Most of the pneumoconiosis, which is common occupational diseases, is found here in Korea can be Gategorized to coal miner's pneumoconiosis. However, recently pneumoconiosis has been found in tHe workers of manufacturing factories, Periodic Health examination is important not only detection of occupationsl disease but also post-examination Health care of occupational disease patient. Accordingly, to study post-examination Health GaTe statHs of workers with pneumoconiosis diagnosed from 1991 to 1993 in the perioaic Health examination, all 43 pneumoconiosis patients in 22 manufacturing factories in Incheon were reviewed. Chest radiologic findings of 43 workers were suspected pneumoconiosis (20 workers, 46.5%) , pneumoconiosis stage 1(20 workers, 45.5%) and pneumoconiosis stage II (3 workers, 7.0%) . Among the 1.espondents, 40 workers (93.0%) answered that they received their health examination results and 24 werkers (55.8%) Had reguest for compensation of occupationsl disease. Only 14 workers(32.6%) Had changed their workplace while 21 workers (48.8%) did not. Reasons for not taking the post-examination health care enough were worker's ignorance of adminstrative process for Compensation (28 workers,65.1%) , mild status of dlsease (6 workers, 14.0%) and financial problem (3 workers, 7.0%) . Post~examination health care of the workers diagnosed as pneumoconiosis had significant correlation with the presence of health care manager in workplace and the employer concerns for occupational disease of workers. The improvement of working environment is related witH the presence of labor union in workplace. These results suggested that the presence of health care manager in the workplace and concerns for workers health by employer were important in performing appropriate post-examination health care for workers with pneumoconiosis in manufacturing factories.
Coal ; Compensation and Redress ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Humans ; Incheon ; Korea ; Labor Unions ; Occupational Diseases ; Pneumoconiosis* ; Thorax

A retrospective analysis was made of 20 patients with pineal region tumors who were treated at the Department of Neurosurgery, Capital Armed Forces General Hospital between May of 1987 and March of 1993. We performed ventriculo-peritoneal shunt in 17 patients with obstructive hydrocephalus. Tissue diagnosis was obtained in 7 patients before irradiation and 13 patients underwent irradiation without histological diagnosis. Among 7 biopsy-proven cases, 5 were germinoma, one was mixed germ cell tumor and another one was astrocytoma. The response to irradiation and tumor marker study revealed that 13 patients who did not have tissue diagnosis seemed to be germinomatous, non-germinomatous germ cell tumors and endodermal sinus tumor. So, the following results were obtained. 1) The patients were all young males. 2) The main presenting symptoms and signs were headache, vomiting and papilledema. 3) The tumors were mainly presented as a round well-enhancing masses with calcification. 4) Based on the classification of pineal tumor, germinoma was predominant tumor type. 5) The extrapineal metastasis was found in 5 cases(25.0%). 6) The tumor marker (alpha-FP or HCG) was positive in 5 cases(25.0%). 7) Germinoma showed excellent prognosis after the irradiation.
Arm ; Astrocytoma ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Endodermal Sinus Tumor ; Germinoma ; Headache ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal ; Neurosurgery ; Papilledema ; Pinealoma ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt ; Vomiting

No abstract available.
Humans ; Listeria* ; Meningitis, Listeria*

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and distribution of unexpected antibodies detected in the Korean population with race-specific RBC panel cells. In spite of a relatively high prevalence of Dia and Mia antigen phenotype in the Korean and Southeast Asian population, there has been little documented research on the prevalence and clinical significance of anti-Dia and anti-Mia in Korea. METHODS: We analyzed the results of 17, 664 antibody screening tests performed during the recent 30-month period from March 2001 to September 2003. Antibodies were screened and identified by using LISS/Coombs gel card with DiaMed-ID system (DiaMed AG, Cressier, Morat, Switzerland) including Dia and Mia panel cells. RESULTS: The prevalence of unexpected antibodies was 1.2% (214/17, 664); antibodies detected most frequently were anti-Rh (74 patients), followed by anti-Lewis (21 patients) and anti-Dia (15 patients). Out of 6, 345 patients, anti-Mia was detected in three patients (0.047%). Anti-Dia and anti-Mia had the specificity of IgG. Anti-Dia was thought as an immune-mediated antibody, whereas anti-Mia was considered as a mixed type with immune and natural antibodies. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that anti-Dia and anti-Mia antibodies are detected frequently in the Korean population; hence, it seems that Dia and Mia panel cells should be incorporated into antibody screening panels in Korea for safe transfusion.
Antibodies ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Korea ; Mass Screening* ; Phenotype ; Prevalence* ; Sensitivity and Specificity*

To investigate resistance to lamivudine (3TC), we examined the incidence of M184V in 20 HIV-1 patients treated with 3TC for 13.1 +/- 9 months. Fourteen of 20 patients had been exposed to zidovudine (ZDV) or didanosine (ddl) prior to 3TC therapy. Nested PCR targeting to reverse transcriptase (RT) and direct sequencing were performed for peripheral blood mononuclear cells sampled serially. There were resistance mutations to ZDV in at least 9 patients at baseline, although there was no resistance mutation to 3TC. We could detect M184V in 6 (30%) out of 20 patients. The incidence of M184V increased as the duration of therapy prolongs (13% in samples<12 months; 47% in samples gtoreq 12 months). The frequency of mutation M184V was higher in patients with previous mutation to ZDV than in patients with wild type. Resistance mutation was not detected in 7 patients. This study shows that resistance to 3TC tends to develop rapidly in patients with baseline mutations or two drugs combination therapy than in those treated simultaneously with triple drugs. This report is the first on resistance to 3TC in Korean AIDS patients.
Didanosine ; HIV-1* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lamivudine* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Zidovudine

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of D2 lymphadenectomy in elderly patients with gastric cancerby comparing the surgical outcomes and postoperative courses between an elderly group and a control group undergoing the same procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical information was reviewed for 1251 patients with gastric cancer who underwent gastrectomy between May 2004 and May 2007. Patients were classified into the following two groups: an elderly group (older than the average life span in Korea) and a control group (younger than the elderly group). Clinicopathologic features and postoperative courses after D2 lymphadenectomy were reviewed and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: There were a total of 120 (9%) elderly group patients among all those reviewed, and 86 (72.2%) of them underwent D2 lymphadenectomy. There was 27.5% postoperative morbidity in the elderly group, which was significantly different from thecontrol group (12.8%, p=0.003). However, on multivariate analysis, ASA score and combined resection were independent predictive factors of postoperative complications, while age was not predictive. CONCLUSION: Older age is not a predictive factor of postoperative complications in itself, and D2 lymphadenectomy can be safely performed in elderly patients with gastric cancer, provided they have good ASA scores and do not undergo accompanying combined resection.
Aged ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Multivariate Analysis ; Postoperative Complications ; Stomach Neoplasms

Low dose methotrexate (MTX) is widely used for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) due to prompt clinical response, relatively lack of serious side effects, tolerability and simplicity of medication. However, several serious adverse effects have been reported with the use of MTX. The prevalence of hematologic toxicity, including leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, megaloblastic anemia, and pancytopenia, is estimated to be 3% in MTX-treated RA patients. Pancytopenia, which occurs unpredictably, is one of the most serious adverse effects and the prevalence is estimated to be 1.4% and fatal pancytopenia reported to occur in 17% of these patients. Old age, impaired renal function, concurrent infection, hypoalbuminemia, increased mean corpuscular volume of red blood cell, concomitant medication such as trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug, are the risk factors of MTX induced pancytopenia. We experienced a case of fatal MTX induced early aplastic anemia in RA patients who medicated 3 times MTX (7.5mg/weekly, 22.5mg of cumulative dose) refractory to treatment with steroid pulse, recombinant human granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) and immunoglobulin.
Anemia, Aplastic* ; Anemia, Megaloblastic ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Erythrocyte Indices ; Erythrocytes ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Hypoalbuminemia ; Immunoglobulins ; Leukopenia ; Methotrexate* ; Pancytopenia ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Thrombocytopenia ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination

No abstract available.
Genes, pol* ; HIV-1 ; Humans* ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Zidovudine*

Toxoplasmosis is one of the most common opportunistic infection of the central nervous system in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS). There have been few reports of cerebral toxoplasmosis in patients with AIDS in Korea. In most cases, the diagnosis was assisted by serology and neuroradiologic findings. Making a reliable diagnosis of acute cerebral toxoplasmosis is difficult in patients with AIDS because of the lack of specificity of serologic data and neuroradiological findings. We report a case of 32-year-old man who presented with decreased mentality and fever. Brain MRI showed multiple ill-defined mass-like lesions in both basal ganglia and right thalamus. Stereotatic brain biopsy revealed small parasitic cysts which were filled with toxoplasmic bradyzoites in inflammatory brain tissue.
Adult ; Basal Ganglia ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Diagnosis ; Fever ; Humans ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Opportunistic Infections ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thalamus ; Toxoplasmosis ; Toxoplasmosis, Cerebral*

Toxoplasmosis is one of the most common opportunistic infection of the central nervous system in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS). There have been few reports of cerebral toxoplasmosis in patients with AIDS in Korea. In most cases, the diagnosis was assisted by serology and neuroradiologic findings. Making a reliable diagnosis of acute cerebral toxoplasmosis is difficult in patients with AIDS because of the lack of specificity of serologic data and neuroradiological findings. We report a case of 32-year-old man who presented with decreased mentality and fever. Brain MRI showed multiple ill-defined mass-like lesions in both basal ganglia and right thalamus. Stereotatic brain biopsy revealed small parasitic cysts which were filled with toxoplasmic bradyzoites in inflammatory brain tissue.
Adult ; Basal Ganglia ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Diagnosis ; Fever ; Humans ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Opportunistic Infections ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thalamus ; Toxoplasmosis ; Toxoplasmosis, Cerebral*