Penile melanosis is a new disease entity which is benign and different from pigmented nevus and acral lentiginous melanoma in situ. A 20-year-old man had hyperpigmented macules on the glans penis and penile shaft for 5 years. Clinical and histologic findings were consistent with penile melanosis and giant melanosome complexes were observed ultrastructurally.
Humans ; Male ; Melanocytes* ; Melanoma ; Melanosis* ; Melanosomes ; Nevus, Pigmented ; Penis ; Young Adult

In this animal study, comedones were induced by topical application of oleic acid onto the rabbit ear canal and the histopathologic and ultrastructural changes in response to topical application of HO and hexane extracts of red ginseng, and saponin were measured. No microscopical difference was observed between treatment groups. Nucle ir remnants were observed in the horny cell layer as well as the thinning of the granular cell layer. Scattered and decreased keratohyaline granules were also noted. Six weeks after initiation of treatment, we observed the thinning of epidermis and veappearance of granular cell layer with normal keratohyaline granules. After treatment, scanning electron microscopy showed a decrease in the size of comedones, and loosened and desquamating horny cells in the comedones. From the above results, it could be concluded that Panax ginseng extracts might have effects on the keratinization process of the skin.
Animals ; Ear Canal ; Epidermis ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Oleic Acid ; Panax* ; Saponins ; Skin

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to evaluate the results of intervention activities on the management of steam sterilizers and sterile items in out-patient clinics and clinical laboratories. METHODS: A checklist was developed and used to monitor and evaluate the adequacy of sterilizers and sterilized items at out-patient clinics and clinical laboratories in a tertiary-care hospital. The checklist consisted of 7 items: condition of the material used for packaging sterile items, maintenance of shelf-life records, sterilizer cleanliness, maintenance of expiry date details of sterilized items, sterilization conditions, use of chemical indicators, and the results of biological indicators. Monitoring and additional intervention activities were carried out once every week for 53 weeks from August 2007 to July 2008. The study period was divided into 2 terms, early and late intervention; the duration of each term was 6 months, and we compared the ratio of adequacy of management of sterilizer and sterilized items between the 2 terms. RESULTS: There were a total of 795 observations from 15 departments in 1 year. Sterility of the materials used for packaging increased from 87.4% in the first 6-month term to 97.9% in the second 6-month term. Records for shelf-life increased from 89.6% to 98.5% in the same period, while the figures for maintaining expiry date details of sterilized items and for steam sterilizer cleanliness increased from 92.6% to 99.2%, and from 91.9% to 98.5 (P<0.05), respectively. CONCLUSION: Our intensive checklist-based intervention was effective in improving the management of steam sterilizers and sterile items in out-patient clinics and clinical laboratories.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Checklist ; Humans ; Infertility ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Outpatients ; Product Packaging ; Steam ; Sterilization

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the application of chlorhexidine varnish affects the shear bond strength and failure pattern of orthodontic brackets or not. The experimental group consisted of 22 human premolars which extracted after chlorhexidine varnish application (4 times for 1 week interval) in vivo, and the control group consisted of 22 human premolars which extracted without any pre-treatment. After all teeth wee etched with 37% phosphoric acid gel, metal orthodontic brackets (Q-3002, RMO, USA) were bonded to each tooth using auto-polymerizing orthodontic resin (Ortho-One, Bisco, USA) with the same bonding procedure. The shear bond strength was measured with Instron universal testing machine (model 4466, Instron Ltd., England), and the failure pattern of each bracket was examined with Scanning Electron Microscope (SM 840A, JEOL, Japan). The data were analysed statistically with t-test. The results were as follows: 1. Application of chlorhexidine varnish had no significant effect on the shear bond strength of the orthodontic bracket. 2. There was no significant difference in the failure pattern of orthodontic bracket between the experimental group and the control group.
Bicuspid ; Chlorhexidine* ; Humans ; Orthodontic Brackets* ; Paint* ; Tooth

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether suppression of right inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's homologue) by 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can improve speech recovery. METHOD: We applied low frequency rTMS on right Broca's homologue twice a week for 6 weeks in eight subcortical aphasia patients who were 3 months to 3 years poststroke onset. They were tested with Korean Version-Western Aphasia Battery before and after procedure. Also, they were tested with Parallel Short Forms for the Korean-BostonNaming Test and Animal Naming Test serially for outcome measure. rTMS was performed with intensity of 80% of motor threshold for 10 min (600 pulses) at 1 Hz frequency. RESULTS: Significant improvement was observed in picture naming at post-rTMS only in nonfluent aphasia patients but not in fluent aphasia patients. CONCLUSION: rTMS may provide a novel treatment for aphasia by possibly modulating the distributed, bi-hemispheric language network.
Animals ; Aphasia* ; Aphasia, Broca ; Aphasia, Wernicke ; Humans ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation*

PURPOSE: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of radical retropubic prostatectomy(RRP) on lower urinary tract symptoms(LUTS) in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 2000 and 2006, 82 men with clinically localized prostate cancer underwent RRP. The International Prostate Symptom Score(IPSS) and the IPSS quality of life(QoL) score, and uroflowmetry were administered both prior to and 1 year after RRP. RESULTS: The overall mean total IPSS, maximal flow rate, and postvoid residual volume did not change over time after RRP. Prior to and after RRP, the mean maximal flow rate and residual urine changed from 17.6ml/sec to 17.9ml/sec(p=0.566) and 16.9ml to 15.8ml(p=0.777), respectively. Total IPSS also changed after RRP, from 12.8 to 12.5(p=0.731). The reduction of the IPSS was more prominent in patients with severe symptoms(IPSS> or =20), whereas in those with moderate symptoms(8< or =IPSS<20), the score did not change significantly after RRP. Furthermore, in those patients with no or mild symptoms(IPSS<8), the score increased after RRP. CONCLUSIONS: RRP was not shown to improve uroflowmetric parameters, including maximal flow rate, postvoid residual urine, and IPSS, in cases of moderate LUTS. However, RRP may exert a beneficial effect in those patients with severe LUTS, and may also have adverse effects on some individuals with no or mild symptoms. We believe that these results might be utilized when counseling patients about treatment options for localized prostate cancer.
Counseling ; Humans ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Male ; Prostate ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Residual Volume ; Urinary Tract

PURPOSE: To evaluate the results of postoperative radiotherapy in patients with extra-hepatic bile duct cancer (EHBDC) and identify the prognostic factors for local control and survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2001 and December 2010, we retrospectively reviewed the cases of 70 patients with EHBDC who had undergone curative resection and received postoperative radiotherapy. The median radiation dose was 50.4 Gy (range, 41.4 to 54 Gy). The resection margin status was R0 in 30 patients (42.9%), R1 in 25 patients (35.7%), and R2 in 15 patients (21.4%). RESULTS: The 5-year rates of overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS), and locoregional control (LRC) for all patients were 42.9%, 38.3%, and 61.2%, respectively. The major pattern of failure was distant relapses (33 patients, 47.1%). A multivariate analysis showed that the postradiotherapy CA19-9 level, radiation dose (> or =50 Gy), R2 resection margins, perineural invasion, and T stage were the significant prognostic factors for OS, EFS, and LRC. OS was not significantly different between the patients receiving R0 and R1 resections, but was significantly lower among those receiving R2 resection (54.6%, 56.1%, and 7.1% for R0, R1, and R2 resections, respectively). CONCLUSION: In patients with EHBDC who had undergone curative resection, a postoperative radiotherapy dose less than 50 Gy was suboptimal for OS and LRC. Higher radiation doses may be needed to obtain better LRC. Further investigation of novel therapy or palliative treatment should be considered for patients receiving R2 resection.
Bile Duct Neoplasms* ; Bile Ducts* ; Bile* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Humans ; Multivariate Analysis ; Palliative Care ; Radiotherapy Dosage ; Radiotherapy* ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: This retrospective study analyzed the causes of failure in the management process from the identification of brain-dead potential organ donors to actual donation in Korea over the past 5 years. METHODS: Data of 8,120 potential brain deaths reported to the Korea Organ Donation Agency were used, including information received at the time of reporting, donation suitability evaluation performed by the coordinator after the report, and data obtained from interviews of hospital medical staff and the donor's family. RESULTS: From January 2012 to December 2016, the total number of brain-dead potential organ donors in Korea was 8,120, of which 2,348 (28.9%) underwent organ procurement surgery with designated recipients. While the number of transplant donors has increased over time, the ratio of transplant donors to medically suitable brain-dead donors has decreased. The common causes of donation failure included donation refusal (27.6%), non-brain death (15.5%), and incompatible donation (11.6%); 104 potential donors (7.8%) were unable to donate their organs because they were not pronounced brain dead. CONCLUSION: The rate of successful organ donation may be increased by analyzing the major causes of failure in the brain-dead organ donation management process and engaging in various efforts to prevent such failures.
Brain Death ; Humans ; Korea* ; Medical Staff, Hospital ; Retrospective Studies ; Statistics as Topic* ; Tissue and Organ Procurement ; Tissue Donors* ; Transplantation

PURPOSE: We developed and validated a fetal trisomy detection method for use as a noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT) including a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-certified bioinformatics pipeline on a cloud-based computing system using both Illumina and Life Technology sequencing platforms for 221 Korean clinical samples. We determined the necessary proportions of the fetal fraction in the cell-free DNA (cfDNA) sample for NIPT of trisomies 13, 18, and 21 through a limit of quantification (LOQ) test. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Next-generation sequencing libraries from 221 clinical samples and three positive controls were generated using Illumina and Life Technology chemistries. Sequencing results were uploaded to a cloud and mapped on the human reference genome (GRCh37/hg19) using bioinformatics tools. Based on Z-scores calculated by normalization of the mapped read counts, final aneuploidy reports were automatically generated for fetal aneuploidy determination. RESULTS: We identified in total 29 aneuploid samples, and additional analytical methods performed to confirm the results showed that one of these was a false-positive. The LOQ test showed that the proportion of fetal fraction in the cfDNA sample would affect the interpretation of the aneuploidy results. CONCLUSION: Noninvasive chromosome examination (NICE), a CLIA-certified NIPT with a cloud-based bioinformatics platform, showed unambiguous success in fetus aneuploidy detection.
Aneuploidy* ; Computational Biology ; DNA ; Fetus* ; Genome ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Humans ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Trisomy

PURPOSE: We performed this study to evaluate the value as early markers predicting the acute rejection and differential diagnosis with other causes of renal dysfunction. METHODS: Immunohistochemical stains for HLA-DR, ICAM-1, IL-2 and IL-4 were performed on 44 cases of implantation biopsies which were divided into cases with acute rejection (R group, 14 cases) and cases without rejection episode (N group, 30 cases), and 45 gun biopsies for renal dysfunction which divided into cases diagnosed as rejection (A group, 28 cases) and cases diagnosed as other causes rather than rejection (B group, 17 cases). We analysed immunohistochemical results, various clinical datas such as age and sex of donor, living or cadaveric status of donor, the mean number of HLA-DR mismatch, age and sex of patient, serum creatinine level at post op 2 day for implantation biopsy and at the day on biopsy for renal dysfunction between above groups. RESULTS: 1) In 44 cases of implantation biopsies, positive immunohistochemical stains for HLA-DR were more frequent in R goup (71.43%) than in N group (26.66%). There was no significant difference of clinical datas and immunohistochemical stains for ICAM-1, IL-2 and IL-4. 2) In 45 cases of gun biopsies for renal dysfunction, immunohistochemical stains for HLA-DR were all positive in A group (100%) with higher rate of 3 stains (39.28%) than B group (positive; 70.58%, 3 ; 5.88%). Immunohistochmical stains for ICAM-1 were more frequently expressed in A group (100%) than B group (76.47%). Both stains revealed no significant difference according to the grades of rejection, disease other than rejection. There was no significant diffrence of immunohistochemical stains for IL-2 and IL-4, and clinical datas between two groups. CONCLUSION: We can conclude that the immunohistochemical stains for HLA-DR on implantation biopsies may predict the devepoment of the acute rejection and the immunohistochemical stains for HLA-DR and ICAM-1 on gun biopsies at the time of renal dysfunction may differentiate the reje.
Biopsy* ; Cadaver ; Coloring Agents ; Creatinine ; Diagnosis, Differential ; HLA-DR Antigens* ; Humans ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1* ; Interleukin-2* ; Interleukin-4* ; Kidney Transplantation ; Living Donors ; Tissue Donors