Until a century ago, Korean medicine was based mainly on Oriental philosophies and ideas. From a religious perspective, Chinese Confucianism was prevalent in Korea at that time. Since Confucianists believe that it is against one's filial duty to harm his or her body, given to them by their parents, most Koreans did not donate their bodies or organs for education in the past. However, by the end of the 20th century, a unique fusion of Western and Oriental medicines were produced on the Korean Peninsula, revolutionizing traditional perspectives on the human body, mortality, and the relationship of medical science to society. Koreans began to think about others' lives as well as their own by realizing the importance of donating one's organs and bodies for scientific purposes. Since then, the number of people donating their bodies to Korean medical and dental schools for the purpose of improving academic learning has increased dramatically. In response, Korean medical schools have begun to hold various types of funeral ceremonies to honor body donors. We have compared such ceremonies performed in Korea with those performed in the United States of America and Taiwan. These ceremonies are viewed as a suitable way to pay proper respect to the dead and to promote knowledge about body donation programs in Korea. Overall, the transition of religions and social ethics in Korea has greatly facilitated body bequeathal programs, benefiting both medical education and the Korean public health administration.

The observation of stable microbubbles was instrumental to the discovery of lung surfactant and has been turned into a clinical tool for the prediction of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. However, the colloidal properties of lung surfactant microbubbles have not been well characterized prior to this study. We show here that a common exogenous lung surfactant, Survanta, is capable of routinely stabilizing approximately a billion microbubbles per mL, most of which are less than 10 mm diameter, when perfluorobutane was used as the filling gas. The formulation therefore has remarkably rapid adsorption kinetics and surface tension lowering ability. The addition of an emulsifier did not significantly enhance microbubble production. Fluorescence microscopy showed prominent collapse structures on these microbubbles, and freeze-fracture electron microscopy showed undulation patterns of the monolayer surface. Zeta potential analysis indicated that Survanta microbubbles were highly negatively charged. Quantitative measurements of microbubble production allowed an analysis of competitive adsorption. Bovine serum albumin inhibited Survanta adsorption in a dose-response manner. Microbubble production was not reactivated by the addition of the nonionic polymer, poly(ethylene glycol). Lung surfactant microbubbles can serve as a tool to evaluate surfactant function and, potentially, as a theranostic agent for ultrasound.

These results will provide critical information for future planning and performing of reconstructive, reanimation, and cosmetic surgical procedures for cases such as developmental defect, facial trauma, facial muscle paralysis, and restoring the natural personal appearances.