PURPOSE: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) generally varies depending on its diagnostic definition, and many different definitions inevitably lead to substantial confusion and lack of comparability between studies. Despite extensive research, there is still no gold standard for the definition of MetS, which continues to be a matter of debate. In this study, we investigate whether and to what extent its individual components are related to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Korean population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used data from the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is a nationally representative survey of the noninstitutionalized civilian population. The study sample consisted of 1,406 Korean adults (587 men, 819 women) who were diagnosed with MetS based on the revised National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) criteria. Central obesity is defined as a waist circumference cutoff point reported in Asia-Pacific criteria for obesity based on waist circumference by the World Health Organization. CVD was defined as presence of stroke, myocardial infarction, or angina pectoris on a medical history questionnaire. RESULTS: The CVD prevalence among the subjects was 6.8% for men and 8.6% for women. Besides age, the components of MetS showing a significant difference in the number of CVD events were high fasting glucose (FG) in men and high blood pressure (BP) and high FG in women. After adjusting for gender and age, high FG was shown to yield a significant difference (odds ratio: unadjusted 2.08, adjusted 1.81), alone among all MetS components. However, after adjusting for only age, no significant difference was found. CONCLUSION: Fasting glucose level is the highest predicting factor for CVD in Korean patients with MetS based on the revised NECP definition.
Age Factors ; Blood Glucose/analysis ; Cardiovascular Diseases/epidemiology/*etiology ; Chi-Square Distribution ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Hypertension/complications/epidemiology ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome X/complications/*diagnosis/epidemiology ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Sex Factors

A 4-year-old girl developed acute motor, sensory impairment, lower abdominal pain and urinary dysfunction after URI. In acute stage of disease, MRI showed diffuse spinal cord swelling and high signal intensity on T2WI below T2 body level. The patient did not improved and one month later, follow-up MRI showed diffuse spinal cord atrophy and syrinx formation as sequelae of ATM on T1WI below T9 level. To our knowledge, this is the first case showing the sequelae of acute transverse myelitis seen in Korea.
Abdominal Pain ; Atrophy* ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Myelitis, Transverse* ; Spinal Cord*

To evaluate the effect of pterygium on corneal astigmatism and visual acuity, we checked the corneal curvature and visual acuity before and after the operation for pterygium in 126 eye. In the cases of Grade I, the mean change of the horizontal corneal curvature was +0.32D and the mean change of the vertical corneal curvature was +0.07D (P<0.05). In the cases of Grade II, the mean change of the horizontal corneal curvature was +0.54D(P<0.01) and the mean change of the vertical corneal curvature was +0.09D(P<0.05). All of the horizontal and vertical corneal curvature increased after removal of the pterygium, especially the horizontal curvature increased more than the vertical curvature. As the pterygium invades the cornea more extensively, the corneal curvature increased more markedly. After the operation for pterygium the visual acuity was improved 1 to 2 lines at the Han`s visual acuity table in some cases, but there was no statistical significance (P>0.5).
Astigmatism* ; Cornea ; Pterygium* ; Visual Acuity*

No abstract available.
Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory* ; Peritonitis*

PURPOSE: This study was performed in order to evaluate the clinical characteristics, effect of treatment and prognosis in patients with testicular tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 42 patients with testicular tumor treated at our hospital. We analyzed the pathologic classification, clinical stage, preoperative tumor markers, treatment methods, clinical characteristics, and prognosis. RESULTS: The histologic type was seminoma in 11, teratoma in 10, yolk sac tumor in 5, embryonal cell carcinoma in 4, mixed type in 8 and secondary neoplasm in 4. Clinically, 31 patients were stage I, 2 stage IIa, 2 stage IIb, 1 stage IIc, 6 stage IV. Following orchiectomy, 22 patients underwent surveillance, 12 chemotherapy, 4 radiation therapy, 1 retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND), 2 radiation plus chemotherapy, and 1 radiation plus chemotherapy and RPLND. The 10-year survival rate was 90.9% in the cases of seminoma. Similarly, the 10-year survival rate was 96.0% in the cases of non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT). CONCLUSION: In our study, patients with testicular tumor revealed an excellent survival rate. Testicular tumors are solid tumors that have a possibility of complete remission by additional chemotherapy or radiation following radical surgery. Therefore, early detection and aggressive treatment were mandatory.
Classification ; Drug Therapy ; Endodermal Sinus Tumor ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal ; Orchiectomy ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Seminoma ; Survival Rate ; Teratoma ; Testicular Neoplasms ; Testis* ; Biomarkers, Tumor

The autoinfective filariform larva of Strongyloides stercoralis causes hyperinfection in immunosuppressed hosts. Here we report on the case of a male patient who was admitted to the emergency room at Gwangju Veterans Hospital with a complaint of dyspnea, and who was receiving corticosteroid therapy for asthma. Many slender larvae of S. stercoralis with a notched tail were detected in Papanicolaou stained sputum. They measured 269 +/- 21.2 micrometer in length and 11 +/- 0.6 micrometer in width. The esophagus extended nearly half of the body length. The larvae were identified putatively as autoinfective third-stage filariform larvae, and their presence was fatal. The autoinfective filariform larva of S. stercoralis has not been previously reported in Korea.
Aged ; Animals ; Fatal Outcome ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Larva ; Male ; Sputum ; Strongyloides/growth & development/*isolation & purification ; Strongyloidiasis/*etiology ; Superinfection/*parasitology

PURPOSE: Joubert syndrome presents neonatal respiratory abnormalities and other clinical manifestations. Pathologically the patients show hypoplasia or agenesis of cerebellar vermis and other intracranial anomalies. Our purpose is to evaluate the clinical manifestations and MR findings of Joubert syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among the patients presenting with clinical stigmata of Joubert syndrome and agenesis of vermis on MR imaging, eight patients who did not satisfied the criteria of Dandy-Walker malformation, tectocerebellar dysraphia and rhombencephalosynapsis were selected. MR findings and clinical manifestation were analyzed. RESULTS: On MR imaging, agenesis of the cerebellar vermis (all cases), hypoplasia of the cerebellar peduncle (6cases), fourth ventricular contour deformity(6cases), tentorial elevation (4cases), deformity of the lateral ventricles (4cases), dysgenesis of the straight sinus (3cases) were demonstrated. Other findings were abnormalities of corpus callosum (3cases), falx anomalies (3 cases), occipital encephalomeningocele (2 cases) and fluid collection in posterior cranial fossa (2cases). Clinical manifestations were developmental delay (5cases), abnormal eyeball movement (3cases), hypotonia (2 cases), neonatal rerspiratoy abnormality (2cases), etc. CONCLUSION: Joubert syndrome showed various clinical manifestations and intracranial anomalies. MR imaging is an useful modality in detection of the cerebellar vermian agenesis and other anomalies of the patients.
Christianity ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Corpus Callosum ; Cranial Fossa, Posterior ; Dandy-Walker Syndrome ; Humans ; Lateral Ventricles ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Muscle Hypotonia

No abstract available.
Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip*

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of aroma foot baths on stress and sleep in terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: We performed a non-randomized interventioncontrol study with 30 terminal cancer patients who were admitted to a palliative care unit.Participants responded to questionnaires on stress and sleep before and after a 5-day interval. The intervention group received a daily aroma foot bath for 5 days. We performed multivariate regression analysis to examine the changes in outcomes on stress and sleep for the intervention group compared to the control group. Results: The differences in baseline characteristics between groups, excluding subjective economic status and general weakness, did not show statistical significance. In contrast to the control group, the intervention group showed a statistically significant change in physical stress and psychological stress levels, but significant changes were not observed in quality of sleep. Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed a significant reduction in physical stress (P=0.068) and psychological stress (P=0.021). Conclusion Aroma foot baths are effective for reducing stress in patients hospitalized with terminal cancer.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of aroma foot baths on stress and sleep in terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: We performed a non-randomized interventioncontrol study with 30 terminal cancer patients who were admitted to a palliative care unit.Participants responded to questionnaires on stress and sleep before and after a 5-day interval. The intervention group received a daily aroma foot bath for 5 days. We performed multivariate regression analysis to examine the changes in outcomes on stress and sleep for the intervention group compared to the control group. Results: The differences in baseline characteristics between groups, excluding subjective economic status and general weakness, did not show statistical significance. In contrast to the control group, the intervention group showed a statistically significant change in physical stress and psychological stress levels, but significant changes were not observed in quality of sleep. Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed a significant reduction in physical stress (P=0.068) and psychological stress (P=0.021). Conclusion Aroma foot baths are effective for reducing stress in patients hospitalized with terminal cancer.