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

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

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*

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

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to know the effect of high intensive laser therapy in patients with early stage of osteoarthritis of knee. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a randomized, double blind controlled trial. 28 patients who had grade II osteoarthritis of Kellgren classification and knee pain were randomly divided into two groups. Patients underwent treatment 30 times, 5 times per week. the clinical evaluation was done by the pain, stiffness and functional score of the knee by the knee society clinical rating system, and the intensity of pain was measured also by a VAS (visual analogue scale), before and after the 1st sessions, Before and after the 2nd sessions and at 6 month after the 1st treatment. We checked hs-CRP and HA which was regarded as indexes of osteoarthritis activitiy. RESULTS: As a clinical result of high intensive laser therapy, VAS, pain and functional score were statistically more improved than those of before therapy, except stiffness (P<0.05). The results of the hs-CRP and HA which were not significantly different from those of before therapy. In the placebo group, all variables showed no difference. CONCLUSION: We concluded that Nd-YAG high intensive laser therapy in early stage of patient with osteoarthritis of knee would be helpful as noninvasive and conservative treatment for improvement clinical progress.
Humans ; Knee ; Laser Therapy ; Lasers, Solid-State ; Osteoarthritis ; Osteoarthritis, Knee

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to clarify the effect of hemodynamic changes of ductal shunt on brain natriuretic peptide(BNP) secretion and to investigate the value of plasma BNP level as a predictor of spontaneous closure of ductus arteriosus(DA) in healthy preterm infants. METHODS: 24 preterm infants were enrolled. Echocardiographic examinations and blood samplings of BNP were carried out in 24 hours, 72 hours and on 5th days after birth. The magnitudes of ductal shunts were estimated using ductal color Doppler flow pattern, left atrial/aortic root ratio(LA/Ao ratio) and antegrade peak diastolic flow velocity(APDFV) in left pulmonary artery. RESULTS: DA in healthy preterm infants were closed spontaneously within 5 days of birth. Plasma BNP levels in infants with ductal shunt were higher than that of infants without shunt in 24 hours and then significantly decreased within 72 hours of birth according to the decreases of flow in ductal shunts. BNP levels of all infants with ductal shunt were significantly correlated with LA/Ao ratio and APDFV. CONCLUSION: Reduction of BNP levels may serve as an indicator of spontaneous closure of DA in healthy preterm infants. Its levels show significant correlations with the magnitudes of ductal shunt. Therefore BNP levels may be used in determining the necessity of and the optimal time to initiating medical and surgical management of preterm infants with significant PDA.
Brain* ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent ; Echocardiography ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature* ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain* ; Parturition ; Plasma* ; Pulmonary Artery