This paper reviews the Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment (CBT) of late-life anxiety disorders, mainly focused on generalized anxiety disorder. CBT for late-life anxiety disorder is usually based on the same programs with demonstrated efficacy in younger adults, with specific treatment components included relaxation training, cognitive restructuring, and exposure. CBT for late-life anxiety disorders was proved to be more effective than no treatment. But, the existing body of work does not clearly indicate the superiority of CBT over alternative psychosocial interventions. Another serious limitation of CBT is that the rates of attrition in many trials are higher among older adults than among younger adults. Those limitations are strongly suggested that augmented CBT to meet the late-life adult's characteristics and needs, like as execute function, should be developed. Enhanced CBT is the one of the example, it includes the standard CBT elements, as well as additional attention to at-home practice assignments, reminder telephone call and weekly reviews of concepts and techniques. In conclusion, this review suggested the potential value of CBT for late-life anxiety disorders. Based on the current literature, nonstandard and augmented therapies appear to produce best results.
Adult ; Anxiety Disorders* ; Anxiety* ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Relaxation ; Telephone

We report the case of a 64-year-old man presenting to the hospital for treatment of his anemia. Exact ABO blood typing is an essential step to prevent transfusion reactions. The selection of the wrong blood component for transfusion can be a clinical problem and in this case the patient had a cis-AB blood type that could have caused an ABO discrepancy. In this case neither autologous or directed blood transfusion was possible and O+ red blood cell was transfused without a transfusion reaction.
Anemia ; Blood Group Incompatibility ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching ; Blood Transfusion ; Erythrocytes ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Phenotype

BACKGROUND: Bacteria that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) are found with different frequencies in different regions; moreover, antibiotic susceptibility can also vary by region. We retrospectively studied and compared the species and antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial pathogens isolated from patients with UTIs in the northern Gyeonggi-do area. METHODS: We analyzed urine specimens collected from patients who visited the Myongji Hospital between 2007 and 2011. The urine specimens were cultured, and bacteria were identified by biochemical examination with an API kit (bioMerieux Inc., USA). Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by the disc diffusion method and the Vitek II system (bioMerieux Inc., USA). RESULTS: A total of 11,818 (31.4%) urine specimens were culture positive. The most common species identified were Escherichia coli (37.1%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (7.4%), Enterococcus faecium (6.1%), and Candida spp. (5.5%). The proportion of isolates producing extended-spectrum beta-lactamases significantly increased during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and E. faecium were the 3 most common organisms identified. Of note, however, was the increasing frequency of Pseudomonas spp. and Proteus spp. isolated during the more recent years. Further studies are required from other centers in the northern Gyeonggi-do area.
Bacteria ; beta-Lactamases ; Candida ; Diffusion ; Enterococcus faecium ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Pneumonia ; Proteus ; Pseudomonas ; Retrospective Studies ; Urinary Tract ; Urinary Tract Infections

Antigens, Nuclear ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Autoantibodies ; Diagnosis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: This study aims to verify the effectiveness of initial empirical antibiotic choice recommended by the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) guideline for PD related peritonitis among the Korean PD population. METHODS: 227 episodes of PD-related peritonitis from January 2000 to June 2003 in two tertiary care hospitals were reviewed retrospectively for the antibiotic resistance pattern and their clinical outcome after treatment based on the ISPD guideline. RESULTS: There was 349 prevalent patients during this period. The incidence of peritonitis was 1 episode/41.3 patient-month. For 173 episodes, the etiologic organism was identified. Among the isolates, 99 (43.6%) were gram positive organisms and 57 (25.1%) were gram negative organisms. Among gram positive bacterial peritonitis, multiple logistic regression analysis showed that antibiotic resistance was not a risk factor for treatment failure (OR=0.84, p=0.79). Among the 45 cases with Staphylococcus- associated peritonitis, and empirical cefazolin and ceftazidime (or aminoglycoside) administration, 27 were methicillin-sensitive (MS) and 18 were methicillin-resistant (MR). There was no significant difference in the rate of relapse, catheter removal and death and successful treatment. Patients in the MR group were more likely to change antibiotics during the therapy than MS group (55.6% vs 7.4%, p=0.01) CONCLUSION: Despite a high rate of antibiotic resistance, initial empirical therapy with cefazolin and ceftazidime (or aminoglycoside) based on ISPD guideline is effective as the initial antibiotics choice for gram positive bacterial peritonitis.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Catheters ; Cefazolin* ; Ceftazidime* ; Drug Resistance, Microbial ; Humans ; Incidence ; Logistic Models ; Methicillin Resistance ; Peritoneal Dialysis* ; Peritonitis* ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Tertiary Healthcare ; Treatment Failure

Economic evaluations in the healthcare are used to assess economic efficiency of pharmaceuticals and medical interventions such as diagnoses and medical procedures. This study introduces the main concepts of economic evaluation across its key steps: planning, outcome and cost calculation, modeling, cost-effectiveness results, uncertainty analysis, and decision-making. When planning an economic evaluation, we determine the study population, intervention, comparators, perspectives, time horizon, discount rates, and type of economic evaluation. In healthcare economic evaluations, outcomes include changes in mortality, the survival rate, life years, and quality-adjusted life years, while costs include medical, non-medical, and productivity costs. Model-based economic evaluations, including decision tree and Markov models, are mainly used to calculate the total costs and total effects. In cost-effectiveness or costutility analyses, cost-effectiveness is evaluated using the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, which is the additional cost per one additional unit of effectiveness gained by an intervention compared with a comparator. All outcomes have uncertainties owing to limited evidence, diverse methodologies, and unexplained variation. Thus, researchers should review these uncertainties and confirm their robustness. We hope to contribute to the establishment and dissemination of economic evaluation methodologies that reflect Korean clinical and research environment and ultimately improve the rationality of healthcare policies.

Objectives: To conduct a comparative study of children’s health in South Korea versus North Korea focusing on air pollution. Methods: We used annual mortality rate, prevalence, and environmental indicators data from the World Bank and World Health Organizations (WHO). Trend analysis of the two Koreas was conducted to evaluate changes in health status over time. Spearman’s correlation analysis was used to find out the correlation between environmental indicators and children’s health status. Results: We found a distinct gap in children’s health status between the two Koreas. While North Korea reported a higher death rate of children than South Korea, both showed a decreasing trend with the gap narrowing from 2000 to 2017. The prevalence of overweight and obesity increased and that of thinness decreased in both Koreas. Except PM2.5 exposure, South Korea reported higher figures in most indicators of air pollutant emissions (South Korea, mean (SD)=28.3 (2.0); North Korea, mean (SD)=36.5 (2.8), P-value=0.002). Conclusion This study empirically discovered the gaps and patterns of children’s health between South Korea and North Korea. North Korean children experienced more severe health outcomes than children in South Korea. These findings imply that epigenetic modification caused by environmental stressors affect children’s health in the two Koreas despite similar genetic characteristics. Considering the gaps in children’s health between the two Koreas, more attention and resources need to be directed towards North Korea because the necessary commodities and services to improve children’s health are lacking in North Korea.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in Korea; it is the second most common cancer in men and the third most common in women. The incidence rate in Korea has continuously increased since 1999 when the National Cancer Registry statistics began. Currently; there are several screening modalities; that have been recommended by expert societies, including fecal occult blood test, colonoscopy, computed tomographic colonography The annual fecal immunochemical test (FIT) has been used in adults aged 50 and older as part of the National Cancer Screening Program in Korea since 2004. Although several study results from regional or national colorectal cancer screening programs in other countries have been reported, the National Cancer Screening Program in Korea has not yet been evaluated with evidence-based methods. Herein report the consensus statements on the National Screening Guideline for colorectal cancer developed by a multi-society expert committee in Korea, as follows: 1) We recommend annual or biennial FIT for screening for colorectal cancer in asymptomatic adults, beginning at 45 years of age and continuing until 80 years (recommendation B). 2) There is no evidence for the risks or benefits of FIT in adults older than 80 years (recommendation I). 3) Selective use of colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening is recommended, taking into consideration individual preference and the risk of colorectal cancer (recommendation C). 4) There is no evidence for the risks or benefits of double-contrast barium enema for colorectal cancer screening in asymptomatic adults (recommendation I). 5) There is no evidence for the risks or benefits of computed tomographic colonography for colorectal cancer screening in asymptomatic adults (recommendation I).
Adult ; Barium ; Colonography, Computed Tomographic ; Colonoscopy ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Consensus ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Enema ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Mass Screening* ; Occult Blood