There have been reported some important findings in immunology of psoriasis, such as lower than normal level of IgM, defective humoral immune, responsiveness to newly administered antigens during cytotoxic drug therapy, lower than normal incidence of active sensitization with DNCB, prolonged skin heterograft survival and presence of anti-IgG antibody in peripheral lymphocytes. These findings are strongly suggestive of some humoral as well as cellular immunne dysfunction in patients with psoriasis. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of BCG, a potent nonspecific immune stimulator, in patierts with psoriasis. Total 41 cases of more than 2 years' duration of illness and with widespread involvement and having had history of various previous treatment were slelcted at the Department of Dermatology, National Medical Center during October, 1973 and October, 1974, Liquid BCG(manufactured by NIH, Korea) was administered intradermally in a starting dose of 0.1 ml(0.01 mg in dry weight) weekly. The dosage of BCG was increased to 0.3 or 0.5ml after 3 or 5 injections and this dosage was maintained until some clinical changes were observed. The mean injection time to each patient was 20. 7.The results were as follows: 1. Eighteen cases showed no therapeutic response or aggravation of the lesions. 2. Six cases showed good therapeutic effect, resulting in only a few small lesions remained on elbows, knees or scalp areas. 3. Fourteen cases showed excellent therapeutic effect, that is complete disappearance of the lesions. During 2 to 6 months'follow up period, 7 cases showed relapse and the remainders are still under observation. The mechanism of influence of BCG on the clinical course of psoriatic patients is not determined, however, possible mechanism was discussed.
Allergy and Immunology ; Dermatology ; Dinitrochlorobenzene ; Drug Therapy ; Elbow ; Heterografts ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin M ; Incidence ; Knee ; Lymphocytes ; Mycobacterium bovis* ; Psoriasis* ; Recurrence ; Scalp ; Skin

No abstract available.
Humans ; Nitroblue Tetrazolium* ; Skin* ; Tuberculosis, Cutaneous*

No abstract available.
Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Emergency Treatment* ; Humans

Lichen striatus is an uncommon nonspecific inflammatory cutaneous disease of unknown etiology occuring as unilateral and linear distribution on extremities and healing spontaneously within a few months to a year. Clinically it is composed of small licbenoid papules which tend to be grouped and coalesced to form either a continuous or an interrupted hypopigmented band and is not usually accompanied by any subjective symptoms. The principal histologic features are an infiltrate composed of lymphocytes and histiocytes around papillary vessels and usually also around, some of the deeper vessels and skin appendages and consequent secondary changes of the epidermis. We present the results of clinical and histopathologic observation in 19 patients with lichen striatus observed at Department of Dermatology, National Medical Center and Seoul National University Hospital during 4 years period from l972 to 1976 which would be the first recorded report on this rare disease in Korea. 1. Clinieal Observation.' Among the 19 patients, 10 were female and 9 were male; 15 were under 10 years of age and 4 were over 10 years of age. Duration of the eruption varied from 1 week to 4 years and average duration was 9.6 months at the time of the first visit. It was unilateral in all cases and affected the upper extremities in 9 and the lower extremities in 8 instances. The eruption extended onto the upper part of the trunk in 2 cases. Only 3 patients had a history of mild intermittent itching sensation. Characteristically, the eruption consisted of grouped, linear, slightly scaling flat polygonal papules with varying degrees of hypopigmentation, extending at least onethird of the length of an extremity. . Histopathologic observation: Skin biopsy was performed in 13 cases. The epiderrnal changes consist of mild diffuse hyperkeratosis (13 cases), focal parakeratosis (5 cases), varying degree of atrophy of malpighian layer (7 cases), mild acanthosis (2 cases), intercellular and intracellular edema (8 cases), exocytosih of lymphocytes (7 cases), focal basal cell disruption (11 cases), and dyskeratotic cells (colloid body) (2 cases). Dermal changes include mild to moderate perivaacular lymphocytic and histiocytic infiltrate rnostly on the level of papillary dermis. Also, there was chronic infIammatory cell infiltrate around hair follicle and sweat glands and ducts in 7 cases respectively, which seems to be peculiar in this disease. Overall histologic findings in our cases are generally consistent with those of the primary phase of the so-called lichenoid tissue reaction of Pinkus, The possible pathogenetic mechanism of the linear eruption and immunobiologic interpretation of the lichenoid tissue reaction were literally reviewed.
Atrophy ; Biopsy ; Dermatology ; Dermis ; Edema ; Epidermis ; Extremities ; Female ; Hair Follicle ; Histiocytes ; Humans ; Hypopigmentation ; Korea ; Lichens* ; Lower Extremity ; Lymphocytes ; Male ; Parakeratosis ; Pruritus ; Rare Diseases ; Sensation ; Seoul ; Skin ; Sweat Glands ; Upper Extremity

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the effects of a footbath program on heart rate variability, blood pressure, body temperature and fatigue of stroke patients with stroke-induced hemiparesis. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were 40 stroke patients, twenty for the footbath program and twenty for the control group, who were hospitalized in a long-term rehabilitation hospital in G city of Korea, from February to April 2014. The twenty participants in the experimental group received the intervention of footbaths and an educational program focused on the prevention of stroke complications; Collected data were analyzed by the IBM SPSS WIN 20.0 program using a t-test, chi2 test, Mann-Whitney U test and repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in heart rate variability, systolic blood pressure, hand and foot temperatures and fatigue between the two groups. But no significant differences were found in diastolic blood pressure, core temperatures, forehead temperatures, and hand temperatures between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The footbath program was an effective intervention for skin temperature change and fatigue reduction for stroke patients. Therefore, it is recommended that the footbath program can be utilized as an effective nursing intervention for stroke patients in long-term rehabilitation care hospitals.
Blood Pressure* ; Body Temperature* ; Fatigue* ; Foot ; Forehead ; Hand ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing ; Paresis ; Rehabilitation ; Skin Temperature ; Stroke*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between psychosocial factors and symptom experience of patients with cardiovascular disease over a 6-month follow-up period. METHOD: Baseline data for each of the 138 patients were collected. Eighteen patients were dropped for a final total of 120 patients in the present study. To monitor patients' symptom experience after discharge, each patient was interviewed by telephone, and interviewed directly with a questionnaire at each clinic visit. RESULTS: Mean scores for hostility, anger, anxiety, and depression were 51.63, 22.87, 48.95, and 41.21, respectively. Mean scores for the level of symptom experience at discharge, 3 months and 6 months after discharge were 32.83, 24.79, and 26.70, respectively. There were significant differences in the level of hostility by gender, BMI, job, and monthly income. Also the differences in the level of anxiety and depression were statistically significant according to gender and existence of spouse. In the regression analysis, depression was identified as the significant factor associated with symptom experience at discharge, 3 months, and 6 months after discharge. CONCLUSION: This study presented baseline data to elucidate whether psychosocial factors were associated with the progression of cardiovascular diseases. Accordingly, it suggests that nurses need to take into consideration psychosocial factor as well as physiological factor in symptom management for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Ambulatory Care ; Anger ; Anxiety ; Cardiovascular Diseases* ; Depression ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Hostility ; Humans ; Psychology* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Spouses ; Telephone

PURPOSE: To evaluate the relation of the location and cell type of lung cancer to the location and degree in coexistent emphysema on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scans. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-eight of 209 lung cancer patients having HRCT scans were retrospectively analyzed to assess the total lung emphysema and peritumoral regional emphysema. Single and primary lung cancers were included. The clinical data, including sex, age, smoking history and the pathologic cancer subtype, were recorded to correlate with the HRCT findings. The lobar distribution, central-peripheral predominance, surrounding parenchymal abnormality for cancer, cephalocaudal predominance, and subtype for emphysema were analyzed on HRCT. Using a CT scoring method, we scored the whole lung emphysema and peritumoral emphysema, and correlated the grading of emphysema with pulmonary functional values. RESULTS: Sixty-nine of 98 patients with lung cancer (71%) had emphysema. Lung cancer with emphysema was significantly higher in men than in women, and was significantly related to smoking. The mean age of cancer patients without emphysema was significantly lower than that of cancer patients with emphysema (68 yrs vs. 61 yrs, p=0.0006). Emphysema of grade I (0-25%) was found in 52 cases, grade II (25-50%) in 15, and grade III (50-75%) in 2. Total emphysema score was paralleled to peritumoral emphysema score in 64.3%, while the remaining patients had a higher peritumoral emphysema score (grade II or III) than total emphysema score (grade 0 or I). There was no statistical correlation in the developmental location between the emphysema and the lung cancer (significant correlation was only noted in grade II group of total emphysema score). The incidence of non-small cell carcinoma tended to be higher than that of small cell carcinoma in the two groups. CONCLUSION: The possibility of lung cancer in patients with pulmonary nodule, coexisting emphysema, and especially in elderly patients having a history of smoking must be clarified on HRCT. The location or type of lung cancer was not significantly correlated to the location or the degree of coexistent emphysema.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Small Cell ; Emphysema* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Male ; Pulmonary Emphysema ; Research Design ; Retrospective Studies ; Smoke ; Smoking

PURPOSE: This study aimed was done to analyze recent trends in nursing research published in the Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing by focusing on the content of nursing interventions and their level of evidence. METHODS: A total of 209 studies published between 2007 and 2008 were reviewed using analysis criteria developed by the researchers. RESULTS: The number of quantitative studies was greater than that of qualitative studies. There was a slight increase in the number of qualitative studies and studies including elderly populations, which reflects the recent population trend in Korea. More randomized controlled trials with a low risk of bias were needed to support more evidence-based nursing practice. Concerning the low rate of ethical consideration, stricter application of research ethics needs to be encouraged. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest the recent trends in nursing research and the direction of nursing research and review in the Journal.
Bibliometrics ; Humans ; Nursing Research/*trends ; *Periodicals as Topic ; Qualitative Research ; Republic of Korea

The effectiveness of dedication video tapes in teaching fundamental nursing skills was investigated using experimental research methodology. Data was collected from 153 students attending fundamental nursing practice classes of two junior colleges and two universities. The subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, one was an experimental group of 74 subjects and the other was a control group of 79 subjects. The in dependent variable was learning type and the dependent variables were the degree of knowledge achievement and nursing skills achievement regarding medication. The research hypotheses of this study were as follows : 1) There will be a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the degree of knowledge achievement about medication. 2) There will be a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the nursing skills achievement about medication. The data was analyzed with the SPSSWIN program and the t-test, number of subjects and percentiles were then examined. The findings of this study are as follows : 1) There was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the knowledge achievement about medication using P<.05. 2) There was no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the nursing skill achievement about medication using P<.05. 3) This study suggests that medication video tapes in the education of fundamental nursing skills are effective for knowledge achievement. As a result, medication video tapes can be effectively utilized for the education of nursing skills regarding medication.
Education* ; Humans ; Learning ; Nursing* ; Research Design

PURPOSE: Angiostatin, a 38 kDa internal fragment of plasminogen, is a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis. It blocks neovascularization and growth of primary and metastatic tumors in mice. To produce recombinant angiostatin protem comprising kringle 1-4 of plasminogen, we cloned the angiostatin cDNA from human liver tissue mRNA and expressed it in E. coli. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We cloned angiostatin cDNA from human liver tissue mRNA using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. Cloned cDNA was ligated to pET22b (+) expression vector, transformed into E. coli stram BL21 (DE3) and expressed by IPTG induction. Recombinant human angiostatin protein was purified from the inclusion bodies of lysated bacterial pellet with 8 M urea solubilization, refolding, single step Lysine-Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography and 0.2 M E-aminocarproic acid elution. The anti-angiogenic activity of purified recombinant angiostatin was assayed with endothelial cell proliferation assay and chorioallantoic membrane assay (CAM). RESULTS: The identification of cloned angiostatin cDNA was confirmed by Southern hybridization and Pst I restriction enzyme digestion pattern. Angiostatin cDNA was expressed in E. coli, refolded in vitro and purified by Lysine Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography. The molecular weight of purified recombinant angiostatin was about 55 kDa on the SDS-PAGE. It inhibited the proliferation of bovine capillary endothelial (BCE) cells in vitro with a half-maximal inhibition concentration (ED50) of approximately 500 ng/mL. It also suppressed neovasculrization on the CAM assay. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated that recombinant human angiostatin has similar function and biological activity compared with human angiostatin which is purified from porcine elastase digested human plasminogen fragment.
Angiostatins* ; Animals ; Capillaries ; Chorioallantoic Membrane ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Clone Cells* ; Cloning, Organism* ; Digestion ; DNA, Complementary* ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Endothelial Cells ; Humans* ; Inclusion Bodies ; Isopropyl Thiogalactoside ; Kringles ; Liver* ; Lysine ; Mice ; Molecular Weight ; Pancreatic Elastase ; Plasminogen ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger* ; Sepharose ; Urea