Disfiguring hyperpigmentation of the exposed areas may have impartant and lasting effects on the emotional well-being of the patient. And many attempts to treat areas of hyperpigmentation have been earried out, but all of them are not very successful. Recently 4-isopropylcatechol has been known to inhibit melanin pigmentation with a selective action on melanocytes either destroying or inactivating the melanocytes experimentally. There is no report on its clinical trial till now. In this study, 1% 4-isopropylcatechol cream was topieally applied to the hyperpigmented lesions of 29 patieots of melasma, freckle, and cafe-au-lait spot. The bleaching effect on meiasmas was very satisfactory in all patients but coantact dermatltis in 3 patients and reticular hyperpigmentation with areas of depigmented spots in one patient were developed as the side effects of the drug. Freckle and cafe-au-Iait spots were not bleached.
Cafe-au-Lait Spots ; Humans ; Hyperpigmentation ; Melanins ; Melanocytes ; Melanosis ; Pigmentation

PURPOSE: To evaluate the MR image in the differentiation of benign and malignant lesion in compression of the vertebral body. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR images of 47 benign(acute traumatic within one month:19, chronic traumatic longer than one month or nontraumatic:28) and 21 metastatic compression fractures were respectively reviewed in terms of margin of lesions, signal intensity, paraspinal mass formation, soft tissue change, and involvement of posterior element of vertebra. MR images of TI-(T1WI) and T2*-weighted gradient echo (GE T2WI) sequences were obtained on 0.5T unit in sagittal and axial orientation with 5mm section thickness. RESULTS: The margin of benign compression fracture was usually indistinct (acute fracture:90% (17/19), chronic fracture:68% (19/28)), whereas it was sharply delineated in metastatic compression fracture (92%, (12/13) (p<0.001). Paraspinal mass was seen in both acute traumatic and metastatic compression fractures (acute fracture :26% (5/19), metastatic fracture: 52% (11/21). Soft tissue change was seen only in acute cornpression fractures (58%, 11/19). Involvement of posterior element of vertebra was noted in metastatic fracture (71%, 15/21), acute fracture (32%, 6/19) and chronic fracture (7%, 2/28) CONCLUSION: On MR imaging, involvement of entire portion of a given vertebral body, sharp margin between normal and abnormal areas in partially involved cases, paraspinal mass formation, and posterior element involvement are more frequently seen in metastatic compression fractures, which are considered to be useful in differentiation between benign and malignant causes of compression fracture.
Fractures, Compression* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Spine

The authors analysed 340 cases of the ocular injuries among 7633 out and in-patients who visited to the clinic of P.N.U. hospital during 5 years, from Jan. 1964 to Dec. 1968. Followings were discussed. 1. We found that 4.6% of all cases attending our eyes clinic was victims of ocular injuries. 2. The sex incidence showed that 78.9% of such ocular injuries occured in male and 21.1% in female. 3. The incidence was prevalent in young adult 21-30 years of age, and their large number of cases were injured from blowing and industrial accidents, while in children under 10 years of age sharp-pointed toys were more frequent causes. 4. The subconjunctival hemorrhage was the most frequent disturbance of ocular injuries and then came traumatic cataract and corneal foreign bodies in that order. 5. The prognosis of ocular injuries was generally poor, especially, poor, especially in the perforating and penetrating wound of the whether the foreign body was retained or not.
Accidents, Occupational ; Cataract ; Child ; Female ; Foreign Bodies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Play and Playthings ; Prognosis ; Wounds, Penetrating ; Young Adult

The radii of the corneal curvature were measured with ophthalmomter for 346 eyes which were normal other than the refractive conditions being taken into consideration. The subjects were male and female children aging from 10 years to 14 years selected randomly from primary school in Pusan city. The results were as follows: 1. The radius of the corneal curvature was longer in male than in female children in genral. 2. The mean value of horizontal meridian was longer than that of vertical meridian in all cases. 3. Correlation between the corneal radii and the refractive conditions in both sexes was not existed.
Aging ; Busan ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Radius*

The need for a short-acting non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent to replace succinylcholine chloride(succinylcholine) is recognized widely and attempts to find such a drug have been numerous. Atracurium besylate(atracurium) is one of the new series of neuromuscular blocking agents with little cardiovascular effect and is not dependent on hepatic and renal function for terminating its action because of its self-destroying mechanism. Because succinylchline may occasionally be contraindieated for intubation in parturients we studied the use of atracurium in 23 patients having cesarean section. All patients received 0. 5 mg/kg atracurium for intubation and neuromuscular relaxation. Hemodynamic changes, the time from the injection of atracurium to maximal twitch suppression, the time between atracurium administration and the return to 10% of control twitch height were recorded and observed the degree of vocal cord relaxation and conditions of intubation and evaluated the Apgar scores. 1) Mean arterial pressure and heart rate increased significantly after intubation compared with that of control and just before intubation but there were no significant changes in 5 minutes after intubation. 2) The 90% twitch suppression following atracurium administration was 75.6+/-20.9 seconds. 3) The return of 10% of control twitch height was 2449.3+/-1114.0 seconds. 4) Intubation conditions were excellent for 19 patients. 5) The Apgar scores of 20 neonates were high. These data suggest that the use of atracurium may be a useful alternative for induction for Cesarean section when succinylcholine is contraindicated.
Arterial Pressure ; Atracurium* ; Cesarean Section* ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal* ; Neuromuscular Blockade ; Neuromuscular Blocking Agents ; Pregnancy ; Relaxation ; Succinylcholine ; Vocal Cords

A case of optic nerve glioma is presented. This 11 years old Korean boy was seen because of proto nasion of the risht eye ball of 2 months duration. Vision of the right eye was reduced to 20/30 and optic disc showed blurring of the margin with some venous engorgement. Visual field showed enlarged blind spot of Mariotte and contraction of temporal field of vision in the right eye. Radiograpic study of the optic foramina was normal. There was no cafe-au-lait spot. On April 19. 1967. the orbit was exposed through anterior approach because of the tumor possibly invading the intraocular pertion. On operating procedure it was easy to remove the tumor and optic nerve by aspiration of 3 cc. of vitreous using 19 gauge needle. We confirmed a diagnosis of astrocytoma of the optic nerve in pathologic study. A year later the removal of the tumor, the patient was in good health and there had been no recurrence. A review of the literature of recent years related to glioma of the optic nerve, particularly its signs, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment was added.
Astrocytoma ; Cafe-au-Lait Spots ; Child ; Diagnosis ; Glioma ; Humans ; Hyperemia ; Male ; Needles ; Optic Disk ; Optic Nerve Glioma* ; Optic Nerve* ; Orbit ; Recurrence ; Visual Fields

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify nurses' job satisfaction, patients' satisfaction, and direct nursing time according to the change in grade of nursing management fee.METHODS: Descriptive design was used in this study. Nurses (n = 200) and patients (n = 200) were recruited from one university hospital in Busan. Four aspects were measured: direct nursing time, overtime, nurses' job satisfaction, and patients' satisfaction. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ2-tests, and t-tests.RESULTS: There was a significant difference in patient satisfaction (t = -2.09, p = .038) and direct nursing time (t = -4.77, p < .001) when the nurse staffing grade was changed from the level two to the level one.CONCLUSION: The findings from this study showed that a higher nurse-to-patient ratio can provide a greater amount of direct nursing time for individual patients and increase patient satisfaction.
Busan ; Fees and Charges ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Nursing Staff ; Nursing ; Patient Satisfaction

BACKGROUND: There is pressure difference depending on the height of hand position when blood pressure is taken, applying the oscillometric electronic digital BP(blood pressure) monitor. Authors have calculated the degree of BP differences, and evaluated the accuracy and effectiveness of the digital BP monitor comparing with the conventional Mercury Sphygmomanometer. METHOD: Randomized sixty cases consisting of in-patients and hospital workers were subjected for this study. BPs were taken at three different levels-nose level, heart level and knee level-on conventional sitting position applying OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor and conventional Mercury Sphygmomanometer, and statistical analysis was made. RESULTS: At the nose level, systolic BP and diastolic BP were lower with 23.5mmHg and 18.9mmHg respectively, than at the heart level, while at the knee level, they were higher with 21mmHg and 17.5mmHg respectively, than at the heart level. No actual statistical difference of systolic and diastolic values between OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitoring method at the heart level and conventional Mercury Sphygmomanometeric method. CONCLUSION: Present study demonstrated significant discrepancy of BP values, in systolic and diastolic values, depending on the height of measured finger, when OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor is applied in taking BP on conventional sitting position. However, no actual discrepancy of BP values was noted between two methods when BP is taken at heart level by OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor and on brachial artery BP by conventional Mercury Sphygmomanometer. Thus OMRON Digital Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor could take the place of Mercury Sphygmomanometer in taking peripheral BP, which subsequently enable us to estimate central artery BP, which is believed to be better clinical index, through this much more handy electrical oscillometric device in the future.
Arteries ; Blood Pressure ; Blood Pressure Monitors ; Brachial Artery ; Electric Impedance ; Fingers ; Hand* ; Heart ; Hydrostatic Pressure ; Knee ; Nose ; Sphygmomanometers*

Fatty liver is caused by derangement of fat metabolism and can be reversed by removal of contributing factors. The contributing factors of fatty liver is known to be overweight, chronic alcoholism, diabetes mellitus, malnutrition, and drug abuse such as tetracycline. This study was carried out on 1335 persons who visited 'Soon Chun Hyang Human Dock Center' from March to June 1990. In analysis of the data, prevalence of fatty liver diagnosed by ultrasonogram by age and sex, laboratory finding between fatty liver group and normal group, and odds ratio of known contributing factors, were compared. The results obtained are as following; 1) The prevalence rate of fatty liver diagnosed by ultrasonogram is 29.6% in male and 11.5% in female. 2) Age groups with high prevalences are 40~50's in male (32.0%) and 50's in female (24.5%). 3) The fatty liver shows significant association with style (p<0.05), whereas not with hepatitis B-virus surface antigen (p>0.05). 4) All laboratory values except alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin are elevated significantly in accordance with the degree of fatty liver (p<0.01). 5) Fatty liver diagnosed by ultrasonogram showed so strong associations with body index, triglycerides and gamma-glutamyl transferase for males, and body index and fasting blood sugar for females that these factors may be used as supplementary data in establishing diagnosis of fatty liver. 6) Odds ratio of contributing factors are as follows; If the odds ratio of below 29 year of age is 1.0 then that of 30~39 is 1.74 (p=0.33), 40~49 is 2.47 (p=0.10), 50~59 is 2.86 (p=0.0570), over 60 is 1.81 (p=0.34). If the odds ratio of female is 1.0 then that of male is 5.67 (p<0.01). If the odds ratio of body index below zero is 1.0 then that of 0~9 is 5.08 (p<0.01), 10~19 is 12.37 (p<0.01), 20~29 is 29.19 (p<0.01), 30 above is 154.02 (p<0.01). If the odds ratio of below 99 mg/dl FBS is 1.0 then that of 100~120 is 106 (p=0.76), over 120 is 1.91 (p=0.02). If the odds ratio of below 29 micron/1 gamma-GT is 1.0 then that of 30~s59 is 2.11 (p<0.01), 60~90 is 1.87 (p<0.05), 90 above is 1.69 (p=0.15). If the odds ratio of below 149 mg/dl TG is 1.0 then 150~199 is 1.49 (p=0.05), 200~250 is 1.09 (p=0.77), 250 above is 2.53 (p<0.01). In summary, early diagnosis of fatty liver could be made by ultrasonogram supplemented with body index and serum triglyceride. The fatty liver could be preventive by avoiding contributing factors such as obesity, alcohol intake, high blood sugar appropriately.
Alcoholism ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Antigens, Surface ; Bilirubin ; Blood Glucose ; Cross-Sectional Studies* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Fasting ; Fatty Liver* ; Female ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Male ; Malnutrition ; Metabolism ; Obesity ; Odds Ratio ; Overweight ; Prevalence* ; Substance-Related Disorders ; Tetracycline ; Transferases ; Triglycerides ; Ultrasonography*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes of gait patterns in hemiplegic patients with ankle foot orthosis (AFO) and with functional electrical stimulation (FES). METHOD: Fifteen hemiplegic patients who can walk independently with cane participated in this study. Kinematic gait analysis was performed for all subjects using three-dimensional gait analysis system in barefoot, wearing AFO, and applying FES. The mean values of each gait trials were taken and statistically analysed by repeated measures of ANOVA. RESULTS: Genu recurvatum at stance phase and excessive ankle plantar flexion at stance and swing phase were decreased after wearing AFO. Excessive ankle plantar flexion at swing phase were decreased after applying FES. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the FES is useful for the correction of hemiplegic gait as mush as of wearing AFO.
Ankle* ; Canes ; Electric Stimulation* ; Foot Orthoses* ; Foot* ; Gait ; Gait Disorders, Neurologic* ; Humans ; Plastics*