The focus of this study was o aialyze the morphologic expression of p53, Pan-ras, c-erbB-2, and PCNA in preneoplastic and neoplastic liver lesions induced with NNM of rats. The development of hepatocellular tumors was investigated by histology and electron microscope in 65 Splague-Dawley rats administered with NNM in drinking water at low dose(5 mg/100 ml) and high dose(20 mg/100 ml). Three types of hepatocytic degeneration glycogenotic, eosinophilic and basophilic changes were followed by the appearance of hepatocellullar carcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma was increased in number and size according to NNM dosage and to duration of exposure. The histological classifications of hepatocelular carcinoma wer trabecular type, which was which was the most common, large eosinophilic, small cell, adenocarcinomatous and clear cell type. The expression of p53, Pan-ras, c-erbB-2 PCNA was examined by immunohistochemical stains. Eosinophilic degeneration revealed mild positivity at 18-26 weeks for expression of all oncogenic proteins studied and PCNA, whereas precancerous lesions showed variable expression from negative to moderate positivity on PCNA. Hepatocellular carcinoma lesions showed strong positivity for all stains and increased intensity during experimental period. These may indicate that chemical carcinogen produce hepatic eosinophilic degeneration and preCancerOus lesions by genetic mutation, resulting in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Rats ; Animals ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Carcinogens

The history of occupational health in Korea has covered the era of the Republic of Korea after the Liberation from Japanese colonialism. But the number of Korean workers exceeded about 2 millions at the times of liberation in 1945, so that it is expected that many occupational health problems inflicted Korean workers under the Japanese colonialism. The authors reviewed medical literatures, administrative documents, and other available data which were published under the colonial state, and collected things which had reference to the health status of Korean workers. The results were as follows; 1. Nutritional status of Korean workers was supposed to be inferior to of general population, some students, and poor inhabitants in a remote moutain villages. 2. It was supposed that the constitution of Korean workers was near lower limit of average build of contemporary Koreans. 3. The accidents rate in mines was significantly high but decreasing year after year, and the most importance cause of accidents was the fall of roof in the mine. The medical facilities and equipments for miners were supposed to be not sufficient in the mines and workshops. 4. Some occupational disease including silicosis, noise-induced hearing impairment, and decompression disease were known. But, overall incidence or prevalence of these diseases could not be identified. 5. On the whole, the fatalities of acute infectious diseases of Korean workers were higher than those of Japanese inhabitants in Korea and Korean inhabitants. The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis of Korean workers was increasing with every passing year. 6. The medical personnels and facilities were so deficient that most Korean workers were out of adequate medical use. We discussed only a part of the health status of Korean workers under the Japanese colonialism, so it would be necessary to have a better grasp of details of occupational health policy and health status in the era of afflicting.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Colonialism* ; Communicable Diseases ; Constitution and Bylaws ; Decompression ; Education ; Hand Strength ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Nutritional Status ; Occupational Diseases ; Occupational Health ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea ; Silicosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

The distribution of fibronectin and laminin in early chick embryos has been studied by immunohistochemical method. Fibronectin was detected not only at the basement membranes of neural tube, dorsal aortae and somites but also at the entire mesenchyme area. But laminin only appeared at the basement membranes. During the development of chick embryo, the distribution pattern of these glycoproteins was not changed but showed strong intensity of staining. The dorsal aorta of a 2-day-old chick embryo had several layer of fibronectin-producing cells, but was devoid of laminin. Laminin expression commenced faintly after Day 3. In the brain capillary wall, fibronectin was distributed but laminin was not at Day 10. In the cardiac jelly, fibronectin was detected as thin dotted strands but laminin was not expressed at Day 2. Along the endocardium, fibronectin was detected but laminin was not found. After Day 3, fibronectin was found as increased in endocardium, myocardium and cardiac jelly, whereas laminin expression commenced. Cushion mesenchymal cell migration and development of myocardial trabeculae were inhibited by antifibronectin injected in the cardiac jelly but not anti-laminin. Conclusively, this study suggests that fibronectin and laminin are glycoproteins in the extracellular matrix but there is a difference between their distributions. Cushion mesenchymal cell migration from endocardium and development of trabeculae in chick embryonic heart are inhibited by anti-fibronectin. This result suggests that fibronectin is a `stepping stone` for the embryonic migrating cells and triggers cell migration. But laminin may not serve as a matrix for cell migration.
Animals ; Aorta ; Basement Membrane ; Brain ; Capillaries ; Cell Movement ; Chick Embryo* ; Endocardium ; Extracellular Matrix ; Fibronectins* ; Glycoproteins ; Heart ; Laminin* ; Mesoderm ; Myocardium ; Neural Tube ; Somites

The authors observed 4 cases of retinitis punctata albescens presented in a family, namely, a sister and 3 brothers of 6 siblings. Typical fundus findings were found in all four patients. Under ordinary illumination, the perripheral visual field was within the limit of normal, but concentrically contracted in 5 to 30 degrees under the reduced illumination.
Humans ; Lighting ; Retinitis* ; Siblings ; Visual Fields

No abstract available.
Female ; Humans ; Hysterosalpingography*

The purpose of this study is to estimate cesarean section rate in Korea and analyze the socioeconomic variables and health resources which affect regional variation in the rate. Samples were drawn from the record of vaginal and cesarean section deliveries based upon insurance claim bills which have been submitted to the National Federation of Medical Insurance for the first three months, January through March, 1991. The results are obtained as follows: It was found that, cesarean section rate was increasing rapidly up to 23.1% in 1991. Cesarean section per 10 thousand insured people was 4.8 and the number of cesarean section per 10 thousand insured eligible(15-49 years old) female was 7.6. The fee for normal delivery was 109,489 won and that for cesarean section was 390,024 won. The average days of hospitalization in normal delivery was 2.3 days, and those in cesarean section was 7.6 days. On the average cesarean section has a longer of stay as much as by 4.3 days and cost 3.6 times more than normal deliveries. Cesarean section rates vary among medical facilities: 19.8% at clinics 37.6% in small-scale hospitals, and 29.1% in general hospitals. The regional variation of cesarean section rates was also fairly prominent. The South Cheju Gun has the highest rate of cesarean section, 56.2%. Meanwhile no cesarean section cases has been reported in Sunchang Gun during the period of this study. The variation is noted among provinces. The rate for Cheju province has been 3.4 times higher than that for Chunnam. The number of cesarean section per 10 thousand insured people vary greatly among regions, too. This study has found that there exists significant regional variations among various geographic units in terms of average length of stay, average cost, number of obsretricians and number of beds. Multiple regression analysis was done to identify factors explaining the regional variance of various cesarean section rates: In the urban areas, no significant explaining variables were noted except the number of beds for the dependent variable of cesarean section cases per 10 thousand insured eligible females. The smaller the number of bed, the more cases of cesarean section was noted for an urban area. The is mostly because the rate of cesarean section is higher in medium-size hospitals than in large general hospitals. In the rural areas, the factor of education has been found significant for all three dependent variables. The higher the educational level, the rate of cesarean section is most likely to rise. An income variable measured by the amount of monthly insurance contribution has been identified a powerful predictor in explaining the variance of cesarean section rates. The same has been noted for the number of obstetricians. Similar findings are observed for the country as a whole. The income level has been found as the most powerful explaining factor in the regional variance of cesarean section rates. In general the rate is higher in the urban areas, and lower in the area with more small hospitals. As this is the initial attempt to identify the factors relevant to the regional difference in the rates of cesarean section, more elaborated study is urgently required.
Cesarean Section* ; Education ; Fees and Charges ; Female ; Health Resources ; Hospitalization ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Insurance ; Jeju-do ; Korea* ; Length of Stay ; Pregnancy

It is well known that a physician's personal characteristic affects his practice pattern. Furthermore, a physician's specialty has powerful influences on his practice pattern. However, despite the fact specialization has received the most attention for its influence on physician's service behavior, few studies have been conducted on the variations of contents and volume of physician's services. This study has intended to identify factors influencing the practice variations according to various physician characteristics. There are some other evidences that medical care providers are different in using of health services and resources in Korea. Four physician characteristics were selected for the analysis, two demographical factors, age and sex, and two practice factors, place of practice and medical specialty. Also, three indicators of service amount(total amount of insurance claim bill, number of visits per case, number of prescriptions per case) were selected. From the pool of insurance claims for ambulatory care received by the Korean National Federation of Medical Insurance(NFMI), 84,898 cases were randomly sampled. In the meantime using physician database of NFMI, 613 general practitioners(GP), 107 regular family physicians(FP), 483 'grandfather' family physicians(GFP), and 1,157 specialist practitioners(SP) were randomly sampled. Their different practice contents were compared concerning the specialty, age groups, sex, and practice sites(urban-rural). Specialist physicians tend to provide more costly care than do generalists. General practitioners and family physicians usually make fewer following visits and prescriptions. Age is also the important factor in determining the amount of services, which is highest at the physician's age group of 40's. Female doctors and urban practitioners use much more resources than their counterparts respectively. Research findings suggest that physician's characteristics particularly the specialty can affect practice patterns and resource utilizations. Other characteristics such as age and sex are not controllable but physician's specialty is relatively easily controllable during the entire phases of policy implementation. This is all the more true in the individual's initial decision of his specialty. Specialization therefore should receive policymaker's attention for its potential influence on medical care utilization and health care expenditure.
Age Factors ; Ambulatory Care ; Delivery of Health Care ; Female ; General Practitioners ; Health Expenditures ; Health Services ; Humans ; Insurance ; Korea ; Physicians, Family ; Prescriptions ; Specialization

Authors studied the workers' knowledge about the health problems detected through the previous workers' periodic health examination, content of follow-up management and actions taken for their health problem detected on previous health examination. From June to September 1992, workers' periodic health examination was performed on workers employed in 10 companies located in 2 middle-sized Korean cities. A questionnaire survey was done for 150 workers who reported to have D2 result of either hypertension or liver disorder at the previous workers' periodic health examination done in 1991. The results are as follows; 1. Of 160 workers who had D2 result of either hypertension or liver disorder in previous examination one year before, only 85 workers(51.3%, 43 workers with hypertension, 38 workers with live disorder) responded that they have such disorders. The other 65 workers responded to questionnaire were all those with C results. Respondents' knowledge about their diagnoses was relatively precise (95.2% in hypertension group, 94.6% in liver disorder group) but knowledge about classification of diseases was poor. 2. The main efforts to solve the health problem was self management (26 spells, 55.3%), visiting clinic or hospital (6 spells, 12.8%), use of herb medicine (2 spells, 4.3%) and use of drug store (2 spells, 4.3%) in hypertension group. In liver disorder group, 30 spells (71.4%) relied on self management, 6 spells (14.3%) on hospital or clinic and 9 spells (21.4%) had no effort to improve the health problem. Content of self management was low salt diet, quit smoking, regular exercise and quit alcohol drinking in order. Avoidance of salt in diet was high in hypertension group and quitting alcohol drinking was high in liver disorder group. In those with self management, 80.7% of hypertension group and 83.3% of liver disorder group continued previous effort. Those, however, who utilized clinic or hospital, only 16.7% and 50.0% were still visiting hospital or clinic. 3. Fifty seven percent of hypertension group and 64.3% of liver disorder group was presently smoking, 8.5% and 11.9% reduced smoking and 21.3% and 14.3% stopped smoking. Forty nine percent of hypertension group and 28.6% of liver disorder group was presently drinking. Reduced alcohol intake was reported in 29.8% and 40.5%, 12.8% and 23.8% stopped alcohol drinking. Sixty six percent of hypertension group and 73.8% of liver disorder group did no regular exercise, but 12.8% and 11.9% of each group increased their physical exercise for last one year. Forty three percent of hypertension group and 38.1% of liver disorder group was overweight (defined by bodymass index greater or equal than 25). Reduced body weight was reported in 17.2% and 16.7% of each group. Reduced dietary salt intake was high in hypertension group (51.5%). The study results suggest that follow-up management after workers' periodic health examination is not satisfactory. In order to improve this situation, adequate information on the result of the workers' periodic health examination should be distributed to each worker group with health education and counselling.
Alcohol Drinking ; Body Weight ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Diet ; Drinking ; Exercise ; Follow-Up Studies ; Health Behavior ; Health Education ; Hypertension ; Liver ; Liver Diseases ; Overweight ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Self Care ; Smoke ; Smoking

The purpose of this study is to estimate the minimum optimal scale(MOS) of the self-employed health insurance associations. Considering the high proportion of operating expenses, the author have selected 254 regional health insurance associations from the 1990 Finance Report of the self-employed health insurance programs. both a quadratic function and a hyperbolic function were chosen for the analysis. The dependent variables are the average maintenance cost per insured person and per household, and the independent variables are the number of insured members and of household. The minimum optimal scale was obtained from the differentiation of the quadratic function. Major findings are summarized as follows: 1. The M.O.S. was calculated as 166,174 members (27,442 households) for the rural self-employed health insurance associations and 258,462 members (75,446 households) for the urban. Providing that both the rural and urban health insurance associations would e integrated, the M.O.S. be found to become 231,687 members (68,101 households) 2. Compared with the optimal minimum scale, the magnitude of the current health insurance association found to be much smaller, less than half of the optimal scale. 3. In order to reduce the operating cost, it is necessary to enlarge the operational scale of self-employed health insurance associations.
Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Insurance ; Insurance, Health* ; Korea* ; Urban Health

This study was carried out for three years from 1968 to 1970. Three coastal villages and four remote islets of Che Ju Island were surveyed and 90% of all inhabitants were blood smeared. These study areas were grouped into five according to its characteristic for evaluation of mass treatment with diethylcarbamazine citrate (Hetrazan U.S.P.) and insecticide spray in control of human filariasis. To set baseline up for control group, placebo was administered. Followings are the results obtained: 81.1% of all mf positives accepted and completed the mass chemotherapy; main reason for refusal was side reactions told by neighboring villagers who experienced them. 6 mg of hetrazan/kg B.W. x 12 doses given every day turned mf postives to mf negative in 92.1%. The patients who had high mf density remained mf positive in 16.5% whereas only 2.1% for low mf density. 73.8% of mf positives after the treatment showed marked decrease in mf density. Most of them to less than 15n mg/20 mm(3) of blood that can not infect mosquito effectively. Mosquito infection rates were also dropped markedly in areas where mf positive were mass treated. Side reaction induced by diethylcarbamazine was frequent(64%-90%) and various. The most frequent symptom was headache and fever. DDT spray did not influence human mf rate and mosquito infection rate.
parasitology-helminth-nematoda ; chemotherapy-diethylcarbamazine citrate ; epidemiology ; Brugia malayi ; filariasis ; diethylcarbamazine citrate