No abstract available.
Animals ; Rats* ; Skin*

No abstract available.
Ivermectin ; Larva Migrans

This article evaluates the overall current disease burden of North Korea through the recent databases of international organizations. It is notable that North Korea as a nation is exhibiting a relatively low burden from deaths and that there is greater burden from deaths caused by non-communicable diseases than from those caused by communicable diseases and malnutrition. However, the absolute magnitude of problems from communicable diseases like TB and from child malnutrition, which will increase the disease burden in the future, remains great. North Korea, which needs to handle both communicable and nutritional conditions, and non-communicable diseases, whose burden is ever more increasing in the nation, can now be understood as a country with the 'double-burden' of disease.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Child Nutrition Disorders/epidemiology ; Child, Preschool ; Communicable Diseases/epidemiology/*mortality ; Databases, Factual ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea ; Humans ; Incidence ; Middle Aged ; Nutritional Status ; Tuberculosis/epidemiology/mortality ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Anesthesia, Epidural* ; Diuresis*

No abstract available.
Erythromelalgia* ; Thorax*

Objective: Evidence for the association between circadian rhythm delay and depression is accumulating. Genetic studies have shown that certain polymorphisms in circadian genes are potential genetic markers of diurnal preference. Along with circadian genes, there is a growing interest in other genetic effects on circadian rhythms. This study evaluated whether the HTR2A rs6311 (-1438C/T) polymorphism is associated with diurnal preference in a Korean population. Methods: A total of 510 healthy subjects were included in this study. All subjects were genotyped for the HTR2A rs6311 polymorphism and they completed the Korean version of the composite scale of morningness (CSM). Results: The C allele carriers (C/C+C/T) showed significantly higher CSM scores compared to C allele non-carriers (T/T) (t=2.22, p= 0.03), suggesting the existence of a morning chronotype tendency in C allele carriers. In other words, the T/T genotype may be associated with the evening chronotype. Conclusion These results suggest that the HTR2A rs6311 polymorphism may be associated with diurnal preference in a healthy Korean population. The absence of the C allele may be responsible for the increasing susceptibility to eveningness in the Korean population. Further studies on HTR2A polymorphisms that evaluate their interactions with various candidate genes and differences in phenotypic expression of polymorphisms according to ethnic groups are warranted to fully understand their association with diurnal preference.

Background: Chondroid syringoma (CS) is an uncommon benign neoplasm of the head and neck seen in middle-aged to elderly individuals. Histopathologically, chondroid syringoma displays nests of cuboidal epithelial cells embedded in a matrix. It is classified as both a tubular branching lumina type and a small tubular lumina type and may exhibit a wide range of differentiation and metaplastic changes in the epithelial and stromal components. Objective: To investigate the correlation between the clinical and histopathologic features of chondroid syringoma. Methods: We evaluated the electronic medical records, clinical photographs, and histopathological slides of 17 patients diagnosed with chondroid syringoma. Results: CS in the terminal hair skin tended to have larger lesions (p=0.036). Tumors in terminal hair skin demonstrated significantly more follicular differentiation (p=0.044) than those in the vellus hair skin. CS arising on the scalp tended to have more osseous metaplasia compared to those arising on non-scalp areas (p=0.022). Conclusion This study showed that the clinical and histopathological features of CS can differ depending on its location.

Objective: Previous studies have suggested various causes of restless legs syndrome (RLS), including iron and dopamine concentrations in the brain. Genetic influences have also been reported in many studies. There is also a possibility that circadian clock genes may be involved because symptoms of RLS worsen at night. We investigated whether CLOCK and NPAS2 gene polymorphisms were associated with RLS. Methods: A total of 227 patients with RLS and 229 non-RLS matched controls were assessed according to the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group diagnostic criteria. Genotyping was performed using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and high-resolution melting curve analyses. Results: Although the genotype distributions of the CLOCK variants (rs1801260 and rs2412646) were not significantly different between patients with RLS and non-RLS controls, the allele frequencies of CLOCK rs1801260 showed marginally significant differences between the two groups (X2 =2.98, p=0.085). Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the distribution of CLOCK haplotypes (rs1801260-rs2412646) between patients with RLS and non-RLS controls (p=0.013). The distributions of allelic, genotypic, and haplotypic variants of NPAS2 (rs2305160 and rs6725296) were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion Our results suggest that CLOCK variants may be associated with decreased susceptibility to RLS.

Background: Chondroid syringoma (CS) is an uncommon benign neoplasm of the head and neck seen in middle-aged to elderly individuals. Histopathologically, chondroid syringoma displays nests of cuboidal epithelial cells embedded in a matrix. It is classified as both a tubular branching lumina type and a small tubular lumina type and may exhibit a wide range of differentiation and metaplastic changes in the epithelial and stromal components. Objective: To investigate the correlation between the clinical and histopathologic features of chondroid syringoma. Methods: We evaluated the electronic medical records, clinical photographs, and histopathological slides of 17 patients diagnosed with chondroid syringoma. Results: CS in the terminal hair skin tended to have larger lesions (p=0.036). Tumors in terminal hair skin demonstrated significantly more follicular differentiation (p=0.044) than those in the vellus hair skin. CS arising on the scalp tended to have more osseous metaplasia compared to those arising on non-scalp areas (p=0.022). Conclusion This study showed that the clinical and histopathological features of CS can differ depending on its location.

Localized Darier's disease (DD) is a rare variant of DD. The disease is characterized by multiple hyperkeratotic papules in a unilateral, linear, zosteriform or Blaschkoid distribution with the histological features of classical DD. Unlike DD, which presents as a generalized condition, localized DD lacks family history and other clinical findings suggestive of DD such as distinctive nail abnormalities and keratotic papules on the palms and soles. Herein, we describe a case of localized DD in a 31-year old Korean man on the perianal area that was treated with topical retinoid cream.
Darier Disease* ; Humans ; Nails, Malformed