To get an estimates of the prevalence of cigarette smoking and the attitudes of the students regarding smoking, questionnaire survey was conducted with 856 students from each class out of 4 different years. Overall, 68.5 percent of male students interviewed were current smokers, as opposed to 7.4 percent of the women students. Most students started smoking before age 20 and smoked only filter-tip cigarettes. Even about half of current smokers consumed not more that 10 cigarettes daily, 55 percent of current smokers inhaled smoke into the chest. Cigarette smokers had a greater prevalence of phlegm production, related to their daily cigarette consumption and a higher average number of bed disability days. Most of the exsmokers stated that they had given up smoking because they feel sick when smoking. The decision to smoke seems mainly depends on a desire to follows the peer group attitudes. With regard to diffusion among college students and probably all high school graduates, a more logically designed prospective study would be necessary.
Adult ; Female ; Human ; Korea ; Male ; Respiratory Tract Diseases/etiology ; Smoking*

This paper uses the survey findings of rural Korean women from 7 non-representative areas from May 1981 through August 1981 to know the prevalence of exclusive and extended breastfeeding, the frequency of breastfeeding and the pattern of artificial or supplementary feeding. All mothers started out breastfeeding, but many were immediately supplementing from the first month. Thirty percent of mothers who delivered in clinics started to supplement from the time of birth. Exclusive breastfeeding rates fall steeply with age, while general extended breastfeeding rates fall slowly. Feeding rate on demand was 25.5% and more frequent among women with no past experience of breast-feeding and 74.5% of feeding was done on schedule. The most common, reason given for not breastfeeding was "lack of or insufficient milk." About 10 percent of mothers were advised to give cow's milk supplements by health personnel. Monthly supplementary feeding rates were gradually increased until the 12th month, with steep curves from the second through the 7th months. Cumulative frequency of infants having commercial weaning food reaches 20% at ninth months.
Age Factors ; Breast Feeding* ; Female ; Human ; Infant ; Infant Food ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Rural Population ; Time Factors

The purpose of this investigation was to provide an analysis of pregnancy outcomes among all married eligible women in a rural community. The target areas chosen were two townships on Kang Wha island. The study period lasted 24 months from April 1975 through March 1977. This paper presents the results of 1) a retrospective study 2) a prospective pregnancy followup study 3) a life table which provides the probabilities of pregnancy termination and estimated probabilities of fetal mortality. To obtain information on early pregnancies, all married eligible women were interviewed on their LMP at two months intervals. This enabled us to detect more pregnancies and fetal losses in earlier stages than would have been possible through customary reports from hospitals, registers of vital statistics and retrospective studies. All pregnancies reported in this study were identified through regular menstruation followup and subsequent confirmation of pregnancy in all cases where there was an amenorrhea for six weeks and more after the LMP using the pregnosticon test or other methods of pregnancy verification. All pregnancy terminations, losses to follow-up and continuing pregnancies at the end of the study period were then evaluated. Out of 1,106 pregnancies, 3l cases were lost to follow-up, 158 cases were pregnant at the end of the study period and 917 cases ended in deliveries during the study period. The estimates of the probability of normal pregnancy termination (pregnancy termination rates) are based on the number of terminations occurring in pregnancies exposed to termination risk during successive weeks of pregnancy. The pregnancy wastage rate turned out to be 23.6% in the retrospective study, 30.1% in the longitudinal study, and 34.5% in the life table. The estimated induced abortion rates were found to be negatively correlated with gestation period. The highest levels of induced abortion observed were 129 per 1,000 pregnancies under observation during the first 8 weeks of gestation and l47 induced abortions during the 9th-12th week of gestation. It could be shown by life table methodology that 87.1% of pregnancies continued beyond the 8th week and 72.7% beyond the l2th week. There after no remarkable change occured until the 37th-40th week, at the end of which period however, only 21.4% of the pregnancies continued. The life table technique allowed us to estimate that the cumulative rate of 1ive births from LMP to the end of pregnancy was 65.5%, induced abortion rate 29.5%, and stillbirth (including spontaneous abortion) rate was 5.0%. Also it appeared that, pregnancies which had continued throughout 8 weeks from LMP can be expected to continue on the average for 6.8 more months.
Abortion, Induced ; Actuarial Analysis ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Birth Rate ; Female ; Fetal Death/epidemiology ; Human ; Korea ; Pregnancy* ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Rural Population

No abstract available.
Neuroblastoma*

Peptic ulcer disease in children presents an interesting and sometimes difficult problem to the clinicians. Since the incidence is quite small in children, only small collected series have been reported in the literature. With the improvement of diagnostic aids (particularly radiologic equipments and greater attention paid by clinicians, peptic ulcers have been detected with increasing frequency. However, there is a paucity of information available concerning this disease in infancy and childhood in Korea. The symptoms and signs of peptic ulcer disease in childhood are obscure and have many differences from those of tihe adult, which too often go unrecogntzed until complications set in. The authors made on clinical observation on 14 patients with peptic ulcer under the age of 15 years, who had been admitted to the department of pediatrics of National Medical Center from Aug, 1972 to July 1978. The age, sex and seasonal incidences, type and location of ulcer, symptom curation, clinical and laboratory findings, complications and prognosis were analyzed and the data are summerized as follows. 1) The incidence of peptic ulcer in childhood was 0.33% of a total 4221 admissions, and the average number of patients of peptic ulcer per year was 2.3. 2) Among 14 patients, 9 cases (68%) were between 12 and 15 years of age, 4 patients (28%) between 7 and 11, and the majority (93%) were between the ages of 7 and 15. The youngest patients wea 4 year old male. 3) Sex incidence showed that males predominated in a proportion of 13:1. 4) Seasonal incidence was relatively high (inspring) (28.6%) and autumn (42.9%). 5) Three cases (21.5%) had gastric ulcer and 11 cases (78.5%) had duodenal (ulcer, 12 cases were diagnosed as primary type and 2 cases were) thought to be secondary type due to steroid therapy. 6) Duration of symptoms were variable, with the range between 1 week and 3 years. 7) The majority have abdominal pain (100%), vomiting (85.6%) and epigstric tenderness (71.4%), Other symptoms and signs were anemia (42.9%), indigestion (38.5%), melena (38.5%), epigastric pain (28.6%), general weakness (21.5%), weight loss (14.3%) and abdominal rigidity (14.3%). 8) Gastric analysis was performed in 5 patients, 2 of these patients had slight hyperchlorhydria, but 3 cases showed normal results. 9) Complications were found in 4 patients (28.6%). These were perforation (2 cases, 14.3%) and obstruction (2 cases 14.3%). Postoperative condition during hospitalization was excellent. 10) Among the chronic primary ulcer patients (12 cases), ulcer symptoms disappeared in 10 cases with medical treatment such as antacids, tranquilizers and other conservative treatments and within one month after treatments were discharged with improvement.
Abdominal Pain ; Adult ; Anemia ; Antacids ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dyspepsia ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Melena ; Only Child ; Pediatrics ; Peptic Ulcer* ; Prognosis ; Seasons ; Stomach Ulcer ; Ulcer ; Vomiting ; Weight Loss

No abstract available.
Anthropology, Cultural ; Female ; Genital Diseases, Female/epidemiology* ; Genital Diseases, Female/etiology ; Genital Diseases, Female/therapy ; Human ; Korea ; Medicine, Traditional*

The authors report a case of thoracic myelopathy caused by multiple ossification of the ligamentum flavum(OLF) combined with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament(OPLL). A 52-year-old man had progressive motor weakness and numbness in the lower extremities. Diagnosis was made from the MR imaging that provided useful information about the multiple lesions in the lower cervical and upper thoracic area and about the degree of spinal cord compression. The surgical approach consisted of two stages: Posterior decompression for OLF(first stage) and anterior decompression for OPLL, followed by interbody fusion(second stage). The patient had satisfactory improvement after surgical intervention.
Decompression ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Ligamentum Flavum* ; Longitudinal Ligaments* ; Lower Extremity ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Spinal Cord Compression ; Spinal Cord Diseases*

No abstract available.
Brain* ; Krukenberg Tumor* ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

OBJECTIVE: Whereas fusion with pedicle screw fixation has shown satisfactory clinical results, solid fusion has been reported to accelerate degenerative changes in adjacent unfused levels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of bone/ligament/bone integrity after subtotal or total laminectomies on the development of adjacent segment instability (ASI). The hypothesis that total laminectomy would increase ASI more than would subtotal laminectomy was analyzed. Material and METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 316 patients who were treated with posterior fusion and pedicle screw fixation between 1996 and 2001. After attempts to review all 316 patients and radiologic files, 36 patients who were diagnosed with ASI were carefully reviewed, including follow-up periods of 2-8 years. The medical records were carefully reviewed for recurrence of low back pain or neurologic symptoms after a period of postoperative relief, and the radiologic files were evaluated to determine instability. All patients had undergone single-level or multilevel instrumented posterior lumbar interbody fusion for intractable pain related to degenerative conditions of the spine. RESULTS: Patients over the age of 60 were at a higher risk of developing clinical ASI however,fusion length, level and gender were not associated with ASI. The ASI was noted to occur most commonly in the cranial segment prior to fusion. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed more frequent ASI after total laminectomy than after subtotal laminectomy, especially in elderly patients. The ideal procedure will be one combining maximal canal and foraminal decompressions with minimal resection of bony structures and supporting ligaments.
Aged ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Laminectomy ; Ligaments ; Low Back Pain ; Medical Records ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Pain, Intractable ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine

PURPOSE: Cavernosal smooth-muscle relaxation is essential for penile erection Reduction or dysfunction of the muscle fibers can be related to impaired relaxation of cavernosal smooth muscle. Our study was aimed at seeing the changes in penile smooth muscle and collagen tissue in patients with erectile dysfunction. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twelve impotent patients (study group; mean age 56.3 years) and five penile cancer patients (control group; mean age 57.6 years) were included. The cause of the impotence was Peyronie's disease, diabetes, and unknown in four patients each. Cavernosal tissues were obtained at the time of penile prosthesis implantation and fixed immediately in 10% Formalin. After staining with Masson's trichrome, analysis of smooth muscle fibers was performed using ImagePro. RESULTS: The smooth muscle ratio was 75.1+/-8.19% (SD) in the control group, 37.7+/-12.2 in Peyronie's disease, 37.1+/-18.4% in the patients with diabetes, and 52.2+/-10.6% in the group with no known underlying disease. There was a statistically significant difference in the smooth muscle ratio between the study and control group, but among the study groups, no significant difference was noted. CONCLUSIONS: Altered content of smooth muscle may contribute to the pathophysiology of erectile dysfunction.
Collagen* ; Erectile Dysfunction* ; Formaldehyde ; Humans ; Male ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Penile Erection ; Penile Implantation ; Penile Induration ; Penile Neoplasms ; Penis ; Relaxation