Bleaching creams containing hydroquinone are modestly effective in treating some cutane ous pigmentary disorders. Hydroquinone creams frequently cause mild irritant reactions and postinflammatory hyperpigmentation, but rarely allergic reactions. A case of allergic contact dermatitis due to hydroquinone in a 21-year-old woman was confirmed by the patch test.
Dermatitis, Allergic Contact* ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperpigmentation ; Hypersensitivity ; Patch Tests ; Young Adult

This study was designed to identify the relationship between perceived social support and discernd powerlessness held by the elderly residing in a rural community. The purpose of this study was to contribute to theoretical understanding of the relationship of these two variables and eventually to the more effective adaptation of the elderly to their situation. The subjects for this study were the 89 elderly residing in a rural community. Data were collected by a questionnaire from June 2 to 20, 1998. The data were analysed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlated coefficient and stepwise multiple regression using a SAS program. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. 1. The relationship between perceived social support and discernd powerlessness was significant(r = -.23502, p=.0266). Especially, discernd elderly's powerlessness shows a highly significant relationship with family and neighborhood support(family r= -.45096, p=.0001, neighborhood r= -.35681, p=.0006). In the support patterns, the discernd powerlessness of the elderly has a significant relationship to emotional, informational and evaluational support. Therefore the hypothesis that, "the lower the degree of social support peiceived by the elderly, the higher the degree of discened powerlessness" was supported. 2. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the most powerful predictor of discened powerlessness was family support in support system (R2 = .2034), and emotional support (R2 = .0627) in support patterns. 3. General characteristic related to the degree of social support was only residential status(P< .05), but the degree of family support was related to spouse(t=2.390. p<.01). residential status(t= -2.157, p<.05), and household.
Aged* ; Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Residence Characteristics ; Rural Population*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for field modification during radiotherapy in esophageal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study on 33 patients that underwent chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Pathologic findings were squamous cell carcinoma in 32 patients and adenocarcinoma in 1 patient. All patients underwent PET/CT scans before and during CRT (after receiving 40 Gy and before a 20 Gy boost dose). Response evaluation was determined by PET/CT using metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total glycolytic activity (TGA), MTV ratio (rMTV) and TGA ratio (rTGA), or determined by CT. rMTV and rTGA were reduction ratio of MTV and TGA between before and during CRT, respectively. RESULTS: Significant decreases in MTV (MTV2.5: mean 70.09%, p < 0.001) and TGA (TGA2.5: mean 79.08%, p<0.001) were found between before and during CRT. Median rMTV2.5 was 0.299 (range, 0 to 0.98) and median rTGA2.5 was 0.209 (range, 0 to 0.92). During CRT, PET/CT detected newly developed distant metastasis in 1 patient, and this resulted in a treatment strategy change. At a median 4 months (range, 0 to 12 months) after completion of CRT, 8 patients (24.2%) achieved clinically complete response, 11 (33.3%) partial response, 5 (15.2%) stable disease, and 9 (27.3%) disease progression. SUVmax (p = 0.029), rMTV50% (p = 0.016), rMTV75% (p = 0.023) on intra-treatment PET were found to correlate with complete clinical response. CONCLUSION: PET/CT during CRT can provide additional information useful for radiotherapy planning and offer the potential for tumor response evaluation during CRT. rMTV50% during CRT was found to be a useful predictor of clinical response.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chemoradiotherapy* ; Disease Progression ; Electrons ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography* ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Tumor Burden

The propose of this study was to propose for protection of childhood injury or accident and to provide safety measures. Data was collected from 2,052 who visited emergency room of E University Hospital during 1 year period form January to December, 1996. The results were as follows : 1. The most common type of accident was fall down (53.4%). 2. Male patients outnumbered female by the ratio of 1.68 : 1. 3. The highest incidence rate of accidents were observed in children between 1-3 years age group(34.9%). 4. Accidents were seasonally more frequent in spring(28.2%). 5. Accidents mainly took place at home(63%). 6. The time of accidental occurrence appeared to be predominantly high during a day 8:00 PM to 0:00 AM(35.1%). 7. The most frequent involved part of body was head and face(74%). 8. Most patients discharged from the hospital in good condition(85.4%). Though clinical analysis, in the relation to accident, there were statistically significant difference in sex, age, season, injury place(all=0.000).
Child ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Seasons ; Child Health

No abstract available.
Malacoplakia* ; Urinary Bladder*

PURPOSE: In contracted bladder of various etiologies, if many of conservative managements fail, a surgical treatment seems to be the only therapeutic approach. We tried to evaluate the long term results of aug mentation cystoplasty including the postoperative complication and the degree of satisfaction in patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 1989 to 1988, augmentation cystoplasties had been performed in 11 patients with contracted bladder of various etiologies. We reviewed the patients' medical records including the result of urodynamic examinations, retrospectively. Postoperative follow-up periods were 9 to 114months (mean:61months). Patients were interviewed by telephone. RESULTS: Urinary frequency, nocturia, dysuria and suprapubic pain were improved in all patients, but dysuria persisted in one patient with tuberculous cystitis. Clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) was done in there of 11 patients due to large volume of residual urine. The volume of residual urine was 200-300ml in one with hyperreflexic neurogenic bladder, and 100-200ml in two with interstitial cystitis. Self voiding was possible in 8 patients with residual urine volume less than 90ml. Almost all patients were very satisfied symptomatically in the telephone survey. There were no significant complications which required surgical revision. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that augmentation cystoplasty could be an excellent method of treatment for selective patients with contracted bladder, who have not improved symtomatically by medication or conservative management.
Cystitis ; Cystitis, Interstitial ; Dysuria ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intermittent Urethral Catheterization ; Medical Records ; Nocturia ; Postoperative Complications ; Reoperation ; Retrospective Studies ; Telephone ; Urinary Bladder* ; Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic ; Urodynamics

BACKGROUND: The verse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been widely used to analyze the bcr/abl fusion mRNA in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Fresh or cryopreserved cells may not always be available for molecular diagnosis. So we investigated the value of stored bone marrow aspirate smears as the sources of material for the detection of bcr/abl mRNA. METHODS: We extracted RNA using modified Chomczynski method, and amplified bcr/abl mRNA by RT-PCR from the 70 cases of bone marrow smear slides stored from 7 days to 7 years, which were comprised of 49 CML, 11 other chronic myeloproliferative disorders (CMPD) and 10 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Sensitivity of RT-PGR was tested using the slide smears prepared with 10(0)-10(6) K562 cells, and RT-PCR results losing each fresh bone marrow cellular suspension and slide smears in 24 patients were compacted. For major bcr/abl rearrangement, RT-PCR was performed by nested PGR afters GDNA synthesis losing downward primer and beta2-microglobulin was used as RNA controls. RESULTS: The sensitivity of RT-PCR for detecting bcr/abl mRNA was l02 cells per slide. Sixty one cases (86%) of 70 bone marrow aspirate smears showed positive results of beta2-micyoglobulin cDNA as an indicator of intact RNA. Thirty nine cases of 42 beta2-microglobulin cDNA positive CML bone marrow aspirate smears showed 29 b3a2 type mRNA and 10 b2a2 type mRNA. Nine cases of 11 bone marrow aspirate smear with other CMPD showed negative results of bcr/abl mRNA. Two cases of 10 ALL bone mallow aspirate smears had b2a2 type mRNA and b3a2 type mRNA, respectively. The results for detection of bcr/abl mRNA with fresh cell suspensions of 24 patients were same as the bone marrow aspirate smears storied for 7 days to 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicated that RNA obtained from bone marrow smears storied for less than 1 year was valuable as the source of RT-PGR for the detection of bcr/abl mRNA in CML and the bone marrow smears stored for much longer period ould be assailable as the specimens for retrospective analysis of specific gene alter-ation in other hematologic malignancy.
Bone Marrow* ; Diagnosis ; DNA, Complementary ; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; Myeloproliferative Disorders ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; Retrospective Studies ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger* ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase* ; Suspensions

No abstract available.
Child* ; Colon* ; Constipation* ; Enema* ; Fecal Incontinence* ; Humans

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a six week self-help empowerment strategy program on the empowerment status, pain intensity, physical function, joint flexibility and depression status in rheumatoid arthritis patients. METHOD: The subjects of the study consisted of a convenience sample thirteen rheumatoid arthritis patients. Data was collected from July to November, 2001. All patient received a self-help empowerment strategy program, once a week for six weeks. RESULT: After receiving the self-help empowerment strategy program, the empowerment status increased significantly, the pain intensity and the depression score decreased significantly and the level of physical function significantly improved but the flexibilities of shoulders, knees and ankles were not significantly changed. CONCLUSION: Further studies need to be done to determine the feasibility of implementing empowerment strategy and its possibility as an effective intervention program for decreasing pain intensity and depression score and improving the physical function.
Ankle ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Depression ; Humans ; Knee ; Power (Psychology)* ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Self-Help Groups ; Shoulder

No abstract available.
Urinary Retention*