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

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*

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

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

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

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

BACKGROUND: Estimation of the probability of a patient having an acute pulmonary embolism (PE) for patients with a suspected PE are well established in North America and Europe. However, an assessment of the prediction rules for a PE has not been clearly defined in Korea. The aim of this study is to assess the prediction rules for patients with a suspected PE in Korea. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 210 inpatients or patients that visited the emergency ward with a suspected PE where computed tomography pulmonary angiography was performed at a single institution between January 2005 and March 2007. Simplified Wells rules and revised Geneva rules were used to estimate the clinical probability of a PE based on information from medical records. RESULTS: Of the 210 patients with a suspected PE, 49 (19.5%) patients had an actual diagnosis of a PE. The proportion of patients classified by Wells rules and the Geneva rules had a low probability of 1% and 21%, an intermediate probability of 62.5% and 76.2%, and a high probability of 33.8% and 2.8%, respectively. The prevalence of PE patients with a low, intermediate and high probability categorized by the Wells rules and Geneva rules was 100% and 4.5% in the low range, 18.2% and 22.5% in the intermediate range, and 19.7% and 50% in the high range, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the revised Geneva rules had a higher accuracy than the Wells rules in terms of detecting PE. Concordance between the two prediction rules was poor (kappa coefficient=0.06). CONCLUSION: In the present study, the two prediction rules had a different predictive accuracy for pulmonary embolisms. Applying the revised Geneva rules to inpatients and emergency ward patients suspected of having PE may allow a more effective diagnostic process than the use of the Wells rules.
Angiography ; Emergencies ; Europe ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Korea ; North America ; Prevalence ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Retrospective Studies ; ROC Curve

Knowledge of mitral regurgitation (MR) is essential for any care provider, and not only for those directly involved in the management of cardiovascular diseases. This happens because MR is the most frequent valvular lesion in North America and the second most common form of valve disease requiring surgery in Europe. Furthermore, due to the ageing of the general population and the reduced mortality from acute cardiovascular events, the prevalence of MR is expected to increase further. Doppler echocardiography is essential both for the diagnosis and the clinical management of MR. In the present article, we sought to provide a practical step-by-step approach to help either performing a Doppler echocardiography or interpreting its findings in light of contemporary knowledge on organic (but not only) MR.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Diagnosis* ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Doppler* ; Europe ; Heart Failure ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency* ; Mortality ; North America ; Prevalence

OBJECTIVES: No children-specified review and meta-analysis paper about the short-term effect of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma has been published. We calculated more precise pooled effect estimates on this topic and evaluated the variation in effect size according to the differences in study characteristics not considered in previous studies. METHODS: Two authors each independently searched PubMed and EMBASE for relevant studies in March, 2016. We conducted random effect meta-analyses and mixed-effect meta-regression analyses using retrieved summary effect estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and some characteristics of selected studies. The Egger's test and funnel plot were used to check publication bias. All analyses were done using R version 3.1.3. RESULTS: We ultimately retrieved 26 time-series and case-crossover design studies about the short-term effect of PM2.5 on children's hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma. In the primary meta-analysis, children's hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma were positively associated with a short-term 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 (relative risk, 1.048; 95% CI, 1.028 to 1.067; I2=95.7%). We also found different effect coefficients by region; the value in Asia was estimated to be lower than in North America or Europe. CONCLUSIONS: We strengthened the evidence on the short-term effect of PM2.5 on children's hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma. Further studies from other regions outside North America and Europe regions are needed for more generalizable evidence.
Asia ; Asthma* ; Child ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Europe ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; North America ; Particulate Matter* ; Publication Bias