• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.516-522
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• 2006

Background : In contrast to tuberculous pleurisy, tuberculous empyema is a chronic active infectious disease of the pleural cavity that is frequently accompanied by cavitary or advanced pulmonary lesions. The condition requires long-term anti-tuberculous medication with external drainage. The clinical features and treatment outcome of tuberculous empyema are unclear despite the high prevalence of tuberculosis in Korea. Methods : From January 1991 through April 2004, 17 patients diagnosed with tuberculous empyema in Kyungpook National University Hospital were enrolled in this study. Their medical records and chest radiographs were reviewed. Results : Twelve patients(71%) had a history of tuberculosis and six of the 12 patients were under current anti-tuberculous medication. Productive cough, fever, and dyspnea were the main complaints. There was no predominance between the right and left lungs. Nine patients(53%) had far-advanced pulmonary tuberculosis, two(12%) had a cavitary lesion, and seven(41%) had a pyopneumothorax on the chest radiograph. All eight cases in whom the data of pleural fluid WBC differential count was available showed polymorphonuclear leukocyte predominance. Eight patients(47%) had other bacterial infections as well. The overall rates of a positive sputum AFB smear and culture for M. tuberculosis were 71% and 64%, respectively. The positive AFB smear and culture rates for M. tuberculosis from the pleural fluid were 33% and 36%, respectively. Twelve of the 16 patients(75%) were treated successfully. Three underwent additional surgical intervention. Two patients (12%) died during treatment. Conclusion : Tuberculous empyema is frequently accompanied by advanced pulmonary lesions, and polymorphonuclear leukocytes are predominant in the pleural fluid. Other accompanying bacterial infections in the pleural cavity are also common in tuberculous empyema patients. Therefore, tuberculous empyema should be considered in differential diagnosis of patients with polymorphonuclear leukocyte-predominant pleural effusion. In addition, more active effort will be needed to achieve a bacteriological diagnosis in the pleural fluid.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.233-238
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• 2006

Study objectives: To determine the factors associated with mortality after an in-hospital diagnosis of tuberculosis in a region with low levels of HIV coinfection. Methods: From January 2003 to December 2004, all subjects who were > 15 years of age and had received a diagnosis of tuberculosis were registered. The clinical, radiological and laboratory aspects of the patients who died (n=27) were compared with those of an age and gender matched control population(n=54). Logistic regression analyses were carried out, which included age, gender, hospital admission source, initial site of admission, dyspnea, general weakness and initial laboratory data. Results: The mean age of the patients was $60{\pm}16$ years and male patients outnumbered female patients. Univariate analysis identified hemoglobin, blood urea nitrogen, albumin, cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), C-reactive protein and the risk factors for tuberculosis to be significantly associated with mortality. Among the characteristics of disease presentation and treatment, emergency department admission, intensive care unit, disease severity, general weakness and dyspnea at the time of admission were associated with mortality. Multiple regression analysis revealed the initial management in the intensive care unit and lower serum albumin to be independently associated with mortality. Conclusion: The markers of disease chronicity and severity appear to be associated with in-hospital mortality. Identifying potentially reversible factors such as malnutrition and respiratory failure suggests specific intervention that might lead to an improvement in the patients' outcomes.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.406-416
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• 2007

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which consist of a substitution of a single nucleotide pair, are the most abundant form of genetic variations occurring with a frequency of approximately 1 per 1000 base pairs. SNPs by themselves do not cause disease but can predispose humans to disease, modify the extent or severity of the disease or influence the drug response and treatment efficacy. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), particularly those within the regulatory regions of the genes often influence the expression levels and can modify the disease. Studies examining the associations between SNP and the disease outcome have provided valuable insight into the disease etiology and potential therapeutic intervention. Traditionally, the genotyping of SNPs has been carried out using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP), which is a low throughput technique not amenable for use in large-scale SNP studies. Recently, TaqMan real-time PCR chemistry was adapted for use in allelic discrimination assays. This study validated the accuracy and utility of real-time PCR technology for SNPs genotyping Methods: The SNPs in promoter sequence (-37 and -524) of lung cancer suppressor gene, RRM1 (ribonucleotide reductase M1 subunit) with the genomic DNA samples of 89 subjects were genotyped using both real-time PCR and PCR-RFLP. Results: The discordance rates were 2.2% (2 mismatches) in -37 and 16.3% (15 mismatches) in -524. Auto-direct sequencing of all the mismatched samples(17 cases) were in accord with the genotypes read by real-time PCR. In addition, 138 genomic DNAs were genotyped using real-time PCR in a duplicate manner (two separated assays). Ninety-eight percent of the samples showed concordance between the two assays. Conclusion: Real-time PCR allelic discrimination assays are amenable to high-throughput genotyping and overcome many of the problematic features associated with PCR-RFLP.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.634-664
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• 2008

This study investigated the effects of the nutrition education on body weight, visceral fat and diet quality in the postmenopausal women. The subjects (n = 101) were randomly divided into two groups: Nutrition education + Exercise (NEE) group (n = 51) and Exercise only (EO) group (n = 50). Nutrition education was consisted of counseling in portion control, food selection for low carbohydrate, high fiber food items and for the improvement in micronutrient intakes and diet quality. After 6 months, the reduction in the body weight and visceral fat area was significantly greater in the NEE than in the EO group. The NEE subjects were further divided into two groups according to the amount of visceral fat area reduction; high visceral fat area loss (HVL) group with a visceral fat area reduction 2.35% or greater and low visceral fat area loss (LVL) group with a reduction less than 2.35%. In the HVL group, the reduction in body weight, BMI, percent body fat, waist to hip ratio and visceral fat area was significantly greater than that in the LVL group. We observed a significant increase in the serum HDL-cholesterol level and a decrease in systolic blood pressure, fasting blood sucrose, total and LDL-cholesterol levels in the HVL group compared to the LVL group. The energyadjusted protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin $B_6$, vitamin C, vitamin E intakes were significantly increased in the HVL compared to LVL group. The index of nutritional quality (INQ) and mean adequacy ratio (MAR) were also increased in the HVL group compared to the LVL group. These results show that our nutrition education program was an effective intervention measure for the reduction of body weight and visceral fat, blood pressure, glucose and lipid levels in the blood and also for the improvement of nutrient intake and diet quality in postmenopausal women who are overweight.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.411-418
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• 2004

Background : Cigarette smoking is the single biggest avoidable cause of death and disability in most countries. Effective prevention of cigarette Smoking and help for those wishing to quit can therefore yield enormous health benefits for populations and individuals. Although most of smokers try to stop smoking for themselves, the success rate of quitting smoking is very low. Promoting and supporting smoking cessation should be an important health policy priority for healthcare professionals in all clinical settings. In this study, we tried to evaluate the effect of the educational program for smoking cessation of our hospital, the smoking pattern, and characteristics of adult smokers enrolled in the program. Methods : We enrolled 640 smokers, who has visited the '5 day stop smoking school' for smoking cessation from Jan 1998 to 2001. we evaluated the characteristics of the smokers based on the self report questionnaire at the beginning of the program and we also checked 100 smokers, enrolled in Inpatient Smoking Cessation Educational program, their smoking behavior and the cessation rate with postal questionnaire after finishing this program from Nov 2002 to Jan 2003. Results : The health was most common motivation for smoking cessation. The stress was the most important motivation of smoking. The overall smoking cessation rate of the smokers enrolled in inpatient smoking cessation school was 60%. The age of starting smoking and the kind of occupation have a significant difference between the success group and failure group of smoking cessation. Conclusion : The inpatient smoking cessation program was effective smoking cessation intervention in the adult smokers who enrolled in '5 day stop smoking school'.

• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2000

Purpose : Spine is one of the most common sites of the metastatic bone tumors. Conservative management such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy has been preferred in most cases. However, the neurologic deficit has not been usually improved, and the quality of life was poor. The purpose of this study was to show the efficacy of the surgical treatments for metastatic spinal tumors in terms of postoperative improvements of neurologic deficit and survival time. Materials and Methods : Authors have reviewed the literatures and analyzed 14 patients of metastatic spinal tumors who were received operative treatments between August 1991 and June 1999 at the our department of orthopaedic surgery. Results : The most frequent primary tumor was breast cancer in women and lung cancer in men. The thoracic region was the most common site. There was a preponderance of females over males, and the age ranged between 4th and 8th decade. The indications of surgical treatment comprised instability, progressive neurologic findings, resistance to radiotherapy, pathological fracture, long life expectancy( >6weeks), isolated metastasis and need for pathological diagnosis. The degree of preoperative neurological deficit might influence on the improvement of clinical symptoms after surgery. Conclusion : The surgical treatment reduced the neurological deficit and pain regardless of the operative methods. In the early stage of neurological deficit, the surgical treatment was important for better prognosis. Recently early active operative treatment was performed for metastatic spinal tumor to minimize the intractable pain and to prevent the progression of the neurologic deficit. Early intervention can improve the quality of life and long term survival.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.29 no.12 s.148
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• pp.1595-1607
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• 2005

Three-dimensional(3-D) body scanners used to capture anthropometric measurements are now becoming a common research tool far apparel. This study had two goals, to test the accuracy and reliability of 3-D measurements of dynamic postures, and !o analyze the change in upper body surface measurements between the standard anthropometric position and various dynamic positions. A comparison of body surface measurements using two different measuring methods, 3-D scan measurements using virtual tools on the computer screen and traditional manual measurements for a standard anthropometric posture and for a posture with shoulder flexion were $-2\~20mm$. Girth items showed some disagreement of values between the two methods. None of the measurements were significantly different except f3r the neckbase girth for any of the measuring methods or postures. Scan measurements of the upper body items showed significant linear surface change in the dynamic postures. Shoulder length, interscye front and back, and biacromion length were the items most affected in the dynamic postures. Changes of linear body surface were very similar for the two measuring methods within the same posture. The repeatability of data taken from the 3-D scans using virtual tools showed satisfactory results. Three times repeated scan measurements f3r the scapula protraction and scapula elevation posture were proven to be statistically the same for all measurement items. Measurements from automatic measuring software that measured the 3-D scan with no manual intervention were compared with the measurements using virtual tools. Many measurements from the automatic program were larger and showed quite different values.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.145-153
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• 2007

Purpose: This study was to analyze the research trend centering on the theses to hospice released in Korea. Methods: The researcher collected the academic degrees and theses published on the book of the academic society from 1991 to 2004, and examined 110 domestic papers of hospice. Results: 1) The number of articles increased 3 years after 1997, 52 (47%) theses were published in $2000{\sim}2002$. 97 (88%) articles were quantitative studies, and 13 (12%) were qualitative studies. 2) As for the subject, the results were: patients with end stage 44 (40%), nurse 18 (16%), hospice care system, facilities, and literature review 12 (10%). 3) As for main concepts of correlational studies 15 (13%), the results were: quality of life, activities of volunteers, suffering experience of nurse, and so on. 4) The subjects and contents of survey, the results were: pain control and need for nursing care in patients, need for spiritual and physical care in family, and so on. 5) The treatment of experimental research, the results were: hospice nursing, educational program, informational support, spiritual nursing, supportive nursing intervention, home hospice care, information services for control of cancer pain, and so on. 6) In the theme of the qualitative studies, the results were: experience of dying patients, perceive of hospice care and death, experience of family of terminal ill patients, meaning of dying in Korean. 7) In the instrument in studies, the results were: MQOL, EQOL, QOL, NIC, Need Scale, Spiritual Well-being Scale, Spiritual Perspective Scale, Coping for Grief Scale, K-CPAT, VAS, BPI, Depression Scale, Strait-anxiety Scale, Care-giver Burden Inventory, Burnout Inventory, Mental quality. Conclusion: More research needs to be encouraged in experimental and qualitative research fields. Researches should be conducted for the establishment of the basis of practical and theoretical framework and hospice polices.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1889-1895
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• 2010

The purpose of this present study was to investigate the effects of long-term treadmill running and aged garlic extract supplementation on weight, adipose tissue mass, lipid profiles and oxidative stress after exhaustion in high fat diet-induced obese rats. Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats (3 weeks old) were used as subjects. High fat diets were fed to all subjects for 6 weeks in order to induce obesity. The subjects were divided into five groups - N (normal diet group), HD (high fat diet group), E (exercise group), EA (exercise with AGE diet group) and A (AGE diet group). Aerobic exercise was performed through treadmill running and AGE at a dosage of 2.86 kg/g was administered to rats 30 min before every exercise for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, all groups completed acute treadmill running (speed increasing gradually to 25 m/min, 15% uphill grade) until exhaustion. Immediately after exhaustive treadmill exercise, the weight, adipose tissue mass, lipid profiles and oxidative stress of the rats were assayed. At the end of 6 weeks of high fat diets, body weight and body weight gain were significantly higher in the high fat diet groups than in the normal diet group (p<0.001). At the end of treadmill exercise with AGE intake for 4 weeks, body weight gain, visceral and epididymal fat of the E and EA groups were significantly decreased compared to other groups (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in gastrocnemius and soleus. T-C, HDL-C, TG and LDL-C were not significant in any of the groups. TBARS was significantly lower in the A group than in the E group (p<0.05). These results indicated that body weight gain, visceral and epididymal fat decreased in the E and EA groups, and TBARS levels were lower in the A group than the E group. Regular aerobic exercise intervention with AGE supplementation may also modify the adipose weight and improve the oxidant stress in obese rats.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.741-747
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• 2003

Background: Coronary artery bypass graf t (CABG) has been settled as most safe surgery among the open heart surgeries. However, in patients with cardiogenic shock, the emergency CABG has higher mortality than elective CABG. We analyzed thirty four patients who underwent emergency CABG and report the middle and long-term results. Material and Method: From June 1994 to December 2001, 34 patients who underwent emergency CABG at Kang-dong Sacred Heart Hospital were include in this study. On the basis of hospital databases and Out Patient Department (OPD) follow up data, preoperative diagnosis, risk factor, coronary artery anatomy, operation technique, postoperative mortality, complication, recurrence of symptom, and mid and long term mortality were analyzed retrospectively. Result: Indications for emergency CABG were 29 cardiogenic shocks (85.3%), 4 intractable chest pains (11.8%), and 1 polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (2.9%). Preoperative angiographic diagnoses were triple vessel disease in 16 (47.1%) and left main disease in 8 (23.5%) patients. We used saphenous vein grafts in 81 and left internal thoracic artery grafts in 14 anastomosis. The mean number of grafts per patients was 2.8$\pm$0.8. The mean aortic cross clamp time was 91.9$\pm$34.6 minutes and the mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was 262.7$\pm$198.3 minutes. Early mortality was 50% and the most common cause of early mortality was low cardiac output in 7 (20.6%) patients. The mean follow-up period was 30.9$\pm$35.7 months. There were no recurrences of symptom and late mortality. Conclusion: In the case of emergency operation, aggressive and proper management with drugs and IABP should be done for preoperative hemodynamic stability and early surgical intervention is the most important factor for patient salvage.