The present study was done to validate the two-site Semmes-Weinstein (SW) monofilament test in identifying patients at risk of lower-extremity complications in clinical setting. The SW monofilament test and nerve conduction study were conducted on type 2 diabetic patients (n=37) at Pusan National University Hospital in Korea. As the duration of diabetes mellitus was longer, neuropathy identified by nerve conduction study and complications of diabetes were more severe (p<0.01). The number of sites unable to perceive SW monofilament (p<0.001) was larger in patients with lower-extremity neuropathy symptoms than those without symptoms. Sensitivity and specificity at two sites (the third and fifth metatarsal head sites) were 93% and 100%, respectively. In conclusion, the two-site SW monofilament test was a sensitive, specific, simple, and inexpensive screening tool for identifying diabetic peripheral neuropathy in clinical setting.
Aged ; Comparative Study ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type II/complications* ; Diabetic Neuropathies/diagnosis* ; Female ; Human ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neural Conduction ; Neurologic Examination/instrumentation* ; Neurologic Examination/methods ; Pressure ; Sensation Disorders/diagnosis* ; Sensation Disorders/etiology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Touch

STATEMETN OF PROBLEM: In-Ceram system is one of the all-ceramic crowns that can be used in anterior 3 unit fixed partial dentures and posterior single crowns. The alumina core used in In-Ceram system is manufactured using slip-casting technique. The slip-casting technique is difficult and technique sensitive. To improve this problem, tape-casting method was introduced into dentistry. There were no studies to examine the effect of margin design on the margin fit-ness of all-ceramic crowns fabricated from alumina tape. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the marginal fitness of glass infiltrated alu-mina core fabricated from aqueous-based alumina tape according to different margin types (90 .,110 ., 135 .shoulder margin). MATERIAL AND METHOD: Three upper central resin incisors were prepared with 90 ., 110 .and 135 .shoulder margins for all-ceramic crowns, respectively. The resin teeth were duplicated and master die and special plaster die were made as usual. After alumina cores were fabri-cated from aqueous-based alumina tape, cores were cemented to each 15 epoxy dies replicated from three resin teeth with resin cement. These cemented cores were embedded in epoxy resin. Specimens were cut mesiodistally and buccolingually. Marginal gap and discrepancy were measured under microscope. RESULTS: The marginal gap and discrepancy of 90.marginal angle was 75.1 mu m, 86.6 mu m, 110 .marginal angle was 41.5 mu m, 50.7 mu m and 135 .marginal angle was 51.7 mu m, 54.2 mu m, respectively. The smallest value was seen in 110 (angle, which was statistically significant com-pared to that of 90 .angle (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Marginal fitness of alumina cores made of alumina tape with 110 .shoulder mar-gin was best and others were clinically acceptable.
Aluminum Oxide* ; Crowns ; Dentistry ; Denture, Partial, Fixed ; Glass* ; Incisor ; Resin Cements ; Shoulder ; Tooth

PURPOSE: Of the cancers in childhood, leukemia is the most frequent one. For the desirable control of childhood leukemia, the basic data for the incidence has a great importance. The authors made a report about the incidence of leukemia in childhood, which analyzed the data from 126 cases in Kyongnam province, Korea, during 1991~1995. METHODS: The data were obtained from 126 new cases of childhood leukemia who had been living in the Kyongnam province and were diagnosed at the 26 university hospitals or general hospitals in the Kyongnam area and other cities from 1991 to 1995. RESULTS: The age-and-sex adjusted annual incidence rate per 100,000 population during 1991~1995 varied from 1.82 to 2.86, and cumulative annual incidence rate was 2.41 (male 2.26 and female 2.57 respectively). Male to female sex ratio was 1:1 in total cases. By the major types of childhood leukemia, the cases were composed of acute lymphocytic leukemia 70.6%, acute myelocytic leukemia 26.9% and chronic myelocytic leukemia 2.5%. The cumulative annual incidence rate per 100,000 population (crude rate) during 1991~1995 were 2.77 in Ulsan city, 2.62 in Chinju city and 2.34 in the whole area of Kyongnam province. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the age-and-sex adjusted annual incidence rate per 100,000 of childhood in Kyongnam province was 2.41, which was lower than that in Pusan city in the same period. And, there was no significant difference of the cumulative annual incidence rate between Ulsan area and Chinju area in the same period.
Busan ; Female ; Gyeongsangnam-do* ; Hospitals, General ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Korea* ; Leukemia* ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Male ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; Sex Ratio ; Ulsan

PURPOSE: Right middle lobe symdrome is characterized by a spectrum of disease from recurrent atelectasis and pneunomitis to brobchiectasis of the Right middle lobe symdrom. It was first reported gy Grahm describing 12 patients with middle loge atelectasis and bronchiectasis due to enlarged lymph nodes. The incidence of Right middle lobe syndome seems tobe increasing in children, byt there have been only a few studies of right middlelobe syndrome in Korea. METHODS: Twenty-five children with RMLS who had been admitted during the last 10 years were evaluated with particular attention to clinical features, laboratory results, bronchographic findings, and treatment RESULTS: All patients were symptomatic and complained of chronic cough(25), sputum(20), fever(16), dyspnea(3), vomiting(2), and foreign body in the bronchus(2). Most of the patients had recurrent pneumonia: 6 patients had Mycoplasma pneumonia, and 6 patients had ashma and allergic disorders. Only 5 out of the 25 patients showed sufficient obstruction on bronchography and 6 patients took computed tomography scans. Chest radiography, bronchography and computed tomography scans were evaluated for review in 25 patients showing consolidation(17), patchy infiltration(14), atelectasis(12), hyperinflation(5), bronchiectasis(2), and air bronchogram(2). Most patients were improved by conservative medical management and only 2 patients had closed thoracostomy. CONCLUSION: These 25 patients who had been diagnosed as Right middle lobe syndrome were improved after 2 week treatment of antibiotics and conservative management and their prognosis were good during the follow-up period.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bronchiectasis ; Bronchography ; Child ; Follow-Up Studies ; Foreign Bodies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Middle Lobe Syndrome* ; Pneumonia ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; Prognosis ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Radiography ; Thoracostomy ; Thorax

Autoimmune neutropenia is characterized by severe neutropenia with cell-bound neutrophil antibodies or circulating antibodies for neutrophils. Diagnosis of disease is made of the basis of the presence of antibodies for neutrophil. Corticosteroid or rhG-CSF have been reported to be effective in some patients. Recently we experienced one case of autoimmune neutropenia patient who was admitted to our hospital in 1997 because of stomach cancer and degenerative joint disease. She had severe neutropenia without underlying autoimmune disease. And cell-bound neutrophil antibodies were detected by indirect immunofluorescence test. Treatments with rhG-CSF and steroid result in transient improvement of neutropenia and subtotal gastrectomy was done successfully. We herein report one case of autoimmune neutro- penia patient, to our best knowledge, the first report in Korea, with a brief review of literature.
Antibodies ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Diagnosis ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Joint Diseases ; Korea ; Neutropenia* ; Neutrophils ; Stomach Neoplasms

This study was designed retrospectively to evaluate Ranson's criteria and APACHE II scores as a predictor of mortality in patients with acute pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis is a common disorder. From mild disease to multiorgan failure, it is a disorder that has numerous causes, an obscure pathogenesis. An accurate history and through physical examination will often raise clinical suspicion of acute pancreatitis in the differential diagnosis of a patient with acute abdominal pain. The retrospective analysis by chart review of 86 cases of acute pancreatitis who visited emergency department of Dongsan hospital from Jan to Dec 1996. The results were as follows. The majority of the patients with acute pancreatitis presented with chief complaints of abdominal pain. The male patient outnumbered female by the ratio of 2.9:1. The highest incidence of age group was between 40 and 50. The majority of our patients had past histories of either chronic alcoholic or gallbladder problems e.g.. the number being 53 cases(61.6%) and 31 cases(36%) respectively. Among 7 patients who had changes in consciousness, 5 were expired. Of those expired, 3 patients had less than 90 mmHg of systolic blood pressure. The overall mortality rate was 10.5%(9 cases). It has been known that acute pancreatitis would be the results of traumatic and non-traumatic causes. The exact mechanism of its pathophysiolgy has not been known yet, but it has been well known that the majority of patients who in forties and fifties had history of alcoholic abuse, the rest being mainly gallbladder problem and, some other diseases implicated too. The relationship of acute pancreatitis with familiar Ranson's criteria was such that 3 patients of the Ranson's out of 9 death were noted to have more than 3 of the criteria, but another 3 had less than 3. Among the 60 patients in whom the required physiologic variables were available out of total 86 patients studied, 9 were expired and 51 survived, average APACHE II scores for the survival and the expired being 6.92+/-3.99 & 18.11+/-5.68 respectively (P<0.05). We concluded that the APACHE II score could be used to better than Ranson's criteria to predict hospital mortality in patients with acute pancreatitis.
Abdominal Pain ; Alcoholics ; APACHE ; Blood Pressure ; Consciousness ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Gallbladder ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Mortality ; Pancreatitis* ; Physical Examination ; Retrospective Studies

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma is a pleomorphic sarcoma in adults, which occurs principally as a mass on an extremity or in the abdominal cavity or retroperitoneum. It typically involved deep fascia or skeletal muscle and only rarely was confined to the subcutis without fascial involvement. Malignant fibrous histiocytomas developed in the intraabdominal organs are very rare and only few cases have been reported until now. Here, we report a case of malignant fibrous histiocytomar developed in the stomach of a 46-year old male who showed clinical and histologic features of malignant fibrous histiocytoma without any identified etiologic factors. The patient was treated successfully with surgery, and has had no recurrence since, during the ensuring one and a half yars.
Abdominal Cavity ; Adult ; Extremities ; Fascia ; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous* ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Recurrence ; Sarcoma ; Stomach*

Hyperthyroidism is a well known cause of atrial fibrillation. It is also known that control of hyperthyroidism can usually curb thyrotoxic atrial fibrillation and restore sinus rhythm. In this study, 282 patients with hyperthyroidism were investigated to quantify the incidence of atrial fibrillation, and to identify the vulnerable groups. In addition, we compared two groups of subjects with atrial fibrillation-one group with hyperthyroidism and the other group without
Aged ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism ; Incidence ; Male ; Sex Ratio ; Thyroid Gland

PURPOSE: Signet-ring cell carcinoma is rather invasive and infiltrative than other histologic types of gastric cancer. We evaluated the characteristic CT findings of signet-ring cell carcinoma especially in the intensity and pattern of contrast enhancement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed the CT findings of 22 cases with histologically proven signet-ring cell carcinoma, and compared them with those of 35 cases with histologically proven tubular adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: The double ring enhancement of the gastric mass was seen in 12 cases of signet-ring cell carcinoma and only one case of tubular adenocarcinoma. The masses of signet-ring cell carcinoma were enhanced more by the CT number of 10.2 than those of tubular adenocarcinoma. Of the masses of signet-ring cell carcinoma, those showed double ring enhancement were more intensely enhanced than those showed diffuse enhancement by the CT number of 22.9. CONCLUSION: We thought that neovascularity and different infiltration of the tumor cells in the gastric wall were responsible for the intense enhancement and double ring sign of signet-ring cell carcinoma. The possiblity of signet-ring cell carcinoma is high if a gastric mass show double ring sign and strong contrast enhancement.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Signet Ring Cell* ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stomach*

No abstract available.
Craniocerebral Trauma* ; Head* ; Humans ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*