This study was undertaken to investigate immunological mechanisms in Behçet's syndrome, a function considered important in the pathogenesis of the disease. The activity of interleukin-2 (IL-2), which is believed, to play a central role in the regulation of both cell-mediated and humoral T cell-dependent immune responses, measured in 46 patients with complete, in-complete or suspected Behçet's syndrome. The results were as follows: 1 . There was no significant difference between the average IL-2 activity of patients and control group. 2. For each clinical subtype of Behçet's syndrome, IL-2 activity was lower than the control value, but the difference was not statistically significant. 3. In mucocutaneous and ocular types, the greater the clinical symptoms, the lower the value of IL-2 activity. However, the decrease of IL-2 activity was not statistically significant. In conclusion, IL-2 activity of phytohemaggludnin (PHIS-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with Behçet's syndrome was not significantly decreased compared to control population.
Humans ; Interleukin-2* ; Lymphocytes

We were able to identify 7 patients who died of Behcet's disease, among 2,200 patients registered at the Behcet's Disease Specialty Clinic of Severance Hospital from November 1983 to October 1992. Six were male and one female. Age of death was 31 to 55 years with the mean age of 39.1. The age of onset was 24 to 54 years with the mean age of 32.6. The mean duration of illness was 6.5 years. The most frequent initial symptom was oral ulcer, with the most common type being the incomplete type in Shimizu's classification. Positive pathergy tests were found in all the 5 patients in whom the test was performed out of 7 patients. Various modalities of treatments such as oral steroid, colchicine, azathioprine, colectomy, and pacemaker insertion were attempted without outstanding therapeutic effects. The causes of death were gastrointestinal bleeding, bowel perforation, superior and inferior vena cava syndrome, aortic regurgitation, cerebrovascular disease, sepsis, and lung abscess.
Adult ; *Behcet Syndrome/pathology/therapy ; Cause of Death ; Fatal Outcome ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the esthetic preference for various Korean silhouette profiles. Methods: The Korean average male and female profiles were modified by changing the lower facial height and anteroposterior lip position to produce nine types of profiles. In order to test intrarater reliability, the average profile was copied once more to be included for evaluation. A questionnaire containing 10 profiles for each sex, each of which had to be rated for preference on a numerical rating scale from 0 to 10, was administered to 30 adult orthodontic patients, 30 dental students, 30 orthodontists, and 30 dentists excluding orthodontists. The data were statistically analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA. Results: The ICC of overall intrarater reliability was 0.629. For several profiles, significantly higher scores were given to male profiles than to female profiles (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences were found in the scores for all profiles among the four rater groups.Among the short profiles, a significantly higher score was given to the retruded profile, and among the vertically average and long profiles, a significantly higher score was given to the horizontally average profile (p < 0.001). Among all the profiles, significantly lower scores were given to the protruded profile (p < 0.001). Conclusions This study revealed good overall intrarater reliability, with several types of male profiles being esthetically preferred over female profiles. Moreover, while retruded and horizontally average profiles were generally preferred, protruded profiles were not.