Two cases of neurofibrossrcoma involving cutaneous tissues of the patients with multiple neurofibromatosis were presented. One case, 49-year-old man, showed highly malignant histopathological feature with lethal outcome and the other case, 56-year-old man, showed less malignant histopathology with good recovery from local excision.
Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neurofibromatoses* ; Neurofibrosarcoma*

Authors tried methyl-prednisolone pulse therapy in 12 cases of severe cases of alopecia areats(eight cases of alopecia totalis, two cases of alopecia universalis, and two cases of alopecia subtotalis) by the assumption that administration of corticosteroid by pulse method minimize its side effects and maximize its therapeutic effect. Authors followed the courses of therapeutic result of the 12 cases for at least one year after finishing t.he treatment. The results were as follows : 1. The overall evaluation of the treatment showed four cases with excellent response, one case with good response, one case with disappointed response and six cases with no response. 2. The responses of the therapy appeared to be dependent on the duration of the alopecia areata ; the better the response is, the shorter the duration of the alopecia is. Most cases shorter than 6 months duration of alopecia showed excellent response. 3. Side effects of the treatment were as follows ; facial flushing(12/12), intermenstrual spotting(4/7), weight gain(4/12), moon face(3/12), acneiform eruption(1/12), exacerbation of hypertension (1/12). Those side effects did not keep any patient from the planned treatment.
Alopecia Areata ; Alopecia* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Prednisolone*

The authors evaluated the results of various operative methods for the treatment of axillary osmidrosis in 256 axillae of 132 patients. The methods studied herein are elliptical excision with(without Z-plasty, excision by modified W-plasty, undercutting of apocrine glands with preserving deep dermal vascular plexus (DDP) designed by the authors, undercutting of apocrine glands with ignoring deep dermal vascular plexus. With the undercutting methods, the skin incision was made by three different ways ', single vertical line, double vertical lines or single horizontal line in respect to the long axis of axillary vault. The results were as follows: 1. In the undercutting methods the stitch removals were done earlier than those of the excision methods by 3 to 8 days. The earliest stitch removal was in the undercutting methods with preservation of DDP done by single vertical incision (UPS). 2. Operative complications (wound disruption, flap necrosis or hematoma) occured in 12.9%. The wound disruption was main complication in the excision methods, the hematoma and flap necrosis in the undercutting methods. In the undercutting methods flap necrosis was seen only when DDP was ignored. 3. 123 axillae were followed up for more than 6 months after the operations. Among these the widely extended scars were seen in 94% of simple elliptical excisions(31 cases) and in 100% of excision with Z-plasty(16 cases) or modified W-plasty(3 cases). In the undercutting methods the scars were linear or invisible and best in UPS. 4. Success rate for the eradication of the malodor showed somewhat better results with undercutting methods compared with excisionmethods, but there was no statistical differences between the different groups. 5. In 6 axillae with the undercutting methods, histological examinations were done after more than three months. Apocrine glands were not seen in all the specimens. But some of them showed eccrine glands.
Apocrine Glands ; Axilla ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Cicatrix ; Eccrine Glands ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Necrosis ; Skin ; Wounds and Injuries

Sixteen cases of congenital hemangiomata were treated with intralesional corticosteroid injectinn and followed up for 3 to 48 months. They consisted of 9 cases of strawberry hemangiomata with soft consistency, 4 cases of strawbery hemangiomata with firm consistency and 3 cases of cavernous hemangiomata. The results were as follows : 1) All the soft strawberry hemangiomata showed excellent response with marked shrinkage by single treatment. 2) The firm strawberry hemangiomata showed poor response with visible shrinkage after five times treatment, in average. 3) Among three cases of cavernous hemangiomata, one case with large palpable blood vessels in the lesion showed poor response, and two cases without palpable blood vessels in the lesion showed good response. 4) Temporary atrophy and pallor of the skin color were noticed in about half of the cases. Considering the concern of the patients parents, course of the hemangiomata., and the simplicity and effects of the treatment, this therapeutic method is regarded useful in the management of congenital hemangiomata, especially in soft st r awberry hemangiomata.
Atrophy ; Blood Vessels ; Fragaria ; Humans ; Pallor ; Parents ; Skin

Observation of hair roots by simple plucking is a comnon methad in trichology. But the plucking method is subject to artificial deformation of hair roots during the procedure and the possibility of the artifact may be greater when hair roots are in pathological state. Treatment of the scalp tissue with 1 M CaC12 permits epidermodermal separation and subsecuent harve.sting of hair follicles without any damage on the structures. To make sure if the possible artificial deformation of the hair roots of plucking method could affect significantly the overall evaluation of the hairs in alopecia areata, authors compared the results of plucking method(total 171 hair roots) with the results of CaCl2 method(total l94 roots) in 15 cases of alopecia areata. The sites of taking hair roots by the two rnethocds were located side by side at the edges of the bald areas. The results were as frllows: 1. The average percentages of actual dystrophic hairs in 15 alopecia areat.a patients are 55% by plucking method and 53% by CaCl2, method, thus showing no significant difference in overall evaluation of the hair roots. 2. The shapes of proximal hair shafts obtained by plucking were similar with the shape obtained by CaCl2 method.
Alopecia Areata* ; Alopecia* ; Artifacts ; Hair Follicle ; Hair* ; Humans ; Scalp

In dermatologic practice, acute urticaria showing leukocytosis and fever suggesting syatemic bacterial infection is often observed. The clinician in dealing with such patients is tempted to use antibiotics in addition to corticosteroids and antihistamines before the patient can be sure that there is no bacterial infection. Authors observed the degree of the leukocytosis with its differential counts in 106 cases of acute urticaria to evaluate what percentages of acute urticaria patients are showing similar data with the changes seen in leukocyte counts of patients of erysipelas, and evaluated the effect of aqtibiotics-administered group with non-administered group of acute urticaria patients. The results were as follows: 1. In 106 acute urticaria patients, 42% showed higher total leukocyte count ( >12, 500/cu mm) than the mean total leukocytes of 20 erysipelas patients(12, 412/cu mm) and 29% showed greater neutrophilia(>70%) than the mean neutrophil differential count of the erysipelas (69.1%). In the cases showing both leukocytosis (>12,500/cu mm) and fever (>37. 5C) there was no difference in the course of treatment between the antibiotics-administered group and non-administered group. 3. The corticosteroid hormone reduced the total WBC count toward normal level generally within a week.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacterial Infections ; Erysipelas ; Fever ; Histamine Antagonists ; Humans ; Leukocyte Count ; Leukocytes* ; Leukocytosis ; Neutrophils ; Urticaria*

Total hip replacement arthroplasty is one of the excellent treatment modalities of adult hip joint disease. But those who have severe dysplasia of the hip usually require augmentation of acetabular bone stock in order to carry out the total hip replacement arthroplasty and technical difficulties are often encountered in estabilishing an adequate acetabular bed for the prosthesis. From July 1988 to January 1990, we attempted to treat patients of dysplastic hip by bipolar endoprosthesis with acetabular bone graft using femoral head autograft in 8 patients and then reviewed these cases. The mean follow up period was 3 years ranging from 1 year and 10 months to 3 years and 10 months. The results obtained were as follows : 1. All the bone grafts were united well(average bone union time : 5.3 months). 2. According to Gerber and Harris' classification, there was no evidence of resorption of the graft in 1 case, and there were minor resorption in 5 cases, moderate resorption in 1 case, and major resorption in 1 case. 3. The average preoperative Harris hip score was 47.5 points and the average Harris hip score at last follow up was 79.0 points. 4. Because of the high rate of graft resorption and component migration, bipolar endoprosthesis with acetabular bone graft was not to be recommended as a reconstructive procedure for the dysplastic hip which have segmental bony deficiency in the acetabulum.
Acetabulum ; Adult ; Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Autografts ; Classification ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head ; Hip Joint ; Hip ; Humans ; Prostheses and Implants ; Transplants

No abstract available.
Dislocations* ; Joints*

Cancer is considered to occur through abnormal growth and differentiation processes, in which oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes are deeply related. Cellular responses to DNA-damaging agents are believed to be critical determinants of human tumorigenesis. Cell cycle arrests and DNA repair following DNA damage require the coordination of multiple gene products that, as a whole, serve to maintain the integrity of the genome. Within the cell cycle, both G1-S and G2-M phase transitions are under constant surveillance by checkpoint genes for the protection of cells from either exogenous or endogenous DNA-damaging agents. p53 tumor suppressor gene mediates cell cycle perturbations in response to DNA damage, and play a role in cell death, genetic stability, and cancer susceptibility. Recently, gene therapy with p53 tumor suppressor gene is expected as a new effective therapeutic strategy in many kinds of cancer. By using retroviral vector system, we transduced p53 tumor suppressor gene into human osteosarcoma cells, and analysed its growth suppression and apoptosis inducing effects. Combined effects of p53 gene therapy with chemotherapeutic agent or radiation were also analysed. Titer of ecotrophic p53 retrovirus was 5.0x10/ml, and that of amphotrophic p53 retrovirus was 2.0x10/ml when NIH3T3 cells were used as target cells. Human osteosarcoma cells infected with amphotrophic p53 retroviruses showed increased p21waf1 gene expression, which acts as a major cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor in DNA damage responses. In normal DMEM media, human skin fibroblasts infected with amphotrophic p53wt retroviruses showed very slow growing (1.7 fold increase in doubling time) and very low saturation density (50% decrease in cell density). In media containing chemotherapeutic agent, human osteosarcoma cells infected with p53wt retroviruses died rapidly; 75% of them died within 4 days and all of them died within 10 days of incubation with chemotherapeutic agent. Their DNAs were extracted and electrophoresed in agarose gel, and we identified DNA ladders characteristic of apoptotic cell death. When human osteosarcoma cells infected with p53 retroviruses were irradiated with ultraviolet light, more than 95% of cancer cells died within 1 day; whereas mock infected cells showed only less than 5% of cell death. These findings suggest that retroviral vector mediated p53 tumor suppressor gene transfer into cancer cells can suppress tumor cell growth and decrease tumor cell density effectively. These findings also suggest that effective induction of tumor cell apoptosis can be obtained when p53 gene therapy is used in combination with chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Apoptosis ; Carcinogenesis ; Cell Count ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Cell Death ; DNA ; DNA Damage ; DNA Repair ; Drug Therapy ; Fibroblasts ; Gene Expression ; Genes, p53 ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor* ; Genetic Therapy* ; Genome ; Humans ; Oncogenes ; Osteosarcoma ; Phase Transition ; Phosphotransferases ; Radiotherapy ; Retroviridae* ; Sepharose ; Skin ; Ultraviolet Rays ; Zidovudine

No abstract available.
Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis*