No abstract available.
Hazardous Substances* ; Occupations* ; Skin*

Alopecia areata is a relatively common disorded but the exact psthogenesis is still unknown and there is no satisfactory treatment. Recently contact immunotherapy has been studied with dinitrochlorogenzene(DNCB) which is known to have in vitro mutagenecity limiting its clinieal application. In contrast, diphencyprone (DPCP) is a potent contact sensitizing agent which is not known to be mutagenic. We treated 40 patients with alopecia areata who were refraetory to standard treatment.DPCP was dissolved in acetone in concentrations of 0.0001 2%. After sensitization, DPCP was topically applied to the right side of the scalp with left side sewing as control. After obvious hair growt,h, DPCP was applied on both sides of the scalp. A positive respanse was defined as growth of terminal hairs on the scalp. The response rate was estimated by determing the percentage of hair covered areas com- pared to the total area of the scalp. The results were as follows. 1) Of 20 patients who were followed over 3months, 9 patients(45% ) showed positive response, and 6 patients(30%) showed almost complete regrowth of terminal hairs (above 90% of scalp area). 2) The response time varied from 4 weeks to 33 weeks, with average duration of 10.6 weeks. 3) Nine out of forty patients developed side effects such as severe contact eczema, cervical lymph node swelling and vitiligo. Three out of 40 patients had to discontinue therapy due to side effects. 4) Patients with mild alopecia areata ganerslly showed a higher response rate(50%) than those with alopecis totalis(33%) and alopecia universalis(43%), but the differences were not statistically signifieant(p>0.05). 5) No correlation was found between reaponse rates and clinical factors such as age, sex and duration ot the disease. In conclusion, treatment with DPCP was thought to be effective in patients with alopecis areata who were refractory to standard treatment. Further long-term studies may be neees- sary to find out clinical course of the disease after trestment, and long-term safety of this treatment.
Acetone ; Alopecia Areata* ; Alopecia* ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Hair ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Lymph Nodes ; Reaction Time ; Scalp ; Vitiligo

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship of job stress, state of sleep, and depression and to identify factors influencing depression of emergency medical technicians. METHODS: The research was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. Data collection were done using self-report questionnaires with 162 emergency medical technicians working in hospitals who agreed to participate in the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients and multiple regression with the SPSS/WIN 18.0 Program. RESULTS: Depression had significant negative correlations with state of sleep, (r=-482, p<.001) and positive correlations with job stress (r=.196,p=.013). State of sleep had significant negative correlations with job stress (r=-.168, p=.033). The variance for life satisfaction was 23.7% (F=25.964, p<.001). Variable of state of sleep significantly predicted depression of emergency medical technicians. CONCLUSION: Considering these results, for emergency medical technicians' job stress, state of sleep, and depression, further studies are needed. Furthermore, there is a need to develop and implement new strategies to improve depression among emergency medical technicians.
Data Collection ; Depression ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medical Technicians ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires

A 65-year-old female patient visited our clinic complaining of multiple skin lesions since one year ago. There were yellowish to brownish colored, bean to walnut-sized nodules on both lower extremities. Dylon stain with polarizing microscopy, immunohistochemical stain to amyloid P and immunoglobuhn-kappa chain showed positive reactivities but keratin stain was negative. According to histopathologic and immunohistochemical findings, she was diagnosed as nodular amyloidosis.
Aged ; Amyloid ; Amyloidosis* ; Female ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Microscopy ; Skin

Over the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the incidence of multifetal pregna-ncies, primarily because of the introduction of ovarian stimulants for ovulation induction and assisted reproductive technology ( ART ) in infertile patients. It is well established that multifetal pregnancies are associated with an increased frequency of the maternal complications and gre-ater perinatal morbidity and mortyality. The adverse outcome of multifetal pregnancies is dire-ctly proportional to the number of fetuses, primarily as an consequence of prterm delivery. Re-duction in the number of fetuses in multifetal pregnancies has been proposed as a way to impr-ove the perinatal outcome in this situation. Therefore, selective fetal reduction ( SFR ) is sugges-ted as a therapeutic option for continuation of pregnancy with fetuses mature enough to survi-ve. In this paper, we report our infertility clinic experiences with 6 patients who carried mult- ifetal pregnancies including 1 quintuplet, 1 quadruplet, and 4 triplets. from January, 1991 to May, 1996, transabdominal SFR was accomplished by fetal intrathoracic KCl injection at 9~10 weeks of gestation. After the prcedure, 4 patients remained as twin pregnancies, and 2 patients as single pregnancy. There have been 3 sets of twin deliveries and the 2 sets of single delivery. One case was aborted. Two patients were delivered after 37 weeks of gestation, 2 patients were at 35 weeks, and 1 patient at 24 weeks. All babies have been healthy after birth in patients after 35 weeks gestation. There was no fetal anomaly related to the procedure in the 6 cases. We concluded that transabdominal SFR is a rather safe and useful procedure that may improve the outcome of multifetal pregnancies.
Fetus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infertility ; Ovulation Induction ; Parturition ; Pregnancy Reduction, Multifetal* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Quadruplets ; Quintuplets ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Triplets ; Twins

No abstract available.
Bone Density* ; Estrogens* ; Female ; Humans

BACKGROUND: It has been demonstrated that patients with atopic dermatitis(AD) show an impaired capacity of their T cells to release of interleukin-2(IL-2) in vitro and elevated serum levels of soluble IL-2 receptor(sIL-2R). Both immunosuppressive agents, cyclosporin A(CsA) and FK-506 can block early events in T lymphocyte activation and FK-506 is 10- to 100-fold more potent in the inhibition of IL-2 and other lymphokines production. OBJECTIVE: We compared the effects of CsA and FK-506 on PHA-induced lymphokine and sIL-2R production and compared the effects of CsA and FK-506 on PHA-induced IL-4 production in a high IgE group and a low IgE group in patients with AD. METHODS: A total of 32 peripheral blood samples from 17 patients with AD and 15 control groups were tested. Lymphocytes were isolated from blood samples and were cultured with PHA(positive control), PHA and CsA(10 ng/ml), PHA and FK-506 (1 ng/ml), and without stimulation (negative control). The amount of cytokines such as IL-2, IL-3, IL-4 and sIL-2R were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). RESULTS: CsA and FK-506 inhibited significantly the production of IL-2, IL-3, IL-4 in PHA-stimulated lymphocytes of both the AD patients and the control groups. FK-506(1 ng/ml) inhibited cytokines production more significantly than CsA(10 ng/ml). However, CsA and FK-506 did not significantly inhibit the production of sIL-2R. There were no significant differences in the inhibitory effect of CsA and FK-506 on IL-4 production upon PHA-stimulation between AD patients with a high IgE level and with a low IgE level. CONCLUSION: Both FK-506 and CsA inhibit lymphokine production, but not the production of sIL-2R. FK-506 inhibited more significantly lymphokine production at a 10-fold lower concentration than CsA. Our data suggest that FK-506 could be more effective in the treatment of severe AD than CsA, and both these agents show their immunosuppressive activity through the suppression of lymphokine production, not via the suppression of sIL-2R production in AD.
Cyclosporine* ; Cytokines ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; In Vitro Techniques ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-3 ; Interleukin-4 ; Lymphocyte Activation ; Lymphocytes* ; Lymphokines ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tacrolimus*

From January 1995 to December 1997, a total of 219 cases pelviscopic surgery was performed at Il Sin Christian Hospital. To evaluate the safty and efficacy of pelviscopic surgery, we reviewed indication of operation, mean age, parity, history of abdominal operation, type of operation, duration of hospitalization and complication retrospectively. The number of pelviscopic surgery have risen from 33 cases in 1995 to 53 cases in 1996 and 133 cases in 1997. The most common indications were 118 cases for ectopic pregnancy (53.9%) and 42 cases for ovarian cyst (19.2%), 20 cases for infertility (9.1%) in order. Among the ovarian cyst, endometrioma was the most common. The mean age of patients was 31+/-6.7 years old and mean parity was 0.77. In most cases, mean blood loss was lesser than 100 cc except 500 cc in LAVH, 150 cc in CISH, 106.7 cc in ectopic mass removal. The postoperative hospital stay was varied from 0 day to 10 days, but usually 2 days. The 26 cases had complicated and the most common complication was fever above 38degrees C. In conclusion, it is evident that pelviscopic surgery is lesser invasive technique, has lower complication rate and shorter the length of hospitalization. So, we expect the number and indication of pelviscopic surgery will be increased in future.
Endometriosis ; Female ; Fever ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Infertility ; Length of Stay ; Ovarian Cysts ; Parity ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.
Amputation* ; Replantation*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to find some points that may help the differential diagnosis of ring lesions in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the liver through recognition of the characteristics of the morphology and the signal intensities of the ring lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: T1- and T2-weighted axial spin-echo images and gadolinium-enhanced Tl-weighted images were obtained with a 1.0 T superconducting MR imager. We reviewed the MR findings of 23 hepatic ring lesions which were confirmed as hepatocellular carcinomas (13), metastases (4), liver abscesses (4), hydatid cyst (1), and hematoma (1). RESULTS: There were 19 single rings and 4 double rings (all the cases were liver abscesses) on Tl-weighted images, and 8 single rings and 14 double rings on T2-weighted images. The signal intensity of the ring was low in hepatocellular carcinoma on Tl-weighted images and in hydatid cyst on T2-weighted images. It was high on Tl-weighted images in subacute hemaroma. Target lesion as an inner high-signal-intensity ring surrounded by a high-signal-intensity ring on T2-weighted images was seen in metatasis, liver abscess, and hepatocellular carcinoma. CONCLUSION: It is helpful to recognize the chracteristics of morphology and signal intensities of the ring lesions in the differential diagnosis of hepatic focal lesions.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Echinococcosis ; Hematoma ; Liver Abscess ; Liver* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Neoplasm Metastasis