Colorectal carcinoma in patients under 40 years and over 70 years of age is unusual but not rare. The prognosis of these two groups, compared with remainder of patients, is thought to be unfavorable. From Jan. 1981 to Dec. 1997, 541 patients with primary colorectal cancer who were treated by surgical resection were analyzed retrospectively. They were divided into three age groups according to the age at admission, i.e. under 40 years, over 70 years and between 40 and 69 years(control group). Among three age groups, sex ratio, tumor characteristics(size, location , depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, liver metastasis, peritoneal metastasis, histopathologic classification, stage, DNA ploidy pattern), serum CEA level and survival were compared and analyzed. The results were as follows: 1) In the young patient group(52 cases), female predominence, large tumor size, high proportion of mucinous adenocarcinoma in histopathologic classification, more frequent metastasis to regional lymph node, frequent peritoneal metastasis and high incidence in tumor location at transverse colon were noted(p<0.05). 2) In the elderly group(69 cases), deep invasion of tumor(T4) was noted (p<0.05). In addition, among them, concomittent diseases were presented in 25 patients(36%). They were diabetes(8), cardiac arrhythmia(4), old myocardial infarction(2), liver cirrhosis(5), COPD(3), previous cancer(3). 3) The 5-year survival rates of the young patient group and that of elderly patient group were lower than that of the other(p<0.01). 4) There was no significant differences in liver metastasis, tumor stage, DNA ploidy pattern, serum CEA level among three age groups.
Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; Aged* ; Classification ; Colon, Transverse ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; DNA ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Liver ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ploidies ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Ratio ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: The etiology of Behçet's disease(BD) is not yet certain, and various hypotheses are suggested. In order to determine the role of dietary intake behavior in the pathogenesis of BD, we analyzed BD patients by questionnaire regarding their personal, social, and economic characteristics, and dietary intake behavior. METHODS: A series. of 79 patients who were registered at the Behçet's Disease Specialty Clinic at Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea were studied. The patients were classified and the data from the patients were analyzed according to the revised Japanese criteria. RESULTS: All patients except for suspected type patients took an average amount of nutrition close to the Korean Recommended Dietary Allowance(RDA). However, on the whole, the amount of consumption of Vitamin B2 and C was low and in the case of females, the consumption of Ca and Fe was makedly insufficient in accordance with the Korean RDA. In case of the level of dietary and serum zinc, there was no significant difference in patients or among groups. CONCLUSION: Since the consumption of some vitamins and minerals of patients were low, the behavior of dietary intake of BD patients which is considered to have a possible role in development of disease should be studied further.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Minerals ; Miners ; Riboflavin ; Seoul ; Vitamins ; Zinc

The diagnostic and prognostic potential of an onco-metabolite, 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG) as a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) detectable biomarker of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutated (IDH-MT) gliomas has drawn attention of neuroradiologists recently. However, due to severe spectral overlap with background signals, quantification of 2HG can be very challenging. In this technical review for neuroradiologists, first, the biochemistry of 2HG and its significance in the diagnosis of IDH-MT gliomas are summarized. Secondly, various 1H-MRS methods used in the previous studies are outlined. Finally, wereview previous in vivo studies, and discuss the current status of 1H-MRS in the diagnosis of IDH-MT gliomas.
Biochemistry ; Diagnosis ; Glioma* ; Isocitrate Dehydrogenase ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy* ; Protons*

Porcelain is considered to be one of the materials of choice for restoration where esthetics is of concern. But porcelain surface without final glazing treatment may induce undesirable results such as inflammatory respones on adjacent soft tissues due to plaque accumulation and increased wear of opposing teeth. Therefore, rough porcelain surface must be smoothened by final glazing treatment or chairside polishing procedure. The purpose of this study was to compare the surface roughness among self-glazed, overglazed and polished porcelain with various polishing kit, and to detect which phase of polishing is optimal in clinic. Specimens were fabricated with Vita VMK porcelain. The surface treatment of each group was performed as follows. Group 1 : overglazing treatment Group 2 : self-glazing treatment Group 3 : polishing with the Truluster Polishing System for Porcelain(Brasseler, U.S.A.) Group 4 : polishing with the Exa Cerapol Adjustment kit (Edenta dental products, Switzerland) followed by finishing with diamond-filled polishing paste Group 5 : polishing with the Shofu Porcelain Adjustment kit (Shofu inc., Japan) followed by finishing with diamond-filled polishing paste. At each polishing steps, the measurement of Ra and Rq values were performed, and the surface was examined by scanning electron microscope. The results were as follows: 1. Overglazing treatment brought smoother surface than self-glazing treatment. 2. Polishing systems without porcelain polishing paste did not make better result than self-glazing treatment. 3. Polishing system with porcelain polishing paste made similar result to overglazing treatment. 4. Applying diamond-filled polishing paste after using polishing system which has porcelain polishing paste produced surface as smooth as overglazing treatment does.
Dental Porcelain* ; Esthetics ; Tooth

Spontaneous intramural hematoma of the esophagus is a very rare disease. Varying degrees of submucosal rupture of the esophagus are caused by intramural hematoma of the esophagus. The causative factors include vomiting, an esophageal foreign body, endoscopic sclerotherapy for esophageal varices, equipment manipulation, drugs (e.g., warfarin and aspirin) and full-body disease (e.g., chronic renal failure, hemophilia and leukemia), and idiopathic causes have also been described. A 68-year-old male taking aspirin, clopidogrel and cilostazol was admitted to our hospital complaining of hematemesis. Spontaneous intramural hematoma of the esophagus was diagnosed by endoscopy. We report here on a case of spontaneous intramural hematoma of the esophagus that occurred after vomiting and the patient showed spontaneous improvement. We also review the relevant literature.
Aged ; Aspirin ; Endoscopy ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices ; Esophagus ; Foreign Bodies ; Hematemesis ; Hematoma ; Hemophilia A ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Male ; Rare Diseases ; Rupture ; Sclerotherapy ; Tetrazoles ; Ticlopidine ; Vomiting ; Warfarin

BACKGROUND: Thymopentin(TP-5) is an immunomodulatory agent which may be a promising new drug in the treatment of patients with severe atopic dermatitis. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of thymopentin for treatment of severe atopic dermatitis. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fifteen patients with severe atopic dermatitis received subcutaneous injections of 50mg thymopentin three times per week for 6 weeks. Clinical extent and severity parameters were assessed at baseline, at regular intervals during therapy and 4 weeks posttherapy. Use of antihistamine and topical steroid were permitted. RESULT: Significant reduction in severity scores and body surface area involvement was observed and no significant side effects were noted(p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Thymopentin may be considered to be an effective adjunctive therapeutic agent in the treatment of severe atopic dermatitis. Further studies will be needed to determine the action mechanism of thymopentin.
Body Surface Area ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Humans ; Injections, Subcutaneous ; Thymopentin*

Myopericarditis is an uncommon manifestation, but can be reaely a lethal complication of infectious mononucleosis. We experienced a case of infectious mononucleosis complicated by myopericarditis in which the clinical pictur was confused as acute myocarddial infarction. A 25-year-old male who presented with syncope and chest pain. The diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis was comfirmed by both a positive heterophil antibody test and a high titer of Epstein-Barr virus antibody. He was found to have completely normal findings at cardiac catheterization, including coronary arteriography. Pathologic specimen from right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy demonstrated extensive lymphocytic and eosinophilic infiltration of the myocardium.
Adult ; Angiography ; Biopsy ; Cardiac Catheterization ; Cardiac Catheters ; Chest Pain ; Diagnosis ; Eosinophils ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; Humans ; Infarction ; Infectious Mononucleosis* ; Male ; Myocardium ; Syncope

The adverse effect of diving on the fetus may extend beyond n gestational process and outcome. Primiparous Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of ten exposure schedules during gestatred PO2 level, the following question about the effect of exposing a pregnant female to high partial pressure of inspired oxygen has been raised. "What effect does an increased maternal PIO2 have on fetal arterial PO2 and therefore on possible fetal oxygen poisoning?" This study was carried out to observe the effects of maternal hyperoxia on gestational process and outcome. Primiparous Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of ten exposure schedules during gestation. The treatment groups were subjected to either the high concentration of oxygen, or the high atmospheric pressure. On day 21 of gestation, laparotomy was performed to examine for number and distribution of implantations and live and resorbing embryos. Fetuses were weighed, and examined for gross malformations. Subsequently, they were fixed, measured in physical parameters, and examined for visceral anomalies. Minor visceral anomalies and anatomical variation was not found. Similarily, there were no significant differences when number of resorptions, mean fetal weights, pregnancy interruption rate were compared by analysis of variance. These results indicate that exposing rats to oxygen at increased atmospheric pressure doese not affect fetal health or survival.
Animals ; Appointments and Schedules ; Atmospheric Pressure ; Diving ; Embryonic Structures ; Female ; Fetal Weight ; Fetus ; Humans ; Hyperoxia* ; Laparotomy ; Oxygen ; Partial Pressure ; Pregnancy* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

To investigate the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on superoxide dismutase activity, neonatal rats (7-10 days old) and adult rats (approximately 100 days old) were continuously exposed to hyperbaric oxygen environment of 2.4ATA for 8 hours and their superoxide dismutase activity were measured. Neonatal rats, all survived through exposure, showed significant increases in the pulmonary superoxide dismutase activity at immediately and 24 hours after exposure. Adult rats, whose 8 hour survival rates were 14 %, did not show any significant increase in the activity of pulmonary superoxide dismutase as compared to the control adult rats. These findings are indicating that increased tolerance to oxygen toxicity in neonatal animals during exposure may be attributed to the increase in activity of superoxide dismutase in neonatal rats.
Adult* ; Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Humans ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation* ; Oxygen ; Rats* ; Superoxide Dismutase* ; Superoxides* ; Survival Rate

Intrahepatic abscess is an unusual complication of peptic ulcer disease. We present a case of gastric cancer in which the ulcer penetrated into the left lobe of liver with subsequent abscess and fistula formation. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy confirmed ulcers and a fistula opening in the antrum. Abdominal computed tomogram showed a subcapsular liver abscess adjacent to the gastric antrum. Subtotal gastrectomy with curettage of the fistulous tract was performed. The final diagnosis was the signet ring cell gastric carcinoma complicating subcapsular liver abscess. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in Korea.
Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Female ; Humans ; Klebsiella pneumoniae/isolation & purification ; Liver Abscess/diagnosis/*etiology/microbiology ; Middle Aged ; Peptic Ulcer Perforation/*complications/diagnosis ; Stomach Neoplasms/complications/*diagnosis/surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed