No abstract available.
Germ Cells* ; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal* ; Prognosis*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the use pattern of alternative therapies in middle aged women. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 530 women from 40 to 64 years of age. The data of this study was patients' records. The data was gathered from April 1st, 2004 to June 30th, 2004. Data was analyzed statistically by using the SPSS/WIN 10.0 program. RESULT: It was shown that 63.5% of the subjects have utilized one or more types of alternative therapy. The most common type of alternative therapy was dietary and nutritional therapy 38.3%, and the place of use was the home 64.1%. The most common reason was a recommendation by friends. The degree of satisfaction after the use of alternative therapy was 95.2%. Among users of alternative therapies, the most frequent responses to each question were as follows; Motive of Use- "for health maintenance and promotion." (62.7%) In the relation ship between general characteristics and utilization of alternative therapy, religion (x2=12.33, p=.02), exercise (x2=8.21, p=004), and health status (x2=14.95, p=.005) showed a significant statistical difference. CONCLUSION: We found that middle aged women used alternative therapies more frequently than other populations. Therefore, it is suggested that medical doctors or nurses verify the true effects or side-effects from the most therapies or nurses verify the true effects or side-effects from the most common complementary or alternative therapies through experiments.
Complementary Therapies ; Female ; Friends ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Ships

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO), which in Korea is used chiefly for CO poisoning, can be used in many disorders in orthopaedic field through the action of increasing oxygen tension of peripheral tissue, Since June 1986, when the multiplace hyperbaric chamber was built in our hospital, we have experienced 197 cases of HBO in orthopaedic field and we are to analyze the result of treatment and suggest reasonable indications. The outline of results are as follows ;1. Crushing injuries and wounds caused or accompanied by circulatory disturbance were most frequent among the 197 cases we've experienced, and received 17.5 times of HBO on average. 2. Discernible effectiveness was found in split thickness skin graft, diabetic ulcer and Buerger's disease as compared to the control group. 3. Otalgia was the most common side effect, but not severe. 4. From the above results, it is thought that HBO has fair range of indications in orthopaedic field and is worth using as an adjuvant means to surgery.
Earache ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation ; Korea ; Oxygen ; Poisoning ; Skin ; Thromboangiitis Obliterans ; Transplants ; Ulcer ; Wounds and Injuries

PURPOSE: To assess therapeutic effects of percutaneous polymethylmethacrylate(PMMA) vertebroplasty on the pain caused by osteoporotic thoracic and lumbar vertebral body compression fractures in a large scale of a prospective clinical design, and to determine clinical factors influencing its therapeutic effects. METHODS: A prospective clinical study was carried out in 349 vertebral levels of 159 patients between April 1998 and July 1999. The compression fractures were confirmed with bone scan and spine CT, and bone marrow density was measured. Visual analogue scale(VAS) score was used for pre- and post-operative assessments of the pain. All 159 patients were assessed immediately after surgery, and 140 patients of them were followed-up for about 6 months in average. RESULTS: Partial and complete pain relief was sustained immediately after operation in 73%, through follow-up period in 88% of the patients. Pain relief was not proportional to the amount of PMMA or the rate of increase in the height of the compressed vertebral body. It appears that 3 to 6cc of PMMA was proper enough to sustain pain relief. Better clinical improvement was achieved in the patients treated within 6 months after occurrence of vertebral body fracture. The most frequent surgical complication was epidural leakage of PMMA, and the most serious complication was extravertebral leakage into the paravertebral muscles, which appeared to exert the worst influence on the outcome. However, surgery was not required in these patients. CONCLUSION: Therapeutic effects of PMMA percutaneous vertebroplasty on osteoporotic vertebral body compression fractures were confirmed in a relatively large scale of prospective clinical study. It appears that good outcome can be achieved in patients treated within 6 months after fracture, treated each level with 3 to 6cc of PMMA in amount. without serious complications.
Bone Marrow ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Compression* ; Humans ; Muscles ; Osteoporosis ; Polymethyl Methacrylate* ; Prospective Studies ; Spine ; Vertebroplasty*

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in patients undergoing major gynecologic surgery with those undergoing Cesarean-section during intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). METHODS: Seventy two patients received general anesthesia with enflurane. Group 1 patients underwent major gynecologic surgery, and group 2 patients were parturients who underwent Cesarean-section. Postoperatively, fentanyl was continuously infused i.v. using Accufuser PLUS (basal, 2 ml/h; bolus, 0.5 ml; lockout interval, 15 min) containing fentanyl 25microgram/kg in saline. PONV was evaluated at 6, 12, 24 and 36 h after starting continuous infusion and compared in the two groups. RESULTS: The incidence of PONV was significantly lower in group 2 (14%) than in group 1 (67%) (P < 5). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the incidence of PONV was lower for Cesarean-section than for gynecologic surgery.
Analgesia, Patient-Controlled* ; Anesthesia, General ; Enflurane ; Female ; Fentanyl* ; Gynecologic Surgical Procedures* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting*

The authors analized statistically 635 cases of pathologically confirmed central nervous system tumors in the Chonnam and Chonbuk provinces from 1987 to 1989. The results were as follows ; 1) Of the 635 cases, 327 cases(51.5%) were male and 308 cases(48.5%) were female. 2) Intracranial tumors were 518 cases(81.6%), spine and intraspinal tumors 94(14.8%), scalp and skull tumors 23(3.6%). 3) Average incidence rate of tumors was 3.5/year/100,000 population, 3.1 for Chonnam province, 4.4 for Chonbuk province. 4) Among the brain tumors, glial tumors were the most common(28.4%), and followed by meningiomas(18%), pituitary tumors(15.2%), metastatic tumors(8.9%), Among the intraspinal tumors, neurinomas and neurofibromas were found most frequently(41.5%), and rests were metastatic tumors(23.4%), meningiomas(9.5%) in order. 5) Sexual predilection of tumors was as follows : male preponderance was noted for oligodendrogliomas(9:1), metastatic tumors(2.3:1), glioblastomas multiforme(GM)(1.8:1) cysticercosis(1.6:1), and female preponderance for meningiomas(1:3.2), pituitary tumors(1:2), paragonimiases(1:1.5). 6) The incidence rate of brain tumors in children below 15 years was 11.8% and that which occured infratentorially was 47.5%. 7) The brain tumors were found mainly in cerebral hemispheres, in which area most of tumors were meningiomas, astrocytomas in order. In sellar, parasellar most of tumors were meningiomas astrocytomas in order. In sellar, parasellar and suprasellar region, the majority of tumors were pituitary tumors and meningiomas. 8) Cysticercosis showed a predilection for the sixth and seventh decades, meningiomas, metastatic tumors, neurinomas for sixth decade, GM and supratentorial astrocytomas for fourth, fifth and sixth decades, oligodendroliomas for fifth decade, infratentorial astrocytomas, medulloblastomas and craniopharyngiomas for first and second decades. 9) In the spinal tumors, the favorable site was thoracic region and majority of them were located intradural extramedullarily and extradurally in similar incidence.
Astrocytoma ; Brain Neoplasms ; Central Nervous System Neoplasms* ; Central Nervous System* ; Cerebrum ; Child ; Craniopharyngioma ; Cysticercosis ; Female ; Glioblastoma ; Humans ; Incidence ; Jeollabuk-do* ; Jeollanam-do ; Male ; Medulloblastoma ; Meningioma ; Neurilemmoma ; Neurofibroma ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Scalp ; Skull ; Spine

PURPOSE: The purpose of teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to laypersons is to give them the confidence and willingness to perform CPR in a real cardiac arrest, as well as the basic required knowledge and skills. However, no study has examined laypersons' confidence and willingness to act in a real, life-threatening situation. Therefore, we investigated the effects of CPR education on bystanders' confidence and attitude in performing bystander CPR. METHODS: From March to May 2008, 168 participants receiving 4 hours of CPR education were asked using a questionnaire about their confidence and willingness to perform bystander CPR before the education, after theoretical education, and after practical education. Those who answered that they wouldn't perform bystander CPR were asked for the reasons. RESULTS: Scores in confidence of bystander CPR were 50.4 +/-27.9 before the education, 64.9+/-22.5 after the theoretical education, and 79.5+/-16.1(p<0.001) after the practical education. The 'definitely yes' answer to 'willingness to perform CPR on a strange adult', increased from only 8.3% before the education to 18.5% after the theoretical education and 32.7% after the practical education (p<0.001). Among the reasons for not performing bystander CPR, 'fear of poor knowledge/performance' and 'fear of disease transmission' seemed to decrease as the education was carried on. However, the reasons 'fear of legal liability' and 'reluctance to perform mouth-to-mouth' showed no significant difference. CONCLUSION: Adequate education, including theoretical and practical CPR education, among laypersons significantly increased their confidence and willingness to perform bystander CPR.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Heart Arrest ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Chimerism testing permits early prediction and documentation of successful engraftment, and also facilitates detection of impending graft rejection. In this study, we serially monitored chimerism status by short tandem repeat-based PCR in nucleated cells (NC), T cells and natural killer (NK) cells after myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). Four patients with myeloid malignancies showed discrepant chimerism results among those three fractions. Three patients had mixed chimerism (MC) of donor/host T cells at a time point around the onset of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). In two patients with disease relapse, MC of NK cells preceded a morphological relapse or NK cells showed a higher percentage of patient cells compared to NC. Therefore, our study shows that chimerism analysis in lineage-specific cells might be useful in predicting clinical outcome after allogeneic SCT in certain patients.
Adult ; *Chimerism ; Graft vs Host Disease/*diagnosis/etiology ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural/cytology/immunology ; Male ; Microsatellite Repeats/*genetics ; Middle Aged ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; T-Lymphocytes/cytology/immunology ; Transplantation, Homologous

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a hematologic disorder characterized by complement-mediated hemolysis leading to severe complications, such as life threatening thrombosis. Eculizumab, a humanized anti-C5 monoclonal antibody, has dramatically improved outcomes of patients with PNH. Despite this new revolutionary treatment, clinical information regarding eculizumab use in pregnant women with PNH is limited. A 30-year-old female with PNH underwent acute aggravation of PNH presented with acute kidney injury (AKI) triggered by an infectious event. After the stabilization of AKI with supportive care and later continuous eculizumab use, a planned pregnancy was attempted and achieved because she and her spouse wanted to have a baby. We monitored the patient carefully throughout her pregnancy with 100 mg/day of aspirin and the maintenance of 900 mg of intravenous eculizumab every 2 weeks. She remained stable during pregnancy and a successful delivery was achieved without maternofetal complication.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Adult ; Aspirin ; Family Planning Services* ; Female ; Hemoglobinuria, Paroxysmal* ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; Spouses ; Thrombosis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Transient elastography is a new noninvasive tool for measuring liver stiffness that accurately predicts significant fibrosis and cirrhosis. However, several studies have indicated that liver stiffness can be significantly influenced by major changes in aminotransferase in patients with chronic viral hepatitis. The aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing liver stiffness in patients with chronic liver disease. METHODS: We studied 158 patients with chronic liver disease who underwent transient elastography and liver biopsy sampling. Histologic findings on fibrosis and necroinflammatory activity in the biopsy specimens were evaluated according to the Korean Society of Pathologists Scoring System. Routine biochemical tests were performed according to standard methods. RESULTS: Liver stiffness was strongly correlated with liver fibrosis stage (Spearman coefficient=0.636, P<0.001), lobular activity (Spearman coefficient=0.359, P<0.001), and portoperiportal activity grade (Spearman coefficient=0.448, P<0.001). Liver stiffness was significantly associated with serum levels of total bilirubin (P=0.025), direct bilirubin (P=0.049), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (P=0.014), platelet count (P=0.004), albumin (P<0.001), and international normalized ratio (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that fibrosis stage (B 3.50, P=0.009) and lobular activity grade (B 3.25, P=0.047) were independently associated with liver stiffness. CONCLUSIONS: Liver stiffness as measured by transient elastography is associated with the grade of necroinflammatory activity and the stage of fibrosis, irrespective of serum ALT levels.
Adult ; Aged ; Bilirubin/blood ; Biopsy ; Chronic Disease ; Elasticity ; *Elasticity Imaging Techniques ; Female ; Hepatitis B, Chronic/*complications ; Hepatitis C, Chronic/*complications ; Humans ; International Normalized Ratio ; Liver Cirrhosis/etiology/pathology/*ultrasonography ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Platelet Count ; Risk Factors ; Severity of Illness Index ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase/blood