Some circadian rhythms can become disorganized due to rotating shift work. This lack of organization, termed desynchronization, can produce a group of symptoms such as insomnia, GI disturbance and fatigue among many rotating shift workers. The magnitude of these symptoms are influenced by personal and environmental factors and the patterns of shift work. This study was carried out to investigate the subjective symptoms related to rotational schedules of shift work after personal and environmental factors adjusted. 182 male workers in rapidly rotating shift system and 86 male workers in weekly rotating shift system were conducted the questionnaire on personal factors and subjective sleep, GI and fatigue symptoms. Major findings obtained from this study are as follows: 1. The symptoms of 'feeling tired at work' and 'being irritable' were more frequent in weekly rotating shift workers(P<0.05), and the mean of symptom score was significantly higher in weekly rotating shift workers(P<0.01). 2. According to 6 hours of sleeping which is a definite elevation point of fatigue, there was not a significant difference between two groups in sleeping hours. Among workers in rapidly rotating shift system, the mean of symptom score was significantly higher in workers of less than 6 hours of sleeping(P<0.05), but it was not different among weekly rotating shift workers. 3. The symptoms of GI disturbance were more frequent in weekly rotating shift workers but statistically mot significant. 4. The positive rate of mental and physical fatigue symptoms were significantly higher in weekly rotating shift workers(P<0.01) and mental and physical fatigue symptoms were more frequent in them(P<0.01). 5. After the effect of the factors that were significantly different between two groups by X2-test were controlled, the mean score of sleep disturbance was significantly higher in weekly rotating shift workers(P<0.01) and mental physical fatigue symptoms were more frequent in them(P<0.01). Based on these study results, subjective symptoms were more common in the weekly rotating shift workers. In future, medical examination and laboratory test will be also administered to evaluate a more accurate health outcomes and the review of current shift schedules will be required.
Appointments and Schedules ; Circadian Rhythm ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Male ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

The authors reviewed the charts of 128 patients(160 eyes) who underwent vitrectomy for the proliferative diabetic retinopathy from January 1993 to December 1995 and the results were analyzed in terms of visual efficiency. At the conclusion of the study, visual acuity improved in 96 eyes(60%), unchanged in 33 eyes(21%) and in 31 eyes(19%) became worse. Visual efficiency was increased from 11.9% preoperatively to 37.2% postoperatively in all patients. Patients under the age of 40 showed better results than the patients above the age of 40. The factors which affected the change in visual efficiency were age and preoperative intraocular conditions. The patients who had non-clearing vitreous hemorrhage without proliferative membrane revealed better prognostic results than the other patients. In 50 eyes (31.3%) of cases, maximal postoperative visual acuity was achieved in 4 weeks to 3 months after operation.
Diabetic Retinopathy* ; Humans ; Membranes ; Visual Acuity ; Vitrectomy* ; Vitreous Hemorrhage

No abstract available.
Coronary Vessels* ; Pulmonary Artery*

Thirty eyes of thirty patients with coexisting cataract and vitreoretinal disease underwent combined cataract extraction, pars plana vitrectomy and posterior chamber intraocular lens implantaion.Surgical procedures of cataract extraction included phacoemulsification(14 eyes), pars plana lensectomy(11 eyes) and extracapsular lens placed in the capsular bag in 19 eyes following phacoemulsification or extracapsular cataract extraction. Eleven eyes had sulcus fixation of posterior chamber lens following lensectomy.Postoperatviely visual acuity improved in 26 eyes(86.7%), unchanged in 3 eyes(10%) and decreased in 1 eye(3.3%). Final visual acuity was 20/200 or better in 26 eyes(86.75), and 20/40 or better in 11 eyes(36.7%). Postoperative complications included rhegmatogenous retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy, neovascular glaucoma and endophthalmitis.Pars plana vitrectomy combined with cataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation maybe useful in reducing cost and providing rapid visual rehabilitation.
Cataract Extraction* ; Cataract* ; Glaucoma, Neovascular ; Humans ; Lens Implantation, Intraocular* ; Lenses, Intraocular* ; Phacoemulsification ; Postoperative Complications ; Rehabilitation ; Retinal Detachment ; Visual Acuity ; Vitrectomy* ; Vitreoretinopathy, Proliferative

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of VDT work on eyes and vision among workers in a TV manufacturing plant. The study subjects consisted of 264 screen workers and 74 non-screen workers who were less than 40 years old male and had no history of opthalmic diseases such as corneal opacities, trauma, keratitis, etc and whose visual acuity on pre-employment health examination by Han's test chart was 1.0 or above. The screen workers were divided into two groups by actual time for screen work in a day; Group 1, 60 workers, lesser than 4 hours a day and group 11, 204 workers, more than 4 hours a day. From July to October 1992 a questionnaire was administered to all the study subjects for the general charateristics and subjective eye symptoms after which the opthalmologic tests such as visual acuity, spherical equivalent, lacrimal function, ocular pressure, slit lamp test, fundoscopy were conducted by one opthalmologist. The proportion of workers whose present visual acuity was decreased more than 0. 15 in comparison with that on the pre-employment health examination by Han's test chart was 20.6% in Group Ii, 15.0% in Group I and 14.9% in non-screen workers. However, the differences in proportion were not statistically significant. The proportion of workers with decreased visual acuity was not associated with the age, working duration, use of magnifying glass and type of shift work (independent variables) in all of the three groups. However, screen workers working under poor illumination had a higher proportion of persons with decreased visual acuity than those working under adequate illumination (P<0.05). The proportion of workers whose near vision was decreased was 27.5% in Group II, 18.3% in Group I, and 28.4% in non-screen workers and these differences in proportion were not statistically significant. Changes of near vision were not associated with 4 independent variables in all of the three groups. Six out of sever-subjective eye symptoms except tearing were more common in Group I than in non-screen workers and more common in Group II than in Group I (P<0.01). Mean of the total scores for seven subjective symptoms of each worker (2 points for always, 1 point for sometimes, 0 point for never) was not significantly different between workers with decreased visual acuity and workers with no vision change. However, mean of the total scores for Group II was higher than those for the Group I and non-screen workers (P < 0. 01). Total eye symptom scores were significantly correlated with the grade of screen work, use of magnifying glass, and type of shift work. There was no independent variable which was correlated with the difference in visual acuity between the pre-employment health examination and the present state, the difference between far and near visions, lacrimal function, ocular pressure, and spherical equivalent. Multiple linear regression analysis for the subjective eye symptom scores revealed a positive linear relationship with actual time for screen work and shift work(P<0.01). In this study it was not observed that the VDT work decreased visual acuity but it induces subjective eye symptoms such as eye fatigue, blurred vision, ocular discomfort, etc. Maintenance of adequate illumination in the, work place and control of excessive VDT work are recommended to prevent such eye symptoms.
Adult ; Asthenopia ; Corneal Opacity ; Glass ; Humans ; Keratitis ; Lighting ; Linear Models ; Male ; Plants* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tears ; Vision, Ocular ; Visual Acuity ; Workplace

OBJECTIVE: Symptomatic neuropathy is uncommon in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but, compression neuropathy and vascular neuropathy were reported in longstanding RA. To investigate the occurrence of electrophysiologically evident peripheral nerve involvement in RA patients without a clinical manifestation of peripheral nerve involvement, we studied nerve conduction velocity study (NCV) in RA patients without symptomatic neuropathy. Twenty-five RA patients were evaluated neurological examination and by NCV. We compared clinical parameters between electrophysiologic positive group and negative group. There was no patient who had neurologic symptoms or signs of peripheral involvement. Eleven patients (44%) of all exhibited NCV findings consistent with distal symmetrical sensorimotor polyneuropathy, 5 patients (20%) had entrapment neuropathy, 2 patients (8%) showed distal symmetrical sensory polyneuropathy, 1 patient (4%) had digital neuropathy, and 6 patients (24%) had normal NCV. CONCLUSION: Patients with RA may have electrophysiologic peripheral nerve damage, even in the absence of clinical evidence of peripheral nerve involvement. There was no correlation with any clinical parameters. The inclusion of electrophysiologic examination of the RA patients is recommended in routine diagnostic procedures.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Humans ; Neural Conduction ; Neurologic Examination ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Peripheral Nerves ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases* ; Polyneuropathies

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the ulmus root-bark dressing on tissue regeneration in experimentally-induced pressure ulcers in rats. METHOD: A randomized pretest/post-test control group time-series study design was used. Thirty-three male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. The rats were anesthetized with 100mg/kg of ketamine. Pressure ulcers were induced at 140mmHg for three hours using a personally-designed pressing apparatus. For four weeks, the ulmus root-bark dressing was applied every other day in the experimental group (n=18) and a wet gauze dressing in the control group (n=15). For data analysis, the statistical program SPSS WIN 12 was used. The wounds were examined by light microscopy and electron microscopy. RESULT: There were significant statistical differences in the size of the pressure ulcers as time went by(p=0.006). It should be noted that there were no significant statistical differences in the number of capillaries. Using light microscopy the inflammatory infiltration and neovascularization in the dermis in the experimental group emerged densely in the early stages, but recovered rapidly at the latter stages. In addition, the reepithelization of the epidermis occurred earlier than in the control group. By electron microscopy, the cell organelles of the capillary endothelial cells and the basal lamina of capillaries in the experimental group showed a more rapid maturation during the latter stages, compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: According to this study, it can be concluded that the ulmus root-bark dressing is effective regarding the healing of pressure ulcers.
Animals ; Bandages ; Capillaries/ultrastructure ; Male ; *Phytotherapy ; Plant Bark ; Plant Roots ; Pressure Ulcer/*drug therapy/pathology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Regeneration ; Treatment Outcome ; *Ulmus

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Readiness to Change Questionnaire-Treatment version (RCQTV-K). METHODS: The participants were 92 patients who were seeking treatment of alcoholism in two hospitals for alcoholism. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test whether the factor structure of the RCQTV-K was consistent with the English version. Convergent validity was assessed by correlating the scores on the RCQTV-K with those on other scales (Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Korean Version of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). RESULTS: The factor structure of the RCQTV-K was consistent with the three-factor structure established for the original RCQTV. Cronbach's alpha was high, indicating that the reliability of the items for each subscale was satisfactory. Allocated stage of change showed significant differences among the scores on the other scales. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate that the RCQTV-K is an effective and valid scale for evaluating the stage of readiness to change in patients seeking treatment for alcoholism. The findings suggest that the RCQTV-K is a promising assessment tool for use in the treatment and study of alcoholism.
Alcoholism ; Depression ; Humans ; Psychometrics ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results ; Weights and Measures

Desmoplastic fibroma(DF) is a rare neoplasm of the bone, and is histologically benign but locally aggressive disease. A total of nine cases of DF involving skull have been reported in the literature, and among these eight are females. In this report, the clinical findings and histopathology of a case with DF of the skull in a male patient is presented with a review of the literature with an emphasis on treatment modalities. A 21-year-old man presented with headache. CT scan revealed a solitary and lytic skull lesion without brain invasion. DF was confirmed by histological evaluation. On immunohistochemical staining of the tumor was negative for estrogen or progesterone receptors. After total resection of tumor with wide surgical margin, there was no recurrence during the 35 months of follow-up period. Although longer follow up period maybe needed, treatment of this type of tumor with complete resection of tumor tissue along with a wide margin may provide long disease-free state compare to the high recurrence rates in DF of other sites.
Brain ; Estrogens ; Female ; Fibroma, Desmoplastic* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Headache ; Humans ; Male ; Parietal Bone ; Receptors, Progesterone ; Recurrence ; Skull ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Young Adult

Objectives: Although aggressive behavior in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has previously shown correlations with hyperactivity/impulsivity, few studies have examined its association with inattention or the effect of working memory on aggressive behavior. This study aimed to assess the relationship between inattention and aggressive behavior and the effect of working memory on the relationship between inattention and aggressive behavior in children and adolescents with ADHD. Methods: Thirty-one children and 26 adolescents with ADHD were retrospectively investigated. The subjects completed the Korean Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (K-WISC-IV), the Korean Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL), and the Korean Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI). Results: Inattention was positively correlated with aggressive behavior in children and adolescents with ADHD and working memory showed an insignificant correlation. However, working memory had a significant moderating effect on aggressive behavior by interacting with inattention. The moderating effect of working memory manifested when the working memory index score on the K-WISC-IV was 73.5 points or higher, and it had a significant effect on aggressive behavior. Conclusion This study shows that the severity of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity should be addressed to provide appropriate treatment to children and adolescents with ADHD who exhibit aggressive behavior.