Spontaneous medialstinal emphysema (pneumomediastinum) and pneumopericardium may be defined as the presence of free air or gas in the mediastinal structures and in the pericardial sac without an apparent precipitating cause. It most frequently occurs in young healthy adults without serious underlying pulmonary disease.Although pneumomediastinum and pneumopericardium is often asymptomatic, it may cause pain in the neck and chest, dysphonia and shortness of breath. Treatment is supportive unless the patient has a history of trauma from foreign body aspiration. The course of spontaneous pneumomediastinum and pneumopericardium is usually benign and self-limited.A case of spontaneous pneumomediastinum, pneumopericardium and subcutaneous emphysema in a 20-year-old male is reported in this paper.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether academically talented adolescents attending a residential science high school in Korea had different levels of psychological well-being or school life satisfaction than their high-ability peers in regular high schools. The participating high-ability students ( n = 299) were in their second year of high school and were attending either a science high school ( n = 111) or a regular high school ( n = 188) in the same province in Korea. Both groups completed the Psychological Well Being scales (Ryff, 1989a) and a researcher-constructed Satisfaction With School Life scale. In addition, the science high school students responded to open-ended questions about their experiences in the science high school. No statistically significant differences were found in psychological well-being, but there were statistically significant differences in school life satisfaction favoring the science high school group. The responses of the science high school sample to the open-ended questions indicated that they appreciated the advanced curriculum and the expertise of their teachers. They also reported satisfactory relationships with teachers and peers. Overall, the study suggested that the residential science high school was meeting the educational needs of these talented Korean students, at least better than traditional high schools. However, this study could not confirm its primary expectation that the specialized schooling for gifted students would enhance psychological well-being. Implications of the study for research and practice are discussed.

No abstract

Background and Objectives：We performed this study to evaluate the common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA IMT), and its correlation with several clinical variables, including the 10 year coronary heart disease (10 Yr CHD) risk in both healthy and hyperlipidemic hypertensive (HH) Koreans. Subjects and Methods：This was a multi-centered prospective epidemiological study. The study population consisted of 227 healthy subjects without risk factors, with the exception of age (mean 49 years old, 114 males), and 243 HH subjects (mean 51 years old, 120 males). The carotid IMT and presence of plaques were semi automatically measured in both carotid arteries at a central reading facility. Results：Linear regression analysis of all the subjects revealed that the independent factors of both CCA IMT were age, pulse pressure (PP) and HDL-cholesterol, and that of the right CCA IMT were sex and 10 Yr CHD risk. In healthy subjects, the independent factor of both CCA IMTs was age, and that of the right CCA IMT was body weight. In the HH subjects, age, sex, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and PP were independent factors of both CCA IMTs, but 10 Yr CHD risk was an independent factor of only the right CCA IMT. Carotid plaques were seen in 17% of the healthy subjects and 35% of the HH subjects. An ROC curve analysis showed a right CCA IMT of 0.646 mm and left CCA IMT of 0.656 mm demonstrated 60% sensitivity and specificity in differentiating healthy from HH subjects. Conclusion：This result reliably demonstrates the Korean CCA IMT, as well as several other significant pieces of information. (Korean Circulation J 2005;35:513-524) KEY WORDS：Carotid arteries；Korea.

Background : The role of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD) is still controversial, and the relation between current H. pylori infection and CAD has not been fully examined. This study evaluated the relation between H. pylori infection as confirmed by gastroduodenoscopic biopsy and CAD.Methods : We determined the presence of H. pylori infections, via gastroduodenoscopy, in 88 patients of the normal coronary angiographic group and also in 175 patients of the CAD group, and the latter patients had more than 50% coronary stenosis angiographically demonstrated. We excluded those patients with a history of previous H. pylori eradication and/or malignancy. A small piece of tissue from the antrum, which was obtained by gastroduodenoscopic biopsy, was stained by Warthin-starry silver stain. We defined a negative staining result that there was no stained tissue in the sample and the stained tissue was also positive for H. pylori infection.Results : There was no significant difference, except for gender, age, smoking and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), of the demographic and laboratory characteristics between the groups. Twenty seven (30.7%) patients of the normal control group and 71 (40.6%) patients of the CAD group were positive of H. pylori infection, yet there was no statistical difference. We angiographically followed up the 80 patients of the CAD group who were treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at 6 to 9 months after their primary intervention. Twenty two (37.9%) of the 58 patients of the H. pylori negative group and 10 (45.5%) of the 22 patients of the H. pylori positive group were treated with reintervention, but reintervention was also not significantly different between the group with H. pylori infection and the group without the infection.Conclusions : These data indicated that H. pylori infection had a modest influence on CAD and progressive atheroma, but the showed a tendency to increase. Further studies are needed to evaluate the relationship between H. pylori infection and CAD.