BACKGROUND: Skin color is determined by many factors including melanin and nonmelanin pigments like hemoglobin and extraneous chemicals. Various factors such as race, sex, and age have been reported to have an influence on skin color. METHODS: Measurement of malanin index (M-index) was made by reflectance spectropho-tometer at three different sites including forehead, abdomen and forearm in total 800 healthy subjects consisting of 100 males and 100 females of neonates (three days after birth) and children (male:8.08±0.84, female:8.03±0.80, total :8.06±0.82 years of age), ado-lescence (mate:13.89± 0.76, female:13.96±0.79, total:13.93±0.78 years of age), and adults(male:24.26±0.82, female:24.40±0.89, total:24.33±0.86 years of age). We also investigated the change of M-index by each skin phototype of college students determined by Fitzpatrick classification. RESULTS: From the birth to the puberty, sex difference of melanin index was generally not not-ed, but adult females showed lower levels of melanin index in all sites measured. M-index in-creased from birth to adolescence, and decreased after adulthood. Forehead showed highest melanin index compared with other sites. Increase of M-index was noted as skin phototype goes from III to V. CONCLUSIONS: Factors including sex, age, body sites and skin phototype have a significant in-fluence on the changes of skin color in humans.
Abdomen ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Classification ; Continental Population Groups ; Female ; Forearm ; Forehead ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Melanins* ; Parturition ; Puberty ; Sex Characteristics ; Skin*

Patterns of branches and distribution of right coronary artery in Korean adult hearts were observed at the viewpoint of newly edited Nomina Anatomica, and the results were as follows. Generally the right aortic sinus had one orifice, but sometimes had two orifices which were related to conal branch. The right coronary artery had mural coronary in 17.5% of cases. In the most of the cases, right coronary artery was dominent, and type 4 was most frequent. Descending septal artery was observed in 17.5% of cases. The atrial branches can be grouped as anterior, posterior and left atrial, and each group was composed of one or two branches when present. In 97.5% of cases, intermediate atrial branch was observed. The sinuatrial nodal artery was originated mostly from right coronary artery. The atrioventriclar branch was observed in 7.5% of cases. The ventricular branches can be grouped as right anterior, right posterior and left posterior, and composed of 3-6, 0-2, and 0-4 branches respectively. Right marginal branch showed great variation, and other branch originated from superiorto to it was found to distribute the apex of the heart. Based on the results, the authors depicts typical arrangement of the rignt coronary artery in Korean.
Adult ; Arteries ; Coronary Vessels* ; Heart ; Humans ; Sinus of Valsalva

We studied the incidence and morphological variation of the metopic suture in Korean. Ninety-six adult Korean dried skulls and 141 cases of antero-posterior skull roentgenograms from age of 1 month to 80years old. We divided metopic suture into complete and incomplete type. Incidence of complete type was 8.3% in dried skulls. In roentgenograms the incidence was decreased according to aging, especially around 6-8 years old, and over 20 years old age group the incidence was 4.0%. The incidence of incomplete type was 32.3%.
Adult ; Aging ; Humans ; Incidence ; Skull ; Sutures*

Metastatic cancers to the skin are rare and usually originate in the lung, breast, large intestine, or ovary. They commonly present with lesions in the area overlying the neoplasm, but the morphology, pattern and distribution may vary. Hepatoma metastasizes to the lungs, adrenal glands, regional lymph nodes, portal vein, gallbladder, pancreas, bone, hepatic vein, kidney, mediastinum, less commonly, the heart, peritoneum, diaphragm, and bone marrow. Cutaneous metastasis from hepatoma occurs very rarely and, if present, it usually presents as solitary or multiple nodules. We report two cases of cutaneous metastases from hepatoma.
Adrenal Glands ; Bone Marrow ; Breast ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Diaphragm ; Female ; Gallbladder ; Granuloma, Pyogenic* ; Heart ; Hepatic Veins ; Intestine, Large ; Kidney ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Mediastinum ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Ovary ; Pancreas ; Peritoneum ; Portal Vein ; Skin

The tricuspid valve is not a simple but a complex structure, tricuspid valve complex. This complex is composed of tricuspid orifice, annulus, valve leaflet, chordae tendineae and papillary muscles. There are flew articles about these structures. The authors studied tricuspid valve complex in 53 cases of normal korean adults, such as circumference of tricuspid annulus, the maximum diameter of the tricuspid orifice, height and breadth of the cusps, including commissures, the ratio of rough to clear zone, the number of scallops of posterior cusp, the number, length and pattern of arrangement of the several types of chordae, the number and morphological characteristics of papillary muscles.
Adult* ; Chordae Tendineae ; Heart* ; Humans ; Papillary Muscles ; Pectinidae ; Tricuspid Valve*

Periumbilical perforating pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PPPXE) is a localized acquired disorder found most frequently in obese, multiparous, middle-aged women. It is characterized clinically by yellowish, lax, well-circumscribed, reticulated or cobblestoned patches or plaques in the periumbilical region. Multiparity, obesity, massive ascites, and abdominal surgery are thought to the initiating factors. There is controversy about the etiology of PPPXE. Some authors have classified it as a separate entity from hereditary pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), while others speculate that this condition merely represents a variable expression of PXE in which systemic associations are likely. We report a case of periumbilical perforating pseudoxanthoma elasticum associated with a clinical PXE lesion on the anterior neck.
Ascites ; Female ; Humans ; Neck ; Obesity ; Parity ; Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum*

No abstract available.
Embryonic Structures* ; Humans*

No abstract available.
Embryonic Structures* ; Head* ; Humans* ; Neck*

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

Many previously described nuclear medicine procedures to assess glomerular filtration rate have some problems because numerous blood sample is to be taken and they don't measure each separate renal function. Gates described isotopic method for the measurement of global and unilateral GFR based on the fractional renal uptake of (99m)Tc-DTPA 2 to 3 minutes after its intravenous injection. We evaluated GFR using (99m)Tc-DTPA in 57 people according to Gates method and compared with creatinine clearance. A good correlation was observed between creatinine clearance and GRF calculated by Gates' formula with an r value of 0.9(P<0.05). And also the relationship between parameters of (99m)Tc-DTPA renal scan images and GFR was taken. They were significantly correlated with GFR calculated by Gates' formula : r value 0.66 between relative intensity of peak renal to peak aortic activity(pK/pA) and GFR, -0.42 between time between aortic and kidney peak(A-K) and GFR and -0.48 between parenchymal renal activity at 25 min compared to peak kidney activity(25K/pK) and GRF. In conclusion, the determination of GFR according to Gates' formula shows good and reproducible of GRF with rapidity and simplicity. And the parameters from the renal scan images can use to estimate the renal function.
Creatinine ; Filtration* ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Injections, Intravenous ; Kidney ; Methods ; Nuclear Medicine