Background
: As evidence-based medicine is getting popular recently, the importance
of randomized controlled trial as a research methodology is also getting highlighted. This study
was conducted in order to identify the status quo of randomized controlled trial research in
major domestic journals and to provide baseline data for constructing Korean clinical trial
database such CCTR (Cochrane Clinical Trial Registry).

Methods : Five journals issued by
domestic publication industry were selected, out of which 127,560 original articles, equal to
253 volumes, were investigated. The author extracted the articles, which performed pro
spective clinical trial, targeting human beings. The selected papers were analyzed with experts
to single out randomized controlled trial among them. Furthermore, the quality of the
re-selected ones were assessed according to Jadad Quaility Assessment Scale.

Results : After
analysis, it turned out that the number of papers adopting prospective clinical trial were 406
volumes (3.2%) of 12,760 and that they increased from 157 in 1980s to 224 in 1990s.
However, the percentage of prospective clinical trial monographs, introduced during 1980s and
1990s, remained 2.0 to 4.0. The number of randomized controlled trial-based papers were 115,
accounting for 0.9% of total articles. The number of RCT increased to approximately two fold
from 1980s to 1990s. Quality analysis showed that among a total of 115 RCT papers, those of
scoring 1 and 3 were 16 (13.9%), 82 articles obtained score 2 (72.2%). There was no papers,
which won the marks of 4 and 5.

Conclusion : It was found that domestic randomized
controlled trial research was weak both in number and quality. Therefore, it is necessary to
activate clinical medicine study with good quality to upgrade the amount and quality of
monographs.

Background
: This study was done to estimate the prevalence of Rheumatoid Factor
(RF) positive rate in adult Korean population and to investigate the association between
rheumatoid factor positive rate and related factors.

Methods : The database from 4,678
subjects, who visited a general health screening center of an university hospital during 1 year
period were surveyed. RF was tested using a commercial latex test kit, HBsAg by RIA of 3rd
generation, anti-HCV by EIA of 3rd generation and serum AST, ALT by enzyme kinetic meth
od. Syphilis was checked using RPR test and TPHA. Lung diseases (tuberculosis, IPF) were
screened using chest X-ray. Flukes was checked by sedimentation method and cestodes was
by direct method in stool tests. Smokers were based on history on health screening.

Results :
1) The positive rate of RF was 4.4%, HBsAg was 5.9%, anti-HCV was 1.5% and ALT＞35 IU/L
was 18.4%. The number of syphilis subjects was 19, lung diseases was 119, parasitic diseases
was 43, and smokers was 1,299. 2) RF positive rate of males was 4.0%, females was 5.3%.
Therefore, the positivity of females was higher than males and RF positivite rate was increased
in the higher age groups. 3) RF positive rate in HBsAg (+) subjects was 18.1% and HBsAg
(-) was 3.6% and in anti-HCV (+) subjects was 10.3% and anti-HCV (-) was 4.3%. 4) RF
positive rate of subjection both positive reactions of RPR test and TPHA, namely, syphilis tests
was 21.1%. 5) RF positive rate of parasitic diseases was 4.7%, lung diseases was 2.5% and
smokers was 4.2%. 6) RF positive rate was highly associated with HBsAg, syphilis, anti-HCV,
female sex, age in order of sequence.

Conclusion : The positive rate of RF in healthy Korean
adults can be estimated to be 4.5% and shows high association with hepatitis B and C virus
infection in addition to syphilis, age and sex.

Background
: A ganglion of the hand and the wrist most commonly occurs in the
upper extremities. It is reported that its excision under general anesthesia has the highest rate
of complete recovery of 94%. But the tumor of the hand is often experienced in the initial
treatment. The study was to compare the two groups, one group undergoing surgical oper
ations under local anesthesia at private clinics and the other group operated under general
anesthesia at orthopedics of general hospitals.

Methods : The general anesthesia group were 56
cases with tumor only in hand and wrist who had operational treatments with a diagnosis of
ganglion at orthopedics in a certain general hospital from 1990 to 1999. The local anesthesia
group were 68 cases with tumor only in hand and wrist who had operational treatments with a
diagnosis of ganglion in 19 private clinics from 1992 to 2000. The relationship between the

Results of the two groups were compared and analysed.

Results : There was no significant
difference in the general characteristics between the two groups (P＞0.05). The recurrence
rates were 8.9% in the general anesthesia group and 11.8% in the local anesthesia group, and
the average recurrence periods were 9.4 months and 12 months, respectively. The two groups
did not show significant difference in the recurrence rate and recurrence period (P＞0.05). The
recurrence rates of ganglion according to age and size also showed no significant difference
(P＞0.05). The two groups showed a high significance in the recurrence rate when they were
related to the joint capsule (P=0.05).

Conclusion : There was a significant relationship between
the size of ganglion of the hand and its association with articular membrane with the
recurrence rate, but there was no difference in the anesthetic techniques.

Background
: Patients' Illness experiences are described in the 4 categories;
meanings or patients' thoughts, patients' feelings, patients' expectations, and influence of
illness on patients' lives. The purpose of this study is to collect patients' stories when they are
interviewed in a family medicine clinic, and analyze to make a systematic database of the
patients' illness experiences. Method: We recorded and analyzed illness narratives of the 19
alcohol abuse patients. One of the researchers interviewed the patients directly to collect
narrative data by using a semi-structured questionnaire.

Results : The meanings that they had
in alcohol abuse were making a social relationship, vitality, forgetting, anesthetic drugs to
relief emotional pain, means to relief thirst, hunger, depressed mood. They told that the
physical effects of alcohol drinking were gastrointestinal disturbance and change in body
weight. Psychosocial or behavioral changes were sleep disturbance, loss of memory, drinking
alone, absence from work after drinking, avoidance of related persons and guilty feeling.
The patients concerned about their chronic drinking habit, physical symptoms, behavioral
changes, deterioration in physical health, withdrawal in social roles, and sick persons
among their families, As for the expectations for a physician's support patients told that
they had to stop by himself, and some patients talked about good medicines or strong
medicines, or checking blood tests.

Conclusion : In conclusion the patients had the positive
reasons for alcohol drinking, but they had also negative experiences after drinking. Deducing
from the expressed denials, we can guess that the negative experiences might have no effect
on the patients' behavior change.

Candida was found in the oral cavity, jejunum, and ileum of the healthy population.
In case of alimentary tract, the factors of favorable to candida colonization include old age,
malnutrition, diabetes, burns, trauma, surgical operations, parenteral nutrition, intravascular or
bladder catheterization, H2-blocker therapy, steroid therapy, immunosuppresive treatment and
the use of wide spectrum antibiotics: however, gastrointestinal candida colonization is rarely
found in the healthy adult. No case of duodenal ulcer with candidiasis has been reported in
healthy people. Recently we experienced a case of asymptomatic duodenal ulcer with
candidiasis in a healthy male, who had taken H2-blocker and proton pump inhibitor for 3
months after primary closure of duodenal ulcer perforation. Therefore we report this case with
review of several literatures.