Five ten per cent of asthmatics remain symptomatic despite high-dose treatment. Difficult asthma must be distinguished from severe asthma. Difficult asthma was defined as persistence of symptoms despite treatment at step wise recommended. It is then important in patients with suspected difficult asthma to ensure that the diagnosis is correct, and that if the patient has asthma that the attributed symptoms are indeed all genuinely due to the asthma and not to coexisting physical or psychogenic respiratory conditions. It is also important to be alert to recognize both poor perceivers and over-reactors. Asthma may be difficult for the patient, for the clinician or both because of disease factors, doctor or nurse therapist factors, and/or patient factors. Investigation requires access to the full range of respiratory, imaging and allergy tests. There remains a small number of patients with genuine steroid-resistant asthma, brittle asthma and asthma with airway remodeling. The anti-inflammatory effects of GCs are mediated through receptors that modulate inflammatory gene expression. GC resistance results from an interaction between susceptibility genes, the host's environment, and immunologic factors. The management of these patients requires a systematic approach to rule out underlying conditions that lead to GC resistance or treatment failure, as well as the use of alternative strategies to inhibit tissue inflammation.
Airway Remodeling ; Asthma* ; Diagnosis ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunologic Factors ; Inflammation ; Treatment Failure

No abstract available.
Economic Recession*

No abstract available.

The trends of gastric cancer in Korea are changing, such as an increase of early and minute gastric cancer. The standard treatment of gastric cancer has become more complicated. Endoscopic treatment of gastric cancer is considered to be a useful procedure towards a curative or conservative treatment of early gastric cancer or advanced gastric cancer. Recent advances in endoscopic treatment technique are truly remarkable. The advances allow minimally invasive treatment of diseases that would otherwise require major surgery. New techniques will continue to solve the limitations of endoscopic treatment and their use will also continue to expand accordingly.
Korea ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Stomach*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Asthma* ; Inhalation* ; Respiratory Therapy*

No abstract available.

Recently, during several years the number of ideal children have not changed at all. Because the most of Korean people considered that son is necessary absolutely for dependence in old age inheritance of family line and holding ritual and so on. Therefore, without revolution of value system for children we could no more except to reduce fertility rate. The survey is intended to compare the characteristics between those women who want two or less number of ideal children and all married women(regardless the number of ideal children). The results showed as follows: The women who want small size of family were younger and little better educated than those of all married women. The age at marriage of women who want small size of family was older than that of all married women. The conducted rate of induced abortion and acceptance rate of contraception among those women who want small size of family were higher than those of all married women. the rate of those who want less than 2 children so-called ideal No. among all married women was 3.9 percent.
Abortion, Induced ; Birth Rate ; Child* ; Contraception ; Female ; Humans ; Korea* ; Marriage ; Wills

No abstract available.

No abstract available.