• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.5-10
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• 2005

Background : A pleural effusion is a common medical problem. Despite several diagnostic tests, 15-20% of pleural effusions go undiagnosed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of a lymphocyte dominant exudative pleural effusion with a low adenosine deaminase (ADA), low carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), negative cytology and negative acid fast bacilli (AFB) smear. Method : From Jan 2000 to Aug 2001, 43 patients with lymphocyte dominant exudative pleural effusions whose AFB smear and cytologic exam were negative, their pleural fluid ADA level was < 40 IU/L, and their CEA level was < 10 ng/mL were enrolled in this study. A retrospective analysis of the patients' medical records was carried out. Result : Among 31 of the 43 cases (72%), probable underlying diseases causing the pleural effusion were identified: 21cases of malignant diseases, 4 cases of liver cirrhosis, 2 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis, 1 case of end stage renal disease, 1 case of a chylothorax, 1 case of a post-CABG (coronary artery bypass graft) state, 1 case of a pulmonary embolism. No clinically suspected etiology was identified in the remaining 12 cases (28%). Of these 12 pleural effusions, 7 cases spontaneously resolved, 2 effusions resolved with antibiotics, and the other 2 cases were persistent. Conclusion : Lymphocyte dominant exudative pleural effusions with a low ADA, low CEA, negative cytological exam, and negative AFB smear, but without a definite cause might have a benign course and clinicians can observe them with attention.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.31-49
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to investigate discomforts and sexual life and to identify the relation between the discomforts and sexual life with low back pain. The data were collected from March 2 through July 31, 2001. Four hundred forty-two questionnaires were returned (response rate=88.0%). Analysis of the data was done with SPSS PC+ and use descriptive statistics, $x^2$-test, t-test, ANOVA. regression. The statistics shows that over than 80% of the adults experienced lumbago at least one time in their life, and Back pain is known as one of the most common complaints made by the patients of all ages in the general hospital or local medical clinics throughout. However, in certain case it leads to a chronic condition which can cause a great deal of problems in management and in financial burden to individuals and society. The result of this study was summarized as follows: 1) It appeared that regarding the distribution of gender, male was the higher(63.6%) then that of female, the portion of forties was 28.5%. Sitting for long time was 23.1% in men and 21.7% in women. Unknown reason including sexual behaviour was 12.9% in men and 15.5% in women. Patients treated medicine and physical therapy were 36.4%. In level of educational background, the rate of high school was 31.0%, technical college was 28.5%. The highest proportion by occupation was 18.3% of office workers, occupation posture was 41.9% of sitting. 2) Men(26.0%) and most of women(34.8%) were not satisfied in the explanation satisfaction rate of sex life concerned disease. 23.8% in men and 23.6% in women considered flexibility of waist good. Man(33.3%) and most of woman(35.0%) considered that Health education is necessary. 32.7% in men and 27.3% in women did't mind educator is whoever. Preventing of lower back pain(LBP) and proper Health education of sex life are demanded in daily life. 3) 58.0% of man and 64.0% of woman mostly had a posture which is man over woman. 28.5% in men and 27.8% in women considered that proper information finding of LBP and sex life was very few and few. 37.7% in men and 42.7% in women have acquired information about sex life flung their friends. 4) The number of sex life was decreased from 2.96 0.98 to 2.61 1.63 and also the time of sex life was decreased from 3.65 1.89 to 226 1.64. The satisfaction rate of sex life changed from 3.60 0.86 to 2.77 1.10. In the number of sex life, The non correct group was 2.62 1.91 and the correct group was higher in 2.68 1.65. In the time of sex life, The non correct group was 2.02 1.47 and the correct group was higher in 229 1.65. The satisfaction rate of sex life was 2.76 0.86 in non correct group and 2.88 1.10 in correct group. So there was a difference. 5) In the satisfaction rate of sex life, Men who have a lower back pain were higher than women and no attack group was higher than attack group. As they had many sex life, the satisfaction rate was higher significantly in statistics. As the time of sex life was short, the satisfaction rate was lower significantly in statistics. As the age was low, the demand rate of Health education was high and as means of patient who had a lower back pain was high, the demand rate of Health education was high. As the patient who had a lower back pain had a long married life, the demand rate of Health education was high and as education level was high, the demand rate of Health education was high. It is necessary to provide patients with conservative treatment, educational teaching, and training to prevent further injuries in the future. In general, it is important to educate the public how to prevent back injuries and how to treat themselves in an onset period to prevent further injuries sliding into a chronic state. Sexuality is an integral part of normal and healthy relationships, but patients are unable to enjoy sex because they are riot able to get into a comfortable position due to back pain. Many conditions of the spine can make certain positions uncomfortable. Health educator should make the education program of the discomforts and the sexual pattern for low back pain in workplace and/or hospital. Further study Is needed on how to integrate the educational program on sexuality into the total rehabilitation program.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.724-732
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• 2000

Background : In patients with severe chronic lung diseases even a small pneumothorax can result in life-threatening respiratory distress. It is important to treat the attack by chest tube drainage until the lung expands. Pneumothorax with a persistent air leak that does not resolve under prolonged tube thoracostomy suction is usually treated by open operation to excise or oversew a bulla or cluster of blebs to stop the air leak. Pleurodesis by the instillation of chemical agents is used for the patient who has persistent air leak and is not good candidate for surgical treatment. When the primary trial of pleurodesis with common agent fails, it is uncertain which agent should be used f or stopping the air leak by pleurodesis. It is well known that inappropriate drainage of hemothorax results in severe pleural adhesion and thickening. Based on this idea, some reports described a successful treatment with autologous blood instillation for pneumothorax patients with or without residual pleural space. We tried pleurodesis with autologous bood for pneumothorax with persistent air leak and then we evaluated the efficacy and safety. Methods : Fifteen patients who had persistent air leak in the pneumothorax complicated from the severe chronic lung disease were enrolled. They were not good candidates for surgical treatment and doxycycline pleurodesis failed to stop up their air leaks. We used a mixture of autologous blood and 50% dextrose for pleurodesis. Effect and complications were assessed by clinical out∞me, chest radiography and pulmonary function tests. Results : The mean duration of air leak was 18.4${\pm}$6.16 days before ABP (autologous blood and dextrose pleurodesis) and $5.2{\pm}1.68$ days after ABP. The mean severity of pain was $2.3{\pm}0.70$ for DP(doxycycline pleurodesis) and $1.7{\pm}0.59$ for ABDP (p<0.05). There was no other complication except mild fever. Pleural adhesion grade was a mean of $0.6{\pm}0.63$. The mean dyspnea scale was $1.7{\pm}0.46$ before pneumothrax and $2.0{\pm}0.59$ after ABDP (p>0.05). The mean $FEV_1$ was $1.47{\pm}1.01$ before pneumothorax and $1.44{\pm}1.00$ after ABDP (p>0.05). Except in 1 patient, 14 patients had no recurrent pneumothorax. Conclusion : Autologous blood pleurodesis (ABP) was successful for treatment of persistent air leak in the pneumothorax. It was easy and inexpensive and involved less pain than doxycycline pleurodesis. It did not cause complications and severe pleural adhesion. We report that ABP can be considered as a useful treatment for persistent air leak in the pneumothorax complicated from the severe chronic lung disease.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1337-1344
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• 2019

Osteoporosis is characterized by a reduction in bone mass and typically manifests as an increase in fractures. Because this disease is common in elderly populations and lifespans are rapidly increasing, the incidence of osteoporosis has also grown. Most drugs currently used for osteoporosis treatment target osteoclasts in the bone tissue to prevent absorption. However, these medications also cause certain side effects and, furthermore, cannot increase bone mass. Thus, in order to control osteoporosis, regenerative medicine that utilizes adult stem cells and osteoblasts has been extensively studied. Statins, also known as 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, are cholesterol-lowering drugs that have been widely prescribed for cardiovascular diseases. Interestingly, recent studies have reported the beneficial effects of various statins on bone formation via the activation of osteoblasts. Thus, the current study investigated the effects of seven statin-family drugs on osteoblast activity during osteogenic differentiation using adult stem cells from human periosteal tissue. Specifically, statin effects on alkaline phosphatase activity, an early marker of bone cell differentiation, and on calcium deposit, a late marker of bone cell differentiation, were assessed. The results demonstrate that some statins (for example, pitavastatin and pravastatin) have a weak but positive effect on bone formation, and the findings therefore suggest that statin treatments can be a novel modulator for osteogenic differentiation and regenerative medicine using periosteal stem cells.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.1242-1247
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• 2003

Purpose : Gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD) is known as one of the most common causes of chronic cough, especially in children. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of parameters from proximal esophageal 24-hr pH monitoring through its comparison with those of distal esophageal 24-hr pH monitoring that we generally use for diagnosis of GERD. Methods : We performed chest CT scans to find out the cause of chronic cough in infants with no clinical manifestation suggesting GERD. Then, in case that they had air space consolidation in posterior segment of both upper lobes and superior segment of both lower lobes(dependent position), we performed proximal and distal esophageal 24-hr pH monitoring. Results : The proximal and distal pH monitoring were performed in 17 infants(male 12; female five). The patients with positive pathologic reflux in proximal esophagus were 15 of 17(88.2%) and in distal esophagus were four of 17(23.5%). Reflux index and the total number of reflux episodes were statistically significantly lower in the proximal than in the distal esophagus(P<0.05). There was no correlation between each parameters of proximal and distal esophageal 24-hr pH monitoring. Conclusion : This study suggests that proximal esophageal 24-hr pH monitoring can be used as a very useful diagnostic tool in infants with chronic cough in which there are suspicions that it resulted from aspiration due to GERD.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.318-322
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• 2014

Chlamydophila pneumonia is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia throughout the world. It causes mild pneumonia or bronchitis in adolescents and young adults. Older adults may experience more severe disease and repeated infections. To the best of our knowledge, no study has attempted to investigate the prevalence of C. pneumonia in a closed community in Korea. We compared the infection rate of C. pneumonia among university dormitory residents using the miro-immunofluorescence (MIF) method. Antibody titers of IgG (1:32 or more) indicate past infection of C. pneumonia. A recent infection was defined as serum with a high titer of IgG (1:512 or more) or a positive IgM (1:16 or more). The past infection rate of C. pneumonia among the university dormitory residents was 71.7%. The recent infection rate of C. pneumonia according to IgG and IgM titers was 28.3% and 23.3%, respectively. The past infection positive rate according to the number of residence months was 1 month (50%), 7 months (71.4%), 13 months (66.7%), and 35 months (89.5%). The recent infection positive rate according to IgG antibody titers was 1 month (50%), 7 months (28.6%), 13 months (33.3%), and 35 months (10.5%). The recent infection rate of C. pneumonia according to IgM antibody titers was 1 month (41.7%), 7 months (28.6%), 13 months (26.7%), and 35 months (5.3%). The results suggest that the past infection rate of C. pneumonia is increased by the number of residence months in a closed community and that the recent infection rate of C. pneumonia according to IgG and IgM serological tests is decreased by the number of residence months.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.17-24
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• 2010

Hemoptysis which is comparatively common symptom in respiratory disease patients is a clinical symptom which has high risk of death in spite of many curative means. Bronchial tube embolization is a very useful medical procedure when hemoptysis does not stop for treatment of internal medicine or surgery and in addition to the purpose of instant hemostasis, for patients for whom surgical operation is impossible or for the purpose of gaining time to improve the state of the patient before surgical operation. In relation to this, this study is to know of the usefulness of bronchial tube artery embolization. The objects were 60 persons for whom bronchial tube artery embolizations are conducted because of large hemoptysis occurred from March 2007 to December 2009 in J hospital. They had large hemoptysis of 400ml or more per day and 200ml or more at a time or though the quantity of hemoptysis was less than 400ml they did not respond to the treatment of internal medicine for 10 days or longer. The average age was 60.5 years and cause diseases were tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, and pneumonia and lung cancer. Embolus parts were Rt bronchial artery 19 examples, Lt bronchial artery, both bronchial artery, Rt Intercostobronchial artery, and they were the case where embolization for many blood vessels were simultaneously carried out. As embolus materials, PVA (conteour) and microcoil were used. In 76.6% of 60 persons of patients hemorrhage stopped with the lapse of time after the procedure and in 4 examples (6.6) re-embolization was carried out due to re-bleeding after the procedure. Bronchial tube artery embolization has high early success rate and effectively controls hemoptysis in the treatment of hemoptysis and is an effective emergency remedy for hemorrhage due to large hemoptysis and will be a good medical procedure which reduces death rate. In addition, primarily if it is conducted together with the treatment of internal medicine it will be, as an effective curative means for hemorrhage due to large hemoptysis, a good mediate radial rays medical procedure which reduces death rate.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.745-750
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• 2006

Purpose : Enteroviruses are the most common cause of aseptic meningitis in patients of all ages. A definite diagnosis of enteroviral meningitis can be established by detection of virus directly in CSF specimens. But this is time-consuming and lacks sensitivity, so polymerase chain reaction(PCR) detecting of viral RNA in patient specimens such as CSF, stool has been demonstrated. But little is known about the influence of sampling time on the results of CSF PCR and stool PCR. We investigated diagnostic utility of PCR of CSF and stool according to sampling time after the onset of symptoms. Methods : PCR results were analyzed according to sampling time for 42 patients diagnosed aseptic meningits in our hospital from $11^{th}$ January to $30^{th}$ August, 2005. Results : The diagnostic yield of the test was higher of CSF specimens obtained ${\leq_-}2$ days after clinical onset(positive PCR results 9/18, 50 percent), compared with CSF collected >2 days after onset(positive PCR results 1/24, 4.2 percent)(P=0.001). Instead, positive PCR results of fecal specimens maintained highly(average 90.5 percent), 10 cases had also positive PCR results even 5-6 days after onset. 10 cases of CSF specimens had positive enterovirus PCR results containing coxsackievirus B5 (n=6), coxsackievirus B3(n=3). 38 cases of stool specimens had positive enterovirus PCR results containing echovirus 18(n=7), echovirus 9(n=3), coxsackievirus B5(n=8), coxsackievirus B3(n=3). 6 cases(coxackie B5) had positive CSF PCR and stool PCR, both. Conclusion : Stool PCR was clinically sensitive for detecting enterovirus during enteroviral meningits and could give a presumptive diagnosis throughout the disease course. A definite diagnosis was obtained by CSF PCR, but its utility was clearly lower for samples obtained >2 days after clinical onset. Therefore, it is recommended that, in addition to performance of CSF PCR, fecal samples obtained from patients with suspected enteroviral meningitis should be tested by PCR, especially when the duration of symptoms is >2 days.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.94-100
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• 2001

Purpose : Enterovirus is a common cause of aseptic meningitis and nonspecific febrile illness in young children. During the summer and fall months, enterovirus-infected young children are frequently admitted and evaluated to rule out bacterial sepsis and/or meningitis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between nonpolio enterovirus infection and febrile illness in infants under 3 months of age during the summer, fall months by using a stool culture to identify the presence of enterovirus. Methods : Patients included febrile infants under 3 months of age admitted to Masan Fatima Hospital for sepsis evaluation from May 1999 to September 1999. Cultures were performed from stool and Cerebrospinal fluid samples and then were tested for enterovirus infection. Viral isolation and serotype identification were performed by cell culture and immunofluorescent testing. Enteroviruses not typed by immunofluorescent testing were confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Results : A total of 44 febrile infants were enrolled; of those, 20(45%) were positive for enterovirus. Two enterovirus culture-positive infants had concomitant urinary tract infection and one had Kawasaki disease. All infants infected with an enterovirus recovered without complications. Serotype of 20 enteroviruses were isolated from stool, 3 of echovirus type 9, 1 of echovirus type 11, 1 Coxsachievirus type B4, 15 of untyped enteroviruses. One untyped enterovirus was isolated in the CSF. Conclusion : Nonpolio enterovirus infections are associated with nonspecific febrile illnesses in infants under 3 months of age.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.398-404
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• 1999

Purpose: Diabetic nephropathy is the most common cause of end stage renal disease and the incidence is progressively increasing. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences of $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA renal uptake among diabetic patients with normoalbuminuria, microalbuminuria and overt proteinuria, and then to determine the clinical usefulness of $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA in predicting early diabetic nephropathy Materials and Methods: $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA scan was performed and a total renal uptake of $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA was measured in 145 diabetic patients. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the amount of 24 hour urinary albumin excretion as Group I (normoalbuminuria, 74 cases), Group II (microalbuminuria, 39 cases), and Group III (overt proteinuria, 32 cases). The differences of $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA renal uptake among the 3 groups and the correlation between the renal uptake of $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA and other clinical parameters were analyzed. Results: The total renal uptake of $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA of Group II ($40.8{\pm}11.0%$) was significantly lower than that of Group I ($54.4{\pm}6.3%$, p<0.001). The uptake of Group III ($27.7{\pm}12.0%$) was significantly lower than those of both Group I and Group II (p<0.001). $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA total renal uptakes correlated negatively with serum creatinine level (r=-0.629, p<0.001) and positively correlated with creatinine clearance rate (r=0.102, p<0.001). Conclusion: $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA total renal uptake of diabetic patients with microalbuminuria was significantly decreased compared with that of patients of normoalbuminuria. Therefore, $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA scan can be used as a diagnostic study for early detection of the diabetic nephropathy.