We have studied male patients with cosmetic allergy in patch test during 5 years from September, 1982 to August, 1986 (Group A) and during 7 1/2 years from March, 1988 to August, 1995 (Group B). The results are as follows. 1. In Group A, 7 patients were diagnosed as contact allergy due to cosmetics. In Group 13, 30 patients were diagnosed as contact allergy to cosmetics. 2. Sixteen patients were positive to only cosmetic related allergens. Two patients were positive to only their own cosmetic products. Nineteen patients were positive to both cosmetic related allergens and their own cosmetic products. 3. The age of patients with cosmetic allergy ranged from 10 to 70 years with a peak in the fifties. The patients more than 50 years were about 40% of all patients. 4. The most frequently, affected area was face(n=31) followed by neck(n=6) and scalp (n = 6 ). 5. Twenty four patients with cosmetic allergy had eczematous skin lesions. Thirteen patients had pigmented skin lesions and pigmented contact dermatitis was suspected. Two out of 13 patients with pig men ted skin lesions were positive in photopatch test. 6. Cosmetic related allergens showing frequent positive reactions were paraphenylene-aliamine, fragnance mix, balsam of Peru, benzyl salicylate, amerchol L101, oakmoss absolute, musk muskene. 7. Cosmetic products showing frequent positive reactions were skin care products, hair dye, soap, after shave lotion, shampoo and toothpaste. In conclusion, cosmetic allergy in men seems to increase in our society.
Allergens ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Hair ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Male* ; Patch Tests ; Peru ; Scalp ; Skin ; Skin Care ; Soaps ; Toothpastes

Contact Dermatitis due to cosmetics is also common in Korea. as in other developed countries. However. detection of the causative antigens is in a difficult situation due to many reasons. We have routinely patch tested with Japanese cosmetic series patch test allergens, Types 17 and 18 in addition to Hollister standard battery and patients own cosmetics to 4Q cases of suspected cosmetic contact dermatitis who have visited our Environmental and Occupational Clinic during the past one year. The study result was as follows. Total 55% ositive reaction related to cosmetics was observed in 4p patch tested patients. 2 The most frequently observed antigens were hydroxycitronellal, benzyl saliylate and cinnamic alcohol.
Allergens ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Dermatitis, Contact* ; Developed Countries ; Humans ; Korea ; Patch Tests*

We retrospectively studied 60 amblyopic patients who had been treated for 12 months or more. They were divided into three age groups; below 5.5 years, 5.5 years to 8 years and 8 years or more, and visual improvements were compared with three age groups. The visual improvements were 5 line increase in both of below 5.5 year group and 5.5 year to 8 year age group and 3 line increase in 8 year and older group. In all three age groups, two-thirds of the improvements were achieved during the first three months of treatment There was no difference in visual improvement according to amblyopic type(strabismic, anisometropic, strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia). Treatment failures seemed to be the later onset of treatment, eccentric fixation and large anisometropic difference.

54-year-old male patient with acute lymphocytic leukemia was consulted to our department. He had had a few painful erythematous necrotic plaques on the chest, which suggested initslly vasculitis or pyoderma. On histological examination, characterisitic histological findings of non-septated large hyphae were observed in the dermis and subcutaneoustissue, Although organism was not isolated on Sabouraud agar media containing cycloheximide, the diagnosis of cutaneous mucormycosis was made by the characteristic histological nattlre. He died after 2 weeks with amphotericin B intravenous injections so that additional fungus culture was not performed.
Agar ; Amphotericin B ; Cycloheximide ; Dermis ; Diagnosis ; Fungi ; Humans ; Hyphae ; Injections, Intravenous ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mucormycosis* ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* ; Pyoderma ; Thorax ; Vasculitis

Genotoxic agents can induce various DNA lesions. DNA-Protein Crosslinks(DPCs) were known as the important DNA lesions which could impair gene expression because DPCs had a high probability of resisting repair and persisting through cell cycle. This repair resistance of DPCs could have biological significance but had not been evaluated clearly yet. Most of the studies that have evaluated the repair of DPCs only compared the extent of DPCs repair with other DNA lesions. We injected K2CrO4, a genotoxic agent, into Sprague-Dawley rats intraperitoneally(5mg/kg) and isolated blood lymphocytes 12 hours later. These lymphocytes were cultured in the mitogen added growth media and mitogen free media separately. The degree of the repair of DPCs was monitored for 4 days by the K-SDS assay. 4 day later, the amount of DPCs decreased by 4.6% in the mitogen added media but in creased by 10.9% in the mitogen free media. These results showed that DPCs induced by K2CrO4 were not repaired easily and the DPCs were biologically significant DNA lesions. We thought the decrease of DPCs in the mitogen added media was not due to the repair of DPCs, but from the increase of normal cell proliferation. Therefore, it is very important to consider the proliferation of normal cells when estimating the repair of DPCs.
Animals ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Proliferation ; DNA ; Gene Expression ; Lymphocytes* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

No abstract available.
Blood Pressure* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn*

Primary irritant dermatitis is one of the most common skin disease caused by various hazardous chemicals produced from the environment. For the detection of skin irritant potency, in vivo models such as human and animal patch test have been used, Keratinocyte culture method which has been set up very recently is another alternative in vivo method of detecting skin irritarlcy. LVe have investigated the effects of three skin irritants, phenol, benzoyl peroxide (BP), and sodium lauryl sulfate(SLS) on the keratinocyte culture system. Prostaglandin E(PGE) measurement, cell count and electron microscopic observation were performed after adding three irritants of different concentrations to the cultured keranocyte cells. The main results of this study were as follows : 1. There were statistically significant decreased cell number in concentration of 10 M phenol, 10 4M BP and SLS. The order of cytotoxic potency was SLS>BP >phenol. 2. In case of PGE production, decreased PGE production was observed 6 hours after addition of the irritants, except 10 M phenol and 10M BP groups. Decrea sing tendency sustained until 24 hours, however all were statistically nonsignificant comparing with control group. 3. Electron microscopic finding showed that dilatation of endoplasmic reticulums in 10 M phenol group, condensation and dilatation of mitochondrias in 10 4M BP group, and most of the cells were swollen in 10 4M SLS group. These results suggest that cell count is a useful model for performing cytotoxi city test in keratinocyte culture decreased PGE production represents cytotoxic effect in high concentration of primary irritants and ultrastructural changes may reflect the different pathomechanisms in cytotoxicity.
Animals ; Benzoyl Peroxide ; Cell Count ; Dermatitis, Irritant ; Dilatation ; Dinoprostone ; Endoplasmic Reticulum ; Hazardous Substances ; Humans* ; Irritants* ; Keratinocytes* ; Mitochondria ; Patch Tests ; Phenol ; Prostaglandins E ; Skin ; Skin Diseases ; Sodium

This study was designed to investigate the difference of somatization and hypochondriacal trends between labor workers and managerial workers. The subjects consisted of 302 workers who were employed at 13 small scale industries in a city of Kyung Kee province. Data collection was done from February 25, 1993 to March 10, 1993. Symptom Check List-90-Somatization(SCL) and Illness Attitude Scale(IAS) which are composed of self-report questionnares were used as measuring instruments. The results were as follows: 1. Mean scores of SCL-90-R-Somatization in labor workers were significantly higher than those in managerial workers and there were significant differences in 7 subscales (pain in heart or chest, nausea of upset stomach, muscle soreness, trouble breathing, hot or cold spells, numbness, lump sensation in throat between to two groups. 2. There was no significant difference in mean scores of illness attitude Scales between labor workers and managerial workers. However, among the subscale of IAS mean scores of "hypochondriacal beliefs" and "effects of symptom" in labor workers, the mean scores of IAS in labor workers were significantly higher than those in managerial workers. 3. When compared by educational level, middle school graduates and college graduates of labor workers showed significantly higher mean scores of SCL than those of managerial workers. 4. When compared by employment duration, labor workers who worked less than 5 years showed significantly higher mean of SCL and IAS than those of managerial workers. 5. There were no significant differences in mean scores of SCL and IAS between the levels of subjectively evaluated environmental conditions by the workers themselves of the illumination, organic solvent, noise and dust.
Data Collection ; Dust ; Employment ; Heart ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Lighting ; Myalgia ; Nausea ; Noise ; Pharynx ; Respiration ; Sensation ; Stomach ; Thorax ; Weights and Measures

Alopecia areata is a relatively common disorded but the exact psthogenesis is still unknown and there is no satisfactory treatment. Recently contact immunotherapy has been studied with dinitrochlorogenzene(DNCB) which is known to have in vitro mutagenecity limiting its clinieal application. In contrast, diphencyprone (DPCP) is a potent contact sensitizing agent which is not known to be mutagenic. We treated 40 patients with alopecia areata who were refraetory to standard treatment.DPCP was dissolved in acetone in concentrations of 0.0001 2%. After sensitization, DPCP was topically applied to the right side of the scalp with left side sewing as control. After obvious hair growt,h, DPCP was applied on both sides of the scalp. A positive respanse was defined as growth of terminal hairs on the scalp. The response rate was estimated by determing the percentage of hair covered areas com- pared to the total area of the scalp. The results were as follows. 1) Of 20 patients who were followed over 3months, 9 patients(45% ) showed positive response, and 6 patients(30%) showed almost complete regrowth of terminal hairs (above 90% of scalp area). 2) The response time varied from 4 weeks to 33 weeks, with average duration of 10.6 weeks. 3) Nine out of forty patients developed side effects such as severe contact eczema, cervical lymph node swelling and vitiligo. Three out of 40 patients had to discontinue therapy due to side effects. 4) Patients with mild alopecia areata ganerslly showed a higher response rate(50%) than those with alopecis totalis(33%) and alopecia universalis(43%), but the differences were not statistically signifieant(p>0.05). 5) No correlation was found between reaponse rates and clinical factors such as age, sex and duration ot the disease. In conclusion, treatment with DPCP was thought to be effective in patients with alopecis areata who were refractory to standard treatment. Further long-term studies may be neees- sary to find out clinical course of the disease after trestment, and long-term safety of this treatment.
Acetone ; Alopecia Areata* ; Alopecia* ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Hair ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Lymph Nodes ; Reaction Time ; Scalp ; Vitiligo

Primary pericardial tumors are rare than those originating within the myocardium or endocardium and, moreover, primary benign pericardial tumors are much rare in occurrence. Fine(1986) was able to collect only 43 cases of lipoma. Most cases are diagnosed only at autopsy. One fourth of the cardiac lipoma arise subepicardially, where they suggest the presence of pericardial effusion with compression or displacement of the heart. A case of primary intrapericardial lipoma simulating pericardial effusion is presented. This tumor originated in left anterior aspect of pericardium. The tumor was measured 30x30x5cm in size and 2,200mg in weight. Total excision of the mass was accomplished by posterior lateral thoracotomy incision, resulting in complete cure. This is the first case of primary benign lipoma of the pericardium in literatures in our knowledge.
Autopsy ; Endocardium ; Heart ; Lipoma* ; Myocardium ; Pericardial Effusion* ; Pericardium ; Thoracotomy