Chorioangioma is the most common primary tumor of the placenta. It is widely accepted to be formed from hamartomatous proliferation of angioblastic cells in early placenta. According to groups who systematically examined the placentas with the greatest scrutiny, the incidence of chorioangioma is 1~1.2% of all placentas examined. The clinical implication of chorioangioma has been emphasized due to its high association with hydramnios, antepartum and postpartum hemorrhage, premature onset of labor, or intrauterine fetal distress or death. The authors experienced a case of a 38-year old multigravida who had undergone 4 consecutive spontaneous abortions. The fifth pregnancy was carried to 35 weeks whereupon a dead fetus was delivered. The placenta was enlarged(950 gm) with multiple protruding nodules into the fetal surface. Microscopically, the nodule was composed of many vilous structures lined by chorionic epithelium. Within these structures was proliferation of endothelial lined capillaries some of which demonstrated ectatic change.
Pregnancy ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence

Carcinoma of the uterine cervix is the most common malignant tumor in Korean women. It is well known that carcinogenesis is a multi-step event involoving the inactivation of tumor supressor genes, such as p53 gene and RB gene. The inactivation of the normal functions of the tumor-suppressor proteins pRB and p53 are important steps in human cervical carcinogenesis, either by mutation or from complex formation with the HPV E6 and E7 oncoproteins. The pRB protein regulates early cell cyle progression by controlling transit through the G1 phase of the cell cyle. The p53 tumor suppressor gene product also plays a role in cell cycle control by the transcriptional regulation of cyclin-CDK inhibitor. Cervical carcinoma is an excellent model for studying the stepwise progression of cell transformation because this is reflected morphologically by the increasing dysplasia of the squamous cells before it becomes and invasive squamous cell carcinoma. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of pRB and compared that with overexpression of p53 in a series of cervical lesions including normal tissuess, dysplasias, carcinoma in situ and carcinomas by immunohistochemical staining with monoclonal antibody to elucidate the role of these tumor suppressor genes. The result were as follows: 1. In normal cervical mucosa and CIN I , a few positively stained cells for pRB were seen in basal and parabasal layer. 2. An abnormality of pRB, loss of expression was seen in 23.8% of CIN III and in 10.8% of invasive carcinoma. 3. Overexpression of p53 was demonstrated in 14.3% of CIN III and in 59.5% of invasive carcinoma. 4. The immunoreactivity of p53 was significantly increased (p<0.05) in stage II, III than stage I , whereas downregulation of pRB and tumor stage was not correlated. 5. The immunoreactivity of p53 was significantly increased (p<0.05) in squamous cell carcinoma than in adenocarcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma and CIN III. These result suggest that an alteration of pRB is more frequently implicated in CIN III than invasive carcinoma, whereas overexpression of p53 may be involevd in late progression of uterine cervical carcinoma.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma in Situ ; Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia* ; Cervix Uteri ; Down-Regulation ; Female ; G1 Phase ; Genes, p53 ; Genes, Retinoblastoma ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Humans ; Mucous Membrane ; Oncogene Proteins ; Retinoblastoma Protein*

OBJECTIVE: Because endometriosis is difficult to diagnose and has a high recurrence rate after treatment, a reliable serum marker of endometriosis is necessary. Therefore, the aim of this study is to measure the serum levels of CA125 and CA19-9 in patients with endometriosis before and after treatment and during recurrence, and to assess the usefulness of these levels in the diagnosis, clinical follow up and prediction of recurrence in endometriosis. METHODS: Eighty-eight patients who visited the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Ewha Mokdong Hospital from January 1994 to December 1998 and were diagnosed as endometriosis by laparoscopy or explo-laparotomy were enrolled as subjects. A retrospective analysis of serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels at 1 month before and 3 to 6 months after initiation of treatment was done. RESULTS: The serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels of endometriosis group(81.0+/-252.5, 36.6+/-53.4 ; mean+/-2SD, U/ml) before treatment was significantly higher than control group(11.6+/-12.8, 9.4+/-8.6)(p<0.05). Overall sensitivity rate for CA125, CA19-9 levels and both was 53.4%, 42.9% and 64.3% respectively. The sensitivity rate for endometriosis, stage 3 and 4(85.4%, 55.0%) was significantly higher than that, stage 1 and 2(p<0.05). The serum CA125 level in endometriosis group showed a significant increment according to stages(p<0.05) while the serum CA19-9 level showed an increasing trend(p=0.055) and both levels decreased significantly after treatment(p<0.05). The serum CA125 level was also higher at recurrence after treatment(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels are a useful marker for diagnosing severity of disease, monitoring efficacy of treatment and predicting recurrence in endometriosis.
Biomarkers ; Diagnosis ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Obstetrics ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common neoplasm of the eyelids, occurring almost twenty times more often than squamous cell carcinoma. Extensive ulceration occurs with growth(rodent ulcer). Generally the lower eyelid is involved with basal cell carcinoma, particularly its outer portion, followed by the inner canthus, the upper eyelid and then lateral canthus. It is found most often in sixth decade life. The etiology of carcinoma of the lid is assumed to be association with trauma, irritation by long use of spectacles, dirty skin, chronic blepharitis and conjunctivitis, eczema and scar caused by burn. Complete eradication of these tumors is important. We experienced a case of basal cell carcinoma in lower lid with conjunctival involvement treated by rotation flap method.
Blepharitis ; Burns ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cicatrix ; Conjunctivitis ; Eczema ; Eyeglasses ; Eyelids ; Skin ; Ulcer

Leiomyorrw is the mest cunmon in the uterine hunor. Smooth muscle tumors of the female genital taact arise mostly from the uterine myometrium and only rarely from the broad ligament. We experienced a cases of huge leiomyoma of the broad ligarnent with secondary cystic degeneration. In the respect of rarity, we report this case with a brief review.
Animals ; Broad Ligament* ; Female ; Humans ; Leiomyoma* ; Mice ; Myometrium ; Round Ligaments ; Smooth Muscle Tumor

No abstract available.
Humans ; Stenotrophomonas maltophilia*

PURPOSE: This study aimed to construct and test a hypothetical model including factors related to the cultural competence of nurses caring for foreign patients. The transcultural nursing immersion experience model and anxiety/uncertainty management theory were used to verify the paths between the variables. The exogenous variables were multicultural experience, ethnocentric attitude, and organizational cultural competence support. The endogenous variables were intercultural anxiety, intercultural uncertainty, coping strategy, and cultural competence. METHOD: Participants were 275 nurses working in general hospitals in Seoul and Kyung-Gi Do, Korea. Each nurse in this study had experience of caring for over 10 foreign patients. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS statistical software with the added AMOS module. RESULTS: The overall fitness indices of the hypothetical model were a good fit. Multicultural experience, ethnocentric attitude, organizational cultural competence support, and intercultural uncertainty were found to have a direct and indirect effect on the cultural competence of nurses while coping strategy only had a direct effect. Intercultural anxiety did not have a significant effect on cultural competence. This model explained 59.1% of the variance in the nurses' cultural competence when caring for foreign patients. CONCLUSION: Nurses' cultural competence can be developed by offering multicultural nursing education, increasing direct/indirect multicultural experience, and sharing problem-solving experience to promote the coping ability of nurses. Organizational support can be achieved by preparing relevant personnel and resources. Subsequently, the quality of nursing care for foreign patients' will be ultimately improved.
Anxiety ; Cultural Competency* ; Education, Nursing ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Immersion ; Korea ; Methods ; Models, Nursing ; Nursing Care ; Seoul ; Transcultural Nursing ; Uncertainty

BACKGROUND: Xerosis is a relatively common disorder, especially in the elderly. The condition is characterized by fine scaling and is associated with generalized pruritus. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy, safety and tolerability of Zalsming cream in patients with xerosis and pruritus. METHODS: Thirty patients were treated with Zalsming cream. Clinical efficacy, as measured by the score of subjective symptom and objective signs, transepidermal water loss(TEWL) and electron microscopic finding, were asessed at 2, 4, and 6 weeks after topical application of the cream. RESULTS: The scores of clinical signs and TEWL showed statistically significant improvements. No one developed any local or systemic side effects. CONCLUSION: Topical application of Zalsming cream was found to be effective and safe for patients suffering from xerosis and pruritus.
Aged ; Humans ; Pruritus*

No abstract available.
Angiotensin II* ; Angiotensins* ; Animals ; Endocrine System* ; Rats*

Beta-lapachone (beta-Lap; 3,4-dihydro-2, 2-dimethyl-2H-naphthol[1, 2-b]pyran-5,6-dione) is a novel anti-cancer drug under phase I/II clinical trials. beta-Lap has been demonstrated to cause apoptotic and necrotic death in a variety of human cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The mechanisms underlying the beta-Lap toxicity against cancer cells has been controversial. The most recent view is that beta-Lap, which is a quinone compound, undergoes two-electron reduction to hydroquinone form utilizing NAD(P)H or NADH as electron source. This two-electron reduction of beta-Lap is mediated by NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1), which is known to mediate the reduction of many quinone compounds. The hydroquinone forms of beta-Lap then spontaneously oxidizes back to the original oxidized beta-Lap, creating futile cycling between the oxidized and reduced forms of beta-Lap. It is proposed that the futile recycling between oxidized and reduced forms of beta-Lap leads to two distinct cell death pathways. First one is that the two-electron reduced beta-Lap is converted first to one-electron reduced beta-Lap, i.e., semiquinone beta-Lap (SQ).- causing production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which then causes apoptotic cell death. The second mechanism is that severe depletion of NAD(P)H and NADH as a result of futile cycling between the quinone and hydroquinone forms of beta-Lap causes severe disturbance in cellular metabolism leading to apoptosis and necrosis. The relative importance of the aforementioned two mechanisms, i.e., generation of ROS or depletion of NAD(P)H/NADH, may vary depending on cell type and environment. Importantly, the NQO1 level in cancer cells has been found to be higher than that in normal cells indicating that beta-Lap may be preferentially toxic to cancer cells relative to non-cancer cells. The cellular level of NQO1 has been found to be significantly increased by divergent physical and chemical stresses including ionizing radiation. Recent reports clearly demonstrated that beta-Lap and ionizing radiation kill cancer cells in a synergistic manner. Indications are that irradiation of cancer cells causes long-lasting elevation of NQO1, thereby sensitizing the cells to beta-Lap. In addition, beta-Lap has been shown to inhibit the repair of sublethal radiation damage. Treating experimental tumors growing in the legs of mice with irradiation and intraperitoneal injection of beta-Lap suppressed the growth of the tumors in a manner more than additive. Collectively, beta-Lap is a potentially useful anti-cancer drug, particularly in combination with radiotherapy.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Benzoquinones ; Cell Death ; Electrons ; Humans ; Hydroquinones ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Leg ; Mice ; NAD ; Naphthoquinones ; Necrosis ; Radiation Tolerance ; Radiation, Ionizing ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Recycling ; Substrate Cycling