oral medication domain. 3. The item with the highest difference between the scores for nursing needs and satisfaction was 'I want to know the side effect of the drugs'. CONCLUSION: Patients admitted to hospital want to know the therapeutic effect, side effect and reason for their drugs. However satisfaction with medication was not equal to needs. It is necessary to emphasize clinical pharmacology in nursing education programs.
Education ; Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Pharmacology, Clinical

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Dietary behavior and life stress in adolescence is related to growth rate and learning ability. This study was conducted to identify the relations between dietary habits, dietary attitude nutritional knowledge and life stress among high school girls in Korea and China. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The subjects of this study were 221 high school girls in Korea and 227 high school girls in China. The questionnaire were about dietary habits, dietary attitude, nutritional knowledge and life stress. RESULTS: The dietary habits of chinese girls were healthier than those of Korean girls with a significant difference (P < .001). There was no significant difference in dietary attitude between Korean girls and Chinese girls. Korean girls had more nutritional knowledge than Chinese girls with a significant difference (P < .001). Korean girls did less physical exercise but spent more time watching TV and using PCs, compared to Chinese girls. Korean girls' degree of confidence in nutrition information that they had learned and their performance in their real lives were low. Also, they had a low level of awareness of the need for nutritional education. There was no significant difference in life stress between the two groups. Dietary habits had a significantly negative correlation with life stress in both Korean and Chinese girls (P < .01, P < .001). As for Chinese students, dietary attitude had a negative correlation with life stress with a significant difference (P < .05). As for Korean girls, nutritional knowledge had a negative correlation with life stress with a significant difference (P < .05), which means as life stress was less, dietary habits were better. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that effective nutrition education programs should include components that encourage application of learned nutrition information to real life, increase physical exercise and reduce life stress.
Adolescent ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; China ; Education ; Exercise ; Female* ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Korea ; Learning ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Stress, Psychological*

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PURPOSE: This study was performed to obtain baseline information about the occupational and environmental medicine(OEM) residency programs in Korea. METHODS: We surveyed 39 residents for the present training condition, satisfaction, vision of OEM, the condition and satisfaction after residency programs by self- administered questionnaire. RESULTS: Residents want to get appropriate clinical and practical training to be a medical director in a factory or specialist of the occupational medicine based at a hospital. They report, however, that current system for OEM residency training program is not appropriate. The curricula, duration of the each curriculum, level of training hospital or institute need to be reconsidered. CONCLUSIONS: We need to develop more systematic residency program with support from government and OEM society.
Curriculum ; Education ; Environmental Medicine* ; Humans ; Internship and Residency* ; Korea* ; Occupational Medicine ; Physician Executives ; Specialization ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCW) are known as a risk group of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection and vaccination of this group against HAV has been suggested. However, the seroprevalence of HAV antibody among HCW in Korea has not been reported. We investigated the seropositivity of HAV antibody in HCW, to obtain a baseline data. METHODS: We measured serum total HAV antibody using chemiluminescent immunoassay (ADVIA Centaur, Germany) in 174 HCW at one university hospital in Seoul, Korea. RESULTS: Serum HAV antibody was positive in 48 (27.6%) of 174 subjects tested. The seropositivity of HAV antibody was significantly increased with increasing age: 21.1% (26/123), 55% (22/40), and 100% (11/11) in the age groups of 20's, 30's, and 40's, respectively (P<0.001). However it was not significantly different among different occupations (physicians 38%, nurses 24.6%, other workers 31.4%, P=0.376) and work places (medical ward 29.1%, pediatric ward 25.9%, emergency room 34.4%, laboratory 0%, P=0.140). The seroprevalence rate of HAV antibody in the age groups of 20's and 30's in this study was not higher than that of previous studies on non-HCW populations in Korea since 2006. CONCLUSIONS: The seroprevalence of HAV antibody among HCW in the age groups of 20's and 30's in a Korean hospital was not higher than that of non-HCW populations, and the seropositivity increased with increasing age. Further studies are needed for the age-specific strategy for vaccination, considering the increased risk of exposure in HCW to HAV infection in hospital environment with the increase of symptomatic patients with HAV.
Adult ; Female ; Hepatitis A/*diagnosis/epidemiology ; Hepatitis A Antibodies/*blood ; Hepatitis A virus/*immunology ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Occupational Exposure ; *Personnel, Hospital ; Republic of Korea ; Seroepidemiologic Studies

The objective of this study was to assess dietary habits and nutrition knowledge of elementary school students who use community food-service centers according to family type. The subjects were comprised of 147 individuals in low-income households, aged from 7 to 12 years, and who consumed free meals at community welfare centers or at local children's centers in Seoul and Kyunggi-do, Korea. Dietary habits and dietary intake were obtained using 24-hr recall. Children in low-income single parent families skipped breakfast more frequently than children in low-income married parent families. No difference in nutrition intake or dietary habits was observed between children in low-income single parent families and children in low-income married parent families. More interest and financial support of the government are required to develop nutrition education and food assistance programs for children in low-income single parent families.
Aged ; Breakfast ; Child ; Family Characteristics ; Financial Support ; Food Assistance ; Food Habits ; Food Services ; Humans ; Korea ; Meals ; Nutritional Status ; Parents ; Single-Parent Family

OBJECTIVE: Recently, many experimental evidences have been reported that psychiatric diseases are closely related with neurodevelopmental abnormalities and this can be properly explained by apoptosis. It is known that Apo-1/Fas is one of the genes in charge of apoptosis related with neurodevelopmental abnormalities. In this study, the association between bipolar disorder and functional polymorphism in Apo-1/Fas promoter gene has been investigated. METHOD: For 81 bipolar disorder patients and 217 healthy control subjects, MvaI restriction fragment length polymorphism(RFLP) of Apo-1/Fas promoter gene was analyzed after polymerase chain reaction(PCR) amplification. RESULT: There was a statistical significant difference in genotypic distribution(chi2=16.656, df=2, p=0.0002) and allelic frequencies(chi2=14.225, df=1, p=0.0002) between bipolar disorder patients and healthy control subjects. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest an association between functional polymorphism in Apo-1/Fas promoter gene and bipolar disorder and provide the important genetic information related with the pathogenesis of the disease. Further studies employing larger samples are required to clarify the present results.
Apoptosis ; Bipolar Disorder* ; Humans ; Promoter Regions, Genetic*

Excessive salt intake induces hypertension, but several gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) supplements have been shown to reduce blood pressure. GABAsalt, a fermented salt by L. brevis BJ20 containing GABA was prepared through the post-fermentation with refined salt and the fermented GABA extract. We evaluated the effect of GABA-salt on hypertension in a high salt, high cholesterol diet induced mouse model. We analyzed type 1 macrophage (M1) polarization, the expression of M1 related cytokines, GABA receptor expression, endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction, vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation, and medial thicknesses in mice model. GABA-salt attenuated diet-induced blood pressure increases, M1 polarization, and TNF-α and inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS) levels in mouse aortas, and in salt treated macrophages in vitro. Furthermore, GABA-salt induced higher GABAB receptor and endothelial NOS (eNOS) and eNOS phosphorylation levels than those observed in salt treated ECs. In addition, GABA-salt attenuated EC dysfunction by decreasing the levels of adhesion molecules (E-selectin, Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 [ICAM-1], vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 [VCAM-1]) and of von Willebrand Factor and reduced EC death. GABA-salt also reduced diet-induced reductions in the levels of eNOS, phosphorylated eNOS, VSMC proliferation and medial thickening in mouse aortic tissues, and attenuated Endothelin-1 levels in salt treated VSMCs. In summary, GABA-salt reduced high salt, high cholesterol diet induced hypertension in our mouse model by reducing M1 polarization, EC dysfunction, and VSMC proliferation.