Considering general public as potential patients, identifying factors that hinder public participation poses great importance, especially in a research environment where demands for clinical trial participants outpace the supply. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate knowledge and perception about clinical research in general public. A total of 400 Seoul residents with no previous experience of clinical trial participation were selected, as representative of population in Seoul in terms of age and sex. To minimize selection bias, every fifth passer-by was invited to interview, and if in a cluster, person on the very right side was asked. To ensure the uniform use of survey, written instructions have been added to the questionnaire. Followed by pilot test in 40 subjects, the survey was administered face-to-face in December 2014. To investigate how perception shapes behavior, we compared perception scores in those who expressed willingness to participate and those who did not. Remarkably higher percentage of responders stated that they have heard of clinical research, and knew someone who participated (both, P < 0.001) compared to India. Yet, the percentage of responders expressed willingness to participate was 39.3%, a significantly lower rate than the result of the India (58.9% vs. 39.3%, P < 0.001). Treatment benefit was the single most influential reason for participation, followed by financial gain. Concern about safety was the main reason for refusal, succeeded by fear and lack of trust. Public awareness and educational programs addressing these negative perceptions and lack of knowledge will be effective in enhancing public engaged in clinical research.
Adult ; Aged ; Awareness ; *Biomedical Research ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Demography ; Female ; *Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; India ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Perception ; Republic of Korea ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: It is necessary to confirm of the reliability and the validity of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) methods, because there could be some difference according to the underlying diseases, languages and cultures. METHODS: To assess the reliability, we did the test-retest by using the WHO-QOL (Korean version) and the SF-36 (Korean version) in the maintain hemodialysis (HD) patients (N=57). And then, we measured the Cronbach coefficient in the domains of both HRQOL methods. To assess the validity, we compared the result of both HRQOL methods in HD group with control group (N=60). We analyzed the inter-relationship of the domains which keep identical meanings in both methods. RESULT: 1. The test-retest showed high correlation between two tests, except the two domains of SF- 36 which are the role limitation-physical activity (RP) domain and the role limitation-emotion (RE) domain. The Cronbach coefficients are range of 0.749-0.862 in the WHO-QOL, and 0.666-0.944 in the SF-36 (p<0.05). 2. We found that HRQOL of HD group was lower than that of control group except in the RP domain and the RE domain of SF-36. And there was the highest correlation between the domains which keep identical meaning of both HRQOL methods. CONCLUSION: The Korean WHO-QOL and SF-36 are reliable and valid to measure the QOL of ESRD patients except in the RP domain and the RE domain of SF-36. We expect these methods will be used easily in the evaluation of the HRQOL in HD patients.
Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Quality of Life ; Renal Dialysis

BACKGROUND: It is known that depression and anxiety tendency causes physical or social dysfunction. Nowadays, the air travel is increasing as the life condition has been improved so the health of pilots who are in charge of passengers become a very important issue. However, few studies have been done on this issue, especially the relationship between depression & anxiety and medical diseases among them. This study was performed to know the factors affection pilots' sick leave and the correlation between depression & anxiety and sick leave. METHODS: Self administered questionaires were obtained from 123 pilots of one of the airline companies at Seoul from 1st April to 30th may 2003. Depression tendency was measured based upon BDI, the level of anxiety was measured by the standardised STAI and obesity was diagnosed if a BMI is over 25 kg/m2. The data on the subjects' age, position, airlines and the days of sick leave were obtained from personal record. RESULTS: All the study subjects were male with the average age of 40.23+/-7.48 (ranging from 30 to 60). The average age for those who had sick leave was 34.58+/-3.50 and that for those who had not was 40.48+/-7.55 and these two average ages showed difference with statistical significance (P value <0.001), and the odd ratio of sick leave about age was 0.796 (95% CI: 0.645-0.938). Whether a pilot had sick leave or not, however, was not statistically related to the level of BDI, STAI, flying duty, flying route, and body mass index (P value >0.05). CONCLUSION: This study shows that the average age of sick leave group was lower than that of non-sick leave group (P<0.001). The level of depression and anxiety were not related to the sick leave. The reasons for this seems to be the fact that pilots are healthier than general population and also they pay more attention to their own health. The younger pilots tended to have more days of sick leave, which might be explain that the older pilots were more cautious about the disadvantages of having sick leave but, the younger pilots tend to have strong individualistic personalities.
Anxiety* ; Body Mass Index ; Depression* ; Diptera ; Humans ; Male ; Obesity ; Seoul ; Sick Leave*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is growing evidence that inflammation plays an important role in atherosclerosis and in the elevation of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) after coronary intervention. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between inflammatory markers and the elevation of cTnI after coronary intervention in patients with stable angina. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-three patients who underwent successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty with stent were examined as the subjects. Serial blood samples were obtained for High Sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), which served as markers of systemic inflammation, and cTnI. The difference of cTnI before and 24 hours after coronary intervention was defined as the gradient of cTnI. RESULTS: The mean gradient of cTnI was 1.77+/-3.4 ng/mL. The concentrations of baseline and post-procedural hs-CRP were 1.57+/-1.3 mg/L and 6.31+/-3.8 mg/L, respectively (p=0.001). There were no significant differences in the gradient of cTnI with hypertention, diabetes, smoking, and hypercholesterolemia. The variable that significantly correlated with the gradient of cTnI was the baseline hs-CRP (R2=0.374, p=0.048). CONCLUSION: Systemic inflammation correlated with periprocedural elevation of cTnI in stable angina patients. These results suggest that inflammation plays a pivotal role in the predictive value of myocardial injury after coronary intervention.
Angina Pectoris ; Angina, Stable* ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary* ; Atherosclerosis ; C-Reactive Protein ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Inflammation* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stents* ; Troponin I* ; Troponin*

BACKGROUND: Many epidemiological studies have reported that hyperuricemia was related to cardiovascular diseases, insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. However, there are few studies on the relationship between serum uric acid concentration and the metabolic syndrome among Korean adults. We performed this study to assess the relationship between serum uric acid level and the factors of the metabolic syndrome among healthy Korean men. METHODS: We consecutively selected 206 male subjects who underwent health screening examination from February 2005 to April 2005 at the Health Promotion Center of Seoul Paik Hospital. Insulin resistance measured by HOMA-IR and the metabolic syndrome factors were assessed by the quartiles of serum uric acid level. RESULTS: Body mass index (P<0.001), systolic blood pressure (P=0.015), diastolic blood pressure (P=0.015), fasting insulin (P=0.038), and triglyceride (P=0.005) level increased and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=0.008) decreased significantly from the lowest quartile to the highest quartile of seum uric acid level. The proportions of the metabolic syndrome in each quartile were 13.7%, 15.7%, 18.9%, and 36.0%, respectively (P=0.007). However, insulin resistance measured by HOMA-IR was not associated with serum uric acid. When compared with the lowest quartile group, the odds ratio for the metabolic syndrome of the second, the third, and the highest quartile groups were 1.42 (0.39-5.14), 1.14 (0.33-3.92), and 4.00 (1.15-13.89), respectively. CONCLUSION: We found that high uric acid level was significantly related to the factors of the metabolic syndrome and increased the risk of the metabolic syndrome. Further prospective studies with large sample size are necessary to establish whether uric acid level can pose as a risk factor for the development of the metabolic syndrome.
Adult ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol, HDL ; Fasting ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Hyperuricemia ; Insulin ; Insulin Resistance ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors ; Sample Size ; Seoul ; Triglycerides ; Uric Acid*

P-ANCA small vessel vasculitis is multisystemic disease, especially frequently involving the kidney. Diagnosis is delayed because it's non-specific clinical manifestation. Recently ANCA becomes available tools for diagnosis of vasculitis. Infection and gastrointestinal complications are relatively common in vasculitis. But spontaneous rupture of gastrointestinal artery is a rare complication. A 61-year-old housewife was admitted due to poor oral intake, weight loss and microscopic hematuria. Renal biopsy showed an extensive necrotizing glomerulonephritis, consistent with Wegener's granulomatosis or microscopic polyangitis. Serum test showed positive for P-ANCA. Despite steroid therapy, she expired due to spontaneous rupture of right gastroepiploic artery.
Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic* ; Arteries ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Gastroepiploic Artery ; Glomerulonephritis ; Hematuria ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Kidney ; Middle Aged ; Rupture, Spontaneous ; Vasculitis* ; Wegener Granulomatosis ; Weight Loss