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

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

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

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

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

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.

To evaluate the coronary vasomotor tone in vasospasic angina, we compared the diameters of non-spastic segments of vasospastic group with those of control group. The internal diameters of each segment of three major coronary arteries were measured on the basal coronary angiogram, and nitroglycerin administration after provocation with ergonovine or acetylcholine. The vasospastic angina group consisted of 26 patients(20 males, 6 females, mean age of 54 years) and control group consisted of 25 patients (7 males, 18 females, mean age of 55 years). The basal coronary arterial diameters in vasospastic angina group were smaller than those in control group(p<0.05) except the distal segment of right coronary artery. The percent dilation ratio in vasospastic angina group was greater than that in control group(p<0.05). In vasospastic angina group there was no significant difference in the degree of constriction after provocation with ergonovine or acetylcholine between proximal and distal segment. These observations suggest that in vasospastic angina, basal coronary arterial tone is increased in the entire coronary arterial tree and the localized spasm may reflect local hyperrespon siveness.
Acetylcholine ; Constriction ; Coronary Vessels ; Ergonovine ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Nitroglycerin ; Spasm