OBJECTIVES: To estimate the value of statistical life (VSL) and health damage cost on theoretical mortality estimates due to environmental pollution. METHODS: We assessed the health risk on three environmental problems and eight sub-problems. Willingness to pay (WTP) was elucidated from a questionnaire survey with dichotomous contingent valuation method and VSL (which is the division of WTP by the change of risk reduction) calculated from WTP. Damage costs were estimated by multiplying VSL by the theoretical mortality estimates. RESULTS: VSLs from death caused by air pollution, indoor air pollution and drinking water contamination were about 0.3, 0.5 and 0.3 billion won, respectively. Damage costs of particulate matters (PM10) and radon were higher in the sub-problems and were above 100 billion won. Because damage cost depends on theoretical mortality estimate and WTP, its uncertainty is reduced in the estimating process. CONCLUSION: Health damage cost or risk benefit should be considered as one scientific criterion for decision making in environmental policy.
Air Pollution ; Air Pollution, Indoor ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Decision Making ; Drinking Water ; Environmental Policy ; Environmental Pollution ; Methods ; Mortality* ; Radon ; Risk Assessment ; Uncertainty

The purpose of this study was to classify noodle meals into a few groups according to their menu patterns and cooking methods from the 318 noodles and Ttokgook menus of 360 elementary school foodservices around Busan and Gyeongnam province. Noodle meals with high frequency were also analyzed by season and region to give information for menu planning and to improve elementary school foodservices. The menus were collected from the internet (http://www.kdclub.com) and the home pages of elementary schools between December 2004 and September 2005. Taking all kinds of noodle meals together, the serving frequencies were significantly different among regions, but were not different from season to season. Three different menu patterns were revealed from the collected noodle menus. The most frequently served menu pattern was "main dish + starchy food & dessert + fruit & beverage + kimchi" Gooksu, Ttokgook, Udong, and Kalgooksu meals were served with this menu pattern. The menu pattern of Jajangmeon meal was "main dish + side-dish + starchy food & dessert + fruit & beverage + (kimchi)" . For the Bibimmeon and the spaghetti meals "main dish + soup + starchy food & dessert + fruit & beverage + kimchi" was used. Ttigim, Danmugy, Saengchae, and chicken were frequently selected as side dishes in the overall noodle menus. More side dishes of a wide variety were served in Ttokgook meal, whereas Danmugy was the most preferred food item as a side dish with Jajangmeon and Udong meals. Corndog, Mandu, Ttok, Matang, and doughnut were preferred food items as a "starchy food & dessert" with most kinds of noodle meals, except spaghetti with which only garlic-bread was served. The fruit and beverage items were not different with the majority of noodle meals. These results suggest that cost, food habits, compatible flavor combinations, and food preference of children rather than nutritional considerations contributed to the selection of food items for the components of noodle meals in the school foodservices.
Beverages ; Busan* ; Chickens ; Child ; Cooking ; Food Habits ; Food Preferences ; Fruit ; Humans ; Internet ; Meals* ; Menu Planning ; Seasons

The isolated idiopathic finger flexor tenosynovitis is a rare condition, related to diversed etiologies. The traditional treatment of flexor tenosynovitis includes medications and injection of steroids. If the conservative treatment is not effective, surgical management is usually recommended. And alcohol installations have been rarely performed. We are reporting an extremely rare case of a 56-year-old man who had chronic idiopathic isolated finger flexor tenosynovitis which was treated through alcohol injections. The patient had not yet been treated despite of medication and serial injections of steroid. We performed 1 mL of 50% ethanol injection for the initial treatment and the second injection was done in the same way 10 months later due to the improvements of the patient's clinical symptoms and images of the follow-up ultrasonography. As a result, the authors suggest alcohol installation as an alternative non-surgical treatment for flexor tenosynovitis when other conservative managements are not effective enough.
Alcohols ; Ethanol ; Fingers ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Steroids ; Tenosynovitis

The picosecond lasers have shown to effectively treat tattoo pigments that are intractable to previous multiple Q-switched (QS) laser treatments. Therefore we hypothesized that a picosecond laser would show better efficacy with minimal adverse events in the treatment of melasma and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) that are difficult to treat with conventional QS lasers. Two patients with melasma and one patient with PIH were treated with a Picosecond 755-nm Alexandrite Laser (Cyanosure, USA). All patients were Korean with skin type IV and no longer responding to QS laser treatments. Laser treatment was well tolerated in all the patients. Adverse events such as PIH were not reported during 8 weeks of follow up period. After the multiple treatment sessions, one patient reported fair improvement and two patients reported good improvement. Consistent with the clinical results, ex vivo skin model irradiated with a Picosecond 755-nm Alexandrite Laser also showed decreased epidermal keratinocyte necrosis compared with the 532-nm QS Neodymium-Doped Yttrium Aluminium Garnet Laser (Lutronic, Korea) yet decreased melanin content. In conclusion, the Picosecond 755-nm Alexandrite Laser may be useful for effective treatment of intractable melasma and PIH with fewer adverse events in dark Asian skin.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hyperpigmentation* ; Keratinocytes ; Lasers, Solid-State* ; Melanins ; Melanosis* ; Necrosis ; Skin ; Yttrium

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a sex education program, which was based on the Health Belief Model, on knowledge related to sexually transmitted diseases and sexual autonomy among university students. METHOD: A non-equivalent control group, pretest-posttest design was used. The four session program was delivered to 18 students during 4 weeks; the control group consisted of 23 students. The theme of the first session was "sex, gender, and sexuality: all our concern", "dangerous sex" for the second session, " safe sex" for the third session, and "right sex for you and me" for the fourth session. RESULT: At follow-up, the knowledge related to sexually transmitted diseases and sexual autonomy were significantly greater in the intervention group than in the control group. CONCLUSION: A sex education program with several sessions within the theoretical frame of HBM was effective to improve knowledge related to sexually transmitted diseases and sexual autonomy. The results suggest the potential of a systematic sexual education program to teach healthy sex and to extend the program for other various populations.
Universities ; Students/*psychology ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases/*prevention & control ; *Sexual Behavior ; *Sex Education ; Personal Autonomy ; Male ; Humans ; Female ; Adult

The aim of this study was to analyze long-term survivals in patients with stage IB to IIA cervical cancer treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy setting. Between February 1989 and January 1998, 94 women with previously untreated stage IB to IIA carcinoma of the uterine cervix who received cisplatin based neoadjuvant chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. All of patients with chemoresponse (complete response, n=15; partial response, n=47) and 16 patients with chemoresistance received radical surgery (RS group). The other 16 patients with chemoresistance received radiotherapy for definite treatment (RT group). In the RS group, the 10 yr survival estimation in patients with bulky tumors (diameter > or =4 cm, n=26) was similar to that with non-bulky tumors (83.3% vs. 89.3%, p=NS). In selected patients with chemoresistance, those treated by radiotherapy (n=16) showed significantly poorer survivals than those treated by radical surgery (n=16) [10 yr survival rates of RT (25%) vs. RS (76.4%), p=0.0111]. Our results support that a possible therapeutic benefit of neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus radical surgery is only in patients with bulky stage IB to IIA cervical cancer. In cases of chemoresistance, radical surgery might be a better definite treatment option.
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/drug therapy/*radiotherapy/*surgery ; Treatment Outcome ; Survival Analysis ; Retrospective Studies ; Prognosis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Multivariate Analysis ; Middle Aged ; Humans ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fluorouracil/administration & dosage ; Female ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Cisplatin/administration & dosage ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use ; Adult

PURPOSE: To report the first case of pigmented choroidal metastases without enucleation diagnosed with fine-needle aspiration biopsy. CASE SUMMARY: A 47-year-old male was referred to our clinic with a suspected diagnosis of choroidal melanoma in his left eye. Positron emission tomography-computer tomography used to evaluate systemic metastases revealed lung cancer. Pathology of the detected lung mass was primary lung neuroendocrine tumor. To differentiate choroidal metastasis and primary choroidal melanoma, we performed a fine-needle aspiration biopsy for choroidal tumors. The cytology showed results favoring metastatic atypical carcinoid and the patient was started on systemic chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: All pigmented choroidal tumors are not choroidal melanomas and choroidal metastases may be pigmented. The present case suggests that proper systemic evaluation and biopsy for suspected choroidal tumor could be helpful in diagnosis.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Carcinoid Tumor ; Choroid* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Electrons ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Male ; Melanoma* ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Pathology

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although several studies have failed to confirm an increased incidence of sinusitis in association with anatomic factors, the anatomic variations of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinus are considered as important factors in causing paranasal sinusitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of anatomic abnormality and septal deviations on the development of paranasal sinusitis. MATERIALS AND METHOD: To evaluate the effect of anatomic variations in sinusitis, computed tomography (CT) of 165 patients with chronic sinusitis and 70 patients with orbital pathology were reviewed to analyze the mucosal abnormalities and the bony anatomic variations. RESULTS: There were no significant difference in the prevalence of anatomic variations between two groups. In patients with deviated septum, paranasal sinusitis was more common and severe in the wide side of the nasal cavity. CONCLUSION: There was no clinical significance of anatomic variations in formation of sinusitis. In septal deviation, the change of air current may affect the development of sinusitis. The increased airflow in the widened nasal cavity may impair the mucociliary clearing function of the nasal cavity and sinuses, which eventually induce the stasis of mucus in sinuses and finally results in paranasal sinusitis.
Anatomic Variation* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mucus ; Nasal Cavity* ; Orbit ; Pathology ; Prevalence ; Sinusitis*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Fungi have been increasingly recognized as important pathogens in sinusitis. Different types of fungi colonize in the nasal secretion of different individuals and the geographic distribution of fungi is different all across the United States. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of positive fungal culture in nasal secretions and the spectrum of fungal elements in the Korea population, and to clarify the association between fungal sinusitis with type I hypersensitivity. Materials and Methods: This prospective study evaluated 40 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), 20 allergic rhinitis (AR), and 20 normal volunteers. Fungi were cultured with nasal irrigation and swab method, and skin prick test was done to determine the specific IgE against fungi. RESULTS: Fungal cultures of nasal secretions were positive in 92.5% of CRS, 95.0% of AR, and 100% of healthy volunteers by nasal irrigation method. Cladosporium, Alternaria, Fusarium, Penicillium, Aspergillus were commonly cultured, but the fungal culture results were not so significantly different among three groups. Type I hypersensitivity to fungal allergens was not important in the majority of CRS patients. CONCLUSION: Fungi was present in every nasal secretion, and type I hypersensitivity seemed not important in the pathogenesis of CRS.
Allergens ; Alternaria ; Aspergillus ; Cladosporium ; Colon ; Fungi* ; Fusarium ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity, Immediate ; Immunoglobulin E ; Incidence ; Korea ; Nasal Lavage ; Penicillium ; Prospective Studies ; Rhinitis ; Sinusitis ; Skin ; United States

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and its chemically related compound,6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), both produce a taste that is extremely bitter to some subjects (tasters) but tasteless or only slightly bitter to others (non-tasters). Earlier studies had used PTC, but most investigators have switched to PROP because of its several advantages. Recently, three single nucleotide polymorphisms in the TAS2R38 gene were identified and several studies have demonstrated a strong association between these genes with taster status. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between taste thresholds of PTC and PROP and their correlation with the TAS2R38 genotype. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Seventy-five healthy normal volunteers were included. Taster status was determined using successive solutions of PTC and PROP, which comprised a total of 15 grades. All participants were genotyped for polymorphism of the TAS2R38 gene that affects taste sensitivity to PTC and PROP. RESULTS: PTC taste thresholds showed 96% correlation with the taste thresholds for PROP. Non-tasters defined by the PTC threshold test were the exactly the same with those identified as AVI (alanine, valine, isoleucine) homozygous, but taster status determined by the PROP threshold test showed 96% correlation with the genotypes. CONCLUSION: The PTC threshold test was more reliable for determining taste blindness than the PROP threshold test.
Ageusia ; Factor IX ; Genotype ; Humans ; Phenylthiourea ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Research Personnel ; Taste Threshold ; Valine