Bee sting therapy is said to have been practised since the age of ancient Egypt. Some people believe in the benefit of apitherapy for articular inflammation, hematoma, sciatica, hay fever, etc. However, honeybee has several venoms that may induce various clinical and histopathological findings. We report a case of foreign-body granuloma after honeybee acupuncture for polyarthralgia. To our knowledge, this is the first report of foreign-body granuloma developing at an acupunctured site in English literature.
Acupuncture* ; Apitherapy ; Arthralgia ; Bees ; Bites and Stings ; Egypt ; Granuloma, Foreign-Body* ; Hematoma ; Inflammation ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal ; Sciatica ; Venoms

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Lamivudine, an oral nucleoside analogue, effectively inhibits hepatitis B virus replication and reduces hepatic necroinflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis B. This study investigated the effect and safety of 12 week lamivudine therapy in Korean patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). METHODS: In an open clinical trial, 113 patients with CHB were enrolled. They received 100 mg of lamivudine orally once daily for 12 weeks, and they were followed until 2 weeks after cessation of lamivudine. HBV DNA (by bDNA assay), liver enzymes, creatine phosphokinase, creatinine and CBC were checked at 0, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 14 weeks. Compliance and side effects were evaluated at the same time. RESULTS: After receiving lamivudine 100 mg, serum HBV DNA levels fell rapidly, remaining in 94.3% below baseline values at 2 weeks and 99.8% below baseline values at 12 weeks. Serum HBV DNA was cleared in 75.2% and alanine aminotransferase level (ALT) was normalized in 64.8% at 12 weeks. Cumulative percentage of HBeAg clearance (defined by clearance of serum HBV DNA and HBeAg) was 14.4%. Clearance of HBV DNA was more frequent in patients with lower pretreatment serum HBV DNA and higher ALT. During the treatment periods, adverse effects were negligible and transient. Two weeks after cessation of lamivudine, serum HBV DNA reappeared in 70.6% of responders. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that lamivudine is effective and safe in the treatment of CHB in Korean patients, but further study for adequate duration of treatment is needed because of high recurrence after 12 weeks therapy.
Alanine Transaminase ; Compliance ; Creatine Kinase ; Creatinine ; DNA ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic* ; Humans ; Lamivudine* ; Liver ; Recurrence

The Marfan's syndrome is a collagenous hereditary disorder affected by the long bone, heart and eyes. Two cases of Marfan's syndrome are presented. Both two cases showed upward dislocation of lenses. We performed extraction of lenses on 4 eyes among the two cases by means of Cryo-extractor. The results of surgical treatment are described.
Collagen ; Dislocations ; Heart ; Marfan Syndrome*

No abstract available.
Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration* ; Fibrinolytic Agents* ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans

Melanosis coli is the brownish pigmentation of the colon associted with the ingestion of anthraquinone compounds as iaxatives. The brownish discoloration of the colon mucosa is due to accumulation of macrophage containing lipofuscin pigment in the lamina propria. This is the one of the complications of laxative abuse, but the pigments disappear by withdrawing the anthraquinone. We report a case of malanosis coli histologically confirmed by fibersigmoidoscopic biopsy in a 70-year-old female patient consuming anthraquinone compound for twelve months with a review of the literature.
Aged ; Biopsy ; Colon ; Eating ; Female ; Humans ; Lipofuscin ; Macrophages ; Melanosis* ; Mucous Membrane ; Pigmentation

Recently the use of hydrochloric acid as a toilet disinfectant has become more common, and the risk of its ingestion is though to be increasing. We experienced a case of 67 year-old man who accidentally ingested hydrochloric acid and as a result developed a postprandial epigastric fullness end pain 3 weeks thereafter, The patient underwent an UGI series, fiberoptic gastroscope and abdominal ultrasonography and was found to have a gastric midbody stricture. A total gastreetomy and Roux-en- Y esophagojejunostomy was performed. We report this case with brief review of the literature.
Aged ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Eating ; Gastritis* ; Gastroscopes ; Humans ; Hydrochloric Acid* ; Ultrasonography

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the influence on voiding symptoms when performing sling operation on patients with stress urinary incontinence with detrusor underactivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed medical records of 100 patients who received the sling operation. Based on their preoperative urodynamic study, we defined "stress urinary incontinence with detrusor underactivity (SUI with DU)" group as these findings; peak flow less than 11 ml/s or void with abdominal pressure instead of detrusor contraction or residual urine volume more than 100 ml. And the others were defined as the "stress urinary incontinence only (SUI)"group. We compared two groups and analyzed the changes of pre- and postoperative uroflowmetry. RESULTS: The number of patients with the "SUI with DU" group was 30 and that with the "SUI" group was 70. In the "SUI with DU" group, there were no changes in peak flow rate and residual urine volume between postoperative uroflowmetry and preoperative urodynamic study (15.1 +/- 7.9 vs. 14.7 +/- 7.1 ml/s, 123.1 +/- 79.2 vs. 127.3 +/- 91.9 ml) (p>0.05). Twenty four patients underwent urinary drainage with nelatone catheter either on postoperative first or second day. However, 22 patients did not need to continue self catheterization. CONCLUSION: Sling operation could be performed on patients who are diagnosed as stress urinary incontinence with detrusor underactivity without aggravating their voiding symptoms.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Drainage ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Urinary Incontinence* ; Urination Disorders ; Urodynamics

Cystic lesions of the pancreas are being incidentally recognized with increasing frequency and become a common finding in clinical practice. Despite of recent remarkable advances of radiological and endoscopic assessment and a better understanding of natural history of certain subgroups of cystic lesions, differentiating among lesions and making an optimal management plan is still challenging. A multimodal approach should be performed to evaluate incidentally detected cystic lesions. Emerging evidence supports selective nonoperative management for the majority of patients with cystic lesions, but, for those in whom a suspicion of malignancy remains, surgery is indicated. Concerning long-term follow-up, there is limited data to support the ideal modality, intensity, and duration. Therefore, evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis, management, and follow-up of cystic lesions of the pancreas should be established.
Cystadenocarcinoma, Mucinous/diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy ; Cystadenocarcinoma, Papillary/diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy ; Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous/diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Incidental Findings ; Pancreatic Cyst/*diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/*diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tumor Markers, Biological/blood

We report a case of a 42-year-old woman who suffered from recurrent nodular skin lesions on her left foot. Sporotrichoid fungal infection was suspected and two linear nodular skin lesions that had occurred after trauma in a public pool were treated with itraconazole for 4 months. These nodular skin lesions were completely flattened. However, four months after complete flattening, a new lesion developed in the scar of a previous nodule. N. asteroides, which is extremely rare for sporotrichoid cutaneous nocardiosis, was cultured from the relapsed lesion. We treated this case with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for 6 months under an emperical basis and this resulted in complete healing, and sensitivity of N. asteroide to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was confirmed later. There has been no recurrence for 3 years. To our knowledge, our case is the first report in the english literature of primary sporotrichoid cutaneous nocardiosis caused by N. asteroides in terms of anatomic location below the knee and host immunocompetency.
Adult ; Cicatrix ; Female ; Foot ; Humans ; Itraconazole ; Knee ; Nocardia asteroides* ; Nocardia Infections* ; Nocardia* ; Recurrence ; Skin ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination

Protein accounts for over one third of the human lens, the remaining two thirds being water. The other constotuents of the lens including lipids, amino acids, electrolytes and a variety of peptides and carbohydrates, account for about 1% of the lens wet weight. Since transparency of the lens is so highly dependent on protein order and structural integrity, it is not surprising that relatively small changes in any of these parameters might lead to the development of opacification resulting in a cataract.We have analyzed electrolytic differences between normal lens and lens of experimentally induced cataract to find the important factor in including cataract after we had extracted one hundred eight pig lenses. We divided these experimentally induced cataract into a group of normal lens capsule and another group of lenses which we performed with a 26 gauge needle. The sodium level was decreased in 15% mannitol solution and increased in normal saline. In every solution the potassium level was decreased. The chloride level was decreased in the 15% mannitol solution and increased in the normal saline solution. The calcium level also was decreased in mannitol and distilled water.Our results indicate that the potassium level of the experimentally induced cataracts decreased in any conditions and may be an important factor in inducing cataract.
Amino Acids ; Calcium ; Carbohydrates ; Cataract* ; Electrolytes ; Humans ; Mannitol ; Needles ; Peptides ; Potassium ; Sodium ; Sodium Chloride ; Water