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Current Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) course instruction involves a 2-day course with traditional lectures and limited team interaction. We wish to explore the advantages of a scenario-based performance-oriented team instruction (SPOTI) method to implement core ACLS skills for non-English-speaking international paramedic students. The objective of this study was to determine if scenario-based, performance-oriented team instruction (SPOTI) improves educational outcomes for the ACLS instruction of Korean paramedic students. Thirty Korean paramedic students were randomly selected into two groups. One group of 15 students was taught the traditional ACLS course. The other 15 students were instructed using a SPOTI method. Each group was tested using ACLS megacode examinations endorsed by the American Heart Association. All 30 students passed the ACLS megacode examination. In the traditional ACLS study group an average of 85% of the core skills were met. In the SPOTI study group an average of 93% of the core skills were met. In particular, the SPOTI study group excelled at physical examination skills such as airway opening, assessment of breathing, signs of circulation, and compression rates. In addition, the SPOTI group performed with higher marks on rhythm recognition compared to the traditional group. The traditional group performed with higher marks at providing proper drug dosages compared to the SPOTI students. However, the students enrolled in the SPOTI method resulted in higher megacode core compliance scores compared to students trained in traditional ACLS course instruction. These differences did not achieve statistical significance due to the small sample size., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Racial disparities in incidence rate as well as risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) exist between Asian and Western populations. Moreover, predictors for recurrent VTE were not identified in Asians. Thus, this study was undertaken to investigate risk factors for recurrent VTE events in Korean people., Materials and Methods: Three hundred-three patients newly diagnosed as VTE were enrolled from Seoul National University Hospital. Recurrence rate based on risk factors for VTE were investigated. Cumulative incidence of recurrent VTE was calculated by the Kaplan and Meier method. Independent predictors for VTE were determined using Cox proportional hazards model., Results: After a median follow-up of 44 months, 24 (8%) of 303 patients relapsed for a total observation time of 1,217 patient-year. Cumulative incidences of recurrent VTE were 3% at 1 year, 10% at 5 years, and 18% at 8 years. Independent predictors for recurrent VTE were presence of residual thrombosis (hazard ratio [HR]=3.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0-9.3; p=0.044), antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) (HR=4.3, 95% CI 1.0-19.0; p=0.052), and age 50 years or younger (HR=2.5, 95% CI 1.0-6.6; p=0.053) by multivariate analysis. Residual thrombosis and APS remained predictive of recurrence by the anticoagulation-period stratified analysis., Conclusions: In contrast to Western populations, Korean patients with VTE had the lower recurrent rate. Extended anticoagulation is necessary for Korean patients with residual thrombosis or APS.

Background: Radiotherapy is commonly used as a first-line treatment for localized ocular adnexal extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (EMZBL), despite its ophthalmologic complications. This study was undertaken to analyze the efficacy of first-line chemotherapy in treating EMZBL. Chemotherapy was followed by radiotherapy only in recurrent cases., Patients and Methods: Twenty-one patients with histologically confirmed EMZBL were treated with combination of cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisolone (CVP). Radiotherapy was given to CVP failure cases., Results: CVP alone resulted in overall response rate of 100% [complete remission (CR), 76.2%]. After a median follow-up of 58 months, 14 (66.7%) of 21 cases were disease free with CVP alone, while seven cases showed disease progression, including two extra-orbital and five local failures. Radiotherapy was delivered to five local failure cases, who subsequently achieved CR with late ophthalmologic complications. There were tolerable adverse events associated with CVP., Conclusions: Front-line CVP, in conjunction with radiotherapy in recurrent cases, is effective and well tolerated in patients with localized ocular adnexal EMZBL.