No abstract available.
Alopecia Areata* ; Alopecia* ; Scalp*

PURPOSE:This study was performed to investigate the status of cardiac structure and function and to assess their alterations after growth hormone(GH) treatment in children with growth hormone deficiency(GHD). METHODS:Interventricular septal thickness and left ventriclular posterior wall thickness, ejection fraction(EF), fractional shortening(FS), systolic time interval(STI) of left ventricle were measured by two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography in sixteen children with GHD and age, sex matched sixteen children with GH normal short stature as control. The measure were done before GH treatment and at 6 and 12 months of GH treatment, respectively. RESULTS: 1)Left ventricular posterior wall thickness in GHD group was significantly thinner than that of control group(P<0.05). 2)Interventricular septal thickness and left ventricular posterior wall thickness were increased with GH treatment from 10.4+/-1.7mm, 8.1+/-1.8mm before GH treatment to 11.0+/-0.9mm, 8.7+/-0.7mm and 11.2+/-1.7mm, 9.7+/-1.8mm at 6 and 12 months of GH treatment, respectively. The increment of left ventricular posterior wall thickness after 12 months GH treatment revealed statistic significance(P<0.05). 3)There was no significant alterations of EF, FS, STI of left ventricle after GH treatment at 6 months and 12 months, respectively. CONCLUSION: Left ventricular posterior wall thickness in GHD group was significantly thin compared to that of control group(P<0.05). GH treatment in GHD children for 12 months, resulted statistically significant increase(P<0.05) in posterior wall thickness. There is no evidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy after GH treatment. But we could not exclude the possibility of these alterations were induced by an increased overall body size and body surface area after GH treatment. To clarify the exact alterations of cardiac structures and function in children with GHD after GH treatment, long term follow-up studies should be necessary.
Body Size ; Body Surface Area ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Child* ; Echocardiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Growth Hormone* ; Heart ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans

PURPOSE:There were many controversies whether constitutional delay of growth and puberty(CDGP) is simple varient of normal growth pattern, or one of the cause of growth disturbance induced by the disturbance of growth hormone secrtion or its function. So we studied about the difference in serum peak growth hormone level after insulin, L-dopa provocation test, and serum IGF-I leve between constitutional delay of growth and puberty(CDGP) and familial short stature(FSS). METHODS:Measurement of serum peak growth hormone and insulin like growth factor-I(IGF-I) level after insulin, L-dopa provocation test were performed in 33 children with costitutional delay of growth and puberty (CDGP). Two groups of children with familial short stature (FSS) whose height were below 10 percentile for chronologic age of Korean national height standards were included as control groups. RESULTS: 1)There were no significant difference of serum peak growth hormone level between children with CDGP and children with FSS and these results were similar in both sex. 2)The mean serum IGF-I level of children with CDGP were 125.69+/-4.06 ng/ml(71.53-189.34ng/ml) in male, 157.7+/-3.17ng/ml(81.9-279.2ng/ml) in female. Both results were significantly lower to those of FSS children by chronologic age group because the mean serum IGF-I level of FSS children were 190.19+/-7.97ng/ml (87.64-297.6ng/ml) in male, 205.47+/-15.87ng/ml(61.7-433.1ng/ml) in female. But compared to FSS children by bone age of 72-96 months, there were no significant difference noted because the mean serum IGF-I level of children with FSSwere130.47+/-0.27ng/ml(63.24-198.2ng/ml)inmale,162.35+/-9.43ng/ml(54.9-217.53 ng/ml) in female. CONCLUSIONS:The results of this study showed that the serum peak growth hormone level after insulin, L-dopa provocation test with children of CDGP revealed no significant difference with those of FSS children in both sex. Serum IGF-I level of CDGP children was lower significantly to those of FSS children by chronologic age group, but no much difference with FSS children of bone age group.
Adolescent ; Child* ; Female ; Growth Hormone* ; Humans ; Insulin* ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Levodopa* ; Male ; Puberty*

No abstract available.
Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex* ; Herpes Simplex*

No abstract available.
Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex* ; Herpes Simplex*

BACKGROUND: Long-term oral itraconazole and terbinafine are widely used in the treatment of onychomycosis. Accelerated nail growth in patients with itraconazole has been described in several reports. However, there has been no report regarding the effect of antifungal agents on cultured nail matrix cells(NMCs). OBJECTIVE: We applied several antifungal agents on cultured human NMCs and epidermal kera- tinocytes(EKs) to compare the cytotoxicity of several antifungal agents and also to verify possible stimulating effects of itraconazole and 6-hydroxyitraconazole on nail growth. METHODS: To evaluate the effect of antifungal agents, the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazo1-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyl- tetrazolium bromide(MTT) test, tritiated thymidine incorporation test, and lactic dehydrogenase(LDH) leakage test were used. RESULTS: Dose dependent decreases in cell viability and DNA synthesis, and dose dependent increases in LDH liberation were observed in cultured human NMCs and EKs after exposure to several antifungal agents. The dose-response reaction patterns for NMCs and EKs to antifungal agents were similar. The cytotoxicity potency of several antifungal agents measured by each method were slightly different. Itraconazole and 6-hydroxyitraconazole did not show stimulating effects on cell proliferation in in vitro monolayer cell culture systems. CONCLUSION: These observations suggest that itraconazole appeared less cytotoxic but showed no stimulating effects on nail matrix cell proliferation in vitro. Cultured human EKs as well as NMCs may be useful in evaluating the effects of agents which are involved in nails.
Antifungal Agents* ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival ; DNA ; Humans* ; Itraconazole ; Keratinocytes* ; Onychomycosis ; Thymidine

No abstract available.
Humans* ; Interleukin-1* ; Keratinocytes*

To investigate the correlation between urinary growth hormone(GH) level and peak serum GH level, urinary GH value measured by overnight collection of urine for 10 hours and serum GH value in response to GH provocation test using insulin and L-dopa were measured in 9 cases of GH complete deficiency(GCD), 19 cases of GH partial deficiency(GPD) and 40 cases of GH normal short stature(GHN). Urinary GH values were measured by the EIA method using PICOIA HGH plate(Joo Woo Pharmaceutical Co., Japan). Urinary GH was expressed in terms of nanograms per gm creatinine(ng/gCr). Serum GH was measured by immunoradiometric assay using "Daiichi kit"(Je Il Pharmaceutical Co., Japan). Wilcoxon ranked sum test and student's t-test were used to assess the significance of differences between the groups of the patients. The correlation between urinary GH level and peak serum GH level was assessed by the parametric Pearson correlation test. The correlation between peak serum GH level in GH provocation test using insulin and urinary GH level measured by overnight 10 hours collection method showed statistically significant results in all the patients(Y=0.464072X +9.208044, r=0.48987, p=0.0001) and in the GH deficiency groups(GCD+GPD) (Y=0.924659X +9.2385509, r=0.80437, p=0.0001). In case of L-dopa stimulation test, urinary GH values were also positively correlated with peak serum GH level when all the patients were participated(Y=0.572988X +8.312993, r=0.58212, p=0.0001). In contrast, no correlation was found when patients were confined to GH deficiency group(GCD+GPD)(Y=0.127712X +8.3129939, r=0.08044, p=0.6841).
Dihydroxyphenylalanine ; Growth Hormone ; Humans ; Immunoradiometric Assay ; Insulin ; Levodopa ; Methods

No abstract available.
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens* ; Humans ; Prevalence*

BACKGROUND: The human homologue of the SC2 gene from a human dermal papilla cell cDNA library has been isolated and designated hSC2. HSC2 protein also shares similarity with 5 -reductase, a protein important in testosterone metabolism. OBJECTIVE: Prior to knowing the functions of hSC2 in dermal papilla, we cloned it and analyzed its relative expression levels in adult tissues and cancer cell lines. METHODS: hSC2 was isolated from low abundant clones in dermal papilla cDNA library using cDNA array hibridization method. Full-length clone was sequenced and we studied its expression in different tissues by Northern blot hybridization. RESULTS: Sequence data reveals a single open reading frame, encoding a putative hydrophobic protein with a calculated molecular weight of 36 kDa. Its deduced amino acid sequences are almost 97.4% identical to t4ose of rat protein. Northern blot hybridization shows that hSC2 cDNA recognizes a 1.35 kb transcript that was expressed in various epithelial and mesenchymal tissues including testis and liver. CONCLUSION: We have cloned and analysed tissue distributions of hSC2. It was interesting that it had homology with 5α-reductase isozymes. Further studies will be needed to understand the involvement of hSC2 in androgen hormone signaling.
Adult ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Blotting, Northern ; Cell Line ; Clone Cells ; Cloning, Molecular* ; DNA, Complementary ; Gene Library ; Humans ; Isoenzymes ; Liver ; Metabolism ; Molecular Weight ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Open Reading Frames ; Rats ; Testis ; Testosterone ; Tissue Distribution