Xanthii Fructus has been traditionally used for the treatment of rhinitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and eczema. In this study, a high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array (HPLC-PDA) method was developed and then used for the simultaneous analysis of eight phenylpropanoids in Xanthii Fructus. The analytical column used for this separation was a SunFire™ C₁₈ column, maintained at 40℃. The mobile phase used was 1.0% acetic acid in distilled water and 1.0% acetic acid in acetonitrile with gradient elution. For identify of each component, the mass spectrometer (MS) was used a Waters triple quadrupole mass spectrometer requipped with electrospray ionization (ESI) source. The HPLC-PDA method showed good linearity: correlation coefficients were ≥ 0.9996. The limits of detection and quantification of the eight compounds were 0.02 – 0.04 and 0.06 – 0.14 µg/mL, respectively. The extraction recoveries ranged from 97.51 to 108.67%. The relative standard deviation values of intra- and inter-day precision were 0.06 – 1.55 and 0.09 – 1.68%, respectively. The validated HPLC-PDA method was applied to simultaneously analyse the amounts of eight phenlypropanoids in Xanthii Fructus.
Acetic Acid ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Eczema ; Limit of Detection ; Methods ; Rhinitis ; Water

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the relationship between cement leakage into the disc during percutaneous balloon kyphoplasty and subsequent compression fractures in adjacent vertebrae during treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 103 patients (118 vertebrae) who have been treated with balloon kyphoplasty due to osteoporotic compression fracture from June 2007 to July 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. The group was composed of 13 males and 90 females. The mean age was 75 years (57~95 years). The mean follow-up period was 10 months (6~30 months). Patients were divided into two groups; one with cement leakage into the disc and the other without cement leakage into the disc. The study was performed to determine whether subsequent compression fractures in adjacent vertebrae were related to several factors. RESULTS: The cement leakages into the disc occurred in 16 of 118 vertebrae. Of the 16 vertebrae with cement leakage into the disc, 5 (31%) had subsequent adjacent vertebral compression fractures; however, of the 102 vertebrae in which cement leakage did not occur, only 11 (11%) had subsequent adjacent vertebral compression fractures (p<0.05). Of the 16 vertebrae with cement leakage into the disc, subsequent adjacent vertebral compression fractures occurred 1 vertebrae of 10 vertebrae with definite trauma history. Out of the 6 vertebrae with cement leakage and no definite trauma history, 4 vertebrae (67%) had subsequent adjacent vertebral compression fractures (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The cement leakage into the disc significantly increases the incidence of subsequent adjacent vertebral compression fractures. Most of the subsequent fractures occurred in the early post-operative period. When cement leakage into the disc occurred in patients with no definite trauma history such as slip down, the incidence of subsequent adjacent vertebral compression fracture increased significantly.
Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Compression ; Humans ; Incidence ; Kyphoplasty ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma(EH) is a rare vascular tumor of low-grade malignancy. It was previously described as intravascular bronchioloalveolar tumor (IVBAT). But electron microscopic study and immunohistochemical staining results have proved endothelial origin. Patients are usually asymptomatic and the tumors are found incidentally on routine chest X-rays. Most patients show a slowly progressive clinical course, even though some patients occasionally die as results of respiratory failure or extrathoracic complications. Confirmative diagnosis is made through thoracoscopic or open-lung biopsy. There is still no effective therapeutic modality for pulmonary EH. We have experienced a 55-year-old woman whose simple chest x-ray film revealed bilateral multiple small nodules. The nodules were histopathologically and immunohistochemically diagnosed as primary epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the lung. The possibility of metastatic disease was excluded thorough clinical, laboratory and radiological studies. Comparison of radiographic chest film taken 3 years ago showed no significant progression of the pulmonary nodular lesions. Conservative management was instituted and careful 4 months follow-up showed no significant changes.
Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemangioendothelioma, Epithelioid* ; Humans ; Lung ; Middle Aged ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Thorax ; X-Ray Film

OBJECTIVE: The incidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) worldwide varies considerably. In spite of many reports about the incidence of SAH, there has been no report about the incidence of SAH on the basis of the Korean population. The purpose of this hospital-based study was to assess the actual incidence rates of aneurysmal SAH in Gwangju city and Jeollanamdo province. METHODS: All cases of SAH confirmed by computerized tomography (CT) between January 2007 and December 2007 were selected for analysis. For the data collection, three major training hospital and ten general hospitals working the CT in Gwangju city and four major general hospitals in Jeollanamdo province participate in this study. RESULTS: According to the official census of Korea, the population was 1,413,444 in Gwangju city and 1,929,836 in Jeollanamdo province in 2007. There were 163 patients in Gwangju city and 266 patients in Jeollanamdo province confirmed SAH by CT in 2007. The crude and the age- and sex-adjusted annual incidence rates per 100,000 population for all ages in Gwangju city were 11.5 and 12.4 for aneurysmal SAH and in Jeollanamdo province were 13.8 and 10.8. The incidence was higher in women and increased with age. The gender distribution varied with age. At young ages, the incidence was higher in men while after the age of 40 years, the incidence was higher in women. CONCLUSION: In the present study, the age- and sex-adjusted annual incidence rates is 11.8 in Gwangju city and Jeollanamdo province. The incidence was higher in women and increased with age.
Aneurysm ; Censuses ; Data Collection ; Female ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Risk Factors ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

For efficient quality control of the Samryeongbaekchul-san decoction, a powerful and accurate an ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry (MS) method was developed for quantitative analysis of the thirteen constituents: allantoin (1), spinosin (2), liquiritin (3), ginsenoside Rg1 (4), liquiritigenin (5), platycodin D2 (6), platycodin D (7), ginsenoside Rb1 (8), glycyrrhizin (9), 6-gingerol (10), atractylenolide III (11), atractylenolide II (12), and atractylenolide I (13). Separation of the compounds 1 - 13 was performed on a UPLC BEH C₁₈ column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 µm) at a column temperature of 40 ℃ with a gradient solvent system of 0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous-acetonitrile. The flow rate and injection volume were 0.3 mL/min and 2.0 µL. Calibration curves of all compounds were showed good linearity with values of the correlation coefficient ≥ 0.9920 within the test ranges. The values of limits of detection and quantification for all analytes were 0.04 - 4.53 ng/mL and 0.13 - 13.60 ng/mL. The result of an experiment, compounds 2, 6, 12, and 13 were not detected while compounds 1, 3 - 5, and 7 - 11 were detected with 1,570.42, 5,239.85, 299.35, 318.88, 562.27, 340.87, 12,253.69, 73.80, and 115.01 µg/g, respectively.
Allantoin ; Calibration ; Chromatography, Liquid* ; Glycyrrhizic Acid ; Limit of Detection ; Methods ; Quality Control ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry*

OBJECTIVES: Congenital muscular torticollis, a common disorder that refers to the shortening of the sternocleidomastoid in infants, is sensitive to correction through physical therapy when treated early. If physical therapy is unsuccessful, surgery is required. In this study, we developed a support vector regression model for congenital muscular torticollis to investigate the prognosis of the physical therapy treatent in infants. METHODS: Fifty-nine infants with congenital muscular torticollis received physical therapy until the degree of neck tilt was less than 5degrees. After treatment, the mass diameter was reevaluated. Based on the data, a support vector regression model was applied to predict the prognoses. RESULTS: 10-, 20-, and 50-fold cross-tabulation analyses for the proposed model were conducted based on support vector regression and conventional multi-regression method based on least squares. The proposed methodbased on support vector regression was robust and enabled the effective analysis of even a small amount of data containing outliers. CONCLUSIONS: The developed support vector regression model is an effective prognostic tool for infants with congenital muscular torticollis who receive physical therapy.
Humans ; Infant ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Neck ; Prognosis ; Torticollis

This study proposes a sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method of efficiently assessing the quality of a traditional herbal medicine called Yeonggyechulgam-tang (YGCGT). The following compounds 1 – 11, namely, liquiritin apioside (1), liquiritin (2), liquiritigene (3), coumarin (4), cinnamic acid (5), cinnamaldehyde (6), glycyrrhizin (7), atractylenolide III (8), atractylenolide II (9), atractylenolide I (10), and pachymic acid (11) were separated on a UPLC BEH C₁₈ column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 µm) at a column temperature of 45℃ eluted with a gradient condition of 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in distilled water and acetonitrile. The correlation coefficient of the calibration curve of the eleven constituents was ≥ 0.9936. The limits of detection and quantification of the compounds 1 – 11 were 0.06 – 4.73 ng/mL and 0.17–14.20 ng/mL, respectively. Using this analytical method, the compound 11 in lyophilized YGCGT decoction extract was not detected, while the compounds 1 – 10 were detected 0.13–166.43 mg/g.
Calibration ; Glycyrrhizic Acid ; Herbal Medicine* ; Limit of Detection ; Methods ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry* ; Water

In this study, the marker compounds of Curcumae Rhizoma (CR) were simultaneously quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with a photodiode array detector and the anti-inflammatory effects of CR extract and marker compounds in human benign prostatic hyperplasia epithelial-1 (BPH-1) cell lines were investigated. The marker components (4S,5S)-(+)-germacrone-4,5-epoxide, furanodienone, and germacrone, were separated on Gemini C₁₈ columns (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) at 40 ℃ by using a gradient of two mobile phases eluting at 1.0 mL/min. Prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) levels in Human BPH-1 cells were determined with an ELISA kit. The coefficients of determination in a calibration curve of each analyte were all 0.9997. The limits of detection and quantification of the three compounds were 0.10 – 0.32 µg/mL and 0.30 – 0.98 µg/mL, respectively. The content of three compounds, (4S,5S)-(+)-germacrone-4,5-epoxide, furanodienone, and germacrone, in the CR sample were found to be 5.79 – 5.92 mg/g, 4.72 – 4.86 mg/g, and 1.06 – 1.09 mg/g, respectively. Regarding pharmacological activity against benign prostatic hyperplasia, CR and its components significantly suppressed PGE₂ levels of BPH-1 cells. The established analysis method will help to improve quality assessment of CR samples and related products. In addition, CR and its components exhibit anti-inflammatory activity in BPH-1 cells, suggesting the inhibitory efficacy of these compounds against the pathogenesis of BPH.
Calibration ; Cell Line ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Curcuma ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Limit of Detection ; Methods ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Rhizome

Background: Patients with skin barrier dysfunction often coincides with pruritus, creating a ‘vicious cycle’ of dry skin and itching. Recently, Cynanchum atratum (CA) extract and its constituents have demonstrated effects on atopic dermatitis both in vivo and in vitro. Objective: This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of a moisturizer infused with CA extract in enhancing epidermal barrier function and reducing pruritus. Methods: A total 36 participants with skin barrier dysfunction with pruritus (mean age: 46.22±12.48 years) applied the CA-containing moisturizer topically twice daily for up to 4 weeks. Treatment efficacy was assessed by the investigator using the erythema scaling induration fissuring (ESIF) scale, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), skin hydration, visual analogue scale (VAS) for pruritus, and overall patient satisfaction assessed via questionnaire. Results: The CA-containing moisturizer demonstrated favorable tolerability, and yielded significant pruritus relief as evidenced by VAS scores after 2 and 4 weeks of application (p＜0.05). Significant decreases in TEWL (p＜0.05) and skin hydration (p＜0.05) were observed after 2 and 4 weeks, indicating enhanced skin barrier function. Moreover, significant relief from pruritus and reductions in ESIF were observed at 2 and 4 weeks of application (p ＜0.05), aligning with the high levels of patient satisfaction was high. Conclusion The CA-infused moisturizer emerged as a safe and effective intervention for restoring skin barrier function and providing itch relief.

There have been many radiographic studies on age estimation that evaluate reduction in size of dental pulp cavity with secondary dentin formation. The Paewinsky method reported high accuracy in estimating ages by measuring the width of the pulp cavity in panoramic radiographs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of the Paewinsky method to digital periapical radiographs. This study was conducted on 103 cases that reported to the Section of Human Identification of the National Forensic Service. The age was calculated by applying the Paewinsky method that measures the root and pulp canal width at three points in a tooth. The estimation results were compared with those calculated by the Johanson method. When the Paewinsky models were applied to digital periapical radiographs, the errors were significantly greater as compared to the original study. The errors of the maxillary second premolar and mandibular lateral incisor were greater than those of the maxillary central incisor, lateral incisor, mandibular canine, and first premolar. Furthermore, errors of the age estimation models in level C were greater than those in levels A and B. This study could be a reference for the application of the Paewinsky method to digital periapical radiographs.
Age Determination by Teeth ; Bicuspid ; Dental Pulp Cavity ; Dentin, Secondary ; Forensic Anthropology ; Incisor ; Methods ; Radiography, Dental ; Tooth