No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Malignant transformation of fibrous dysplasia to osteosarcoma is rare. We report a case in which monostotic fibrous dysplasia of the proximal femur treated with curettage, Ender nailing and bone grafting was differentiated into the osteosarcoma in a 58-year-old female.
Bone Transplantation ; Curettage ; Female ; Femur ; Fibrous Dysplasia, Monostotic ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Osteosarcoma

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) or free testosterone (FT) levels and aging. METHODS:One hundred and thirty one women without androgen excess symptoms such as oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea or hirsutism were recruited for measuring serum DHEAS, FT levels by radioimmunoassay. A P-value <0.05 was considered to be significant statistically. RESULTS: The levels of DHEAS were 211.39+/-33.01 microg/dL (twenties, n=10), 127.99+/-11.79 microg/dL (thirties, n=31), 94.30+/-7.49 microg/dL (forties, n=57) and 71.79+/-5.71 microg/dL (over fifties, n=33) respectively (mean+/-SE, P<0.001). The levels of FT were 3.98+/-0.94 pg/ml (twenties, n=10), 3.37+/-0.47 pg/mL (thirties, n=31), 2.68+/-0.30 pg/mL (forties, n=57) and 1.97+/-0.28 pg/mL (fifties, n=33) respectively (mean+/-SE, P=0.030). Mean value declining of DHEAS (r=-0.48865, P<0.0001) was bigger than those of FT (r=-0.29334, P<0.0007). CONCLUSION: Both DHEAS and FT levels decline with age and DHEAS decreases more steeply than FT.
Aging ; Amenorrhea ; Dehydroepiandrosterone ; Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate ; Female ; Hirsutism ; Humans ; Oligomenorrhea ; Radioimmunoassay ; Testosterone

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) or free testosterone (FT) levels and aging. METHODS:One hundred and thirty one women without androgen excess symptoms such as oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea or hirsutism were recruited for measuring serum DHEAS, FT levels by radioimmunoassay. A P-value <0.05 was considered to be significant statistically. RESULTS: The levels of DHEAS were 211.39+/-33.01 microg/dL (twenties, n=10), 127.99+/-11.79 microg/dL (thirties, n=31), 94.30+/-7.49 microg/dL (forties, n=57) and 71.79+/-5.71 microg/dL (over fifties, n=33) respectively (mean+/-SE, P<0.001). The levels of FT were 3.98+/-0.94 pg/ml (twenties, n=10), 3.37+/-0.47 pg/mL (thirties, n=31), 2.68+/-0.30 pg/mL (forties, n=57) and 1.97+/-0.28 pg/mL (fifties, n=33) respectively (mean+/-SE, P=0.030). Mean value declining of DHEAS (r=-0.48865, P<0.0001) was bigger than those of FT (r=-0.29334, P<0.0007). CONCLUSION: Both DHEAS and FT levels decline with age and DHEAS decreases more steeply than FT.
Aging ; Amenorrhea ; Dehydroepiandrosterone ; Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate ; Female ; Hirsutism ; Humans ; Oligomenorrhea ; Radioimmunoassay ; Testosterone

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify factors related to the loyalty of Chinese customers who use Korean medical and tourism services. METHODS: Participants were 158 Chinese who visited plastic surgery clinics in Korea. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, One-way ANOVA, Scheffe? test, Pearson Correlation and Hierachical Multiple Regression. RESULTS: Medical service quality, tourism service quality and medical and service satisfaction were positively correlated with customer loyalty. Medical service quality and medical and tourism service satisfaction had significant influence on customer loyalty. The explained variance for customer loyalty was 84.9%. CONCLUSION: These results suggest the need to improve the tourism service and medical and tourism service satisfaction to retain loyal customers.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Humans ; Korea ; Medical Tourism ; Personal Satisfaction ; Quality of Health Care ; Surgery, Plastic

Hemangiopericytoma is a rare mesenchymal neoplasm, accounting for about 1% of vascular tumor. Hemangiopericytoma is known to be derived from the vascular pericyte and occurs most commonly lower extremities, pelvis and retroperitoneum. Surgical radical excision is the treatment of choice. Because of malignant features of hemangiopericytoma, long term and close follow-up is important. We report a case of successfully resected retroperitoneal hemangiopericytoma.
Accounting ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemangiopericytoma ; Lower Extremity ; Pelvis ; Pericytes

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to design and develop an integrated pharmaceutical supply chain management(SCM) system for optimizing inventory control and reducing material handling costs based on B2B collaboration and information sharing. METHODS: We have analyzed business processes of material handling in hospitals and reviewed system requirements for efficient supply chain management. VMI(Vendor-Managed Inventory), which is one of important applications of SCM, has been adopted. Online procurement system and Web-based information sharing system are developed for the integration of the SCM. RESULTS: The SCM system composed of VMI, CAO(Computer Aided Ordering), and Web-based information sharing system enables hospitals to optimize the procurement processes and inventory control of pharmaceutical products. By sharing information with hospitals, the wholesaler can get information more timely and use exact data about inventory status and drug usage volumes of hospitals, so that it can forecast future demand more accurately, which facilitates needed products to be supplied timely and cost-effectively. CONCLUSION: By the B2B collaborations and information sharing among SCM participants, the SCM system have been implemented successfully in the medical center. It improves material handling of hospitals, reducing inventory management costs and ultimately improving quality of patient care.
Commerce ; Cooperative Behavior* ; Information Dissemination* ; Patient Care ; Pharmaceutical Preparations

In this study, the α-amylase inhibitory activity, α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity, and Xanthine Oxidase inhibitory activity of the fruiting body extracts of 5 varieties of Agaricus bisporus (AB) were confirmed. First, the α-amylase inhibitory activity of AB12, AB13, AB18, AB34, and AB40 methanol extracts was lower than that of acarbose, a positive control, in all concentration ranges. The α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the AB40, AB13, and AB12 methanol extracts at the extract concentration of 1.0 mg/mL was 80.5%, 81.3%, and 78.5%, respectively, similar to that of acarbose, a positive control. The pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity of the methanol extract of Agaricus bisporus fruiting body was significantly lower than that of the positive control orlistat in the concentration range of 50 $ 1.000 (mg/mL). The Xanthine Oxidase inhibitory activity was 0.5 $ 8.0 mg/mL of each extract, which was significantly lower than that of the positive control allopurinol in the same concentration range. However, the Xanthine Oxidase inhibitory activity of AB13 and AB40 at 8.0 mg/mL was about 70%, which was higher than that of other mushrooms. In conclusion, five kinds of Agaricus bisporus fruiting bodies seem to have inhibitory effects on enzymes such as α-amylase, α-glucosidase, pancreatic lipase, and Xanthine Oxidase that degrade starch and protein. In particular, it has an inhibitory effect and a reduction effect on xanthine oxidase that causes gout, so it is expected that it can be developed and used as a food or health supplement with health functional properties through future research.

PURPOSE: High levels and aberrant patterns of Bcl-2 gene expression have been reported in a variety of human cancers, including prostate, colorectal, lung and gastric cancers, neuroblastoma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and both acute and chronic leukemia. The Ewings sarcoma is a common malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. Nearly all Ewings sarcomas have a t(11;22) chromosomal translocations which involves EWS gene and Fli-1 of ETS family transcription factors. The patterns of Bcl-2 gene expression in Ewings sarcoma is less well known. The inhibition of Bcl-2 gene expression leads to increase a apoptosis in several cancer cells. This study was undertaken to characterize the patterns of Bcl-2 gene expression in Ewings sarcoma cell (TC135) expressing fusion protein, EWS-Fli-l, and to induce the apoptosis of Ewings sarcoma cell by targeting Bcl-2 gene expression using antisense strategy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used two types of antisense EWS-Fli-1 and Bcl-2 expression vectors. These vectors were transfected to TC135 cells by calcium phosphate method, and transformed cells were selected using G418. The transformed cells were stimulated with apoptosis-inducing reagents, and changes of Bcl-2 expression were analyzed by Western and Northern blot analyses. To confirm the increased apoptosis, we checked DNA fragmentation, cell viability assay by MTT and ICE (interleuldn converting enzyme) activity. RESULTS: The TC135 cells transfected with antisense EWS-Fli-1 expression vector showed negatively regulated Bcl-2 protein and mRNA expression, but those transfected with control vector (pcDNA3) revealed no change of Bcl-2 gene expression. These results strongly suggested that the EWS-Fli-1 fusion protein directly regulate Bcl-2 gene expression on the Bcl-2 gene promotor region. And the TC135 cells transfected with antisense Bcl-2 expression vector showed increased apoptosis. These results suggested that the apoptosis pathway of Ewings sarcoma is regulated by EWS-Fli-1 fusion protein and following Bcl-2 gene. Finally, TC135 cells transfected with antisense Bcl-2 expression vector did not form colonies in soft agar, which may infer the loss of tumorigenicity. CONCLUSION: The targeting of Bcl-2 gene in the TC135 cells using antisense strategy lead to an increased apoptosis in .Ewings sarcoma cells. This approach can be considered as an efficient candidate strategy of cancer gene therapy.
Adolescent ; Agar ; Apoptosis* ; Blotting, Northern ; Calcium ; Cell Survival ; Child ; DNA Fragmentation ; Genes, bcl-2 ; Genes, Neoplasm ; Humans ; Ice ; Indicators and Reagents ; Leukemia ; Lung ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Neuroblastoma ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Prostate ; RNA, Messenger ; Sarcoma, Ewing ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Transcription Factors ; Translocation, Genetic