No abstract available.
Publications*

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown an incomplete agreement with the previously proposed diagnostic criteria of Hanifin and Rajka for atopic dermatitis(AD). This could be due to ethnic differences in the clinical manifestations of AD. To make a diagnosis of AD with confidence, one has to depend on the history and clinical picture according to race. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to find out the importance of individual symptoms and histories for the diagnosis of Korean AD by questionnaire. METHODS: The frequency of 25 questionnaire items was studied in 130 patients with typical AD (48 childhood, 82 adolescence/adult) compared to that in 198 control subjects (89 childhood, 109 adolescence/adult). RESULTS: Nine items(itchy with bodily heat, itchy when sweating, cholinergic urticaria, miliaria, irritation with fabrics, food reaction, pollen allergy, itch with stress) were shown to be of much diagnostic significance(p<0.001) in childhood AD,otherwise thirteen items(itchy with bodily heat, itchy when sweating, cholinergic urticaria, sense of fever, excessive sweating, miliaria, irritation with cosmetics, irritation with fabrics, irritation prone hands, itchy with woolen clothes, pollen allergy, itch with stress, dermographism) were in adolescent and adult, AD. CONCLUSION: We found some diagnostic significance of clinical histories in Korean AD patients by questionnaire. We propose that this accessible questionnaire would be an efficient and powerful method with which to obtain new and valid information on AD.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Continental Population Groups ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Diagnosis ; Fever ; Hand ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Miliaria ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal ; Sweat ; Sweating ; Urticaria

No abstract available.
Malaria*

We report a case of Dirty Neck in a 27-year-old male suffering from severe atopic dermatitis. 'Dirty Neck', a reticulate pigmentation of the anterior and anterolateral aspects of the neck, is a specific finding in some subjects with atopic dermatitis. Two groups have been indentified. One is found in older patients with severe atopic dermatitis whose pigmentary lesions develop after puberty and show little seasonal variation. The other is found in younger patients with mild eczema who have a increase in pigment during the summer. Our patient showed a dark brown colored, linear, reticulate pigmentation of the neck, especially anterolateral aspeet regarded as the former group. More comprehensive and detailed clinical study is needed to evaluate the importanee of this entity in regard to as a minor clinical feature of Korean atopic dermatitis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Eczema ; Humans ; Male ; Neck ; Pigmentation ; Puberty ; Seasons

No abstract available.
Cardiac Tamponade* ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute*

Osteoporosis is a common and significant health problem in more than 1/3 of postmenopausal women. Strategies for the medical treatment of osteoporosis are primarily based on decreasing the resorption component of bone turnover by estrogen, alendronate, risedronate, raloxifene, or calcitonine. Recently there are therapies that are focused on increasing bone formation by fluoride, parathyroid hormone, or strontium ranelate. This article reviews the medical treatment of osteoporosis focusing on the pharmacokinetic effects on the bone metabolism, anti-fracture effects, usage of the drugs and their side effects.
Alendronate ; Calcitonin ; Estrogens ; Female ; Fluorides ; Humans ; Metabolism ; Osteogenesis ; Osteoporosis* ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Raloxifene Hydrochloride ; Risedronate Sodium ; Strontium

Osteoporosis is a common and significant health problem in more than 1/3 of postmenopausal women. Strategies for the medical treatment of osteoporosis are primarily based on decreasing the resorption component of bone turnover by estrogen, alendronate, risedronate, raloxifene, or calcitonine. Recently there are therapies that are focused on increasing bone formation by fluoride, parathyroid hormone, or strontium ranelate. This article reviews the medical treatment of osteoporosis focusing on the pharmacokinetic effects on the bone metabolism, anti-fracture effects, usage of the drugs and their side effects.
Alendronate ; Calcitonin ; Estrogens ; Female ; Fluorides ; Humans ; Metabolism ; Osteogenesis ; Osteoporosis* ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Raloxifene Hydrochloride ; Risedronate Sodium ; Strontium

We present a case of onychogryphosis of both great toe nails associated with onychomycosis of all toe nails occurring in a 90-year-old female patient. She also had senile dementia. Affected nail plates were thickened, increased in length, and curved like the horn of a ram. The nail plates were removed surgically form the nail bed. Direct microscopic examination revealed many hyphae with potassium hydroxide. Trichophyton rnbrum was isolated from the culture in Sabouraud glucose agar media. On histopathologic examination, we found many hyphae in the nail plate. We suggest an onychomycosis as one of the causes of onychogryphosis.
Agar ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alzheimer Disease ; Animals ; Female ; Glucose ; Horns ; Humans ; Hyphae ; Onychomycosis* ; Potassium ; Toes ; Trichophyton

No abstract available.
Autografts* ; Cartilage* ; Transplantation, Autologous*

Background: Fine needle aspiration and biopsy(FNAB) has known the most accurate test(about 90%) in the preoperative evaluation of patients with a thyroid nodule. The false negative findings of thyroid cancer by FNAB are mainly due to the aspiration of cystic fluid in cystic degeneration of thyroid cancer and the ipossibility of differentiation between follicular adenoma and carcinoma by aspiration or FNAB because of the failure to evaluate the capsule invasion or angioinvasion of the tumor. Actually more than 80% of the nodules are found as benign nodules in aspiration or FNAB and the findings of follieular lesions are found about half of the samples tested, so limiting the cancer incidence in surgically resected samples up to 50% of the surgical resection. Sa reasonable guidelines to manage the benign nodules on aspiration or FNAB are needed which can select the maligna~nt nodules with false negative findings on aspiration or FNAB. We tried to evaluate whether the thyroxine suppression therapy can increase the malignancy rates on thyroidectomy, Methods: We treated the benign thyroid nodules in FNAB with thyroxine for 1 year and cornpared the nodule volume change before and after treatment (every 6 month) with ultrasonogram. We performed thyroidectomy on 1~7 thyroid nodules wbich showed less than 50% decrease of nodule volume after 1 year of thyroxine suppression therapy. Results: The results were as follows. 1) Of all 17 patients, surgical resection revealed malignant thyroid nodule(Group I) in 10 cases (58.82%, papillary cancer. 6 cases, follicular cancer: 4 cases) and benign thyroid nodule(Group II) in 7 cases(41.18%, follicular adenoma: 4 cases, adenomatous goiter: 3 cases). 2) Between group I and II, there was no significant differences in serum T, T and TSH levels before and after thyroxine suppression therapy. Also, there were no significant difference in TSH suppression % between group I and group II(5.60+5.39%, 14.64+11.48%, respectively). 3) Thyroid nodule volume decrease percent before and after thyroxi~ne therapy showed no significant difference between group I and group II (124.80+54.18% vs 159.42+79.82%, p>0.05). Conclusion: Our data suggested that the benign thyroid nodules on aspiration or FNAB which were not suppressed in volume after thyroixine therapy revealed more than 50% incidence of malignancy on surgical resection, so these nodules were highly reeommended to surgical exploration.
Adenoma ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Goiter ; Humans ; Incidence ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroid Nodule ; Thyroidectomy ; Thyroxine ; Ultrasonography