The serologic tests for syphilis including VDRL and TPHA tests were performed on generaI entertainers in Jung Ku and Young Deung Po Ku, and prostitutes including general entertainers in the Pa Ju area from January 1978 to June 1978. In the same period, direct vaginal smear with Gram stain and culture in Thayer-Martin media were carried. aut for all the general entertainers in Jung Ku and Young Deung Fa Ku as well as for the prostitutes in the Pa Ju area. The results were as follows: 1. An overall VDRL reactive rate of 5, 6 A was found among the 6, 666 general entertainers and prostitutes studied. The reactive rate of VDRL test was 5.3, in 5,289 general entertainers, and 7.6% among the 837 prostitutes in the Pa Ju area. 2. With regard to the VBRL quantitative test, the reactive rate of the group with a titration of 1: 8 or higher rvas 34.8, among the general entertainers of Young Deung Po Ku and Jung Ku. 3. The overall biologic false positive rate of VDRL test was 16.8% in the Young Deung Po Ku and Pa Ju areas using the TPHA test as the standard. 4. The positive rates of culture in Thayer-Martin media were 8.6% out of 1,387 general entertainers of Young Deung Po Ku and l.3% out of 4,352 in Jung Ku respectively, and 2.5 out of 326 prostitutes in the Pa Ju area. The findings seem to be probable that no remarkable change of the incidence of syphilitic and gonococcal infection has taken place recently among the genera. entertainers and prostitutes.
Humans ; Incidence ; Serologic Tests* ; Sex Workers* ; Syphilis ; Vaginal Smears

No abstract available.

Behcet's disease (BD) involves multisystem vasculitis of unknown origin. Ocular manifestations of BD mostly include bilateral panuveitis and retinal vasculitis, which are very challenging to treat. Interferon alfa-2a (IFN) has been recently introduced for treating refractory Behcet uveitis, mainly in Germany and Turkey. Nonetheless, there is so far no consensus about the ideal treatment regimen of IFN for Behcet uveitis. We report our experience of IFN treatment in five Korean BD patients with refractory uveitis. All patients complained of oral ulcers; one patient had a positive pathergy test and 2 showed the presence of HLA-B51. Immunosuppressive agents used prior to IFN treatment included cyclosporine and methotrexate. The IFN treatment was commenced with a dose of 6-9 MIU/day for 7 days, adjusted according to individual ocular manifestations, tapered down to 3 MIU three times in a week, and then discontinued. All patients showed positive response to IFN treatment; 50% of them showed complete response without additional major ocular inflammation during the follow-up period. Other BD symptoms also improved after IFN treatment in most cases. After treatment, the relapse rate and the required dose of oral corticosteroid were decreased in most cases, showing a significant steroid-sparing effect. However, the visual acuity was not improved in most cases due to irreversible macular sequelae. Despite the small sample size of this study, we suggest that, in Korean patients, IFN is an effective treatment modality for BD uveitis as was observed in German and Turkish patients.
Adult ; Behcet Syndrome/complications/diagnosis/*drug therapy ; Chronic Disease ; Cyclosporine/therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents/administration & dosage ; Interferon-alpha/*therapeutic use ; Male ; Recombinant Proteins/therapeutic use ; Recurrence ; Remission Induction ; Treatment Outcome ; Turkey ; Uveitis/diagnosis/*drug therapy/etiology ; Visual Acuity

OBJECTIVES: Cartilage reshaping by laser irradiation is used to correct septal and auricular cartilage deformities. Chondrocyte viability following laser irradiation and reshaping has been well established. However, the regeneration process of chondrocyte after laser irradiation has not been revealed yet. The aims of this study were to determine the mechanism of cartilaginous thermal injury and the regenerative process of damaged cartilage following laser irradiation. METHODS: Laser irradiation was performed on human septal cartilage and rabbit auricular cartilage using a 1,460-nm diode laser. We observed change in the shape of cartilage and evaluated the extent of cartilage injury using live/dead cell assay via confocal microscopy. Hoechst and propidium iodide (PI) staining was used to evaluate the mechanism of chondrocyte injury after laser irradiation. To evaluate the regeneration of cartilage, laser irradiated cartilages were reimplanted into a subperichondrial pocket and were harvested at 1, 2, and 4 weeks after reimplantation for viability assessment and histologic examination. RESULTS: Laser irradiation using a 1,460-nm diode laser produced a marked shape change in both human septal and rabbit auricular cartilages. Thermal damage on cartilage was correlated with the exposure time and the laser power. Hoechst and PI staining showed that chondrocyte death by laser irradiation was due to mainly necrosis, rather than apoptosis. In lower power treatment group (0.3 W and 0.5 W), all the chondrocytes regenerated within 4 weeks, however, in 1 W treatment group, chondrocytes could not regenerate until 4 weeks. CONCLUSION: Reshaping of cartilage using 1,460 nm diode laser was attained concurrently with the thermal injury to the chondrocytes. The extent of thermal damage on chondrocytes was dependent on the exposure time and the laser power and the damaged chondrocytes irradiated with lower level of laser power could be regenerated after reimplantation into subperichondrial pocket.
Apoptosis ; Cartilage ; Chondrocytes ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Ear Cartilage ; Humans ; Lasers, Semiconductor ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Necrosis ; Propidium ; Regeneration ; Replantation

BACKGROUND: Pain following shoulder surgery is usually severe and difficult to control using conventional postoperative pain control maneuvers. Therefore, we investigated the pain control efficacy, PONV (postoperative nausea vomiting) and complications by the use of a continuous brachial plexus block in patients who had undergone shoulder surgery. METHODS: Thirty three shoulder surgery patients were enrolled in this study. According to the Borgeat's modified lateral technique, 30 ml of 0.37% ropivacaine were injected into the patients, which was followed by insertion of a continuous brachial plexus catheter into the plexus sheath. The operation was then conducted under general anesthesia, and postoperative pain was evaluated in the recovery room 12, 24, 36, and 48 hr after surgery. In addition, nausea and vomiting was calculated using the visual analogue scale (VAS) and sedation was evaluated using the modified Ramsay score. A total of 400 ml of 0.2% Ropivacaine was administered at a rate of 8 ml/hr to control the postoperative pain for 2 days. In addition, other neurological complications were investigated, and the catheter tips were cultured after they were removed to determine if any infection had occurred. RESULTS: The postoperative pain scores were below 2 on the 10 cm VAS, and the level of nausea and vomiting was also satisfactorily (< 2/10 cm VAS). In addition, the mean sedation score of the patients in the recovery room was 2. There were complications including motor weakness (24%), dyspnea (15%), Hornor's syndrome (9%), postauricular numbness (9%) and metallic taste (3%), however, there were no patients who complained of neurological symptoms after one month of follow-up, and no signs of infection were found when the results of catheter tip cultures were evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: The use of a continuous interscalene brachial plexus block is a feasible method of postoperative pain control for patients who undergo major shoulder surgery.
Anesthesia, General ; Brachial Plexus* ; Catheters ; Dyspnea ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Nausea ; Nerve Block ; Pain, Postoperative ; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting ; Recovery Room ; Shoulder* ; Taste Disorders ; Vomiting

Anisakiasis is a accidental parasitic infection caused by nematode larvae belonging to the subfamily Anisakinae when a raw or inadequately cooked fish is ingested. The common clinical symptoms are severe colicky abdominal pain or epigastric full sensation, nausea, vomiting and fever, but hematemesis or melena is very rare. We report a case of a 11-year-old female child who developed severe epigastric pain recurrently for 2 months, and recalled that she had eaten the raw flesh of an Astroconger myriaster. Endoscopic examination showed the whitish worm invading the stomach wall. Clinical symptoms disappeared after endoscopic removal. This study may be the first pediatric case of gastric anisakiasis in korea.
Abdominal Pain* ; Anisakiasis* ; Child* ; Female ; Fever ; Hematemesis ; Humans ; Korea ; Larva ; Melena ; Nausea ; Sensation ; Stomach ; Vomiting

Priapism has been classified as primary (idiopathic)and secondary according to etiology. Hemodynamically, it can be separated into two distinct types: low-flow (ischemic) and high flow (non-ischemic). In the latter type, the most common cause is blunt genital trauma, and selective cavernosal artery embolization has been the most effective therapeutic method. Two cases of high-flow arterial priapism are presented. Both cases were post-traumatic and were managed with selective cavernosal artery embolization, with excellent return of premorbid levels of erectile function.
Arteries ; Male ; Penile Erection ; Priapism*

Priapism has been classified as primary (idiopathic)and secondary according to etiology. Hemodynamically, it can be separated into two distinct types: low-flow (ischemic) and high flow (non-ischemic). In the latter type, the most common cause is blunt genital trauma, and selective cavernosal artery embolization has been the most effective therapeutic method. Two cases of high-flow arterial priapism are presented. Both cases were post-traumatic and were managed with selective cavernosal artery embolization, with excellent return of premorbid levels of erectile function.
Arteries ; Male ; Penile Erection ; Priapism*

Post and core is used to restore endodontically treated teeth, and it is a very important part which supplies retention and support to the prosthesis. But occasionally, caries occurred due to the microleakage at the post and core and tooth interface, the failure of prosthesis has happened. In this study, the microleakage of cast gold post and core, amalgam core, and composite resin core was investigated and compared. The coronal part of the extracted upper anterior teeth were removed and endodontically treated with conventional method. The teeth were divided into three groups. In group 1, cast gold post and core was cemented with resin cement and in group 2, ready-made post was cemented with resin cement and amalgam core was built. In group 3, ready-made post was cemented with resin cement and composite resin core was built. All specimens were thermocycled between 5degrees C and 55degrees C with dwell time of 15 seconds, and immersed in 0.5degrees C aqueous solution of basic fuchsin dye for 24 hours. After embedded in the epoxy resin, the specimens were sectioned longitudinally and observed with stereomicroscope with the magnification of 25. From the findings of this study, the following conclusions were obtained. 1. There was microleakage at the core/tooth interface of all specimens. 2. The microleakage of gold post and core was significantly less than those of the other two groups. 3. There was no significant difference between the microleakage of amalgam core and that of composite resin core.
Equipment and Supplies ; Prostheses and Implants ; Resin Cements ; Rosaniline Dyes ; Tooth*

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the direct anterior approach (DAA) can be applied to hemiarthroplasty for treatment of unstable femoral intertrochanteric fractures in elderly patients. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 34 cases (34 patients) who underwent bipolar hemiarthroplasty using a DAA from February 2019 to April 2020. The mean age of the patients was 82.68 years (range, 67-95 years). A cementless distal fixation hip system was used in all cases. Operation time, total amount of blood loss, intraoperative and postoperative fractures, infections, and reoperations were measured. The patients performed weight-bearing walking as tolerated immediately after surgery. Measurement of migration of the greater trochanter (GT) and progressive subsidence of the femoral stem was performed using follow-up radiographs. Results: The mean operative time was 83.50 minutes (range, 60-120 minutes). The mean amount of bleeding was 263.53 mL (range, 112-464 mL). Walking started a mean of 3.03 days (range, 3-4 days) after surgery. There was no case of progressive migration of the GT more than 5 mm even though it was not fixed. There were no cases of infection, dislocation, or reoperation. Conclusion Bipolar hemiarthroplasty using the DAA for treatment of unstable femoral intertrochanteric fractures could be considered a useful option that provides many advantages in elderly patients.