BACKGROUND: The growth of cells is closely related to components in a culture medium. There are many reports about cellular characteristics of melanocytes grown in a PMA-contained medium. However, only a few reports have been studied by using a physiologic mitogens-contained medium. To understand melanocyte in vivo, it is necessary to know the cellular biology of melanocytes grown in a physiologic mitogens-contained medium. OBJECTIVE: To investigate any differences between melanocytes grown in phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate(PMA)-contained medium and in physiologic mitogens-contained medium. METHOD: We examined morphology, number and melanin contents of cultured human melanocytes grown in a PMA-contained medium and physiologic mitogens-, such as bFGF, ET-1 and a a-MSH contained medium. Result : The results are summarized as follows : 1. There were no significant morphologic differences between cells in PMA-contained medium and in physiologic mitogens-contained medium. 2. The number of melanocytes were significantly more numerous in PMA-contained medium on the 2nd day (p<0.05), but significantly less numerous in the same medium on the 6th day (p<0.05). So, the proliferation rate of melanocytes in PMA-contained medium became lower than in physiologic mitogens-contained medium as time went by. 3. Melanocytes grown in PMA-contained medium had significantly increased melanin contents regardless of the time (p<0.05). Conclusion : The proliferation of melanocytes was better in physiologic mitogens-contained medium, the melanization was higher in melanocytes of PMA-contained medium.
Humans* ; Melanins ; Melanocytes*

Flap survival is critical to the success in reconstructive surgery, there have been many investigations to increase the blood supply to the flaps such as surgical delay and pharmacologic delay. Prostaglandin(PG) is released from various tissues including blood vessel in response to physical stimulus. Among the Prostaglandins, PGE1 has been proven to be a vasodilatation property and many authors have demonstrated its effect to increase blood supply after random cutaneous flap surgery. Clinically, however, muscle flap or musculocutaneous flap is more significantly used in reconstructive surgery and hemodynamic effects of PGE1 of this type of flap are still not documented. The authors designed the random muscle flap to study the hemodynamic effects of PGE1 of the muscle flap. Superior based rectus muscle flap was elevated from rats and the superior epigastric artery, its major vascular pedicle, was ligated to create the random-type muscle flap. Twenty two rats were divided into two experimental groups and each group had 11 rats; Group I: No drugs Group II: PGE1 injection group for 7 postoperative days intraperitoneally The average muscle flap survival rate of group I was 46+/-3.0 precent and it had a higher survival rate than the control group(23+/-4.3%). The muscle flap survival rates showed significant differences between the two groups (p< 0.005) This study shows that the administration of the PGE1, in clinical usage of the rare random muscle flap with a pedicle injury or musculocutaneous flap with the risk of distal cutaneous flap necrosis, such as TRAM flap, which might be much safer and popular.
Alprostadil ; Animals ; Blood Vessels ; Epigastric Arteries ; Hemodynamics ; Myocutaneous Flap ; Necrosis ; Prostaglandins ; Rats* ; Rectus Abdominis* ; Survival Rate ; Vasodilation

Basta(R) is one of the Phospho-amino acid group herbicide. It consist of glufosinate ammonium (18.5%), alkylether sulfate as surfactant (30%) and some solvents. Although it's WHO classification is Bade III, the intoxicated patient appears an serious clinical findings and have a 20% mortality rate. Nowadays, in Korea the ingestion of herbicidal agents for suicidal attempts is Sequent. The literature for intoxication of bipyridilium (Gramoxon(R)) as herbicide is varied, but the information for Basta(R) is poor even though the use of it tends to increase. Recently, We experienced six cases of Basta(R) intoxication and found that the patient expressed a gradually progressed depression of mentation, recent memory disturbances, convulsions, hypotension, or bradycardia because of CNS or cardiovascular effects of Basta(R) We report these cases with literature review.
Ammonium Compounds* ; Bradycardia ; Classification ; Depression ; Eating ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Korea ; Memory ; Mortality ; Seizures ; Solvents

Soft denture liners or conditioners may be valuable therapeutic materials. The life of these liners is short and varies, but it can be extended by the use of a mono-poly(polymethyl methacrylate coating material). This study determined whether coating three temporary soft denture liners with mono-poly affected the resiliency of soft liners, and evaluated the ability of mono-poly to prevent water absorption and alcohol loss from the underlying soft liners. 20x12mm cylindrical specimens of Coe-Soft, Soft-Liner, Coe-Comfort soft lining materials were made and divided into two groups of mono-poly uncoated(control) and mono-poly coated specimens. Specimens were immersed in water and compressed on an instron universal testing machine and weighted at initial, 24 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks. resiliency was determined by measuring the energy absorbed by the soft liners when stressed to a specific yield point. Mono-poly coating significantly increased the resiliency of the Soft-Liner, but had no effect on the other soft liners. Among the 3 soft liners, Soft-Liner showed the hightest resiliency and modulus of elasticity. The weight loss in Soft-Liner was the least among the 3 liners, and the weight loss in Coe-Soft was decreased by monopoly coating.
Absorption ; Denture Liners* ; Dentures* ; Elastic Modulus ; Water ; Weight Loss

BACKGROUND: Fixed drug eruptions(FDE) are a cutaneous reaction characterized by one or more circumscribed lesions that recur at the same site in response to a given medication. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to find the clinical and histopathological characteristics of FDE and to compare early FDE with late FDE histopathologically. METHOD: We clinically investigated 54 cases of FDE that visited the department of dermatology at the Kyunghee medical center from January 1993 to December 1996. Among them, 31 patients had skin biopsies and were evaluated histopathologically on the basis of duration. RESULTS: The results were summarized as follows: 1. Development of FDE did not show any difference according to sex and was evenly distributed over all the ages. 2. The latent periods of FDE were diverse in appearance from 30 minutes to 10 days, but mostly, the skin lesions erupted within 4S hours. 3. The most common skin lesions were erythematous macules. 4. Distribution of the lesions came out as solitary: 20.4%, multiple: 79.6%. S3.7% of the multiple lesions were localized to a part of body, and 16.3% were distributed over the whole body. 5. The areas in which the eruptions developed were (in descending order): upper extremity(37.0%), hand(31.5%), trunk(24.1%), face(24.1%). 6. In most cases(68.6%), the size and the number of lesions were greater in recurrente, rather than in first attacks. 7. The histopathological findings commonly showed perivascular mononuclear cell(MNC) infiltration (100%), pigmentary incontinence(77.4%), basal hydrophic degeneration(71.0%), eosinophil infiltration in dermis(61.3%), etc. 8. The epidermal histopathological findings such as spongiosis, exocytosis of MNC, basal hydrophic degeneration, keratinocyte necrosis and subepidermal vesicles could be seen more frequently in early lesions than in late ones. CONCLUSION: In our study, we were able to obtain meaningful results based on data from the combination of clinical and histopathological investigations. This study may give help to understand the characteristics of fixed drug eruptions and to plan future studies.
Biopsy ; Dermatology ; Drug Eruptions* ; Eosinophils ; Exocytosis ; Humans ; Keratinocytes ; Necrosis ; Skin

The frequency of metastasis to the skin from lung cancer is 1-12%. The incidence of cutaneous metastasis was high in patients with large-cell lung cancer, whereas squamous cell and small-cell lung cancer showed the least tendency to extend to cutaneous sites. Adenocarcinoma was intermediate in the tendency to metastasize in the skin. Histological findings of small-cell lung cancer show solid, tumor cell nests composed of neoplastic cells with large, round nuclei. So, it is often difficult to distinguish small-cell lung cancer from other poorly differentiated small-cell tumors, such as Merkel cell carcinoma, metastatic carcinoid, lymphoma, etc. We report here two cases of skin metastasis from small-cell lung cancer. Case one was a 74-year-old man presenting with a single, round, dome-shaped nodule on the alar nasi which had been present for 1 month. The second case was a 73-year-old man who had found three, non-tender, freely movable subcutaneous nodules on the abdomen 3 days before. Both cases were diagnosed as small-cell lung cancer. On histopathological examination of the skin lesions, we could observe that small round to oval cells with dark staining nuclei and scant cytoplasms were arranged in anastomosing trabecular streams through the dermis, separated by strands of connective tissue in both cases. In the first case, the tumor cells were positive to cytokeratin and NSE, negative to neurofilament antiagen and LCA.
Abdomen ; Adenocarcinoma ; Aged ; Carcinoid Tumor ; Carcinoma, Merkel Cell ; Connective Tissue ; Cytoplasm ; Dermis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Keratins ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lymphoma ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Rivers ; Skin ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma*

Fixation failure is a major complication of intertrochanteric fracture. The causes of fixation failure were assessed in a series of 80 patients with intertrochanteric fractures, which had been internally fixed with either a sliding hip screw or a Gamma interlocking nail. The overall rate of fixation failure was 16.3%, in which the cutting-out of the implant from the femoral head was the only cause of the instance. The cutting-out rate was influenced by the accuracy of fracture reduction, the position of implant placement within the femoral head, and the bone mineral density. Anatomical reduction and the central placement of implant within the femoral head showed the most excellent results compared to other treatment modalities. Age, gender, fracture type and a kind of fixation implant had no significant effect. Our results showed that the intertrochanteric fractures should be reduced as anatomically as possible and it is essential that the central placement of the implant within the femoral head be obtained.
Bone Density ; Head ; Hip ; Hip Fractures* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast*

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast*

There are 3 basic methods for surgical treatment of axillary osmidrosis; 1) method that removes only subcutaneous cellular tissue without removing skin 2) method that removes skin and subcutaneous cellular tissue en bloc, and 3) method that partially removes skin and subcutaneous cellular en bloc as well as removing the subcutaneous cellular tissue of the adjacent region. We studied the results of partial removal of the skin and subcutaneous cellular tissue en bloc, as well as the removal of subcutaneous cellular tissue of the adjacent region to compare the results of the bipedicled flap with the graft conversion method. There was no difference between two methods in results and complication rates. There are 3 advantage to this procedure. First, about 70-80% of apocrine glands were centrally distributed among the axillary hairbearing region therefore, resection of the central portion of axillary hair distribution area is important for good result. Second, the preservation of the subdermal plexus with careful excision of adjacent underlying subcutaneous tissue under the aid of the magnifying surgical loupe, is important for good wound healing. Third, the central excision of the axillary hair distribution area provides good exploration for undermining and defatting of the undersurface of the adjacent area, therefore it tooks a shorter operation time.
Apocrine Glands ; Hair ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Transplants ; Wound Healing