Recreational diving is an exciting and adventurous sport, but is also potentially hazardous. Despite its inherent hazards, an increasing number of people enjoy SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) diving; the number of diving-related accidents is therefore also likely to increase. Divers might face physical or psychological stresses from the unfamiliar or hostile underwater environment, which can lead to fatal accidents. To investigate deaths related to SCUBA diving, a forensic pathologist should understand the types and mechanisms of injuries and illnesses unique to SCUBA diving. Postmortem examination of diving fatalities is therefore a formidable task for most forensic pathologists because cases are sparse and the process requires an understanding of diving physiology, diving equipment, and the underwater environment. The primary aim of autopsies in SCUBA diving fatalities is to detect evidence of pulmonary barotrauma, intravascular gas, or pre-existing illnesses. Standard autopsy protocol for SCUBA diving-related deaths should include methods to detect intravascular gas and gas accumulation in the tissue or body cavity through plain radiographs or Computerized Tomography (CT) scans. Analysis of the gas components is also helpful for determining the origin of the gas. Here, the author proposes a practical method for performing an autopsy on a person who died while SCUBA diving.
Autopsy* ; Barotrauma ; Diving* ; Humans ; Methods ; Physiology ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Respiration ; Sports ; Stress, Psychological

No abstract available.
Animals ; Ligation* ; Neuralgia* ; Rats* ; Rhizotomy* ; Spinal Cord* ; Spinal Nerves*

Heterotropic ossifications have been known to occur around joints in many pathological conditions of the nervous system mostly in paraplegia and is affects most of the hip joint. Recently, 4 cases of heterotropic ossification in 18 cases of traumatic paraplegia have been reviewed at the orthopedic department of Kyungpook National University Hospital from April 1965 to July 1968 and the results obtained were as follows: 1. All cases were found in male of 3rd to 4th decade. 2. Heterotropic ossification affectected around the hip joint in 3 cases and in the other one case around the medial femoral condyle of knee joint. 3. Three cases affecting around hip joint expressed pressure sores on ipsilateral great trochanteric area, but the other one case affecting around medial femoral condyle had not any pressure sore. 4. In all cases, the heterotropic ossification was noted on X-ray film within 4 to 6 months after paraplegia.
Femur ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hip Joint ; Humans ; Joints ; Knee Joint ; Male ; Nervous System ; Orthopedics ; Paraplegia ; Pressure Ulcer ; X-Ray Film

No abstract available.

For the purpose of preparing the basic data for further cancer epidemiologic study and cancer patients control, we conducted the analysis on the degree and structure of deaths from cancer in metropolitan areas of Korea with 7,934 certified cancer deaths records of Seoul, Pusan, Taegu and Incheon in 1982. The analyzed results were as follows : 1) The total number of cancer deaths in metropolitan areas were 7,934 (male: 4,749, female: 3,185) as 14.1% of deaths from all causes in the same area. 2) The rate of physician's certification on cancer deaths was 77.4% and most of cancer deaths (84.4%) occurred at their home. 3) Cancer specific death rate was 51.7 per 100,000 population (male: 62.9, female: 41.9) and age-adjusted cancer death rate was 82.4 in male and 51.6 in female per 100,000 population. And the difference was statistically significant (p<0.01). 4) Age-specific cancer death rate was generally increased with age and most of cancer deaths (male: 75%, female: 65%) occurred from 45 to 74 years old. 5) The first three orders of cancer site were stomach (32.7%), liver (28.8%), lung (11.7%) in male and stomach (30.6%), uterus (18.4%), liver (13.8%) in female. And the relative frequency of these three cancer sites among total cancer deaths was corresponded to 73.2% in male and 62.8% in female. 6) The ratio of male to female cancer death rate was 1.5:1. And the ratio was above 3.0 in esophagus, liver, larynx, bladder cancer and the ratio was similar to 1.0 in stomach, pancreas, leukemia, brain, colon cancer, but the ratio was reversed in gall bladder and bile duct, and thyroid cancer.
Aged ; Bile Ducts ; Brain ; Busan* ; Certification ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Daegu* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Esophagus ; Female ; Humans ; Incheon* ; Korea* ; Larynx ; Leukemia ; Liver ; Lung ; Male ; Mortality ; Pancreas ; Seoul* ; Stomach ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Uterus

This retrospective descriptive study was conducted to survey the needlestick injuries(NSI) in nurses and doctors. Thc subjccts of this study wcrc 351 nurscs and 199 doctors of four teaching hospitals. Pusan. The data was gathered from March, 18 to April 9. 1988 and analyzed though SPSSWIN progra n for frequency, percentile and X2-test. According to the results of the study, 85.5% of subjects had experienced NSI (94.4% of the nurses and 73.9% of the doctors). The ratio of the experience of NSI in nurses was significantly higher than that of doctors(X2=53.54, P=.00). Most needle-stick injuries occured during the administration of intravenous injection(36.7%) in nurses, on the other hand percutaneous venipuncture for blood sampling(35.3%), suturing(27.2%) in doctors. The most ccmmon situation of these NSI was recapping contaminated needles after treatment. Only 12.0% of nurses and 38.6% of doctors reported wearing gloves when the NSI happened. 26.1% of subjects reported that they could not identify the source patient after MI. The major reason of NSI were preeeived to be carelessness%1.4%). Of these NSI, 54.6% occured in :usy or emergency situations. Among the management for NSI, exam(8.6%), mefication(9.8%) and counseling(11.7%) and reporting(2,6%. is lower than bleeding(80.3%) from the wound, deaning( 63.3%), disinfection(91.3%) and reviewing the clinical records of the patients (82.3%). In conclusion, nurses and doctors are at a high-risk of needlestick injuries but substantially they are not good at preventing and managing NSI. So efforts to reduce NSI should be directed not only at improving procedural skills for intravenous catheter insertions, but also in increasing use of barrier protection such as gloves, and so on. Also immunization and educational efforts should be made along with better designs of needles to reduce the risk of NSI. Continuing prevention and training programs for NSI are needed in order to avoid unwanted infection.
Busan ; Catheters ; Dronabinol ; Education ; Emergencies ; Hand ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Immunization ; Needles ; Needlestick Injuries* ; Phlebotomy ; Retrospective Studies ; Wounds and Injuries

No abstract available.
Intussusception*

In this experiment 40 adult male C57BL mice were used. The one ear of each animal was irradiated with high pressure mercury lamp (Burdick'UV-800) and the other ear was covered with nontransparent tape. Using split epidermal sheets treated with DOPA solution, a quatitiative study of epidermal melanocyte was carried out from the exposed and the shielded ear continuously on every second day during 14 daily exposures to 100 mJ/cm of UVB. The results were as follows : 1. Repeated radiation with ultraviolet light elicited a significant increase in population of melanocytes and the possible mechanism is a direct replication of the functioning melanocytes. 2. UVB irradiation induced increase in the number of epidermal melanocytes in covered ear as well as in irradiated ear. It is suggested that the population increase in the shielded skin is initiated by one or more systemic factors originating from the UVB irradiated skin.
Adult ; Animals ; Dihydroxyphenylalanine ; Ear* ; Humans ; Male ; Melanocytes* ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL* ; Skin ; Ultraviolet Rays

BACKGROUND: The xenon arc solar simulator is the most commonly used light source in studies on immediate tanning, but there has been no report on the immediate tanning response in Korean skin induced by UVA from that source. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to measure the minimal immediate tanning dose(MITD) for UVA in Korean, brown skin. Methods: UVA irradiation was performed on normal back skin of twenty-six healthy Korean young adults, with increasing doses from 0.5J/cm2 to 4.5J/cm2 using xenon arc solar simulator equipped with appropriate filters. Visual assessment of MITD was done by two investigators. Results: The mean and standard deviations of MITD were 2.38+/- 0.65J/cm2 in 26 subjects. MITDs distributed from 1.0J/cm2 to 3.5J/cm2. There were no significant differences of MITD between skin type III and IV. Conclusion: Conclusively, we obtained the data on the MITD in Korean skin induced by UVA from the solar simulator. The results of this study may be valuable for the research into photomedicine and useful data for evaluating sunscreens.
Humans ; Research Personnel ; Skin ; Sunscreening Agents ; Tanning* ; Triacetoneamine-N-Oxyl* ; Xenon ; Young Adult*

Cholelithiasis and cholecystitis frequently necessitate cholecystectomy. Experience is increasing with laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a technique that avoids much of the morbidity, pain, prolonged hospital day, and recovery complications associated with the traditional approach. And the safety of laparoscopic cholecystectomy was confirmed. Besides appendectomy, cholecystectomy is the second most common nonobstetric procedure performed in pregnant women. We have performed one case of a successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the second trimester of pregnancy. Pregnancy was once a contraindication of laparoscopic operation, but no longer.
Appendectomy ; Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic* ; Cholecystitis ; Cholelithiasis ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnant Women