No abstract available.
Hospitals, General* ; Humans ; Outpatients*

To understand the seroepidemiological patterns of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Korea, a nation-wide survey collaborated with fourteen clinics was carried out from 1994 to 1996. Sera of 4,547 patients with acute febrile episodes were tested by indirect immunofluorescent antibody test and the seroepidemiological analysis including sex, age, seasonal and regional distributions were performed. According to the results obtained in this study, the epidemiological characteristics of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Korea were summarized as follows: 1. Seropositive rate of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome among the patients with acute febrile episodes was 6.4% by the cut-off point of 1:40. 2. Among the seropositives, male outnumbered female and the ratio of males to females was 2.0:1.0. 3. Seventy six % of the seropositive patients were 21-60 years old. 4. The number of seropositive cases increased from October and reached maximum in December and began to decrease gradually from January. 5. The geographical distribution of the seropositives cover most areas including Cheju province in Korea.
Female ; Fever ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome* ; Humans ; Jeju-do ; Korea* ; Male ; Seasons

Isolated extramedullary relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with sparing of the marrow after allogeneic stem cell transplantation is not common. We report a 32-year-old female patient with isolated ovarian relapse of T-cell ALL 18 months after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. She had no evidence of concomitant relapse in the bone marrow.
Adult ; Bone Marrow* ; Female ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation* ; Humans ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* ; Recurrence ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; T-Lymphocytes

Classification ; Consensus ; Diagnosis ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Hematology ; Lymphoid Tissue

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of an outbreak of food-borne infectious disease requires a hospital to do extended role. There has been no report of an outbreak and an outbreak management of food-borne infectious diseases in a hospital. Therefore, this report of an outbreak and management of Shigellosis in the hospital would help others to manage further cases. METHODS: This was a descriptive study for an infection control program for food-borne infectious diseases in a hospital. RESULTS: There was a shigellosis outbreak at a university hospital in Seoul between December 3 and 30, 2001, Five hundred eighty four were affected, of which 81 cases were suspected and 86 cases were confirmed Shigella sonnei in fetal culture. The source of infection was identified as a lunch box or seaweed rolled rice that was contaminated and was supplied from the S-catering facility. The infection control team had developed the various strategies to control the outbreak and implemented them. The strategies included an epidemiology investigation, the removal of infection sources, medical treatment and isolation of patients, education and management of public relationship, environmental control, withdrawal of medical students' training, prevention and control of asymptomatic cases, intensive care unit strong financial support, analysis and management various data and the construction of cooperation and reporting system with the public health system CONCLUSION: This outbreak was controlled by effective team approach. The effective management of an outbreak of food-borne infectious diseases requires a systematic infection control, public relationship strategies for the reputation of the hospital, and the cooperation with a public health system.
Communicable Diseases ; Dysentery, Bacillary* ; Education ; Epidemiology ; Financial Support ; Humans ; Infection Control* ; Intensive Care Units ; Lunch ; Public Health ; Seaweed ; Seoul ; Shigella sonnei

BACKGROUND: Carotid artery stenting (CAS) is emerging as an alternative to carotid endarterectomy for the treatment of carotid stenosis. The effects of CAS on cognitive function have not been fully addressed. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of carotid stenting on cognitive function from baseline to 3 months in patients with severe carotid artery stenosis through the use of a detailed neuropsychological test. METHODS: We recruited 28 patients with carotid artery stenosis (> or =70%) at baseline on a consecutive basis between February, 2009 and December, 2010. Twenty-two patients out of 28 cases, who had undergone CAS and follow-up neuropsychological evaluation after 3 months, were included in our analysis. Main cognitive outcome measures were the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery-Dementia version (SNSB-D), which containing detailed cognitive tasks. We evaluated the baseline clinical characteristics and changes of cognitive outcome measures using SNSB-D in our cases from baseline to 3 months follow-up period, respectively. RESULTS: After a 3 month follow-up period, patients that underwent CAS showed significant improvement in cognitive function in total SNSB-D score compared to the baseline state of 18.1 points at 3 months (p<0.05). The other cognitive outcome measures showed significant improvements (p<0.05) in the task of confrontational naming, visual memory, and the scale of clinical dementia rating sum of box. CONCLUSION: We found that there might be a positive effect of carotid artery stenting on cognitive function from baseline to 3 months in patients with severe carotid artery stenosis.
Carotid Arteries ; Carotid Stenosis ; Cognition ; Dementia ; Endarterectomy, Carotid ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Memory ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Prospective Studies ; Stents

BACKGROUND: Mild iron deficiency anemia is known to be asymptomatic in most of the cases. In view of this, we studied response of the mild anemics to the maximal exercise loading test to learn whether or not they respond similarly to the normals. METHODS: The maximal exercise loading tests by Bruce's protocol were carried out in 22 female asymptomatic anemics with hemoglobin level of between 10.0gm/dL and less than 12.0gm/dL, and the results were compared with those of 44 non-anemic matched controls with mean hemoglobin level of 13.1gm/dL. The ages in both groups were in their 30's to 40's, and even the anemics were otherwise normal clinically and on various laboratory tests. RESULTS: There were no significant difference between two groups in VO2 max, HR max, VCO2 max and VE max and their derivatives including VT/VC and VE/MVV. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that in patients with mild iron deficiency anemia, the cardiorespiratory response to maximal exercise loading is not different from the normals, and suggest that oxygen transport to tissues is not affected even at maximal exercise. probably by adaptive compensatory mechanism.
Anemia* ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Female ; Humans ; Oxygen

PURPOSE: This study was performed to analyze human maxillary and mandibular trabecular bone using the data acquired from micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), and to characterize the site-specific microstructures of trabeculae. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-nine cylindrical bone specimens were prepared from the mandible and maxilla. They were divided into 5 groups by region: the anterior maxilla, posterior maxilla, anterior mandible, posterior mandible, and mandibular condyle. After the specimens were scanned using a micro-CT system, three-dimensional microstructural parameters such as the percent bone volume, bone specific surface, trabecular thickness, trabecular separation, trabecular number, structure model index, and degrees of anisotropy were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the regions other than the condylar area, the anterior mandibular region showed the highest trabecular thickness and the lowest value for the bone specific surface. On the other hand, the posterior maxilla region showed the lowest trabecular thickness and the highest value for the bone specific surface. The degree of anisotropy was lowest at the anterior mandible. The condyle showed thinner trabeculae with a more anisotropic arrangement than the other mandibular regions. CONCLUSION: There were microstructural differences between the regions of the maxilla and mandible. These results suggested that different mechanisms of external force might exist at each site.
Anisotropy ; Hand ; Humans* ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Jaw* ; Mandible ; Mandibular Condyle ; Maxilla

BACKGROUND: Antenatal screening for Down's syndrome has been developed and improved over the past 20 yr. Recently, integrated test, which combines the first and second trimester markers has shown the highest detection rate (DR) and lowest false positive rate (FPR) among Down's syndrome screening tests currently in use. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the screening performance of integrated test and to compare the results with triple test studies in Korea. METHODS: The study population consisted of Korean pregnant women who underwent triple or integrated test between April 2005 and December 2008. Triple test was performed using measurements of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), unconjugated estriol (uE3), and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the second trimester. Integrated test was performed using nuchal translucency (NT) by ultrasonography and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) from maternal serum in the first trimester, and AFP, uE3, hCG, and inhibin-A in the second trimester. The screening performance of each test was evaluated by DR and FPR. RESULTS: Twenty-seven Down's syndrome pregnancies were confirmed in women screened by triple (N=6,736) or integrated test (N=7,688). At 1:100, 1:270, and 1:300 of risk cutoff, triple test showed 45%, 73%, and 73% of DR and 4.7%, 11.2%, and 12.4% of FPR, respectively. At 1:100, 1:150, and 1:300 of risk cutoff, integrated test showed 63%, 69%, and 75% of DR and 1.5%, 1.9%, and 3.0% of FPR, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Integrated test showed higher DR and lower FPR, demonstrating better screening performance than triple test.
alpha-Fetoproteins ; Chorionic Gonadotropin ; Down Syndrome ; Estriol ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Nuchal Translucency Measurement ; Plasma ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, First ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Pregnant Women ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Staphylococcal Protein A

Sixty children were admitted to the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kyungpook National University Hospital for the treatment of thoracic injuries for about a 10- year period ending in August, 1995. We reviewed the hospital records retrospectively, to see the characteristics of the scope and consequences of childhood chest injuries. Mean age was 9 years and forty-six cases(77%) were male. Fifty children(83%) were victims of a blunt trauma. Among the blunt trauma patients, more than 60% were traffic-related. All victims of penetrating trauma were male. Among the blunt trauma patients, rib fracture was the most frequently found (52%) followed by pneumothorax(42%), although significant intrathoracic injuries occurred without rib fractures in 32% of blunt trauma cases. Associated injuries were present in 42% of children reviewed. Most frequently performed surgical procedure was closed thoracostomy(45%), and ten children required thoracotomy and fifteen needed assisted ventilation. Modified Injury Severity Scale(MISS) score was measured in the multiple injured group. MISS score correlated significantly with the length of stay in the intensive care unit. One child(1.7%), involved in a traffic accident, died of sepsis.
Accidents, Traffic ; Child* ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hospital Records ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Rib Fractures ; Sepsis ; Thoracic Injuries ; Thoracotomy ; Ventilation