Many factors including social rejection, family problems, loss of educational opportunity, fear, prejudice and ignorance of leprosy compound the inherent psychological stress of leprosy. In light of these problems this present study was undertaken to evaluate the psychological status of leprosy patients. The subjects of the present study were 205 patients admitted to a hospital and 304 control people living in similar isolated areas to resettlement villages. A self report symptom inventory, SCL-90 (symptom check list-90) was used and the groups were analysed and compared by many factors. (countinued..)
Humans ; Leprosy* ; Prejudice ; Self Report ; Social Distance ; Stress, Psychological

A 26-year-old male has experienced repeated pruritic and burning erythema and edema over the exposed areas of the skin, especially on the face and hands, after sunlight exposure. He stated that his father, three aunts, and three sisters had similar sunlight sensitivity. The face showed tiny whitish scars. And also there were hypopigmented scars on the dorsum of the hands. Characteristic laboratory findings were as followa: RBC, plasma and stool fluoresced coral red color under the Woods light. 100ml of the RBC contained 245 pg of protoporphyrin. On photosensitive test using sunlight for 60 rninutes, there developed painful sensation at 4 minutes and 40 seconds after exposure, erythema at 12 minutes after, and edema at 20 minutes after. Pathological findings of the specimen obtained from erythematous lesion of the forehead revealed hypergranulosis and acanthosis in the epidermis and perivascular thickening and hyalin deposit around the capillaries in the upper dermis. For treatment, avoidance of exposure to sunlight was recomrnended and symptomatic therapy was tried.
Adult ; Anthozoa ; Burns ; Capillaries ; Cicatrix ; Dermis ; Edema ; Epidermis ; Erythema ; Fathers ; Forehead ; Hand ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Male ; Plasma ; Protoporphyria, Erythropoietic* ; Sensation ; Siblings ; Skin ; Sunlight ; Wood

Psoriasis has been known to have various humoral and cellular immune abnormalities. And adenosine deaminase (ADA) activities are known to be decreased in immune deficiency diseases. The present study was designed to measure the activities of ADA in sera and erythrocytes of psoriasis patients by Giustiss method. There were no significant differences in the erythrocytes ADA activities between normal subjects (9, Gp+4 43 units/10 cells) and psoriasis patients (7, 29+3. 64 units /10 cells). The ADA activities in sera of the psoriasis patients (13. 15+3. 43 units/ L) showed lowered activities than those of normal subjects (20. 44-2, 07 units/L).
Adenosine Deaminase* ; Adenosine* ; Deficiency Diseases ; Erythrocytes* ; Humans ; Psoriasis*

Many factors including social rejection, family problems, loss of educational opportunity, fear, prejudice and ignorance, compound the inherent paychologicaI stress of leprosy. In ligh.t of these problems this present study was undertaken to evaluate the psychologica.l status of 1cprosy patients. The subjects of the present study were 220 patients staying at home and 304 control people living in similar isolated areas to resettlemert villages. A self reprort symptom inventory,, SCL--90 symptom check list 90) was used and the group", were analysed and compand by many factors. The results of this study are follows. -countinue-
Humans ; Leprosy* ; Prejudice ; Social Distance

Twin Pregnancies are increasing these days due to recent development of the technology in treating infertility. twin pregnancies tend to cause more congenital anomalies than singleton pregnancies do. Especially when twin pregnancies are affected with one anomalous fetus combined to a normal one, the proper management and counseling are difficult. We experienced a twin pregnancy in which one anencephalic fetus was combined to a normal one, after close counseling we decided to continue the pregnancy. At 35 weeks 6 days of gestation, an anencephalic fetus was dead, so we delivered by cesarean section due to breech-cephalic presentation. The birth weight of the normal and anencephalic fetuses were 2160 gm and 600 gm, respectively. The anencephalic fetus was combined with scoliosis, absent left upper limb, and nuchal skin defect, but the healthy one showed good crying and movement and its Apgar score was 8 in 1 minute and 9 in 5 minute. Although the infant needed intensive care for 21days in the nursery room, she was finally discharged in good condition. We present this case with a brief review of the literature.
Anencephaly ; Apgar Score ; Birth Weight ; Cesarean Section ; Counseling ; Crying ; Female ; Fetus* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infertility ; Critical Care ; Nurseries ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Twin* ; Scoliosis ; Skin ; Twins* ; Upper Extremity

The authors present a case of histologically proven bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) lymphoma of the lung in a patient with primary Sjogren's syn-drome that manifested on thin-section CT scan as a mosaic pattern of inhomoge-neous attenuation due to mixed small airway and infiltrative abnormalities
Adult ; Case Report ; Female ; Human ; Lung Neoplasms/complications/*radiography ; Lymphoid Tissue/radiography ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/complications/*radiography ; Sjogren's Syndrome/complications/radiography ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/*methods

PURPOSE: To evaluate the distribution of color flow signals on color Doppler ultrasonography of vascular leiomyomas and to correlate them with pathologic findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed color Doppler ultrasonographic images and pathologic slides of six vascular leiomyomas. We classified the patterns of distribution of color flow signals into localized compact cluster types and non-cluster types, and the pathologic findings into three subtypes: solid, venous and cavernous. RESULTS: All cases showed well-defined homogenous hypoechoic subcutaneous masses on gray-scale ultrasonography. Three cases showed localized compact cluster types on color Doppler ultrasonography, one in each subtype (solid, venous and cavernous). For the three non-cluster types, again there was on in each subtype. In addition, on pathologic analysis the zone of the localized compact cluster of color flow signals coincided with a cluster of larger, vascular caliber masses. CONCLUSIONS: Localized compact clusters of color flow signals on color Doppler ultrasonography were seen in 50% of our cases and correlated with a cluster of larger vascular caliber in the mass. But the pattern of distribution of color flows didn't show a correlation with pathologic type.
Angiomyoma ; Retrospective Studies ; Soft Tissue Neoplasms ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color

Chronic infection and inflammation have recently been implicated as important etiologic agents for atherosclerosis in general and, in particular, ischemic heart disease. Several agents have been suggested as possible candidates for the chronic inflammation including cytomegalovirus, Helicobacter pylori and Chlamydia pneumoniae. We hypothesized that a vascular infection with C. pneumoniae may induce a chronic inflammatory reaction in the host vascular tissue and activated inflammatory cells may express inflammatory mediators such as cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). At first, we evaluated the relationship between C. pneumoniae infection and atherosclerosis indirectly by serologic study, and then, to confirm our hypothesis, we performed an immunohistochemical study of atherosclerotic plaques. The seropositive rate of anti-Chlamydia pneumoniae IgG was higher in the disease group (Group I, 59.8%, n = 254) than in the negative control group (Group III, 47.4%, n = 97) (p = 0.041), but the anti-Chlamydia pneumoniae IgA was not different in seropositivity between the two groups (Group I, 64.6%; Group III, 57.7%). The simultaneous seropositive rates of both IgG and IgA were 56.7% in Group I and 43.3% in Group III (p = 0.033). In subgroups without the conventional risk factors of atherosclerosis, these findings were more prominent. Furthermore, we performed immunohistochemical staining on the atherosclerotic aortic tissues obtained from patients that were seropositive to C. pneumoniae (n = 5), by using antibodies to C. pneumoniae, COX-2, and MMP-9. The immunoreactivity for COX-2 and MMP-9 increased in the atherosclerotic plaques itself, predominantly in the surrounding area of immunoreactive C. pneumoniae. These findings support our hypothesis and C. pneumoniae may participate in a pathogenetic mechanism for atherogenesis or progression of atherosclerosis. The present study may open a promising perspective concerning future therapeutic trials of chronic inflammation related atherogenesis under pathophysiological conditions.
Aged ; Arteriosclerosis/pathology* ; Arteriosclerosis/microbiology* ; Arteriosclerosis/metabolism ; Chlamydia Infections/complications* ; Chlamydophila pneumoniae ; Female ; Gelatinase B/metabolism ; Human ; Isoenzymes/metabolism ; Male ; Middle Age ; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthase/metabolism ; Serologic Tests*

Bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BRS) is an innovative device that provides structural support and drug release to prevent early recoil or restenosis, and then degrades into nontoxic compounds to avoid late complications related with metallic drug-eluting stents (DESs). BRS has several putative advantages. However, recent randomized trials and registry studies raised clinical concerns about the safety and efficacy of first generation BRS. In addition, the general guidance for the optimal practice with BRS has not been suggested due to limited long-term clinical data in Korea. To address the safety and efficacy of BRS, we reviewed the clinical evidence of BRS implantation, and suggested the appropriate criteria for patient and lesion selection, scaffold implantation technique, and management.
Coronary Disease ; Drug Liberation ; Drug-Eluting Stents ; Humans ; Korea ; Stents ; Thrombosis