OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to compare the characteristics of psychiatric inpatients in mental health related facilities and community mental health services-utilizing patients by diverse factors in Korea. METHODS: Questionnaires were sent via mail to 140 standard mental health centers from October to December of 2008. 64 facilities responded and data of 461 mentally disabled who are registered at and utilize the services of these mental health centers were analyzed. T-test and cross-analysis were performed to determine the differences in the averages of the variables and the discrepancy in ratios, respectively. RESULTS: Differences between long-term psychiatric inpatients and community mental health services-utilizing patients were seen in characteristics such as gender, age, type of medical coverage, family support systems, diagnosis, age of onset, duration of hospitalization, community-dwelling period, and clinical symptoms and functions. It was significantly short in length of stay in facilities in users of community mental health services with comparison to institutionalized patients. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that invigoration of community mental health services is an alternative that can help deter long-term hospitalization.
Age of Onset ; Community Mental Health Services* ; Diagnosis ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Korea* ; Length of Stay ; Mental Health* ; Mentally Disabled Persons ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Drug abuse is one of the most serious problems among the Korean adolescents today and has been associated with delinquent behavior in adolescents. The number of adolescents who abuse drugs is increasing yearly. Solutions to the problem, however, have not been well developed. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a drug use prevention program which was developed by researchers. The program was a modified DARE(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program for Korean adolescents. MEHTODS: This study used an experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design with a convenience sample of 122 middle school students who were at one middle school located in Seoul. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire where 'knowledge and attitude about drug use', 'social skill', and 'self-esteem' were measured. The program had 12 sessions to improve knowledge and attitudes towards drugs, decision making skills, social resistance skills, management of stress and self-esteem of students. Teaching strategies for each session were varied : lectures, group discussion, role-playing, question-and-answer sessions and audiovisual materials. Paired t-test was used to analyze the differences between the pre- and post-test scores on knowledge of and attitudes towards drug use, social skills, and self-esteem. RESULTS: There were significant differences in knowledge and attitudes about drug use between pretest and post-test(p<.05), but no significant differences in social skill and self-esteem(p>.05). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the drug use prevention program was not effective in promoting social-skill and self-esteem of Korean adolescents. These findings might be due to the respondents being in the period of early adolescence(puberty) and not being good at group discussion. So, further study is needed to develop a drug use prevention program appropriate to students 9 and 10 years old, and to encourage small group discussion.
Adolescent* ; Child ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Decision Making ; Humans ; Lectures ; Seoul ; Street Drugs ; Substance-Related Disorders

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Drug abuse is one of the most serious problems among the Korean adolescents today and has been associated with delinquent behavior in adolescents. The number of adolescents who abuse drugs is increasing yearly. Solutions to the problem, however, have not been well developed. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a drug use prevention program which was developed by researchers. The program was a modified DARE(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program for Korean adolescents. MEHTODS: This study used an experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design with a convenience sample of 122 middle school students who were at one middle school located in Seoul. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire where 'knowledge and attitude about drug use', 'social skill', and 'self-esteem' were measured. The program had 12 sessions to improve knowledge and attitudes towards drugs, decision making skills, social resistance skills, management of stress and self-esteem of students. Teaching strategies for each session were varied : lectures, group discussion, role-playing, question-and-answer sessions and audiovisual materials. Paired t-test was used to analyze the differences between the pre- and post-test scores on knowledge of and attitudes towards drug use, social skills, and self-esteem. RESULTS: There were significant differences in knowledge and attitudes about drug use between pretest and post-test(p<.05), but no significant differences in social skill and self-esteem(p>.05). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the drug use prevention program was not effective in promoting social-skill and self-esteem of Korean adolescents. These findings might be due to the respondents being in the period of early adolescence(puberty) and not being good at group discussion. So, further study is needed to develop a drug use prevention program appropriate to students 9 and 10 years old, and to encourage small group discussion.
Adolescent* ; Child ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Decision Making ; Humans ; Lectures ; Seoul ; Street Drugs ; Substance-Related Disorders

Background/Aims: Metachronous recurrence incidences and risk factors following endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for gastric adenocarcinoma and dysplasias were investigated. Methods: Retrospective review of electronic medical records of patients who underwent gastric ESD at The Catholic University of Korea, Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital. Results: A total of 190 subjects were enrolled for analysis during the study period. The mean age was 64.4 years-old and the male sex occupied 73.7%. The mean observation period following ESD was 3.45 years. The annual incidence rate of metachronous gastric neoplasms (MGN) was about 3.96%. The annual incidence rate was 5.36% for the low-grade dysplasia group, 6.47% for the high-grade dysplasia group, and 2.74% for the EGC group. MGN was more frequent in the dysplasia group than in the EGC group (p<0.05). For those with MGN development, the mean time interval from ESD to MGN was 4.1 (±1.8) years. By using the Kaplan–Meier model, the estimated mean MGN free survival time was 9.97 years (95% confidence interval, 8.53–11.40) The histological types of MGN were not related to the primary histology types. Conclusions MGN following ESD developed in 3.96% annually and MGN was more frequent in the dysplasia group. The histological types of MGN did not correlate with those of primary neoplasm.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the influence of image compression on optical coherence tomography (OCT) images in eyes with diabetic macular edema (DME). METHODS: Twenty eyes of 30 patients diagnosed with DME were included in this retrospective observational case series. Horizontal OCT scans centered at the center of the fovea were conducted using spectral-domain OCT (Spectral OCT/SLO(R)). The images were exported to Tag Image File Format (TIFF) and then transformed to 10, 5, and 1 quality of Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format using Photoshop. OCT images were taken before and after intravitreal bevacizumab injection. The presence of intraretinal fluid, foveolar detachment, and photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) disruption were evaluated in each image. RESULTS: The mean (+/- standard deviation) size of TIFF images and 10, 5 and 1 quality JPEG images were 1712.0, 183.3 +/- 6.8, 90.9 +/- 4.3, 42.8 +/- 1.4 kilobytes (KB), respectively, before the injection and 1712.0, 189.5 +/- 9.1, 94.9 +/- 5.6, 43.4 +/- 1.8 KB, respectively, after the injection. The presence of intraretinal fluid, foveolar detachment, and photoreceptor IS/OS disruption identified in TIFF images was also identified in the compressed JPEG images. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of retinal OCT image did not influence the estimation of DME despite the JPEG image being compressed to approximately 1/40 of the original TIFF image size.
Data Compression* ; Humans ; Joints ; Macular Edema* ; Retinaldehyde ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Optical Coherence* ; Bevacizumab