BACKGROUND: Demodicosis is a common cutaneous disease that is caused by demodex mites, which reside in the pilosebaceous follicles. However, any data of the clinical features and the factors that induce or aggravate demodicosis is lacking in the Korea literature. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to demonstrate the clinical feature and determine the medical or personal history that influences demodicosis. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study to review clinical features, the histopathologic findings and the past medical and personal history of Korean patients who suffer with demodicosis. RESULTS: Thirty-four patients were diagnosed with demodicosis based on the clinical features, the potassium hydroxide examination and/or the skin biopsy specimen. There were 11 males and 23 female patients (mean age: 44.4 years). The mean duration of disease was 15.5 months. The clinical features were classified to acne rosacea-like (n=26), perioral dermatitis-like (n=3), granulomatous rosacea-like (n=2), pityriasis folliculorum (n=2) and demodex abscess (n=1). Skin biopsy was performed on 10 patients and the histopathologic findings showed demodex mites in the follicular infundibulum or sebaceous ducts with a perifollicular and perivascular inflammatory infiltrate in all case. According to the medical history, 17 patients had history of chronic use of topical steroid and calcineurin inhibitor and 5 patients didn't use the soap during washing their face. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that demodicosis demonstrates various clinical presentations. If patients with facial eruption chronically use topical steroid or calcineurin inhibitor or they do not use soap, demodicosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis and a potassium hydroxide examination or skin biopsy may be helpful to diagnose and treat the facial eruption.
Abscess ; Acne Vulgaris ; Biopsy ; Calcineurin ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Hydroxides ; Korea ; Male ; Mites ; Pityriasis ; Potassium ; Potassium Compounds ; Retrospective Studies ; Skin ; Soaps

Corals are the marine organism that belongs to the phylum Cnidaria, and are one of the common causes of superficial injury in the marine environment. In addition to acute reactions such as burning or stinging pain and erythema, coral injuries may present with complications such as foreign body reactions, bacterial infections, and/or localized eczematous reactions. A 23-year-old male presented with an erythematous edematous tender patch with centrally grouped vesicles on the left ankle; the injury had occurred during skin-scuba diving 2 days before. A biopsy of the lesion treated with hematoxylin-eosin stain showed epidermal necrosis with subepidermal blisters and neutrophilic panniculitis. Herein we report a case of cellulitis caused by the nematocyst stings of corals.
Anthozoa ; Aquatic Organisms ; Bacterial Infections ; Biopsy ; Bites and Stings ; Blister ; Burns ; Cellulitis ; Cnidaria ; Diving ; Erythema ; Foreign Bodies ; Humans ; Male ; Necrosis ; Nematocyst ; Neutrophils ; Panniculitis ; Young Adult

Eccrine angiomatous hamartoma (EAH) is a rare benign disease that is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of eccrine glands and vascular elements. It is generally congenital, but it can appear before puberty. It usually presents as a single plaque or nodule, but multiple patch-like lesions are also possible. EAH is mostly asymptomatic, but it is sometimes associated with pain or hyperhidrosis. It generally does not require aggressive treatment, but the lesion can be excised due to pain, enlargement and cosmetic reasons. A 3-week-old Korean female presented with a hemorrhagic skin lesion on the right foot since birth. There was no specific birth history. The lesion first appeared on the third toe of the right foot and quickly spread to almost half of the right foot. Histopathology examination revealed acanthosis in the epidermis and a proliferation of eccrine ducts, glands and capillaries. The eccrine glands were immunohistochemically-positive for carcinoembryonic antigen.
Capillaries ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; Cosmetics ; Eccrine Glands ; Epidermis ; Female ; Foot ; Hamartoma ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hyperhidrosis ; Parturition ; Puberty ; Reproductive History ; Skin ; Toes

Elephantiasis nostras verrucosa is an uncommon disorder that is characterized by dermal fibrosis, hyperkeratotic verrucous and papillomatous lesions and this is all caused by chronic non-filarial lymphedema secondary to infections, surgeries, tumor obstructions, radiations, congestive heart failure and obesity. We report here on a case of elephantiasis nostras verrucosa that occurred on the left lower leg of a 54-year-old woman who had a past history of extensive skin grafts and recurrent infection.
Elephantiasis ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Leg ; Middle Aged ; Non-Filarial Lymphedema ; Obesity ; Skin ; Skin Transplantation ; Transplants

Retrocaval ureter is a congenital venous anomaly, in which the ureter passes behind and is compassed by inferior vena cava. We experienced a case of multiple urothelial cell carcinoma in retrocaval ureter in 68 years old male. He was treated with transurethral resection of bladder tumor and right nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff excision.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ; Humans ; Male ; Retrocaval Ureter* ; Ureter ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Vena Cava, Inferior

PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of the waist circumference-to-height ratio (WHTR) in screening for obesity in Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: Data, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and height, were obtained from the national growth surveys for children and adolescents in 2005. The WHTR was calculated dividing WC by height in subjects 2~18 years of age. Overweight and obese were defined by BMI percentiles for age and gender. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to find out the optimal cutoff values of WHTR that matched BMI-determined overweight and obesity using the STATA program. The area under the curve (AUC), a measure of diagnostic power, of WHTR was compared to WC. The influence of age on WHTR was analyzed by the SAS program. RESULTS: The WHTR significantly decreased with age, and had less correlation with age in the 6~18-year-old age group than the 2~5-year-old age group. Furthermore, the WHTR also had less correlation with age than WC in the 6~18-year-old age group. The AUC of WHTR in identifying overweight and obesity was significantly higher than the AUC of WC in the 6~18-year-old age group. The optimal cutoff values were 0.51 in boys and 0.49 in girls for obesity, and 0.48 in boys and 0.47 in girls for overweight, with all having the AUC>0.9. The optimal cutoff values of WHTR had a higher sensitivity for diagnosing obesity than WC> or =90th percentiles. CONCLUSION: The WHTR is an easy, accurate, and less age-dependent index with high applicability in screening for obesity in children and adolescents.
Adolescent ; Area Under Curve ; Body Mass Index ; Child ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Phenothiazines ; ROC Curve ; Waist Circumference

PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of the waist circumference-to-height ratio (WHTR) in screening for obesity in Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: Data, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and height, were obtained from the national growth surveys for children and adolescents in 2005. The WHTR was calculated dividing WC by height in subjects 2~18 years of age. Overweight and obese were defined by BMI percentiles for age and gender. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to find out the optimal cutoff values of WHTR that matched BMI-determined overweight and obesity using the STATA program. The area under the curve (AUC), a measure of diagnostic power, of WHTR was compared to WC. The influence of age on WHTR was analyzed by the SAS program. RESULTS: The WHTR significantly decreased with age, and had less correlation with age in the 6~18-year-old age group than the 2~5-year-old age group. Furthermore, the WHTR also had less correlation with age than WC in the 6~18-year-old age group. The AUC of WHTR in identifying overweight and obesity was significantly higher than the AUC of WC in the 6~18-year-old age group. The optimal cutoff values were 0.51 in boys and 0.49 in girls for obesity, and 0.48 in boys and 0.47 in girls for overweight, with all having the AUC>0.9. The optimal cutoff values of WHTR had a higher sensitivity for diagnosing obesity than WC> or =90th percentiles. CONCLUSION: The WHTR is an easy, accurate, and less age-dependent index with high applicability in screening for obesity in children and adolescents.
Adolescent ; Area Under Curve ; Body Mass Index ; Child ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Phenothiazines ; ROC Curve ; Waist Circumference

We report a case of a 67-year-old man presenting with a 2-week history of erythematous zosteriform indurated confluent nodules and plaques on the right chest which was affected by a herpes zoster infection one month ago. The previous history revealed an adenocarcinoma with malignant pleural effusion on the right lung (stage IV, T4N1M1) 3 months ago. Histopathologic findings showed tumor cells infiltrated throughout the dermis, forming focal glandular structures. We think that the case was the isotopic response in the form of an occurrence of a new skin disorder at the site of another unrelated and already healed skin disease. Many cases of isotopic response have been reported in Korean literature such as lichen planus, granuloma annulare, benign fibrous histiocytoma and reactive perforating collagenosis occurring on the healed site of herpes zoster infection. This is the first report of cutaneous metastatic carcinoma as an isotopic response in Korea.
Adenocarcinoma ; Aged ; Dermis ; Granuloma Annulare ; Herpes Zoster ; Histiocytoma, Benign Fibrous ; Humans ; Lichen Planus ; Lung ; Pleural Effusion, Malignant ; Skin ; Skin Diseases ; Thorax

Despite the high prevalence of chronic dermatitis and the accompanied intractable itch, therapeutics that specifically target itching have low efficacy. Increasing evidence suggests that TLRs contribute to immune activation and neural sensitization; however, their roles in chronic itch remain elusive. Here, we show that the RBL-2H3 mast cell line expresses TLR4 and that treatment with a TLR4 antagonist opposes the LPS dependent increase in mRNA levels of Th2 and innate cytokines. The pathological role of TLR4 activation in itching was studied in neonate rats that developed chronic itch due to neuronal damage after receiving subcutaneous capsaicin injections. Treatment with a TLR4 antagonist protected these rats with chronic itch against scratching behavior and chronic dermatitis.TLR4 antagonist treatment also restored the density of cutaneous nerve fibers and inhibited the histopathological changes that are associated with mast cell activation after capsaicin injection. Additionally, the expression of IL-1β, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, and IL-13 mRNA in the lesional skin decreased after TLR4 antagonist treatment. Based on these data, we propose that inhibiting TLR4 alleviated itch in a rat model of chronic relapsing itch, and the reduction in the itch was associated with TLR4 signaling in mast cells and nerve fibers.

PURPOSE: Cerebral ischemia leads to neuronal cell death, and eventually causes neurological impairments. Tadalafil is a long-acting phosphodiesterase type-5 (PDE-5) inhibitor, and it has been used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. In the present study, we investigated whether tadalafil has the protective effect on apoptotic neuronal cell death in the motor cortex following transient global ischemia in gerbils. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this study, Mongolian gerbils were used for the experimental animals, and transient global ischemia was induced to the gerbils by occlusion of both common carotid arteries for 7 min. Gerbils were randomly divided into five groups (n=8 in each group): the sham-operation group, the cerebral ischemia-induced group, the cerebral ischemia-induced and 0.1 mg/kg tadalafil-treated group, the cerebral ischemia-induced and 1 mg/kg tadalafil-treated group, the cerebral ischemia-induced and 10 mg/kg tadalafil-treated group. Tadalafil-treated groups received tadalafil orally once a day for a 7 consecutive days, starting one day after surgery. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay and immunohistochemistry for caspase-3 were performed for the detection of apoptotic neuronal cell death in the motor cortex. RESULTS: The number of TUNEL-positive cells was 21.45+/-3.69/section in the sham-operation group, 771.66+/-97.25/section in the cerebral ischemia-induced group, 688.44+/-81.35/section in the cerebral ischemia-induced and 0.1 mg/kg tadalafil-treated group, 295.66+/-36.34/section in the cerebral ischemia-induced and 1 mg/kg tadalafil-treated group, and 198.47+/-25.25/section in the cerebral ischemia-induced and 10 mg/kg tadalafil-treated group. In the present results, induction of ischemic injury increased apoptotic neuronal cell death in the motor cortex of gerbils. However, tadalafil treatment suppressed the cerebral ischemia-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death in the motor cortex as dose-dependently. CONCLUSIONS: Here in this study, we showed that tadalafil has protective effect on the cerebral ischemia-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death, and thus this drug may facilitate the recovery following ischemic cerebral injury.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Brain Ischemia ; Carbolines ; Carotid Artery, Common ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Death ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Gerbillinae ; Immunohistochemistry ; Ischemia ; Male ; Motor Cortex ; Neurons ; Polyenes ; Tadalafil