No abstract available.
Blood Group Incompatibility* ; Bromelains*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Planned endoscopic submucosal dissection with snaring (ESD-S) is thought to shorten operating time spent on submucosal dissection, but may lead to uncertainty of en bloc resection or to a possible increase in tumor-positive margins. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the feasibility of ESD-S as a planned procedure for gastric adenoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 99 patients who underwent ESD-S or ESD for gastric adenoma between May 2011 and May 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. We analyzed the differences between the ESD-S and the ESD groups, focusing on rates of en bloc resection and pathologic complete resection, mean operation time, and complications. RESULTS: The mean operation time was significantly lower in the ESD-S group than in the ESD group (19.9+/-11.2 vs. 33.8+/-19.9, P=0.012). Cases with an operation time under 30 minutes were more frequent in the ESD-S group (88.9% vs. 48.1%, OR=8.615, 95% CI=2.949~25.168). There were no significant differences in en bloc resection, histologic complete resection, or complication rates between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: ESD-S has a time advantage over ESD with a comparable compete resection rate. ESD-S can be considered a planned method for available early gastric adenoma.
Adenoma* ; Endoscopy ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; SNARE Proteins* ; Uncertainty

PURPOSE: Recently, the incidence of refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) pneumonia has increased in Korea. Given that its early diagnosis is helpful in selection of the treatment, this study aimed at investigating the value of the antimycoplasma antibody (IgM) for early diagnosis of MP pneumonia. METHODS: A total of 315 children admitted with MP pneumonia from September 2015 to May 2016 were investigated with the IgM and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the diagnosis of MP pneumonia. Specifically, patients were grouped into nonrefractory respiratory MP and refractory MP groups according to their response to macrolide therapy. RESULTS: In the 44 PCR-negative seroconversed children, seroconversed IgM was more frequent in the refractory MP group compared with the nonrefractory respiratory MP group with statistical significance (P<0.001). In the 264 IgM-positive children, the time of antibody reaction was more delayed in the refractory MP group compared to the nonrefractory respiratory MP group with statistical significance (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: This study showed that there was a higher incidence of seroconversed IgM and delayed antibody reaction in the refractory MP group. In children with suspect MP pneumonia, follow-up studies of antibody are necessary, even through initial antibody and PCR showed negative findings. In addition, this result may suggest that the diagnosis of refractory MP pneunomia will be helpful in establishing the strategy of the treatment.
Child ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin M ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae ; Mycoplasma ; Pneumonia ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

PURPOSE: The incidence of renal tuberculosis has decreased considerably in recent years, but the disease still threatens public health. Childhood genitourinary tuberculosis (GUTB) has been very rare. The aim of the study was to analyze the clinical aspects and characteristics of childhood GUTB. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 145 cases of GUTB were diagnosed. We analyzed retrospectively the clinical manifestations of eight patients with GUTB younger than 15 years of age. RESULTS: The age of the patients, six boys and two girls, ranged from 5 to 14 years. Follow up period ranged from 12 to 145 months. Presenting features were diverse and included gross hematuria in five cases. Rarer presenting features included one case of epididymorchitis. All had had BCG vaccination at around 1 month old. Conclusive diagnosis was made on the basis of isolation of mycobacterium tuberculosis in five patients, whereas three patients were given a therapeutic trial based on clinical manifestations. The most common site of involvement was the kidney (7 cases). Temporary urinary diversional procedures were performed in two patients for relieving ureteral obstruction. Excisional surgery was needed in three patients, whereas one underwent ureteroneocystostomy for ureteric stricture. Response to antitubercular drug therapy was gratifying. No relapse was observed during follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood GUTB is rare, but may become serious. The importance of early diagnosis is emphasized, and aggressive treatment is needed in advanced childhood tuberculosis for preservation of renal function.
Child* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Kidney ; Mycobacterium bovis ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Public Health ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Renal ; Ureter ; Ureteral Obstruction ; Urinary Diversion ; Vaccination

While cardiac myxoma is a rare cause of stroke, it needs to be considered so that it can be detect promptly. We report the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics of three patients who were histologically confirmed as cardiac myxoma. MRI revealed multiple infarctions in bilateral hemispheres and hemorrhagic transformation including microbleeds and macrobleeds. If either petechial hemorrhage or microbleeds along the cortical border zone are identified in MRI of acute stroke patients, the possibility of cardiac myxoma should be considered.
Cerebral Infarction ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Infarction ; Intracranial Embolism* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Myxoma* ; Stroke

CONCLUSIONS: To investigate the difference in the occurrence of lung cancer between foundry workers and non-foundry workers by comparing the number of workers diagnosed with lung cancer through health insurance data. METHODS: The study population was comprised of 28,884 workers who had undergone at least one general or special medical examination between January 1995 and December 1997 at the occupational health center. All of the subjects had health insurance during this period. We combined the medical examination data with the health insurance data to compare the number of foundry workers diagnosed with lung cancer and the number of non-foundry workers diagnosed with lung cancer. RESULTS: Seven workers were diagnosed with lung cancer among the 1,591 foundry workers, compared to twelve workers among the 27,293 non-foundry workers (odds ratio: 10.04, 95% confidence interval: 3.95-25.55). The seven foundry workers diagnosed with lung cancer were all exposed to dust, and six out these seven workers were engaged in finishing or shake-out processes. CONCLUSIONS: Although the information for this study was obtained from health insurance data, which has limitations such as accuracy and completeness, the number of foundry workers diagnosed with lung cancer was significantly higher than that of non-foundry workers. Therefore, a well-designed cohort study should be followed to confirm the higher lung cancer rates in foundry workers.
Cohort Studies ; Dust ; Insurance, Health* ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Occupational Health

BACKGROUND: Nitrous oxide inactivates cobalamin which is important in the folate-dependent synthesis of thymidylate. Also, methotrexate has the anti-cancer activity. The aim of this work was to determine the optimal pressure and exposure time of nitrous oxide that maximize the suppression of cancer growth, and the adequate level of methotrexate that maximize the anti-cancer activity of nitrous oxide. METHODS: Acute lymphoblastic leukemic cells and normal lymphocytes were cultured in hyperbaric chamber at 1, 2 and 3 atm of 74% nitrous oxide in 24, 48 and 72 hours at 0, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 micrometer of methotrexate, respectively. The results were expressed in the ratio of cell number in hyperbaric chamber to that in the incubator. RESULTS: Compared to control, the growth rates of cancer cells and lymphocytes were 0.767, 0.990 at 1 atm, 0.592, 0.880 at 2 atm and 0.718, 0.864 at 3 atm of nitrous oxide in 24 hours. The survival fraction of cancer cells and lymphocytes were 0.767, 0.894 in 24 hours, 0.800, 0.630 in 48 hours, and 0.571, 0.597 in 72 hours, at 1 atm of nitrous oxide. The growth rates of cancer cells and lymphocytes were 1.012, 0.745 at 0 micrometer, 0.912, 0.696 at 0.3 micrometer, 0.77, 0.647 at 0.5 micrometer and 1.133, 0.506 at 0.7 micrometer of methotrexate. CONCLUSIONS: The pressure increase of nitrous oxide significantly suppressed the growth of lymphocyte but not cancer cells. However, growth of cancer cells and lymphocytes were significantly reduced at high concentration of methotrexate and larger exposure time.
Cell Count ; Incubators ; Leukemia ; Lymphocytes ; Methotrexate* ; Nitrous Oxide* ; Vitamin B 12

OBJECTIVES: To identify the relationship between the use of medical services by workers with three types of respiratory diseases (total respiratory diseases, acute upper respiratory infections and chronic lower respiratory diseases) and exposure to hazardous agents after controlling for other factors affecting medical services use, such as characteristics of the enterprises (scale, industry type) and employee demographics (sex, age). METHODS: The study population comprised 28,882 workers who had undergone general or special medical examinations at the industrial health center at least once between Jan 1995 and Dec 1997 and had possessed medical insurance during the period. We combined medical examination data with medical insurance data in order to analyze the relationship between exposure to hazardous agents and respiratory diseases. RESULTS: Among the 28,882 study subjects, 17,454 employees (60.4%) used medical services more than once during 3-year study period, owing to more than one kind of respiratory diseases. In logistic regression analysis, sex, age and the size of the enterprises proved to be significant variables on the use of medical services for all three types of respiratory disease: The use of medical services increased with employee age. Women used more medical services than men and the employees in the large-scale enterprises used more services than employees in small-scale enterprises. However, exposure to dust or organic solvents did not affect medical service use due to total respiratory diseases or acute upper respiratory infections. Only in the case of chronic lower respiratory diseases did workers exposed to dusts (OR=1.12, 95% CI=1.01 -1.24) or organic solvents (OR=1.19, 95% CI=1.05-1.35) use more medical services than those not exposed. CONCLUSIONS: Workers exposed to dusts or organic solvents are particularly apt to suffer from chronic lower respiratory diseases and use medical services more often than those not exposed. That is, chronic exposure to hazardous agents such as dusts and organic solvents is believed to be harmful and to cause respiratory symptoms and diseases.
Acute Disease ; Demography ; Dust ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Occupational Health ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Solvents

PCP remains the leading cause of deaths in patients with AIDS. As familiarity with PCP increases, atypical manifestations of the diseases are being recognized with greater frequency. There are following "atypical" manifestations of PCP; 1) interstitial lung response that include diffuse alveolar damage, bronchiolitis obliterance, interstitial fibrosis, and lymphoplasmocytic infiltrate 2) striking localized process frequently exhibiting granulomatous features 3) extensive necrosis & cavitation 4) extrapulmonary dissemination of the disease. A wide variety of pathologic manifestations may occur in PCP in human immunodeficiency virus- infected patienst and that atypical features should be sought in lung biopsies from patients at risk for PCP. We had experienced a case of PCP, which presented with severe hypoxia, progressive dyspnea and fine crackles. It was diagnosed as PCP in AIDS with manifestation of BOOP by open lung biopsy and showed good response to Bactrim & corticosteroid therapy.
Anoxia ; Biopsy ; Bronchiolitis Obliterans* ; Bronchiolitis* ; Cause of Death ; Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia ; Dyspnea ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Lung ; Necrosis ; Pneumocystis carinii* ; Pneumocystis* ; Pneumonia* ; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis* ; Recognition (Psychology) ; Respiratory Sounds ; Strikes, Employee ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to analyze the characteristics of workrelated musculoskeletal diseases, as listed by the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation (KLWC). METHODS: Using the database of the KLWC, we collected information from 410 approved occupational musculoskeletal disease cases, which occurred between 1 January and 31 December 1999 and were approved by 30 June in 2000. We investigated the characteristics of the disease using a mail survey and telephone interviews. The characteristics we investigated included : sex, age, disease-related working duration, process of disease occurrence, type of enterprises, etc. RESULTS: Men accounted for 75.6 % (310 workers) of the approved cases. The most common age group was 30-39 years (n=143, 34.9 %). The mean disease-related working duration was 5.7 years, and the most commonly had a work-duration of 1-5 years (n=108, 36.0 %). The major industrial types of enterprise were manufacturing (235 workers, 57.3 %), transportation (46 workers, 11.2 %), and construction (25 workers, 6.1 %). Within the manufacturing industry, the most common was motor vehicles and trailers manufacturing. Within the group, the most common jobs were plant or machine operators and assemblers (129 workers, 36.5 %), elementary occupations (90 workers, 25.5 %), and craft and related trades workers (63 workers, 17.8 %). The majority of the diseases involved lumbar problems (232 cases, 54.7 %), neck and upper extremity diseases (183 cases, 43.2 %) and lower extremity diseases (9 cases, 2.1 %). In the cases of lumbar disease, the mean age and working duration was 36.5 years and 4.7 years, respectively. Fifty-four cases of lumbar diseases were due to repetitive work and 89 due to non-repetitive work. Bad posture at work was the most common cause for those doing repetitive work(23 cases), and lifting the most common cause of problems in the non-repetitive work cases (27). CONCLUSIONS: We were able to elucidate the characteristics of workers with approved occupational musculoskeletal disease through this study. Many approved cases occurred in women, and workers performing repetitive work, of these herniated nucleus pulposus occurred in many workers performing simple repetitive works without serious external forces. This suggests that a prevention policy for occupational musculoskeletal disease must be established, to focusing on the above-mentioned high-risk groups.
Female ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Korea* ; Lifting ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Motor Vehicles ; Musculoskeletal Diseases* ; Neck ; Occupations ; Plants ; Postal Service ; Posture ; Transportation ; Upper Extremity