Effect of the Maternal Hypertension on the Neonatal Status of Lipid Peroxidation and Antioxidant Activity in the Preterm Newborn Rat Lung

PURPOSE: Lipid peroxidation may be linked with the dysfunction of endothelium of hypertensive pregnancy and it may also have effects on antioxidant response of the fetal lung. Acute change of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzyme activity after exposure to extrauterine environment has been shown to be involved in the pathogenesis of lung injury in preterm and term lung. We want to study the immediate postnatal possible differences between hypertensive and normal pregnancy in lipid peroxidation and antioxidant response of preterm rat lung. METHODS: Female SHR (essential hypertension, 1b, A, 6-8 weeks, n=20) Sprague- Dawley rats were cohabited. C-section was done on the 20th day of gestation to the half of pregnant SHR rats (preterm SHR group, n=50). Control group was consisted with the premature pups (preterm normal group, n=50) delivered from normal dams. The birth weight, content of malondialdehyde (MDA), and activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the lung tissues were analyzed at birth and 24 hours after birth. RESULTS: Birth weights were significantly low in premature SHR group compared to control group. At birth, MDA content and SOD activity were significantly increased in preterm SHR group. After 24 hours, the MDA value and SOD activity were even more increased in preterm SHR group. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that maternal hypertension during pregnancy is associated with an increased lipid peroxidation of the fetal and immediate postnatal preterm rat lung and that compensatory activation of antioxidant system works in the fetal and newborn rat lung.

Two Cases of Hemorrhagic Necrotizing Enterocolitis as a Presenting Complaint of Hirschsprung's Disease

Hirschsprung's disease (HD) is one of the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in neonates. Enterocolitis is a well known complication of HD. Since a severe form of enterocolitis occurring in HD is the major cause of death and disability of these patients, early diagnosis is essential. Recently, ischemic hemorrhagic necrotizing enterocolitis have been reported as lethal complications of HD. However little distinction is made between inflammatory enterocolitis which often follows HD and hemorrhagic ischemic necrotizing enterocolitis, which is a rare, and often fatal complication of HD. Most of reported cases of hemorrhagic necrotizing enterocolitis developed very early, generally within 3 days of birth except several cases. Which may be confused with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) which was not associated with HD. We report here two cases of hemorrhagic necrotizing enterocolitis associated with Hirschsprung's disease, who were initially diagnosed as having NEC.

Issues of the Financial Stabilization Programs

No abstract available.

Seperation of Dispending from Prescribing Practices

No abstract available.

An analysis of opinion polls for family medicine specialists on the implementation of family doctor registration system in Korea

BACKGROUND: Since the Independence in 1945, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has maintained fundamentally the liberal health care system by the influence of U.S.A. Therefore, as in the case of U.S.A., the primary health care system of ROK has fallen in the chaos. Recently, the new government of ROK seems to retry the introduction of 'Family Doctor Registration System (FDRS)' in spite of the 1996's failure. In order to conduct FDRS efficiently, there should be a thorough investigation on the opinions of doctors and people in the community. This study was conducted with a view to collecting necessary information regarding the implementation of FDRS. METHODS: By mailing, the self-administered questionnaires were collected twice during March 18 to May 12 in 1998. The questionnaire had been prepared through several discussions, pretest, and final correction by five family physicians and two health care policy professors. The subjects consisted of 2,093 family physicians. RESULTS: Though the overall response rate was only 28.2% (591) subjects, age distribution for the study subjects was similar to that of average family physicians. The subjects consisted of 451 males and 138 females. The number of those whose age was less than 40 was 49.9% (195). "The group that agrees with the introduction of FDRS" was 58.5% of all respondents; "the group that objects 14.4%; and the group undetermined" 24.7%. The 73.6% of all respondents had negative opinion on increased administrative work. Only 21.3% expected their net income to increase. On multiple logistic regression analysis, relatively large city rather than metropolitan Seoul, the smaller number of visiting patients a month, regular resident training experience, and male sex resulted in having a significant positive relationship with the introduction of FDRS. Further analyses are called for to identify differences of opinions between family physicians and single specialty medical practitioners. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this survey should be reflected into the health care policy when retrying to implement FDRS in Korea.

The effects of influenza vaccination

BACKGROUND:Influenza is a respiratory infectious disease with high morbidity and relatively high mortality which occurs every winter. Therefore, influenza vaccination is recommended annually for high risk groups. However, the vaccination rate is not very high. It is well known that influenza vaccination prevents influenza, and some reports show partial preventive effects for the common cold. Therefore, the authors implemented this study to find out the preventive effects of influenza vaccination for influenza and the common cold. METHODS: The study period was six months from October 1997 to March 1998, and the subjects were chosen from those who visited seven Family Practice Clinics and two Family Practice Outpatient Departments of University Hospital. The vaccination group composed of those who received influenza vaccination during the period and the control group was those who did not receive the vaccination with age difference +/-3 years and of same gender. The study was done by a survey questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 8.0 and chisquare test, t-test, and logistic regression was implemented RESULTS: The number of vaccination group was 223, the number of control group was 214, and the total subjects were 437 persons. Influenza occurred in 4 persons(1.8%) for the vaccination group, and 12 persons(5.6%) for the control group which showed significant difference(p=0.032). The common cold occurred in 69.1% of vaccination group and in 71.0% of control group with no difference. However, the duration of the common cold was 6.0 days for the vaccination group which was slightly shorter than 7.5 days for the control group(p=0.088), and the frequency of the common cold was 1.49 times for the vaccination group and 1.84 times for the control group(p=0.033). Logistic regression analysis showed that the relative risk of influenza for the vaccination group was 0.261(p=0.032), which meant 73.9% protective effect for influenza, but not for the common cold. CONCLUSIONS: Influenza vaccination can protect people from influenza, but did not protect them from common cold. However, it can lessen the frequency and duration of the common cold.