BACKGROUND: We prospectively evaluated the incidence and possible factors causing intramuscular injection during lumbar sympathetic ganglion block and compared the multiple needle technique to the single technique to obtain a profound and complete block effect. METHODS: Among 83 patients, 58 patients (group A, n = 27, multiple needle technique and group B, n = 31, single needle technique) were reevaluated for the changes of skin temperature (Ts) and mean segment of longitudinal contrast spread. After injecting the contrast agent, the incidence of psoas muscle injection and the change of Ts was compared between two groups. RESULTS: The incidence of psoas muscle injection was 21.3% (46/216) and it was associated with the level of injection (L2) significantly (chi-square = 14.773, P = 0.001). DT(post) (postblock temperature difference between ipsilateral and contralateral great toe, 4.6 +/- 2.8degrees C, 1.8 +/- 1.6degrees C, P < 0.001 for group A and B) and DT(net) (DT(post) - DT(pre), 3.9 +/- 2.7degrees C, 1.5 +/- 1.5degrees C, P < 0.001 for group A and B) was significantly higher in group A. The mean segment of longitudinal contrast spread was 8.1 +/- 0.9 for group A and 3.2 +/- 1.6 for group B (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The LSGB at the L2 level showed the lowest incidence of psoas muscle injection of contrast. Multiple needle approach showed more significant increase of DT(net) and DT(post).
Ganglia, Sympathetic ; Humans ; Incidence ; Injections, Intramuscular ; Needles ; Prospective Studies ; Psoas Muscles ; Skin Temperature ; Toes

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate osteoporosis knowledge, health beliefs, and influencing factors on health behaviors among female college students. METHODS: Using the Osteoporosis Quiz, the Health belief Scale, and the Health Behavior Questionnaire, data were collected from 314 female college students from 4 universities located in Chungcheong providence. RESULTS: The mean scores of knowledge and health belief were 12.7+/-3.81 and 90.9+/-12.66, respectively. There was a statistically significant correlation between osteoporosis knowledge and health belief (p<.001). Also, a statistically significant correlation was found between health belief and health behavior (p<.001). According to the regression model, knowledge, perceived benefit, perceived barrier, family history of osteoporosis, and health interest explained 6.7% of total variance in health behavior. CONCLUSION: Female college students should be taught to be aware of the importance of proper dietary intake and regular exercise as a way to maintain or promote the health of their bones so that they can prevent osteoporosis.
Female* ; Health Behavior* ; Humans ; Osteoporosis* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Basal Cell* ; Nevus*

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of vitrification on the implantation the pregnancy of human blastocysts. METHOD: The transfer of the frozen-thawed blastocysts by the slow freezing or vitrification was performed between January 1998 and July 1999. The zygotes derives from IVF were cocultured with cumulus cells in YS medium containing 20% hFF for 5days. Two or three of the best balstocysts produced on day 5 were transferred into the uterus, and then supernumerary blastocysts were randomly divided into two groups. One was frozen by slow freezing and the other was frozen by vitrification method. The slow freezing procedure was performed in two steps (5% glycerol and 9% glycerol + 0.2 M sucrose for 10 min, respectively) using programmed freezer (-2degrees C/min to -7degrees C, 0.3degrees C and plunged into LN2). The blastocysts frozen by slow freezing were thawed at 36degrees C then removed glycerol in 7 steps. The vitrification procedure was performed in three steps (10% glycerol for 5 min, 10% glycerol + 20% ethylene glycol for 5 min, 25% glycerol + 25% ethylene glycol and directly LN2 within 1 min). The blastocysts frozen by vitrification were thawed at 20degrees C water then removed cryoprotectant in 3 steps. In each group, thawed blastocysts were cocultured with cumulus cells in YS medium containing 20% hFF for 18h and transferred into the uterus. The implantation rate was evaluated per transferred blastocysts and the pregnancy rate was evaluated per transfers. RESULTS: The survival rate of vitrified group (74.5%) was higher than slow freezing group (68.0%), but not significant. When 98 thawed blastocysts of vitrification were transferred in 40 cycles, 19 pregnancies (clinical pregnancy rate; 47.5%) were established. One miscarriage occurred in the eighth week of pregnancy (ongoing pregnancy rate; 45.0%). 7 pregnancies were ongoing, 11 pregnancies went to term, and 16 healthy infants were born. The Implantation rate was 31.6%. These results were higher than those obtained by the slow freezing (clinical pregnancy rate; 40.3%, ongoing pregnancy rate; 32.5% and implantation rate; 25.3%), but not significant. CONCLUSION: Vitrification is a simple, quick and economical method when compared to slow freezing. It will be chosen as a good method of human embryo freezing in IVF-ET programs.
Abortion, Spontaneous ; Blastocyst* ; Cumulus Cells ; Embryonic Structures ; Ethylene Glycol ; Female ; Freezing ; Glycerol ; Humans ; Infant ; Pregnancy Rate ; Pregnancy* ; Sucrose ; Survival Rate ; Uterus ; Vitrification* ; Water ; Zygote

No abstract available.
Chylothorax* ; Lymphangiectasis*

Tularemia is a zoonosis caused by Francisella tularensis. It is primarily a disease of wild animals. Human infection is incidental and usually results from interaction with biting or blood-sucking insects, wild or domestic animals, or the environment. An increasing number of cases have been reported in several countries. However, in Korea it has not been reported until now. A 40-year old male patient visited our department on Jan 13, 1997, complaining of multiple swollen lymph-nodes on his axillae and reddish swollen left upper arm which contained an abscess at its central portion for about ten days. On Dec 25, 1996, he found a dead wild rabbit on a nearby mountainside, ate it after cooking it by himself with his hands injured. His abscess was drained and microbiologic examination was done. However no microorganism was isolated. His lymph nodes were surgically removed from both axillae, and we investigated them microbiologically and pathologically. On microbiologic examination, small aerobic gram negative coccobacilli were grown on a chocolate agar plate in an aerobic condition with 5% CO2 at 37 degrees centigrade. On H & E staining, the lymph node showed chronic granulomatous inflammation. We sent the microorganism and lymph nodes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States of America for the definitive diagnosis. Finally the microorganism was identified as F. tularensis by culture morphology, biological tests and immunohistochemical staining. We report the first case of F. tularensis in Korea.
Abscess ; Adult ; Agar ; Americas ; Animals ; Animals, Domestic ; Animals, Wild ; Arm ; Axilla ; Cacao ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Cooking ; Diagnosis ; Francisella tularensis ; Hand ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Insects ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Tularemia* ; United States

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of immunosuppressants on in-hospital mortality from sepsis. METHODS: Using data of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, we collected data from patients who were admitted to the hospital due to sepsis from 2009 to 2013. Based on drugs commonly used for immunosuppression caused by various diseases, patients were divided into three groups; immunosuppressant group, steroid-only group, and control group. Patients with no history of immunosuppressants or steroids were assigned to the control group. To identify risk factors of in-hospital mortality in sepsis, we compared differences in patient characteristics, comorbidities, intensive care unit (ICU) care requirements, and immunodeficiency profiles. Subgroup analysis according to age was also performed. RESULTS: Of the 185,671 included patients, 13,935 (7.5%) were in the steroid-only group and 2,771 patients (1.5%) were in the immunosuppressant group. The overall in-hospital mortality was 38.9% and showed an increasing trend with age. The steroid-only group showed the lowest in-hospital mortality among the three groups except the patients younger than 30 years. The steroid-only group and immunosuppressant group received ICU treatment more frequently (p < 0.001), stayed longer in the hospital (p < 0.001), and showed higher medical expenditure (p < 0.001) compared to the normal group. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that age, male gender, comorbidities (especially malignancy), and ICU treatment had a significant effect on in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Despite longer hospital length of stay and more frequent need for ICU care, the in-hospital mortality was lower in patients taking immunosuppressive drugs than in patients not taking immunosuppressive drugs.
Comorbidity ; Health Expenditures ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Insurance* ; Insurance, Health ; Intensive Care Units ; Korea* ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Sepsis* ; Steroids

PURPOSE: After delivery, eating brown seaweed soup is a typical Korean tranditional habit. But, excessive intake of iodine transiently inhibits biosynthesis and secretion of thyroid hormones if a certain threshold of iodine is reached in the serum. The aim of our study was to demonstrate whether the observed the elevations of TSH level in the breast fed neonatal infants was caused by mother's eating brown seaweed soup or not. METHODS: We performed neonatal TSH test by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(FRELISA Screenig TSH) and cheked TSH level for 178 newborns with a appropriate gestational age. We divided the study subject into 3 groups, the group used breast feeding, mother had taken brown seaweed soup and blood sampled at 6th day after birth was categorized Group A, formular feeding, blood sampled at the 4th days after birth was categorized Group B, breast feeding and had taken brown seaweed soup and blood sampled at the 19th day after birth was categorized Group C. RESULTS: 1) The mean TSH level was 1.5+/-1.3 uU/ml in Group A, 3.3+/-2.5uU/ml in Group B, 1.7+/-l.3uU/ml in Group C(Group A vs Group B: p<0.05, Group A vs Group C: p<0.05). 2) There was no statistical significances between the TSH levels and the amount of brown seaweed soup which mother had one day, the duration which mother had brown seaweed soup and duration of breast feeding. CONCLUSIONS: Mother had taken brown seaweed soup about 3 times a day in korea at present days, There was no significant changes of TSH levels in the beast fed newborn infants after the korean mother had taken brown seaweed soup.
Breast Feeding* ; Breast* ; Eating* ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn* ; Iodine ; Korea ; Mothers ; Parturition ; Seaweed* ; Thyroid Hormones

No abstract available.
Animals ; Cattle* ; Yersinia enterocolitica* ; Yersinia*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze differences in health behaviors among adolescents in order to provide fundamental data to develop an effective body weight control program. METHODS: Secondary analysis was done using data from the 9th (2013) Online Survey on Ado-lescents' Health Behaviors by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The adolescents were divided into low weight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity groups according to body mass index (BMI). Differences in health behaviors were analyzed. RESULTS: Gender, grade, socioeconomic status, perceived-health status, exercise, breakfast, fast food, ramen noodles, snacks, carbonated soft drinks, fruits and vegetables, satisfaction with sleep, stress, smoking, and alcohol consumption were significantly different among the groups. Ingestion of carbonated soft drinks and snacks was significantly higher in the low weight group compared to the normal weight group. Eating fast foods, ramen noodles, and snacks was significantly lower in the overweight and obesity groups compared to the normal weight group. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that health behaviors among the groups differ from traditional knowledge about obesity. To develop optimal programs and improve efficacy, prior knowledge should be used to think differently and individualized programs should be based on an understanding health behaviors of adolescents.
Adolescent Health* ; Adolescent* ; Alcohol Drinking ; Body Mass Index* ; Body Weight ; Breakfast ; Carbon ; Carbonated Beverages ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Eating ; Fast Foods ; Fruit ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Korea ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Snacks ; Social Class ; Thinness ; Vegetables