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Heo Jun, who is the main compiler of Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine, states to applicate Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica, Rihuazi's annotations and Li Gao and Zhu Zhenheng's opinion to arrange materia medica on the introductory notes of Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine. While Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica and Rihuazi's annotations are both conventional texts dealing with materia medica, Li Gao and Zhu Zhenheng are just clinical practitioners. Not only Li Gao has no authorship on materia medica, but also Zhu Zhenheng's Supplement to the Elucidation of Materia Medica is assessed to have no distinctive achievements. Nevertheless, Heo Jun shows positive considerations for their achievements of materia medica. Specifically, on the Decoction Section in Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine, theories of lift, lower, float, sink and Channel Entry, both representative achievements of Yishui school-including Li Gao-are adopted as it is, and Zhu Zhenheng's expressions are frequently utilized for conclusive remarks of medicinal effect. Furthermore, applications of both clinicians can be found within nature & flavour which is one of the principal terms of understanding materia medica. While being based on the conventional materia medica text Classified Emergency Materia Medica, the Decoction section in Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine is not restrained by the intricate traditional compositions and shows a new aspect of depiction by adding clinical information. And I think it is a important meaning of the Decoction section, which is the herbal chapter of Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine.

Background/aims: Hepatitis A is an acute infectious disease transmitted by fecal-oral route. As the incidence of hepatitis A has been increased in Gwangju and Chonnam province of Korea recently, the number of hepatitis A patients in hospital employees has also increased. Thus, we investigated the seroprevalence of IgG anti-HAV in hospital employees below 40 years old., Methods: We analysed the seroprevalence of anti-HAV IgG from 1,002 Chonnam national university hospital employees (men: 190, women: 812) who were below 40 years old. The age group was divided by 5 years; 21-25 years old 199 (19.9%), 26-30 years old 426 (42.5%), 31-35 years old 215 (21.5%), 36-40 years old 162 (16.1%)., Results: Overall seropositive rate of IgG anti-HAV was 32.8% (329/1,002). The seropositive rate of men was 40.5% (77/190) and that of women was 31.0% (252/812). The seropositive rates of each age group were 1.5% (3/199) in 21-25 years old, 21.6% (92/426) in 26-30 years old, 48.4% (104/215) in 31-35 years old, and 80.2% (130/162) in 36-40 years old. The seropositivity rate of the high risk group (doctors, nurses, technicians) was 28.9% (234/809)., Conclusions: The seropositive rate of IgG anti-HAV was the lowest in early twenties of hospital employees and below 50% in early thirties. Therefore, hepatitis A vaccination may be warranted in the hospital employees below the early thirties.

Background/aims: The acid suppressive effect of omeprazole (OMP) is influenced by the metabolic capacity of gastric acid suppression, which is dependent on CYP2C19 polymorphism. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of CYP2C19 polymorphism and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection on the intragastric acid suppression of OMP., Methods: Thirty one patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease were treated with a daily oral dose of 20 mg OMP for 28 days. Patients were genotyped for CYP2C19 polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and classified into three groups: homogenous extensive metabolizers (Ho-EMs), heterogenous extensive metabolizers (Ht-EMs) and poor metabolizer (PMs). H. pylori infection status were assessed before OMP treatment. Intragastric pH was monitored over twenty four-hours before (day 0) and after (day 29) the treatment with OMP., Results: Twenty four-hour intragastric mean pH in the PMs group was significantly higher than those in Ho-EMs and Ht-EMs (5.3+/-1.3 vs. 2.8+/-0.6, 3.6+/-1.4) (p<0.005). Twenty four-hour intragastric mean pH after the administration of OMP in the H. pylori positive group was significantly higher than the H. pylori negative group (4.7+/-1.4 vs. 3.2+/-1.4) (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in acid suppressive activity of OMP between H. pylori positive and negative group according to CYP2C19 polymorphism., Conclusions: The acid suppressive effect of OMP on intragastric pH is dependent on CYP2C19 polymorphism and the H. pylori-infected status in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease. H. pylori infection may play a role in enhancing the acid suppressive potential of OMP.

Purpose: This study was performed to verify the effect of Tai Chi exercise on patients with rheumatoid arthritis particularly their level of pain, fatigue, sense of balance and daily life performance (ADL)., Method: It employed a non-equivalent control group pre- and post-test design. The research instruments used in this study were pain, fatigue, sense of balance and ADL. Thirty-two patients in the experimental group carried out 50 minutes of Tai Chi exercise for 12 weeks, and 29 patients in the control group did not. Before and after the experiment, both groups were tested for pain, fatigue, sense of balance and ADL. Collected data were processed using the SPSS/WIN 10.0 program analyzed by the frequency, percentage, chi2-test, and t-test., Results: Pain and fatigue significantly decreased in the experimental group. However the improvement in ADL of the rheumatoid arthritis patients was not statistically significant but their sense of balance was enhanced significantly., Conclusion: Tai Chi exercise is an effective nursing intervention that can be used for rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Background/aims: Most of ingested foreign bodies pass through the gastrointestinal tract spontaneously, but some of them (about 20%) need endoscopic or surgical removal. The aims of this study were to characterize the clinical features associated with foreign bodies in the upper gastrointestinal tract and to determine the clinical factors for their successful removal by endoscopic techniques., Methods: We analyzed retrospectively 209 cases of foreign bodies in the upper gastrointestinal tract at Chonnam National University Hospital between May 1998 and May 2003., Results: Foreign bodies were found in 97.1% (203/209) of the cases during endoscopic procedure. The types were chiefly fish bones (21.2%), coins (14.8%), meats (11.3%), and bezoars (8.9%). The locations were upper esophagus (49.8%), stomach (26.6%), lower esophagus (11.3%), and mid-esophagus (7.4%). Endoscopic removal was successful in 93.1% (189/203) of the cases, and surgical removal was successful in 8/203 (3.9%) of the cases. Age (p=0.015) and short duration of impaction (p=0.015) were the independent factors to predict the successful removal of the foreign bodies by endoscopic techniques., Conclusions: Endoscopic removal of foreign bodies in the upper gastrointestinal tract is an effective and safe procedure. Foreign bodies are more successfully removed by endoscopic techniques in children or in cases of short duration of impaction.

Arterial pseudoaneurysm is rare but potentially a catastrophic complication of pancreatitis because it can cause massive gastrointestinal bleeding. Since surgical treatment of arterial pseudoaneurysm has a high mortality, percutaneous angiographic embolization of bleeding artery has recently been advocated as the alternative therapy. Acute hemorrhage into the peritoneal cavity or pseudocyst complicating chronic pancreatitis was frequently reported. However, multiple pseudoaneurysmal hemorrhage without pseudocyst complicating acute pancreatitis are extremely rare. Here, we present a case of multiple pseudoaneurysmal hemorrhage secondary to acute pancreatitis, which were managed successfully by percutaneous angiographic embolization.