OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between age at menopause and mortality in a population-based sample of women in Kangwha, Korea. METHODS: From the Kangwha Cohort, followed-up from 1985 to 1999, the data of the over 55 year old female group(n=3,596) was used in this study to examine the association between age at menopause and mortality. We calculated the all causes mortality risk ratio and the cancer mortality risk ratio by age at menopause grouping using the Cox Proportional Hazards Model with adjustments for age, BMI, smoking, education, chronic disease, self-rated health status, alcohol consumption and age at first birth. RESULT AND CONCLUSION: Compared to women who had menopause at 45-49 years, the all causes mortality risk ratio was 1.24 for women with menopause at less than 40 years(95% CI=1.01-1.53) and 1.05 for women with menopause at over 50 years(95% CI=0.92-1.20). Also, compared to women who had menopause at 45-49 years, the cancer mortality risk ratio was 1.53 for women with menopause at less than 40 years(95% CI=0.78-2.98) and 1.17 for women with menopause at over 50 years(95% CI=0.77-1.80).
Alcohol Drinking ; Birth Order ; Chronic Disease ; Cohort Studies* ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Menopause* ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Odds Ratio ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Smoke ; Smoking

No abstract available.
Colon* ; Dilatation* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn*

The permeability of rabbit corneal endothelium stored at 4 degrees C in M-K medium for period of 3, 5, 9 and 14 days to radioactive sucrose(molecular weight 360), inulin (molecular weight 5,200), and dextran (morecular weight 82,400) was measured. The corneal endothelium stored in M-K medium up to 14 days was examined with light and electron microscope. The endothelial permeability to non-electrolytes was decreased according to the molecular weight of these increased. The permeability of fresh cornea to suerose was about 4 times greater than to inulin and 50 times than to dextran, but in M-K medium stored groups the permeability to sucrose was about 2.5 times greater than to inulin and 36 times than to dextran. The permeability of M-K medium preserved cornea for 14 days was significantly different from that of fresh corneal endothelium. The light and electron microscopic findings of 3, 5 and 9 days stored corneal endothelium were almost normal except of early changes of mitochondria, but in the 14 days-stored groups there were marked degenerative change of cytoplasm and nucleus were noted.
Cornea ; Cytoplasm ; Dextrans ; Endothelium, Corneal* ; Inulin ; Mitochondria ; Molecular Weight ; Permeability* ; Sucrose

The increasingly successful results of hair restoration surgery in the last years have developed the interest and the confidence of patients and it is the most frequently performed esthetic surgery among male patients. Currently, various kinds of techniques for hair restoration surgery including hair transplantation, scalp reduction, and scalp flaps are performed in our clinic. Among these, hair transplantation is the basic and the most popular procedure, which can be performed not only by itself but also in conjunction with other procedures. 123 consecutive cases of hair transplantations were peformed from Jan. 1995 to Feb. 1996 for male pattern baldness, traumatic alopecia, and female pattern baldness under out patient base. The authors introduced a new classification for male pattern baldness, which are the type M, O, C, U, M-O, and C-O after alphabet to make simple and easy for clinical application. The ancillary procedures were scalp reduction, preauricular flap, and scalp expansion. An ellipsis of hair bearing scalp taken from the occipital area was sliced into slit-, mega-, mini-, and micro-grafts. The survival rate of the grafts was over 90% with minimal complications. This hair transplantation technique enabled us to achieve a good density and more natural looking hair with avoidance of cobble stoning and apparent scar.
Alopecia* ; Cicatrix ; Classification ; Hair* ; Humans ; Male* ; Scalp ; Surgery, Plastic ; Survival Rate ; Transplants

A corticocancellous core was removed from both femurs and tibias in 5 skeletally immature pigs. The cavity was treated with 5%, 25% phenol cautery, cryosurgery, and normal saline irrigation (control). The animals were sacrified after 7days. The extent of the bone necrosis was assessed by gross examination, simple radiography, MRI evaluation and histological examination with tissue mapping. After cryosurgery, the extent of necrosis was most profound in the depth of 2.0-9.0mm beyond the cavity wall. The effect of 25%-phenol was next to cryosurgery, with a depth of 1.0-3.0mm of necrosis. 5%-phenol made necrosis with the depth of 1.0-2.5mm. Very mild degree of necrosis with the width of 0.5-1.0mm was found along the cavity wall even in control group. On MRI, signal change was well visualized on T2 weighted coronal section and it was quite coincided with the extent of bone necrosis proved by histological tissue mapping to all cases. When the epiphyseal plate was open or very close to the cavity, curettage itself, 5%- and 25%-phenol cautery and cryosurgery all produced mild ischemic necrosis along the provisional calcification zone of physeal plate. These findings suggest that cryosurgery made more profound necrosis beyond cavity than phenol cautery and MRI is very sensitive and specific to find osteonecrosis along the cavity wall after phenol cautery or cryosurgery. When epiphyseal plate is open or very close to the cavity, phenol cautery, or cryosurgery, or even curettage itself could produce an ischemic necrosis to the physeal plate itself.
Animals ; Cautery* ; Cryosurgery* ; Curettage ; Femur* ; Growth Plate ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Necrosis* ; Osteonecrosis ; Phenol* ; Radiography ; Swine ; Tibia*

BACKGROUND: Tuberculous pleurisy is the leading cause of pleural effusion in Korea. And differential diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy with other cause is clinically very important. Traditional diagnostic methods such as routine analysis of pleural fluid, staining for acid-fast bacilli or pleural biopsy have major inherent limitaion. This study was designed to evaluate the significance of pleural fluid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in early diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Between March 1996 and July 1997, 198 patients with pleural effusion reviewed retrospectively. The study group included 112 cases with tuberculous effusion and 86 cases with non-tuberculous effusions, whose diagnoses were confirmed by pleural biopsy, microbiological methods, or cytology. We compared the results of PCR and pleural fluid levels of ADA between tuberculous and non-tuberculous effusions. Mean age was 47.54+/-19.52 years (range 2 to 85 years). The positive rate of PCR was significantly higher in tuberculous group than non-tuberculous group (p<0.05). The sensitivty, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) for PCR were 31.7, 90.9, 83.0, and 48.8%, respectively. Mean ADA activity was significantly higher in tuberculous group than non-tuberculous group (83.2 U/L vs 49.8 U/L) (p<0.05). With diagnostic thresholds of 40 U/L, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of ADA for tuberculosis were 75.9, 70.9, 77.3, and 69.3% respectively. At a level of 70 U/L, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of ADA for tuberculosis were 70.1, 75.9, 82.9, and 60.3% respectively. CONCLUSION: PCR is very highly specific, but less sensitive methods in diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy. But ADA level of pleural fluid has acceptable sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy. ADA activity is more useful test in the evaluation of pleural effusions.
Adenosine Deaminase ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Korea ; Pleural Effusion ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pleural*

A study was made to see the family back ground abandonment of mother's right, clinical and laboratory examination(urinalysis, blood examination, tuberculous skin test, VDRL, PKU screening test and chest X-ray) on 1,793 infants and children in an institure for foreign adoption. The results were as follows: 1) Gilrs were much more predominant than boys with male to female ratio of 1 : 2.3. 2) Most of them were Korean and only ten were mixed blood, Five were Korean-white, five were Korean-negro. 3) Most of them were under one year of age(70%). 4) Mid-wife delivery was the most common birth place among known ones. 5) Most of deliveries were normal full term delivery(46.9%). 6) There was no difference in monthly distribution. Duration of admission was 2~3 months usually. 7) concerning the family background, most of them were unknown, 432 of them(24.8%) were from unmarried mother, 397 from married mother, and founding, parents dead or left home, divorced and unmarried father in order of decreasing frequency. 8) Age of mothers, between 21~25 years was most frequent. Most of unmarried mothers were between 20~22 years of age. 9) In order of birth, most of them were between 3~5th children. 10) Disease pattern; Upper respiratory tract disease was the most common, and diarrhea was the next. Skin and mucous membrane disease were frequently seen. There were 12 cases of tuberculosis and 18 cases of congenital syphilis. There developed 15 cases of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. 11) On routine laboratory examination, there noted 85 cases of positive TB sin test, 18 cases of positive VDRL reaction. No positive case in PKU screening test.
Child* ; Child, Institutionalized ; Diarrhea ; Divorce ; Female ; Humans ; Illegitimacy ; Infant ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Mothers ; Mucous Membrane ; Parents ; Parturition ; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis ; Residence Characteristics ; Respiratory Tract Diseases ; Skin ; Skin Tests ; Syphilis, Congenital ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate differences in olfactory thresholds and odor discrimination between the two sides of the nose in relation to the right hand and the right eye. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Eighty subjects (40 women, 40 men) participated in this study. All were in excellent health without any nasal or health problems. The olfactory function tests designed by Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Reserch Center (CCCRC) were performed. RESULTS: We found a slight tendency for lower thresholds and better discrimination on the right nostril; this phenomenon was not influenced by the subjects' handedness. However, the left-handers performed better at the right side compared with the left nostril than right-handers and the differences between the two sides of the nose were larger in the left-handers. There were no relationships between the ocular and nasal dominance. CONCLUSION: The data indicate that olfactory functions exhibit a certain degree of lateralization to the right side.
Connecticut ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Female ; Functional Laterality ; Hand ; Humans* ; Nose ; Odors ; Smell

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have examined the relationship between the risk of cancer and exposure to pesticides in Korea or in other East Asian that have until recently used chlorophenoxy herbicides. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the exposure to pesticides and cancer incidence. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study with a follow-up period of 13 years (1985-1998). The subjects included 2,687 male and 3,589 female Kangwha Island residents, Koreans aged fifty-five or more as of March 1985, who received a personal health interview and completed a health examination survey. A Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate relative risks (RR). RESULTS: At baseline, the mean age of the study participants in 1985 was 66.4 for males and 67.1 for females. During the 13 years follow-up, a total of 300 incidents of cancer in males and 146 in females developed. In males, the total cancer incidence in the highest group was RR, 1.4 (95% CI=1.0-1.9), p for trend=0.041, for digestive organ cancer incidence in the highest group, RR, 1.5 (95% CI=1.0-2.3), p for trend=0.057, for stomach cancer incidence in the highest group, RR, 1.6 (95% CI=0.9-2.8), p for trend=0.094, for gallbladder cancer incidence in the highest group, RR, 9.1 (95% CI=1.1-77.0), p for trend=0.014 were elevated according to the higher frequency of pesticide use per year. In particular, the risk of gallbladder cancer was very high. Although not significant, the risk of liver cancer was higher than in the non-exposed group (in the highest group, RR, 2.0 (95% CI=0.7-5.9)). In females, although not significant, breast cancer incidence in the highest exposure group was higher than in the non-exposed group (in the highest group, RR, 4.7 (95% CI=0.8-27.9)). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that Korean farmers who use pesticides, particularly males, have a significantly higher total cancer incidence, particularly from digestive organ cancers such as, stomach, gallbladder, and liver cancer. In particular, the risk of gallbladder cancer was very high.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Breast Neoplasms ; Cohort Studies* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gallbladder ; Gallbladder Neoplasms ; Herbicides ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Korea ; Liver Neoplasms ; Male ; Pesticides* ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Prospective Studies ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms

OBJECTIVES: There are many concerns about ginseng as a cancer chemopreventive substance, but there have been few epidemiological studies on ginseng. This study sought to examine the relationships between ginseng intake and cancer incidence in the Kangwha cohort. METHODS: Between March 1985 and December 1999, 2697 males, aged 55 or over, as of 1985, were followed up for their cancer incidence. The cancer incidence rate, standardized incidence ratio and risk ratios were calculated according to ginseng intake. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to adjust for age at entry, smoking, alcohol intake, hypertension, and body mass index. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: The ginseng intake group had the same cancer (C00-C97) incidences (Standardized Incidence Ratio: SIR=1.11, 95% Confidence Interval = 0.97-1.27) and the same risk ratio (RR=1.09, 95% Confidence Interval = 0.85-1.41) as the no-intake group. Analyzing the subjects that had followed up from 1990, however, the ginseng intake group had lower cancer incidences at all sites (RR = 0.79, 95% Confidence Interval = 0.58-1.09). This was a cohort study to try and evaluate the association between ginseng intake and the incidences of cancer. The results of this study provide no clear conclusions on the cancer preventive effects of ginseng. Therefore, further study is needed in the future.
Body Mass Index ; Cohort Studies* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence* ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Panax* ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Smoke ; Smoking