BACKGROUND: The quality of specimen for Papanicolaou smear depends on the sampling methods of uterine cervix. This study was designed to test specimen adequacy and the detection of disease using t,wo cervical cytological sampling methods. pastic spatula plus Cytobrish and Cervex-Brush. METHODS: Research subjects were t.he exarninee for screening for cevical cancer in Farnily Practice Center and Health Promotion Center of University Hospital. Research sub jects were classified to two groups randomly. 5 physicians used each device at random. A group 80 test smples(plast,ic spatula plus Cytobrush) were compared with B group test samples(Cervex Brush) for the presence rate of endocervial cells and specimen adequacy. The laborat.ory was blind to the sampling met,hods. RESULTS: The plastic spatula plus Cytobrush and Cervex-Brush were comparable in cap- turing in endocervical cells. But the capturing rates of both methods were high(over 70%). Both the pastic spatula plus Cytobrush and Cervex-Brush produced adequate samples, and the adequacy scores between two methods were not different. significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the plastic spatula puls Cytobrush and Cervex-Brush produced adequate smear for interpretation.
Cervix Uteri ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Papanicolaou Test ; Plastics ; Research Subjects

BACKGROUND: The evaluation of obesity in practice has been done indirectly by anthropometric values such as body mass index(BMI), waist and hip circumferences and waisthip ratio(WHR). Somatotype drawing developed by Srensen has been evaluated as a simple instrument of obesity without real somatic measuring in several studies. This study was attempted to evaluate correlation between somatotype drawing and anthropometric values. METHODS: The subjects were measured anthroprmetric values such as height, weight, hip and waist circumferences. After calculating BMI and WHR, we evaluated correlation between these values and somatotype drawing. And we tried to grouping of somatotype drawing with the means of anthropometric values. RESULTS: The data were collected from 224 subjects, whose BMI(kg/m2) and WHR were 22.81+/-2.96 and 0.84+/-0.07(mean+/-SD). Spearmans correlation coefficients(rs) of somatotype drawing were 0.77 with BMI, 0.62 with waist circumference, 0.61 with weight and hip circumference, 0.40 with WHR that remained statistically significant after adjusting age, sex, education level, monthly income and job. And, the grades of somatotype drawing were grouped as 1, 2, 3-4, 5-6, 7 by BMI and hip circumference, 1, 2-4, 5, 6, 7 by waist circumference(ANOVA and Duncans method). CONCLUSIONS: Somatotype drawing has a good correlations with BMI, weight, waist and hip circumference. But it is not applicable to assess WHR because of its relatively lower correlation.
Education ; Hip ; Obesity ; Somatotypes* ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUND: As people have been interested in healt,h and as the microcomputers with multimedia steeing have been supplied more and more, there is increasing need of multimedia information about health. The CD-ROM, which is a representative multimedia tool, is capable of interacting between information-provider and users, offering audiovisual interface, and saving great deal of knowledge. METHODS: We developed the health-information system to provide ordinary people with hea1th information using multimedia tools. It, has 7 parts ; self-diagnosis, exploring human body, drug information, hospital information, first-aid treatment, Q and A, and medical common sense. We got image data such as figures, photos, X-rays, electrocardiograms and pathologic specimens with scanner and film scanner, also moving image(video) with video-capturing program. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: We hope the multimedia health-information system to become a useful methodology of patient education and to be used as an information source in medical information network in the near future.
CD-ROM ; Electrocardiography ; Hope ; Human Body ; Information Services ; Microcomputers ; Multimedia* ; Patient Education as Topic

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a risk factor of hyperlipidemia, DM, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. In clinical practice the evaluation of obesity has been done indirectly by anthropomet ric indices such as BMI, waist to hip ratio, waist and hip circumference. This study was attempted to show whether waist circumference is better simple anthropometric index of abdominal obesity and has better correlation of metabolic profile than waist to hip ratio which has been commonly used. METHODS: We gathered 286 cases who have undergone medical examination from May 1997 to July 1997 at Dankook University Hospital and measured BMI, relative ideal body weight by Modified Broca method, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio, metabolic profiles, fasting blood sugar, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. RESULTS: Waist to hip ratio and waist circumference showed high correlation with BMI and Modified Broca index. In men, correlation coefficient of waist circumference and waist to hip ratio with BMI was r=0.761, r=0.467, and correlation coefficient of waist circumference and waist to hip ratio with Modified Broca index was r=0.726, r=0.458. In women, correlation coefficient of waist circumference and waist to hip ratio with BMI was r=0.791, r=0.628, and correlation coeffience of waist circumference and waist to hip ratio with Modified Broca index was r=0.769 r=0.660. This finding showed waist to hip ratio and waist circumference is more closely related to BMI and Modified Broca index in women than men and showed higher correlation with waist circumference than waist to hip ratio. There were significant differences of correlation coefficient of obesity indices between waist circumference and waist to hip ratio (p<0.00001). Waist circumference showed relatively significant correlation with metabolic profiles, but we could not observe high correlation coefficient. But there was significant difference of distribution between normal group and obese group defined as BMI>25 and modified Broca index>120%. CONCLUSION: Waist circumference, index of abdominal obesity has better correlation with obesity indices than waist to hip ratio and is a simpler method.
Blood Glucose ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Fasting ; Female ; Hip ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Ideal Body Weight ; Male ; Metabolome ; Obesity ; Obesity, Abdominal* ; Risk Factors ; Waist Circumference* ; Waist-Hip Ratio

Recent progress in medical informatics enable to use various medical regardless of time or place, to make a diagnostic and therapeutic plan, with increasing need about health of general population. There are many homepages on the web, which provide medical common senses, hospital information. and medical counseling on the web. Virtual Hospital, which is comprehensive medical information system on the web, has medical counseling program with various health information such as self-diagnosis, first-aid treatment information, drug information, Q and A, and so on. The aim of this study is to examine the content and purpose of medical counseling on the web. The subjects consisted of 277 counsels which visited 'Medical Counseling' in the Virtual Hospital for December 1996 through May 1997. Many questioners wanted to consult about their symptoms, to know prevention and treatment strategies, and to know specific medical knowledge. The most common questions are as follows: general and unspecified, digestive, musculoskeletal, and skin problems. These findings suggest medical counseling may be used to supplement the lack of direct medical Interviews with doctors.
Computer Communication Networks ; Counseling* ; Information Systems ; Internet* ; Medical Informatics ; Skin

No abstract available.
Education*

Teaching both English in medical field and bioethics to medical students in Korea is becoming more and more important. We have investigated the present status of medical English and bioethics lectures in medical schools in Korea. We have taught bioethics in medical English class and investigated its effect through questionnaire. Less than two thirds of the 35 medical schools in Korea have medical English and /or bioethics lectures. Mainly English medical terms were taught in premedical course in most of the school which needs to be improved. Evaluation of the bioethics lecture in medical English class was responded favorably by the students. In conclusion, teaching bioethics in medical English class in English appears to be an effective way of teaching both English and bioethics in medical field at the same time and a good way of saving time by teaching both simultaneously.
Bioethics* ; Humans ; Korea ; Lectures ; Schools, Medical ; Students, Medical ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of childhood obesity in South Korea has increased owing to economic improvement and the prevailing Westernized dietary pattern. As the incidence of chronic diseases caused by obesity is also expected to increase, effective interventions to prevent childhood obesity are needed. Therefore, we conducted a Delphi study to determine the priorities of a potential intervention research on childhood obesity prevention and its adequacy and feasibility. METHODS: The two-round Delphi technique was used with a panel of 10 childhood obesity experts. The panelists were asked to rate “priority populations,”“methods of intervention,”“measurement of outcomes,”“future intervention settings,” and “duration of intervention” by using a structured questionnaire. Finally, a portfolio analysis was performed with the adequacy and feasibility indexes as the two axes. RESULTS: For priority populations, the panel favored “elementary,”“preschool,” and “middle and high school” students in this order. Regarding intervention settings, the panelists assigned high adequacy and feasibility to “childcare centers” and “home” for preschool children, “school” and “home” for elementary school children, and “school” for adolescents in middle and high school. As the age of the target population increased, the panelists scored increasing numbers of anthropometric, clinical, and intermediate outcomes as highly adequate and feasible for assessing the effectiveness of the intervention. CONCLUSION: According to the results of the Delphi survey, the highest-priority population for the research on childhood obesity prevention was that of elementary school students. Various settings, methods, outcome measures, and durations for the different age groups were also suggested.
Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Chronic Disease ; Delphi Technique ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Obesity ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Pediatric Obesity* ; Prevalence

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal master apical file size with minimal transportation and optimal efficiency in removing infected dentin. We evaluated the transportation of the canal center and the change in untouched areas after sequential preparation with a #25 to #40 file using 3 different instruments: stainless steel K-type (SS K-file) hand file, ProFile and LightSpeed using microcomputed tomography (MCT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty extracted human mandibular molars with separated orifices and apical foramens on mesial canals were used. Teeth were randomly divided into three groups: SS K-file, Profile, LightSpeed and the root canals were instrumented using corresponding instruments from #20 to #40. All teeth were scanned with MCT before and after instrumentation. Cross section images were used to evaluate canal transportation and untouched area at 1- , 2- , 3- , and 5- mm level from the apex. Data were statistically analyzed according to' repeated nested design'and Mann-Whitney test (p = 0.05). RESULTS: In SS K-file group, canal transportation was significantly increased over #30 instrument. In the ProFile group, canal transportation was significantly increased after preparation with the #40 instrument at the 1- and 2- mm levels. LightSpeed group showed better centering ability than ProFile group after preparation with the #40 instrument at the 1 and 2 mm levels. CONCLUSIONS: SS K-file, Profile, and LightSpeed showed differences in the degree of apical transportation depending on the size of the master apical file.
Dental Pulp Cavity ; Dentin ; Hand ; Humans ; Molar ; Nickel ; Stainless Steel ; Titanium ; Tooth ; Tooth Apex ; Transportation ; X-Ray Microtomography

BACKGROUND: Consultation and referral are important characteristics of modern medicine which has become more segmented and more specialized. In particular, they give essential value to family practitioners to coordinate patients accordingly for proper care. This study analyzed the referred patients in family practices under Cheonan practice based-research network (CPBRN). METHODS: The data was collected via questionnaire in ten family clinics under CPBRN system during the four weeks from June 15, 2006 to July 12, 2006. RESULTS: The total number of referred cases was 103 (0.7%) out of a total of 14,466 office visits. Among the total, 68.9% of referred cases was physician-drived and 31.1% was patient-requested. The reason for referral were 'to get a second opinion of specialist' (34), 'high severity' (20), 'lack of examination tool' (18), 'lack of skill' (10) and 'no response to treatment' (2) in physician-drived cases, whereas in patient-requested cases, they were 'request for advanced hospital' (26) and 'want to meet specialist' (2). The patients were referred to tertiary hospital in 66.7%, secondary hospital in 15.9%, and other specialists of primary setting in 10.1%. Overall, 66.7% of the referred hospital was located in the city area. The main health problems of referred patients was divided into 'gastrointestinal' (17.5%), 'musculoskeletal' (13.6%), 'dermatology' (10.7%) and so on. The speciality consulting physicians were 'internal medicine' (34%), 'pediatrics' (13.6%), and 'orthopedic surgery' (10.7%) specialists. CONCLUSION: The referral rate of family practice in Korea was 0.7%. The main reason for referral was 'to get a secondary opinion of a specialist'. The most common referral problem was 'gastrointestinal'. 'Internal medicine' was the most frequently consulted specialty.
Chungcheongnam-do* ; Family Practice ; History, Modern 1601- ; Humans ; Korea ; Office Visits ; Referral and Consultation* ; Specialization ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Surveys and Questionnaires