No abstract available.
Mediastinum* ; Osteosarcoma*

No abstract available.
Dermatitis, Atopic*

OBJECTIVE: To compare the safety and efficacy of intravaginal misoprostol versus intracervical dinoprostone (prostaglandin E2 gel) for cervical ripening and labor induction. METHODS: 60 patients with indication for labor induction and unfavorable cervices were randomly assigned to receive either intravaginal misoprostol or intracervical dinoprostone. 50 microgram tablets of misoprostol were placed in the posterior vaginal fornix every 4 hours for a maximum of 3 doses or dinoprostone 0.5mg was placed into the endocervix every 6 hours for a maximum of 2doses. No more medication was given after either spontaneous rupture of membranes or beginning of active labor. RESULTS: Among 60 patients enrolled, 30 received misoprostol and 30 received dinoprostone. The average interval from start of induction to active labor was shorter in misoprostol group (6.5+/-3.2 hours) than in the dinoprostone group (10.7+/-7.3 hours) (p<0.05). Oxytocin augmentation of labor occurred more often in the dinoprostone group (36.7%) than in the misoprostol group (10.0%) (p<0.05). There was a higher prevalence of fetal distress (23.3% versus 3.3%) and tachysystole (16.6% versus 6.6%) in the misorprostol group than in the dinoprostone group(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Vaginally administered misoprostol is an effective agent for cervical ripening and induction of labor. Furthermore, the cost of misoprostol ( 360/200microgram) is much less than that of dinoprostone ( 42,000/0.5mg). Cost benefits from administration of misoprostol are evident, especially in clinics under system of diagnosis-related group (DRG) : however when given at this dosage, it is associated with a higher prevalence of fetal distress and tachysystole than dinoprostone. Further studies to compare the safety of misoprostole to that of dinoprostone and to delineate an optimal dosing regimen for misoprostol are needed.
Cervical Ripening* ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Diagnosis-Related Groups ; Dinoprostone* ; Female ; Fetal Distress ; Humans ; Membranes ; Misoprostol* ; Oxytocin ; Pregnancy ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies* ; Rupture, Spontaneous ; Tablets

Patient survival is one of the most important measures for the evaluation of progress in cancer patient care across the wide spectrum from diagnosis to treatment. The optimal monitoring method for cancer patient survival is to estimate survival based on representative data from cancer patients in the population, which is only achievable through using population-based cancer registration data. Relative survival is used to compare the survival experience in a study cohort that expected to result from background population mortality rates. This technique is useful when the cause of death is not accurate or not available, since it provides a measure of excess mortality in a group of patients with a certain disease. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the procedures for estimating relative survival using the statistical software Stata. For this survival analysis to show the procedure, the example data set was randomly selected from the National Cancer Incidence Database, which was used in a recent article reporting the overall relative survival of cancer patients diagnosed during 1993-2002 in Korea.
Cause of Death ; Cohort Studies ; Dataset ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mortality ; Patient Care ; Survival Analysis*

Objective: To examine the effects of Tribulus terrestris L. (T. terrestris) extract on the modulation of calcium channels to evaluate its use in topical agents for treatment of atopic dermatitis. Methods: The 70% methanol extract of T. terrestris was prepared. Human HEK293T cells with over-expressed calcium release-activated calcium channel protein 1 (Orai1), transient receptor potential vanilloid 1, or transient receptor potential vanilloid 3 (TRPV3) were treated with T. terrestris extract. Modulation of ion channels was measured using a conventional whole-cell patch-clamp technique. Results: T. terrestris extract (100 mg/mL) significantly inhibited Orai1 activity in Orai1-stromal interaction molecule 1 co-overexpressed HEK293T cells. In addition, T. terrestris extract significantly increased the TRPV3 activity compared with 2-Aminoethyl diphe-nylborinate (100 mmol/L), which induces the full activation of TRPV3. Conclusions: Our results suggest that T. terrestris extract may have a therapeutic po-tential for recovery of abnormal skin barrier pathologies in atopic dermatitis through modulating the activities of calcium ion channels, Orai1 and TRPV3. This is the first study to report the modulatory effect of a medicinal plant on the function of ion channels in skin barrier.

With an aging population, osteoporotic vertebral collapse is an increasingly common condition. This compression fractures has been considered a benign entity, quite responsive to conservative treatment. In a rare patients, however, a major neurologic complication and painful kyphosis despite conservative treatment can develop. Therefore, the purpose of this present study is to analyze the surgical results of 14 patients with severe back pain, an increasing kyphosis and neurologic deficits caused hy osteoporotic vertebral collapse following minor trauma, who were treated surgically. Presenting signs and symptoms included severe back pain with progression of kyphosis in 6 patients and increasing neural deficit in 8 patients. Of 14 patients, eight patients had an intravertebral cleft sign (vacuum sign). Indications for surgery included increasing kyphotic deformity, intractable pain, or increasing neurologic deficit. There was no correlation between intravertebral cleft sign and neurologic deficit. However, patients who had intravertebral cleft sign had not well respond to conservative treatment. As treatments, combined anterior and posterior fusion in 8, anterior fusion in 4, posterior instrumentation, and wide decompressive laminectomry in one patient, respectively, were carried out. The final correction of the deformity averaged 0.3 degrees. Therefore. correction of kyphosis was not favorably maintained because of variable surgical methods, and sinking of graft bone or instrumentation into the osteoporotic vertebral bodies. However, pain was reduced significantly in all patients. In addition neurological symptoms improved in 7 patients. One patient underwent reoperation with nnterior inierbody tusion together with anterior instrument because of an increasing kyphosis, neurologic. iymptoms and scvcre hack pain following wide decompressive laminectomy. There was no complication relatecl to instruments. The authors strongly helieved that surgical intervention has highly satisfactory results in patients who have intravertehral cleft sign with persistent back pain despite conservative treatment, and proressive or persistent neurologic deficits following osteoporotic vertebral collapse.
Aging ; Back Pain ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Fractures, Compression ; Humans ; Kyphosis ; Laminectomy ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Osteoporosis ; Pain, Intractable ; Reoperation ; Transplants

Purpose: This study aimed to report the projected cancer incidence and mortality for the year 2022 to estimate Korea’s current cancer burden. Materials and Methods: Cancer incidence data from 1999 to 2019 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and cancer mortality data from 1993 to 2020 were acquired from Statistics Korea. Cancer incidence and mortality were projected by fitting a linear regression model to observed age-specific cancer rates against their respective years and then by multiplying the projected age-specific rates by the anticipated age-specific population for 2022. A joinpoint regression model was used to determine the year in which the linear trend changed significantly; we only used the data of the latest trend. Results: In total, 274,488 new cancer cases and 81,277 cancer deaths are expected to occur in Korea in 2022. The most common cancer site is expected to be the thyroid, followed by the lung, colon and rectum, breast, and stomach. These five cancers are expected to represent half of the overall burden of cancer in Korea. The most common type of cancer leading to death is expected to be lung cancer, followed by liver, colorectal, pancreatic, and gallbladder cancers. Conclusion The incidence rates for all types of cancer in Korea are estimated to gradually decrease. These up-to-date estimates of the cancer burden in Korea could be an important resource for planning and evaluating cancer-control programs.

No abstract available.
Constriction, Pathologic* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Systolic Murmurs*

No abstract available.
Lymphangioma, Cystic* ; Turner Syndrome* ; Ultrasonography*

No abstract available.