The urachus is a normal embryonic remnant of the primitive dome. It generally exists as a fibrous cord extending from the dome of the bladder to the umbilicus. Disorders of the urachus are developed as a result of its incomplete regression. The urachal cyst is the most common urachal anomaly, and is usually asymptomatic in infancy and childhood. However, when the cysts are large or accompanied with secondary infection, they may be detected in its early stage. A sonography or CT scan may be helpful to confirm the diagnosis of urachal cyst. The managements of infected urachal cyst are varied from simple drainage to radical excision. Here, we report an unusual case of urachal cyst infection that occurred during corticosteroids therapy in a girl with IgA nephropathy.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Coinfection ; Drainage ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Umbilicus ; Urachal Cyst ; Urachus ; Urinary Bladder

BACKGROUND: This study was done to determine whether the Osteoporosis Self-assessment Tool (OST) can predict central bone mineral density in Korean men above 50 years, as defined by dual energy X-ray absorptionmetry (DXA). METHODS: We applied the OST index to Korean men aged over 50 in Health Promotion Center of Konkuk University Hospital from September 2005 to September 2008. The calculated OST risk index was based on weight and age, truncated to an integer. RESULTS: The study population was 276 men. The mean age, height and weight of the men were 59.7 +/- 6.69 years, 167.6 +/- 6.14 cm and 67.5 +/- 8.93 kg respectively. By DXA, 4.7% of the men had a T score of -2.5 or less, and 46.4% had a T score of -2 or less at the spine, total hip, or femoral neck. The OST index ranged from -4 to 7. Using a cutoff score of 0, we predicted osteoporosis with a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 62%. The receiver operating characteristic curve showed an area under the curve of 0.77. When the subjects were analyzed by age and smoking status, the predictive value of the OST was maintained. CONCLUSION: The OST is a simple and useful method to predict osteoporosis in Korean men.
Aged ; Bone Density ; Femur Neck ; Health Promotion ; Hip ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Osteoporosis ; ROC Curve ; Self-Assessment ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Spine

OBJECTIVE: Ovarian cancer is common a gynecologic malignancy and leading cause of death in women being diagnosed with advanced disease. This study was undertaken to investigate the roles of the proteins related to G1 cell cycle in ovarian carcinogenesis. METHODS: The expression of cyclin Dl, p16, RB and PCNA in DMBA (7, 12-dimethylbenzanthracene)-induced ovarian cancer of rats was analyzed by immuno-histochemistry and Western blot. RESULTS: 1. Twenty-nine tumors were induced in 32 ovaries from 16 rats (90.6%) in the experimental group. The average weight of tumor was 3.35+/-0.73 gm and the average size was 1.84+/-0.17 cm in greatest dimension. The histologic types were adenocarcinomas (n=20), squamous cell carcinomas (n=3), sarcoma (n=4) and combined types (n=3). 2. With respect to the cyclin D1 and PCNA labelling index, ovarian cancers showed significantly higher index than normal ovarian surface epithelium. There were no differences among the cancer types. In Western blot analysis, the expression of cyclin Dl in ovarian cancers was higher than that in normal ovarian surface epithelium. 3. With respect to the p16 and RB labelling index, ovarian cancers showed significantly lower index than normal ovarian surface epithelium. There were no differences among the cancer types. In Western blot analysis, the expression of cyclin Dl in ovarian cancers were lower than that in normal ovarian surface epithelium. 4. Positive correlation was shown among cyclin D1, PCNA. RB was negatively correlated with cyclin D1, PCNA. The p16 had no correlation with cyclin D1, PCNA. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the deregulation of cyclin Dl, p16, RB and PCNA occur in DMBA induced rat ovarian carcinogenesis and result in tumor progression. Further studies are needed to investigate the role and function of cyclin Dl-p16-RB pathway in human ovarian cancer with this animal model.
9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene* ; Adenocarcinoma ; Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinogenesis* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cause of Death ; Cell Cycle ; Cyclin D1* ; Cyclins* ; Epithelium ; Female ; Humans ; Models, Animal ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Ovary ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen* ; Rats* ; Sarcoma

BACKGROUND: Diabetic neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes. Since neuropathy leads to ulceration and amputation, efforts to detect early and to elucidate its risk factors are ongoing. The goal of this study was to check the validity of Michigan neuropathy screening instrument (MNSI) as a screening test and its risk factors for diabetic neuropathy. METHODS: A total of 75 subjects with type II diabetes mellitus, who visited a university hospital, were investigated. We measured their duration of diabetes, height, weight, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, serum creatinine, and 24-h urine albumin. MNSI tested and electrophysiological test were performed. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of MNSI was 63.5%, 78.3%, 86.8%, and 48.6%, respectively. Statistically significant relationships were found between neuropathy and the duration of diabetes and total cholesterol. CONCLUSION: MNSI seemed to be an appropriate screening test for diabetic neuropathy. More attention must be paid to the duration of diabetes and the total cholesterol of type 2 diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy.
Amputation ; Blood Pressure ; Cholesterol ; Creatinine ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetic Neuropathies ; Fasting ; Glucose ; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Mass Screening* ; Michigan* ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases* ; Risk Factors* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Triglycerides ; Ulcer

PURPOSE: To gain insight on the role of AP-1 in transcriptional regulation of vimentin gene during differentiation of HL-60 cells by 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), the levels of vimentin mRNA and AP-1 have been investigated with Northern blot hybridization and DNA mobility shift assay. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HL-60 cells were grown in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum and antibiotics in a humidified 5% CO2 at 37 degree C. Total RNA was prepared by a modification of the method of Karlinsey et al. Northern blot hybridization was performed by the method of Virca et al. EcoRI fragment of pVIM-GEM was used as probe for vimentin mRNA. DNA mobility shift assay was performed by the method of Lim et al. End labeled DNA probe(Upper strand, 5'-CGCTTGATGAGTCAGCCG- 3') for AP-1 binding activity was mixed with nuclear extracts in a 20 microliter reaction volume containing 300 mM KC1, 60 mM HEPES, pH 7.9, 25 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM DTT, 60% glycerol, and 2 microgram of poly[dI-dC]. RESULTS: TPA increased vimentin mRNA levels, with maxima1 stimulation reached at 24 hr. The level of vimentin mRNA was induced in proportion to the concentration of TPA. TPA-induced vimentin mRNA was almost reduced by actinomycin-D pretreatment. TPA- induced stimulation of vimentin gene was completely reduced by staurosporin pretreatment. In DNA mobility shift assay, AP-I newly appeared at 24 hr during TPA- induced differentiation and was almost not detected after the pretreatment of staurosporin. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the induction of vimentin mRNA during TPA- dependent differentiation in HL-60 cells may be mediated by protein kinases C signal transduction and AP-1 is important to transcriptional regulation.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Blotting, Northern ; DNA ; Edetic Acid ; Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay ; Glycerol ; HEPES ; HL-60 Cells* ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Magnesium Chloride ; Protein Kinases ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger ; Signal Transduction ; Transcription Factor AP-1* ; Vimentin*

BACKGROUND: In the busy primary care setting, there are several limitations in applying Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test in Korea (AUDIT-K) to screen problem drinking. Thus, for primary healthcare practice, we evaluated AUDIT-C, which covers questions from 1 to 3 in AUDIT-K, and AUDIT-K Question 3 Alone to present cut points for these two screening questionnaire according to AUDIT-K test scores. METHODS: In a university hospital, we surveyed 302 males with a drinking history via self-administered questionnaire including AUDIT-K, from November 2007 to April 2008. On the basis of total score in AUDIT-K, we divided them into four groups: normal, problem drinking, alcohol use disorder, and alcohol dependence. For each alcohol drinking behavior pattern, we drew the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves to present cut points for appropriate sensitivity and specificity. In addition, we compared the performance of AUDIT-C and AUDIT-K Question 3 Alone through area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: For AUDIT-C, we designated the score 8 or more as problem drinking, 9 or more as alcohol use disorder, and 11 or more as dependence. The results of sensitivity/specificity for each group were 82%/76%, 76%/79%, 80%/86%, respectively, which were suitable for screening. For AUDIT-K Question 3 Alone, we defined the score 3 or more as problem drinking or alcohol use disorder and the score 4 as dependence. The results of sensitivity/specificity for each group were 79%/80%, 84%/67%, 85%/77%, which were appropriate for screening. For every drinking behavior group, AUDIT-C was superior to AUDIT-K Question 3 Alone in screening performance (problem drinking: 0.88 vs. respectively 0.85, alcohol use disorder: 0.86 vs. 0.82, alcohol dependence: 0.88 vs. 0.81) CONCLUSION: We confirmed that both AUDIT-C and AUDIT-K Question 3 Alone, which are more convenient and have fewer time con-straints than AUDIT-K, are reasonable screening methods for problem drinking. Thus, we recommend further drinking assessment and proper intervention for male drinkers who have scores 8 or more in AUDIT-C or 3 or more in AUDIT-K Question 3 Alone.
Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholism ; Drinking ; Drinking Behavior ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Primary Health Care ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: Recently, the mass media serves a major role in the public health education, but have not been proven whether they are being appropriately utilized in the elderly. The aim of this study was to identify the elderly person's concern in the mass media health information and utilization behavior. METHODS: Between March to June 2008, one to one survey with the elderly people over 60 years was performed in two elderly welfare centers, one public health center, and two secondary hospitals outpatients and inpatients in Seoul and Chungju. RESULTS: A total of 999 subjects were included. By multivariate analysis, factors significantly associated with low concern in the mass media health information were low educational level, non-exercise group, and low concern in own health (P = 0.001, 0.009, < 0.001, respectively). The most frequently utilized health information source was the mass media. By comparing the frequency of health information utilization, women, low educational level, low income, non-exercise group, underweight, low level of self-evaluated health status, and low concern in health information were significantly associated with the lowest quintile of utilization (P value: < 0.001, 0.005, 0.05, < 0.001, 0.002, 0.03, 0.005, respectively). However, the presence of chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, had no association. CONCLUSION: In community-dwelling elderly, important factors associated with concern in and utilization of the mass media health information were concern in health, self-evaluated health status, exercise status and socioeconomic factors such as education or income level, rather than comorbid chronic disease.
Aged ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Inpatients ; Mass Media ; Multivariate Analysis ; Outpatients ; Public Health ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Thinness

BACKGROUND: In these days the metabolic syndrome threatens many people of Korea. Several studies have suggested that the dietary habits are associated with the risk of the metabolic syndrome. The purpose of this study was to find out relations between the components of the metabolic syndrome and the dietary habits. METHODS: The subjects of this study included 1,005 non-smoking premenopausal females aged from 20 to 49 years old who visited the health promotion center of a university hospital. Dietary questionnaire was composed of dietary habits and specific food intake frequency during the past 3 months. RESULTS: The subjects who had more than one metabolic components were 361 (36%), and those who had the metabolic syndrome was 35 (3.5%). After multivariate logistic analysis adjusted with age, BMI, smoking status, alcohol intake, and exercise, the abdominal obesity risk was significantly increased in those who had irregular meals (P for trend= 0.049), skip meals (P for trend=0.050), faster meal time (P=0.017), and intake of saturated fat more frequently (P=0.043). The abdominal obesity risk was significantly increased in those who overate or binged eating 7gt; or =3 times/week than <1 time/week {OR (95% CI), 2.49 (1.07~5.80)}, intake fruit <1 time/week than 6~7 times/week {OR (95% CI), 4.46 (1.20~16.54)}. A risk for high blood pressure was significantly increased in those who had breakfast 1~2 times/week than those had it 6~7 times/week {OR (95% CI), 1.91 (1.07~3.42)}. The risk for impaired fasting glucose was significantly increased in those had breakfast <1 time/week than those who had 6~7 times/week {OR (95% CI), 2.27 (1.20~4.28), P for trend=0.018}. CONCLUSION: There was a correlation between dietary habits and metabolic syndrome components. Among the dietary habits, irregular meals, skipping breakfast, skipping meals, fast meal time, overeating or binge eating tendency, low intake of fruits and high intake of saturated fat were associated with the risk of the metabolic syndrome components.
Aged ; Breakfast ; Bulimia ; Eating ; Fasting ; Female ; Food Habits ; Fruit ; Glucose ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Hyperphagia ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Meals ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Constipation is one of the most common digestive complaints. Although, there are increased interest on the socioeconomic effect of constipation and studies associated with quality of life on constipation, there is no study about the influence of constipation onto quality of life (QOL) in Korea. We studied the impact of functional constipation on QOL. METHODS: Between March to June 2008, person to person survey with 844 elderly aged over 60 years was performed at two senior care centers, a public health center, and secondary hospital in Seoul metrocity and Chung-ju city. The diagnosis of functional constipation was based on the Rome III criteria and QOL was measured by the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). RESULTS: The average age was 73.6 years and the prevalence rate of constipation was 20.3%. The average SF-36 score was 63.5 in total population, 57.9 in constipation group, and 64.9 in normal group. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the constipation lowers QOL in adults aged over 60 years old. Further study will be necessary to explore if QOL changes according to the severity of constipation and its treatment and to assess QOL using a disease-specific measurement tool that can be used for Korean environment.
Adult ; Aged ; Constipation ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Korea ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Quality of Life ; Rome

BACKGROUND: Constipation is one of the most common digestive complaints. Although, there are increased interest on the socioeconomic effect of constipation and studies associated with quality of life on constipation, there is no study about the influence of constipation onto quality of life (QOL) in Korea. We studied the impact of functional constipation on QOL. METHODS: Between March to June 2008, person to person survey with 844 elderly aged over 60 years was performed at two senior care centers, a public health center, and secondary hospital in Seoul metrocity and Chung-ju city. The diagnosis of functional constipation was based on the Rome III criteria and QOL was measured by the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). RESULTS: The average age was 73.6 years and the prevalence rate of constipation was 20.3%. The average SF-36 score was 63.5 in total population, 57.9 in constipation group, and 64.9 in normal group. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the constipation lowers QOL in adults aged over 60 years old. Further study will be necessary to explore if QOL changes according to the severity of constipation and its treatment and to assess QOL using a disease-specific measurement tool that can be used for Korean environment.
Adult ; Aged ; Constipation ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Korea ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Quality of Life ; Rome