OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to evaluate factors related to the degree of disability of stroke patients in a rural community. METHODS: The study subjects included 641 patients selected from 975 stroke patients over the age of 50 with brain lesion-related disabilities living in Gyeongju, Korea, an urban-rural consolidated community. The data were obtained by interviews from July to October 2008. The subjects were divided into a seriously disabled group (1st and 2nd disability grade) and mildly disabled group (3th, 4th, 5th and 6th disability grade) by degree of disability according to registered disability grade. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 14.0 statistical package. RESULTS: The study subjects included 379 males (59.1%) and 262 females (40.9%), and most patients were in their 70s (256 cases, 39.9%). The seriously disabled group included 287 patients (44.8%) and the mildly disabled group included 354 persons (55.2%). Age, prehospital delayed time and number of related chronic diseases were risk factors for serious disability (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the degree of disability can be reduced by decreasing prehospital delayed time. We suggest that education of high risk groups and establishment of emergency services as well as a transport system for stroke patients are required to reduce the degree of disability due to stroke.
Brain ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; Chronic Disease ; Emergencies ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Risk Factors ; Stroke

Bronchogenic cysts (BCs) are relatively common congenital anomalies in the mediastinum. Most of the patients with BC can be managed both safely and effectively by minimally invasive methods. Selected patients with a BC in a favorable location can have the cyst partially or completely excised by mediastinoscopic techniques. Herein we report on a case of a left lower paratracheal bronchogenic cyst that was completely resected by a video-assisted mediastinoscopic technique, and we discuss the technical aspects of this procedure.
Bronchogenic Cyst ; Humans ; Mediastinal Diseases ; Mediastinoscopy ; Mediastinum

The objectives of this study were to: (a) examine the overall operating conditions of both government-dominant and non-governmental food bank programs, (b) understand the operational management attributes on the target based on IPA (importance performance analysis)(c) analyze the present status of donating management, and (d) suggest a direction based on the analysis of advantages and disadvantages of food banks in each part. The random samples of 120 food bank operators were selected by a proportionate stratified random sampling method. A total of 60 government-dominant food banks and 25 non-governmental food banks were analyzed. The main results of this study were as follows: According to the Importance-Performance Analysis of operational management, "assistance for operating funds" and "deployment of experience staff" were placed at "Focus Here". There was a great shortage of experienced staff with food bank-specific knowledge. The average number of the government-dominant and non-governmental food bank program employees was 0.29 and 0.30 respectively, while the ratios of employees with other jobs were 0.96 and 0.83 respectively. Shortages of refrigeration facilities were an area that needs to be addressed. While 51.6% of donated food required cold storage, only 45% of government-dominant and 60% of non-governmental food bank programs had refrigeration facilities. Most of food bank operators (96.3%) were required to visit the donators' locations to pick up the donated foods. And the foods were distributed to the people in need, especially to the livelihood protectee.
Refrigeration

The purpose of this study was to examine the donators' characteristics and donative foods of both government-dominant and non-governmental food bank program, to understand the problems and benefits of food bank program, and to find the solutions to activate food bank program. The questionnaires were distributed to 120 food bank operators and 3 donators were selected from each food bank for the survey from April 2002 to May 2002. 118 sheets (32.8%) from government-dominant food bank and 53 sheets (20.1%) from non-governmental food bank were collected. The main results of this study were as follows: The largest donators to either government-dominant or non-governmental food bank programs were bakery and confectionery companies 31.4% and 45.3% respectively. The majority of donated foods were "goods in stock" (55.6%) and frequency of donation were largely on a daily basis (27.1% for government-dominant and 22.6% for non-governmental). Some of the donators who had more donative food did not donate, and the reasons were closeness to expiration date of food (67.3%), lack of legal protection in the event of food poisoning (54.5%), and poor public image of food related accidents (52.3%).
Foodborne Diseases

The tear film break-up time test is a useful diagnostic test for dry eye syndrome,but it shows a wide range of results in normal subjects according to many factors, especially the methods of measuring it. We studied the factors having some influences on B.U.T. and tried to find out a standard method of measuring B.U.T. in normal subjects. The results were as follows: 1. The subjects were healthy without any ocular disease or symptoms. Total subjects were 200 persons, 400 eyes. 2. The standard method of measuring B.U.T. was as follows: a drop of 0.125% sodium fluorescein was applied into the conjunctival sac and the patient was allowed to blink for at least 1-2 minutes. The tear film was then scanned without holding the lids, using the slit lamp beam, 4-5mm in width. 3. The mean B.U.T. measured by the standard method was 20.35 +/- 6.45 sec in normal subjects. 4. The mean B.U.T. was 18.17 +/- 8.02'sec in the group using fluorescein paper, 9.68 +/- 6.19 sec in the group blinking just 4-5 times,16.54 +/- 8.32 sec in the group measured holding the lids with the fingers, and 18.36 +/- 7.95 sec in the group using a broad beam. 5. There were statistically significant decreases of B.U.T. in the group blinking just 4-5 times and in the group measured holding the lids with the fingers.
Blinking ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Fingers ; Fluorescein ; Humans ; Tears*

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the incidence of and factors associated with major complications, delayed discharge, and emergency room (ER) visits or readmission after percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for single hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) <3 cm in a recent cohort at a tertiary cancer center. Methods: A total of 188 patients with treatment-naïve single HCCs <3 cm who underwent RFA between January 2018 and April 2021 were included in the analysis. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the factors associated with major complications, delayed discharge, and ER visits or readmission. Local tumor progression (LTP) and overall survival were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis. Results: Major complications occurred in 3.2% (6/188) of the patients. The longest diameter of the ablation zone was significantly larger in patients with major complications (P=0.023). Delayed discharge occurred in 5.8% (9/188) of the patients, for which albumin-bilirubin grade 3 was identified as an important determinant. No variables other than major complications were significantly associated with ER visits or readmission, which occurred in 7.0% (13/188) of the patients. Major complications, delayed discharge, and ER visits or readmission were not substantially related to the post-treatment outcomes of LTP and overall survival. Conclusion This study confirmed RFA as a highly safe procedure for single HCCs <3 cm, despite the rapidly changing RFA techniques in the most recent cohort. A large ablation zone and poor liver function were predictors of major complications and delayed discharge, respectively.

A total of 601 anesthesias given to the patients over age 60 who were admitted to Han Gang Sung Shim Hospital during the period from Jan. 1976 to Dec. 1980, were subjected to this clinical review. 1) Of the total 15,609 cases, 601 cases(3.8%) were over 60 years of age consisting of 315 male(52.4%) and 286 female(47.6%). 2) Among the 601 geriatric patients, 453 cases were 60~69 years of age(75.4%), 128 cases were 70~79 years of age(21.3%) and 20 cases were over 80 years of age(3.3%). 3) In the surgical group, 358 cases(59.7%) were general surgery, 120 cases(20.0%) were orthopedic surgery, 34 cases(5.6%) were urology, 20 cases(3.3%) were gynecology respectively. 4) The techniques of anesthesia were 545 cases(90.7%) of general anesthesia, 22 cases(3.7%) of spinal anesthesia and 17 cases(2.8%) of axillary block. 5) Anesthetics were diethly-ether 24 cases(36.3%) and halothane 22 cases(33.3%) in 1976. But there were 5 diethly-ether cases(0.3%) and 120 halothane cases(91.6%) in 1980. 6) For the duration of anesthesia, 81 cases(13%) were within 1 hour, 238 cases(39.6%) within 2 hours, 156 cases(26.0%) within 3 hours and 21 cases over 5 hours. 7) In the classification of physical status of the geriatric patients, 42 cases(7.0%) were class l, 201 cases(33.2%) were class ll, 109 cases (18.1%) were class lll and 8 cases(1.3%) were class lV. 8) Emergency cases were 223 cases(37.1%) and 378 cases(62.9%) were elective. 9) The findings of preoperative chest X-rays revealed that 227 cases(48.8%) were within normal limits, 56 cases(12.0%) had hypertensive heart disease, 24 cases(5.1%) had senile fibrosis, 22 cases(5.1%) had unstabilized tuberculosis and 14 cases(3%) had pneumonis. 10) In the preoperative R.K.G., which covered 50% of the patients, 115 cases(38.3%) were within normal limit, 41 cases(13.6%) showed L.V.H., 30 cases(10.0%) had sinus bradycardia, 13 cases (4.3%) had myocardial lschemia and 7 cases(2.3%) had R.B.B.B. 11) Post-operative mortality rate was 5.8% in 1976, 4.0% in 1977, 3.6% in 1978 and 2.1% in 1980, and over all mortality rate was 3.1%.
Anesthesia* ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Anesthetics ; Bradycardia ; Classification ; Emergencies ; Fibrosis ; Gynecology ; Halothane ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Mortality ; Orthopedics ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis ; Urology

PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the extent of heterogeneity in medical terminology between South and North Korea by comparing medical terms related to the colorectal system. METHODS: North Korean medical terms were collected from the sections on diseases of the small intestine and colon in a surgery textbook from North Korea, and those terms were compared with their corresponding terms in a South Korean medical terminology textbook. The terms were categorized as either identical, similar, showing disparity, or not used in South Korea. In a subsection analysis, the terms were allocated to pathophysiology, diagnosis, symptoms and examination, drugs, testing, treatment, or others according to the categorization used in the textbook. RESULTS: We found 705 terms in the North Korean textbook, most of which were pathophysiological terms (206, 29.2%), followed by diagnostic terms (165, 23.4%) and symptom and examination terms (122, 17.3%). Treatment-, drug-, and testing-related terms constituted 15.5%, 5.8%, and 4.1% of the 705 terms, respectively. There were 331 identical terms (47.0%) and 146 similar terms (20.7%); 126 terms (17.9%) showed disparity. Another 102 terms (14.5%) were not used in South Korea. The pathophysiological terms were the least heterogeneous, with 61.2% being identical terms used in both countries. However, 26.8% of the terms in the drug category were not used in South Korea. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that less than 50% of the terms for the colorectal system used in South and North Korea were identical. As the division between South and North Korea persists, the heterogeneity of medical terminology is expected to increase.
Colon ; Colorectal Surgery* ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea* ; Diagnosis ; Intestine, Small ; Intestines ; Korea ; Population Characteristics

Purpose: To investigate characteristics of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings in chronic inactive branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) with quantitative analysis. Methods: The medical records of 48 eyes diagnosed with unilateral ischemic acute BRVO, and without recurrence for 6 months after the acute treatment, were reviewed retrospectively. We manually segmented the abnormal vessels of the superficial and deep capillary plexus (SCP-AV and DCP-AV, respectively) and vascular congestion of DCP (DCP-VC) from 6 × 6 mm2 macular OCTA images and automatically calculated the area, vessel density, and average retinal thickness of each corresponding region. Correlations were analyzed between the OCTA parameters of the segmentation area and the baseline characteristics. Results: The DCP-AV area was always wider than that of the SCP-AV (p < 0.001), with a transitional zone (TZ) between the two areas. About two-thirds of the DCP-VC area was distributed in the TZ. The vessel density of the DCP-VC was higher than that of the normal capillary plexus (all, p < 0.001). The average retinal thickness of the DCP-VC was greater than those of SCP-AV and DCP-AV areas (all, p < 0.001), but not different from the normal capillary plexus. The greater the extent of the DCP-VC distribution under the SCP-AV, the fewer the number of injections required to reach stabilization (r = -0.314, p = 0.030). Conclusions DCP-VC in chronic inactive BRVO was mainly distributed in the TZ with high vessel density. DCP-VC seems to provide a drainage pathway with minimal resistance against elevated intravenous pressure, which may sustain the anatomical stability of chronic BRVO.

Purpose: To investigate characteristics of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings in chronic inactive branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) with quantitative analysis. Methods: The medical records of 48 eyes diagnosed with unilateral ischemic acute BRVO, and without recurrence for 6 months after the acute treatment, were reviewed retrospectively. We manually segmented the abnormal vessels of the superficial and deep capillary plexus (SCP-AV and DCP-AV, respectively) and vascular congestion of DCP (DCP-VC) from 6 × 6 mm2 macular OCTA images and automatically calculated the area, vessel density, and average retinal thickness of each corresponding region. Correlations were analyzed between the OCTA parameters of the segmentation area and the baseline characteristics. Results: The DCP-AV area was always wider than that of the SCP-AV (p < 0.001), with a transitional zone (TZ) between the two areas. About two-thirds of the DCP-VC area was distributed in the TZ. The vessel density of the DCP-VC was higher than that of the normal capillary plexus (all, p < 0.001). The average retinal thickness of the DCP-VC was greater than those of SCP-AV and DCP-AV areas (all, p < 0.001), but not different from the normal capillary plexus. The greater the extent of the DCP-VC distribution under the SCP-AV, the fewer the number of injections required to reach stabilization (r = -0.314, p = 0.030). Conclusions DCP-VC in chronic inactive BRVO was mainly distributed in the TZ with high vessel density. DCP-VC seems to provide a drainage pathway with minimal resistance against elevated intravenous pressure, which may sustain the anatomical stability of chronic BRVO.