Usually LIS(Laboratory Information System) depend on OCS(Order Communication System) of HIS(Hospital Information System). So, both systems are constructed simultaneously. But it needs high cost and has potential of failure. So, we designed one combined laboratory request slip and isolated LIS(sever: Power Mac 7200, eight clients: LC 475, connected by Ethernet) operating with own order input system before HIS construction. we analyzed the efficiency during early 9 weeks (from Aug. 17 to Oct. 17 in 1995) and later 4 weeks (March in 1996). Daily input amount of request changed stably in the later period(maximum: 552. mean: 410.0) than the early period(maximum: 604. mean: 341.6). Peak time was between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.(maximum: 127. slip/hour). In the later period, 64.2% the requests for in-patients were completed until 10 a.m. and the request for out-patients distributed more evenly. Majority of problems occurred, were delayed(25.5% in the early, 61.1% in the later period) or missed specimen(31.9% in the early, 22.9% in the later). Total number (26,309) of used requests was less than half of the calculated number(57,621) of previous laboratory slips.
Clinical Laboratory Information Systems* ; Humans ; Outpatients

The authors report a case of cardiac myxoma with simultaneous multiple intracranial hemorrhages. A 45-year-old man presenting with hemiparesis and seizure was found on brain computerized tomography(CT) scan to have intracranial hemorrhagic regions in both frontoparietal areas. Chest CT scan for searching primary focus of metastasis showed a mass in the heart, and subsequent echocardiogram showed a myxoma in the left atrium. Total resection of the brain lesions was carried out after cardiac operation. Although myxoma cells could not be found in specimens of the intracerebral lesions, coincidental hemorrhages were suspected to have occurred due to metastasis of cardiac myxoma.
Brain ; Cerebral Hemorrhage* ; Heart ; Heart Atria ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Middle Aged ; Myxoma* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Paresis ; Seizures ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Sea-blue or ceroid histiocytosis is a storage phenomena associated with a variety of conditions especially abnormal lipid metabolism and particularly hyperlipoproteinemia. It is characterized by histiocytic proliferation in the bone marrow and spleen, contain-ing sea-blue inclusions by Romanovsky stain. The present case is a 1 1/2 year-old Korean boy who had marked enlargement of the spleen which was eventually removed. Aspirates of the bone marrow and histology of the spleen disclosed an enormous proliferation of histiocytes containing numerous cytoplasmic inclusions which stained sea-blue with Wright stain, was strongly positive to PAS and weakly positive to oil red-O and Sudan black B in frozen and in paraffin embedded section. Ultrastructually histiocytes were marked1y hypertrophic and contained numerous cytoplasmic inclusions which showed three distinct types and conglomeration of all three types, presumably representing age or maturation steps of the inclusions. The ear1y type consisted of a high electron dense core or deposits within a low electron dense matrix, evolving into homogeneous moderately electron dense inclusion and finally a well developed finger print-like internal structure. Analysis of the plasma lipid disclosed type IIb hyperlipoproteinemia. Types of hyperlipoproteinemia previously reported in association with sea-blue histiocytosis were type-I, III, IV and V, and this is the first case of type IIb hyperlipoproteinemia.
Child, Preschool ; Human ; Hypercholesterolemia, Familial/complications* ; Hypercholesterolemia, Familial/pathology ; Male ; Sea-Blue Histiocyte Syndrome/complications* ; Sea-Blue Histiocyte Syndrome/pathology ; Spleen/pathology

OBJECTIVES: This is a descriptive study which was carried out to identify characteristics of the chronic mentally ill and their families in a rural area and the influencing factors on family burden. METHODS: Data was collected for seven months beginning April 1, 1998 by questionnaire from chronic mentally ill patients and their families in two towns and seven townships of the rural areas of Kyonggi Province. In additional to the mental diagnosis of the mentally ill patients, family burden was measured by interviewing the other family members using the questionnaire developed by Pai & Kapur (1981). Of those interviewed, 103 patients were selected for final analysis. RESULTS: Of 103 mentally ill patients, 36.1% of the subjects were not under treatment. In particular, of 29 patients with schizophrenia, 48.3% of the subjects had stopped taking medication and 6.9% of the subjects had never been treated. According to the results of a specialized examination by a psychologist, 81% of patients were in need of hospitalization. Most primary caregivers were parents. Of the 101 primary caregivers in the study, 39.6% were over 65 years old. In case of death of the primary caregiver, 50.5% of these 101 mentally ill patients would not have anyone to care for them. Of the various kinds of family burden, primary caregivers most often reported psychological stress. Overall, the families of dementia and schizophrenia patients complained of the most family burden. Through univariative analysis, the variables of sex, education and current treatment type of the patients, the relationship with the patient and marital status of the primary caregiver and the number of people living together in the household showed significant correlation with the family burden of schizophrenia patients. Univariative analysis also showed that there were a number of variables which were correlated to the family burden in mentally retarded patients. Concerning the need for mental health services, the most common requests were for entitlement to disability benefits and housing programs. CONCLUSIONS: Community mental health services in rural areas must be developed, planned and executed in consideration of the local situation. In particular, the development of various family support programs is needed in order to mitigate emotional, mental and economic burdens and carry out a positive role to care for and rehabilitate patients.
Aged ; Caregivers ; Community Mental Health Services ; Dementia ; Diagnosis ; Education ; Family Characteristics ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hospitalization ; Housing ; Humans ; Marital Status ; Mental Health Services ; Mentally Disabled Persons ; Mentally Ill Persons* ; Parents ; Psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Schizophrenia ; Stress, Psychological

BACKGROUND: In developed countries, food-born diseases have decreased and hospital laboratory have taken more simple method rather than complex enrichment-selective methods. But detection rate of pathogenic bacteria in stool culture was not so high. METHODS: We mixed 4 pathogenic bacteria (S. typhi, S. flexneri, V. cholerae and Y. enterocolitica) with 3 stool specimens from healthy persons (for Y. enterocolitica, 5 specimens) and innoculated directly or after enrichment (105 bacteria/plate). After proper incubation, we counted suspected colonies and calculated true positive rate after identification of each colonies. RESULTS: For S. typhi, in the case of direct innoculation on the MacConkey, XLD and SS agar, positive rate of selected colonies were below 36.6%. After enrichment in SF broth for 8 hours, the rate were 80.0%, 83.0% and 70.0% respectively. For S. flexneri, the rates were 86.7%, 100%, 93.3% in direct innoculation, and were highest after enrichment in GN broth for two hours (93.3% in MacConkey and 100.0% in both XLD and SS agar). For V. cholerae, inspite of screening by catalase and oxidase tests, positive rate of selected colonies were 0% (0/7 colonies) in direct innoculation on the MacConkey. After enrichment in APW about 1 day and on TCBS agar, the rate were 100%. For Y. enterocolitica, after incubation at room temperature for 2 days, most selected colonies were Y. enterocolitica on CIN media. CONCLUSION: For more efficient detection of pathogenic bacteria in stool culture, combination of direct innoculation on MacConkey agar and on one or two selective media after proper enrichment process, should be considered.
Agar ; Bacteria ; Catalase ; Cholera ; Developed Countries ; Humans ; Laboratories, Hospital ; Mass Screening ; Oxidoreductases ; Salmonella ; Shigella ; Vibrio ; Yersinia

The incidence and the nature of visual involvement in Friedreich's ataxia who showed progressive visual impairment a few years before developing characteristic clinical manifestations of Friedreich's ataxia. The progress of disease in this case suggests that visual involvement may be from the same pathogenetic mechanism of peripheral nervous system in Friedreich's ataxia.
Friedreich Ataxia* ; Incidence ; Optic Atrophy* ; Peripheral Nervous System ; Vision Disorders

OBJECTIVE: The role of community mental health centers (CMHCs) in Korea is quite different than that of these centers in Western countries due to nation-specific health care system characteristics. For example, CMHCs of Korea are expected to provide services for serious mental illness in addition to other services in response to community needs, such as internet addiction of adolescents. Consequently, it is important to determine service priorities of CMHCs and to define standard service performances in order to maximize their effectiveness with limited resources. The present study aimed to generate expert consensus on service priorities and to identify standard service performances of CMHCs in South Korea. METHODS: Forty-five mental health professionals participated as experts in a Delphi survey. We made a survey questionnaire based on Korean and international data and guidelines of some countries such as the UK and Australia. Experts answered the first and second round questionnaires and their answers were analyzed using frequency analysis. RESULTS: For the question about future directions of CMHCs, twenty-two experts (49%) answered that the growth of services for serious mental illness should be preferred to other areas. The service for chronic mental illness was thought to be the most important service area (27.1%) and, early psychosis (10.5%) is included, the services for serious mental illness should be regarded as the most important service area of Korean CMHCs. It is followed by child and adolescent services (13.2%) and mental health promotion services (10.8%). The relative importance of service performances on each service domain were given by answers of experts. CONCLUSION: CMHCs in Korea should focus their priority on the management of serious mental illness. Service standardization by the relative importance of service performances on each service domain is needed.
Adolescent ; Australia ; Child ; Community Mental Health Centers ; Consensus ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea ; Mental Health ; Psychotic Disorders ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Republic of Korea

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Prevalence* ; Seoul* ; Urolithiasis*

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of prostatitis symptoms in the general population by questionnaire survey and to measure the effect of prostatitis symptoms on quality of life(QOL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional community-based epidemiologic study was performed on 2,034 men, living in the Seoul metropolitan area using stepwise random sampling. Out of 2,034 interviewees, 1,356 men who were older than 40 and provided sufficient information were selected for this study. The questionnaires were completed by well trained interviewers. Contents of the questionnaires included demographic data, the Prostatitis Symptom Index(PSI), the International Prostate Symptom Score(IPSS), a general health questionnaire section and a sexual health questionnaire section. The PSI was composed of a sum of the scores from three questions about dysuria, penile pain and perineal pain and it ranged 0 to 12. Incidence of prostatitis symptoms was defined by a score of 4 or more and the reference group was defined as consisting of those with a score of 3 or less. The rate of incidence of prostatitis symptoms was assessed according to age and the difference of QOL between the prostatitis symptoms group and the reference group. RESULTS: The overall positive rate of prostatitis symptoms measured by the PSI, in men older than 40, living in the Seoul metropolitan area, was 4.5%(61/1,356), adjusted to 4.8% by the relative proportion of this age group in the general population of the Seoul metropolitan area as compared to Korea and the World. The proportion of the group with prostatitis symptoms assessed by the PSI did not increase with age although the proportion of participants with moderate to severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) did increase with age. The group with prostatitis symptoms suffered from a much greater incidence of LUTS compared to the reference group (p<0.05). The QOL scores of the IPSS, and the general health and sexual health status of the group with prostatitis symptoms, were worse than those of the reference group.(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The positive rate of prostatitis symptoms in men older than 40, living in the Seoul metropolitan area, was 4.8% and it didn't increase with age. The general QOL of the group with prostatitis symptoms was much worse than that of the reference group.
Dysuria ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Male ; Prevalence ; Prostate ; Prostatitis* ; Quality of Life* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Reproductive Health ; Seoul

No abstract available.
Atrial Fibrillation ; Mesenteric Arteries ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior ; Stroke