There are some emergency situations when untested fresh blood should be transfused. Emergency blood donor tests(EBDT) have been done as an effort to protect these blood recipients from contracting transfusion associated infections in Seoul National University, Hospital. EBDT includes HBsAg, anti-HlV, STS, and ALT test. Anti-HCV test is not included because of the absence of appropriate test kit. A total of 534 tests have been done from June 1993 to August 1995. Among these, 495 tests(92.7%) have been done for blood donor screening, and 39 tests(7.3%) for emergency organ transplantation. Sensitivity and specificiy of the emergency HBsAg test were 69% and 98%, respectively. There were two RPR reactive blood donors, but no anti-HIV positive cases. Among 458 blood donors, 37 donors(8.1%) showed increased ALT level(> 45IU/L). The percent of agreement in HBsAg, elevated ALT and anti-HIV tests between emergent and routine blood donor tests, were 97.0%, 98.9% and 100%, respectively. Although false positive and false negative EBDT result may is useful, although limited, we think that EBDT is useful in protecting blood recipient from transfusion associated infections.
Blood Donors* ; Emergencies* ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Organ Transplantation ; Seoul ; Transplants

No abstract available.

The year 2020 marks the 112th year of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which is a historic organization of medical experts. Since its foundation the KMA has contributed to the promotion of the health and medical care environment as well as the establishment and development of related policies. In times of health and medical care crises in the country, the KMA has always fought at the front lines. However, recent internal conflicts in the medical community have caused a lack of consistency and persistence in responding to or pursuing various health and medical policies. It weakens the KMA’s social status and influence, raising demands for its improvement. The first step for the betterment of the KMA is to analyze its critical situation. This study assumes that the internal conflicts are caused by the KMA’s governance. Through an analysis of how the KMA is currently governed, this study highlights the problems and suggests a direction for improvement.

PURPOSE: Nebulizers are commonly used to treat children with asthma. Some pulmonary infections associated with contaminated nebulizer units have been reported. The aims of this study were to determine whether home nebulizers are repositories of bacteria and to ascertain how asthmatic patients use and maintain their nebulizers at home. METHODS: Fifty-five children with asthma aged 2 to 6 years were enrolled in this study. The parents were asked to bring their child's nebulizer units to regular follow-up visits. Bacterial samples which were obtained from the masks(or mouthpieces), nebulizer chambers and throat swabs were inoculated to blood agar, chocolate agar, and McConkey agar. Cultures were incubated at 5 percent CO2 incubator and observed after 24 hours. Parents completed a questionnaire regarding nebulizer usage and care in their child. RESULTS: Bacterial contamination was found in samples from 27(49.1%) of the 55 masks(or mouthpieces) and 24(43.6%) of the 55 chambers. The predominant microorganisms isolated were Acinetobacter baumannii, Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans. The questionnaire revealed that 40 parents cleaned the nebulizer units with tap water(and soap) and dried then, as they had received cleaning and drying instructions from a medical staff member. Seven organisms from nebulizer units were indistinguishable from the patient's throat isolates. CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated that home nebulizers in these asthmatic children were frequently contaminated with aerobic bacteria. Aerosolization might transmit these bacteria to their upper respiratory tracts. The education and training of home caregivers should include the principles of cleaning and maintenance of their child's nebulizer units.
Acinetobacter baumannii ; Agar ; Asthma ; Bacillus subtilis ; Bacteria ; Bacteria, Aerobic ; Cacao ; Candida albicans ; Caregivers ; Child* ; Education ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incubators ; Inhalation ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Medical Staff ; Nebulizers and Vaporizers* ; Parents ; Pharynx ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Respiratory System ; Staphylococcus aureus

To compare the antimicrobial efficacy of several antibiotics in the treatment of ciprofloxacin and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus(MCRSA)keratitis, we established a rabbit keratitis model by using MCRSA isolated from keratitis patient. A strain of MCRSA, approroximately 100 colony forming units in 10 microliterof phosphate buffered saline was injected intrastromally into the each cornea of New Zealand white rabbits. 30 rabbtits(30 eyes)were randomly divided into 5 groups and treated with either 0.3%ciprofloxacin, 0.3%trovafloxacin, 5%vancomycin, 5%cefazolin, or sterile deionized water.Topical antibiotics were administered every 15 min for 6 hours(750microliter). Rabbits were sacrified 1hour after the last eyedrop, and excised corneas were homogenized, diluted, and plated on BAP medium.Bacterial colonyforming units per cornea were quantified after 48-hour incubation. Aqueous humor were collected from each eye and drug concentration was counted with HPLC. The log1 0 value of colony forming units(CFUs)of vancomycin treated group was 4.85+/-0.64;ciprofloxacin, 6.16+/-0.46;trovafloxacin, 6.58+/-0.29;cefazolin, 6.25+/-0.25;and sterile deionized water, 6.57+/-0.33.In view of mean CFU, vancomycin showed greater antimicrobial activity and it was statistically significant(p<0.05). However, all of these treatment did not completely sterilize any corneas with 6-hour treatment. From these results, only topical vancomycin(5%)represented effective antimicrobial activity with short-term treatment in rabbit keratitis with MCRSA.
Anti-Bacterial Agents* ; Aqueous Humor ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Ciprofloxacin ; Cornea ; Humans ; Keratitis* ; Methicillin Resistance* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Rabbits ; Staphylococcus ; Stem Cells ; Vancomycin ; Water

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the efficacy of EMG biofeedback and pelvic floor electrical stimulation in the stress urinary incontinence patients by Kontinence HMT2000. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A group of 14 patients with stress urinary incontinence were treated with combined biofeedback and intravaginal electrical stimulation during 12 sessions from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. RESULTS: At immediate post treatment, subjective cure rate was 28% and improvement rate was 57% and failure rate was 15%. Thus the overall success rate for this treatment was 85%. The result of 3 months after treatment showed cure rate 14% and improvement rate was 43%. Intravaginal pressure increased by an average of 11.9 cmH2O. Increased vaginal pressure was found in 93% of the patients and more than 50% increment of intravaginal pressure was 71%. CONCLUSIONS: Combined biofeedback and pelvic floor electrical stimulation by use of Kontinence HMT2000 is effective for the patients who have good compliance, relative low degree stress urinary incontinence. In order to attain good results, a well structured program that teaches specific muscle exercise and the patients should be followed by regular interval reinforcement treatment.
Biofeedback, Psychology* ; Compliance ; Electric Stimulation* ; Humans ; Pelvic Floor ; Urinary Incontinence*

PURPOSE: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and urge urinary incontinence (UUI) have different mechanisms of action. We believe that alteration of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity may contribute to UUI because the lower urinary tract is regulated through the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Heart rate variability (HRV) allows measurement of autonomic nervous function, therefore we measured and compared HRV parameters in women with urinary incontinence. METHODS: From March 2008 to March 2010, we evaluated all patients who visited 2 university hospitals for treatment of urinary incontinence. Theywere performed 3-day voiding diary, urodynamic study, physical examination and routine laboratory examination. We excluded subjects who had diabetes, cardiovascular problems, or other condition that affect ANS. Patients with mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) were also excluded. Finally 47 women with SUI (group 1) and 29 women with UUI (group 2) were enrolled according to their symptoms and voiding diary. We compared their HRV parameters. And excluding 11 patients who had detrusor underactivity, we divided them again into group A, 53 women without detrusor overactivity (DO) and group B, 12 women with DO. We compared HRV parameters between DO and non-DO group. RESULTS: Older women had a higher incidence of UUI and DO. In HRV parameters, only the ratio of low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) was significantly higher in group 2 than group 1 (3.5+/-3.6 vs. 1.6+/-1.1, P<0.05). Also group A had higher mean LF/HF ratio than group B (4.3+/-3.8 vs. 1.9+/-1.9, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Increased LF/HF values indicate relative sympathetic hyperactivity over parasympathetic activity. Changes in ANS activity could indicate the presence of UUI and potentially DO.
Autonomic Nervous System ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Incidence ; Parasympathetic Nervous System ; Physical Examination ; Urinary Incontinence ; Urinary Tract ; Urodynamics

BACKGROUND: A and B transferase are glycosyltransferase that transfer N-acetylgalactosamine and D-galactose to H antigen, respectively and lead to the expression of A and B phenotypes in ABO blood group system. Reduced or no activities of serum A and B transferase were observed in some A and B subgroup individuals. Determining the activities of serum A and B transferase can be useful in discriminating rare A and B subgroups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ABO typing, saliva test, adsorption elution test and serum transferase assay were performed on samples from 12 individuals showing ABO discrepancy or weakened cell typing reactions which were referred to the Seoul National University Hospital to confirm their ABO blood types. Serum transferase activity was assayed by determining the ability of serum to convert group O RBCs into A or B cells. RESULTS: Determination of serum ABO transferase activity was useful in the identification of Ael (3 cases), B3 (2 cases), Bm (1 case), Am (1 case), Bx (1 case), O with weakened anti-A or anti-B (3 cases), and A without anti-B due to hypogammaglobulinemia (1 case). CONCLUSION: Determining serum A and B glycosyltransferase activity was proven to be a simple and useful tool for the classification of several ABO subgroups.
ABO Blood-Group System ; Adsorption ; Agammaglobulinemia ; B-Lymphocytes ; Classification* ; Galactose ; Phenotype ; Saliva ; Seoul ; Transferases

No abstract available.
Echocardiography ; Myocardial Infarction*

PURPOSE: The objective of this study is to investigate alteration of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in patients suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED) by comparing parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) between men with ED and healthy subjects. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed on 40 ED patients (mean age, 46.0+/-8.49 years) without any disease and 180 healthy control people (mean age, 44.4+/-7.83 years) without ED in our institution from June 2008 to July 2010. And electrocardiographic signals were obtained to measure HRV parameters for both patients and controls in a resting state. RESULTS: For the time domain analysis, square root of the mean differences between successive RR intervals (RMSSD) representing parasympathetic activity was lower in patients than controls although P-value was not statistically significant (P=0.060). For the frequency domain analysis, high frequency (HF) representing parasympathetic activity was lower in patients than controls (P=0.232) and low frequency (LF) representing mainly sympathetic activity was higher in patients than controls (P=0.416). Lastly, LF/HF ratio reflecting sympathetic/parasympathetic activity ratio was statistically higher in patients than controls (P=0.027). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with ED exhibited different HRV parameters compared with normal controls. This suggests that the patients with ED may have some kind of imbalance in the ANS and it may be possible that general imbalance of the ANS is one of the causes of ED. Thus, HRV analysis may give valuable diagnostic information and serve as a rapid screening tool to evaluate altered ANS activity in patients with ED.
Autonomic Nervous System ; Electrocardiography ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Heart ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Retrospective Studies ; Stress, Psychological