Tardive dyskinesia(TD) is a serious side effect of long-term treatment with neuroleptic medications. To investigate if glutamatergic hyperfunction is associated with TD, effect of MK-801 on the prevention and treatment of TD was studied using a rat model, i.e., vacuous chewing movements(VCM). When comparing VCM scores of Group I(haldol decanoate+MK-801) with that of Group II(hadol decanoate+phosphate buffer saline), late measured VCM scores of former were significantly lower than that of latter, meaning that MK-801 is effective in the prevention of VCM. Furthermore, when MK-801 is also effective in the treatment of VCM. From the above results, it is suggested that glutamatergic hyperfunction might be involved in the development of TD and MK801 could be effective in the prevention and treatment of it.
Dizocilpine Maleate* ; Mastication ; Models, Animal ; Movement Disorders*

e double eyelid operation is one of the most common aesthetic operation in Korea. The non-incision method have advantage such as decreased swelling, faster recovery and so forth. However difficulties arise in case of excessively fatty upper eyelids. The authors have devised a method for use with the fatty upper eyelid. Through the partial incision, orbital fat was removed and the double fold was made with the continuous buried suture technique. This technique was performed in 215 cases in 462 total double eyelid operation in Metro Plastic Surgery Clinic from August 2000 to May 2002. We experienced satisfactory results in all cases except 1 case of asymmetry and 1 case of fold loss. The authors conclude that this method achieves a shorter operation time, less morbidity and better cosmetic results in fatty upper eyelids than the other incision methods.
Eyelids* ; Korea ; Orbit ; Surgery, Plastic ; Suture Techniques ; Sutures*

PURPOSE: It is well known that big differences in clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis exist between oriental and western gastric cancer patients. Howevers, few direct comparisons of the two groups have ever been made or reported. Thus, we directly investigated the difference of clinicopathologic characteristics between Korean and Germany gastric cancer patients. METHODS: All resected gastric cancer patients at Korea University Guro Hospital and Technische Universitat Munchen from 1983 to 1990 were enrolled in this study. Their clinicopathologic characteristics were compared retrospectively on the basis of medical records. RESULTS: The mean age of Koreans was 53.3+/-11.6 years, and that of Germans was 62.6+/-11.5 years (P<0.001). The proportion of early gastric cancer patient was not significant (19% vs 16.2%). The tumor was located at the lower 1/3 in 51.4% of Koreans, but in the upper 1/3 in 40.6% of Germans (P<0.001). Larger tumor size, extended lymph node and distant metastasis, and eventual advanced stages were prominant findings among the Germans (P<0.001), and signet ring cell carcinoma was the predominant histologic subtype (46.6%). A distal subtotal gastrectomy was the commonly employed operative procedure in Korea (76.8%), but a total gastrectomy was more favored in Germany (72.9%) (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Korean gastric cancer patients were younger, and their tumors were more distally located and less advanced in stage. In addition, they had fewer signet ring cell carcinomas. Howevers, prospective studies comparingthe prognoses are warranted to explore the differences between oriental and western gastric cancer patients.
Carcinoma, Signet Ring Cell ; Gastrectomy ; Germany* ; Humans ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Medical Records ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Surgical Procedures, Operative

PURPOSE: Genetic variations among prostate cancer (PCa) patients who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) and pelvic lymph node dissection were evaluated to predict lymph node invasion (LNI). Exome arrays were used to develop a clinicogenetic model that combined clinical data related to PCa and individual genetic variations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We genotyped 242,186 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by using a custom HumanExome BeadChip v1.0 (Illumina Inc.) from the blood DNA of 341 patients with PCa. The genetic data were analyzed to calculate an odds ratio as an estimate of the relative risk of LNI. We compared the accuracies of the multivariate logistic model incorporating clinical factors between the included and excluded selected SNPs. The Cox proportional hazard models with or without genetic factors for predicting biochemical recurrence (BCR) were analyzed. RESULTS: The genetic analysis indicated that five SNPs (rs75444444, rs8055236, rs2301277, rs9300039, and rs6908581) were significant for predicting LNI in patients with PCa. When a multivariate model incorporating clinical factors was devised to predict LNI, the predictive accuracy of the multivariate model was 80.7%. By adding genetic factors in the aforementioned multivariate model, the predictive accuracy increased to 93.2% (p=0.006). These genetic variations were significant factors for predicting BCR after adjustment for other variables and after adding the predictive gain to BCR. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of the exome array, the selected SNPs were predictors for LNI. The addition of individualized genetic information effectively enhanced the predictive accuracy of LNI and BCR among patients with PCa who underwent RP.
Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor/*genetics ; Biopsy ; DNA, Neoplasm/genetics ; Exome ; Gene Frequency ; Genome ; Genotype ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes/pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Models, Genetic ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prospective Studies ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*genetics/pathology/surgery

PURPOSE: To investigate the care patterns for radiation therapy and to determine inter-hospital differences for patients with laryngeal carcinoma in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 237 cases of laryngeal carcinoma (glottis, 144; supraglottis, 93) assembled from 23 hospitals, who underwent irradiation in the year of 1998 and 1999, were retrospectively analyzed to investigate inter-hospital differences with respect to radiotherapy treatment. We grouped the 23 hospitals based on the number of new patients annually irradiated in 1998; and designated them as group A (> or =900 patients), group B (> or =400 patients and <900 patients), and group C (<400 patients). RESULTS: The median age of the 237 patients was 62 years (range, 25 to 88 years), of which 216 were male and 21 were female. The clinical stages were distributed as follows: for glottis cancer, I; 61.8%, II; 21.5%, III; 4.2%, IVa; 11.1%, IVb; 1.4%, and in supraglottic cancer, I; 4.3%, II; 19.4%, III; 28.0%, IVa; 43.0%, IVb; 5.4%, respectively. Some differences were observed among the 3 groups with respect to the dose calculation method, radiation energy, field arrangement, and use of an immobilization device. No significant difference among 3 hospital groups was observed with respect to treatment modality, irradiation volume, and median total dose delivered to the primary site. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that radiotherapy process and patterns of care are relatively uniform in laryngeal cancer patients in Korean hospitals, and we hope this nationwide data can be used as a basis for the standardization of radiotherapy for the treatment of laryngeal cancer.
Female ; Glottis ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Korea ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; Male ; Retrospective Studies