To find out the good visual environment for reading, the methods of illumination were studied using Arden Contrast Sensitivity System. Among various factors for comfortable reading condition such as air condition, temperature, humidity, noise and light, the intensity and characters of illumination were the most important factors for eye health. If the character of illuminations are fairly good, to make the brighter condition is better for eye hdalth. But in artificial illumination, there are so many limitations for supplying light of good characters. So we set the luminosity on the desk to 500 lx in which tbe best visual acuity presented, and checked the contrast sensitivity by changing the luminosity of the room. The results suggested that the condition in which luminosity on the desk was higher twice than the room was favorable for reading.
Contrast Sensitivity* ; Humidity ; Lighting* ; Noise ; Visual Acuity

No Abstract Available.
Knee* ; Synovitis, Pigmented Villonodular*

Hoke traction and immediate immobilization in a spica cast were used to treat 32 children ranging on age from two to eight year old who had closed femoral shaft fractures and no associated injuries. These 32 children admitted at the Seoul Advantist Hospital during period from Jan. 1977 to Dec. 1982 and follow up study was made for 1 to 4 years after fractures. End results obtained are as follows: 1. There was no clinical deformity at the fracture site after complete remodeling. 2. There was no disparity of the leg length greater than 12mm. 3. There was no residual angulation greater than 10° degree. As compared with results treated by Russel traction, this method provides improved length control, comparable control of angular and rotational alignment and considerable shortened hospital stay. It is our opinion that Hoke traction is a simple, safe, certain, comparable and economical method of treatment of femoral shaft fractures in young children.
Child ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Femur ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Leg ; Length of Stay ; Methods ; Seoul ; Traction

PURPOSE: To evaluate the change of ocular aberration after LASIK using Zernike's polynomial expansions. METHODS: Sixty eyes of thirty consecutive patients that underwent LASIK were examined prospectively. The ocular aberration was measured with Hartman-Shack aberrometer (WASCA Wavefront Analyzer, USA) at postoperative 30, 90, and 180 days. The postoperative values were compared with that of preoperation. RESULTS: The average age is 27.6 years old. The range of preoperative refractory error were from -3.00 Diopter (D) to -11.00 D. The increase of spherical and triangular coma aberrations (4.7- fold and 3.5- fold, respectively), with respect to preoperative values. There were statistically significant differences between preoperative and postoperative high order RMS at the postoperative 180 days (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The postoperative increases of RMS in higher order aberration, coma aberration, triangular aberration was observed.
Coma ; Humans ; Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ* ; Prospective Studies

PURPOSE: We tried to evaluate the reliablility of refractive measurement by hand-held autorefractor (HHAR). METHODS: Ninety patients (180 eyes) with simple refractive error were divided into three groups (30 patients each) according to their ages. Group I is under 6 years old; group II, from 7 to 15 years old; and group 3, over 16 years old. Under cycloplegics, three measuring methods of refraction using table top autorefractor (Model 599, Zeiss Humphrey, USA), hand-held autorefractor (Retinomax K-plus, Nikon, Japan) and skiascope (Heine beta 200, Germany) were performed and we compared each spherical and cylindrical value in 3 groups. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in both spherical and cylindrical value between HH-AR and skiascope in all groups (PI, sph=0.579, PI, cyl=0.708, PII, sph=0.801, PII , cyl=0.730, PIII , sph=0.816, PIII, cyl=0.754) . But there was significant difference in both spherical and cylindrical value between table top autorefractor and skiascope in group I (PI,sph=0.019, PI,cyl=0.030, PII,sph=0.405, PII,cyl=0.392, PIII,sph=0.876, PIII,cyl=0.747). CONCLUSIONS: We believe that hand-held autorefractor can be a useful instrument to measure refractive power without serious error, especially in patients who have difficulty with table top autorefractor.
Adolescent ; Child ; Humans ; Mydriatics ; Refractive Errors

PURPOSE: Juvenile xanthogranuloma usually affects the anterior uvea before the age of 1 year, and it may less frequently involve the corneoscleral limbus. We report a case of juvenile xanthogranuloma of the corneoscleral limbus in a 7-year-old boy. METHODS: A 7-year-old boy was referred for the evaluation of a painless limbal mass in the left eye, noticed 1 month previously. On examination, the visual acuity was 16/20 (OD) and 10/20 (OS) without correction, and the corrected visual acuity was 20/20 in both eyes. The other ocular findings were normal, except for an elevated, well circumscribed, smooth surfaced mass measured 9x6 mm at the upper temporal corneoscleral limbus of the left eye. After the excision of the mass, the frozen biopsy and the immunohistochemical staining for CD68 and S100 protein were performed. RESULTS: The lesion consisted of a red-brown, vascular, and raised mass. Histopathologically, there was a chronic granulomatous inflammation with stromal fibrosis, which included many giant cells immunoreactive for CD68 and S100 protein. There was no evidence of recurrence during follow-up period of 5 months and 20 months. CONCLUSIONS: The case was diagnosed as juvenile xanthogranuloma by the clinical and histopathologic findings. The juvenile xanthogranuloma of the corneoscleral limbal involvement is very rare and it can be treated with the surgical excision for the purpose of improvement of cosmetic problems without any recurrence. It seems to have very good prognosis when completely excised.
Biopsy ; Child ; Fibrosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Giant Cells ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Male ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Uvea ; Visual Acuity ; Xanthogranuloma, Juvenile*

We experienced a case of cryptococcosis in a 13-year-old female who had been admitted to our hospital because of intermittent high fever and generalized lymphadenopathy accompanied by multiple nodular eruptions with erosions on the face, scalp, neck and back. The patient was treated under the impression of tuberculous lymphadenitis without any improvement. A surgical biopsy of the lymph node and the subcutaneous nodule, which was performed 14 days later, revealed chronic granulomatous tissue and Langhan's type giant cells which contained numerous cryptococci. A brief review of the literature was done.
Adolescent ; Amphotericin B ; Biopsy ; Cryptococcosis* ; Female ; Fever ; Flucytosine ; Giant Cells ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Neck ; Scalp ; Tuberculosis, Lymph Node

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of soft shell technique (SST) to reduce corneal endothelial damage during cataract surgery. METHODS: Cataract surgery was performed in thirty five eyes using SST with Healon and Viscoat , and in thirty five eyes with Healon alone as a control group. The corneal parameters such as corneal thickness, cell density, hexagonality, and the coefficient of variance were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean central corneal thickness in the control group was 533.1 +/- 34.9micrometer before surgery and 549.1 +/- 34.3micrometer at one week after surgery. The difference in corneal thickness was statistically significant (p<0.01). However, in the SST group, the change in corneal thickness before and after surgery was not statistically significant (529.5 +/- 36.3micrometer, 536.0 +/- 36.9micrometer, respectively). There were statistically significant changes in cell density after surgery in both groups. The results for the control group were 2478.5 +/- 319.7/mm2 before surgery and 1861.9 +/- 109.1/mm2 at 3 months after surgery. The result for the SST group were 2571.2 +/- 256.5/mm2 before surgery and 2107.2 +/- 374.1/mm2 at 3 months after surgery. The rate of endothelial cell loss at 3 months after surgery was smaller in the SST group (19%) than in the control group (25%). The coefficient of variance and hexagonality were normalized at one week after surgery in SST group. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that SST is effective in protecting corneal endothelial cells during cataract surgery, providing better results in the early postoperative period.
Cataract* ; Cell Count ; Endothelial Cells ; Hyaluronic Acid ; Postoperative Period

Mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs) are glycolipids and have several pharmacological efficacies. MELs also show skin-moisturizing efficacy through a yet-unknown underlying mechanism. Aquaporin-3 (AQP3) is a membrane protein that contributes to the water homeostasis of the epidermis, and decreased AQP3 expression following ultraviolet (UV)-irradiation of the skin is associated with reduced skin moisture. No previous study has examined whether the skin-moisturizing effect of MELs might act through the modulation of AQP3 expression. Here, we report for the first time that MELs ameliorate the UVA-induced downregulation of AQP3 in cultured human epidermal keratinocytes (HaCaT keratinocytes). Our results revealed that UVA irradiation decreases AQP3 expression at the protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels, but that MEL treatment significantly ameliorated these effects. Our mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor analysis revealed that phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), but not extracellular signal-regulated kinase or p38, mediates UVA-induced AQP3 downregulation, and that MEL treatment significantly suppressed the UVA-induced phosphorylation of JNK. To explore a possible mechanism, we tested whether MELs could regulate the expression of peroxidase proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ), which acts as a potent transcription factor for AQP3 expression. Interestingly, UVA irradiation significantly inhibited the mRNA expression of PPAR-γ in HaCaT keratinocytes, whereas a JNK inhibitor and MELs significantly rescued this effect. Taken together, these findings suggest that MELs ameliorate UVA-induced AQP3 downregulation in HaCaT keratinocytes by suppressing JNK activation to block the decrease of PPAR-γ. Collectively, our findings suggest that MELs can be used as a potential ingredient that modulates AQP3 expression to improve skin moisturization following UVA irradiation-induced damage.
Down-Regulation* ; Epidermis ; Glycolipids ; Homeostasis ; Humans* ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases* ; Keratinocytes* ; Membrane Proteins ; Peroxidase ; Phosphorylation* ; Phosphotransferases ; PPAR gamma ; Protein Kinases ; RNA, Messenger ; Skin ; Transcription Factors ; Water

BACKGROUND: Many types of cancer become resistant to current chemotherapeutic and radiotherapeutic intervention. To overcome this situation application of gene therapy by the introduction of suicide genes followed by their prodrugs may be promising. A viral enzyme, Herpes simplex thymidine kinase (HSV-tk), which converts ganciclovir from an inactive prodrug to a cytotoxic agent by phosphorylation, are being actively investigated for use in gene therapy for cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine whether combining prodrug-activating gene therapy and irradiation might result in enhanced antitumor effects. METHODS: The HSV-tk gene was cloned into the retroviral vector, pLXSN and established the clones producing retroviruses carrying the HSV-tk gene. The carcinoma cell line, HCT116 and Huh-7 were transduced with high-titer recombinant retroviruses. These cell lines were treated with ganciclovir before or after irradiation for the defining combinational effect of suicide gene therapy and radiotherapy. RESULTS: The titers of cloned PA3 17 amphotropic retroviruses ranged from 4 to 6 X 10(6) CFU/ml . After selectional periods, the expression of HSV-tk was confirmed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The growth of cells expressing HSV-tk was inhibited as increase of GCV dose after 48 hr and the growth inhibitory effect of GCV was much higher after 72 hr. When the cells transduced with HSV-tk gene were exposed to radiation, the growth inhibitory effect of GCV was significantly increased, as compared with non-transduced parental cells. CONCLUSIONS: The result s suggest that the addition of HSV-tk gene therapy to standard radiation therapy may improve the effectiveness of treatment for solid tumors.
Cell Line ; Clone Cells ; Ganciclovir* ; Genetic Therapy ; Herpes Simplex* ; Humans ; Parents ; Phosphorylation ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prodrugs ; Radiotherapy ; Retroviridae ; Simplexvirus* ; Suicide ; Thymidine Kinase* ; Thymidine* ; Zidovudine