Dermal wound healing is a complex process that involved inflammation leading to re-epithelialization, granulation tissue, and tissue remodeling. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that polysaccharides isolated from fungus, Phellinus gilvus (PG) have various anti-inflammatory activities. In present study, we have assessed the effect of polysaccharides from PG on the dermal wound healing of polysaccharides from PG in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat model. Six of 6-mm circular wounds were created with biopsy punch on the 4th day after induction of diabetes. After 24 hours, each test substance was applied to the wound twice a day for next 5 days. Circular wounds treated with PG showed significantly reduced wound contraction and complete reepithelialization, as compared to wounds of non-treated (p < 0.05). These results show that polysaccharides isolated from PG enhanced wound repair in diabetic impaired healing, and could be developed as a wound healing agent in such clinical settings.
Administration, Cutaneous ; Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents/pharmacology ; Basidiomycota/*metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/*pathology ; Histocytochemistry ; Male ; Polysaccharides/isolation&purification/*pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Skin/*injuries ; Streptozocin ; Wound Healing/*drug effects ; Wounds, Penetrating/*drug therapy

No abstract available.
Borrelia burgdorferi* ; Borrelia* ; Ixodes* ; Korea* ; Lyme Disease* ; Ticks*

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the relationships among job stress, job satisfaction, and mental health in marine officers. METHODS: The researchers gathered data on marine officers working at a harbor in Chungcheong Province, South Korea, using a self-reported questionnaire. Mental health was measured by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revision (SCL-90-R), and general characteristics including socioeconomic factors, job stress, and job satisfaction were measured by structured questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationships among job stress, job satisfaction, and mental health status according to the symptom dimensions of the SCL-90-R. RESULTS: Among the marine officers, obsessive-compulsive behavior, depression, and somatization were the most problematic symptoms. Those who reported poor health, low job satisfaction, and high job stress had a higher prevalence of psychoticism, somatization, depression, anxiety, and phobic anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: An occupational health system should be introduced that would regularly check the mental health of marine officers in charge of ships and sailors, in order to help reduce their stress levels, enhance their job satisfaction, and thereby improve their mental health.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction* ; Korea ; Mental Health ; Military Personnel ; Occupational Health ; Prevalence ; Ships ; Socioeconomic Factors

We reviewed 26 patients with staghorn calculi to determine whether extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) monotherapy with Dornier MPL-9000X lithotriptor is a successful alternative to the classical approaches. Of the staghorn calculi 5 cases were complete and 21 cases were incomplete staghorn. Double-J ureteral stents were placed in 24 of 26 patients before the ESWL. Of 15 patients with stone volume less than 20ml, 12(80%) showed stone-free after 5.7 mean session of ESWL. Of 11 patients with stone volume more than 20 ml, 7 (64%) became stone-free after 7.1 mean session of ESWL. The post-ESWL complications were flank pain in 9 patients (35%), gross hematuria in 24 (92%), high fever in 3 (13%) and steinstrasse in 24 (92%). Frank pain and high fever were managed successfully with analgesics and antibiotics. Gross hematuria disappeared spontaneously within 2 days. For the steinstrasse, the stone fragments passed spontaneously in 15 cases (62.5%) and ESWL to the steinstrasse was needed in other 9 cases (37.5%). Though the treatment of choice for the staghorn stones is combination therapy (PNL and ESWL) at the present, we experienced good results by ESWL monotherapy in staghorn calculi with Dornier MPL-9000X.
Analgesics ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Calculi* ; Fever ; Flank Pain ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Lithotripsy* ; Shock* ; Stents ; Ureter

Peptic ulcer bleeding is an internal medical emergency. Endoscopic hemostasis has been shown to improve the survival rate of patients with peptic ulcer bleeding. Although the established hemostatic modalities, including injection, thermal therapy, and mechanical therapy, are effective in controlling peptic ulcer bleeding, hemostasis can be difficult to achieve in some cases. As a result, recent, new endoscopic hemostatic modalities, including over-the-scope clips, topical hemostatic sprays, and endoscopic ultrasonography-guided angiotherapy, have been developed.
Emergencies ; Hemorrhage* ; Hemostasis ; Hemostasis, Endoscopic ; Humans ; Peptic Ulcer Hemorrhage ; Peptic Ulcer* ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate the efficiency of Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for acceleration of bone healing process on allograft transplantation after curettage in benign bone tumor. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From December 2007 to February 2009, twenty-one patients who had benign bone tumor and underwent allograft transplantation after curettage were evaluated. Mean follow-up period was 14.6 months (range, 12-26 months). We compared with 13 cases of PRP group and 8 cases of non-PRP group in terms of size of lesion, bone resorption, amount of applied PRP and complications. The mean age at surgery was 23.6 years (range, 4-73 years). The most common diagnosis was simple bone cyst (7) followed by enchondroma (4), giant cell tumor (3), undifferentiated benign bone tumor (3) and so on. RESULTS: The mean size of lesion was 33.5 cm3 (range, 2.3-181.9 cm3) (29.4 cm3 in PRP group and 40.2 cm3 in non-PRP group). The mean volume of injected PRP was 7.4 cc (range, 3-12 cc). Bone union started at 3.0 months (range, 1.5-5.8 months) in PRP group and 5.3 months (range, 4-8 months) in non-PRP group. Three cases for each group were excluded due to recurrence and pathologic fracture. One patient had febrile episode 3 weeks later after surgery which subsided with antibiotics. CONCLUSION: The PRP could accelerate bone union in allograft transplantation after curettage of benign bone tumor. Furthermore, we expect that PRP can accelerate bone union in fracture or non-union.
Acceleration ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bone Cysts ; Bone Resorption ; Chondroma ; Curettage ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Giant Cell Tumors ; Humans ; Platelet-Rich Plasma ; Recurrence ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Transplants

This study was undertaken for the clinical analysis and evaluation on 121 patients with incompetent internal os of the cervix, who were admitted and treated with McDonald operation or Shirodkar operation at the Soonchounhyang Medical Center from January 1991 to December 1995. The results of this study were as follows : 1. The incidence of this IIOC was 1.1% of 11,116 cases of total delivery. 2. The mean age of IIOC was 31.7 years old. 3. The average number of gravida was 3.2. 4. The most common contributary factor was previous history of artificial abortion (51.2 %), and midtrimester abortion (17.4 %), cervical laceration due to previous vaginal delivery (8.3 %) etc. was followed. 5. The success rate of operation was 76 %, and the highest success rate (85.7 %) was reveald with period from 15th weeks to 16th weeks of gestation. 6. When cervical dilatation was abscent or small, the success rate of operation was high. 7. The factors of failed operation were preterm labor (58.7 %), PROM (34.5 %), and PIH, bleeding. 8. The delivery method after operation was vaginal delivery in 83 cases (68.6%) and cesarean section in 38 cases (31.4 %).
Cervix Uteri* ; Cesarean Section ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Labor Stage, First ; Lacerations ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second

PURPOSE: Long-term follow-up results of concurrent bilateral or unilateral cementless hip arthroplasty were compared. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty eight and 49 patients with concurrent bilateral and unilateral hip artrhoplasties who had more than a 17-year follow-up time were selected. At final follow-up, mean ages were 69.1 and 66.7 years old in the bilateral and unilateral groups, respectively. Mean follow-up times were 21.5 and 22.4 years in the bilateral and unilateral groups, respectively. Clinical results were attained using Harris hip score and standardized anteroposterior and lateral view X-rays. RESULTS: The bilateral group had mean Harris scores of 44.3(standard deviation 3.78) preoperatively, and 81.2 (10.75) at final follow-up. For the unilateral group, the mean scores were 46.5(3.27) preoperatively, and 80.1 (12.05) at final follow-up. At final follow-up, an acetabular cup was securely located in 78.9% and 82.8% of the bilateral and unilateral groups, respectively, and all cases showed firm fixation of the femoral stem in both groups. Osteolysis around the cup and stem were found in 26.3% and 31.4% of the bilateral group and 16.6% and 17.1% of the unilateral group, respectively. Polyethylene wear rate was 0.17 mm/yr and 0.16 mm/yr in the unilateral and bilateral groups, respectively. Using the Kaplan-Meier method, 17-year survival rates for cup and stem were 78% and 89% in the bilateral group, respectively, and 78% and 86% in the unilateral group, respectively. CONCLUSION: In 17-year long-term follow-up, concurrent bilateral hip arthroplasty was insignificantly different clinically and radiologically from the result of unilateral hip arthroplasty.
Arthroplasty ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip ; Humans ; Osteolysis ; Polyethylene ; Survival Rate

No abstract available.
Malocclusion*

Perilla frutescens was empirically used for controlling airway inflammatory diseases in folk medicine. We investigated whether caffeic acid, myristicin and rosemarinic acid derived from Perilla frutescens significantly affect the gene expression and production of mucin from airway epithelial cells. Confluent NCI-H292 cells were pretreated with caffeic acid, myristicin or rosemarinic acid for 30 min and then stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) for 24 h. The MUC5AC mucin gene expression and production were measured by reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. Additionally, we examined whether caffeic acid, myristicin or rosemarinic acid affects MUC5AC mucin production indued by epidermal growth factor (EGF) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), the other two stimulators of production of airway mucin. The results were as follows: (1) Caffeic acid, myristicin and rosemarinic acid inhibited the gene expression and production of MUC5AC mucin induced by PMA from NCI-H292 cells, respectively; (2) Among the three compounds derived from Perilla frutescens, only rosemarinic acid inhibited the production of MUC5AC mucin induced by EGF or TNF-α, the other two stimulators of production of airway mucin. These results suggest that rosemarinic acid derived from Perilla frutescens can regulate the production and gene expression of mucin, by directly acting on airway epithelial cells and, at least in part, explains the traditional use of Perilla frutescens as remedies for diverse inflammatory pulmonary diseases.
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Epithelial Cells ; Gene Expression* ; Lung Diseases ; Medicine, Traditional ; Mucins* ; Necrosis ; Perilla frutescens ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reverse Transcription