Background: Systemic inflammation is associated with poor functional outcomes. However, the effects of improved inflammation on functional indicators remain unclear. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between improvements in systemic inflammation and activities of daily living in patients after stroke. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients post stroke with systemic inflammation upon admission. Systemic inflammation was defined as a modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) score of 1–2. Improvement in systemic inflammation was defined as a reduction in mGPS score or blood C-reactive protein (CRP) levels during hospitalization. The primary outcomes were the motor items of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM-motor) at discharge. We applied multiple linear regression analysis to examine whether reduced systemic inflammation was associated with outcomes after adjusting for confounding factors. Results: Of the 1,490 patients recruited, 158 (median age of 79 years; 88 men) had systemic inflammation on admission and were included in the study. Among these patients, 131 (82.9%) and 147 (93.0%) exhibited reduced mGPS and CRP levels, respectively. The median change in CRP was 2.1 mg/dL (interquartile range, 1.1–3.8). Multivariate analysis revealed that improvements in mGPS (β=0.125, p=0.012) and CRP levels (β=0.108, p=0.108) were independently and positively associated with FIM-motor at discharge. Conclusions Improvement in systemic inflammation was positively associated with functional outcomes in patients post stroke. Early detection and therapeutic intervention for systemic inflammation may further improve outcomes in these patients.

Background: Systemic inflammation is associated with poor functional outcomes. However, the effects of improved inflammation on functional indicators remain unclear. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between improvements in systemic inflammation and activities of daily living in patients after stroke. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients post stroke with systemic inflammation upon admission. Systemic inflammation was defined as a modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) score of 1–2. Improvement in systemic inflammation was defined as a reduction in mGPS score or blood C-reactive protein (CRP) levels during hospitalization. The primary outcomes were the motor items of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM-motor) at discharge. We applied multiple linear regression analysis to examine whether reduced systemic inflammation was associated with outcomes after adjusting for confounding factors. Results: Of the 1,490 patients recruited, 158 (median age of 79 years; 88 men) had systemic inflammation on admission and were included in the study. Among these patients, 131 (82.9%) and 147 (93.0%) exhibited reduced mGPS and CRP levels, respectively. The median change in CRP was 2.1 mg/dL (interquartile range, 1.1–3.8). Multivariate analysis revealed that improvements in mGPS (β=0.125, p=0.012) and CRP levels (β=0.108, p=0.108) were independently and positively associated with FIM-motor at discharge. Conclusions Improvement in systemic inflammation was positively associated with functional outcomes in patients post stroke. Early detection and therapeutic intervention for systemic inflammation may further improve outcomes in these patients.

Background: Systemic inflammation is associated with poor functional outcomes. However, the effects of improved inflammation on functional indicators remain unclear. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between improvements in systemic inflammation and activities of daily living in patients after stroke. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients post stroke with systemic inflammation upon admission. Systemic inflammation was defined as a modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) score of 1–2. Improvement in systemic inflammation was defined as a reduction in mGPS score or blood C-reactive protein (CRP) levels during hospitalization. The primary outcomes were the motor items of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM-motor) at discharge. We applied multiple linear regression analysis to examine whether reduced systemic inflammation was associated with outcomes after adjusting for confounding factors. Results: Of the 1,490 patients recruited, 158 (median age of 79 years; 88 men) had systemic inflammation on admission and were included in the study. Among these patients, 131 (82.9%) and 147 (93.0%) exhibited reduced mGPS and CRP levels, respectively. The median change in CRP was 2.1 mg/dL (interquartile range, 1.1–3.8). Multivariate analysis revealed that improvements in mGPS (β=0.125, p=0.012) and CRP levels (β=0.108, p=0.108) were independently and positively associated with FIM-motor at discharge. Conclusions Improvement in systemic inflammation was positively associated with functional outcomes in patients post stroke. Early detection and therapeutic intervention for systemic inflammation may further improve outcomes in these patients.

This paper intends to examine the realities of modern hygiene and medical institutions making their appearance in the rural Honam Plain (often called the “rice basket”) of colonial Korea in terms of organizing local units and spreading colonial ‘sanitary discipline’ throughout the region. In the Honam area, modern medical staff and facilities tended to concentrate on the cities in plain region (Kunsan, Jeonju, and Iri), while in the counties in mountainous region they were placed in the township where head office of each county was located. The case of Iksan County in plain region represented this pattern, which was closely associated with the behavior pattern of local Japanese immigrants as well as population growth (i.e., urbanization). The colonial city of Iri in Iksan County with burgeoning population of Japanese immigrants witnessed an early case of hygiene association right after Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910. The Iri hygiene association was a product of organizational restructuring of the preannexation Japanese resident association into the school association after the annexation, under which it was subordinated. It stands as an interesting contrast to the Jeonju hygiene association organized ‘autonomously’ under the official (police) auspices in the mid-1930s, which did not undergo the stage of school association. Yet, both cases represented the urban ‘autonomous’ (civil) organizations' effort to transplant colonial ‘sanitary discipline’ into the colonial local societies without recourse to the hygiene police apparatus. On the other hand, the sanitary project in rural areas was carried out on the basis of model hygiene village, with the identical purpose of raising awareness of hygiene and prohibiting epidemics just as the hygiene association in cities. However, considering the low level of epidemic inspection of Korean patients, the effect of the Japanese colonial sanitary project in Korean local societies was disappointing. There was an ever-widening gap in the colonial hygiene and medical services between Koreans and their colonizers as well as between urban and rural areas.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Colon ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Hand ; Head ; Humans ; Hygiene* ; Jeollabuk-do ; Korea* ; Medical Staff ; Police ; Population Growth

Objectives: Human T cell leukemia virus type-I (HTLV-I) is a causative agent of human T-cell leukemia and HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP). HTLV-I carriers are often infected vertically, especially via mother's milk. Since 1985, clinical measures have been adopted at a hospital in Okinawa to prevent vertical infections.
Methods: We examined HTLV-I antibodies in all of the women (total 11, 506) who gave birth after 24 gestational weeks at a hospital on the Okinawa main island from January 1985 to December 1999.
Results: The positive rate among all pregnant women was always higher than that among primipara alone. Both figures decreased over the period studied, but the primiparity rate (36-39%) did not change significantly. The percentage of HTLV-I positive primipara pregnant women among the HTLV-I positive total was close to the primiparity rate from 1985 to 1988, but it was considerably lower than the overall primiparity rate thereafter (22-26%).
Conclusions: Preventive measures against HTLV-I infection did not contribute to the decrease in HTLV-I positive mothers before 1999 because these measures were adopted from 1985, and so there must be other reasons for the decrease in HTLV-I positive rate. Further studies on social factors and by year of birth are needed to identify factors influencing HTLV-carrier ratios among pregnant women.