The dysplastic nevus is a rare form of melanocytic nevus in Korean people. During the past 5 years the authors experienced 5 cases in the St. Mary's Hospital and Kang Nam St. Mary's Hospital. The criteria and the histologic findings of dysplastic nevi are debated in the western literature. Clinically, all cases were greater than 5 mm in size with ill defined irregular borders and irregularly distributed pigmentation. Histopathologically, all cases showed numerous discrete individual nests of melanocytes located in the dermoepidermal junction and the papillary dermis and were characterized by extension of dermoepidermal component of the nevus at the "shoulder" beyond the dermal component of the nevus. There was no cytologic atypia of nevus cells in all cases. Our cases lacked personal or family history of malignant melanoma. Therefore, we believe our cases are nonfamilial, sporadic and benign nevi with no prognostic significance. A brief review of the literature and a discussion on the term "dysplastic" and clinicopathologic correlation are made.

Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) is widely used in endodontic therapy as a pulp-capping material, root or furcal perforation repair material, and for apexification and obturation of the root canal system. The purpose of this study was to formally document cases of MTA application in South Korean children and adolescents. Through this research, the practice of using MTA will be introduced and familiarized to the clinical practitioners. This study involved endodontic treatment using MTA for fractured crowns in 11- and 12-year-old. The children were followed up for 12 months until the pulp vitality was confirmed; in young permanent teeth with immature roots, the pulp is integral to the process of apexogenesis. These observational results regarding the use of MTA as an apexification material in non-vital immature permanent incisors appear to provide promising results in the search for new materials to meet existing endodontic needs.
Adolescent* ; Apexification ; Child* ; Crowns ; Dental Pulp Cavity ; Humans ; Incisor ; Miners ; Pemetrexed ; Tooth

Although congenital syphilis can be prevented with prenatal screening, the disease remains problematic. Currently, there are no cases that describe hematuria and pneumonia related to congenital syphilis. We report a case of congenital syphilis that involved nephrotic syndrome and pneumonia alba in a 22-day-old male infant whose mother did not receive adequate prenatal care. The congenital syphilis diagnosis was confirmed with a serologic test and the patient recovered with penicillin treatment. Clinical findings may be subtle in neonates and delayed recognition occurs frequently, thus complete prenatal screening is critical for congenital syphilis prevention. Immediate serologic testing should be performed to obtain a differential diagnosis if an infant is delivered by a mother that has not received appropriate prenatal examinations.
Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Exanthema* ; Hematuria* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Mothers ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Penicillins ; Pneumonia* ; Prenatal Care ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Serologic Tests ; Syphilis, Congenital*

The purpose of this study was to investigate the abrasion resistance and surface roughness of conventional dental stones and improved dental stones and newly developed dental stones. Materials included in this study were several dental stones and newly developed dental stone; 2 type III, 6 type IV(including newly developed dental stone),1 type V Ten specimens for each material,total ninety specimens were made. Each specimen was subjected to 50 complete cycle abrasion under constant load 0.42N at speed of 6mm per sec.The depth after abrasion test was measured for each specimen. Surface roughness before and after abrasion test was compared.The results were as follows ; 1.The resin containing die materials such as Tuff Rock and Resin Rock had superior abrasion resistance. 2.Type IV,V Surface roughnessdental stone exhibited greater abrasion resistance than Type IIIdental stone. 3.The results of the surface roughness showed similar pattern with the abrasion resistance.

PURPOSE: To examine the effect of bosentan, a dual endothelin receptor (ER) antagonist, on the development of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats by especially focusing on the pulmonary vascular morphology changes. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were treated as follows: controls received a subcutaneous saline injection, MCT-treated rats received a subcutaneous MCT injection, and bosentan-treated rats received a MCT injection followed by treatment with bosentan (20 mg/kg/day). To assess the effects of ER blockade on the time course, the animals were exsanguinated, and their hearts and lungs were dissected after 7, 14, or 28 days. RESULTS: The mean body weights of the MCT- and bosentan-treated rats were significantly lower than that of the control rats on days 7, 14, and 28. Bosentan administration significantly inhibited the progression of right ventricular hypertrophy on day 28 (right ventricle/[left ventricle+septum]: 0.71+/-0.10 in MCT-treated rats vs. 0.49+/-0.09 in bosentan-treated rats; P<0.05). Quantitative analysis of peripheral pulmonary arteries revealed that the increase in medial wall thickness after MCT injection was significantly attenuated in the bosentan-treated rats on day 28 (49.96+/-10.06% in MCT-treated rats vs. 47.09+/-10.48% in bosentan-treated rats; P<0.05). In addition, the increase in the number of intra-acinar muscular arteries after MCT injection was reduced by bosentan on days 14 and 28. CONCLUSION: Bosentan administration in intermediate doses exerts inhibitory effects on lung vascular hypertrophy and right ventricular hypertrophy during the development of MCT-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats.
Animals ; Arteries ; Body Weight ; Endothelins ; Heart ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Hypertrophy ; Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular ; Lung ; Monocrotaline ; Pulmonary Artery ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Endothelin ; Sulfonamides

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease of unknown etiology. We studied the diagnostic performances of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides antibody (anti-CCP) assay and recombinant anti-citrullinated filaggrin antibody (AFA) assay by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in patients with RA in Korea. Diagnostic performances of the anti-CCP assay and AFA assay were compared with that of rheumatoid factor (RF) latex fixation test. RF, anti-CCP, and AFA assays were performed in 324 RA patients, 251 control patients, and 286 healthy subjects. The optimal cut off values of each assay were determined at the maximal point of area under the curve by receiver-operator characteristics (ROC) curve. Sensitivity (72.8%) and specificity (92.0%) of anti-CCP were better than those of AFA (70.3%, 70.5%), respectively. The diagnostic performance of RF showed a sensitivity of 80.6% and a specificity of 78.5%. Anti-CCP and AFA showed positivity in 23.8% and 17.3% of seronegative RA patients, respectively. In conclusion, we consider that anti-CCP could be very useful serological assay for the diagnosis of RA, because anti-CCP revealed higher diagnostic specificity than RF and AFA at the optimal cut off values and could be performed by easy, convenient ELISA method.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies/*diagnostic use/immunology ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/*diagnosis/immunology ; Comparative Study ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods ; Female ; Humans ; Intermediate Filament Proteins/*immunology ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Peptides, Cyclic/*immunology ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Rheumatoid Factor/immunology ; Sensitivity and Specificity

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the push-out bond strength of glass-fiber post cemented with different adhesive systems and surface treatments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 160 tooth samples made from 48 human maxillary single-rooted teeth with similar root length were divided into 4 groups according to the adhesive system (no adhesive, Adper Single Bond 2, Clearfil SE Bond, Clearfil S3). Each group had 4 subgroups according to the post surface treatment methods (no treatment, sandblast, silane, sandblast and silane). Posts (Parapost Fiber White) were cemented with Rely X Unicem. The teeth were sectioned perpendicular to their long axis into 1-mm thick sections. The push-out tests was performed at a speed of 0.5 mm/min. The results were evaluated by 2-way ANOVA, 1-way ANOVA and multiple comparison procedures (Tukey test) (α=0.05). RESULTS: Tukey test showed that the adhesive system significantly influenced the push-out strength. The Clearfil SE Bond group showed the highest value. Post surface treatments showed no significant effect. CONCLUSION: Bond strength of glass-fiber post cemented with self-adhesive resin cement using Clearfil SE Bond showed significantly higher values compared to other adhesive systems.
Adhesives* ; Humans ; Resin Cements ; Tooth

To assess the result of radiation therapy for fifteen years experience, a total of 125 cases of pathologically proven supraglottic laryngeal cancer had been analyzed according to patient survival retrospectively. All the patients had been treated with radiation therapy in curative aim using Co-0 teletherapy machine. The results are as follows; 1. According to AJCC staging, five year survival rate was 58.3% in stage I, 44.4% in II, 31.8% in III and 28.6% in IV. 2. According to T-taging, five year survival rate was 57.1% in stage T1, 40.5% in T2, 34.0% in T3 and 19.0% in T4. 3. According to N staging, five-ear survival rate was 43.5% in negative node group and 26.8% in positive node group. 4. According to the histologic grade, the better in differentiation, the more in number of cases and the better in prognosis. 5. In summary, five year actuarial survival rate was 37.3% and ten-ear survival rate was 34.2%, and ten-ear survivors totaled 16 cases.
Humans ; Laryngeal Neoplasms* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Survivors

A 77-year old woman was referred to hospital with dyspnea and chest dull pain for 5 months. The chest radiograph showed a mass located in the mediastinum. Trachea was deviated to right side. Chest computed tomography showed an enhancing large mass at the middle mediastinum. Endobronchial ultrasonography showed hyperechoic mediastinal mass. We performed endobronchial ultrasound guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). Histologic finding was thyroid tissue with a benign looking papilla. Ectopic thyroid is an uncommon embryological aberration characterized by the presence of thyroid tissue in a site other than in its usual pretracheal region. It occurs along the path of descent of the developing thyroid primodium from the foramen cecum. It is extremely rare for mediastinal ectopic thyroid tissue diagnosised by EBUS-TBNA, so we report here on a case of mediastinal ectopic thyroid and we review the relevant medical literature.
Biopsy, Needle ; Bronchoscopy ; Cecum ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Humans ; Mediastinal Neoplasms ; Mediastinum ; Needles ; Thorax ; Thyroid Dysgenesis ; Thyroid Gland ; Trachea

PURPOSE: The in vitro dissolution of intrahepatic stones was evaluated using the various solvent mixtures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty four intrahepatic stones from 16 patients were used. Four kinds of solvent mixtures(No. 1 = basic buffer + EDTA, No. 2=1 + Sulfobetain-12, No. 3=2 + N-acetylcysteine, No. 4=3 + urea) were used. Dissolution rates were determined by measuring the weight loss of stones after 6, 12, 24, 48 hours incubation periods, respectively. RESULTS: The highest dissolution rates in dissolving intrahepatic stones were achieved with No. 4 solvent mixture(1% W/V EDTA/80mM, Sulfobetain-12/1 M, urea, pH 9.5). CONCLUSION: lntrahepatic stones could be largely dissolved up to about 70% of their initial weight after 48 hours incubation period in vitro.
Acetylcysteine ; Edetic Acid ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Urea ; Weight Loss