OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out to measure the urinary cotinine concentrations of Korean tobacco harvesters with green tobacco sickness (GTS). METHODS: We conducted a questionnaire survey and measured the urinary cotinine concentrations among the cases who visited six health subcenters and the emergency room in the Health Center and County Hospital after harvesting tobacco leaves in Cheongsong-gun, from Jul 15 to Aug 15, 2002. Ten suspected GTS cases were compared to 10 controls matched for residence, age, and sex. Urinary cotinine was analyzed with a reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system and expressed as geometric mean and standard deviation. The data collected were evaluated using the SPSS/win statistical package and the urinary cotinine concentrations between the two groups were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: In both the 10 cases and controls, there were 3 males and 7 females. Ages ranged from 22 to 70 years old. Half of the cases were reported within the 6 hours between 12:00 pm and 17:59 pm. The median time from starting work to initially feeling ill was 4.3 hours (min. 2.5; max. 11.0). The GTS symptoms reported were nausea in 10 cases (100.0%), dizziness in 9 (90.0%), weakness in 8 (80.0%), headache in 7 (70.0%) and other symptoms. The geometric mean of urinary cotinine concentrations was significantly higher (p<0.01) in cases at 497.6 +/- 2.5 ng/ml (min. 73.1; max. 2,574.3) than in controls at 32.7 +/- 1.8 ng/ml (min. 13.3; max. 76.9). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that many tobacco harvesters may suffer from GTS in Korea. Therefore, it is very important for doctors to diagnose exactly the GTS. Also we must develop the methods which can prevent GTS, and simple methods of analysis for urinary cotinine.
Aged ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Cotinine* ; Dizziness ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Headache ; Hospitals, County ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Nausea ; Nicotine ; Questionnaires ; Tobacco*

OBJECTIVES: An outbreak of food poisoning occurred among the baseball club students at a high school in Ulsan city in 2014. An epidemiological investigation was carried out to examine the infection source and the transmission route of pathogen, and to prevent a recurrence. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted for 26 male students and 2 food handlers. Rectal swabs were examined in 7 students and the 2 food handlers, and an environmental investigation was performed. A retrospective cohort study was used to evaluate the association between risk factors and disease. RESULTS: The attack rate was 35.7% (10 persons/28 persons) from June 9 to 14, and Enterotoxigenic E. coli ST/LT was isolated from 7 among 28 persons. The study revealed that no food was a significant risk factor for the outbreak. There were no connection between environmental factors and the outbreak. CONCLUSIONS: The major risk factors for this outbreak were presumed to be the contaminated ice cube and ice making machines and eating ice cube from the machines. More strict personal and environmental hygiene need to be enforced to prevent such outbreaks.
Baseball* ; Cohort Studies ; Disease Outbreaks ; Eating ; Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli* ; Food Contamination ; Foodborne Diseases ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Ice ; Male ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Ulsan ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is one of the most serious side effects of long-term glucocorticoid therapy, but the mechanism of glucocorticoid-induced bone loss remains poorly defined. Glucocorticoid induces decreased bone formation and death of isolated segments of bone (osteonecrosis) suggesting that glucocorticoid excess may affect the birth or death rate of bone cells and thereby reduce their numbers. It has been known that reduction in bone formation is due to reduced proliferation in osteoblast precursor cells and reduced matrix synthesis in mature osteoblast. Here, we present evidence for dexamethasone-induced apoptosis on human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSC). To understand the mechanism of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, we investigated the effects of glucocorticoid on primary cultured hBMSC. METHEODS: Treatment with dexamethasone at the concentration of 10-9 M for 3~5 days significantly decreased cleavage tetrazolium salt WST-1 level/concentration by mitochondrial dehydrogenase in viable cells. Greater decrease was observed with higher concentration of dexamethasone (10-7 M, and 10-5 M). Apoptosis was measured by annexin V binding/propidium iodide using fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis and nuclear morphology stained with the fluorescence dye, Hoechst 33342. RESULTS: The level/concentration of apoptotic hBMSC (annexin V positive / PI negative) was increased with 10-9 M dexamethasone (1.2% to 5.3%) and further increased with 10-7 M, and 10-5 M concentration (11.7% and 12.5%, respectively). The same result was observed with Hoechst 33342 staining. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that glucocorticoid induces apoptosis on osteoblast precursor cell, hBMSC, and may contribute to decrease bone formation
Annexin A5 ; Apoptosis* ; Bone Marrow* ; Dexamethasone ; Fluorescence ; Humans* ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Mortality ; Osteoblasts ; Osteogenesis ; Osteoporosis ; Oxidoreductases ; Parturition ; Stromal Cells*

Today, lumbar disc surgery has been considerable refined from that performed by Mixter and Barr less than 50 years ago, but there is still room for improvement. The addition of the microsurgical technique may be the most recent means to refine the process of lumbar discectomy. Magnetified vision and brillant illumination have allowed neurosurgeons to refine many standard operations and to devise new ones for hitherto inaccessible areas. Small incisions, meticulous hemostasis, and precise removal of diseased tissue are the contributions of microsurgery to an ideal operation. 37 cases of microsurgical discectomy weer compared to the same number of standard operations. The total patient profiles were the same with other studies. The results demonstrated a 72.9% marked improvement in the standard discectomy category and a 83.9% marked improvement in the microsurgical discectomy group. Also, the mean time until their return to work was 7.3 wks in the microsurgical discectomy group, while 10.8 wks in the standard operation group.
Diskectomy ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Lighting ; Microsurgery ; Return to Work

A case of T3-4 disc herniation is reported as follows. A 23 year-old patient was presented with paraparesis and anterior chest pain. With the anterolateral approach(transthoracic transpleural approach), decompression and removal of a disc fragment was refered; which resulted is an almost complete recovery of the patient. MRI of the thoracic spine suggested a soft disc herniation. In addition, literatures were reviewed in conjunction with this case report.
Chest Pain ; Decompression ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Paraparesis ; Spine ; Young Adult

In a series of rabbits, two craniectomies were made in both side of the parietal hone. Each lesion was filled with gelfoam, lyocura, fat and dural film. Five rabbits were left empty as a control group. The animals were killed in one month after the operation. The degree of adhesion between the soft tissue of the scalp and various dural substitute was evaluated at the time of operative dissection and studied histopathologically. The results were as follows. 1) The insertion of dural substituted substances can prevent the adhesion between the scalp and dura mater. 2) The dural film was most effective in prevention of adhesion. 3) The dural film inserted group exhibited inflammatory reaction. 4) The gelfoam, lyodura and fat inserted groups were though to have had a moderate prevention effect of adhesion. With these results, we could conclude that the insertion of material between the dura and scalp can prevent adhesion. However the ideal inserted material which can pevent inflammatory reaction and adhesion has not been determined. At this point we have not found and ideal substitute. To get an ideal material for prevention of adhesion, further intensive study is required.
Animals ; Dura Mater ; Gelatin Sponge, Absorbable ; Rabbits ; Rabeprazole ; Scalp

The authors report a case of false aneurysm of the superficial temporal artery which manifested after operation for FCCD. An aneurysm of the superficial temporal artery is a rare disease. In collected literature, the incidence of superficial temporal artery aneurysms ranged from 0.5 to 2.5 percent of all aneurysms for which surgery was performed. False aneurysm should be suspected when a mass, which may or may not be pulsatile, appears in the scalp region after recent trauma. Troublesome(but not life-threatening) bleeding may occur if the lesion is unrecognized, and an attempt is made to "shell it out" as though it were an epidermal inclusion cyst.
Aneurysm ; Aneurysm, False* ; Hemorrhage ; Incidence ; Rare Diseases ; Scalp ; Temporal Arteries*

No abstract available.

Histiocytosis is a relatively rare disorder of the reticuloendothelial system involving the proliferation of histicoytes, granulation tissue, and inflammatory cells in many different organ systems1). Thus, the three manifestations of the same basic pathologic process:Eosinophilic granuloma, Hand-Schuller-Christian disease, and Letterer-Siwe disease have been classified as localized, chronic disseminated and acute disseminated histiocytosis-X. They were therefore included under the term histiocytosis-X and this concept has been generally accepted. The authors have experienced one case of histiocytosis-X, a rare disease. A 11 month-old femal patient presented with gradually enlarged palpable mass on the occipital area. The occipital skull was defected in a punched out fashion. The mass was completely removed. The pathologic findings revealed Histiocytosis-X and the patient was given chemotherapy.
Drug Therapy ; Eosinophilic Granuloma ; Granulation Tissue ; Granuloma ; Histiocytosis ; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell* ; Humans ; Infant ; Mononuclear Phagocyte System ; Rare Diseases ; Scalp* ; Skull

No abstract available.
Glomerulonephritis, Membranous* ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma*