A cohort of medical students first seen in 1962 has now been examined for a third time. The prevalence of symptoms of cough, phlegm, and breathlessness among them has remained low, and smoking habits have been light in comparison with those of the general population. Results of the three successive sets of measurements of lung function indicate that, in general, optimum values were reached in t...

BACKGROUND A pneumatic artificial sound source incorporated in a regular tracheoesophageal shunt valve may improve alaryngeal voice quality. METHODS In 20 laryngectomees categorized for sex and pharyngoesophageal segment tonicity, a prototype sound-producing voice prosthesis (SPVP) is evaluated for a brief period and compared with their regular tracheoesophageal shunt speech. RESULTS Percep...

In Korea, many stroke patients receive oriental medical care, in which pattern-identification plays a major role. Pattern-identification is Oriental Medicine's unique diagnostic system. This study attempted to standardize oriental medical pattern-identification for stroke patients. This was a community-based multicenter study that enrolled stroke patients within 30 days after their ictus. We as...

I. The relative power of sixteen clinical, radiological and pulmonary function variables for evaluating asbestosis and chronic osbtructive airway disease has been assessed by principal component analysis of the data from a survey of 201 asbestos workers. 2. A decrease in the transfer factor (diffusing capacity) for carbon monoxide followed by a decrease in the vital capacity had the greatest po...

Background. Phlegm pattern questionnaire (PPQ) was developed to evaluate and diagnose phlegm pattern in Korean Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine, but it was based on a dataset from patients who visited the hospital to consult with a clinician regarding their health without any strict exclusion or inclusion. In this study, we reinvestigated the construct validity of PPQ with a new datase...

INTRODUCTION Work-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) represents a considerable part of the disease burden globally. OBJECTIVE To assess the COPD prevalence and characteristics in never-smoking dairy farmers. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY We have conducted a cross-sectional study with 75 male dairy farmers aged 26 to 59 years, and compared them with equivalent number of male of...

To compare the regional differences in TCM syndromes of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) between North and South China. A total of 624 patients with a diagnosis of CHD, confirmed by coronary angiography, were included in the comparative analysis to determine the occurrence pattern, characteristics of TCM syndrome distribution, and differences in syndrome combinations and major syndrom...

Occupational factors contribute to a significant fraction of respiratory disease and symptoms. The authors evaluated the role of occupational exposures in asthma, chronic bronchitis, and respiratory symptoms in the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a population-based cohort of adults aged 45-74 years at enrollment in 1993-1998. Information on occupations and occupational exposures was collected a...

Prompt and accurate diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke is critical to seek acute therapy. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) science, there is a comprehensive system of diagnosis and medical care of acute ischemic stroke. Here we introduce a two-level model for the analysis of TCM syndrome of acute ischemic stroke. Owing to the limitation of sample size and imbalance, we focused on the analy...

The aim of our study was to examine the associations of breastfeeding duration and exclusiveness with the risks of asthma-related symptoms in preschool children, and to explore whether these associations are explained by atopic or infectious mechanisms. This study was embedded in a population-based prospective cohort study of 5,368 children. Information on breastfeeding duration, exclusiveness ...