Unlike the United States, cases of firearm suicides in Korea are rare and are usually limited to military soldiers and policemen. In addition, there is no case report of a suicide by a homemade handgun in Korea. The present victim was a 24-year-old soldier with a fascination for firearms. He had a history of depression and social phobia during his military service. He constructed a homemade handgun from a plastic model gun, also known as a BB gun. During the vacations, he committed suicide with the homemade gun, which caused a penetrating gunshot wound to his chest. The structure and ammunition of the homemade handgun is demonstrated in this report. We have also discussed a few details of the forensic investigation and evaluation of the homemade handgun fatality.
Depression ; Firearms ; Humans ; Korea ; Military Personnel ; Plastics ; Phobic Disorders ; Suicide ; Thorax ; United States ; Wounds, Gunshot ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Neuroblastoma*

Prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) is a putative premalignant change in the human prostate, which is an intraluminal proliferation of the secretory cells of the prostatic duct-acinar system that is enveloped by a basal cell layer and displays a spectrum of dysplastic cytologic features ranging from minimal atypia (low grade PIN) to those which are ultimately indistinguishable from carcinoma cells (high grade PIN). To evaluate the clinical significance of the PIN in prostatic tumor and BPH, we reviewed the serum prostate specific antigen (PSA), prostate specific antigen density (PSAD), and pathologic findings in the specimen of 21 BPH and 11 Prostate cancers, which were pathologically confirmed. The distributions of PIN are 7/21 (33%) in BPH and 8/ 11 (73%) in prostatic ca (P<0.05). The mean value (+/-SD) of PSA and PSAD in BPH patient were 8.42+/-5.57 ng/ml, 0.16+/-0.09 for PIN(-), 10.13+/-5.97 ng/ml, 0.17+/-0.09 for PIN(+), and in prostatic cancer patient were 60.53+/-1.83 ng/ml, 1.42+/-0.25 for PIN(-), 54.15+/-34.61 ng/ml, 1.28+/-0.84 for PIN(+), respectively. The mean value (+/-SD) of PSA & PSAD according to histologic types of BPH were 9.04+/-3.88 ng/ml, 0.17+/-0.06 for glandular type, 5. 57+/-1.31 ng/ml, 0.10+/-0.03 for stromal type, and 11.18+/-8.93 ng/ml, 0.19+/-0.13 for mixed type. The distributions of PIN according to histologic types of BPH were 30% (3/10) for glandular type, 40% (2/5) for stromal type, and 33% (2/6) for mixed type. All 7 PIN(+) BPH were low grade, while, of the 8 PIN(+) prostatic Ca, 1 was low grade and 7 were high grade. From these results, the frequent of PIN was higher in prostatic cancer than BPH (P<0.05). PIN had no significant influence on PSA elevation in prostatic cancer and BPH. There was no correction between PSA, PSAD and histologic types of BPH (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the distribution of PIN according to histologic types of BPH. And high grade PIN was observed only in prostatic cancer. Therefore, if high grade PIN is observed in pathologic specimens, undetected prostatic cancer should be found.
Humans ; Prostate* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen* ; Prostatic Hyperplasia* ; Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia* ; Prostatic Neoplasms*

No abstract available.
Emphysema* ; Tuberculosis*

Priapism is a relatively rare condition of persistent painful erection unaccompanied by sexual desire. We report two cases of priapism, one etiology is related to leukemia and the other is idiopathic. The former was treated with continuous Hemo-Vac drainage, the latter with corporal cavernosum spongiosum shunt, and the results were good.
Drainage ; Leukemia ; Priapism*

No abstract available.
Fractures, Open*

At the beginning, researches on the biology of depression or affective illness have focused mainly on the receptor functions and neuroendocrine activities. And the studies of the past years did not break new theoretical background, but the recent advances in the research on the molecular mechanisms underlying neural communication and signal transduction do add some insights to many established ideas. This article will overview some of the more recent advances in the clinical researches of depression. Our major concerns to be presented here include the following : (1) alterations in the post-synaptic neural transduction ; (2) changes in the neurons of hypothalamic neuropeptides ; (3) decreased peptidase enzyme activities : (4) associations of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis abnormalities with serotonin neurotransmission ; (5) role of serotonin transporter ; (6) changes in the responsiveness of intracellular calcium ion levels ; (7) the inositol deficiency theory of lithium and depression ; (8) the transcription factors including immediate early genes ; (9) recent genetic studies in some families. This brief overview will suggest that changes in DNA occur during antidepressant therapy. These changes at the DNA level initiating a cascade of events underlying antidepressant modality will give us the insight on the molecular biological basis of the pathogenesis of depression and cues for a new class of antidepressants.
Antidepressive Agents ; Axis ; Biology ; Calcium ; Cues ; Depression* ; DNA ; Genes, Immediate-Early ; Humans ; Inositol ; Lithium ; Neurobiology* ; Neurons ; Neuropeptides ; Serotonin ; Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins ; Signal Transduction ; Synaptic Transmission ; Transcription Factors

Congenital Hyperextension of the Knee is a extremly rare deformity, in which the tibia is displaced anteriorly in relation to the femur. It is usually classified into three subtypes according to severity of the status: genu recurvatum, subluxation and dislocation. (Curtis and Fisher) We experienced a genu recurvatum type of congenital hyperextension of the knee in June, 1976.
Congenital Abnormalities ; Dislocations ; Femur ; Knee ; Tibia

Requirement of blood transfusion has been progressively increased and supplements by volunteer donor are not sufficient to their requirements. Moreover homologous blood transfusion are not supplied without risks, espcially the transmission of the serum hepatitis. Twenty procedures, including two total hip replacement arthroplasty, were carried out with acute hemodilutional autotransfusion. The results of this study show that autotransfusion is a safe method without difficulty of blood replacement in elective orthopedic procedures.
Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Blood Transfusion ; Blood Transfusion, Autologous ; Clinical Study ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Methods ; Orthopedic Procedures ; Orthopedics ; Tissue Donors ; Volunteers

Authors examined 40,000 minifilms(boys and girls each 10,000 in junior and senior high schools) which were taken for survey of pulmonary tuberculosis for junior and senior high school students and checked the prevalence of scoliosis. It was considered lateral curvature of spine more than 10 degrees as nonpostural scoliosis, which were analyzed prevalence rate, degree of curvature, distribution of size of curvature, pattern of curve and direction of curvature. Following results were obtained. 1. The overall prevalence rate was 1.56; male 1.38. and female 1.70%(Junior high school 1.06%, Senior high school 2.05%). 2. Scoliosis secondary due to bony abnormality was found in 5 cases. 3. The most common pattern of curvature was the thoracic curve. 4. In sihgle curve, right to left ratio was 1.7, especially senior high school girls had more right curve and junior high school boys had more left curve. 5. The prevalence of senior high school students was greater than that of junior high school students and the degree of curvature was also severe in senior high school students than in junior high school students.
Busan ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Prevalence ; Scoliosis ; Spine ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary