No abstract available.
Dermoscopy* ; Diagnosis

The prenatal diagnosis of spina bifida includes the combined use of maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP) screening and fetal sonography. On ultrasonogram, spina bifida is characterizd by visualization of the spinal defect and associated cranial abnomalities: the Lemon sign, the Banana sign, ventriculomegaly, small biparietal diameter, and obliteration of the cisterna magna. We should now be able to rely on ultrasound as the main technique for diagnosis of spina bifida when MSAFP is elevated. Recently, we have experienced three cases of spina bifida diagnosed with meningomyelocele, lemon sign, banana sign and ventriculomegaly on ultrasonogram at respectively 18+3, 18, and 18+6 weeks of gestation. We present these cases with a brief review of literatures.
alpha-Fetoproteins ; Cisterna Magna ; Diagnosis ; Mass Screening ; Meningomyelocele ; Musa ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Spinal Dysraphism* ; Ultrasonography*

No abstract available.
Calcinosis*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to conduct a grounded theoretical analysis on the hospital accreditation experience of head nurses in order to understand their behavior on the adaption of this new system. METHODS: The participants were 8 head nurses with more than 3 years of experience. The data were collected through in-depth interviews using audiotape recording analyzed by the constant comparative method described in Strauss and Corbin's methodology. RESULTS: There were 113 concepts, 26 subcategories and 12 categories identified through the open coding process. In the axial coding, the following paradigm model was proposed: 1) the causal conditions were ‘hardware problem’ and ‘software problem’, 2) the contextual conditions were ‘vertical relationship’, ‘individual preference’, and ‘family support’, 3) the intervening conditions were ‘passive conditions’ and ‘active conditions’, 4) the action/interaction strategies were ‘leading role’ and ‘dependent role’, 5) the consequences were ‘positive acceptance’ and ‘negative acceptance’, 6) the central phenomenon was ‘difficult situation’ and 7) the core category was ‘leading in harmony’. CONCLUSION: The new system led head nurses having difficulties as the middleman between the hospital administration and general nurses, but they made a continuous effort to overcome and adapt to it through a number of strategies.
Accreditation* ; Clinical Coding ; Grounded Theory ; Head* ; Hospital Administration ; Hospitals, General* ; Methods ; Nursing, Supervisory* ; Tape Recording

BACKGROUND: There is concem about the rising incidence of skin cancer. However, few articles have reported the change in the clinical and epidemiological aspects of skin cancer. OBJECTIVE: We performed this study in order to clarifiy the recent changes in cutaneous premalignant and malignant lesions. METHODS: A statistical analysis was made using 101 cases of cutaneous premalignant lesions and 205 cases of ma]ignant tumors out of a total number of 20,175 new outpatients that visited the Department of Dermatology at the Seoul National University Hospital during a 6 year period(1990-1995). RESULTS: The frequency of premalignant lesions was 0.50% and that of malignant tumors was 1.02%. The frequency showed an increasing tendency compared to previous reports. In the premalignant lesion cases, actinic keratosis was most common and represented a figure of 82.2%. Among the malignant tumors, basal cell carcinoma was most frequent at 24.4%. Age, sex and anatomical site distribution of basal cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma was no different. The mean age of squamous cell carcinoma was greater than in previous reports and main preceding lesions were actinic keratosis and cheilitis. The frequency of lymphoma was markedly increased but the reason for this remains to be determined. CONCLUSION: Our findings showed the continous increasing incidence of skin cancers and emphasize the need for public eduacation, early diagnosis and proper treatment.
Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cheilitis ; Dermatology ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Keratosis, Actinic ; Lymphoma ; Melanoma ; Outpatients ; Seoul ; Skin Neoplasms ; Statistics as Topic*

BACKGROUND: We studied the antibiotic sensitivities to the causative microorganisms of acute simple urinary tract infection for recent 3 years. METHODS: We analyzed 112 microorganisms and their antibiotic sensitivities of the 104 patients who were admitted to or visited the Department of Urology, Catholic University St. Marys Hospital and had more than 10cfu/mL on urine culture from June 1996 to January 1999 retrospectively. RESULTS: The chance of gram negative and positive as causative microorganisms was 72.3% and 27.7% respectively. The most common pathogenic microorganisms were Escherichia coli (67.0%) followed by a-hemolytic streptococci, Entercoccus. In gram negative acute UTI, imipenem, sulperanzone showed relatively higher sensitivity, while cotrimoxazole, ampicillin showed relatively lower sensitivity. In gram positive, vancomycin, penicillin showed relatively higher sensitivity, while ampicillin, imipenem showed relatively lower sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: We consider that gram negative microorganisms, especially E. coli, is the main cause of acute simple UTI. But, we should be concerned about the increase of gram positive organisms and other gram negative organisms besides E. coli. Regarding to the choice of adequate drug in the treatment of UTI, it is necessary to consider the change of pathologic microorganisms.
Ampicillin ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Imipenem ; Penicillins ; Retrospective Studies ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination ; Urinary Tract Infections* ; Urinary Tract* ; Urology ; Vancomycin

PURPOSE: A prospective randomized controlled trial was performed to investigate the effects of intravenous hydration, both with and without diuretics, on the fragmentation and passage of an upper ureteral stone during ESWL. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed 65 patients with upper ureteral stones, primarily treated with piezoelectric LT-02 lithotripter, between November, 2001 and March, 2002. The patients were divided in 3 groups; the 20 patients in group A were injected with 500ml of normal saline for intravenous hydration, and 20mg of furosemide for diuretic effect during the ESWL; the 20 patients in group B were injected with normal saline without furosemide, and the remaining 25, group C, were used as controls. The same energy settings for the shockwaves in one session were equally applied to all the patients during the ESWL, with a 4Hz shockwave frequency, 100% power, a 50 minute treatment and 43 minute storage time. After 2 weeks, the degrees of stone fragmentation, and the residual fragments, were evaluated on the post-ESWL KUB and compared with the pre-ESWL KUB. RESULTS: After a single ESWL treatment, the stone-free rate was 70% (14 of 20 patients) in group A, 60% (12 of 20 patients) in group B and 28% (7 of 25 patients) in group C (p<0.05). The stone-free rates of groups A and B were significantly higher than that of group C, but there was no statistical difference between groups A and B. The stone-free rates, after a single session, according to the stone size was higher in groups A (77.8%) and B (73.3%) than in group C (38.9%) for stones smaller than 10mm (p<0.05), but they were similar between the three groups for stones larger than 10mm (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Intravenous hydration with normal saline, both with and without a furosemide injection for diuretic effect, during ESWL would be an effective method to facilitate the fragmentation and passage of upper ureteral stones smaller than 10mm.
Diuretics* ; Furosemide ; Humans ; Lithotripsy* ; Prospective Studies ; Shock* ; Ureter* ; Ureteral Calculi

We have shown that hyaluronic acid stimulates the proliferation of quiescent NIH 3T3 cells. We have shown that treatment of 1 mg/ml hyaluronic acid results in increase of tyrosine phosphorylation of two proteins, MW 124 kDa and 60 kDa as detected by anti-tyrosine antibodies by Western blot analysis. Maximum phosphorylation occurred within 2 h after addition of 1 mg/ml hyaluronic acid. Stimulation of proliferation was also accompanied by increase in c-Myc protein, which was inhibited by amlloride, an inhibitor of Na+/H+ antiporter and EGTA and increase in the steady state level of pRb, the RB gene product. These results suggest that the intracellular signal transduction pathways that mediate the stimulatory effects of hyaluronic acid on cellular proliferation are similar to those of growth factors.
3T3 Cells ; Amiloride/pharmacology ; Animal ; Cell Division ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Egtazic Acid/pharmacology ; Hyaluronic Acid/pharmacology* ; Mice ; Mitogens/pharmacology* ; Phosphoproteins/metabolism* ; Phosphorylation ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc/metabolism* ; Retinoblastoma Protein/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction ; Sodium-Hydrogen Antiporter/antagonists & inhibitors ; Tyrosine

No abstract available.
Hair Follicle* ; Hair* ; Nevus*

BACKGROUND: In this study, we identified the cutoff value for the percentage in body fat related to metabolic syndrome in elderly people with normal body mass index (BMI). We also found the correlation between body fat percentage and metabolic syndrome. METHODS: We used data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted from 2008 to 2011. Our subjects were elderly people aged 65 or above, with BMI less than 23.0 kg/m2. We determined the cutoff value for body fat percentage through receiver operating characteristic analysis. RESULTS: The cutoff value for percentage body fat related to metabolic syndrome was 19.5% for men (sensitivity 68.0%, specificity 62.9%) and 30.0% for women (sensitivity 55.1%, specificity 62.0%). Based on the cutoff value, 43.3% in men and 43.1% in women were classified into the high body fat percentage group. After adjusting for age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and exercise status, the men with higher than normal body fat percentage had an odds ratio of 3.61 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.10-6.22; p<0.001) for developing metabolic syndrome, whereas women had an odds ratio of 1.95 (95% CI, 1.30-2.92; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The cutoff value for body fat percentage related to metabolic syndrome was lower in elderly. In the elderly with normal body mass index, high percentage of body fat percentage was associated with a high risk of metabolic syndrome.
Adipose Tissue* ; Aged* ; Alcohol Drinking ; Body Mass Index ; Female ; Humans ; Ideal Body Weight* ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Obesity ; Odds Ratio ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Smoke ; Smoking