OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of industrial noise on blood pressure and heart rate. METHODS: Resting blood pressure, hearing loss, and general characteristics of the 102 subjects who were engaged in a factory in Pusan were measured from March to June for two years, in 1998 and 1999. With noise dosimeter, noise exposure level was measured from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. Ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate were also measured every 30 minutes from 8 A.M. to 10 P. M. RESULTS: Controlling for age, smoking, and Quetelet's index, in subjects of under 40 years old exposed to higher than 85dBA, noise exposure and systolic blood pressure had a statistically significant correlation, and the same result was obtained in all subjects. The daily variability of ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate were observed in older than 40 years old group, but only heart rate in under 40 years old. CONCLUSIONS: The blood pressure and heart rate would be elevated when the workers exposed to noise. And in under 40 years old, the systolic blood pressure was elevated to the workers exposed to higher than 85dBA.
Adult ; Blood Pressure* ; Body Mass Index ; Busan ; Hearing Loss ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Noise* ; Smoke ; Smoking

No abstract available.
Depression, Postpartum* ; Female ; Postpartum Period*

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Maxillary Sinus* ; Maxillary Sinusitis*

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between vaginal cytology and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. METHODS: In 93 postmenopausal women, vaginal cytology smears were taken for maturation index, serum estradiol level and bone mineral density were also taken. the percentage of each cell type found By vaginal cytology was multiplied to its specific value:superficial cells, 1.0; intermediate cell, 0.6; parabasal cell, 0.2 and modified to maturation value. Bone mineral density was measured at lumbar spine using DEXA. RESULTS: The mean bone mineral density was 0.88+/-0.14g/cm2. Mean maturation value was 50.53+/-20.74 and it was related with age and bone mineral density. CONCLUSION: Maturation value of vaginal epithelial cell represents the influence of estrogen on bone mineral density.
Bone Density* ; Epithelial Cells ; Epithelium* ; Estradiol ; Estrogens ; Female ; Humans ; Spine

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: Cultural characteristics of taking care of patients with dementia in Korea are based on the influence of Confucianism on the lifestyle of Koreans. In addition, as the family size has been getting smaller, the number of old persons who live alone has been increasing. The purpose of this study is to examine the proportion of the elderly with dementia who live alone and demographics of caregivers when such patients live with their family. METHODS: From the multiple hospital-based cohort, 973 elderly patients with very mild dementia (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR]=0.5), 1,056 patients with mild dementia (CDR=1) and 359 patients with moderate dementia (CDR=2) were recruited. We analyzed the proportion of the patients with dementia who live alone and the demographics of the caregivers if such patients live with and are taken care of by such caregivers depending upon the severity of dementia. RESULTS: The proportion of the patients with dementia who live alone accounts for about 40% of all elderly patients with dementia. Major age groups of caregivers are of 40s and 50s. Sons, daughters, and spouses were ranked in the said order in the proportion of caregivers according to their relationship to patients. CONCLUSIONS: Up to now, family members care for about 60% of elderly patients with dementia, which may suggest that from the objective viewpoint, direct burden borne by caregivers for old patients with dementia would be considerably high. On the other hand, about 40% of dementia patients live alone, implying that the social care system is needed for them.
Aged ; Caregivers ; Cohort Studies ; Confucianism ; Cultural Characteristics ; Dementia ; Demography ; Family Characteristics ; Hand ; Humans ; Korea ; Life Style ; Nuclear Family ; Spouses

BACKGROUND: Cultural characteristics of taking care of patients with dementia in Korea are based on the influence of Confucianism on the lifestyle of Koreans. In addition, as the family size has been getting smaller, the number of old persons who live alone has been increasing. The purpose of this study is to examine the proportion of the elderly with dementia who live alone and demographics of caregivers when such patients live with their family. METHODS: From the multiple hospital-based cohort, 973 elderly patients with very mild dementia (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR]=0.5), 1,056 patients with mild dementia (CDR=1) and 359 patients with moderate dementia (CDR=2) were recruited. We analyzed the proportion of the patients with dementia who live alone and the demographics of the caregivers if such patients live with and are taken care of by such caregivers depending upon the severity of dementia. RESULTS: The proportion of the patients with dementia who live alone accounts for about 40% of all elderly patients with dementia. Major age groups of caregivers are of 40s and 50s. Sons, daughters, and spouses were ranked in the said order in the proportion of caregivers according to their relationship to patients. CONCLUSIONS: Up to now, family members care for about 60% of elderly patients with dementia, which may suggest that from the objective viewpoint, direct burden borne by caregivers for old patients with dementia would be considerably high. On the other hand, about 40% of dementia patients live alone, implying that the social care system is needed for them.
Aged ; Caregivers ; Cohort Studies ; Confucianism ; Cultural Characteristics ; Dementia ; Demography ; Family Characteristics ; Hand ; Humans ; Korea ; Life Style ; Nuclear Family ; Spouses

Post-traumatic seizure is a known consequence of head trauma and a major public problem. But the surveillance study of this problem in our country is very rate. The purpose of the current study was to determine the incidence, clinical patterns and the outcome of the post-traumatic seizure in our institute. A retrospective review of management in 5053 patients with head injury was performed in our department between 1983 and 1992. In our series, the frequency of post-traumatic epilepsy was 254 patients, giving 1 5.0% incidence rate(early seizure occurred in 2.2% and late seizure occurred in 2.8% of patients). Of these, the records of 203 patients who received follow-up care for at least 2 years was reviewed. The first early epileptic attack occurred within 24 hours of injury in one third of the cases(33.3%), and the first late epileptic attack occurred within 1 year was about two thirds of the cases(64.6%). On CT scan findings, the early epilepsy had a higher incidence in scans that showed diffuse brain swelli ng and the late epilepsy had a higher incidence in subdural and intracerebral hematoma. 57.5% of early seizure were focal type, and 55.2% of late seizure were generalized convulsive seizure. The outcome of severe head injury patients with early seizure was better than that of late seizure group. The severity of head injury was related to the occurrence of late post-traumatic seizure.Development of new antiepileptic drugs, increasing knowledge of preventing post-traumatic sequelae and demand for surgical treatments have allowed the reduction of the incidence of the post-traumatic seizures. But further survey or study is recommanded in order to achieve more improvement in the management of post-traumatic seizures.
Anticonvulsants ; Brain ; Craniocerebral Trauma* ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsy ; Epilepsy, Post-Traumatic ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head* ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Retrospective Studies ; Seizures* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND: The improvements in endoscopic equipment and surgical robots has encouraged the performance of minimally invasive cardiac operations. Yet only a few Korean studies have compared this procedure with the sternotomy approach. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Between December 2005 and July 2007, 48 patients (group A) underwent minimally invasive cardiac surgery with AESOP through a small right thoracotomy. During the same period, 50 patients (group B) underwent conventional surgery. We compared the operative time, the operative results, the post-operative pain and the recovery of both groups. RESULT: There was no hospital mortality and there were no significant differences in the incidence of operative complications between the two groups. The operative (292.7+/-61.7 and 264.0+/-47.9 min, respectively; p=0.01) and CPB times (128.4+/-37.6 and 101.7+/-32.5 min, respectively; p<0.01) were longer for group A, whereas there was no difference between the aortic cross clamp times (82.1+/-35.0 and 87.8+/-113.5 min, respectively; p=0.74) and ventilator times (18.0+/-18.4 and 19.7+/-9.7 hr, respectively; p=0.57) between the groups. The stay on the ICU (53.2+/-40.2 and 72.8+/-42.1 hr, respectively; p=0.02) and the hospitalization time (9.7+/-7.2 and 14.8+/-11.9 days, respectively; p=0.01) were shorter for group A. The patients in group B had more transfusions, but the difference was not significant. For the overall operative intervals, which ranged from one to four weeks, the pain score was significantly lower for the patients of group A than for the patients of group B. In terms of the postoperative activities, which were measured by the Duke Activity Scale questionnaire, the functional status score was clearly higher for group A compared to group B. The analysis showed no difference in the severity of either post-repair of mitral (0.7+/-1.0 and 0.9+/-0.9, respectively; p=0.60) and tricuspid regurgitation (1.0+/-0.9 and 1.1+/-1.0, respectively; p=0.89). In both groups, there were no valve related complications, except for one patient with paravalvular leakage in each group. CONCLUSION: These results show that compared with the median sternotomy patients, the patients who underwent minimally invasive surgery enjoyed significant postoperative advantages such as less pain, a more rapid return to full activity, improved cosmetics and a reduced hospital stay. The minimally invasive surgery can be done with similar clinical safety compared to the conventional surgery that's done through a median sternotomy.
Cosmetics ; Hospital Mortality ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Length of Stay ; Operative Time ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Robotics ; Sternotomy ; Thoracic Surgery ; Thoracotomy ; Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency ; Ventilators, Mechanical