Nickel sensitivity is the most common cause of allergic metal dermatitides,, particularly in women. Women are uaually sensitized. by the objects wom close to the skin ('e.g. earring, necklace fasther, watch, suspenders, brassiere clips, etc.), and men are by occupational exposures (e.g. plating or printing industries, tools, etc.). Nickel dermatitis is frequently developed on the sites where seems to have been directly contact witb nickel substance, but secondary eruptions may develop on the areas where seems to have not been directly exposed to nickel, so that nickel dermatitie is sometimea misdiagnosed as atopic dermatitis, nummular eczema, stasis dermatitis, or other dermatitides. The authora prcsent two cases of nickel dermatitis confirmed by patch test with 2. 5% nickel sulfafte; first case-a 22 years old female who has erythemat,ous maculopapular patches on her ears, around neck, left wriat, elbows, and abdomen; second case tkat was previously misdiagnosed as mummular eczema-a 18 years old female who has large oozing and crusted patches on both lateral aspects of her right thigh and back, The authors reviewed the incidence of nickel sensitivity during past years in korea and the clinical aspect of distribution of nickel dermatitis.
Abdomen ; Adolescent ; Dermatitis* ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Ear ; Eczema ; Elbow ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Neck ; Nickel* ; Occupational Exposure ; Patch Tests ; Skin ; Thigh ; Young Adult

Two cases of epidertnoid cyst of the ovary are added to the ten reported in the literature. This rare lesion is usually an incidental finding. Its main interest is in its histogenesis, which includes metaplasia of the coelomic surface epithelium, monophyletic development of teratoma, and metaplasia of the rete ovarii. We investigated two cases of epidertnoid cyst. Histologic examination of the cysts showed a thin lining of mature keratinizing squamous epithelium rectum: unaccompanied by skin appendages or other teratomatous elements.
Cysts

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was introduced into Korea in 1990 and has been rapidly replacing open cholecystectomy when the indications were met. In this study a medical utilization and technology was assessed on the selected hospitalized patients with cholelithiasis who underwent open or laparoscopic cholecystectomy from April 1, 1991 to March 31, 1994. The results are as follows. Despite the low reimbursement rate by the health insurance, the number of laparoscopic cases have been steadily increased. The post-operative days before health insurance coverage were significantly shortened from 8.4 days to 4.6 days. The preoperative days before health insurance coverage were significantly shorted from 8.4 days to 4.0 days. The total length-of-stays in the hospital were also significantly shortened from 15.2 days to 10.7 and 9.8 days in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The laparoscopic cholecystectomy showed low expenses in all aspects expect the average hospital charges per day. For the hospital to have cost containment, it is more effective if length-of-stay is shorter because of high daily inpatient hospital charge. The laparoscopic cholecystectomy also showed shortened anesthesia time and operation time compared with open cholecystectomy that were statistically significant. The mean anesthesia and operation time for open cholecystectomy were 113.2 and 90.2 minutes but those of laparoscopic cholecystectomy were 105.7 and 68.6 minutes. According to this study the laparoscopic cholecystectomy has reduced the medical expenditure and we recommend this procedure over open cholecystectomy. The further discussion on the different morbidity rate between two types of procedure is essential in providing quality medical care, and to educate specialist.
Anesthesia ; Cholecystectomy* ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic* ; Cholelithiasis ; Cost Control ; Health Expenditures ; Hospital Charges ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Specialization

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a system dynamics model for adolescent obesity in Korea that could be used for obesity policy analysis. METHODS: On the basis of the casual loop diagram, a model was developed by converting to stock and flow diagram. The Vensim DSS 5.0 program was used in the model development. We simulated method of moments to the calibration of this model with data from The Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey 2005 to 2013. We ran the scenario simulation. RESULTS: This model can be used to understand the current adolescent obesity rate, predict the future obesity rate, and be utilized as a tool for controlling the risk factors. The results of the model simulation match well with the data. It was identified that a proper model, able to predict obesity probability, was established. CONCLUSION: These results of stock and flow diagram modeling in adolescent obesity can be helpful in development of obesity by policy planners and other stakeholders to better anticipate the multiple effects of interventions in both the short and the long term. In the future we suggest the development of an expanded model based on this adolescent obesity model.
Adolescent ; Humans ; Internet ; *Nonlinear Dynamics ; Obesity/*pathology ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors ; *Risk-Taking ; Surveys and Questionnaires

This study evaluated the antibacterial effects of a mixture of Sophorae radix and Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer (1 : 1) ethanol extracts (SGE) on mice infected with Streptococcus (S.) pyogenes. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration of SGE necessary for antibacterial effects against S. pyogenes were 20 microg/mL. Based on the time-kill curves for S. pyogenes, SGE was effective at 4x MIC after 16 h. On Day 12 after challenge, the survival rate of mice treated with 2.0 mg/kg SGE was 60%. In conclusion, SGE had potent in vitro and in vivo antibacterial activities against S. pyogenes.
Animals ; Complex Mixtures ; Ethanol* ; Glycyrrhiza uralensis* ; Mice* ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Plants, Medicinal ; Sophora* ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus pyogenes* ; Survival Rate ; Treatment Outcome

This study evaluated the antibacterial effects of a mixture of Sophorae radix and Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer (1 : 1) ethanol extracts (SGE) on mice infected with Streptococcus (S.) pyogenes. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration of SGE necessary for antibacterial effects against S. pyogenes were 20 microg/mL. Based on the time-kill curves for S. pyogenes, SGE was effective at 4x MIC after 16 h. On Day 12 after challenge, the survival rate of mice treated with 2.0 mg/kg SGE was 60%. In conclusion, SGE had potent in vitro and in vivo antibacterial activities against S. pyogenes.
Animals ; Complex Mixtures ; Ethanol* ; Glycyrrhiza uralensis* ; Mice* ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Plants, Medicinal ; Sophora* ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus pyogenes* ; Survival Rate ; Treatment Outcome

Roseomonas is a genus of pink-pigmented nonfermentative bacilli. These slow-growing, gram-negative cocobacilli form pink-colored colonies on sheep blood agar. They differ from other pink-pigmented nonfermenters, including Methylobacterium, in morphology, biochemical characteristics, and DNA sequence. Roseomonas strains are rarely isolated in clinical laboratories; therefore, we report two cases in order to improve our ability to identify these pathogens. We isolated two strains of Roseomonas mucosa from the venous blood cultures of two patients, an 84-yr-old woman with common bile duct obstruction and a 17-yr-old male with acute myeloid leukemia who had an indwelling central-venous catheter for chemotherapy. The isolated strains were confirmed as R. mucosa by 16S rRNA sequencing.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to find an optimal condition for the vitrification of mouse morulae and expanded blastocysts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mouse embryos were obtained at 2-cell stage and cultured to morula and expanded blastocyst stage in Human Tubal Fluid (HTF) medium supplemented with 10% Serum Substitute Supplement (SSS). The vitrification solutions used were EFS30, EFS35 and EFS40 that contains 30%, 35% and 40% ethylene glycol, respectively, with 18% ficoll and 0.5 M sucrose diluted in Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS) medium supplemented with 10% SSS. The vitrification procedure was performed in EFS solution with three steps, followed by thawing in 6 steps with 0.5 M sucrose, and then survival and hatching-hatched rate per embryos recovered were compared among six groups. RESULTS: After 24 h culture in different vitrification and thawing solution, the survival rate of morula embryos was 94.1%, 85.4% and 59.7% for EFS30, EFS35 and EFS40 group, respectively. Hatching rate of morula embryos after 72 h culture was 30.6%, 25% and 11.3% for EFS30, EFS35 and EFS40 group, respectively. The survival rate of expanded blastocyst embryos after 24 h culture was 90.4%, 98.5% and 100% for EFS30, EFS35 and EFS40 group, respectively. Hatching rate of expanded blastocyst embryos after 48 h culture was 46.2%, 57.6% and 64.3% for EFS30, EFS35 and EFS40 group, respectively. CONCLUSION: The EFS30 solution was the best for vitrification of mouse morulae. The EFS40 solution was the best for vitrification of mouse expanded blastocysts. The mouse expanded blastocyst was better than mouse morula for vitrification of mouse embryos.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Embryonic Structures* ; Ethylene Glycol ; Ficoll ; Humans ; Mice* ; Morula ; Sucrose ; Survival Rate ; Vitrification*

BACKGROUND: We carried out a questionnaire survey for laboratories performing human leukocyte antigen-crossmatch (HLA-XM) to provide a basis for laboratory standardization of HLA-XM tests in Korea. METHODS: The questionnaires were distributed to 51 HLA laboratories participating in the HLA-XM part of the HLA proficiency survey program organized by the Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine and replies from 50 laboratories were analyzed. The questionnaires included following items: 1) HLA-XM methods performed and annual number of tests, 2) types of the specimen and lymphocyte separation methods, 3) test procedures and reagents for complement-dependent cytotoxicity crossmatch (CDC-XM) and flow cytometry crossmatch (FCXM). RESULTS: The number of laboratories performing anti-human globulin (AHG) CDC-XM (47/49, 96%) and FCXM (30/50, 60%) was considerably increased compared to the 2005 survey (AHG CDC-XM, 35/43, 81%; FCXM, 7/44, 16%). As for the annual number of XM tests, more than 50% of the laboratories were low volume laboratories performing ≤50 tests, and only 10% of the laboratories were performing >500 tests. For cell isolation methods, negative selection was used by 43% (21/49) of laboratories performing CDC-XM. Number of cells reacted per 1 µL of serum varied among different laboratories in both CDC-XM (1,000–8,000) and FCXM tests (1,300-20,000). For the interpretation of FCXM, log fluorescence ratio (26/30, 87%) was more commonly used than channel shift values (5/30, 17%). CONCLUSIONS: Considerable variation is noted in both CDC-XM and FCXM methods performed by different laboratories. A continuous effort for laboratory standardization is needed to reduce inter-laboratory variation in the HLA-XM test results.
Cell Separation ; Flow Cytometry ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Indicators and Reagents ; Korea* ; Leukocytes ; Lymphocytes

PURPOSE: To evaluate a multi-group-specific sequence-based typing (SBT) method for resolving ambiguous results from human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotyping. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 50 samples that showed ambiguous genotypes for at least two HLA loci from HLA-A, -B, -C and -DRB1 by the conventional SBT assay were evaluated using a new SBT test, the AVITA plus assay. The most likely HLA genotypes for the respective samples considering allele frequencies in Korean were concordant between the AVITA and conventional SBT assays. RESULTS: An average of 3.3 loci among the HLA-A, -B, -C and -DRB1 loci per sample gave results with two or more possible allele combinations with the conventional SBT, and 48 (96.0%) out of 50 showed reduced numbers of possible genotypes for at least one HLA locus with the AVITA. A total of 41, 43, 42, and 38 cases among the 50 samples showed ambiguous results for HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DRB1 typing by the conventional SBT, respectively. The average numbers of possible allele combinations for the respective four HLA loci were 8.2, 6.7, 5.9, and 3.2, and they were reduced to 1.5, 2.2, 4.4, and 1.8, respectively, by the AVITA. Ambiguity was resolved by the AVITA in 33 (80.5%), 31 (72.1%), 17 (40.5%) and 28 (73.7%) samples among the ambiguous cases from the conventional SBT for HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DRB1 typing, respectively. CONCLUSION: The multi-group-specific SBT method considerably reduced the number of ambiguous results, and thus may be useful for accurate HLA typing in clinical laboratories.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group/genetics ; Base Sequence ; Gene Frequency/genetics ; Genotype ; HLA Antigens/*genetics ; Histocompatibility Testing ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction