No abstract available.
Cystectomy* ; Lasers, Gas* ; Volatilization*

BACKGROUND: An Epidemiological study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of E. vermicularis infestation among children in kindergartens. METHODS: A total of 247 cellotape anal swab specimens from kindergarten children in Inchon were examined for E. vermicularis eggs. Each specimen was collected in the morning. RESULTS: Out of 247 specimens from two kindergartens in Inchon, E. vermicularis eggs were detected in 168 specimens, the egg detection rate being 68.0%. The egg detection rates in boys and girls were 63.9% out of 133 children and 72.8% out of 114 children, respectively. The egg detection rate in girls was higher than that of boys. The egg detection rates by age group was 65.5%(age 3), S7.4%(age 4), 72.0%(age 5) and 75.4%(age 6), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Enterobiasis is a cosmopolitan infection. Surveys for children of kindergartens indicate that E.vermicularis is probably the most widely distributed human helminth, its incidence varing from 59.2% to 73.8% in groups studied since pinworm infection is frequently a familial problem that infestation of the household frequently results in reinfection. Careful washing of hands and cleansing of fingernails before meals and after use of the toilet are the most practical measures, all member of family should be treated simultaneously when practicable.
Child* ; Eggs ; Enterobiasis ; Enterobius* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Hand ; Helminths ; Humans ; Incheon ; Incidence ; Meals ; Nails ; Ovum ; Prevalence

No abstract available.
Accidents, Traffic*

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Humans ; Life Style*

Kallmann's syndrome is characterized by hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism resulting from insufficient release of GnRH and associated with anosmia or hyposmia, which has been related to agenesis of olfactory bulbs. We experienced a case of 17 year-old Kallmann's syndrome woman and a case of successful pregnancy of 29 year-old Kallmann's syndrome woman with hMG and hCG treatment and present two cases with a review of literatures.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Humans ; Hypogonadism ; Kallmann Syndrome* ; Olfaction Disorders ; Olfactory Bulb ; Pregnancy*

The epidural injection of 4 mg of morphine in a volume of 4 ml, 7 ml, and 10 ml (groups I, II, and III) for post-operative analgesia after Caesarean section(30 patients), was evaluated. Thirty patients received continuous epidural anesthesia with 2% lidocaine 20 ml, 8.4% bicarbonate 2 ml and epinephrine 1: 200,000. Patients were established to T4 level anesthesia with above local anesthetics, supplemented with 2% lidocaine, when necessary. Each patient received 4 mg of morphine epidurally after delivery of baby. The postoperative pain relief was considered good in all three groups. The duration of of pain relief in each group, I, II, and III was 22.2+/-2.9, 20.6+/-4.6 and 21.6+/-4.2 hours, respectively, which showed no statistical difference between any two youps. The quality of pain relief was almost same, except during 12~18 hours after observation, In tbat period, there was better pain relief in group I than the other two groups (p<0.05). With the result of this study, it might be suggested that we'd better use 4ml of injected volume when we give 4mg of epidural morphine after Caesarean section for postoperative pain control, even though the small difference was seen only after 12~18 hours.
Analgesia ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, Epidural ; Anesthetics, Local ; Cesarean Section* ; Epinephrine ; Female ; Humans ; Injections, Epidural ; Lidocaine ; Morphine* ; Pain, Postoperative* ; Pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Hyperhomocysteinemia as a risk factor for cerebrovascular disease is well known. Our aim of this study was to demonstrate positive association between elevated homocysteine levels and cerebrovascular diseases in Koreans. METHODS: With a case-control design, 186 stroke (infarction 134, hemorrhage 52) patients, diagnosed by brain CT or MRI and 359 control patients were evaluated. We used multiple logistic regression analyses conditioned on the matching variables (sex, age, hypertension, DM, smoking, hyperlipidemia, hyperhomocysteinemia) and calculated odds ratio and 95% CIs. RESULTS: Multivariated adjusted odds ratios (OR) for cerebrovascular diseases associated with hypertension compared with normal blood pressure were 2.45 (95% CI, 1.16 to 5.15) in prehypertension and 3.33 (95% CI, 1.56 to 7.10) in stage 1 hypertension and 3.77 (95% CI, 1.32 to 10.74) in stage 2 hypertension. OR for cerebrovascular diseases associated with hyperhomocysteinemia compared with <10micromol/L were 2.06 (95% CI, 1.09 to 3.91) in 13.0 to 16.9micromol/L and 3.17 (95% CI, 1.70 to 5.90) in > or =17 micromol/L. CONCLUSION: Not only hypertension but also hyperhomocysteinemia was a significant risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases in Koreans.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Blood Pressure ; Brain ; Case-Control Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Homocysteine ; Humans ; Hyperhomocysteinemia* ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Logistic Models ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Odds Ratio ; Prehypertension ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stroke

3-Deoxysappanchalcone (3-DSC) has been reported to possess anti-allergic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. In the present study, we investigated the effects of 3-DSC on the proliferation of human hair follicle dermal papilla cells (HDPCs) and mouse hair growth in vivo. A real-time cell analyzer system, luciferase assay, Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were employed to measure the biochemical changes occurring in HDPCs in response to 3-DSC treatment. The effect of 3-DSC on hair growth in C57BL/6 mice was also examined. 3-DSC promoted the proliferation of HDPCs, similar to Tofacitinib, an inhibitor of janus-activated kinase (JAK). 3-DSC promoted phosphorylation of β-catenin and transcriptional activation of the T-cell factor. In addition, 3-DSC potentiated interleukin-6 (IL-6)-induced phosphorylation and subsequent transactivation of signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3), thereby increasing the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase-4 (Cdk4), fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). On the contrary, 3-DSC attenuated STAT6 mRNA expression and IL4-induced STAT6 phosphorylation in HDPCs. Finally, we observed that topical application of 3-DSC promoted the anagen phase of hair growth in C57BL/6 mice. 3-DSC stimulates hair growth possibly by inducing proliferation of follicular dermal papilla cells via modulation of WNT/β-catenin and STAT signaling.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Fibroblast Growth Factors ; Hair Follicle* ; Hair* ; Humans* ; Interleukin-6 ; Luciferases ; Mice* ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphotransferases ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger ; T-Lymphocytes ; Transcriptional Activation ; Transducers ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

BACKGROUND: Family physicians in their on primary practice frequently encounters patients with fever, welch is one of the common symptoms. Fever is an important symptom and can occur in mild disease, common cold, influenza, acute pharyngotonsillitis or can originate from a particular severe disease, such as bacterial endocarditis, malignant lymphoma and SLE, which need more aggressive management. Therefore, we studied patients who were admitted with short-term fever or long-term fever to find out their causes of febrile disease and to compare the differences with previous other studies. METHODS: 601 patients with fever above 37.2 degree centigrade or those who were transferred from other hospitals due to long-term fever were enrolled from Jan. 1991 to Jun. 1997. Patients' medical records reviewed and were classified according to disease, sex, age. Standardization of Petersdorf's rule for F.U.O. was used. RESULTS: 601 patients were randomly selected among which 301 were males and 300 females. Males were 147 and females 147 young adult patients as compared to 154 males and 153 females were elderly patients. According to disease category, the number of infections, connective tissue diseases, neoplastic diseases and other diseases were 442(73.5%), 14(2.3%), 87(14.5%) and 21(3.5%), respectively. The number of diseases of undetermined case was 37(6.2%). The most frequent disease was pneumonia with 103(31.1%). UTI and tuberculosis were the 2nd and 3rd most common diseases. The total number of F.U.O. patients was 82(13.6%). According to the disease categories there were 29(35.4%) in infections, 2(2.4%) in connective tissue diseases, 12(14.6%) in neoplasms, 2(2.4%) in others and 37(45.2%) in unknown origin. The most common disease was tuberculosis. Infection and tuberculosis were common disease category and disease in the classification of sex and age of F.U.O.. CONCLUSIONS: In the clinical study of febrile patients admitted from Jan. 1991 to Jun.1997 through medical record review, the disease category in the order of frequency was infection, neoplasm, collective tissue disease and the distribution of F.U.0. was same result. In comparison with other study, the order of connective tissue disease and neoplasm was different in other hospital study but same result was taken In comparison with Petersdorf's study.
Aged ; Classification ; Common Cold ; Communicable Diseases ; Connective Tissue Diseases ; Endocarditis, Bacterial ; Female ; Fever of Unknown Origin* ; Fever* ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Lymphoma ; Male ; Medical Records ; Physicians, Family ; Pneumonia ; Tuberculosis ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to measure radiographic joint space width and to estimate erosion in the hands of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It showed that joint space width, homogeneity, and invariant moments are parameters to discriminate between the normal and the rheumatoid joint. METHODS: In order to measure the joint space width and to estimate erosion in the finger joint, 32 radiographic images were used - 16 images for training and 16 images for testing. The joint space width was measured in order to quantify the joint space narrowing. Also, homogeneity and invariant moments was computed in order to quantify erosion. Finally, artificial neural networks were constructed and tested as a classifier distinguishing between the normal and the rheumatoid joint. RESULTS: The joint space width of normal was 1.04+/-0.15 mm and the width of patients with rheumatoid arthritis was 0.94+/-0.15 mm. The Homogeneity of normal was 16568.83+/-2669.83 and invariant moments were 6843.45+/-2937.55. They were statistically difference (p<.05). Using these characteristics, artificial neural networks showed that they discriminate between normal and rheumatoid arthritis (AUC=0.91). CONCLUSION: Measuring joint space width, estimating homogeneity, and invariant moments provide the capability to distinguish between a normal joint and a rheumatoid joint.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Finger Joint ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints