BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the functional and radiologic outcomes of additive augmentation sutures through rotator cuff for proximal humeral fractures stabilized locking plate in elderly patients. METHODS: We enrolled 74 patients over the age of 60 years who received internal fixation using locking plates for proximal humeral fractures. Of these, 50 patients had additive augmentation sutures through rotator cuff. The mean age at the time of surgery was 72.1 years (range, 60-89 years), and the mean follow-up period was 17.5 months (range, 12-62 months). The humeral neck-shaft angle and humeral head height were used as radiological markers to assess the effect of additive augmentation sutures through rotator cuff. We allocated the patients who received additive augmentation sutures into group A and those who did not into group B. RESULTS: At the final follow-up, the mean Korean Showlder Society score and Constant scores were 88.96 +/- 12.1 and 86.6 +/- 11.9, respectively, in group A and 86.21 +/- 11.8 and 85.3 +/- 11.7, respectively, in group B (p=0.368, 0.271). At the final follow-up, the mean loss in humeral neck-shaft angle from the time of immediate postoperative measurement was 1.6degrees in group A and 4.8degrees in group B, whereas the mean loss in humeral head height was 0.82 mm in group A and 0.52 mm in group B (p=0.029, 0.178). CONCLUSIONS: The surgical outcomes of internal fixation using locking plates for proximal humeral fractures were clinically and radiologically good in elderly patients over the age of 60 years without any observable complications. Further, the loss of humeral head shaft angle at the final follow-up from its initial postoperative measurement was significantly smaller in patients who received an additive augmentation suture than in those who did not. Thus, we conclude that augmentation sutures are a beneficial option for elderly patients that clinicians can consider at the time of surgical decision making.
Aged* ; Decision Making ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Humeral Head ; Rotator Cuff ; Shoulder Fractures* ; Sutures*

No abstract available.
Polydactyly*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Aorta, Thoracic* ; Rats*

Pulmonary carcinosarcoma(Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung) is a rare pulmonary malignancy, which is defined as having an admixtture of both carcinomatous and sarcomatous components. Pulmonary carcinosarcoma occurs most frequentlly in males between 50 and 80 years of age. It predominantly affects the upper lobe and/or the principal bronchi, and is associated with a history of smoking. Here, we report a case of pulmonary carcinosarcoma with a left lobe atelectasis due to an endobronchial mass in a 56-year-old male. After a left pneumonectomy, the pathologic stage was IIb (T3N0M0). Four months later, an abdominal mass was observed and exploratory laparotomy revealed metastases of the pulmonary carcinosarcoma to the pelvic cavity.
Bronchi ; Carcinosarcoma* ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pneumonectomy* ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Smoke ; Smoking

BACKGROUND: The pathophysiology of non ulcer dyspepsia remains unknown. But Several related factors have been investigated and psychologic factor is one of the possible mechanism. Alexithymia was introduced to explain the psychopathology of psychosomatic disorder. Until now alexithymia has been variously shown to be associated with many psychosomatic disorder, psychiatric disorder, even medical patients. This study is designed to investigate whether non ulcer dyspepsia has more relationship with alexithymia than other illness. METHODS: To compare alexithymia tendency between non ulcer dyspepsia and general medical patients, we collected sample from January to September 1999. Each group of 72 patients were tested using Toronto Alexithymia Scale. RESULTS: A rate of 37.5% of alexithymia was found in the non ulcer dyspepsia group compared with significant lower rate of 19.4% in the general medical patients group. CONCLUSION: Non ulcer dyspepsia patients had more alexithymia compare to general medical patients. This finding shows the alexithymia could be part of the pathophysiology of non ulcer dyspepsia.
Affective Symptoms* ; Dyspepsia* ; Fibrinogen ; Humans ; Psychopathology ; Psychophysiologic Disorders ; Ulcer*

Objectives: Frailty and sarcopenia are recent important concepts in elder health care. Sarcopenia is the most important factor influencing frailty, and exercise and nutritional status are known to affect sarcopenia. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between nutritional status, sarcopenia, and frailty. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional design. The subjects of this study were 411 elderly people aged 65 or older from 10 villages in Gyeongnam. The survey tools were the K-FRAIL for frailty, the GDS-SF for depression, the SARC-F questionnaire for sarcopenia, and the DETERMINE for nutritional status. Frequency analysis, the chi-square test, and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed using the SPSS 25.0 program. Results: As a result of the chi-square test, there was a significant difference in the nutritional status and the frailty proportion (p<0.001), and there was a significant difference between frailty and suspected sarcopenia (p<0.001). After adjustment, nutritional status was significantly associated with sarcopenia (OR=2.946, p<0.001). In addition, nutritional status was significantly associated with frailty (OR=2.958, p<0.001), and sarcopenia also had a significant effect on frailty (OR=5.898, p<0.001). Finally, even after including sarcopenia, nutritional status had a significant effect on frailty (OR=2.246, p=0.002). Conclusions Nutritional status can have both a direct effect on frailty and an indirect effect through sarcopenia, and it was found that sarcopenia also affects frailty. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate sarcopenia and nutritional status and to evaluate their levels in the elderly and to take appropriate interventions.

Purpose: This study was conducted to gain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of infection control nurses’ burnout experiences in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We recruited 11 infection control nurses (ICNs) who worked in hospitals in Korea through purposive sampling. Data collected through one-to-one, in-depth interviews were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Infection control nurses’ burnout experiences were categorized into five themes and 11 sub-themes. The themes were as follows: “challenges faced while playing a pivotal role in infectious disease management,” “conflict of interest prevalent inside and outside,” “physical and mental collapse,” “a long road to achieving stability in the infection control unit,” and “source of strength to endure.” Conclusion In light of the need to better prepare for future outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, the findings of this study highlight the need for strategic approaches, such as developing programs to provide psychological and social support for infection control nurses, as well as establishing a well-designed system of nursing care for infectious diseases to alleviate their burnout.

BACKGROUNDS/AIMS: The aim of this study is to clarify the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic hepatectomy, through comparing the early and late periods of perioperative outcomes. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 138 patients who underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy from January 2003 to June 2011, at Yeungnam University Hospital. We divided the total patients to early period (from January 2003 to February 2007, n=49) and late period (from March 2007 to June 2011, n=89) groups and compared the perioperative outcomes including the mean operation time, intra-operative blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and duration of liver function test (LFT) normalization. RESULTS: The mean operation time was 308 minutes (range: 140-510) in the early group and 193 minutes (range: 40-350) in the late period group (p<0.001). The mean intraoperative blood loss was 171 ml (range: 50-1,200) in the early and 44 ml (range: 0-400) in the late group (p=0.005). The postoperative hospital stay was 9.7 days (range: 4-31) in the early and 6.8 days (range: 2-9) in the late period (p<0.001). The ICU stay hour was 21.6 hours (range: 0-120) in the early and 2.8 hour (range: 0-24) in the late period (p<0.001). The duration of LFT normalization was 5.7 days (range: 0-39) in the early and 2.1 days (range: 0-20) in the late period (p=0.003). The perioperative outcomes in the late period were better than the early period, which showed a statistically significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic hepatectomy is feasible and can be safely performed in selected patients but requires a long experience in open liver resection and mastery of laparoscopic surgical skills.
Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Liver ; Liver Function Tests ; Postoperative Hemorrhage ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of severity of functional disability, caused by physical illness, on the depressive symptoms and depressive disorders of the elderly patients (above 65 year-old) with physical illness. METHOD: Complete medical and psychiatric evaluations were achieved on 138 patients, except the 12 patients, who were severely cognitively impaired (MMSE-K score;below 19), of the 150 elderly patients (above 65 year-old) with physical illness. Sociodemographic data and health characteristic data were systematically collected, and the severity of functional disability caused by physical illness was evaluated. Depression scales (KGDS, GDS, MADRS) on 138 elderly patients were executed. In addition, based on the 61 patients of the 65 elderly patients (above 65 years old) with physical illness, except 4 patients who were severely cognitively impaired (MMSE-K score;below 19), sociodemographic data and health characteristic data were collected. The clinical diagnosis by DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and KGDS on 61 elderly patients were performed, and their functional disability caused by physical illness was evaluated. RESULTS: The frequency of depressive symptoms showed 50.0%, 36.2%, and 35.5%, respectively in KGDS, GDS, and MADRS. The patients with severe functional disability caused by physical illness-compared with those with mild functional disability-had significantly higher score on the depression scales (KGDS, GDS, MADRS). The correlation between severity of functional disability caused by physical illness and depression scales was highly positive. Severity of functional disability caused by physical illness was the strongest contributor to the depression scales. In the additional study, 19.7% of patients were diagnosed as major depressive disorder, 18% of them as dysthymic disorder, and depressive disorder (major depressive disorder & dysthymic disorder) group-compared with nondepressive disorder group-showed significantly higher score on the FDRPT and KGDS. CONCLUSION: The frequency of depressive symptoms and depressive disorder in elderly patients with physical illness was higher, compared with those in general elderly people. Functional disability caused by physical illness most highly influenced on depressive symptoms. Thus, it is important to discriminate whether the elderly patients with physical illness have depressive symptoms or not. In addition, we assumed that KGDS was not only highly correlated with other depression scales (GDS, MADRS), but also had the high diagnostic power of dis-crimination for depressive symptoms and depressive disorder. This study suggested that KGDS was available in screening depression in the elderly patients with physical illness. It was necessary to study systematically the availability of KGDS in the future.
Aged* ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Dysthymic Disorder ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Weights and Measures

No abstract available.