No abstract available.
Skin* ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord*

OBJECTIVES: This study was done to examine the risk factors for the dyspnea of retired coal miners in Korea. METHODS: Eight hundred and sixteen male workers who took the health examination for retired coal miners in the T hospital were recruited, in this study and their health examination records were employed to assess the risk factors for dyspnea. Both univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the relationship between known risk factors and the presence of dyspnea. RESULTS: Variables in the univariate analysis, which showed a significant relationship with dyspnea were age(>or=60 years) (OR : 2.20, 95% CI : 1.63-3.00), work duration(>or=2 0 years) (OR : 1.67, 95% CI : 1.24-2.25), profusion of small opacity(>or=1/0) (OR : 1.81. 95% CI : 1.30-2.51), large opacity(>or=A) (OR : 2.19, 95% CI : 1.30-3.70), and the ratio of the distance between the start of the first division of the right and left main pulmonary arteries divided by the transverse diameter of the thorax (cor pulmonale index)(>or=0 . 3 6 ) (OR : 2.37, 95% CI : 1.77-3.17). The multivariate analysis using logistic regression analysis showed age(>or=60 years)(OR : 1.69, 95% CI : 1.28-2.21), smoking amount(>or=1 filters/day) (OR : 1.61, 95% CI : 1.06-2.45), no experience of having quit smoking (OR : 1.40 95% CI : 1.06-1.84), and the cor pulmonale index(>or=0.36)(OR : 1.75, 95% CI : 1.34-2.29) were associated with an increased risk for dyspnea. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggests that the cor pulmonale index is the most significant risk factor in predicting dyspnea in retired coal miners. In addition, this study also revealed that workers aged 60 years or more or smokers were more likely to experience dyspnea as compared to those aged 60 years or less and nonsmokers.
Coal* ; Dyspnea* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Multivariate Analysis ; Pulmonary Artery ; Pulmonary Heart Disease ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Thorax

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of hospital characteristics on employment rate, working period, and retirement of ward nurses in Korea through a retrospective cohort study based on HIRAS data. Methods: Data were obtained from a report on medical care institutions of Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRAS). Data from 259,941 nurses who were working for a day or more from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2016, at 2,942 medical care institutions were analyzed. Life table method analysis, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis were conducted. Results: The employment rates of 5 yeas and 10 years for the total sample were 38% and 28%, respectively. The estimated mean value of the working period was 3,642.7 days (SE: 17.4 days). Cox proportional hazard regression analyses revealed that nurses who were working at the general hospital/hospital, clinic, and nursing hospital were more likely to leave the hospital compared to those who were working at the 3rd general hospital.Nurses who were working at the medical institutions which were located in cities and countries, established by the private foundation, rated lower levels of nursing, and owned an insufficient number of beds, nurses and doctors were more likely to leave their workplace compared to those of the counterparts. Conclusion This study indicates that hospital characteristics may play a significant role in retirement and working period of ward nurses in Korea. The improvement of hospital conditions to reduce ward nurses’ retirement are needed.

The excitotoxic effect of kainic acid on dendrites and neuronal cell bodies of hippocampus and dentate gyrus was studied with time (1, 4, 8, 16 hours, 2, 7, 14 days) light and electron microscopically by intraperitonial injection into rat. The results obtained were as follows. 1) The acute dendrotoxic effect was observed as laminar pattern of swelling along pyramidal cell body layer and dendritic fields and was most prominently at 2-4 hours after kainic acid injection. In ultractructural study, the acute change occurred in dendrites of pyramidal cells in hipocampus because the synapses between nerve terminals and swollen components were not destroyed and remained intact and, identified the swollen structures as dendrites. So, it was obvious from the results that the acute change by kainic acid was osmolysis and was continued till initial 4 hours but was finally faded out. 2) The distribution of kainic acid receptor within hippocampus was different because the prominent dendritic swelling occurred in proximal basilar dendritic field of CA 3 and 4 and the proximal and distal basilar dendritic fields of CA 1 and 2, and no change was observable in dentate granule cell. The sensitivity of hippocampal dendritic fields to kainic acid could be put in decreasing order as CA3, CA4, CA1, CA2 and dentate granule cell 3) With the elapse of time, the acute change disappeared and pyramidal cells began to degenerate by the chronic reaction about 7 days after kainic acid injury, and the pyramidal cell density in CA regions greatly decreased. Almost all pyramidal cells degenerated the dentate granule cells were not affected to kainic acid throughout the time. In conclusions, hippocampal neurons were postulated to be very sensitive to kainic acid, and in contrast to the gradual disappearance of acute change within several hours, the degeneration of pyramidal neurons by chronic change was developed within several days regardless of acute change.
Animals ; Brain* ; Dendrites ; Dentate Gyrus ; Hippocampus ; Kainic Acid* ; Neurons* ; Pyramidal Cells ; Rats* ; Receptors, Kainic Acid ; Synapses

PURPOSE: This study was attemped to investigate the prognostic factors for the outcome of stage I renal cell carcinoma after radical nephrectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty nine patients treated from 1984 to 1995 at Kyung Hee University Medical Center were studied retrospectively. All of them were diagnosed with pathologic Robson stage I renal cell carcinoma after radical nephrectomy. RESULTS: Males were affected three times more frequently than females. The tumor was detected on the right kidney in 15 cases, and on the left in 14. Average follow up period was 36.6 months, average disease free interval was 29.4 months and median survival was 30 months. During the follow up, 9 patients (31.0%) expired due to liver and lung metastasis at postoperate 21.6 months on average. Eleven patients (37.9%) developed distant metastasis in the follow up. There was no local recurrence of tumor. Seventeen patients were diagnosed incidentally without clinical symptoms. In our retrospective study for stage I renal cell carcinoma, there were no predictive prognostic parameters for predicting the outcome of patients, except for the incidental diagnosis of the tumor. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that incidental diagnosis of the tumor may be the most important prognostic factor for the outcome of stage I renal cell carcinoma. Although the patients were confirmed as stage I renal cell carcinoma pathologically after radical nephrectomy, close follow up is very important, because of high incidence of metastasis. We recommand that chest X-ray, abdominal ultrasonogram and bone scan should be checked at 3 months interval for postoperative one year even though stage I renal cell carcinoma.
Academic Medical Centers ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Kidney ; Liver ; Lung ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nephrectomy ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Thorax ; Ultrasonography

No abstract available.
Hysterectomy*

Paramyotonia congenita (PMC), an autosomal dominant non-progressive muscle disorder, is characterised by cold-induced stiffness followed by muscle weakness. The weakness is considered to be caused by a dysfunction of the sodium channel in muscle fiber. We report a 37-year-old male patient with PMC, complaining of episodic myotonia and motor weakness on cold exposure. In this patient, we performed clinical and neurological examination, electrophysiologic examination and muscle biopsy. On electrophysiologic study, needle EMG showed spontaneous myotonic discharges at room temperature but disappeared after cooling. Amplitude of compound action potential in abductor pollicis brevis muscle decreased significantly after cooling the tested extremity. Muscle biopsy showed a minimal variation of muscle fiber diameters, internal nuclei, chained nuclei, occasional atrophic fibers in vastus lateralis muscle. His mother, his son, three of six siblings, and five of eleven nephewes are affected with same symptomes.
Action Potentials ; Adult ; Biopsy ; Extremities ; Humans ; Male ; Mothers ; Muscle Weakness ; Muscular Diseases ; Myotonia ; Myotonic Disorders* ; Needles ; Neurologic Examination ; Quadriceps Muscle ; Siblings ; Sodium Channels

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to investigate the relationship between job stress and the type of turnover of registered nurses in a university hospital. METHODS: A total of 553 registered nurses who left the hospital between 1994 and 2005 were surveyed, and aninterview record and self-administered questionnaire completed at the time of the turnover were used to assess the relationship. Job stress was categorized into four sub-scales (factor I: insufficient work authority and lack of autonomy, factor II: work overload and time urgency, factor III: interpersonal conflict and communication problems, and factor IV: role strain and ambiguity) using factor analysis. The type of turnover was classified into two categories: voluntary and involuntary. SPSS (version 11.0) was used for the statistical analyses. RESULTS: The direct cause of the turnover was getting a new job, and the nurses in the voluntary turnover group were younger and less experienced than those in the involuntary turnover group. The discriminant analysis findings indicated that the determinant factors affecting the type of turnover were marital status, factor I (insufficient work authority and lack of autonomy), factor II (work overload and time urgency), educational background, and the intention to get a new job. Meanwhile, the voluntary turnover was associated with marital status (single), insufficient work authority and lack of autonomy, high educational background, the intention to get a new job, and low work overload and time urgency. CONCLUSIONS: Job stress played a crucial role in the turnover of the registered nurses, and some job stressors such as insufficient work authority and lack of autonomy, work overload and time urgency were more related to the type of turnover. These results confirm the necessity for a management program or job redesign to eliminate or reduce job stressors which lead to turnover such as insufficient work authority, lack of autonomy, work overload and time urgency. Furthermore, greater opportunities need to be provided for developing their careers. Finally, further research is required to elucidate the specific job stressors affecting the turnover of registered nurses.
Calcium ; Fibrinogen ; Intention ; Marital Status ; Prothrombin ; Questionnaires ; Thromboplastin

OBJECTIVES: To establish prevalence of hypertension in rural area of Korea, we surveyed adult residents older than 30 years, based on the recommendation and classification of JNC-5(Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure). METHODS: From December 1996 to February 1997, we studied 4,209 persons in 41 rural areas purposely sampled nationwide. Blood pressure was checked twice at the time of the first visit and again checked twice after one week later for the person fell under hypertension criteria at the first visit. Persons fell under hypertension criteria at the first visit without second visit for recheck were categorized as suspected hypertension. For the suspected hypertension, we predicted whether fell under criteria by logistic regression model. RESULTS: 1) The distributions of blood pressures show unimodal curve, skewed to the right. The peaks of the systolic blood pressure was between 120~129mmHg, tending to move to the right for the age of 50-and-over in male, 70-and-over in female. But peaks of the diastolic blood pressure were consistent between 80~84mmHg in both sexes. The distributions of blood pressures for male were slightly deviated to the right compared with those of the female. 2) The crude prevalence rate of hypertension, defined as systolic blood pressure > or =140mmHg or diastolic blood pressure > or =90mmHg or taking anti-hypertensive medication, was 25.94%. And the prevalence rate of suspected hypertension was 5.54%. Through the logistic regression model, the prevalence of hypertension was estimated as 29.94%. Age-sex-adjusted prevalence rate for the rural area-Myon regions- was 25.94%, if adjusted to the age-sex composition of the 1995 national census population. 3) Prevalence rate was 27.76% in male and 30.03% in female, if adjusted to the age-sex composition of the base population of this study. Prevalence rate progressively increased with age, higher in men than women before about age 60. 4) Prevalence rates among eight Provinces(Do) was different. Unadjusted rates for Kyonggi Province was 24.74%, and rates for Chonnam Province was 34.18%. But there was no significant differences of the prevalence rate between inland and seaside. 5) By logistic regression model, 65.39% of stage 1 hypertension and 75.51% of stage 2 hypertension at the first visit were estimated as to be included in hypertension criteria. 6) By the JNC-5 classification, only 22.33% of the patients taking anti-hypertensive medication was being controlled. CONCLUSION: The prevalence rate of hypertension by classification of JNC-5 at rural area was 25.94%. We could not find significant differences of prevalence rate between inland and seaside. Follow-up measurement of blood pressures will be needed to establish more valid prevalence rates of hypertension.
Adult ; Blood Pressure ; Censuses ; Classification ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Jeollanam-do ; Korea* ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Prevalence* ; Rural Population

PURPOSE: We investigated whether a relationship exists between tumor control dose 50 (TCD50) or tumor growth delay (TGD) and radiation induced apoptosis (RIA) in syngeneic murine tumors. Also we investigated the biological markers that can predict radiosensitivity in murine tumor system through analysis of relationship between TCD50, TGD, RIA and constitutive expression levels of the genetic products regulating RIA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Syngeneic murine tumors such as ovarian adenocarcinoma, mammary carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, fibrosarcoma, hepatocarcinoma were used in this study. C3H/HeJ mice were bred and maintained in our specific pathogen free mouse colony and were 8~12 weeks old when used for the experiments. The tumors, growing in the right hind legs of mice, were analyzed for TCD50, TGD, and RIA at 8 mm in diameter. The tumors were also analyzed for the constitutive expression levels of p53, p21(WAF1/CIP1), BAX, Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), Bcl-x(S), and p34. Correlation analysis was performed whether the level of RIA were correlated with TCD50 or TGD, and the constitutive expression levels of genetic products regulating RIA were correlated with TCD50, TGD, RIA. RESULTS: The level of RIA showed a significant positive correlation (R=0.922, p=0.026) with TGD, and showed a trend to correlation (R=-0.848), marginally significant correlation with TCD50 (p=0.070). It indicates that tumors that respond to radiation with high percentage of apoptosis were more radiosensitive. The constitutive expression levels of p21(WAF1/CIP1) and p34 showed a significant correlation either with TCD50 (R=0.893, p=0.041 and R=0.904, p=0.035) or with TGD (R=-0.922, p=0.026 and R=-0.890, p=0.043). The tumors with high constitutive expression levels of p21(WAF1/CIP1) or p34 were less radiosensitive than those with low expression. CONCLUSION: Radiosensitivity may be predicted with the level of RIA in murine tumors. The constitutive expression levels of p21(WAF1/CIP1) or p34 can be used as biological markers which predict the radiosensitivity.
Adenocarcinoma ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Biomarkers* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Fibrosarcoma ; Leg ; Mice ; Radiation Tolerance* ; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms