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Background Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among infertile women is popular in many countries, including Korea. Previous research has repeatedly found more than half of infertile women surveyed use CAM therapies for fertility enhancement and overall well-being. However, there is currently little evidence to support this practice, and this raises the question of infertile women’s experiences in the uptake of those modalities and sociodemographic and psychological factors associated with CAM use. Thus, this study aims to explore the perceptions and experiences of infertile women with regard to their use of CAM in Korea. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from 263 infertile women attending infertility specialty clinics in Seoul, Korea, in June 2012. The survey instrument included 47 questions on the use of CAM, demographic characteristics, health status, and infertility related factors such as duration and type of infertility, experience and satisfaction of conventional treatment, and self-perceived severity of infertility condition. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results Among 286 respondents (response rate, 95.3%), a total of 263 women were included in the final analysis. 63.5% of respondents used one or more types of CAM modalities during infertility treatment. The utilization of CAM was associated with employment status, duration of infertility treatment, and self-perceived severity of the disease. The most commonly used CAM modalities were multivitamin and herbal medicine, and differences in types of CAM modalities used were found between the group with a higher rating of self-perceived disease severity and the lower perceived severity group. Conclusions High prevalence of CAM use among infertile women was observed in Korea. Our findings support that infertile women’s own understanding of their illness and physical condition influences self-care behavior such as CAM use. This calls for an urgent need for further in-depth study of the clinical effects of popular CAM modalities among infertile women when used in conjunction with conventional treatment.

Background Internal thoracic artery (ITA) malperfusion has been described as a potentially devastating and lethal complication of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). It is our practice to perform an additional vein graft to the distal left anterior descending (LAD) artery in such cases. Methods From August 1999 to July 2002, 2,877 CABG procedures were performed at our institution. In 65 patients (2.3%) ITA malperfusion was observed. All of them were treated with an additional vein graft to the distal LAD. All patient data were screened for the time interval between the occurrence of ITA malperfusion and the decision to perform an additional vein graft. Results Of 65 patients with ITA malperfusion, 54 patients (83%) survived (group 1), 11 patients (17%) died (group 2). There was no difference in preoperative risk status between the groups. Cross clamp time was 88 ± 4 minutes in group 1 and 104 ± 11 minutes in group 2 ( p = 0.04). Intraoperative ITA flow to LAD was 6 ± 1 mL/min in group 1 and 10 ± 5 mL/min in group 2 ( p = 0.2). Time between release of cross clamp and second period of cross clamping was 50 ± 5 minutes in group 1 and 75 ± 11 minute group 2 ( p = 0.02). Time between termination of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and second period of cross clamping was 23 ± 3 minutes in group 1 and 46 ± 7 minutes in group 2 ( p = 0.003). Vein graft flow to distal LAD was 54 ± 4 mL/min in group 1 and 52 ± 12 mL/min in group 2 ( p = 0.5). Maximum postoperative troponin I was 35 ± 11 ng/mL in group 1 and 136 ± 32 in group 2 ( p = 0.003). Conclusions Survivors of ITA malperfusion had shorter cross clamp times and less myocardial damage as evidenced by lower postoperative troponin I levels. Time intervals between first and second cross clamp and between termination of CPB and second cross clamp were lower in survivors, thus indicating that a fast decision for an additional vein graft may influence postoperative patient outcome.

Endoscopic submucosal desection (ESD) is an effective treatment for selected patients with early gastric cancer (EGC). The purpose of this study was to examine the short-term and long-term outcomes of ESD of undifferentiated early gastric cancer. Data for 1,241 patients who underwent ESD for treatment of EGC between February 2003 and May 2010 were collected. We performed a retrospective analysis of the medical records of 74 patients diagnosed with undifferentiated EGC. We divided the enrolled cases into two groups: the expanded-criteria group (EC group) versus the non-EC group, according to lesion size, presence of ulceration, and pathologic review. Of a total of 74 lesions with undifferentiated EGC, as a result of pathologic examination the EC group included 29 cases and the non-EC group included 45 cases. The mean diameter of lesions was 19.86 ± 12.5 mm. The overall rates of en bloc resection and complete resection were 90.5 % (67/74) and 73 % (54/74), respectively. The curative resection rate was low at 31.1 %. If limited to the pathologically diagnosed EC group, the curative resection rate was 79.3 % (23/29). During median follow-up periods of 34 months (range 7–81), local recurrences were observed in 5.5 % (4/74) of patients. All of these were in the non-EC group and all underwent noncurative resection. There was no mortality related to ESD for treatment of EGC during follow-up. ESD may be a feasible treatment for selected patients with undifferentiated EGC; this should be validated by development of new criteria for ESD for treatment of EGC.

Background This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of a whole-blood interferon-gamma release assay in inpatients who were admitted to the emergency department (ED) with pulmonary infiltrates who required a differential diagnosis with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Methods The patients with pulmonary infiltrates who received a QuantiFERON (QFT) test in the ED were included as an inpatient group and were divided into TB and non-TB group based on the final diagnosis. Patients with pulmonary TB who were tested in the outpatient department served as a control group. Results In total, 377 QFT tests were analyzed. Of the 284 inpatient QFT tests, 29.6% had an indeterminate result (35.2% in the 196 patients with non-TB and 17.0% in the 88 patients with TB). In contrast, only 1.1% of the 93 outpatients with TB returned an indeterminate result (p < 0.001). The indeterminate QFT results in the inpatient group were independently associated with lymphocytopenia, hypoalbuminemia, and high C-reactive protein levels. Non-positive QFT results in inpatients with TB were associated with lymphocytopenia and hypoalbuminemia, while non-positive QFT results in outpatients with TB were associated with high erythrocyte sedimentation rates and radiographically more severe diseases. Conclusions QFT tests in ED-based inpatients with pulmonary infiltrate return indeterminate results relatively frequently. In addition, inpatients and outpatients with pulmonary TB may differ in terms of the risk factors on non-positive QFT results.

PURPOSE This study investigated the effects of a recovery education program on rehabilitation motivation, symptoms, and function for schizophrenic patients. METHOD The study employed a quasi-experimental design. Participants for the study were 27 patients with schizophrenia, 14 in the experimental group and the other 13 in the control group. Data were analyzed by using the SPSS/WIN 11.5 program with Fisher's exact test, t-test, and Repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS After a 7 week intervention, participants in the recovery education program group reported increased rehabilitation motivation and function scores, which was significantly different from those in the control group. CONCLUSION A recovery education program was effective improving rehabilitation motivation and function for schizophrenic patients. Therefore, this program is recommended as a rehabilitation strategy for schizophrenic patients.

This study investigated the effects of psychosocial rehabilitation programs provided by a psychosocial rehabilitation center on the levels of self-efficacy for mentally disabled persons. We followed the study subjects for 2 yr in order to examine whether the psychosocial rehabilitation programs had a positive impact on their levels of self-efficacy. Methods: There were 18 subjects in the experimental group and they received all the psychosocial rehabilitation services available at the psychosocial rehabilitation center for 2 yr. In the comparison group, there were 17 participants who voluntarily refused to participate in the psychosocial rehabilitation programs. Results: The results indicated that the psychosocial rehabilitation programs were effective in increasing the levels of the self-efficacy total score and specific self-efficacy score. Conclusion: The overall study results indicated that psychosocial rehabilitation programs provided by a psychosocial rehabilitation center had a positive impact on increasing the levels of self-efficacy for mentally disabled persons.