PURPOSE: This study is to understand how community members perceive past life recollection and preparation for death. METHODS: Using a questionnaire, we surveyed 160 adult residents of one of the districts (gu) in Seoul, Korea. Descriptive statistics were used. RESULTS: Participants chose their 30s and 40s as the most difficult time in their lives. The most painful experience was "an illness of a family member", followed by "trouble with a spouse", and "trouble with children". As for the most difficult social experience, "sense of loss in life" was ranked the highest. Personally, the happiest time was "accomplishment of a goal", while it was "happiness through children" in family relationship and "contribution to society through my career" in social life. As for the most regrettable experience, personally "having lived without purpose" was the highest, "not meeting my parents' expectation more" in family relationship; "not providing sufficient education" in relationship with children; "not having an occupation that I wanted" in work life, and "lack of social skills" in social life. More than 87% of the surveyed showed a positive attitude about the system of the do not resuscitate (DNS) order. For a situation where participants were supposed to have an incurable disease, "I want to be notified of the true condition" and "I want to write a will and advanced directives" ranked high, receiving more than 3.1 points out of 4. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate the need for death education to provide people with an opportunity to accept their regrettable experiences in the past as part of their life. Also, this study suggests the importance of writing advanced directives for people to prepare for"death with dignity" how it can help their decision to be better respected.
Adult ; Family Relations ; Humans ; Korea ; Occupations ; Writing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Brown tumor is a histologically benign lesion that is a serious complication of renal osteodystrophy because it may result in severe deformity and discomfort. We report a case of brown tumor, which occurred in a 35-year-old woman with chronic renal failure, who had been treated with hemodialysis for 14 years. The lesion was found on the lingual side of the mandible. Standard panoramic radiograph showed generally decreased bone mineral density, loss of lamina dura, and thin cortical plates. Computed tomography (CT) revealed multilocular expansile lesions with heterogeneous attenuation in the anterior mandible, as well as generalized trabecular alteration with homogeneous sclerosis, and thinning or obliteration of cortical plates. Excision of the mandibular lesion and curettage of the affected bone were performed.
Adult ; Bone Density ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Curettage ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Mandible ; Renal Dialysis ; Renal Osteodystrophy ; Sclerosis

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the death recognition, meaning in life, and death attitude of participants in the death education program. METHODS: A survey was conducted, and 205 data were collected. Descriptive statistics, chi-square-test, ANOVA, and Duncan test were used. RESULTS: 1) The followings were the characteristics of death recognition shown by the participants. Over half of the participants said that they had given some thoughts on their deaths, that they had agreeable view on death acceptance, and that diseases and volunteer works made them think about their deaths. Moreover, suffering, parting with family and concerns for them, etc. were the most common reasons for the difficulty of accepting death. As for 'the person whom I discuss my death with', spouse, friend, and son/daughter were the most chosen in this order. Lastly, the funeral type that most of the participants desired was cremation. 2) The means of meaning in life and death attitude were 2.92+/-0.29 and 2.47+/-0.25, respectively. There were significant differences between health status, meaning in life and death attitude. 3) A significant positive corelationship was found between meaning in life and death attitude (r=0.190, P=0.001). CONCLUSION: For an effective death education program that would fit each individual's situation, an educational content that can make a person understand the meaning of his or her life and death, includes knowledge to lessen the fear and anxiety of death, and helps a person heal from the loss of a family member is absolutely necessary.
Anxiety ; Cremation ; Friends ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Spouses ; Stress, Psychological

The purpose of this study is to develop species-specific DNA probes and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers for detection and identification of Prevotella nigrescens (P. nigrescens) 9336. This study procedure includes (1) whole-genomic DNA extraction of P. nigrescens 9336 (2) construction of the genomic DNA library, (3) screening of strain-specific DNA probe by reverse dot Hybridization method, (4) confirmation of strain-specific DNA probe by Southern blot analysis, (5) determination of nucleotide sequences of strain-specific DNA probe. Thirty-five restriction fragments of P. nigrescens 9336 genomic DNA digested with the Hind III were obtained. Reverse dot hybridization and Southern blot analysis data showed that three of them, Pn10, Pn23, and Pn35, could be P. nigrescens 9336-specific DNA probes. These data indicated that these DNA probes could be useful in detection and identification of the P. nigrescens 9336.
Base Sequence ; Blotting, Southern ; Clone Cells* ; Cloning, Organism* ; DNA Probes* ; DNA* ; Gene Library ; Mass Screening ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevotella nigrescens* ; Prevotella*

Objectives: . Otitis media is a common infection worldwide. Owing to the limited number of ear specialists and rapid development of telemedicine, several trials have been conducted to develop novel diagnostic strategies to improve the diagnostic accuracy and screening of patients with otologic diseases based on abnormal otoscopic findings. Although these strategies have demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy for the tympanic membrane (TM), the insufficient explainability of these techniques limits their deployment in clinical practice. Methods: . We used a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) model based on the segmentation of a normal TM into five substructures (malleus, umbo, cone of light, pars flaccida, and annulus) to identify abnormalities in otoscopic ear images. The mask R-CNN algorithm learned the labeled images. Subsequently, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of combinations of the five substructures using a three-layer fully connected neural network to determine whether ear disease was present. Results: . We obtained the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the optimal conditions for the presence or absence of eardrum diseases according to each substructure separately or combinations of substructures. The highest area under the curve (0.911) was found for a combination of the malleus, cone of light, and umbo, compared with the corresponding areas under the curve of 0.737–0.873 for each substructure. Thus, an algorithm using these five important normal anatomical structures could prove to be explainable and effective in screening abnormal TMs. Conclusion . This automated algorithm can improve diagnostic accuracy by discriminating between normal and abnormal TMs and can facilitate appropriate and timely referral consultations to improve patients’ quality of life in the context of primary care.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Obstructive jaundice is developed from the cholangiocarcinoma, biiliary tract stone, biliary benign stricture and pancreatic head cancer and is rapidly progress to cholangitis or sepsis. So early decompression, accurate diagnosis and treatment are very important. Percutaneous transhepatic choledocoscopy (PTCS) and endoscopic retrograde choledocoscopy (ERCS) have been used for evaluation of the obstructive jaundice. We performed, through the PTCS, electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL) for biliary tract stone rernoval, biopsy for diagnosis of biliary stric and self expandible metalic coil stent (EndocoilTM stent, Instent Co.) insertion on biliary stricture to evaluate the usefullness of PTCS in patients with obstructive jaundice. METHODS: Between Auguest 1994 and September 1995, PTCS was performed in 37 patients with obstructive jaundice. First, percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) with 7Fr. drainage tube was done. Three days later, we exchainged the 7Fr. drainage tube with 16Fr.. Seven days later, through the PTCS, we performed EHL, biopsy and EndocoilTM stent insertion.
Biliary Tract ; Biopsy ; Cholangiocarcinoma ; Cholangitis ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Decompression ; Diagnosis ; Drainage ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Humans ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Lithotripsy ; Sepsis ; Stents

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of postoperative maxillary cyst (POMC) diagnosis by panoramic radiographs versus computed tomography (CT) and by oral and maxillofacial radiologists versus non-specialists. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-five maxillary sinuses with POMCs and 63 without any lesion were assessed using panoramic radiographs and CT images by five oral and maxillofacial radiologists and five non-specialists on a five-point scale. The areas under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were analyzed to determine the differences in diagnostic accuracy between the two imaging modalities and between the two groups of observers. The intra-observer agreement was determined, too. RESULTS: The diagnostic accuracy of CT images was higher than that of panoramic radiographs in both groups of observers (p<0.05). The diagnostic accuracy of oral and maxillofacial radiologists for each method was higher than that of non-specialists (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The use of CT improves the diagnosis of POMC, and radiological training and experience leads to more accurate evaluation.
Diagnosis ; Maxillary Sinus ; Pro-Opiomelanocortin ; Radiography, Panoramic ; ROC Curve

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the morphologic features of posterior edentulous mandible for Korean patients using cross-sectional CT images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Computed tomographic cross-sectional views taken in 2004 and 2005 at Seoul National University Dental Hospital were analyzed by an oral and maxillofacial radiologist. Four indices were measured to meet the purpose of this study: 1) the horizontal distance between the alveolar crest and mandibular canal (Type), 2) the angle of the mandibular long axis (Angle), 3) the bucco-lingual location of mandibular canal, and 4) the depth of the submandibular fossa. The averages and standard deviations of the measurements were compared according to the location (the first and second molar area) and sex of the patients. RESULTS: Statistically significant difference was found in Type, Angle, and submandibular fossa depth between the first and second molar area (p.0.05). However, there was no significant difference between men and women in any of the measured indices. Most of the mandibular canals were located in lingual side of posterior mandible. CONCLUSION: More care should be taken when an implant is installed on the mandibular second molar area.
Alveolar Process ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mandible ; Mandibular Nerve ; Molar ; Seoul ; Submandibular Gland ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Follicular carcinomas are the second most common form of thyroid cancer, accounting for 10 to 20% of all thyroid cancers. Follicular carcinomas have a propensity to metastasize via the bloodstream, spreading to bone, lungs, liver, and elsewhere. We described the case of a 48-year-old woman who presented with swelling of the left preauricular area, which was a consequence of a metastatic follicular carcinoma of the masticator space. Plain films showed illdefined erosive bony changes from the left condylar head to the mandibular notch. Contrast-enhanced CT images showed a well circumscribed round mass with well enhancement within left masticator space. On MR images, the mass was heterogenously hyperintense to the muscle on T2-weighted images and isointense or hyperintense to the muscle on T1-weighted images, and showed good enhancement on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. Upon microscopic examination, the metastatic mass was found to be composed of fairly uniform cells forming small follicles containing colloid, showing capsular and vascular invasion.
Colloids ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Liver ; Lung ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Follicular carcinomas are the second most common form of thyroid cancer, accounting for 10 to 20% of all thyroid cancers. Follicular carcinomas have a propensity to metastasize via the bloodstream, spreading to bone, lungs, liver, and elsewhere. We described the case of a 48-year-old woman who presented with swelling of the left preauricular area, which was a consequence of a metastatic follicular carcinoma of the masticator space. Plain films showed illdefined erosive bony changes from the left condylar head to the mandibular notch. Contrast-enhanced CT images showed a well circumscribed round mass with well enhancement within left masticator space. On MR images, the mass was heterogenously hyperintense to the muscle on T2-weighted images and isointense or hyperintense to the muscle on T1-weighted images, and showed good enhancement on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. Upon microscopic examination, the metastatic mass was found to be composed of fairly uniform cells forming small follicles containing colloid, showing capsular and vascular invasion.
Colloids ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Liver ; Lung ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed