BACKGROUND: The effects of melanocyte stimulating hormone(MSH) on the integument of many species, including mammals, are well known. The significance of MSH as a physiological regulator of cutaneous pigmentation in humans is still controversial. Although the administration of MSH results in skin darkening, previous reports suggest that cultured human melanocytes are relatively unresponsive to this peptide. This may be related to the conditions under which the melanocytes were cultured. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of alpha-MSH on the morphological changes, survival, and melanization of cultured human melanocytes in a basal medium without any mitogen. METHOD: We examined the morphological changes, number and melanin contents of cultured human melanocytes in control(absence of alpha-MSH) and experimental groups(presence of 10(-8) M, 10(-7) M, and 10(-6) M alpha-MSH). RESULTS: 1. There were no significant morphological changes of cells between the control and experimental groups after 24, 48, and 72 hours' culture. The number and length of melanocyte dendrites showed no significant difference between the groups after 24, 48, and 72 hours' culture. 2. The number of melanocytes in the experimental groups(presence of 10(-7) M, and 10(-6) M alpha-MSH) were significantly higher than the number of melanocytes in control group after 72 hours culture(p<0.05). This effect of alpha-MSH was dose-related. 3. The melanin contents slightly increased in the experimental groups. The significant difference between the groups was showed in the presence of 10(-8) M alpha-MSH. CONCLUSIONS: alpha-MSH has no effect on the morphology, but increases the survival of cultured human melanocytes and has a melanogenic effect.
alpha-MSH* ; Dendrites ; Humans* ; Mammals ; Melanins ; Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones ; Melanocytes* ; Pigmentation ; Skin

Incontinentia pigmenti(IP) is an X-linked dominantly inherited disorder with female predominance. Skin lesions are characterized by three or four stages; vesicobullous, verrucous, hyperpigmented and hypopigmented lesions. About 80% of patients with incontinentia pigmenti have one or more associated ectodermal or mesodermal anomalies involving teeth, nail, hair, eye, breast, bones and nervous system. A newborn girl had erythematous based vesicles and bullae on her trunk and extremities with peripheral eosinophilia. Within several days, she showed linear verrucous plaques. A skin biopsy specimen showed eosinophilic spongiosis in the epidermis and numerous eosinophils in the dermis. The diagnosis of IP was made. She was revealed to have some congenital heart anomalies; atrial septal defect (ASD) and patent ductus arteriosus(PDA). Cases of IP with congenital heart disease have been reported very rarely. Therefore, we report this unique case of IP associated with ASD and PDA.
Biopsy ; Breast ; Dermis ; Diagnosis ; Ectoderm ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils ; Epidermis ; Extremities ; Female ; Hair ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Heart Diseases* ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; Heart* ; Humans ; Incontinentia Pigmenti* ; Infant, Newborn ; Mesoderm ; Nervous System ; Skin ; Tooth

Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome (TRPS) was first described in 1966 by Giedion. It is a rare genetic disease and divided into two groups : TRPS type I and TRPS type II. TRPS type I is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder, defined by three characteristic findings : first, sparsely distributed brittle and slow-growing scalp hair, second, a bulbous pear-shaped nose with an elongated philtrum, third brachydactyla with angular deformities. The characteristic radiological features of the hands include cone shaped epiphysis of the proximal interphalangeal joints. Most TRPS type II is sporadic and shows multiple exosteosis, mental retardation and microcephaly in addition to the three chracteristic findings of TRPS type I . A 20-year-old female visited our department for the evaluation of her sparse, slow-growing scalp hair. She also had a bulbous pearshaped nose, ulnar deviated fingers and shortened both hallux. Some relatives of patients show similar symptoms of scalp hair. A Radiologic aly, histopathologic aly and chromosomal study were done, and we established the diagnosis, TRPS type I.
Congenital Abnormalities ; Diagnosis ; Epiphyses ; Female ; Fingers ; Hair ; Hallux ; Hand ; Humans ; Intellectual Disability ; Joints ; Lip ; Microcephaly ; Nose ; Scalp ; Young Adult

Neurofibromatosis produces a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations. Cafe-au-lait spots, cutaneous neurofibroma and tumors of the central and peripheral nervous system are well known manifestations. One of the more serious aspects of the disease relates to the arterial involvement. Renal arterial disease with resultant hypertension has been paticularly well documented. However, cerebrovascular lesions in neurofibromatosis are uncommon. Cerebral arterial occlusive diseases with juxtabasilar telangiectasia (moyamoya disease) associated with neurofibromatosis have been documented in about 40 patients in the world literature. We report a case of neurofibromatosis associated with the moyamoya disease.
Arterial Occlusive Diseases ; Cafe-au-Lait Spots ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Moyamoya Disease* ; Neurofibroma ; Neurofibromatoses* ; Peripheral Nervous System ; Telangiectasis

Dermal melanocytosis is characterized by the presence of ectopic melanocytes in the dermis and shows several morphological forms, including the mongolian spot, the blue nevus, the nevus of Ota, the nevus of Ito, and dermal melanocyte hamartoma. A 30-month-old boy had a gray blue patch on the left deltoid region, upper back, sacral area, the entire length of the right arm, and right hand. There was a bluish speckled patch on the right palm. The lesions were present at birth, and no appreciable change in appearance had occurred. He also had blue to brownish pigmentation on the right side of his face with dark bluish pigmentation of the right sclera. His Mental and physical development had been normal. The histopathological examination revealed dendritic dermal melanocytes, mainly in the upper and mid dermis. Clinically and pathologically, the patient was diagnosed as having Ota nevus, Ito nevus, mongolian spot, and dermal melanocyte hamartoma. To our knowledge, dermal melanocytosis with 4 different morphological forms in a patient has not previously been reported. We report this unique case of dermal melanocytosis with various morphological forms.
Arm ; Child, Preschool ; Dermis ; Hamartoma ; Hand ; Humans ; Male ; Melanocytes ; Mongolian Spot ; Nevus ; Nevus of Ota ; Nevus, Blue ; Parturition ; Pigmentation ; Sclera

BACKGROUND: Irradiation of the skin with ultraviolet rays result in alterations of immune response as well as melanogenesis and melanocarcinogenensis. These effects are largely mediated by soluble mediators released from epidermal cells in response to ultraviolet rays. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation on the normal human melanocyte gene expression. METHODS: We demonstrated genes modulated by UVB irradiation among over 300 genes coding CDs, cytokins, growth factors, and growth factor receptors in normal human melanocytes by cDNA microarray technique. RESULTS: Two genes out of 384 genes in cultured normal human melanocytes were found up-regulated following UVB irradiation. They are the genes coding lactotransferrin and CD160. Forty one genes out of 384 genes were found down-regulated by UVB irradiation. They included the genes coding IL-9, IL-5, TNF-alpha, TNF-beta, IL-6 receptor and CD20. CONCLUSION: These results provide the basis for future studies on the immunologic role in modulated genes by UV-stressed human melanocytes.
Clinical Coding ; Gene Expression ; Humans* ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Interleukin-5 ; Interleukin-9 ; Lactoferrin ; Lymphotoxin-alpha ; Melanocytes* ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Receptors, Growth Factor ; Receptors, Interleukin-6 ; Skin ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Ultraviolet Rays

Cutaneous ulcers due to candida infection are very rare condition, occurring almost in immunocompromised host or occurring as cutaneous manifestation of systemic candidal infection. A 52-year-old woman presented with cutaneous ulcer on dorsum of left hand which had lasted for about 15 days. Bacterial culture showed nonpathogenic organism, Enterobacter cloacae. Mycologic studies including KOH mount and fungus culture were positive for pseudohyphae and colonies of Candida species. A biopsy specimen from the center of ulcer revealed numerous spores and fungal hyphae in the upper dermis and necrotic epidermis. Bacterial culture and fungus culture of patient's serum and urine were negative. Initial treatment with antibiotics had no effectiveness for 2 weeks. After then we treated with antifungal drug, itraconazole 100mg/day. After 6 weeks of antifungal therapy, the skin lesion was much improved. We report this case, because it showed cutaneous ulcer due to candida infection but had neither systemic candidal infection nor clinical sign of immunosuppression.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Biopsy ; Candida* ; Dermis ; Enterobacter cloacae ; Epidermis ; Female ; Fungi ; Hand ; Humans ; Hyphae ; Immunocompromised Host ; Immunosuppression ; Itraconazole ; Middle Aged ; Skin ; Spores ; Ulcer*

No abstract available.
Amiodarone/*adverse effects ; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents/*adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to find risk factors that are associated with complications of cerebral infarction in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and to discover useful association rules among these factors. METHODS: The risk factors with respect to cerebral infarction were selected using logistic regression analysis with the Wald's forward selection approach. The rules to identify the complications of cerebral infarction were obtained by using the association rule mining (ARM) approach. RESULTS: We observed that 4 independent factors, namely, age, hypertension, initial electrocardiographic rhythm, and initial echocardiographic left atrial dimension (LAD), were strong predictors of cerebral infarction in patients with AF. After the application of ARM, we obtained 4 useful rules to identify complications of cerebral infarction: age (>63 years) and hypertension (Yes) and initial ECG rhythm (AF) and initial Echo LAD (>4.06 cm); age (>63 years) and hypertension (Yes) and initial Echo LAD (>4.06 cm); hypertension (Yes) and initial ECG rhythm (AF) and initial Echo LAD (>4.06 cm); age (>63 years) and hypertension (Yes) and initial ECG rhythm (AF). CONCLUSIONS: Among the induced rules, 3 factors (the initial ECG rhythm [i.e., AF], initial Echo LAD, and age) were strongly associated with each other.
Arm ; Association Learning ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Cerebral Infarction ; Data Mining ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Logistic Models ; Mining ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVES: Cohort studies of associations between air pollution and health have used exposure prediction approaches to estimate individual-level concentrations. A common prediction method used in Korean cohort studies is ordinary kriging. In this study, performance of ordinary kriging models for long-term particulate matter less than or equal to 10 mum in diameter (PM10) concentrations in seven major Korean cities was investigated with a focus on spatial prediction ability. METHODS: We obtained hourly PM10 data for 2010 at 226 urban-ambient monitoring sites in South Korea and computed annual average PM10 concentrations at each site. Given the annual averages, we developed ordinary kriging prediction models for each of the seven major cities and for the entire country by using an exponential covariance reference model and a maximum likelihood estimation method. For model evaluation, cross-validation was performed and mean square error and R-squared (R2) statistics were computed. RESULTS: Mean annual average PM10 concentrations in the seven major cities ranged between 45.5 and 66.0 mug/m3 (standard deviation=2.40 and 9.51 mug/m3, respectively). Cross-validated R2 values in Seoul and Busan were 0.31 and 0.23, respectively, whereas the other five cities had R2 values of zero. The national model produced a higher crossvalidated R2 (0.36) than those for the city-specific models. CONCLUSIONS: In general, the ordinary kriging models performed poorly for the seven major cities and the entire country of South Korea, but the model performance was better in the national model. To improve model performance, future studies should examine different prediction approaches that incorporate PM10 source characteristics.
Air Pollution ; Busan ; Cohort Studies ; Korea ; Particulate Matter* ; Seoul ; Spatial Analysis*