Roles of Urology as Assessed by an Analysis of Inpatients Referred to Urology

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the necessity for professional urology treatment and the roles of urology in the treatment of inpatients referred to the urology department. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The subjects were patients referred to the department of urology among the inpatients of Chosun University Hospital from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2011. The patients' sex and age, the referring department, and the disease group were extracted from the patients' medical records. Disease groups were classified as urination disorder, infection, tumor, calculus, trauma, pediatrics, andrology, and others. The urination disorder group was classified into the subcategories of neurogenic bladder, benign prostatic hypertrophy, urinary retention, urinary incontinence, and overactive bladder. RESULTS: The total number of referrals was 3,261, and males made up 54.79%. In the age distribution, 2,321 patients (71.17%) were over 60 years of age and the largest population group was patients in their 70s (32.72%). According to the department referring the patients, internal medicine (34.06%) and orthopedic surgery (16.83%) made up a high percentage. Concerning the disease group, urination disorder was the highest, being 61.26%. In the subclassification of the urination disorder group, benign prostatic hypertrophy was the highest category at 32.23%. CONCLUSIONS: In this urology cooperative behavior analysis of our hospital over 3 years, a high percentage of older patients over 60 years of age and a high percentage of urination disorders were found. Urination disorder-related diseases in persons of advanced age are expected to increase as Korea becomes an aged society, and doctors in other departments should be aware that professional treatment and management by a urologist is needed for the treatment of these disorders.

Dopamine D2 Receptor Gene Polymorphism in Cigarette Smoking / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVE: This study was to examine the effects of DRD2 TaqI A polymorphism on the smoking in Koreans. Also this study examined molecular heterosis and gender difference in the genetic effect of cigarette smoking. METHODS: DRD2 TaqI A RFLP genotyping was carried out with DNA extracted from blood samples of 187 healthy individuals including 94 smokers and 93 non-smokers, RESULTS: Among the total subjects, the smokers were not significantly different from the non-smokers in respect to the frequency and prevalence of A1 allele, the genotype distribution, or the frequency of heterozygotes. Separating the subjects by gender, however, in male subjects smokers showed a significantly higher frequency (p=0.049) and prevalence of A1 allele (p=0.016) than non-smokers. Also, genotype distribution (p=0.055) and frequency of heterozygotes (p=0.058) of smokers showed some different distributions, but there were no significant statistical difference. In contrast, female subjects showed significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in the comparison of frequency of heterozygotes (p=0.018), but not in the comparison of the frequency (p=0.582) and prevalence (p=0.082) of A1 allele and genotype distribution (p=0.060). CONCLUSION: No significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in the genotype distributions of the total sample could be explained by the reciprocal effects of gender difference in the genetic effect of DRD2 A1 allele of the smoking. Our findings support gender difference and molecular heterosis at the DRD2 gene effects of smoking.