The age of puberty represents a very critical time in the life history of every young woman. The menarche stands as primary indicator of the onset of sexual maturation in females. According to several studies, menarcheal age in Korean girls has dropped from about 15 years of age in 1960s to 13.5 years of age in 1980s. This findings show a pronounced secular trend to earlier maturation. The purpose of this study is to determine (1) the average age at menarche in Korea in present time, (2) the secular trend of menarcheal age, and (3) the geographic regional influence on menarche. The data sampling was obtained from the physical examination cards of women students in Yonsei University who entered from 1983 to 1991. The data which was obtained from the number of 7761 was analysed by dBase III plus and SAS program. The results are as follows: 1) The mean menarcheal age of the subjects was 13.7+/-1.2 years. 2) Age at menarche has been getting earlier by some 7.4 months during the period of recent II years. 3) Comparing to the decreasing secular trend of menarcheal age, the height and weight showed increasing trend. 4) There were significant differences in menarcheal age, height, weight among geographic regions. We conclude that the results indicate an accelerating secular trend in age of menarche in Korea.
Adolescent ; Female ; Humans ; Korea* ; Menarche ; Physical Examination ; Puberty ; Sexual Maturation

A case of lymphangioma circumscriptum which was hard to diagnose because of complicated clinical pictures, was described and the pathogenesis of the disease was reviewed, The 23 year-old male patient had palm sized, verrueous, oozing and crusted patch with some grouped vesicles on the right upper thigh since childhood. Histopathologically the verrucous lesion showed marked hyperkeratosis, acanthosis in the epidermis and proliferation and cystic dilatation of lymph vessels lined by a single layer of endothelium in the dermis, subcutis and muscular tissues. He was treated with surgical excision and skin graft and showed no recurrence over 3 months.
Dermis ; Dilatation ; Endothelium ; Epidermis ; Humans ; Lymphangioma* ; Male ; Recurrence ; Skin ; Thigh ; Transplants ; Young Adult

Hospitals have been very susceptable to changes in external environment. Accordingly, they have been experiencing great financial difficulty due to low insurance rates and increasing competition. As a remedy, hospitals have attempted to use computer in a strategic manner. Such system is called strategic information system (SIS) , and order communication system (OCS) is an example of SIS in hospital setting. While OCS has known to be effective in reducing waiting time for outpatients, many hospitals are reluctant to introduce this system mainly because there are no real data or methods for justifying the cost of the system. Cost-benefit analysis has been traditionally used for such purpose, but this method deals with limited portion of benefits and therefore not very useful for analyzing the economic feasibility of SIS. In this paper, information economics tools which expand cost with value was used to analyze the economic feasibility of OCS. To assist the analysis, financial simulation model was developed using simulation package, called IFPS (Interactive Financial Planning System).
Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Insurance ; Outpatients

A clinical survey on the condyloma acuminatum in the army was carried out during the period of 16 months from July, 1976 to Dec., 1977 by means of ready-made chart and questionare. This study concems a series of 100 maIe patients treated in the ROK Army Hospital. The result can be summarized as follows: 1. 91% of the patients were between the age of 21 and 25, the commonest age being 24(31%) years. The average age was 23.6 years. 86%. of the patients experienced their first sexual contact between the age of 18 and 22, the commonest age being 20 (22%) and 2l(22%) years. The average age was 20years. 2. Predilection sites of the condyloma acuminatum were coronal sulcus (32%), perianal region(22%), glans penis(7%), urethral meatus(7%) and prepuce(4%) 3. Barmaid (58%) was the most frequently suspected sources of prsent infectian and other suspected sources were the prostitute (15%) and the lover (7%). 4. Among the 100 cases of condyloma acuminatum, 78 cases (78%) faund. their skin lesion 1 to 6 months after sexual contact and 49 cases (49%) found it within 8 months. Average incubation period was 3. 7 months. 5. Thirty two cases (32%) of condyloma acuminatum had a past history of other STD and 18 casea (18%) had other coincidently combined STD which were composed of syphilis (15%), urethritis (2%) and chancroid (1% ).
Chancroid ; Hospitals, Military ; Humans ; Sex Workers ; Skin ; Syphilis ; Urethritis

An esophageal perforation is a condition requiring emergency treatment. Although previously spontaneous ruptures were the most common etiology, as endoscopic and radiologic diagnosis and treatment have developed recently, iatrogenic ruptures due to instrumentation have increased to become the most common cause of esophageal perforations. Generally, the treatment of esophageal stenosis is composed of esophageal dilatation using a Maloney or a Mercury dilator and medical treatment for reflux esophagitis. Recently, balloon-catheter dilatation of the esophagus has produced safe and excellent results, and self-expansible metallic stents has been very useful in controlling malignant strictures of the esophagus with low mortality and morbidity. We experienced an esophageal perforation after balloon dilatation and the insertion of a self-expanding silicone-covered Gianturco stent to the site of the esophageal stenosis which was due to reflux esophagitis. The abdomen was opened through an upper midline incision. There was a 3-cm-long longitudinal laceration on the distal esophagus which was closed transversely as with a Heinecke-Mikulicz pyloroplasty after a debridement. To reinforce the site of esophageal laceration and to prevent esophageal reflux, the gastric fundus was pulled and sutured over the esophageal sutures, and the second-layer mattress suture was made 1 cm proximal to the first sutures, including central ligaments of the diaphragm. To prevent bile reflux, we converted from a Billroth-II to a Roux- en-Y gastrojejunostomy. We followed up for 30 months and found no signs of any esophageal stenosis or gastroesophageal reflux. Surgeons rarely encounter variability of the extrabiliary system. However we experienced an anomaly of the extrahepatic bile duct, an incompletely septated double ductus choledochus consisting of two chambers, a proximal-blinded right-down-sided chamber and a left-upper-sided one, which drained from both intrahepatic bile ducts. A large stone was in the proximal-blinded lower choledochus which contained the cystic duct orifice. In this case, several problems were met. First, an exact preoperative diagnosis of the anomalous anatomy was not made with ultrasonogram and computed tomography. Second, the palpable stone was not visualized even on choledochotomy of the left-upper-sided chamber. Third, a surgical decision had to be made whether the septum should be removed. We performed a complete septotomy to prevent bile stasis in the down chamber. Here, we present a description of this rare extrahepatic bile duct anomaly, along with a review of the literature.
Abdomen ; Bile ; Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic ; Bile Reflux ; Choledocholithiasis* ; Common Bile Duct* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Cystic Duct ; Debridement ; Diagnosis ; Diaphragm ; Dilatation ; Emergency Treatment ; Esophageal Perforation ; Esophageal Stenosis ; Esophagitis, Peptic ; Esophagus ; Gastric Bypass ; Gastric Fundus ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Lacerations ; Ligaments ; Mortality ; Rupture ; Rupture, Spontaneous ; Stents ; Sutures ; Ultrasonography

No abstract available.
Child* ; Epilepsy* ; Humans

It is well established that mast cell proliferation and maturation are regulated by two principle cytokines, IL-3 and the c-kit ligand stem cell factor (SCF). Previous reports have demonstrated that bone marrow-derived IL-3-dependent mast cells exhibit the characteristic apoptosis on removal of IL-3. To know how the number of mast cells is controlled, we observed the effects of nitric oxide (NO) on the murine bone marrow-derived cultured mast cells (BMCMC). Apoptosis was measured by the analysis of flow cytometric data and electrophoretic evidence of DNA fragmentation. Our data showed that sodiurn nitroprusside (SNP)-a NO releasing substance- induced apoptosis in BMCMC. Cell cycle analysis showed that the number of the G,/G, and S phase decreased markedly, while the percentage of cell in G,/M phase was increased. Also, SNP alone induced cell death, whereas SNP in combination with SCF markedly decreased cell death of BMCMC. SNP-induced apoptosis was partially inhibited by the treatment of BMCMC with SCF. Our results suggest that NO might have sorne role in the regulation of the number of mast cells.
Apoptosis ; Bone Marrow* ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Death ; Cytokines ; DNA Fragmentation ; Interleukin-3 ; Mast Cells* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Nitroprusside ; S Phase ; Stem Cell Factor

The pulmonary microvasculatures of rats were studied by injection replicas prepared from Mercox. This medium enabled us to easily obtain consistent, stable, and complete injected replicas of the pulmonary vasculature. In order to investigate the three dimensional structures of the tributaries of the bronchial artery, such as the capillary plexus and vasa vasorum, we performed a scanning electron microscopic(SEM) study of the vascular casts, using Mercox CL-2B as a media. The alveolar capillaries revealed hexagonal or pentagonal rings of vascular networks. In some areas, the vascular rings composed a square network, The bronchial tree was supplied by the bronchial arteries which form a coarse capillary extending as far as the terminal bronchioles. Occasionally the capillary plexus was connected with adjacent capillary networks in and around the alveolar walls. The walls of the pulmonary artery revealed only a single layer of the vasa vasorum, but those of the pulmonary vein were surrounded by more complicated and well developed vasa vasorum than the pulmonary arterial side. The mean diameters of the venous vasa vasorum are greater than the arterial vasa vasorum.
Rats ; Animals

No abstract available.
Child* ; Glomerulonephritis* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Endoderm* ; Endodermal Sinus Tumor* ; Mediastinum*