Angioma serpiginosum is a rare acquired vascular lesion that usually presents in the first two decades of life with a predilection for females. A typical lesion is characterized by deeply red nonpalpable puncta that are grouped closely together in macular or netlike patterns on the lower extremities and buttocks. Histopathologically, thin-walled dilated capillaries are seen in some of the dermal papillae and the superficial reticular dermis without extravasation of red blood cells. We report a case of angioma serpiginosum developed on the left chest and left upper extremity in a 18-year-old man.
Adolescent ; Buttocks ; Capillaries ; Dermis ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Hemangioma* ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Thorax ; Upper Extremity

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: : ?The etiology of atopic dermatitis is still not clear. Atopic dermatitis is known to develop through immunological and non-immunological pathomechanisms. The delayed hyper- sensitivity reaction in atopic dermatitis has been reported as decreasing due to disturbance of cellular immunity. However, in recent days, there is a dispute as to whether disturbed epidermal barrier of atopic dermatitis could elicit a delayed type hypersensitivity reaction by an acceleration in the penetration of allergen. The aim of this study was to determine whether transepidermal water loss (TEWL) increased in atopic dermatitis, and whether the TEWL differed with a presence of delayed type-skin reaction. In addition, the prevalence of positive patch test reaction and TEWL were measured in atopic dermatitis and normal controls. METHODS: We performed the patch test with 24 Korean standard allergens and 5 aeroallergens on 38 atopic dermatitis patients. TEWL was measured using DermaLab (Cortex technology, Denmark) on 38 patients with atopic dermatitis and 40 normal controls. RESULTS: 17 (44.7%) patients with atopic dermatitis had positive reactions on the patch test. The frequency of positive allergens was in the following order: nickel sulfate (18.4%), thimerosal (15.8%), D. pteronyssinus (15.8%), and potassium dichromate (13.1%). TEWL values of both clinically normal skin and eczematous skin in atopic dermatitis patients were higher than those of normal controls. There was no statistically significant difference in TEWL values of normal skin of atopic dermatitis between the positive patch test and negative patch test groups. In positive reaction sites of aeroallergen patch test, the TEWL increased in comparison with both the control site and the positive classical patch test reaction site but it was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: These results revealed that epidermal barrier is disturbed in atopic patients and suggested that various allergens might easily penetrate the skin to induce the delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction.
Acceleration ; Allergens ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Dissent and Disputes ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunity, Cellular ; Nickel ; Patch Tests* ; Potassium Dichromate ; Prevalence ; Skin* ; Thimerosal

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is known to mediate ultraviolet B (UVB)-induced skin inflammation However, there is still ambiguity as to which NOS isotype mediates the process in vivo. Furthermore, contradictory results have been reported on which cell types respond to UVB irradiation in vitro. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to evaluate the change of inducible NOS (iNOS) expression in vivo as a result of UVB radiation on the skin of a rat. METHOD: To examine the time-course change in iNOS expression in the rat skin, the rats were exposed to 400 ml/cm2 of UVB radiation, and skin samples were taken at various time intervals up to 48 h. iNOS expression on the skin of a rat was evaluated by both Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: From Western blot analysis, UVB irradiation induced inducible NOS (iNOS) expression in the epidermis at 12-48 h postirradiation with a peak expression at 24 h. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that UVB-induced iNOS expression was localized to the epidermis and infiltrating inflammatory cells in the upper dermis of the rat. CONCLUSION: iNOS was induced by UVB irradiation on the skin of a rat, mainly in the epidermis. Therefore, iNOS is supposed to be one of the major mediators with regard to inducing an inflammatory response in UVB-irradiated rat skin in vivo.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Inflammation ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II* ; Rats* ; Skin*

Lead has been widely used in industry and contained in various household products. However, allergic reaction to lead is known to be extremely rare. A 23-year-old woman who had been working in an electronics company for 1 year presented with pruritic erythematous macules and papules on both arms and hands of 1 month duration. She was diagnosed as a contact dermatitis due to lead by patch test using lead nitrite(0.01% aq.). The cutaneous eruption subsided with treatment and has not recurred by changing the working place for 6 months. We report a case of contact dermatitis due to lead.
Arm ; Dermatitis, Contact* ; Female ; Hand ; Household Products ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Patch Tests ; Young Adult

Lead has been widely used in industry and contained in various household products. However, allergic reaction to lead is known to be extremely rare. A 23-year-old woman who had been working in an electronics company for 1 year presented with pruritic erythematous macules and papules on both arms and hands of 1 month duration. She was diagnosed as a contact dermatitis due to lead by patch test using lead nitrite(0.01% aq.). The cutaneous eruption subsided with treatment and has not recurred by changing the working place for 6 months. We report a case of contact dermatitis due to lead.
Arm ; Dermatitis, Contact* ; Female ; Hand ; Household Products ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Patch Tests ; Young Adult

An omental infarctions is an uncommon cause of an acute abdomen and a rare entity in children. The etiology is still unclear and the symptoms mimic acute appendicitis. We recently encountered a case of a 10-year-old boy who had a previous surgical history of a manual reduction for intussusception. He complained of abdominal pain and right upper quadrant tenderness without fever or anorexia. An abdominal ultrasonography suggested an omental infarction and computed tomography confirmed the diagnosis. Conservative management was adopted with a rapid and uneventful recovery. Non-operative treatment is a safe and effective treatment of choice for omental infarction.
Abdomen, Acute ; Abdominal Pain ; Anorexia ; Appendicitis ; Child ; Fever ; Humans ; Hydrazines ; Infarction ; Intussusception

OBJECTIVE: These days, young children are exposed to a wide range of smart devices and their usage of smart devices is rapidly increasing worldwide. However, the use of smart devices by young children has not been studied in detail yet because smart device is relatively recent. The purpose of this study was to investigate the exposure status of smart devices among 2–5 years old children in Korea. METHODS: Four hundred parents of 2- to 5-year-old children were invited to enroll. Data on demographic information and the frequency of media use, time of media use, age at first use of media was self-reported. RESULTS: Among 390 toddlers, 39.3% watched TV almost every day, while 12.0% of children used smartphone on a daily basis. During weekdays, 48% of the children watched TV for over an hour. On weekends, 63.1% of the children watched TV for over an hour. On weekends, 23.4% of children use their smartphones for over an hour. Children using smartphones before 24 months of age were 31.3%. CONCLUSION: Research has shown that TV and smartphones are the most popular digital devices used by toddlers. Most toddlers began using smart devices at 12–24 months. This study provides comprehensive information on children’s contemporary use of media.
Child ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; Korea ; Parents ; Smartphone

Pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) can be caused by bacteria entering the liver via the portal vein or primary bacteremia, or it can be cryptogenic. Recently, Klebsiella pneumoniae has been increasingly found as a PLA pathogen. PLA due to this bacterium often leads to formation of extrahepatic abscesses. The treatment of choice is dual therapy with insertion of percutaneous catheter drainage and antibiotic therapy. We report 2 cases of PLA due to K. pneumoniae in immunocompetent children. We successfully treated patient 1 with percutaneous catheter drainage for 18 days and 6-week course of antibiotic therapy. Patient 2 was treated with percutaneous needle aspiration and antibiotic therapy for the same period. In both patients, the PLAs showed the ultrasound-confirmed resolutions after the dual therapy.
Abscess ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteremia ; Bacteria ; Catheters ; Child ; Drainage ; Humans ; Immunocompetence ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Klebsiella ; Liver ; Liver Abscess, Pyogenic ; Needles ; Pneumonia ; Portal Vein

BACKGROUND: We would like to analyze the risk factors of no thumb test among knee alignment tests during total knee arthroplasty surgery. METHODS: The 156 cases of total knee arthroplasty by an operator from October 2009 to April 2010 were analyzed according to preoperative indicators including body weight, height, degree of varus deformity, and patella subluxation and surgical indicators such as pre-osteotomy patella thickness, degree of patella degeneration, no thumb test which was evaluated after medial prepatella incision and before bone resection (1st test), no thumb test which was evaluated with corrective valgus stress (2nd test, J test), and the kind of prosthesis. We comparatively analyzed indicators affecting no thumb test (3rd test). RESULTS: There was no relation between age, sex, and body weight and no thumb test (3rd test). Patellar sulcus angle (p = 0.795), patellar congruence angle (p = 0.276) and preoperative mechanical axis showed no relationship. The 1st no thumb test (p = 0.007) and 2nd test (p = 0.002) showed significant relation with the 3rd no thumb test. Among surgical indicators, pre-osteotomy patella thickness (p = 0.275) and degeneration of patella (p = 0.320) were not relevant but post-osteotomy patellar thickness (p = 0.002) was relevant to no thumb test (3rd test). According to prosthesis, there was no significance with Nexgen (p = 0.575). However, there was significant correlation between Scorpio (p = 0.011), Vanguard (p = 0.049) and no thumb test (3rd test). Especially, Scorpio had a tendency to dislocate the patella, but Vanguard to stabilize the patella. CONCLUSIONS: No thumb test (3rd test) is correlated positively with 1st test, 2nd test, and post-osteotomy patella thickness. Therefore, the more patella osteotomy and the prosthesis with high affinity to patellofemoral alignment would be required for correct patella alignment.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee/*methods ; Female ; Humans ; Intraoperative Care/*methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteotomy ; Patella/*anatomy & histology/surgery ; Physical Examination ; Risk Factors

In order to examine whether microdeletions on the Y chromosome exist or not and observe the aspects of expression of DAZ which is suggested to be essential in spermatogenesis in testicular tissue, tissues of 21 patients with azospermia were analyzed by using PCR methods and reverse transcription-PCR. The primers used for the analysis of the microdeletions on the Y chromosome were gene-specific. According to the results of the PCR with genomic DNA of the peripheral blood extracted from each patient, of the 21 men with azospermia 2 displayed microdeletions of the DAZ gene in the Y chromosome but none of HSP70A and HSP70B. And the reverse transcription-PCR of the RNA extracted from the testicular tissue of the patients gave results which found no amplified products of the mRNA of DAZ in the patients with microdeletions of that gene as expected, and confirmed patterns of expression of the mRNA of HSP70B in 5 whereas none could be seen with regard to HSP70A. Furthermore, the sperm of these 5 men were discovered t In accordance with the results previously described, one can see that the microdeletions of DAZ are associated with spermatogenesis and contemplate that HSP70B plays an important part in the maturation process of sperm. But it is considered that there is no correlation between the genes DAZ and HSP and since factors associated with the process of spermatogenesis are being continously discovered more studies on this should be advanced.
Azoospermia ; DNA ; Humans ; Male ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger ; Spermatogenesis ; Spermatozoa ; Y Chromosome