PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of the exchange of saline used in surgical procedures on surgical site infections. METHOD: Patients with stomach cancer were assigned to the experimental group or to the control group by random sampling, respectively. The experimental group received an exchange of saline during the operation right after the excision of the stomach in a gastrectomy but the control group did not. Data were collected from the medical charts of 34 patients from Dec. 1, 2002 through May 31, 2003. RESULT: The surgical site infection rate of the experimental group was 5.9% while surgical site infection rate of the control group was 17.6%. In total, the surgical site infection rate was 11.8%. The experimental group maintained a normal level of WBC on post operative day 3; however, the control group, showed an increase of WBC on post operative day 3. CONCLUSION: The exchange of saline used in an operation immediately after the excision of the stomach in a gastrectomy decreases the contamination level of saline used in the operation, and can prevent surgical patients from a surgical site infection.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Irrigation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sodium Chloride/*administration & dosage ; Surgical Wound Infection/*prevention & control

BACKGROUND: It is important to avoid the direct contact with water of detergents as possible for the treatment and prevention of hand eczema. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the protective effect of skin protector, Marly skin on housewifes eczema, METHODS: The patients with hand eczema apply skin protector, Maly skin, four times a day on their both hands. They are evaluated with the scores of subjective symptor is(itch, dryness, smarting) and objective signs(erythema, scaling, fissures), and skin replica which are taken from the specified site are analysed by using an image analyser and, scanning electron micrascipe. RESULTS: 4 weeks after application of skin protector, there are statstically significant decrease of total clinical symptom scores. Scanning electron microscopic findings of the skin replicas show marked changes between the beginning and the end of the study. On quantive image analysis of the skin replicas, the length of fissure is a little decreased and the depth of rrows is slightly increased than before application of skin protector, but these are not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Skin protector, Marly skin, has a protective effect on the development of hand eczema.
Detergents ; Eczema* ; Hand ; Humans ; Mali ; Skin

The purpose of this study was to survey basic data for management of elderly day care centers. In this study. occupation. leisure life. and food. clothing and habituation. as well as social relationship. health state and behavior. and general characteristics of subjects were examined to identify the factors affecting their cognition. need and preference of the day care centers. The subjects of this study were 392 elderly. aged 60 years or over. living in Gangnung and neighboring districts. Data were collected by educated interviewers from November 4 through Novemver 22, 2002. The subjects were interviewed face to face. one for one after the interviewee's agreements on the survey. The collected data were analysed with logistic regression analysis by SAS (statistical analysis system). Logistic regression analysis was done to identify affecting factors for cognition. need and preference of the elderly day care centers. The major findings are as follows: 1. The factors affecting cognition for care centers were analysed. The the day subjects with an occupation and a lower satisfaction level of living environment and friendship. who were economically secure enough to manage a sudden accident. showed a higher level of cognition of the day care centers. The subjects with a higher level of mental health state and a lower level of IADL also showed a higher level of cognition. On the general characteristics younger female subjects showed a higher level of cognition. 2. The subjects with a lower level of perceived economic condition who did not own their housing and were not economically safe enough to manage a sudden accident. had showed a higher level of need for the day care centers. It showed that the subjects with a high level of mental health state. a bad eye sight and dental condition. a good perceived health condition. and a lower level of IADL. needed the centers. 3. The subjects who had an occupation, however, not capable of making their own daily expenses. and a low occupation satisfaction level. and who did not own their housing. and were economically poor not enough to manage a sudden accident. showed a higher preference for the day care centers. The subjects with higher levels of friendship satisfaction and perceived health condition. not living with their spouse. and a higher education level, showed a higher preference for the centers. In conclusion. the common factors affecting their cognition. need and preference of the day care centers were occupation, economic security enough to manage accidents. and friendship satisfaction level. Especially, the subjects who had an occupation, however. not economically secure enough to manage accidents. and who did not live in their own housing with a good perceived health condition, showed high levels of need and preference for the day care centers. These results can be used as basic data to develop the efficient elderly day care centers, thus contribute to the elderly welfare in a local community.
Aged* ; Clothing ; Cognition ; Day Care, Medical* ; Education ; Female ; Friends ; Gangwon-do ; Housing ; Humans ; Leisure Activities ; Logistic Models ; Mental Health ; Occupations ; Spouses

The objective of this study was to apply a dementia prevention program to the subjects who were suspected of dementia and test its effect. This study was one group pretest-posttest design. The dementia prevention program was applied for 20 weeks to the 19 subjects who were suspected of dementia after a screen test among 638 subjects enrolled in 10 senior citizen's centers in G city. The scores of measured before and after the program. The data collected were analyzed using a SPSS (statistical analysis system) program, and frequencies, averages and standard deviations were obtained. The differences of the scores of the pretest and posttest were analyzed with Mann-Whitney test and sign test. The results were as follows: 1. After the program, the average score of self-efficacy was increased from 75.31 (standard deviation 11.99) to 84.26 (standard deviation 13.92). 2. There are no differences between the average scores of physical and psychological quality of life, however, the average score of social quality of life was slightly increased from 2.25 (standard deviation 0.40) to 2.53 (standard deviation 0.43), and the overall score of social quality of life was low. 3. The average score of cognition was significantly increased from 21.00 (standard deviation 2.60) to 24.58 (standard deviation 3.37), thus, it was found that the program was effective to improve the cognition level. 4. The score differences of self-efficacy, quality of life, cognition between the pretest and posttest were statistically significant. 5. The score differences of quality of life between the pretest and posttest were found to be dependent on marital status, exercise and regular chechup yes or no. In conclusion, the program was effective to prevent the subjects suspected of dementia from dementia.
Cognition ; Dementia* ; Marital Status ; Quality of Life

OBJECTIVES: Cord blood stem cells have been widely used as donor cells for bone marrow transplantation recently. These cells can give rise to a variety of hematopoietic lineages to repopulate the blood. Recent observations reveal that some bone marrow cells and bone marrow stromal cells(MSCs) can grow to become either neurons or glial cells. It is, however, unclear whether or not there exists stems cells which can differentiate into neurons in the blood during the early stages of postnatal life. METHODS: Human cord blood stem cells were prepared from human placenta after full term delivery. To induce neuronal differentiation of stem cells, beta-mercaptoethanol was treated. To confirm the neuro-glial characteristics of differentiated stem cells, immunocytochemical stain for NeuN, neurofilament, glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP), microtubule associated protein2(MAP2) was performed. RT-PCR was performed for detecting nestin mRNA and MAP2 mRNA. RESULTS: We showed in this experiment that neuro-glial markers(NeuN, neurofilament, MAP2, GFAP) were expressed and axon-like cytoplasmic processes are elaborated in the cultured human cord blood stem cells prepared from new born placenta after full term delivery. Nestin mRNA was also detected in fresh cord blood monocytes. Conclusions: These results suggest that human cord blood derived stem cells may be potential sources of neurons in early postnatal life.
Bone Marrow ; Bone Marrow Cells ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Cytoplasm ; Fetal Blood* ; Humans* ; Microtubules ; Monocytes ; Nestin ; Neural Stem Cells ; Neuroglia ; Neurons ; Placenta ; RNA, Messenger ; Stem Cells ; Tissue Donors ; Umbilical Cord*

Lymphangioma is known to be one of the unusual disorders. It involes every area of skin but the scrotum is very rare site. We report a case of cavernons lymphangioma in a 19-year-old man, who complained of multiple ves icle-like papules, serous fluid leakage and swelling of the scrotum for 2 years. Histopathologic findings showed large, irregularly shaped cystic speces lined by a single layer of endothelium in the subcutaneous tissue and between the muscle bundles, These clinical and histopathilogical findings are thought to fit in cavernous lymphangioma of the scrotum.
Endothelium ; Humans ; Lymphangioma* ; Scrotum* ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Nosocomial urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most frequent nosocomial infection and could be prevented through the intensive nosocomial infection control (NIC) or restricting the use of indwelling urinary catheter. The efficiency of the intensive NIC to prevent UTI for the patients with indwelling urinary catheter was investigated. METHODS: Study population consisted of 296 patients with indwelling urinary catheter in the intensive care unit (lCU) who didn't have UTI on admission. The incidence rates of nosocomial UTI were compared between 146 patients being provided with ordinary NIC from March 15 to July 31, 1995 (control group) and 150 patients being provided with intensive NIC from January 16 to October 31, 1996 (NIC group). RESULTS: There was significant decrease in the incidence of nosocomial UTI in the NIC group (35 UTI among 150 patients, 23.8%) than in me control group (68 UTI among 146 patients, 46.6%) (P<0.01). But there were no differences in age distribution, sex, admission route to the ICU and underlying diagnoses between two groups. Interval between insertion of urinary catheter and development of UTI was significantly prolonged in the NIC group (10.0 +/- 3.5 days) than in the control group(7.6 +/- 3.9 days) (p < 0.01) despite there were no differences in the duration of urinary catheterization in two groups. The most common organism isolated from the urine of the patients was Candida tropicalis in both groups and the other organisms were in the order of Enterococcus faecium, Pseudomonas putida, Staphylococcus epidermidis in the control group and in the order of Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, Enterococcus faecalis in the NIC group. Four of five Staphylococcus aureus isolated in NIC group were MRSA. CONCLUSION: This study result confirms the efficiency of intensive NIC fur decrease in the incidence of nosocomial UTI in patients with indwelling urinary catheter. But the incidence of nosocomial UTI should be decreased further through the continuous emphasis on NIC and it seems to be necessary to study the effect of each component of NIC with proper control of the risk factors for the development of nosocomial UTI in the future.
Acinetobacter baumannii ; Age Distribution ; Candida tropicalis ; Cross Infection* ; Diagnosis ; Enterococcus faecalis ; Enterococcus faecium ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Pseudomonas putida ; Risk Factors ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Staphylococcus epidermidis ; Urinary Catheterization ; Urinary Catheters ; Urinary Tract Infections* ; Urinary Tract*

The Proteus syndrome is a recently described congenital harmatosis consisting of numerous clinical features of great variety. Mainly affected are the musculoskeletal system, primarily by hemihypertrophy, macrodactyly, exostoses and kyphoscoliosis, and the skin and the subcutaneous tissue, primarily by pigmented nevi and subcutaneous tumors. These findings are diagnostic features of Proteus syndrome. We report typical manifestations of Proteus syndrome in a 12-year-old boy with brief review of literature.
Child ; Exostoses ; Humans ; Male ; Musculoskeletal System ; Nevus, Pigmented ; Proteus Syndrome* ; Proteus* ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Tissue

Cephalosporins are commonly used antibiotics in treatment of clinical infection. They frequently cause a positive direct antiglobulin test, but rarely cause hemolysis. The authors report a case of immune hemolytic anemia due to a second-generation cephalosporin, cefuroxime, by the drug adsorption mechanism.
Adsorption ; Anemia, Hemolytic* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cefuroxime* ; Cephalosporins ; Coombs Test ; Hemolysis

BACKGROUND: Since the morning fluoride level of 10 uM is recommended for adults patients being treated for osteoporosis so far, measurement of serum fluoride level is important to detect abnormally high levels or to detect levels below the therapeutic windows. Aims of this study are to determine the normal range of serum ionic fluoride levels in Korean female adults (from 5th to 7th decade), and to evaluate the in vivo fluoride pharmacokinetics of monofluorophosphate in Korean adults. METHODS: Serum level of fluoride was measured from blood samples of 72 female subjects (age 43-69years) using an ion selective electrode. For pharrnacokinetics of monofluorophosphate-calcium (MFP-Ca), 6 subjects (age 27~45 years) were included to be withdrawn the blood hourly for the first S hours and the blood was withdrawn at 24 hours after a single dose of MFP-Ca. RESULTS: Mean level of serum fluoride was 1.64+-0.12uM in 5th, 6th, 7th decades adults, and there was no difference of serum fluoride levels among age groups. Peak serum fluoride level exhibited 5.02+-0.67pM, and returned to basal level on 24 hours after a single dose of MFP-Ca. CONCLUSION: This study shows that mean serutn fluoride of Korean female adults (from 5th to 7th decade) is not different from that of other reports, and a single dose of MFP-Ca does not cause serum fluoride levels above the recommended therapeutic windows of 5-10uM for 24 hours.
Adult* ; Electrodes ; Female ; Fluorides* ; Humans ; Osteoporosis ; Pharmacokinetics ; Reference Values