BACKGROUNDS: It is important to know the contents of health problems in patients in a primary care setting. The aim of this study was to explore the main chief complaints and major diagnoses of patients, who were admitted to a hospital using the ICD-10 and to observe difference according to each department and admission route and how diagnoses were made. METHODS: A total of 18,560 patients who were admitted to a hospital located in Chungnam Province from 1 Jan 1998 to 31 Dec 1998. Main chief complaints and major diagnoses made through the admissions departments were chosen as subjects (medical vs. surgical) and by admission route (emergency vs. OPD)were analyzed. How the diagnoses were derived from the most common chief complaints among medical and surgical departments were analyzed by admissions departments and by admission route. RESULTS: The most common 10 chief complaints revealed no significant difference by admission route in medical departments, but there was some difference in surgical departments. There was some difference in the most common 10 major diagnoses by admission routes in both medical and surgical departments. Abdominal and pelvic pain, which was the most common chief complaints, became a significantly different diagnosis by admission route in both departments. CONCLUSION: Main chief complaints were similar regardless of admission routes, but the diagnoses were different. ICD-10 classification may be useful to classify the diagnoses, but have limitations to classify chief complaints or reasons for encounter. It is necessary to introduce a new classification such as ICPC-2 for reasons for encounter in order to explore the dimension of health problems.
Chungcheongnam-do ; Classification ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; International Classification of Diseases ; Pelvic Pain ; Primary Health Care

[Background] Over the last thirty years, majority of researches on clinical effectiveness of acupuncture have been explanatory (or experimental) randomized controlled trial. The benefits of acupuncture in clinical trials are stillcontroversial and most studies concluded that further control studies were required. Standardized combinations of acupuncture points for all the experimental subjects in various past studies have been criticized because such treatments do not reflect current routine clinical treatment.
[Objective] This paper aims to review pragmatic clinical trials on the effect of acupuncture treatment and to develop the ideal clinical research methodology of acupuncture study.
[Method] Clinical studies of acupuncture relevant with pragmatic or individualized trials were searched mainly in Pubmed and Science direct databases. All articles were fully reviewed by researchers, and data were evaluated by usage of a standardized form.
[Results & Suggestion] Pragmatic acupuncture researches were tried for various symptoms (eg. low back pain, hypertension, depression during pregnancy, sleep quality in HIV disease, chronic poststroke leg spasticity, headache, etc). Individualized acupuncture treatments based on oriental disease pattern diagnosis reflexes practical treatments which is more effective than unified and fixed acupuncture treatments without any theoretical basis of oriental medical philosophy.
[Conclusion] To overcome the controversies and limitations of past explanatory acupuncture trials, more individualized and tailored acupuncture trials with the theoretical basis of oriental medical diagnosis is highly recommended. Also clear definition and categorization of pattern identification should be established for further active clinical researches and applications of acupuncture.

No abstract available.
Curettage* ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic*

Malignant acanthosis nigricans is very rare disease. The disease is related with internal malignancy, especially gastrointestinal tract malignancy. Reported occurrence rate of malignant acanthosis nigricans associated internal malignancies are 64% of stomach adenocarcinoma, 27% of other organs of abdomen (liver, gall bladder, small intestine, rectum, uterus, ovary), 9% of non-abdominal organs(breast, lung). We report a case of malignant acanthosis nigricans associated with stomach adenocarcinoma from 20-year-old female and discuss review of literature on a acanthosis nigricans briefly.
Female ; Humans ; Adenocarcinoma

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of stroke patient care education on the knowledge and practice of caregivers of stroke patients. METHOD: Data was collected from December 15, 2004 to March 30, 2005. The research design was a non-equivalent control group non-synchronized design. The subjects were forty primary caregivers of stroke patients who were hospitalized in a neurology unit of a university hospital. Forty caregivers, twenty in the experimental group and twenty in the control group were assigned. The experimental group participated 2 times in an education class given by the researcher. Data analysis included -test, and t-test using the SPSS program. RESULT: Knowledge(t=5..87, p=o.oo) and practice(t=5.53, p=0.00) of the experimental group were significantly different from the control group. CONCLUSION: The stroke patient care education developed in this studyshows a significant promotion of knowledge and practice of caregivers. Thus this program can be recommanded as an intervention model for stroke patients and caregivers.
Adult ; Caregivers/*education ; Family ; Female ; *Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Nursing ; Patient Education as Topic ; Program Evaluation ; Stroke/*therapy

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of structural and functional characteristics of social network on social adjustment in people with mental illness. METHODS: 236 members of the people with mental illness who were enrolled in day hospital, community mental health center and social rehabilitation center participated in the survey. RESULTS: Of structural and functional characteristics of social network, the influenced factors on social adjustment were network size of professional, social support (family, friend and professional) and conflict with professional. When controlling socio-demographic and disorder characteristics, this regression model affected significantly on social adjustment but the power of influence reduced slightly. CONCLUSION: In order to improve the social adjustment of people with mental illness, it is necessary for social network to provide them with more emotional and social resources. Especially, it is important for mental health professionals to build active partnership with the people with mental illness as consumer. For people with mental illness, the economic stability through guaranteed income such as disability benefits, and occupational rehabilitation is very important.
Friends ; Hospitals, Community ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Rehabilitation Centers ; Social Adjustment

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of a weight control program and compliancy in overweight women. METHOD: This program was composed of strategies to modify diet and exercise and to change compliance and self determination over an 8 week period. The subjects were 19 overweight women who participated in our project voluntarily. Data was collected from May 4 to Jun 30 of 2007. The program consisted of regular rapid walking exercise, diet, mobile phone messages and e-mail. The data was analyzed by Repeated Measures ANOVA using the SPSS WIN program. RESULT: According to 3 assessment periods, there were significant differences in body weight, body mass index, and compliance. There were no significant differences in self determination. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that more intensive interventions may be needed to demonstrate a change in self determination.
Adult ; Body Mass Index ; Diet ; Exercise ; Female ; Humans ; Mental Competency ; Obesity/diet therapy ; Overweight/*therapy ; Patient Compliance ; Personal Autonomy ; Walking

No abstract available.

No Abstract Available.
Cicatrix* ; Cleft Lip* ; Congenital Abnormalities* ; Nose*

Plasma cholesterol is increased in normal aging in both rodents and humans. This is associated with reduced elimination of cholesterol and decreased receptor-mediated clearance of plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The aims of this study were: (1) to determine age-related changes in plasma lipid profiles, and (2) to determine the effect of fenofibrate, an activator of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPAR alpha), on plasma lipid profiles in normal rats on a standard diet. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (n=15) were fed standard chow and water from 10 to 25 weeks of age. During that period, we measured daily food intake, body weight, fasting and random blood glucose levels, plasma total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and free fatty acid (FFA) levels. At 20 weeks of age, all rats were randomly divided into two groups: a fenofibrate group (in which rats were gavaged with 300 mg/kg/day of fenofibrate) and a control group (gavaged with water). Fenofibrate treatment lasted 5 weeks. There were no significant changes in daily food intake, blood glucose, and plasma TG level with age. Body weight, plasma TC, and FFA levels were significantly increased with age. Fenofibrate significantly decreased plasma concentrations of TC and FFA, which had been increased with age. However, fenofibrate did not influence the plasma concentration of TG, which had not increased with age. These results suggest that fenofibrate might have a novel role in preventing age-related hypercholesterolemia in SD rats on a normal diet.
Aging ; Animals ; Blood Glucose ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Diet ; Eating ; Fasting ; Fenofibrate ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Lipoproteins ; Male ; Plasma ; PPAR alpha ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rodentia ; Triglycerides ; Water