This study was conducted to evaluate the degree of stress state and the risk factors related to in 967 white collar workers and 275 blue collar workers buy using Psycosocial Well-being Index. The results obtained were as follows: 1. In the white collar workers and blue collar workers, young age, low education and low income groups had high scores of stress, while in white collar workers, female had high scores of stress but in blue collar workers male had high scores of stress. 2. According to psychosocial well-being index, mild stress state were 73.9% and 53.1%, high risk stress state were 8.9% and 44.4%, and healthy state were 17.2 and 2.6% in white collar and blue collar workers respectively. 3. The total stress score was highly associated with the factors of depression, social performance and self-confidence, general well-being and vitality, and sleeping disturbance and anxiety in order. 4. In reliability test of stress factors, Cronbach's coefficients of depression, social performance and self-confidence, general well-being and vitality, and sleeping disturbance and anxiety were 0.89, 0.81, 0.79, and 0.74 respectively. In conclusion, it suggested that age, sex, marital status, income, education, sleeping time, smoking and exercise habit were associated with stress score, all of above factors should considered to occupational health.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Marital Status ; Occupational Health ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking

No abstract available.
Occupational Diseases*

We reported two cases of elephantiasis neurofibromatosa in a family. The first case was the son of the second case. Both patients showed huge masses and bone changs. They were treated by surgical excision due to functional and cosmetic problems. The histopathologic findings of the two cases were consistent with neurofibroma.
Elephantiasis* ; Humans ; Neurofibroma ; Neurofibromatoses*

Basaloid follicular hamartoma (BFH) is a benign adnexal tumor with a wide spectrum of clinical appearance and is characterized histologically by the presence of branching cords and thin strands of undifferentiated anasomosing, basaloid proliferations that are embedded in a fibrous stroma. It has been often misdiagnosed and treated as basal cell carcinoma. We report a 57-year-old woman with BFH on the face which is similar to basal cell carcinorna clinically that turned out to be a solitary BFH histologically. There has been no recurrence during one year of follow up after excisional biopsy.
Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hamartoma* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Recurrence

This study was performed to investigate the knowledge and attitude of workers in small scale industries on health management, and to provide the basic data for more effective service by the group occupational health service system. The knowledge and attitude of 247 workers and 46 health personnel in the industries scattered around Incheon were investigated from December 1992 to February 1993. The results were summarized as follows; 1. There were significant differences between the workers and the health personnel by age, sex, marriage status, job-position and education level. 2. The recognition level of the workers to contract work related disease was significantly higher than that of health personnel, and recognition level of the workers on environmental hazards and on the utility of measuring hazards were lower than that of health personnel. 3. The recognition level on the content of the group occupational health service system was significantly different between workers and health personnel, 72.6% of the responses from the workers answered that they did not know what the group occupational health service system was, but 82.2% of the responses from the health personnel answered that they knew well what it was. And 79.0% of all respondents thought it was necessary for worker's health. 4. seventy three percent of the respondents from the workers indicated that they had never taken health education. However, 93.0% of all respondents answered positively for the need of health education to promote their health. 5. current health service system was judged to be insufficient for the demand of workers for better health. Most of the respondents prefered a formal but flexible health service system and they wanted the periodic health examination to be followed up. It was revealed that despite of poor knowledge, the demand of workers for health service was higher than the current supply. Therefore, this study suggests that educating both health personnel and workers to obtain correct knowledge on the hazards to work environment and health management is needed for effective occupational health service.
Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education ; Health Education ; Health Personnel* ; Health Services ; Humans ; Incheon ; Marriage ; Occupational Health Services

Transient hyperkalemia has been reported to occur in eletric burn patients following intravenous administration of succinylcholine. We have studied the origin of the elevated serum K+ concentration after injection of succinylcholine from both the non-burned area and from the burned area in electirc burn patients. Blood samples for serum K+ measurement were drawn 1,2,3,4,5 and 10 minutes after administration of succinylcholine from both the burned are and the non-burned area in 6 electric burn patients. The following results were obtained: 1) Serum K+ levels increased in the burned group in 3 minutes after injection of succinylcholine. 2) The serum K+ concentration of venous samples from the electric burn area were more increased than from the non-burned area injection of succinylcholine.
Administration, Intravenous ; Burns ; Burns, Electric ; Humans ; Hyperkalemia ; Succinylcholine*

BACKGROUND: Herpes zoster is characterized by vesicular skin lesions over the unilateral sensory dermatomes being caused by the reactivation of varicella-zoster virus and its incidence seems to be increasing recently. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the epidemiology and the clinical characteristics of herpes zoster. METHODS: The authors observed 877 cases of herpes zoster clinically for annual incidence, age, sex, monthly distribution, predilection site, associated disease, and complications at the Department of Dermatology in Chung-Ang University Hospital during a 10 years period(1982.9-1992.8). RESULTS: 1) The annual incidence averaged over 10 years was 2.26%(877 cases of total 38.717 outpatients) being on the increase recently. 2) The age distribution was in the range of 2-86 years old being most prevalent in the 6th decade and there was equal sex ratio(444:433). 3) There was no statistically significant monthly or seasonal variation in the incidence of herpes zoster. 4) The most common anatomical distribution was thoracic dermatome(51.7%), followed by trigeminal(17.1%), cervical(16.1%), lumbar (10.6%), sacral(1.4%)and multiple deramatomic involvement(3.1%). Left or right side was affected in about the same ratio(439:437), and bilateral involvement was in 1 case. 5) Associated disease of herpes zoster were observed in 210 patients(23.9%) ; hypertension(7.0%), diabetes mellitus(4.1%), tuberculosis(1.8%), postoperative status(0.7%), malignancy(0.7%), gastric ulcer(0.7%), and so on, 6) The most common complication of herpes zoster was postherpetic neuralgia(7.4%), followed by eye complication(2.1%), bacterial infection(1.4%), scar formation(0.7%), neurogenic bladder(0.2%), Ramsay-Hunt syndrome(0.2%), motor paralysis(0.1%), herpes zoster generalisatus(0.1%) 7) The incidence of postherpetic neuralgia increased with age and was highest in trigeminal dermatome. 8) Recurrence of herpes zoster was observed in 4 patients(0.5%). CONCLUSION: According to this study, the annual incidence of herpes zoster showed a tendency to increase recently but there was no significant monthly or seasonal variation. The anatomical distribution was most commom on the thoracic dermatome. The incidenc of postherpetic neuralgia increased with age being most common in trigeminal nerve.
Age Distribution ; Cicatrix ; Dermatology ; Epidemiology ; Herpes Zoster* ; Herpesvirus 3, Human ; Incidence ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; Recurrence ; Seasons ; Skin ; Trigeminal Nerve

OBJECTIVES: We tried to establish a Regional Occupational Surveillance System (ROSS) for estimating the prevalence and monitoring the trend of occupational dermatitis among 718 manufacturing workers exposed to organic solvents and nonmetallic chemicals in small and medium sized businesses of 1,2 industrial complex area of taejon City. METHODS: Through the report from the nurses of Group Occupational Health Management System, we made a case referral and immediate health examination system with occupational medical clinics. We also performed a survey for detecting occupational dermatitis by a self-administered questionnaire. Case must meet 3 criteria; 1) He/She must have one or more significant cutaneous signs and symptoms. 2) The symptom should be changed by the work condition or caused by risk chemicals. 3) Dermatitis should be diagnosed by a doctor. Results Among the 131 workers(17. 7 %) with significant symptoms screened by the questionnaire, 4 workers(0. 6 %) met the case definition criteria. And among the 45 workers (6. 3 9o) referred to the immediate diagnosed system, 14 workers (l. 9 %) were Strongly suspected to have occupational dermatitis. CONCLUSIONS: These prevalence rates were quite underestimated because of deficient recognition of the disease severity among the workers, reversibility of the target diseases, and life-threathening mood due to nationwide economic crisis and the socioeconomic withdrawal of each business. Ultimately, harmonized activities of government, industry, labor unions, volunteer organization and academy relating to occupational health in a community should be encouraged to do creative, consistent efforts for evolution and development of this first trial of ROSS.
Commerce ; Daejeon* ; Dermatitis ; Dermatitis, Contact* ; Dermatitis, Occupational ; Labor Unions ; Occupational Health ; Prevalence* ; Questionnaires ; Referral and Consultation ; Solvents* ; Volunteers

We investigated toluene exposure level, urinary hippuric acid concentrations, subjective symptoms and genotype of ALDH2 DNA in 134 exposed workers and 53 nonexposed workers for evaluating the effect of ALDH2 polymorphism on toluene metabolism and urinary hippuric acid concentration as biological exposure indices (BEI) of toluene. The results were as follows; 1. The percentage of inactive genotype of ALDH2 in exposed workers was lower than that of exposed (P=0.081). 2. The percentages of exposed workers with inactive genotype did not have any significant difference by the increase of toluene exposure level or work duration. 3. The frequency of drinking, monthly and maximum amount of alcohol intake in workers with normal genotype were significantly higher than those with inactive genotype. 4. The urinary hippuric acid concentration of nonexposed workers ,with inactive genotype was significantly lower than that with normal genotype. Under 100 ppm of toluene, similar but statistically insignificant trends were found, while above that concentration of toluene, reverse but statistically insignificant trends were found. 5. The number of acute and chronic subjective symptoms were increased positively with the concentration of toluene in workers with normal genotype, but ho such trends were found in workers with inactive genotype. 6. The result of simple linear regression between toluene and urinary hippuric acid concentrations showed a very significant positive linear relation-ship. The mean hippuric acid concentration of nonoccupational exposure was 0.289+/-0.227 (0.062-0.516) g/l. Toluene exposure level unable to discriminate with nonoccupational exposure estimated from regression equation, it range from 7.29 to 9.87 ppm. Considering above all things, it was useful to estimate the exposure level of toluene by means of analysing urinary hippuric acid concentration in both genotype workers, but the biological exposure indices (BEI) of both genotypes were different from each other. The BEI of the total exposed workers was 2.76 g/ I, which was lower than current criteria 3.0g/ I (2.5 g/g Cr), and it also suggest that the BEI for the exposed workers in our country be lowered to the appropriate level after further study.
DNA ; Drinking ; Genotype* ; Linear Models ; Metabolism ; Toluene*

Yonsei Cancer Center developed an RF(Radiofrequency) capacitive type heating device, GHT-RF8(Greenytherm) in cooperation with Green Cross Medical Corp., Korea in 1986 for the first time in Korea. Cooperative clinical studies of hyperthermia for the treatment of cancer using GHT-RF8 were conducted by Yonsei Cancer Center in collaboration with the Presbyterian Medical Center, Chonju, Korea. A total of forty patients with various histologically proven malignant tumors, including superficial (N = 13) and deep-seated tumors (N = 27), were treated with this newly developed heating device in conjunction with radiotherapy (N = 38) or chemotherapy (N = 2) at two different institutes between October 1986 and September 1987. These patients were locally far advanced or recurrent cases and considered to be refractory to conventional cancer treatment modalities. Radiotherapy was given in 200cGy per day, five times a week fractionations with a total tumor dose of 50-60Gy in 5-6 weeks. Within an hour after radiotherapy, the RF capacitive type of hyperthermia was given two times a week for a total of 4-10 treatment sessions and an attempt was made to maintain the tumor temperature at 41-45 degrees C for 30-60 minutes. Of forty patients treated, 14 patients with deep-seated tumors showed complete response and 20 patients showed partial response. The overall response rate was 85% (34 out of 40 patients) and only 6 patients showed no response. Complications from this treatment were mainly burns, superficial first degree burn in 2 cases, second degree in 4 cases and subcutaneous fat necrosis was observed in 2 cases.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Equipment Design ; Female ; Heating/*instrumentation ; Human ; Hyperthermia, Induced/adverse effects/*instrumentation ; Male ; Middle Age ; Neoplasms/radionuclide imaging/therapy ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed