The goal of this study was to develop a method to measure the degree of hope of mothers whom their children have cancer. Data collection was held on 144 mothers who had their children diagnosed as cancer, and were treated in C hospital and S hospital located in Seoul. The data was collected from January to August of the year 1999, and collected data was then computerized for T-test, factor analysis and ANOVA. The results are as follows: 1) The measurement method used to measure the degree of hope was divided into 7 categories and composed of 35 questions in total. The level of confidence was 0.90. The 7 categories were named 'gaining insight into life' , 'realizing oneself's own role in life' , 'attempting a change in life' , 'taking in destiny' , 'having trust in the treatment being held out by the medical faculty' , 'recognizing or escaping from reality''obtaining support from religion' respectively. 2) The average score of mothers with cancer children was 3.22. The 6th category 'recognizing or escaping from reality' , had the highest score and the 1st category of 'gaining insight into life' the lowest. 3) The degree of hope did not have any differences according to the general characteristics of the children with cancer and the characteristics of the disease. However there was a difference following the characteristics of the mothers with cancer children. Mothers with jobs tend to have scored higher compared with mothers without any occupation.
Child* ; Data Collection ; Hope* ; Humans ; Mothers* ; Occupations ; Seoul ; United Nations ; Child Health

No abstract available.
Humans ; Needles* ; Peritonsillar Abscess*

Verrucous carcinoma is a low-grade squamous cell carcinoma first described in 1948 by Ackerman. It is a slowly growing, fungating and verrucous tumor that may penetrate deep into the tissue. There are many causative agents such as HPV infection, chronic irritation, radiation, and etc. We report a case of verrucous carcinoma developed at the wrist joint, a relatively unusual site.

True mixed liposarcomas are extremely rare tumors. We report here on a case of mixed liposarcoma that was composed of well differentiated and pleomorphic liposarcoma. A 76-year-old man presented to us with a mass in his left upper arm. This lesion had been there for twenty years, it was recently growing rapidly and had doubled in size during the recent 2 months. The MR image showed a mass composed of a fat component and a soft tissue component with necrosis. The old fat component was revealed as well differentiated liposarcoma, and the recent growing soft tissue component was revealed as pleomorphic liposarcoma. The two components showed different immunohistochemical results for MDM2.
Aged ; Arm ; Humans ; Liposarcoma* ; Necrosis

In neuronal recording studies on anesthetized animals, reliable measures for the transitional moment of consciousness are frequently required. Previous findings suggest that pupil fluctuations reflect the neuronal states during quiet wakefulness, whose correlation was unknown for the anesthetized condition. Here, we investigated the pupillary changes under isoflurane anesthesia simultaneously with the electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG). The pupil was tracked by using a region-based active contour model. The dose was given to the animal in a stepwise increasing mode (simulating induction of anesthesia) or in a stepwise decreasing mode (simulating emergence of anesthesia). We found that the quickly widening pupil action (mydriasis) characterizes the transitional state in anesthesia. Mydriasis occurred only in the light dose in the emergence phase, and the events were accompanied by an increase of burst activity in the EEG followed by EMG activity in 47% of the mydriasis events. Our findings suggest that recording such pupil changes may offer a noncontact monitoring tool for indexing the transitional state of the brain, particularly when a lower threshold dose is applied.
Abstracting and Indexing as Topic ; Anesthesia* ; Animals ; Brain ; Consciousness ; Electroencephalography ; Isoflurane* ; Mydriasis ; Neurons ; Pupil* ; Wakefulness

In neuronal recording studies on anesthetized animals, reliable measures for the transitional moment of consciousness are frequently required. Previous findings suggest that pupil fluctuations reflect the neuronal states during quiet wakefulness, whose correlation was unknown for the anesthetized condition. Here, we investigated the pupillary changes under isoflurane anesthesia simultaneously with the electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG). The pupil was tracked by using a region-based active contour model. The dose was given to the animal in a stepwise increasing mode (simulating induction of anesthesia) or in a stepwise decreasing mode (simulating emergence of anesthesia). We found that the quickly widening pupil action (mydriasis) characterizes the transitional state in anesthesia. Mydriasis occurred only in the light dose in the emergence phase, and the events were accompanied by an increase of burst activity in the EEG followed by EMG activity in 47% of the mydriasis events. Our findings suggest that recording such pupil changes may offer a noncontact monitoring tool for indexing the transitional state of the brain, particularly when a lower threshold dose is applied.
Abstracting and Indexing as Topic ; Anesthesia* ; Animals ; Brain ; Consciousness ; Electroencephalography ; Isoflurane* ; Mydriasis ; Neurons ; Pupil* ; Wakefulness

As obesity is known to be related to hyperlipidemia, insulin and leptin resistance, and other chronic diseases, much recent research has focused on functional food materials and their anti-obesity activity. This study was performed to study the effects of Artemisia Iwayomogi oligosaccharide AIPI on the anti-obesity function in normal rats and diet-induced obese (DIO) rats. F344 male rats were divided into four groups: Normal-control (CONT), normal-AIPI, DIO-CONT and DIO-AIPI. The groups were provided with water (in the CONT groups) or another drink for 4 weeks. The final body weights of rats in the DIO-AIPI group were lower than those in the CONT group. Abdominal adipose tissue weight per kg of body weight in the DIO-AIPI group was significantly lower than that in the DIO-CONT group. Also, the final levels of serum-triglyceride, serum-total cholesterol and serum-low density lipoprotein cholesterol in the DIO-AIPI group were lower than those in the DIO-CONT group. Moreover, the serum-high density lipoprotein cholesterol level in the normal-AIPI group was significantly higher than that in the normal-CONT group. Finally, the serum-leptin concentration was significantly lower in the DIO-AIPI group. Total lipid, triglyceride, and total cholesterol contents in the feces of the DIO-AIPI group were as high as 142%, 199%, and 165% of the respective values of the DIO-CONT GROUP. These results indicate that orally administered Artemisia Iwayomogi oligosaccharide not only has hypotriglycemic and hypocholesterolemic effects, but also has the effect of reducing the body weight and the abdominal adipose tissue weights obese rats. Therefore, we expect that Artemisia Iwayomogi oligosaccharide AIPI may have an anti-obesity function in F344 diet-induced obese rats.
Abdominal Fat ; Animals ; Artemisia* ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Chronic Disease ; Feces ; Functional Food ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; Insulin ; Leptin* ; Lipoproteins ; Male ; Obesity ; Rats* ; Triglycerides ; Water ; Weights and Measures

A 37-year-old woman was admitted for chief complaints about primary amenorrhea and multiple bone pains. She was raised phenotypically female but her chromosomal study was no-rmal male karyotype(46 XY). On pelvic examination, she showed relatively normal female ex-ternal genitalia except short blind-ending vagina. There were also no uterus and tubes in operation field. Even though rare disorder, she was diagnosed male pseudohermaphroditism due to 17-beta -hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency. This disorder is the most common enzyme defect in biosynthesis of testosterone and involves the last step. The serum level of sex steroid: test osterone, estradiol were decreased and FSH, LH were increased. Androstenedione was increased and we could obtain that Androstenedione / Testosterone ratio was increased. Because of 17-beta-HSD deficiency, estrogen was not converted to estradiol, and so estradiol was markedly decreased. Same as above, we experienced a case of male pseudohermaphroditism due to 17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency with multiple osteoporosis. So we report this case with a brief review of literatures.
46, XY Disorders of Sex Development ; Adult ; Amenorrhea ; Androstenedione ; Estradiol ; Estrogens ; Female ; Genitalia ; Gynecological Examination ; Humans ; Male ; Osteoporosis* ; Oxidoreductases* ; Testosterone ; Uterus ; Vagina

PURPOSE: To describe a case of bilateral acute myopia and acute angle-closure associated with phentermine hydrochloride, a drug used for obesity treatment. CASE SUMMARY: A 25-year-old woman visited our hospital with blurry vision and ocular pain after taking phentermine hydrochloride for three weeks. Manifest refraction accompanied myopic shift in the both eyes, slit-lamp examination showed forward displacement of the lens-iris diaphragm and fundus examination revealed retinal folds. Suspecting phentermine hydrochloride induced acute myopia and acute angle closure, discontinuation of the drug and administration of cycloplegic agents and antiglaucomatic agent successfully resolved the symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Although the exact mechanism is unknown, phentermine hydrochloride may generate ciliochoroidal effusion and ciliary edema, lead to acute myopia and acute angle closure resulting from forward displacement of the lens-iris diaphragm.
Adult ; Diaphragm ; Displacement (Psychology) ; Edema ; Eye ; Female ; Humans ; Myopia ; Obesity ; Phentermine ; Retinaldehyde ; Vision, Ocular

Calcifying aponeurotic fibroma (CAF) is an uncommon benign tumor and a locally aggressive fibroblastic lesion. It commonly affects the palmar side of the hand and fingers, and the soles of the feet. The typical clinical manifestations are known as a poorly circumscribed, slow-growing, and asymptomatic firm mass. Most CAFs usually reveal low to intermediate or isointensity on T1-weighted images, and strong heterogeneous enhancement. However, various signal intensities on T2-weighted images have been reported depending on the degree of hypocellularity or the amount of calcification or collagen within the tumor. This report provides the radiographic and MRI finding of CAF arising in uncommon site, the knee region, of a 19-year-old male who presented with a painful and palpable mass.
Collagen ; Fibroblasts ; Fibroma* ; Fingers ; Foot ; Hand ; Humans ; Knee* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Male ; Young Adult