Dissecting aortic aneurysm is an emergency condition which requires prompt diagnosis and management. From January 1992 to December 1996, 54 patients were admitted to our department. Patients were categorized according to the Stanford classification of aortic dissection and investigation of the clinical records utilized the retrospective method. Male constituted the majority, according for 38(70.4%) of the total number of patients, whereas females accounted for 16(29.6%). Mean age was 52.1+/-2.2 years old (range:25~82). Clinical findings included chest pain in 46 cases(85.2%), renal failure in 11(20.4%), aortic insufficiency in 10(18.5%) and stroke in 9(16.7%). Predisposing factors were hypertension in 48 cases(88.9%), Marfan's syndrome in 5(9.3%) and diabetes mellitus in 1(1.8%). 21 patients(type A:12, type B:9) underwent surgical treatment. There were three(2 in type A and 1 in type B) deaths in the surgical treatment group and nine(5 in type A and 4 in type B) deaths in the medical treatment group. These results reflect our current policy in the management of dissecting aortic aneurysm.
Aortic Aneurysm* ; Causality ; Chest Pain ; Classification ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diagnosis ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Male ; Marfan Syndrome ; Renal Insufficiency ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke

BACKGROUND: Trauma is the third leading cause of death, irrespective of age, and the leading cause of death in persons under 40 years of age. Computed tomography (CT) is an effective technique in the initial emergent evaluation of the abdomen and head following blunt trauma. Most chest indies are not seen on conventional chest radiography, or may be underestimated. But routine use of CT in the initial emergent evaluation of chest trauma is controversial. CT, however, has been shown to be useful in the diagnosis of unsuspected chest injuries and in directing therapeutic interventions. This review discusses the efficacy of emergent CT in patients with blunt trauma on the chest. METHODS: To evaluate the efficacy of CT of the thorax, a retrospective study comparing early thoracic CT scanning with initial chest roentgenogram(CXR) was carried out on 121 patients with blunt trauma on the chest. The interval between CXR and CT was less than 1 hour. RESULTS: Among 121 patients, 42 patients had normal initial chest roentgenogram in whom 19 patients showed normal CT findings. Sensitivities of diagnosing pneumothorax and pleural effusion by CXR were low (49.3%and 45.1%respectively), whereas 65.7% (44/67) of patients had thoracostomy only by CXR. CONCLUSIONS : Although sometimes abused in patients with chest trauma, CT of the thorax is an effective method of detecting thoracic injuries and provides accurate information regarding their pattern and extent in the initial emergent diagnosis.
Abdomen ; Cause of Death ; Diagnosis ; Emergencies* ; Head ; Humans ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumothorax ; Radiography ; Retrospective Studies ; Thoracic Injuries ; Thoracostomy ; Thorax* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

We deacribe herein a case of Darier-White disease occurring to a 50-year-old man who had a characteristic lesions limited to the sun exposed area and no skin lesion in the sun protected area for 40 years. The akin lesions recurred in summer time and aggravated after sun exposure and disappeared spontaneously in winter time. Histologic findings from the neck lesions revealed hyperkeratosis, parakeratosis, supirabasal lacunae, acantholytic cells, villi, corps ronds and grains.
Edible Grain ; Darier Disease ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Parakeratosis ; Skin ; Solar System*

No abstract available.
Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive*

No abstract available.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) has been implicated in the growth inhibition of a number of cancer cells. In the present study, we investigated the antitumor effect of the PPARgamma agonist rosiglitazone in U87MG human glioma cells. Rosiglitazone treatment in vitro reduced cell proliferation without induction of cell death in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Rosiglitazone decreased cell migration and mRNA level of MMP-9. Rosiglitazone treatment also induced marked changes in glioma cell morphology. Oral administration of rosiglitazone in animals with subcutaneous U87MG glioma cells reduced tumor volume. Subsequent tumor tissue analysis showed that rosiglitazone decreased the number of PCNA-positive staining cells and MMP-9 expression and induced apoptosis of tumor cells. These data suggest that rosiglitazone exerts antineoplastic effect in U87MG cells and may serve as potential therapeutic agent for malignant human gliomas.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cell Death ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation ; Glioma ; Humans ; Peroxisomes ; PPAR gamma ; RNA, Messenger ; Thiazolidinediones ; Tumor Burden

Gastric tuberculosis is a rare disease and the diagnoeis of gastric tuberculosis is based on either positive histological or bacteriological study. We experienced a case of gastric tuberculosis with pleural effuaion in 59 year-old woman, diagnosed by the histological study of the endoscopic biopsy specimen. Follow up endoscopic finding revealed marked improvement of gastric lesion after anti-tubercadoua medication. We reported the case with review of literature.
Biopsy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Rare Diseases ; Tuberculosis*

OBJECTIVES: The Health Level Seven Interface Engine (HL7 IE), developed by Kyungpook National University, has been employed in health information systems, however users without a background in programming have reported difficulties in using it. Therefore, we developed a graphical user interface (GUI) engine to make the use of the HL7 IE more convenient. METHODS: The GUI engine was directly connected with the HL7 IE to handle the HL7 version 2.x messages. Furthermore, the information exchange rules (called the mapping data), represented by a conceptual graph in the GUI engine, were transformed into program objects that were made available to the HL7 IE; the mapping data were stored as binary files for reuse. The usefulness of the GUI engine was examined through information exchange tests between an HL7 version 2.x message and a health information database system. RESULTS: Users could easily create HL7 version 2.x messages by creating a conceptual graph through the GUI engine without requiring assistance from programmers. In addition, time could be saved when creating new information exchange rules by reusing the stored mapping data. CONCLUSIONS: The GUI engine was not able to incorporate information types (e.g., extensible markup language, XML) other than the HL7 version 2.x messages and the database, because it was designed exclusively for the HL7 IE protocol. However, in future work, by including additional parsers to manage XML-based information such as Continuity of Care Documents (CCD) and Continuity of Care Records (CCR), we plan to ensure that the GUI engine will be more widely accessible for the health field.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Computer Graphics ; Continuity of Patient Care ; Dietary Sucrose ; Etoposide ; Health Information Systems ; Health Level Seven ; Ifosfamide ; Medical Informatics ; Software Design

Fetal teratomas rarely complicate pregnancy,having an incidance of only 20,000:1 to 40,000:1 of live births. Overthere, cervical teratomas are rare and accounts for only 5.5% of all neonatal teratomas. We have experienced a large cervical immature teratoma and present this case with a brief review of literatures.
Live Birth ; Teratoma*

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of the heart is a very rare disease. It is difficult to distinguish from myxoma which is most common benign cardiac tumor. Prognosis of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of the heart is known to be fatal despite of medical and surgical treatment in contrast to benign tumors. A primary myxoid malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the left atrium was diagnosed in a 58 years old woman. The mass was removed incompletely by operation. The patient did not receive either chemotherapy or radiotherapy. However, the patient is still alive for more than fifteen months after the initial presentation. We report a case of malignant fi brous histiocytoma (MFH) with reviewing the current references.
Drug Therapy ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Heart Atria ; Heart Neoplasms ; Heart* ; Histiocytoma ; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Myxoma ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Rare Diseases