BACKGROUND: Family values of a married woman may be related to her own depressive mood. Since depressive mood of a married woman is likely to exert a negative influence, in terms of mental health, on her, her family members, and the whole society's, it may be very important to explore the relationship between family values in married women and their depressive mood. METHODS: In this study, we analyzed nationally representative 5,818 married women aged 20 years or older from the 4th panel data of 2012 Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families. As for variables of interest, we constructed three family values variables: family-oriented view of marriage, individualistic view of marriage, and traditional view of marital roles. Then we employed multivariate logistic regression analyses to explore the relationship between family values and depressive mood, adjusting for family and socio-demographic factors. RESULTS: In total, 804 married women (18.4%) had experienced depressive mood. All of the three family values variables were significant in their relationships with depressive mood. The women categorized as ‘very weak’ in family-oriented view of marriage were more likely to experience depressive mood than the women categorized as ‘very strong’ (odds ratio [OR], 1.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.53–2.55). By contrast, the women categorized as ‘very weak’ in individualistic view of marriage (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.33–0.55) and in traditional view of marital roles (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.51–0.92) were less likely to experience depressive mood than their respective counterpart women categorized as ‘very strong.’ CONCLUSION: In Korea, married women's values towards marriage itself and roles between wives and husbands had significant associations with their depressive mood. This suggests that in order to improve mental health in married women, we need to take social and cultural dimensions into consideration along with public health interventions.
Depression ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Longitudinal Studies ; Marriage ; Mental Health ; Public Health ; Spouses

An air blow gun is one of the most common pneumatic tools found at industrial sites and entrances of mountain trails in South Korea. It is used for spraying high-pressure air to dust off surfaces and clothes, and to inject air into tubes. There have been many reported cases of injuries and deaths associated with air blow guns. The victim died by placing the nozzle of an air blow gun, installed on an outdoor sports field, into her nose, and pulling the trigger. An autopsy ascribed her death to pneumothorax. Numerous accidents associated with air blow guns have been reported in the media. However, the use of an air blow gun has not been the subject of a suicide case study in forensic literature. To our knowledge, this is the first case report on suicide using an air blow gun. Stronger public safety warnings stressing the potentially fatal outcomes from careless usage of air blow guns are required.

PURPOSE: To compare 23-gauge transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy (TSV) and sutured vitrectomy in the aspect of intraocular pressure (IOP) changes and complications. METHODS: Through a retrospective chart review, 45 sutureless patients (48 eyes) and 48 sutured patients (52 eyes) who had undergone 23-gauge transconjunctival vitrectomy by one surgeon (J.H. Sohn) were compared. IOP was measured routinely pre-operativley, at 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month post-operatively. Postoperative IOP, hypotony (IOP<7 mmHg) rates and complications associated with hypotony were assessed respectively. In addition, the cases involving intraocular air or gas tamponade or cataract extraction were compared. RESULTS: One day after the surgery, 3 eyes of the sutureless group developed hypotony,which persisted in 2 eyes through postoperative 1 week. Two eyes of the sutureless group developed hypotony 1 week after the surgery. Most of the hypotony cases were transient, but choroidal detachment occurred in 2 cases, and retinal detachment occurred in 1 case. In contrast, none of the sutured group developed hypotony. Intraocular air or gas tamponade significantly raised IOP 1 day after the surgery. When the operation was combined with cataract extraction, IOP was reduced postoperative 1 week and 1 month. CONCLUSIONS: The well-known risk factor of 23-gauge sutureless vitrectomy is postoperative hypotony. The present study showed postoperative hypotony can result in retinal detachment as a complication in contrast to previous studies. The authors conclude that suturing the wound for the prevention of hypotony is better, especially in cases with high risk of hypotony or definite wound leakage.
Cataract Extraction ; Choroid ; Eye ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Retinal Detachment ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Vitrectomy

PURPOSE: To report two cases of trabeculectomy with biodegradable collagen material conducted on two post-vitrectomy patients. CASE SUMMARY: The first patient was a 43-year-old woman with uncontrolled increased intraocular pressure (IOP) after pars plana vitrectomy with scleral buckling for diabetic retinopathy and vitreous hemorrhage. Another patient, a 28-year-old woman with aphakia, also had uncontrolled increased IOP after pars plana vitrectomy with encircling scleral buckling for retinal detachment. For both of these patients, we performed trabeculectomy using mitomycin C and recently developed biodegradable collagen matrix. In the first case, the IOP was increased three months after the surgery, for which needling was done. After needling, the IOP was well controlled in the range of 16 to 19 mmHg up to eight months postoperatively with stilling anti-glaucomatous eyedrops (Cosopt(R), Xalatan(R)). In the second case, IOPwas increased one week after the surgery, but it was well controlled between 14 to 21 mmHg up to nine months postoperatively with anti-glaucomatous eye drops (Combigan(R)). CONCLUSIONS: Biodegradable collagen matrix can possibly reduce the surgical failure of trabeculectomy and it is especially suitable for high risk patients when combined with anti-metabolic agents like MMC.
Adult ; Aphakia ; Collagen ; Diabetic Retinopathy ; Female ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Mitomycin ; Ophthalmic Solutions ; Retinal Detachment ; Scleral Buckling ; Trabeculectomy ; Vitrectomy ; Vitreous Hemorrhage ; Wound Healing

PURPOSE: Recently, biodegradable collagen matrix has been used as a possible substitute for anti-metabolite in trabeculectomy in order to control the responsiveness of the wound healing process. This paper reports a case of encapsulation of the biodegradable collagen matrix after trabeculectomy. CASE SUMMARY: We conducted a fornix-based trabeculectomy on a 58-year-old man with medically uncontrollable steroid-induced glaucoma. We implanted biodegradable collagen matrix onto the sclera flap beneath the conjunctiva. Immediately after the surgery, we observed a localized bleb with high elevation. In the three months of follow-up, the bleb became encapsulated, and an increase in intraocular pressure was noted. During the wound revision, encapsulated material surrounded by thick fibrous membrane was found and removed from the subconjunctival space, followed by biopsy. Biopsy results demonstrated that amorphous collagenous material was surrounded by spindle and inflammatory cells. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to note that the fibrous encapsulation of collagen material is a possible complication of biodegradable collagen matrix-augmented trabeculectomy.
Biopsy ; Blister ; Collagen ; Conjunctiva ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glaucoma ; Glycosaminoglycans ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Membranes ; Middle Aged ; Sclera ; Trabeculectomy ; Wound Healing

PURPOSE: Prosthodontics education of Korean dental schools is developing under liberal regulation according to the character of each school. Diversity in the current environment and condition for each school make it impossible to apply the same and uniform education curriculum. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to analyze and validate the status of the 2012 prosthodontics education curriculum in Korean dental schools, and to suggest future direction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey was completed by all the 11 dental schools in South Korea. RESULTS: The number of students, age, sex, credits for prosthodontics lecture and practice courses, evaluation method before senior students' clinical practice, modalities for minimum requirement for graduation, beginning and finishing timing of clinical practice and faculty personnel involved in the education varied among the dental schools. CONCLUSION: High-quality educators leading an expanded teaching personnel are required, education hours must be increased and efficient curriculum must be organized to improve the prosthodontics education.
Curriculum ; Humans ; Prosthodontics ; Schools, Dental

Nausea and emesis are a major side effect and obstacle for chemotherapy in cancer patients. Employ of antiemetic drugs help to suppress chemotherapy-induced emesis in some patients but not all patients. Ginger, an herbal medicine, has been traditionally used to treat various kinds of diseases including gastrointestinal symptoms. Ginger is effective in alleviating nausea and emesis, particularly, for cytotoxic chemotherapy drug-induced emesis. Ginger-mediated antiemetic effect has been attributed to its pungent constituents-mediated inhibition of serotonin (5-HT) receptor activity but its cellular mechanism of action is still unclear. Emetogenic chemotherapy drugs increase 5-HT concentration and activate visceral vagal afferent nerve activity. Thus, 5-HT mediated vagal afferent activation is essential to provoke emesis during chemotherapy. In this experiment, water extract of ginger and its three major pungent constituent's effect on 5-HT-evoked responses were tested on acutely dispersed visceral afferent neurons with patch-clamp methods. The ginger extract has similar effects to antiemetic drug ondansetron by blocking 5-HT-evoked responses. Pungent constituents of the ginger, [6]-shogaol, [6]-gingerol, and zingerone inhibited 5-HT responses in a dose dependent manner. The order of inhibitory potency for these compounds were [6]-shogaol>[6]-gingerol>zingerone. Unlike well-known competitive 5-HT3 receptor antagonist ondansetron, all tested ginger constituents acted as non-competitive antagonist. Our results imply that ginger and its pungent constituents exert antiemetic effects by blocking 5-HT-induced emetic signal transmission in vagal afferent neurons.
Antiemetics ; Drug Therapy ; Ginger* ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Nausea ; Neurons* ; Neurons, Afferent ; Ondansetron ; Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT3 ; Serotonin* ; Visceral Afferents* ; Vomiting ; Water

The intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii has unique dense granule antigens (GRAs) that are crucial for host infection. Emerging evidence suggests that GRA8 of T. gondii is a promising serodiagnostic marker in toxoplasmosis. However, little is known about the intracellular regulatory mechanisms involved in GRA8-induced host responses. We found that GRA8 interacts with host proteins involved in mitochondria activation and might be useful as a therapeutic strategy for sepsis. Here, we show that protein kinase-Cα (PKCα)-mediated phosphorylation of T. gondii GRA8 (Thr220) is required for mitochondrial trafficking and regulates the interaction of C terminal of GRA8 with nucleotide binding domain of ATP5A1. Furthermore, GRA8 interacts with SIRT3 in mitochondria, facilitating ATP5A1 deacetylation (K506 and K531), adenosine triphosphate production and subsequent anti-septic activity in vivo. Taken together, these results demonstrate a new anti-sepsis therapeutic strategy using T. gondii GRA8-induced mitochondrial metabolic resuscitation. This strategy represents an urgently needed paradigm shift for therapeutic intervention.

OBJECTIVE: Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by elevated impulsivity, even during periods of remission. Many recovered BD patients have functional impairments, which can lead to poor quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between impulsivity and QoL in euthymic BD patients. METHODS: A total of 56 remitted or recovered patients with type I or II BD, diagnosed based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria, were recruited. Psychiatrists administered the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) for BD and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scales and then interviewed the subjects to assess clinical variables. Patients completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument-Brief Form (WHOQoL-BREF). Pearson correlations, univariate regression analyses, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: The BIS-11 total score was significantly correlated with the WHOQoL-BREF total score (r=-0.55, p<0.01) and with the WHOQoL-BREF subscales. After controlling for GAF score and other clinical variables, the BIS-11 total score (beta=-0.43, p=0.001) was independently associated with overall QoL. Additionally, the BIS-11 total score was particularly strongly associated with the physical, psychological, and social domains of the multi-dimensional QoL scale. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that high impulsivity is related to low QoL in euthymic BD patients. Further studies are needed to examine whether interventions for high impulsivity effectively improve QoL in patients with BD.
Impulsive Behavior ; Bipolar Disorder* ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Psychiatry ; Quality of Life* ; Weights and Measures ; World Health Organization