Objective: This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lurasidone (160 mg/day) compared to quetiapine XR (QXR; 600 mg/day) in the treatment of acutely psychotic patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of double-blind treatment with lurasidone 160 mg/day (n=105) or QXR 600 mg/day (n=105). Primary efficacy measure was the change from baseline to week 6 in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score and Clinical Global Impressions severity (CGI-S) score. Adverse events, body measurements, and laboratory parameters were assessed. Results: Lurasidone demonstrated non-inferiority to QXR on the PANSS total score. Adjusted mean±standard error change at week 6 on the PANSS total score was -26.42±2.02 and -27.33±2.01 in the lurasidone and QXR group, respectively. The mean difference score was -0.91 (95% confidence interval -6.35–4.53). The lurasidone group showed a greater reduction in PANSS total and negative subscale on week 1 and a greater reduction in end-point CGI-S score compared to the QXR group. Body weight, body mass index, and waist circumference in the lurasidone group were reduced, with significantly lower mean change compared to QXR. Endpoint changes in glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein levels were also significantly lower. The most common adverse drug reactions with lurasidone were akathisia and nausea. Conclusion Lurasidone 160 mg/day was found to be non-inferior to QXR 600 mg/day in the treatment of schizophrenia with comparable efficacy and tolerability. Adverse effects of lurasidone were generally tolerable, and beneficial effects on metabolic parameters can be expected.

BACKGROUND: Early recognition of the signs and symptoms of clinical deterioration could diminish the incidence of cardiopulmonary arrest. The present study investigates outcomes with respect to cardiopulmonary arrest rates in institutions with and without rapid response systems (RRSs) and the current level of cardiopulmonary arrest rate in tertiary hospitals. METHODS: This was a retrospective study based on data from 14 tertiary hospitals. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) rate reports were obtained from each hospital to include the number of cardiopulmonary arrest events in adult patients in the general ward, the annual adult admission statistics, and the structure of the RRS if present. RESULTS: Hospitals with RRSs showed a statistically significant reduction of the CPR rate between 2013 and 2015 (odds ratio [OR], 0.731; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.577 to 0.927; P = 0.009). Nevertheless, CPR rates of 2013 and 2015 did not change in hospitals without RRS (OR, 0.988; 95% CI, 0.868 to 1.124; P = 0.854). National university-affiliated hospitals showed less cardiopulmonary arrest rate than private university-affiliated in 2015 (1.92 vs. 2.40; OR, 0.800; 95% CI, 0.702 to 0.912; P = 0.001). High-volume hospitals showed lower cardiopulmonary arrest rates compared with medium-volume hospitals in 2013 (1.76 vs. 2.63; OR, 0.667; 95% CI, 0.577 to 0.772; P < 0.001) and in 2015 (1.55 vs. 3.20; OR, 0.485; 95% CI, 0.428 to 0.550; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: RRSs may be a feasible option to reduce the CPR rate. The discrepancy in cardiopulmonary arrest rates suggests further research should include a nationwide survey to tease out factors involved in in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest and differences in outcomes based on hospital characteristics.
Adult ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Heart Arrest* ; Hospitals, High-Volume ; Humans ; Incidence ; Motivation* ; Patient Safety ; Patients' Rooms ; Pilot Projects* ; Quality of Health Care ; Retrospective Studies ; Tertiary Care Centers

PURPOSE: To investigate the clinical outcomes of distal hook augmentation using a pedicle screw in thoracolumbar fusion in elderly patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective multicenter study recruited 20 patients aged 65 years or older, who underwent anterior support and long level posterior fusion in the thoracolumbar junction with a follow-up of one year. To assess the effect of distal hook augmentation, the patients were divided into two groups; the pedicle screw with hook group (PH group, n=10) and the pedicle screw alone group (PA group, n=10). RESULTS: The average age was 72.4 years (65–83 years). The average fusion segment was 4.6 segments (3–6 segments). There were no significant differences in age, sex, causative diseases, bone mineral density of lumbar and proximal femur, number of patients with osteoporosis, and number of fused segments between the two groups (p≥0.05). At 1 year follow-up after surgery, parameters related with distal screw pullout were significantly worse in the PA group. No patients in the PH group had distal screw pullout. However, six patients (60%, 6/10) in the PA group had distal screw pullout. There were no significant differences in the progression of distal junctional kyphosis between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Distal hook augmentation is an effective procedure in protecting distal pedicle screws against the pullout when long level thoracolumbar fusion was performed in elderly patients aged 65 years or older.
Aged* ; Bone Diseases ; Femur ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Kyphosis ; Miners ; Osteoporosis ; Pedicle Screws* ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fusion

BACKGROUND: Early recognition of the signs and symptoms of clinical deterioration could diminish the incidence of cardiopulmonary arrest. The present study investigates outcomes with respect to cardiopulmonary arrest rates in institutions with and without rapid response systems (RRSs) and the current level of cardiopulmonary arrest rate in tertiary hospitals. METHODS: This was a retrospective study based on data from 14 tertiary hospitals. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) rate reports were obtained from each hospital to include the number of cardiopulmonary arrest events in adult patients in the general ward, the annual adult admission statistics, and the structure of the RRS if present. RESULTS: Hospitals with RRSs showed a statistically significant reduction of the CPR rate between 2013 and 2015 (odds ratio [OR], 0.731; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.577 to 0.927; P = 0.009). Nevertheless, CPR rates of 2013 and 2015 did not change in hospitals without RRS (OR, 0.988; 95% CI, 0.868 to 1.124; P = 0.854). National university-affiliated hospitals showed less cardiopulmonary arrest rate than private university-affiliated in 2015 (1.92 vs. 2.40; OR, 0.800; 95% CI, 0.702 to 0.912; P = 0.001). High-volume hospitals showed lower cardiopulmonary arrest rates compared with medium-volume hospitals in 2013 (1.76 vs. 2.63; OR, 0.667; 95% CI, 0.577 to 0.772; P < 0.001) and in 2015 (1.55 vs. 3.20; OR, 0.485; 95% CI, 0.428 to 0.550; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: RRSs may be a feasible option to reduce the CPR rate. The discrepancy in cardiopulmonary arrest rates suggests further research should include a nationwide survey to tease out factors involved in in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest and differences in outcomes based on hospital characteristics.
Adult ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Heart Arrest ; Hospitals, High-Volume ; Humans ; Incidence ; Motivation ; Patient Safety ; Patients' Rooms ; Pilot Projects ; Quality of Health Care ; Retrospective Studies ; Tertiary Care Centers

PURPOSE: In extrinsic atopic dermatitis (AD), house dust mites (HDM) play a role in eliciting or aggravating allergic lesions. The nature of skin inflammation in AD has raised a growing interest in allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT). Thus, we assessed clinical improvement and laboratory parameters for evaluation of the benefit of long-term SIT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 217 AD patients who were treated with SIT for at least 3 years were retrospectively assessed, by using their investigator global assessment, pruritus scores, loss of sleep (LOS), total serum IgE, and eosinophil counts collected. Patients were additionally classified into subgroups according to age, initial AD severity and mono- or multi-sensitization to include different individual factors in the evaluation of SIT efficacy. Lastly, we compared laboratory data of good responders to SIT with that of poor responders to SIT. RESULTS: Improvement after SIT therapy was observed in 192 out of 217 patients (88.4%). Among these patients, 138 (63.5%) achieved excellent, near-complete or complete clinical remission. Significant reduction of pruritus, LOS, and the mean value of total serum IgE were observed (p<0.01). Better outcome was found in patients younger than 12 years of age (p=0.024). Patients with moderate to severe AD showed better treatment outcomes (p=0.036). Patients sensitized only to HDM had the better response to treatment, but SIT was also effective in multi-sensitized groups (p=1.051). No significant differences in baseline laboratory results were observed between good and poor responders (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: We emphasize the usefulness of long-term HDM SIT as a disease-modifying therapy for AD.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Allergens/*immunology ; Animals ; Child ; Dermatitis, Atopic/*therapy ; Desensitization, Immunologic/*methods ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pyroglyphidae/*immunology ; Retrospective Studies ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: Questionnaire-based diagnostic criteria for atopic dermatitis (AD) have been proposed to detect the major group of AD with flexural dermatitis. We aimed to develop novel, questionnaire-based diagnostic criteria for childhood AD, which can detect more comprehensive AD including non-flexural type. METHODS: The draft version of questionnaire to detect childhood AD was prepared to be used for preliminary hospital- (n=1,756) and community-based (n=1,320) surveys. From analysis, the Reliable Estimation of Atopic dermatitis of ChildHood (REACH) was derived and verified in derivation (n=1,129) and validation (n=1,191) sets by community-based surveys. RESULTS: The REACH consists of 11 questions including 2 major and 9 minor criteria. AD is diagnosed as the major group of 'eczema on the antecubital or popliteal fossa' to fulfill the 2 major criteria (2M), and the minor group of 'eczema on the non-antecubital or popliteal fossa' to fulfill the 1 major plus 4 or more minor criteria (1M+4m). In the validation set, the overall 1-year AD prevalence by the REACH was estimated as 12.3% (95% CI, 10.5%-14.2%), and the REACH showed a sensitivity of 75.2%, a specificity of 96.1%, and an error rate of 6.4%. The REACH demonstrated better diagnostic performance than the ISAAC in terms of the number of misclassification (10.0%). CONCLUSIONS: We propose the REACH as new full, questionnaire-based diagnostic criteria for childhood AD in epidemiological surveys. Further studies are warranted to validate the REACH in different populations or countries in the context of large-scale, epidemiological surveys.
Dermatitis ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Prevalence ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVES: Suicide attempters have impaired decision making and are at high risk of reattempt. Therefore it is important to refer them to psychiatric treatment. Especially, People with medical comorbidity are at higher risk of suicidal attempt and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of suicidal attempters and to analyze the influence of the medical comorbidity on decision to receive psychiatric treatment after visit to an emergency department. METHODS: One hundred and thirty two patients, who visited the emergency room of a general hospital in Gyeonggi-do between January, 2012 and December, 2012 were enrolled as the subjects of this study. After reviewing each subject's medical records retrospectively, demographic and clinical factors were analyzed. RESULTS: Regardless of the engagement type, either via admission or outpatient clinic, the determinant factors of psychiatric treatment engagement were psychiatric diagnosis, employment status, previous psychiatric treatment history, and previous attempt history. Comparison of severity of medical comorbidity(Charlson Comorbidity Index) showed that suicide attempters who received psychiatric treatment via admission or refused the treatment tended to have higher level of medical comorbidity than who received psychiatric treatment via outpatient department. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that medical comorbidity of suicide attempters affected the decision to accept psychiatric treatment. All psychiatrists should evaluate the presence and the severity of medical comorbidity of the suicide attempters and consider implementing more intervention for the medically ill attempters who are willing to discharge against advice.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Comorbidity* ; Decision Making ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Employment ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Mental Disorders ; Mortality ; Outpatients ; Psychiatry ; Retrospective Studies ; Suicide

A 70-yr-old woman visited our hospital for shortness of breath. Chest CT showed ground glass opacity and traction bronchiectasis at right middle, lower lobe and left lingular division. Video-assisted thoracic surgical biopsy at right lower lobe and pathologic examination revealed mixed dust pneumoconiosis. Polarized optical microscopy showed lung lesions were consisted of silica and carbon materials. She was a housewife and never been exposed to silica dusts occupationally. She has taken freshwater snails as a health-promoting food for 40 yr and ground shell powder was piled up on her backyard where she spent day-time. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of snail shell and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy of lung lesion revealed that silica occupies important portion. Herein, we report the first known case of silicosis due to chronic inhalation of shell powder of freshwater snail.
Aged ; Animals ; Carbon/chemistry ; *Dust ; Female ; Humans ; *Inhalation ; Silicon Dioxide/chemistry ; Silicosis/*diagnosis/radiography ; Snails/*chemistry ; Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Effective bowel preparation is essential for accurate diagnosis of colon disease. We investigated efficacy and safety of 2 L polyethylene glycol (PEG) solution with 90 mL sodium phosphate (NaP) solution compared with 4 L PEG method. METHODS: Between August 2009 and April 2010, 526 patients were enrolled who visited Seoul National University Bundang Hospital for colonoscopy. We allocated 249 patients to PEG 4 L group and 277 patients to PEG 2 L with NaP 90 mL group. Detailed questionnaires were performed to investigate compliance, satisfaction and preference of each method. Bowel preparation quality and segmental quality were evaluated. Success was defined as cecal intubation time less than 20 minutes without any help of supervisors. RESULTS: Both groups revealed almost the same baseline characteristics except the experience of operation. PEG 4 L group's compliance was lower than PEG 2 L with NaP 90 mL group. Success rate and cecal intubation time was not different between two groups. Overall bowel preparation quality of PEG 2 L with NaP 90 mL group was better than PEG 4 L group. Segmental bowel preparation quality of PEG 2 L with NaP 90 mL group was also better than PEG 4 L group in all segments, especially right side colon. Occurrence of hyperphosphatemia was higher in PEG 2 L with NaP 90 mL group than PEG 4 L group. However, significant adverse event was not reported. CONCLUSIONS: PEG 2 L with NaP 90 mL method seems to be more effective bowel preparation than PEG 4 L method.
Administration, Oral ; Adult ; Aged ; Colonic Diseases/diagnosis ; Colonoscopy/*methods ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patient Compliance ; Phosphates/*administration & dosage ; Polyethylene Glycols/*administration & dosage ; Questionnaires ; Solutions ; Therapeutic Irrigation

PURPOSE: The frequency of performing laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) has increased compared to that of open appendectomy because of its advantages such as decreased postoperative pain, shorter hospitalization and quicker recovery. The advantages of minimally invasive surgery are well known to the general public, so we recognized the importance of a laparoscopic training course. We analyzed the results of LA performed by one resident and we determined the learning curve and the safety. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 50 consecutive patients with a preoperative diagnosis of acute appendectomy and who underwent LA by one surgical resident. We used the medical and video records and compared the patients' age, gender, BMI, the location of the appendix tip, the pathologic findings, the state of drainage insertion, intraoperative bleeding, conversion to open surgery, the operation time and the complicating factor affecting the operating time. RESULTS: The mean operation time was 79.9 minutes and the operation time was effectively shortened when the surgeon had many experiences, the patients had a low BMI and there was no perforation, periappendiceal abscess or insertion of drains. After 25 cases of surgery experience (LA), the surgeon had enough expertise for the operations. Two cases of wound infection around the umbilical area and 1 case of intraperitoneal fluid collection occurred after the surgery. Yet this was all soon cured by wound dressing and the use of antibiotics. CONCLUSION: Fifty cases of LA were safely performed by one surgical resident. Thus, LA is a suitable procedure for surgical residents and it helpful for learning the basic technique of other advanced laparoscopic surgeries.
Abscess ; Appendectomy ; Appendix ; Bandages ; Conversion to Open Surgery ; Drainage ; Hemorrhage ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Learning ; Learning Curve ; Pain, Postoperative ; Retrospective Studies ; Wound Infection