Background: Insulin is known to act as second effector that provides potassium transfer from extracellular fluid to intracellular fluid, thus causing hypokalemia and arrythmia. We evaluated the effect of magnesium sulfate treatment on hemodynamics and serum potassium concentration, induced by continuous infusion of regular insulin solution in rabbits. Method: Twenty-four rabbits were divided into four groups for the experiment. Group I was given intravenouse injection of 5 ml of normal saline and continuous dripping of 7.5 U of RI. Group II was pretreated with 30 mg/kg of magnesium sulfate, followed by continuous dripping of 7.5 U of RI. Group III was given 5 ml of normal saline and 15 U of RI. And Group IV was administered 15 U of RI after 30 mg/kg of magnesium sulfate pretreatment. Venouse blood sampling was done before pretreatment, and after 5, 30, 60 and 120 minutes respectively. Heart rate and arterial blood pressure were taken at the same intervals. Result: 1) There was no significant change in serum potassium concentration in groups injected with 7.5 units of RI respectively (groups I and II), regardless of magnesium pretreatment. But in groups injected with 15 units of RI, the group that was not pretreated with magnesium (Groups III) showed a decrease in serum potassium concentration from 3.39+/-0.57 Eq/L to 2.29+/-0.71 mEq/L, while the concentration in the pretreated group (Group IV) decreased more significantly from 3.35+/-0.50 mEq/L to 1.81+/-0.41 mEq/L. 2) Pulse rate did not change significantly in groups that received continuous infusion of 7.5 units of RI (groups I and II) regardless of magnesium pretreatment, but increased significantly in groups injected with 15 units of RI (groups III and IV), pretreated or not. The pretreated group (group IV) had a more significant rise in pulse rate compared with the group that was not pretreated (group III). 3) In all of the groups, those pretreated with magnesium (groups II and IV) and those not pretreated (groups I and III), there was no significant change in systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Nor was arrhythmia detected. Conclusion: The above results indicate that while magnesium sulfate pretreatment at 30 mg/kg with insulin infusion affects serum potassium concentration, has an antiarrhythmic effect, and may induce tachycardia, it does not have any significant effect on blood pressure.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Arterial Pressure ; Blood Pressure ; Extracellular Fluid ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics* ; Hypokalemia ; Insulin ; Intracellular Fluid ; Magnesium Sulfate ; Magnesium* ; Potassium* ; Rabbits* ; Tachycardia

No abstract available.
Embryonic Structures* ; Humans*

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: Influenza is a highly infectious viral illness. The epidemics of influenza occur from the late fall to the early spring nearly every year and are responsible for several hundred thousand death per year all over the world. Influenza vaccine is the primary method for preventing influenza and its more severe complications. The efficacy of influenza vaccination have been well known in developed countries. The influenza vaccination has been recommended as one of the tentative immunization schedule for indicated persons since 1997 in Korea. But there are still no available data about them, even though nearly 5 - 8 million doses of influenza vaccine were used in a winter season. PURPOSE: To assess the clinical efficacy of influenza vaccine against influenza-like illness(ILI) among Korean elderly(age over 65). METHODS: Primary study design - a prospective field trial. Study subjects and method - We prospectively observed the 1,488 vaccinee and 1,425 non-vaccinee in a community(Nonsan city) from November 1 1998 to March 31 1999. The vaccinee were those who randomly selected 100-200 per 13 sub-region(Myon) in Nonsan city, and the non-vaccinee were those who had not vaccinated until January 1999 among the Nonsan city elderly cohort. This cohort was consisted of 5,787 elderly(over 1/3 of total elderly population) who had ever visited the community health center or 13 public health offices in Nonsan city in 1998. We followed up these two groups two times-in January and April 1999 - by telephone survey. The questionnaire included the questions about the health behaviors, medical history, socioeconomic condition, medical security type, physical function status, medical facility utilization in the season, symptom and signs of influenza-like illness, number and type of the flu, hospitalization or not. We did throat swap to isolate the virus of 490 patient who had influenza -like symptoms in the same period. RESULTS: Influenza vaccination was significantly reduced the incidence of influenza -like illness(fever or chilling sensation and cough or sore throat) in the vaccinated. The preventive effect of influenza-like illness among influenza risk group was about 32%(95% CI, 20%-44%). The illness duration of main symptoms of influenza-like illness(fever, cough) was significantly shorter in the vaccinee. The consistency of the survey was noted quite high from the analysis of the result of test-retest(104 person). CONCLUSION: Influenza vaccination significantly reduced the incidence of influenza-like illness(32%) among elderly.
Aged ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Cohort Studies ; Community Health Centers ; Cough ; Developed Countries ; Health Behavior ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Immunization Schedule ; Incidence ; Influenza Vaccines ; Influenza, Human* ; Korea ; Pharynx ; Prospective Studies ; Public Health ; Seasons ; Sensation ; Telephone ; Vaccination* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is known to mediate ultraviolet B (UVB)-induced skin inflammation However, there is still ambiguity as to which NOS isotype mediates the process in vivo. Furthermore, contradictory results have been reported on which cell types respond to UVB irradiation in vitro. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to evaluate the change of inducible NOS (iNOS) expression in vivo as a result of UVB radiation on the skin of a rat. METHOD: To examine the time-course change in iNOS expression in the rat skin, the rats were exposed to 400 ml/cm2 of UVB radiation, and skin samples were taken at various time intervals up to 48 h. iNOS expression on the skin of a rat was evaluated by both Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: From Western blot analysis, UVB irradiation induced inducible NOS (iNOS) expression in the epidermis at 12-48 h postirradiation with a peak expression at 24 h. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that UVB-induced iNOS expression was localized to the epidermis and infiltrating inflammatory cells in the upper dermis of the rat. CONCLUSION: iNOS was induced by UVB irradiation on the skin of a rat, mainly in the epidermis. Therefore, iNOS is supposed to be one of the major mediators with regard to inducing an inflammatory response in UVB-irradiated rat skin in vivo.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Inflammation ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II* ; Rats* ; Skin*

As the productive activities have vastly increased following industrialization and urbanization in the modem society, the resulting high mobility of people and goods have caused a sharp increase in the accidents in the work places as well as traffic accidents. In particular, deaths caused by injuries are generally concentrated in the economically active young peoples, producing incalculable losses to the society and nation as a whole. Advanced nations with superior medical care systems have succeeded in reducing incidents of such deaths by operating trauma centers. Especially noteworthy is the case of the United States where such specialized trauma centers have greatly contributed to reducing deaths from injuries in the non-urban areas with less access to medical facilities. At present Korea has no medical centers specializing in injuries. In large cities, the injuries are being treated tertiary medical facilities while in the provinces they are referred to small and medium-sized hospitals that constitute secondary medical facilities. Currently in Korea the Trauma patients are treated at general hospitals that consist of 726 secondary medical facilities and 40 tertiary medical centers nationwide. The secondary medical facilities which tend to take most responsibility for the treatment of trauma are generally deficient in medical staff and facilities (including operating and intensive care facilities). Despite such deficiency and limitations, no regulations exist regarding treatment or transportation of trauma patients. This article reports the outcome of a comparative analysis of the results of trauma treatments among different types of medical facilities based on objective data in the hope that such study would facilitate a comparison with the treatment systems of advanced countries and thereby contribute to a precise formulation of problems that must be addressed in this area.
Accidents, Traffic ; Hope ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Critical Care ; Korea ; Medical Staff ; Modems ; Social Control, Formal ; Transportation ; Trauma Centers ; United States ; Urbanization ; Workplace ; Industrial Development

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Female ; Mammaplasty* ; Mastectomy*

We experienced a case of erosive adenomatosis of the nipple (EAN) in a 20-year-old lady. She have had an eczematous, erosive and crusted nipple, on the right si.de, with a serosanguineous discharge for the past two years. The biopsy specimen of eczematous lesion on the affected nipple showed focal erosion and acanthosis in the epidermis. Florid intraductal epithelial proliferation and solid nests were scattered in the nipple stroma without showing any cellular pleomorphism. The lining epithelium maintained two layers of cells the inner colurnnar cells and the outer cuboidal cells. Chronic inflammatory infiltrates of relatively dense lymphohisiocytes were found in the surrounding stromal tissue, Paget cells or underlying malignancy were not seen, and a group of tumor netst was confined to the upper part of the subareolar tissue.
Biopsy ; Epidermis ; Epithelium ; Humans ; Nipples* ; Young Adult

Trichomoniasis, a common and sometimes distressing condition in women, is caused by infection of the genitourinary tract by the pathogenic protozoan Trichomonris aginalis(T. vaginalis). Men may also be infected, although frequently without any symptoms, and most cases of trichomoniasis are sexually transmitted. The best evidence for an etiologic role for T. vaginalis is in nongonococcal urethritis(NGU). In epidemiologic studies, T,ginalis has been isolated from 1 to 68 percent in men with NGU. The nurnber of NGU is increasing rapidly than gonorrhea in deeloped nations, and in some developing countries, especially in Korea, In view of the difficulties in findng trichomonads by direct microsco by in men, urine culture and serodiagnosis plays an important role in the diagnostic work. Urine culture, indirect fluorescent antibody test(IFAT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to elecect T.vaginalis in 221 patients with male NGU. These patients visited the VD Clinic of ChoongKu Public Health Center in Seoul from May to August, 1989 and from March, 1990 to December, 1991. The results obtained were as follows.: 1. T. vaginalis was grown from only one of the 221 samples on TPS-1 meida. 2. In 208 NGU patients, there were 10(4.8%) positive reactions on IgG antibody in IFAT. 3. In 208 NGU patient, there were 14(6.7%) positive reactions to IgG antibody in ELISA. 4. No statistical significant correlation was found between then sults of IFAT and ELISA in individual patients. In conclusion, 1. Male trichomoniasis in patients with NGU was detected at a, significantly low rate. Due to the small number of patients in the test, further epidemiologic stidies of trichomoniasis in male NGU patient are necessary. 2. Serologic studies (IFAT and ELISA) have detected sorre trichomoniasis in male patients with NGU. These tests seem to be helpful in the diagnosis of male t-ichomoniasis.
Developing Countries ; Diagnosis* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Female ; Gonorrhea ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Korea ; Male* ; Public Health ; Seoul ; Serologic Tests* ; Urethritis*

No abstract available.
Accidents, Traffic*