Investigations of Enterobius sp. infection in prehistory have produced a body of data that can be used to evaluate the geographic distribution of infection through time in the Americas. Regional variations in prevalence are evident. In North America, 119 pinworm positive samples were found in 1,112 samples from 28 sites with a prevalence of 10.7%. Almost all of the positive samples came from agricultural sites. From Brazil, 0 pinworm positive samples were found in 325 samples from 7 sites. For the Andes region, 22 pinworm positive samples were found in 411 samples from 26 sites for a prevalence of 5.3%. Detailed analyses of these data defined several trends. First, preagricultural sites less frequently show evidence of infection compared to agricultural populations. This is especially clear in the data from North America, but is also evident in the data from South America. Second, there is an apparent relationship between the commonality of pinworms in coprolites and the manner of constructing villages. These analyses show that ancient parasitism has substantial value in documenting the range of human behaviors that influence parasitic infections.
Americas* ; Brazil ; Enterobius* ; Humans ; North America ; Prevalence ; South America

OBJECTIVES: CISS(Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation) is one of the measures to access the coping dimension with dispositional approach. Consisting of three subscales (i.e., task-focused, emotion-focused and avoidance-focused coping), CISS has 48 items and each subscales has 16 items. We undertook an investigation of the psychometric properties of the CISS in Korean highschool students to determine the extent to which this measure was generalizable to non-western populations. METHODS: The duration of the survey was from 1st of May to 30th of June, 1997. The subjects were 300 of 2nd grade students from 6 highschools in Seoul. Exploratory factor analysis was performed, and reliability, correlations and mean difference were estimated. RESULTS: Comparison of the factor loading patterns in our sample with published factor loading of the CISS confirmed that our loading patterns replicated established task-focused, emotion-focused and avoidance-focused coping constructs. However, 9 out of the 48 items were problematic. Of the avoidance-focused subscale, 4 items had unclear results, and of the emotion-focused subscales, 5 items had unclear results. Internal coefficients of the three subscales of the CISS range from 0.82-0.90 for male and female students. In intercorrelations among subscales, independence among factors was found in female students, but independence among subscales was not found in male students. CONCLUSION: Our results were equivocal in suggesting the cross-cultural stability ofthe structure of the CISS. We identified three underlying factors that replicated the established structure of the CISS in North America. However, instances of cross-loading among items and significant intercorrelations between factors suggest that these constructs may not constitute the mutually independent measures. Conceptualization of coping can be affected by theinfluence of cultural practices and preferences. The implication of the results is that Korean students in this sample did not consistently distinguish uniquely among the specificdimensions of coping as measured by the CISS in North America. We may have experienced more difficulties in replicating the factor structures of more abstract domains than concrete constructs due to the nuance of translation.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; North America ; Psychometrics ; Seoul

Congresses as Topic ; Humans ; Milk Banks ; Milk, Human ; North America

In 2013 and 2014, many guidelines regarding the management of hypertension were released from various worldwide professional bodies. These guidelines are similar in their recommendations, but some differences are evident due to different choices and interpretations of evidence from clinical trials used in setting the guidelines. A noticeable change that is common to all the guidelines is an increase in the target blood pressure for the treatment of hypertension to 140/90 mmHg. The guidelines also introduce invasive approaches, such as renal sympathetic denervation, as additional measures to better manage resistant hypertension. This review gives a summary of recent guidelines from North America, Europe, and Asia for the management of hypertension, with a focus on pharmacological treatment, and compares these guidelines with the Korean guidelines.
Asia ; Blood Pressure ; Drug Therapy* ; Europe ; Hypertension ; North America ; Sympathectomy

Tic disorder is a childhood neuropsychological disorder characterized by abrupt, involuntary, and repetitive stereotyped muscle movement or vocal sound. Tourette's disorder shows a chronic prognosis, and can last for life if no treatment is applied. Although tic disorder has been known for ages, the underlying cause is still not well known. Non-pharmacological treatments have long been used for the tic disorder, but few clinical studies were conducted. However, the European Society for the Study of Tourette's Syndrome recently issued non-pharmacologic guidelines for treatment of tic disorders based on the research findings obtained so far. In addition, guidelines for non-pharmacologic evidence-based treatment were reported in Canada, North America. By synthesizing the newly reported foreign guidelines for treatment and review articles, the aim of this study is to investigate the non-pharmacologic therapies used for treatment of tic disorder or Tourette's disorder.
Canada ; North America ; Prognosis ; Tic Disorders ; Tics* ; Tourette Syndrome*

Nine species of genus Ganoderma collected in Korea and abroad including Ganoderma lucidum complex and G. lucidum were compared by investigating growth characteristics. In the bottle culture, the mycelial growth periods of G. lucidum from Taiwan and North America was 26 to 30 days compared to that of Korean G. lucidum, which was 30 to 32 days. Cultivation period of Taiwan and North American isolates was 30 to 32 days which were 11 to 17 days shorter than those of Korean isolates. Biological efficiency of Taiwan and North American isolates were ranged from 3.3 to 5.5%, which were apparently lower than that of Korean isolates which ranged from 6.2 to 9.4%. Korean isolates had longer stipes(15~40 mm) and more number of pileus(4~6/bottle) than those of Taiwan and North American isolates. The G. lucidum isolates collected from Korea will be regarded as the independent species from the G. lucidum collected from Taiwan and North America since, the G. lucidum from Korea showed much different growth characteristics in various aspects compared to the G. lucidum from Taiwan and North America.
Fruiting Bodies, Fungal ; Ganoderma* ; Korea ; North America ; Reishi* ; Taiwan

Erysiphe azaleae, a powdery mildew fungus on Rhododendron spp., was originally described from North America, and has only recently been recorded in Germany, England, Switzerland and Poland. The present paper records plentiful collections of this species from Poland, and provides additional information of its anamorphic state for taxonomic purposes.
England ; Fungi ; Germany ; North America ; Poland* ; Rhododendron ; Switzerland

Conventional aortic valve replacement for severe aortic stenosis is associated with a high operative mortality in the elderly patients with significant comorbidities, including severe respiratory dysfunction, renal insufficiency, and compromised cardiac function. Human transcatheter aortic valve implantation was first reported in 2002 and has become a valid alternative in selected high-risk patients in Europe and North America. This article describes the first attempt of transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation in Korea. The procedure was applied in two consecutive patients with severe aortic stenosis. Despite several intra-operative complications during procedure, the post-operative outcomes were good for both patients. At post-operative 30 days there was satisfactory prosthetic valve function and hemodynamic stability.
Aged ; Anesthesia ; Aortic Valve ; Aortic Valve Stenosis ; Comorbidity ; Europe ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Korea ; North America ; Renal Insufficiency

Transient left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome is also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, and this is characterized by transient wall-motion abnormalities involving the left ventricular apex without significant stenosis on the coronary angiogram. We report here on a new variant of transient left ventricular ballooning in which only the mid-ventricle was affected. The patient initially presented with dyspnea and she had wall-motion abnormalities involving the mid-ventricle with hypercontractility of the apical and basal segments in the absence of a significant coronary artery stenosis. Emotional or physical stress or other preceding triggering factors might play a key role in this cardiomyopathy, but the precise etiology remains unknown. So far, the cases of this syndrome have been reported only among the North America Caucasian population and the Japanese population.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cardiomyopathies ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Stenosis ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; North America ; Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: Balloon volume is a very important factor in microcompression of the gasserian ganglion. Up until now, the range of figures for balloon inflation volumes came from foreign data. Experience has shown that the optimal range of balloon inflation volumes is somewhat different in Korean patients. Our aim was to determine mean, minimal, and maximal volumes among Korean patients. METHODS: In each case balloon volume was measured when protrusion through the porus trigemini occurred. From a total of thirty-three cases seen over a one year period, thirty will be considered here. The remaining three were excluded because of unsuccessful outcomes due to improper positioning of the balloon. This resulted in extreme balloon volumes in these three cases. RESULTS: The values determined from this group of patients were as follows: the mean was 0.55 ml, the maximum was 1.0 ml, and the minimum was 0.35 ml. The mean was 0.75 ml for males and 0.50 ml for females. However due to differences in age and height, this variation in the mean was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Although a comparison of the mean values is not possible because it has never been reported before now in foreign articles, the balloon volumes measured in Korean patients are generally smaller than those reported from Europe and North America.
Europe ; Female ; Humans ; Inflation, Economic ; Male ; North America ; Trigeminal Ganglion* ; Trigeminal Neuralgia*