OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of self-esteem as a moderator of the factors influencing suicidality among middle-schoolers. METHODS: Moderated multiple regression analysis was applied to assess the influence of happiness, depression, and hostility on suicidality and to determine the degree to which self-esteem served as a moderator of those relationships. Data were collected from 268 students at a middle school in Busan, Korea, using a self-administered structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Happiness, depression, and hostility had significant direct effects on suicidality. Self-esteem showed no direct effect, but had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between hostility and suicidal behavior. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that various interventions, such as counseling programs, should be designed to alleviate hostility and depression and to enhance happiness and self-esteem among early adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of self-esteem as a moderator of the factors influencing suicidality among middle-schoolers. METHODS: Moderated multiple regression analysis was applied to assess the influence of happiness, depression, and hostility on suicidality and to determine the degree to which self-esteem served as a moderator of those relationships. Data were collected from 268 students at a middle school in Busan, Korea, using a self-administered structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Happiness, depression, and hostility had significant direct effects on suicidality. Self-esteem showed no direct effect, but had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between hostility and suicidal behavior. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that various interventions, such as counseling programs, should be designed to alleviate hostility and depression and to enhance happiness and self-esteem among early adolescents.
Adolescent ; Busan ; Counseling ; Depression ; Happiness ; Hostility ; Humans ; Korea

Ovarian dermoid cysts are one of the most common benign neoplasms in women. Rectal fistula formation due to an ovarian dermoid cyst, particularly a benign dermoid cyst, is extremely rare. A 17-year-old girl with symptoms of lower abdominal pain, passage of sebaceous materials in the stool, and hematochezia was found to have an 11-cm dermoid cyst complicated with a rectal fistula formation. Laparoscopic repair of the rectal fistula was performed successfully with bilateral ovarian cystectomies. This case presents the rare formation of a fistula between a benign dermoid cyst and the rectum and its treatment using laparoscopic repair without laparotomy.
Abdominal Pain ; Adolescent ; Cystectomy ; Dermoid Cyst* ; Female ; Fistula ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Laparotomy ; Rectal Fistula* ; Rectum

OBJECTIVES: Disturbance in self-experience has been considered to be a core feature of schizophrenia. Evidence from mirror face-recognition tasks supports the connection between self-face recognition and self-awareness which is a part of self-experience. The aim of this study was to investigate the self-other boundary recognition using morphed face pictures in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Twenty-one patients with schizophrenia and twenty-three healthy controls completed the self-face recognition task that consisted of various morphed pictures. Participant's own picture was morphed with each of three different, unknown, gender-matched facial identities in steps of 10% ; each pair producing 11 images with graded blending of facial features. Thirty-three images in total were randomly presented as stimuli in a run, which was repeated three times. Participants were instructed to choose whether the stimulus was self-face or not. RESULTS: Self-face proportion was significantly lower in the schizophrenia group at both recognition start point I and II (33.33% vs. 53.04%, p<0.001 ; 61.43% vs. 70.87%, p=0.01, respectively). Using the mean value of each recognition start point in the control group, we calculated the difference in self-face proportion for each individual with schizophrenia. There was a significant correlation between the degree of this difference and total Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) score at recognition start point I (r=0.507, p=0.019). CONCLUSION: The difference in self-other boundary recognition in this study may account for self-disturbance of schizophrenia. Its correlation with SANS total score may reflect the shared nature of persistent disturbance between the disturbance in self-experience and the negative symptom.
Humans ; Schizophrenia*

Indirect inguinal hernia containing an ovary is a rare condition, especially in adult women who do not have any other genital tract anomalies. In addition, inguinal hernia containing an ovary and endometriosis is exceedingly rare. In the present report, we describe a case of indirect inguinal hernia containing an ovary, fallopian tube, and endometriosis. Laparoscopic repair was performed successfully using polypropylene mesh for the treatment of the inguinal hernia.
Adult* ; Endometriosis* ; Fallopian Tubes* ; Female ; Hernia, Inguinal* ; Humans ; Ovary* ; Polypropylenes

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in South Korea since the year 2000 and it is more common in elderly patients, with a peak incidence at around 70~80 years of age. However, these elderly patients receive treatment less often than do the younger patients because of organ dysfunction related to their age and their comorbidities, and they show poor tolerance to chemotherapy. The aims of this study were to analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment-related survival of elderly patients with lung cancer. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we analyzed the clinical data of 706 lung cancer patients who were diagnosed at hospitals in Daegu and Gyeongsangbukdo from January 2005 to December 2005. We compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of the patients who were aged 70 years and older (elderly patients) with those clinical characteristics and outcomes of the younger individuals. RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 68 years (from 29 to 93) and the elderly patients were 38.7% (n=273) of all the study's patients. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common type of lung cancer in both the elderly and younger patient groups. Elderly patients had more symptoms of dyspnea and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) than the younger patients (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). A good performance status (ECOG 0-1) was less common for the elderly patients (p<0.001). The median survival of the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients was significantly higher in the younger patient group than in the elderly patient group (962 days vs 298 days, respectively, p=0.001). However, the median survival of the NSCLC patients who received any treatment showed no significant difference between the younger patient group and the elderly patient group (1,109 days vs 708 days, respectively, p=0.14). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that appropriate treatment for selected elderly patients improved the survival of patients with NSCLC. Therefore, elderly NSCLC patients with a good performance status should be encouraged to receive appropriate treatment.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Comorbidity ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Prognosis ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of fentanyl-TTS in the management of radiotherapy induced acute pain and cancer pain treated with radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study was open labelled prospective phase IV multi-center study. the study population included patients with more 4 numeric rating scale(NRS) score pain although managed with other analgesics or more than 6 NRS score pain without analgesics. Patients divided into two groups; patients with radiotherapy induced pain (Group A) and patients with cancer pain treated with radiotherapy (Group B). All patients received 25 ug/hr of fentanyl transdermal patch. Primary end point was pain relief; second end points were change in patient quality of life, a degree of satisfaction for patients and clinician, side effects. RESULTS: Between March 2005 and June 2005, 312 patients from 26 participating institutes were registered, but 249 patients completed this study. Total number of patients in each group was 185 in Group A, 64 in Group B. Mean age was 60 years and male to female ratio was 76:24. Severe pain NRS score at 2 weeks after the application of fentanyl was decreased from 7.03 to 4.01, p=0.003. There was a significant improvement in insomnia, social functioning, and quality of life. A degree of satisfaction for patients and clinician was very high. The most common reasons of patients' satisfactions was good pain control. Ninety six patients reported side effect. Nausea was the most common side effect. There was no serious side effect. CONCLUSION: Fentanyl-TTS was effective in both relieving pain with good tolerability and improving the quality of life for patients with radiotherapy induced acute pain and cancer pain treated with radiotherapy. The satisfaction of the patients and doctors was good. There was no major side effect.
Academies and Institutes ; Acute Pain ; Analgesics ; Female ; Fentanyl* ; Humans ; Male ; Nausea ; Prospective Studies ; Quality of Life ; Radiotherapy* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Transdermal Patch*

Fetus in fetu is an extremely uncommon cause of abdominal mass in the neonate with an incidence of 1 in 500,000 births. This is thought to occur when a monozygotic, diamniotic twin is incorporated into the body of its sibling early in embryonic development. A case of retroperitoneal fetus in fetu in a 3 day old male infant is reported, the excised round mass contained the vertebral column, 2 feet, 2 arms, small penis and testis. The presence of vertebral axis and organogenesis differentiates it from a teratoma. More than 100 cases of fetus in fetu have been reported, most of which have been in the abdomen. We report a case of a well developed fetus in the retroperitoneal area of a neonate delivered at term.
Abdomen ; Arm ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Embryonic Development ; Female ; Fetus* ; Foot ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Organogenesis ; Parturition ; Penis ; Pregnancy ; Siblings ; Spine ; Teratoma ; Testis

BACKGROUND: Secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) are a group of extracellular enzymes that release fatty acids at the sn-2 position of phospholipids. Group IIA sPLA2 (sPLA2-IIA) has been detected in the inflammatory fluids, and its plasma level increases in the inflammatory disease. This study examined the effect of sPLA2-IIA on mouse macropahges in order to investigate the potential mechanism of sPLA2-induced inflammation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Wild type PLA2 and mutant H48Q PLA2 were purified from HEK293 cells transfected with the corresponding plasmids, and the PLA2 activities were measured using 1-palmitoyl-2-[1- (14) C]linoleoyl-3-phosphatidylethanolamine as substrates. The TNF-alpha and IL-6 released in the supernatants were determined by ELISA. In addition, the TNF-alpha and IL-6 mRNA were analyzed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: sPLA2-IIA stimulated the production of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In addition, the effect of sPLA2-IIA on cytokine production from the macrophage was found to be associated with the accumulation of their specific mRNA. The mRNA levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 peaked at 2 and 6 hours in a time-dependent manner, respectively. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the production of proinflammatory cytokine might be mediated by the binding of sPLA2-IIA to the receptors.
Animals ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fatty Acids ; Group II Phospholipases A2* ; HEK293 Cells ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-6* ; Macrophages ; Mice ; Phospholipases A2, Secretory ; Phospholipids ; Plasma ; Plasmids ; RNA, Messenger ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha*

For the nonunion of humeral shaft, there have been many methods of treatment. We are aimed to analyse the causes of nonunion of humeral shaft fracture and present the direction of treatment. We reviewed total 21 cases which were diagnosed as delayed or nonunion of humeral shaft and analysed the causes. l. Initial method of treatment was surgical in 19 out of 21 cases. Among these 19 cases, 14 cases were operated with internal fixation with plate and screw. 2. The most common cause of nonunion was inadequate internal fixation in 26 cases(81%) in which were unstable fixation in 13 cases, choice of inadequate internal fixator in 11 cases, and failure of operative technique in 2 cases. Other causes were distraction between fracture fragments in 4 cases(13%) and open comminuted fracture in 2 cases. 3. Eighteen cases of established nonunion due to inadequate internal fixation were treated by rigid fixation with longer and broader plate and bone graft, and 1 case interlocking IM nailing, 1 case Ender nailing and 1 case bone graft only. 4. Union was obtained in all cases at least in 5 months. And there were no specific complications. In conclusion, surgeons should contemplate the operative indication and principles in primary treatment. In treatment of nonunion, surgeons should treat by more longer and broder internal fixator and additional bone graft.
Fractures, Comminuted ; Humerus ; Internal Fixators ; Methods ; Surgeons ; Transplants