No abstract available.

Fungal contamination of built-in furniture is a frequent problem in Korea when new apartment is built. However, domestic information on the contaminating fungi is very limited. This study was conducted to isolate, identify and characterize the fungi of the problem in one of the apartment houses where the fungi were claimed in the built-in furniture before the house owner moves in. Fungi present in the furniture installed in a main room, dress room, and kitchen side were visually and microscopically confirmed and purely isolated on PDA. The isolated fungi were identified by analyzing the morphological characteristics and nucleotide sequence of the ITS, calmodulin gene, and TEF-1α gene. Aspergillus creber, A. niger, A. pseudoglacus, A. ruber, Cladosporium perangustum and Penicillium commune were identified. Four out of the six fungal species were positive for at least one enzyme in six kinds of extracellular enzyme assays. When these four species (A. creber, A. niger, C. perangustum and P. commune) were inoculated onto four kinds of wood chips of furniture materials, they were able to colonize all of the wood chips. Their settlement was better at 95% humidity condition than at 30% humidity condition. Among the four species, C. perangustum caused the darkest discoloration and secreted the most number of extracellular enzymes. The four species were re-isolated from the colonized wood chips and confirmed as the problematic fungi in the built-in furniture.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of post-traumatic stress (PTS), job satisfaction, and associated factors with job satisfaction among 119 rescue crews. METHODS: The study subjects were 507 rescue crews who worked in G Metropolitan City and J province. General characteristics, job-related characteristics, PTS, and job satisfaction were collected by self-reported questionnaires via official e-mail. Job satisfaction by subjects' characteristics was tested using t-test, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Of 507 rescue crews, the overall PTS scores and job satisfaction score were 13.58+/-12.99 and 85.19+/-13.37, respectively. In multiple linear regression analyses, job satisfaction scores were significantly lower in subjects with fair (beta=-3.53, 95% CI=-5.89~-1.17) or poor (beta=-7.69, 95% CI=-11.67~-3.71) self-rated health and with longer duration of career (beta=-3.53, 95% CI=-6.62~-0.44). Regarding rescue field related characteristics, witness injury of co-workers (beta=-3.02, 95% CI=-5.61~-0.44), obvious dead treatment (beta=-3.60, 95% CI=-6.37~-0.83), and PTS (beta=-4.21, 95% CI=-7.56~-0.88) showed association with lower job satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Job satisfaction showed association with general characteristics, field related factors, and PTS. Risk reduction of rescue field and management of PTS will help to increase the job satisfaction of 119 rescue crews.
Electronic Mail ; Emergency Medical Services ; Job Satisfaction* ; Linear Models ; Risk Reduction Behavior

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has substituted open cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis during the last decades. In the past, biliary surgeons have performed the intraoperative bile culture during open cholecystectomy and have used the culture results as a guideline of postoperative antibiotic therapy. The prophylactic antibiotic treatment for cholecystectomy have been needed in the elderly population and the high risk patients, but the effect of antibiotics in laparoscopic cholecystectomy has not been confirmed. The authors performed bile culture during laparoscopic cholecystectomies to evaluate the relationship between the bile culture results and the postoperative infectious complications. METHODS: We analyzed the 57 patients who had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 53 for cholelithiasis, 4 for gallbladder polyp and an intraoperative bile culture for 6 months period. RESULTS: Positive culture results were found in 12 cholelithiasis patients (22.6%). The most common pathogen was E.coli (8.8%), enterococcus (7.0%); others were Pseudomonas, Strenotrophomonas maltophilia, Klebsiela, ect. The results of the bile culture in 4 patients with gallbladder polyps were negative. Nine patients had severe inflammation of gallbladder and four of them had positive culture results. Risk factors, such as old age and hyperbilirubinemia were significant variables. CONCLUSIONS: Intraoperative bile culture is an easy and simple procedure in a laparoscopic cholecystectomy and offers much informations to the surgeon about biliary bacteriology and postoperative management. The rate of wound infection is very low in laparoscopic cholecystectomy and the necessity of prophylactic antibiotics in laparoscopic cholecystectomy is less than it is in open surgery. Prophylactic antibiotics during laparoscopic cholecystectomy should be reserved for only high-risk patients.
Aged ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteriology ; Bile* ; Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic* ; Cholelithiasis ; Enterococcus ; Gallbladder ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia ; Inflammation ; Polyps ; Pseudomonas ; Risk Factors ; Wound Infection

OBJECTIVE: To report the latest long-term outcome of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and to analyze the predictors of prognosis. METHODS: Subjects who were diagnosed with ALS between January 2005 and December 2009 at a single institute were followed up until death or up to December 2014. Data regarding age, sex, date of onset, date of diagnosis, presence of bulbar symptoms on onset, date of initiation of non-invasive ventilation (NIV), and the date of tracheostomy were collected. Survival was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariate analyses of the risk of death were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: Among 212 suspicious subjects, definite ALS was diagnosed in 182 subjects. The survival rate at 3 and 5 years from onset was 61.5% and 40.1%, respectively, and the survival rate at 3 and 5 years post-diagnosis was 49.5% and 24.2%, respectively. Further, 134 patients (134/182, 73.6%) were initiated on NIV, and among them, 90 patients (90/182, 49.5%) underwent tracheostomy. Male gender and onset age of ≥65 years were independent predictors of adverse survival. CONCLUSION: The analysis of long term survival in ALS showed excellent outcomes considering the overall poor prognosis of this disease.
Age of Onset ; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Multivariate Analysis ; Noninvasive Ventilation ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Survival Rate ; Tracheostomy

The term tracheal bronchus refers to an abnormal bronchus that comes directly off of the lateral wall of the trachea (above the carina) and supplies ventilation to the upper lobe. Tracheal bronchi occur almost exclusively on the right trachea and are associated with other congenital anomalies. In addition, tracheai bronchus may be related to other inflammatory conditions with persistent wheezing, such as recurrent pneumonia, chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis, which is a result of the relatively poor local drainage of the involved bronchi. An infant with recurrent wheezing is likely to be a challenge for a clinician in the evaluation of the etiology of airway obstruction and in the differential diagnosis of wheezy breathing. The authors report a case of an 8-month-old female infant with a ventricular septal defect, who presented with stridor and recurrent respiratory infection and finally was finally diagnosed with a tracheal bronchus using computed tomography and a bronchoscopy. Therefore, tracheal bronchus should be included in the differential diagnosis of any child who presents with chronic or recurrent respiratory tract symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, stridor and recurrent respiratory infection, particularly in children with other congenital deformities.
Airway Obstruction ; Bronchi ; Bronchiectasis ; Bronchitis, Chronic ; Bronchoscopy ; Child ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Cough ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drainage ; Equipment and Supplies ; Female ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Infant ; Pneumonia ; Respiration ; Respiratory Sounds ; Respiratory System ; Trachea ; Ventilation

BACKGROUND: Workplace violence was recognized to be social problems that might impact the health status and the job satisfaction of employee in hospitals. This study investigated the current status of violence and job stress among hospital employees working at administration and discharging department. METHODS: The study subjects were 213 administrative employees working at 20 general hospitals. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaire that included information such as demographics, job-related characteristics, experience of violence, and job stress. The violence was classified as verbal violence, physical threat, and physical violence occurred by patients and caregivers. Analysis of variance, t-tests, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to examine the associated factors with job stress. RESULTS: The levels of verbal violence, physical threat, and physical violence were 1.64±1.08, 0.54±0.67, and 0.04±0.17, respectively. The score of job stress was 2.74±0.50 and it was associated with age, existence of spouse, drinking frequency, subjective health status, disease history, night-time treatment, and public health administration career in simple analysis. In multiple linear regression analysis, the level of verbal violence experience was significantly associated with job stress (B=0.09, p=0.001). Also physical threats (B=0.18, p<0.001) and physical violence (B=0.48, p=0.008) showed positive association with job stress. CONCLUSION: This study attempted to examine the association between experience of violence and job stress in administrative employees at medical institutions. Levels of violence showed positive correlation with the job stress. Environment improvement to protect employee from violence and management of employees who experienced workplace violence are needed to reduce the job stress.
Caregivers ; Demography ; Drinking ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Linear Models ; Public Health Administration ; Social Problems ; Spouses ; Violence* ; Workplace Violence

The aim of this study was to anatomize the therapeutic potential of alaternin (=7-hydroxyemodin) against inflammation, advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation, tyrosinase, and two cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), CDK2 and CDK4, and compare its potency with emodin. Alaternin showed lower cytotoxicity and higher dose-dependent inhibition against lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced nitric oxide (NO) production with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) of 18.68 µM. Similarly, alaternin efficaciously inhibited biotransformation of fluorescent AGEs and amyloid cross-β structure on the bovine serum albumin (BSA)-glucose-fructose system, five times more than emodin. Interestingly, alaternin also showed selective activity against CDK4 at 170 µM, whereas emodin inhibited both CDK2 and CDK4 at a concentration of 17 and 380 µM respectively. In addition, alaternin showed dose-dependent inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase with inhibition percentage of 35.84 % at 400 µM. Altogether, alaternin with pronounced inhibition against inflammatory mediator (NO), glycated products formation, and targeted inhibition towards CDK4 receptor can be taken as an important candidate to target multiple diseases.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing the posttraumatic growth of maritime police officers. Methods: The subjects include 293 maritime police officers that received basic and professional education at the Korea Coast Guard Academy on June 17~July 31, 2019. Data was analyzed in frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, variance analysis, Pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis with the SPSS Version 21.0 program. Results: The findings show that the maritime police officers scored mean 39.72±16.56 points in posttraumatic growth. marital status(β=.194, p=.002), smoking(β=.152, p=.010), regular exercise(β=-.185, p<.001), total duration of service(β=-.154, p=.033), resilience(β=.310, p<.001), social support (β=.250, p<.001), and collective culture(β=.158, p=.004) had impacts on their posttraumatic growth. Conclusion The findings of the study demonstrate that the posttraumatic growth of maritime police officers was under the influence of supports from families and peers, working environment, and culture as well as their individual characteristics.

The aim of this study was to anatomize the therapeutic potential of alaternin (=7-hydroxyemodin) against inflammation, advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation, tyrosinase, and two cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), CDK2 and CDK4, and compare its potency with emodin. Alaternin showed lower cytotoxicity and higher dose-dependent inhibition against lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced nitric oxide (NO) production with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) of 18.68 µM. Similarly, alaternin efficaciously inhibited biotransformation of fluorescent AGEs and amyloid cross-β structure on the bovine serum albumin (BSA)-glucose-fructose system, five times more than emodin. Interestingly, alaternin also showed selective activity against CDK4 at 170 µM, whereas emodin inhibited both CDK2 and CDK4 at a concentration of 17 and 380 µM respectively. In addition, alaternin showed dose-dependent inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase with inhibition percentage of 35.84 % at 400 µM. Altogether, alaternin with pronounced inhibition against inflammatory mediator (NO), glycated products formation, and targeted inhibition towards CDK4 receptor can be taken as an important candidate to target multiple diseases.