OBJECTIVE: Lethality of the chosen method during a suicide attempt is a strong risk factor for completion of suicide. We examined whether annual changes in the pattern of suicide methods is related to annual changes in suicide rates among older adults in South Korea and Japan. METHODS: We analyzed annual the World Health Organization data on rates and methods of suicide from 2000 to 2011 in South Korea and Japan. RESULTS: For Korean older adults, there was a significant positive correlation between suicide rate and the rate of hanging or the rate of jumping, and a significant negative correlation between suicide rate and the rate of poisoning. Among older adults in Japan, annual changes in the suicide rate and the pattern of suicide methods were less conspicuous, and no correlation was found between them. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study suggest that the increasing use of lethal suicide methods has contributed to the rise in suicide rates among older adults in South Korea. Targeted efforts to reduce the social acceptability and accessibility of lethal suicide methods might lead to lower suicide rate among older adults in South Korea.
Adult* ; Humans ; Japan* ; Korea* ; Methods* ; Poisoning ; Risk Factors ; Suicide* ; World Health Organization

Basaloid follicular hamartoma (BFH), uncommon rare benign neoplasm connected to the adnexal structures, presents with multiple clinical manifestations that can develop into basal cell carcinoma. BFH may be congenital or acquired, and the congenital form can be further divided into the generalized and unilateral type, and the acquired form may present as localized and solitary lesions. Congenital, generalized BFH is associated with systemic diseases such as alopecia, cystic fibrosis, hypohidrosis, and myasthenia gravis. In contrast, sporadic cases are observed as unilateral or localized lesions. BFH shows thick cords and thin strands of anastomosing basaloid proliferations that arise from hair follicles and are enclosed by loose fibrous stroma. Here, we report a 70-year-old man with an acquired, solitary form of BFH.
Aged ; Alopecia ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Cystic Fibrosis ; Hair Follicle ; Hamartoma ; Humans ; Hypohidrosis ; Myasthenia Gravis

BACKGROUND: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute inflammation of middle-sized arteries such as the coronary artery. KD is an important disease due to its high mortality rate, which approaches 1-2% without appropriate treatment. Since the various mucocutaneous lesions of KD are related to the dermatologic field, dermatologists should take an interest in this disorder and understand the lesions. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the characteristics of cutaneous lesions in Korean patients with KD. METHODS: A total of 919 patients with KD were assessed at the department of pediatric cardiology and dermatology, Myongji hospital between January 2006 and December 2010. RESULTS: Of the 919 patients, 566 (61.6%) were diagnosed with typical KD and 353 (38.4%) with atypical KD. KD was most frequent in the 4 year-old group (22.7%), and the ratio of male to female was 1.5:1. Among the mucocutaneous manifestations, erythema of the oropharyngeal mucosa (75.7%) occurred most frequently, followed by polymorphous trunk rash (41.7%), and changes of palms and soles (25.6%). A total of 606 patients (65.9%) with KD had associated diseases as follows: pneumonia (211 patients; 34.8%), pharyngotonsilitis (168 patients; 27.7%), gastroenteritis (132 patients; 21.8%), asthma (15 patients, 2.5%), atopic dermatitis (11 patients, 1.8%). CONCLUSION: Our study shows that change in the lips or oral cavity is the most common mucocutaneous manifestation in both classic and atypical KD. Also, morbiliform rash is the most common pattern of polymorphous rashes. Interestingly, erythema multiforme-like lesions occupied accounted for a considerable portion of KD cases compared to previous studies.
Arteries ; Asthma ; Cardiology ; Coronary Vessels ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Dermatology ; Erythema ; Exanthema ; Female ; Gastroenteritis ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lip ; Male ; Mouth ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Mucous Membrane ; Pneumonia

Macrophages play a role in innate immune responses to various foreign antigens. Many products from primary tumors influence the activation and transmigration of macrophages. Here, we investigated a migration of macrophages stimulated with cancer cell culture-conditioned medium (CM). Macrophage activation by treatment with CM of B16F10 cells were judged by the increase in protein levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2). The location where macrophages were at 4 h-incubation with control medium or CM was different from where they were at 5 h-incubation in culture dish. Percentage of superimposed macrophages at every 1 h interval was gradually increased by CM treatment as compared to control. Total coverage of migrated track expressed in coordinates was smaller and total distance of migration was shorter in CM-treated macrophages than that in control. Rac1 activity in CM-treated macrophages was also decreased as compared to that in control. When macrophages were treated with CM in the presence of dexamethasone (Dex), an increase in COX2 protein levels, and a decrease in Rac1 activity and total coverage of migration were reversed. In the meanwhile, biphasic changes were detected by Dex treatment in section distance of migration at each time interval, which was more decreased at early time and then increased at later time. Taken together, data demonstrate that macrophage motility could be reduced in accordance with activation in response to cancer cell products. It suggests that macrophage motility could be a novel marker to monitor cancer-associated inflammatory diseases and the efficacy of anti-inflammatory agents.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Cell Movement* ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Dexamethasone ; Immunity, Innate ; Macrophage Activation ; Macrophages* ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; Track and Field

Nicolau syndrome or embolia cutis medicamentosa is a rare complication of a still largely unidentified pathogenesis at the site of intramuscular injections of various drugs. It is characterized by development of an acute, severe pain around the injection site followed by a localized erythema, a reticular rash, a hemorrhagic patch and varying degrees of tissue damage. The disease outcomes vary from atrophic ulcers and pigmentation to lower limb paralysis and limb amputation. We describe a 34-year-old woman with the diagnosis of this syndrome after she received an intramuscular diclofenac-beta-dimethyl-aminoethanol injection to the lateral aspect of the right upper buttock. The patient was treated by surgical debridement with concomitant primary closure.
Adult ; Amputation ; Buttocks ; Debridement ; Diclofenac ; Erythema ; Exanthema ; Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; Injections, Intramuscular ; Lower Extremity ; Paralysis ; Pigmentation ; Ulcer

Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related kidney disease is a chronic immune-mediated fibro-inflammatory disorder characterized by multiple organ infiltration with IgG4-positive plasma cells, storiform fibrosis, and obliterative phlebitis or tumefactive lesions. Previous studies have explored IgG4-related kidney disease, increasing our understanding of its clinical manifestations, and pathological and radiologic findings. However, IgG4-related kidney disease can be misdiagnosed since it mimics malignancies. We report a case of a 77-year-old Korean man diagnosed with IgG4-related kidney disease with membranous proliferative glomerulonephritis, presenting with a renal pelvic mass suspected of being malignant.

Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related kidney disease is a chronic immune-mediated fibro-inflammatory disorder characterized by multiple organ infiltration with IgG4-positive plasma cells, storiform fibrosis, and obliterative phlebitis or tumefactive lesions. Previous studies have explored IgG4-related kidney disease, increasing our understanding of its clinical manifestations, and pathological and radiologic findings. However, IgG4-related kidney disease can be misdiagnosed since it mimics malignancies. We report a case of a 77-year-old Korean man diagnosed with IgG4-related kidney disease with membranous proliferative glomerulonephritis, presenting with a renal pelvic mass suspected of being malignant.

Anoctamin 2 (ANO2 or TMEM16B), a calcium-activated chloride channel (CaCC), performs diverse roles in neurons throughout the central nervous system. In hippocampal neurons, ANO2 narrows action potential width and reduces postsynaptic depolarization with high sensitivity to Ca2+ at relatively fast kinetics. In other brain regions, including the thalamus, ANO2 mediates activity-dependent spike frequency adaptations with low sensitivity to Ca2+ at relatively slow kinetics. How this same channel can respond to a wide range of Ca2+ levels remains unclear. We hypothesized that splice variants of ANO2 may contribute to its distinct Ca2+ sensitivity, and thus its diverse neuronal functions. We identified two ANO2 isoforms expressed in mouse brains and examined their electrophysiological properties: isoform 1 (encoded by splice variants with exons 1a, 2, 4, and 14) was expressed in the hippocampus, while isoform 2 (encoded by splice variants with exons 1a, 2, and 4) was broadly expressed throughout the brain, including in the cortex and thalamus, and had a slower calcium-dependent activation current than isoform 1. Computational modeling revealed that the secondary structure of the first intracellular loop of isoform 1 forms an entrance cavity to the calcium-binding site from the cytosol that is relatively larger than that in isoform 2. This difference provides structural evidence that isoform 2 is involved in accommodating spike frequency, while isoform 1 is involved in shaping the duration of an action potential and decreasing postsynaptic depolarization. Our study highlights the roles and molecular mechanisms of specific ANO2 splice variants in modulating neuronal functions.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this retrospective study was whether serum Tg predicts malignancy in follicular or Hurthle-cell neoplasms on fine needle aspiration. METHODS: A chart review of 111 patients (90 females, 21 males; mean age 46.8 +/- 11.9 years) with follicular or Hurthle-cell neoplasms on fine needle aspiration, who were surgically treated between Sep. 2001 and Sep. 2011, was performed. Predictive factors for malignancy were identified by the chi-squared test and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: There were no differences between 41 malignant and 70 benign lesions in serum Tg or any of the normalized indexes. Receiver-operator characteristic analysis revealed no cut-off value. Lesions with serum Tg levels greater than 500 g/L had no significant difference. And also there were no independent predictors of malignancy by multivariate logistic regression. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the author found that serum Tg has poor accuracy for predicting malignancy in follicular or Hurthle cell neoplasms on fine needle aspiration.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Diagnosis* ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroglobulin* ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms

The purpose of this study was to examine subjective oral health perception of Hansen's disease in Sorokdo. And the relationship of four categories (chewing ability, intraoral pain, intraoral othersysptom, and communication ability and social relationship) with clinical index was tried to clarify. The 460 subjects of Hansen's disease in Sorokdo was selected for oral examination and survey. The results are as follows: 1. 73.1% of Hansen's disease in Sorokdo recognized that their oral health is unwell. 2. 70% of total population recognized that they have limitation about chewing function, Especially, 35.9% of Hansen's disease feels chewing difficulty for standard foodstuffs as rice cake. 3. In intraoral pain, painful tooth was 76.3%, sensitive tooth was 43.2%. and temporomandiblular joint pain was 15.2%. 4. In intraoral other symptoms, tooth mobility was 71.3%, food impaction was 78.9% gingiavl bleeding was 96.8%, xerostomia was 62.8%, and halitosis was 84.2%. 5. 21.5% of Hansen's disease in Sorokdo has communication difficulty by teeth or denture problem, and 39.2% of them avoid relationship with other people.
Aged ; Arthralgia ; Communication ; Dentures ; Diagnosis, Oral ; Halitosis ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Leprosy ; Mastication ; Oral Health ; Tooth ; Tooth Mobility ; Xerostomia