History of hospital is one of main fields of researches in medical history. Besides writing a history of an individual hospital, considerable efforts have been made to trace the origin of hospital. Those who quest for the origin of hospital are faced with an inevitable problem of defining hospital. As the different definition can lead to a different outcome, it is important to make a clear definition. In this article, the hospital was defined as an institution in which patients are housed and given medical treatments. According to the definition, the Great Basilius is regarded to have created the first hospital in 369 CE. The creation of hospital is considered to be closely related with Christian philantrophy. However, the question is raised against this explanation. As the religious philantrophy does not exclusively belong to the Christianity alone, more comprehensive and persuasive theory should be proposed to explain why the first hospital was created in the Christian World, not in the Buddhistic or other religious world. Furthermore, in spite of sharing the same Christian background, why the first hospital appeared in Byzantine Empire, not in Western Roman Empire, also should be explained. My argument is that Asclepius cult and the favorable attitude toward medicine in Greek world are responsible to the appearance of the first hospital in Byzantine Empire. The evangelic work of Jesus was heavily depended on healing activities. The healing activities of Jesus and his disciples were rivalled by Asclepius cult which had been widely spread and practiced in the Hellenistic world. The temples of Asclepius served as a model for hospital, for the temples were the institution exclusively reserved for the patients. The exclusive housing of patients alone in the temples of Asclepius is clearly contrasted with the other early forms of hospitals in which not only patients but also the poor, foreigners and pilgrims were housed altogether. Toward the healing god Asclepius, the Latin Church fathers and Greek Church fathers showed significant difference of attitudes. The Latin fathers were generally very critical on Asclepius while the Greek fathers were more favorable to the same healing god. This difference is also considered to be an important factor that can explain why the first hospital appeared in the Byzantine Empire.
Byzantium ; Christianity* ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Fathers ; Greek World ; Housing ; Humans ; Parturition* ; Roman World ; Writing

This paper strongly rejects the notion that the use of biomedical terms to represent traditional Chinese medical concepts is helpful to the internationalization of Chinese medicine. It further argues that this practice destroys the integrity and independence of Chinese medical concepts. Taking the term fēng huo yan as an example, it shows that the biomedical term "acute conjunctivitis" often suggested as the translation for this term is unsatisfactory, because (1) the clinical reference is not identical, (2) it introduces the concepts of "conjunctiva" and "inflammation" , which are not Chinese medical concepts, and (3) destroys the Chinese medical concepts "wind" and "fire" expressed in the Chinese, which reflect the way the disease is traditionally diagnosed and treated. While for English readers not familiar with Chinese medicine, "acute conjunctivitis" may be immediately intelligible, for those seeking a deep understanding of the subject, the literal translation (loan translation) "wind-fire eye" is much more helpful. This paper supports these arguments with numerous other examples.
Humans ; Language ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Terminology as Topic ; Translating ; Western World

Since the first case of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Guinea was reported in March 2014 by World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak has continued through the year and the total number of 19,065 patients was reported as the confirmed or suspected in the EVD-affected countries. Among the cases, 7,388 patients were reported death by 19 December. Currently, available therapeutics to treat the infected patients or vaccines to prevent people from infection is not developed yet while viral diagnostic methods were already developed and firmly established in a lot of countries as a first step for the preparedness of Ebola outbreak. Some potential therapeutic materials including ZMapp were supplied and the treated people got over the EVD. Several candidates of vaccines also were investigated their efficacy in animal models by National Institute of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense, and they are processing of clinical tests in West Africa aiming to finish the development by the 2015. Vaccine and therapeutic development is essential to stop the EVD outbreak in West Africa, also to protect the world from the risk which can be generated by potential spread of Ebola virus.
Africa, Western ; Ebolavirus ; Guinea ; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola ; Humans ; Models, Animal ; Vaccines ; World Health Organization

Tuberculosis is a multi-organ disease. The incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis is declining due to improvement in public health, vaccination and the development of anti-tuberculosis medication, but extrapulmonary tuberculosis has become more common, especially in immuno-compromised individuals, AIDS patients and immigrants to western worlds. Gastrointestinal tuberculosis continues to give rise to diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. The jejunal tuberculosis is uncommon and presents a difficult diagnostic problem. Bleeding jejunal tuberculosis is a very rare source of lower gastrointestinal bleeding. We have recently experienced a case of a jejunal tuberculosis which was proven to be a source of gastrointestinal bleeding by intraoperative endoscopy and was confirmed by surgical exploration. This report summarized our experience and review of literature.
Emigrants and Immigrants ; Endoscopy* ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Public Health ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; Vaccination ; Western World

Endoscopic submucosal dissection is a technically challenging but highly effective technique for the treatment of well selected early neoplasms in the digestive tract. Although it is frequently performed in East Asian countries, the Western world has not adopted this technique yet, probably due in part to the difficulty to learn it. Ex vivo and in vivo animal models are invaluable tools to overcome at least the beginning of the learning curve, although the initial step is the acquisition of basic knowledge about early diagnosis of neoplasias, and observing real procedures in expert centers. The practical issues, advantages, and disadvantages of the ex vivo and in vivo models are discussed.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Early Diagnosis ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Learning Curve ; Models, Animal ; Western World

Generally it has been thought that the modern western medicine was introduced into Korea by Japanese physicians and Western missionaries. But some recent studies have revealed that in the late Choson period, Koreans and Korean government played the essential roles in the introduction of it. This paper summarized and discussed the self-reliant activities of Koreans at the time, mainly in introducing the smallpox vaccination method and establishing Jejoong-Won Hospital, the first modern hospital in Korea.
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; Hospitals/*history ; Korea ; *Medicine ; Smallpox/*history ; Vaccination/*history ; Western World

BACKGROUNDS: There has been some discordance in the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) probably due to different diagnostic criteria used by different study groups. The aims of this study was to determine the degree of agreement between different standard definitions and to test the validity of applying these different standards in epidemiological investigations of IBS among Korean population. METHODS: We recruited 1,038 patients who visited Yongdong Severance Hosipital for medical checkup and gave out the prepared questionnaires. Based on the returned questionnaires, degree of agreement between Manning, Rome I, and Rome II criteria was investigated by percent agreement and calculating kappa statics. Furthermore, clinical characteristics in different definition groups and patients of self-reported IBS were investigated and compared. RESULTS: Complete questionnaires were returned by 928 out of 1,038 subjects. The percent agreements ranged from 80.7 to 96.7 percent and kappa values ranged from 0.20 to 0.59. Best agreement occurred between Manning and Rome I criteria. Many subjects diagnosed as not having IBS by various diagnostic criteria of IBS thought themselves as having IBS. More sizable number of patients were suspected to have structural gastrointestinal diseases in IBS patients diagnosed by Manning, Rome I, and Rome II criteria compared with self-reported IBS subjects. CONCLUSIONS: It could be suspected that results of epidemiological investigations might be different according to standard definitions applied on each studies. Furthermore, some modifications of existing standard definitions of Western world would be required before applying them among Korean population.
Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Humans ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome* ; Prevalence ; Western World ; Surveys and Questionnaires

It is still not unusual to find an inapporpriate selection of presentation/discussion method not only in academic congress but also in medical school settings. The difficulty is partly reflection the cultural difference in oriental countries where peoples in Chinese letter-culture territories including Korea, Japan, and China compared to the western world, are accustomed to develop their compen tencies by reading rather than discussion or other oral presentation. In this paper I describe various methods of presentation and small groups discussion techniques in academic congress and teaching/learning process in medical school. Included are the purpose, characteristics, advantages and limitations in each major method such as symposium, panel discussion, workshop and forum required for adequate selection to meet the purpose of the meeting. Informations related to group dynamics and appropriate operational procedure for each technique are added.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; China ; Education ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Schools, Medical* ; Western World

OBJECTIVE: Survivin is one of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein family proteins, which inhibits apoptosis through pathway different from that involving the Bcl-2 family. Overexpression of survivin has been reported in the most common human cancers. The purpose of this study is to investigate survivin expression and its relevance to histological malignancy and apoptosis of brain tumors. METHODS: Seventy-eight consecutive patients with brain tumor, who underwent operation, were included in this study. Pathological types of brain tumor were classified by World Health Organizaton classification. Survivin expression was detected by Western blot analysis and apoptosis was examined by DNA fragmentation. RESULTS: Survivin was expressed in 32(41.0%) of 78 patients with brain tumor and apoptosis was detected in 14(21.9%) patients. Histological malignancy of brain tumors was not correlated with survivin expression or apoptosis(p>0.05). However, survivin-positive tumors were strongly associated with anti-apoptosis(p=0.000) and apoptosis was significantly relevant to survivin-negative tumors(p=0.006). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that survivin expression is strongly related to the apoptosis of brain tumors, but not associated with biological malignancy. Therefore, survivin may be a potential target for brain tumor therapy based on apoptosis.
Apoptosis* ; Blotting, Western ; Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Classification ; DNA Fragmentation ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; World Health

This is the study of Jaedong Jejoongwon the first westernized hospital in Korea founded in 1885. To build the groundwork for study of Jejoongwon its size location building structure and medical functions were studied. At the same time the history of jejoongwon particularly that of the time when there arose a need for its moving and expansion was studied Jaedong Jejoongwon was founded in a renovated building. The building was formerly owned by Hong Young-sik who was killed while leading the Gapsinjungbyun. According to the existing block plan of Jaedong Jejoongwon when it was opened in 1885 it was located in the place which later became a park Nowadays this park is to northwest of the Constitutional Court At that time its size was about 600 p'yung As the medical school was built from end of 1885 to early 1886 Jejoongwon was expanded to north and its size was enlarged to 862 16 p'yung Jaedong Jejoongwon reflected the characteristics of western medical system When it was opened in 1885 Jejoongwon consisted of a servants' room an assistants' room the outpatient clinic the operation room (which was also used as the pharmacy) surgical wards women's wards and general wards In 1886 as the number of patients was increased and medical school was opened the function and the structure of hospital changed The most significant change was that a new medical school building was built as the nearby buildings were bought The medical school consisted of the students' dormitory a chemistry laboratory and classrooms Moreover new functions were added to already- existed hospital building a contagious ward a waiting room for outpatients an eye ward a darkroom a room for special diagnosis and treatment and a vaccination room Also from the time when it was first opened Jejoongwon needed the expansion as too many patients came in and the medical education was started Therefore in the summer of 1886 Allen positively explored ways toward the hospital's moving. At last in early 1887 Jaedong Jejoongwon moved to Kurigae on along with the development of medical education and medical treatment shows how the modern medical system was formed and developed in Korea.
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; Hospitals/*history ; Korea ; Medicine ; *Western World/*history