No Abstract Available.
Bacteroides fragilis* ; Bacteroides* ; Chemokines, CXC* ; Enterotoxins* ; Epithelial Cells* ; Humans* ; NF-kappa B*

No Abstract Available.
Bacteroides fragilis* ; Bacteroides* ; Chemokines, CXC* ; Enterotoxins* ; Epithelial Cells* ; Humans* ; NF-kappa B*

Pigmented lesions of palmar and plantar skin may cause diagnostic problems, because some features of benign lesions in these sites may raise the suspicion of melanoma if considered alone. Transepidermal elimlnation is a mechanism by which a substance is eliminated through the epidermis, and it is apt to be confused with a feature of melanoma that tumor cells are located at all layers of the epidermis. We report a case of transepidermal elimination of nevus cells in acral letiginous nevus which needs a differential dignosis of melanoma.
Epidermis ; Melanoma ; Nevus* ; Skin

No abstract available.
Abscess* ; Bacteria, Aerobic* ; Quinolones* ; Virulence*

Since Feingold and his collegues first described the trisomy 9 syndrome in 1973, approximately 30 patients with trisomy of the chromsome 9 have been described. Trisomy 9 has been reported as either partial or complete. Complete trisomy is rare and incompatible with a long life. Before this report, this syndrome has not been reported in Korea. A neonate was diagnosed trisomy 9 syndrome by clinical feature and chromosomal study. He had multiple anomalies such as broad-based nose, partially cleft lip, ambiguous genitalia, hyperconvex nails, overriding of fingers, and ventricular septal defect. The patient died at home on the 113th day of life.
Cleft Lip ; Disorders of Sex Development ; Fingers ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Nose ; Trisomy*

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by hundreds of colorectal adenomatous polyps that progress to colorectal cancer. Management of patients with FAP is with a total colectomy. Chemopreventive strategies have been studied in FAP patients in an effort to delay the development of adenomas in the upper and the lower gastrointestinal tract and to prevent recurrence of adenomas in the retained rectum of patients after prophylactic surgery. Sulindac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, causes regression of colorectal adenomas in the retained rectal segment of FAP patients. However, evidence regarding long-term use of this therapy and its effect on the intact colon has been insufficient. We report a case in which the long-term use of sulindac was effective in reducing the size and the number of colonic polyps in patients with FAP without a prophylactic colectomy and polypectomy; we also present a review of the literature.
Adenoma* ; Adenomatous Polyposis Coli* ; Adenomatous Polyps ; Chemoprevention ; Colectomy* ; Colon* ; Colonic Polyps ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Lower Gastrointestinal Tract ; Rectum ; Recurrence ; Sulindac*

BACKGROUND: InBody 4.0, a bioelectrical impedance analyser (BIA) has an automatic function of printing out the measurement data of visceral fat area. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of the visceral obesity measured by the InBody 4.0 and the waist circumference METHODS: A total of 124 participants who visited an obesity clinic in a university hospital were measured their waist circumference, height, weight and the visceral fat area by the InBody 4.0 and CT scan. The mean difference and agreement between the two visceral fat areas by the two methods had been analyzed according to sex, age and BMI groups. The accuracy of the visceral obesity by the BIA and the waist circumference was respectively compared with the visceral obesity by the CT scan. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between visceral fat area measured by the CT and the BIA in women participants under 46 years of age and below BMI 30. When comparing visceral fat area obtained from the CT with those obtained from the BIA, the 95% confidence interval for the limit agreement was higher in male subjects than in females. The waist circumference was the more sensitive method to diagnose visceral obesity than the BIA (91.80% vs. 77.94%), but the BIA method showed a higher specificity than the waist circumference (76.79% vs 52.38%). CONCLUSION: Waist circumference turned out to be more useful than the BIA as a screening tool for visceral obesity. In the group of males, BMI of over 30, or the age over 46 years, it is recommended that the CT rather than the BIA for measurement of visceral fat area be utiliged.
Electric Impedance ; Female ; Humans ; Intra-Abdominal Fat ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Obesity, Abdominal* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Waist Circumference*

PURPOSE: Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1/redox factor-1 (APE1/Ref-1) is a multifunctional protein involved in DNA repair and redox modulation. Recently, serum and urinary APE1/Ref-1 levels were reported to be increased in patients with bladder cancer. Genetic variations of APE/Ref-1 are associated with the risk of cancer. However, the effect of APE1/Ref-1 variants on its secretory activity is yet unknown. METHODS: APE1/Ref-1 variants were evaluated by DNA sequencing analysis of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction products in coding DNA sequences (CDS) of APE1/Ref-1 in bladder tissue samples from patients with bladder cancer (n=10). Secretory activity of APE1/Ref-1 variants was evaluated with immunoblot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of the culture medium supernatants. RESULTS: Four different substitution mutants (D148E, I64V/D148E, W67R/D148E, and E86G/D148E) of APE1/Ref-1 were identified in bladder cancer specimens. However, deletion mutants of APE1/Ref-1 CDS were not found. The secretory activity of the APE1/Ref-1 variants (D148E, I64V/D148E, and E86G/D148E) was increased compared to that of wild type APE1/Ref-1. Furthermore, the secretory activity in basal or hyperacetylated conditions was much higher than that in APE1/Ref-1 D148E-transfected HEK293 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our data suggest that the increased secretory activity of D148E might contribute to increased serum levels of APE1/Ref-1 in patients with bladder cancer.
Base Sequence ; Clinical Coding ; DNA Repair ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Genetic Variation ; HEK293 Cells ; Humans* ; Oxidation-Reduction ; Point Mutation ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reverse Transcription ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder*

OBJECTIVES: The present study investigated the reliability and validity of Korean version of schizotypal ambivalence scale, which was developed to measure ambivalence in schizotypy, a latent personality organization that provides the liability for the development of schizophrenia. METHODS: The psychometric properties of the K-SAS in a sample of 348 normal healthy controls were obtained. Subjects with various range of age and education level of male and female were included in order to investigate the correlation of these demographic variables with the scores of K-SAS. RESULTS: The internal consistency of the scale was 0.85 and split-half reliability was 0.84. The factor analysis revealed four factors which were labeled as ambivalence on identity, decision, love and outcome, respectively. There were significant main effects for age, gender, and education level. In other words, being older, male, and having more years of education had negative effects on the scale score (p<0.05). These main effects were also valid after the interaction between these demographic factors was excluded through ANCOVA. CONCLUSION: The Korean version of schizotypal ambivalence scale was a valid tool for measuring ambivalence in schizophrenia. It was found that being older, male, and having more years of education had negative effects on the scale score, and these effects should be considered when using this scale.
Demography ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Love ; Male ; Psychometrics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVES: The present study investigated the reliability and validity of Korean version of schizotypal ambivalence scale, which was developed to measure ambivalence in schizotypy, a latent personality organization that provides the liability for the development of schizophrenia. METHODS: The psychometric properties of the K-SAS in a sample of 348 normal healthy controls were obtained. Subjects with various range of age and education level of male and female were included in order to investigate the correlation of these demographic variables with the scores of K-SAS. RESULTS: The internal consistency of the scale was 0.85 and split-half reliability was 0.84. The factor analysis revealed four factors which were labeled as ambivalence on identity, decision, love and outcome, respectively. There were significant main effects for age, gender, and education level. In other words, being older, male, and having more years of education had negative effects on the scale score (p<0.05). These main effects were also valid after the interaction between these demographic factors was excluded through ANCOVA. CONCLUSION: The Korean version of schizotypal ambivalence scale was a valid tool for measuring ambivalence in schizophrenia. It was found that being older, male, and having more years of education had negative effects on the scale score, and these effects should be considered when using this scale.
Demography ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Love ; Male ; Psychometrics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Schizophrenia