No abstract available.
Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Humans ; Immunocompetence*

PURPOSE: Abnormalities in calcium(Ca), vitamin D and bone mineral density (BMD) associated with antiepileptic drug(AED) are reported, but the results are inconsistent. In case of intractable epilepsy, poor growth and altered bone mineral metabolism may be prominent, possibly related to previous long-term use of multiple AED and poor activity. The aim of this study was to assess growth status, concentrations of calcium regulating hormones and BMD in children with intractable epilepsy. METHODS: Sixty-six intractable epilepsy patients aged 0.8 to 14.7 years(mean+/-D:4.6+/-.6 years) were included in the study. Height and weight were measured and then height SDS and weight SDS were calculated. Serum Ca, i-Ca, P, Mg, Zinc, osteocalcin, intact-PTH, 25-OHD, 1,25(OH)2D were measured. BMD of the lumbar spine was measured by dual energy X-ray absorption. RESULTS: Most of the patients showed normal height SDS and weight SDS. Percentage of severe short stature(height SDS <-2) was 1.5% and tall stature(height SDS >2) was 4.5%. Percentage of severe thin(weight SDS <-2) was 1.5% and obesity(weight SDS >2) was 6%. Duration of AED was not related to height SDS or weight SDS. Etiology of epilepsy and physical activity were not related to height SDS and weight SDS. Most of them had normal Ca, iCa, P, Mg, Zinc, intact-PTH, osteocalcin, 25-OHD and 1,25(OH)2D concentrations. BMD was not related to the levels of Ca, i-Ca, P, Mg, intact-PTH, osteocalcin, 25-OHD, 1,25(OH)2D. BMD was not related to the duration of AED. BMD positively correlated with age(r=0.75, P>0.01) and body weight(r=0.72, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Most of the children with intractable epilepsy, who regularly visits epilepsy clinic, showed normal growth and normal bone mineral metabolism, but careful monitoring about growth and bone mineral metabolism is needed.
Absorption ; Bone Density* ; Calcium* ; Child* ; Epilepsy* ; Humans ; Metabolism ; Motor Activity ; Osteocalcin ; Spine ; Vitamin D ; Zinc

BACKGROUND: The authors studied to estimate the frequency of irregular antibodies and their significance in blood transfusion and antenatal care in Korea. METHODS: Irregular antibodies were tested by immediate saline spin, 37degrees C albumin and antiglobulin test for 2,008 transfusion candidates and 1,047 pregnant women at Severance hospital using commercial screening and identification cells (Dade, U.S.A.). RESULTS: The irregular antibodies were detected in 38 (1.24%) of total 3,055 subjects (transfusion candidates: 0.9%, pregnant women: 1.91%) . In transfusion candidates, the detected antibodies were Lewis antibodies, cold antibodies (anti-M, anti-P 1), Rh antibodies and unspeified warm antibodies, and their distributions were 56%, 22%, 17%, and 5%, respectively. In pregnant women, the detected antibodies were Lewis antibodies, Rh antibodies, anti-Jra, and unspeified warm antibodies, and their distributions were 45%, 45%, 5% and 5%, respectively. At immediate saline phase, 58% of irregular antibodies were detected. At 37degrees C albumin phase, 90% of irregular antibodies were detected and only 10% of irregular antibodies were detected at antiglobulin phase. CONCLUSIONS: Although the prevalence rates of clinically important irregular antibodies were low, 1/1000 of irregular antibodies could not be detected. Therefore, irregular antibody screening should be performed in all pretransfusion test. And, if antibody detection tests are negative, immediate saline crossmaching methods are acceptable in Korea.
Antibodies* ; Blood Transfusion ; Coombs Test ; Female ; Humans ; Korea* ; Mass Screening ; Pregnant Women* ; Prevalence*

BACKGROUND: The authors studied to estimate the frequency of irregular antibodies and their significance in blood transfusion and antenatal care in Korea. METHODS: Irregular antibodies were tested by immediate saline spin, 37degrees C albumin and antiglobulin test for 2,008 transfusion candidates and 1,047 pregnant women at Severance hospital using commercial screening and identification cells (Dade, U.S.A.). RESULTS: The irregular antibodies were detected in 38 (1.24%) of total 3,055 subjects (transfusion candidates: 0.9%, pregnant women: 1.91%) . In transfusion candidates, the detected antibodies were Lewis antibodies, cold antibodies (anti-M, anti-P 1), Rh antibodies and unspeified warm antibodies, and their distributions were 56%, 22%, 17%, and 5%, respectively. In pregnant women, the detected antibodies were Lewis antibodies, Rh antibodies, anti-Jra, and unspeified warm antibodies, and their distributions were 45%, 45%, 5% and 5%, respectively. At immediate saline phase, 58% of irregular antibodies were detected. At 37degrees C albumin phase, 90% of irregular antibodies were detected and only 10% of irregular antibodies were detected at antiglobulin phase. CONCLUSIONS: Although the prevalence rates of clinically important irregular antibodies were low, 1/1000 of irregular antibodies could not be detected. Therefore, irregular antibody screening should be performed in all pretransfusion test. And, if antibody detection tests are negative, immediate saline crossmaching methods are acceptable in Korea.
Antibodies* ; Blood Transfusion ; Coombs Test ; Female ; Humans ; Korea* ; Mass Screening ; Pregnant Women* ; Prevalence*

BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study is to evaluate the usefulness of cervicovaginal fetal fibronectin assay for the prediction of rupture of membrane and preterm labor. METHODS: A group of 39 pregnant women was involved in this prospective study. Out of 139 pregnant women, 96 were clinically diagnosed as ruptured membranes (group A). The remaining 43 of 139 pregnant women were clinically diagnosed as preterm labor(group B). The assay was performed by using the ROMCheckTM kit (Adeza Biomedical Corp., Sunnyvale, CA). RESULTS: In group 4, fetal fibronectin (fFN) positive rate is 55% (53 patients) and negative rate is 45% (43 patients). In group B, fFN positive rate is 56% (24 patients) and negative rate is 44% (19 patients). Both group of fFN positive patients show a significantly shorter interval from sampling to delivery than fFN negative patients. Also in group A, the percentage of fFN positive patients who delivered at less than 48 hours after sampling is greater than those with fFN negative patients and in group B, the preterm delivery rate is 79% with positive fFN and 37% with negative fFN. As a predictor for preterm delivery, the presence of fFN has the sensitivity 79%, the specificity 84%, the positive Predictive value 76% and the negative predictive value 86%. CONCLUSIONS: The result suggests that a positive fFN in pregnant women who have uterine contractions and ruptured membrane indicates a significant risk for preterm delivery and labor onset, and a negative fFN is a reassuring sign.
Female ; Fibronectins* ; Humans ; Labor Onset ; Membranes ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women* ; Prospective Studies ; Rupture ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Uterine Contraction

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an information protocol for anxiety and nursing satisfaction of family caregivers. The caregivers were caring for a family member who had a CVA (cerebrovascular accident) and who had been admitted to the ICU (intensive care unit). METHOD: The research design was a non-equivalent control group non-synchronized design. Data were collected from April 1 to October 31, 2005 at D hospital in Busan City. The participants were 40 family caregivers of patients with a CVA admitted to the ICU. Caregivers in the experimental group participated in the information protocol for 30 min. Both groups were pre-tested before the intervention for two variables, anxiety and nursing needs. The post-test of both groups included anxiety and nursing satisfaction. The instruments used in this study were the Spielberger's state anxiety inventory (1976) and the nursing satisfaction scale developed by Molter (1979). RESULTS: Anxiety scores were significantly lower and nursing satisfaction scores were significantly higher for caregivers in the experimental group compared to those in the control group. CONCLUSION: The information protocol was effective in reducing anxiety and increasing the level of nursing satisfaction of family caregivers caring for an ICU patients with a CVA.
Anxiety* ; Busan ; Caregivers* ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Research Design ; Stroke*

A total of 68 primary melanorna cases diagnosed at Seoul National University Hospital for the past 10 years from 1978 to 1987 were included for this clinico pathological study. Among the 31 primary cutaneous melanomss, 19 cases (61.3%) occurred on hands or feet, especially on the plantar surfaces. The average age of patients with acral melanomas was 49.3 years at the tirne of diagnosis and the male to female ratio of 19 cases was 3.8 to 1. The clinical and histopathologic findings showed that most ecral melanomas, if not all, were the acral lentiginous type. A high incidence of metastasis (73.7%) was recognized in acral melanomas.
Diagnosis ; Female ; Foot ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Melanoma* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Seoul

Thirty two cases of nevus sebaceus were studied by immunohistochemical staining employing three anticytokeratin antibodies(34bE, 34bB, CAM 5.2) and anti-involucrin antibody in order to clarify the biochemical characteristics of the covering epidermis of nevus sebaceus. An attempt was made to compare the expression pattern of these proteins in the epidermis of nevus sebaceus with that in normal skin and in epidermal nevus. Serial sections in all cases were also stained with PAS in attempt to correlate these protein expression with the amount of glycogen in the epidermis of nevus sebaceus. The following results are obtained. 1. The expression of cytokeratin and involucrin in the epidermis of nevus sebaceus was changed as the age of the lesions increased, but we could not identify a uniform pattern according to the age of lesions. 2. Several CAM 5.2 positive cells were found in the basal layer of the epidermis of nevus sebaceus lesion obtained from patients over 10 years of age. 3. The expression of cytokeratin and involucrin did not show any correlation with glycogen content. These results suggest that the covering epidermis of the lesion of nevus sebaceus may not be nevoid proliferation of epidermal nevus.
Epidermis* ; Glycogen ; Humans ; Keratins* ; Nevus* ; Skin

A histopathological study of erythema nodosum-like lesions in Behcet's disease was performed on 55 patients with incomplete and suspect types of Behcet's disease. Relatively common characteristics in histopathology of erythema nodosum-like lesions could be found in the patients with incomplete type of Behcet's disease. The histopathologic findings of erythema nodosum-like lesions in 21 patients with incomplete type of Behcet's disease were as follows : l. A moderate lymphocytic infiltration was found around the blood vessels and the sweat glands in the dermis. In the subcutaneous tissue, besides lymphohistiocytic infiltration, neutrophils were present in significant number in 9 cases (42.9%) 2. Vasculitis of small vessels was found within the periphery of fat lobules in 7 cases (81.0%), Five cases (23.8%) also showed thrombophlebitis. Seven cases (33.3%) showed histiocytic granuloma formation within the fat lobules. Microabscess formation in the subcutaneous tissue was seen in 5 cases (23.8 %), but it was not certain whether this was the charateristic feature.
Blood Vessels ; Dermis ; Erythema Nodosum* ; Erythema* ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Neutrophil Infiltration ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Sweat Glands ; Thrombophlebitis ; Vasculitis

PURPOSE: The study was to examine the effects of the individual education about chemotherapy for cancer patients as well as their family who are receiving the first chemotherapy on self-care knowledge, self-care performance, family support, and anxiety level. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group was used in this interventional study. A total of 50 patients with cancer aged above 19 in the K university hospital, Seoul, Korea, participated in the study (Experimental group: n=25, Control group: n=25). The education about chemotherapy was offered one week after hospital discharge, which was followed by telephone counseling Data were analyzed by the SPSS/WIN 20.0 program using percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, x2 test, and independent t-test. RESULTS: The experimental group showed a significantly better self-care knowledge (t=4.094, p < .001), self-care performance (t=3.532, p=001), family support (t=2.170, p=.035), and anxiety control (t=4.780, p < .001) than the control group. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the individual education should be considered for cancer patients and their family in the clinical fields.
Anxiety ; Counseling ; Drug Therapy ; Education ; Humans ; Korea ; Self Care ; Seoul ; Telephone