BACKGROUND: Chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus(CCLE) is a well-known disease entity. But there has been no data about its clinical behavior and histopathologic features in Korea. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to elucidate the clinical, laboratory, and histopathologic features of CCLE, and the relationship between CCLE and SLE. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated 48 cases of CCLE that visited the department of dermatology at the Seoul National University Hospital from January 1990 to June 1997. Medical records and biopsy slides were reviewed.
Biopsy ; Dermatology ; Korea ; Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous* ; Medical Records ; Seoul

No abstract available.
Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic* ; Sterilization, Tubal*

No abstract available.
Pregnancy*

BACKGROUND: Congenital hypotrichosis is a non-specific, descriptive term for structural abnormalities of hairs showing variable clinical features. We recently have encountered a group of eleven patients exhibiting abnormal hairs showing similar patterns. OBJECTIVES: Our purpose was to clarify the entity of this structural hair disorder. METHODS: Dermatologic examination with routine histopathology, trichograms along with scanning electron-microscopic examination and laboratory studies were undertaken. RESULTS: All cases except one were female, and hair abnormalities had developed at birth or within a year. Diffuse distribution of thin, sparse, soft and hypopigmented hairs were noticed. On hair mounts, four patients showed tapering of roots. The majority of the patients exhibited cuticular changes, as well as pitting and longitudinal axial twisting by scanning electron-microscopic examination; one case demonstrated trichorrhexis nodosa, and another, trans-verse fracture. CONCLUSION: Although our cases bear some similar points with woolly hair, some differences were noted between this type of congenital hypotrichosis and other previously described syndromes.
Female ; Hair ; Humans ; Hypotrichosis* ; Parturition

Though the incidence of paragonimiasis has been remarkably decreased since 1970, it is still not a rare disease in Korea. Major problems in the diagnosis of pulmonary paragonimiasis on chest radiography are its differentiation from pulmonary tuberculosis and lung cancer. Chest radiographic findings have been described in detail, but little have been reported on CT findings. We reviewed CT findings of 10 patients with pulmonary paragonimiasis. The characteristic CT findings were similar to those on chest radiography, such as air-space consolidation (70%), nodular mass (50%), pleural effusion (40%), cystic lesion (30%), small low density within the mass (30%), linear density (20%), pneumothorax(20%), and burrow track (20%). CT depicted the cystic lesions and the burrow tracks more clearly and showed the small worm-retaining cysts within the mass that were not detectable on chest radiography. In conclusion, all of these CT findings are useful in the diagnosis of pulmonary paragonimiasis especially when differentiation from tuberculosis or lung canceris difficult on chest radiography.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Paragonimiasis* ; Pleural Effusion ; Radiography ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Rare Diseases ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

Polyarteritis nodosa is one of the necrotizing vasculitis inv'olving small and medium sized arteries. Polyarteritis nodosa may affect many organs such as kidney, musculoskeletal system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, heart, and nerve. In Cupps and Fauci's autopsy studies, muscle involvement was found in 39% of the patients with polyarteritis nodosa. Commonly Polyarteritis nodosa may be presented clinically by myalgia. We experienced a case of polyarteritis nodosa presenting as myositis, diagnosed by muscle biopsy and renal angiography, which appear with unusual presentation of joint contracture in lt elbow and muscle crarnping pain rather than cornmonly presented myalgla.
Angiography ; Arteries ; Autopsy ; Biopsy ; Contracture ; Elbow ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Heart ; Humans ; Joints ; Kidney ; Musculoskeletal System ; Myalgia ; Myositis* ; Polyarteritis Nodosa* ; Skin ; Vasculitis

Thoracic radiculopathy (TR) is one of various neurologic complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), which can cause pain and motor weakness of chest or abdomen. Electromyographic study is well known to be useful for accurate diagnosis of TR. This study is conducted in order to answer following questions: To what extent does paraspinal EMG study show denervation potentials in neurologically asymptomatic DM patients? ; Is there any correlation between EMG abnormality and severity of diabetes mellitus? We performed thorough neurologic examination and review of medical records in 74 DM patients who were referred for neurologic evaluation and rountine nerve conduction studies. Among those patients, 16 were selected for EMG on lower thoracic paraspinal muscles, who had no clinical symptoms of thoracic radiculopathy and no evidence of peripheral neuropathy on routine nerve conduction studies. The EMG findings were evaluated with relation to serum fructosamine level and duration of DM. On EMG examination, ten of sixteen patients exhibited positive sharp wave in lower thoracic paraspinal muscle. Nine of those ten patients with denervation potential in thoracic paraspinal muscle showed high fructosamine level and eight had been exposed to DM for more than 5 years. It is suggested that subclinical diabetic thoracic radiculopathy is more frequent than expected arid that there is positive correlation between abnormal paraspinal EMG findings and the level of fructosamine and duration of DM. And it is also suggested that there could be selective involvement of posterior primary ramus in diabetic patients, although it needs further studies to be confirmed.
Abdomen ; Denervation ; Diabetes Complications ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diagnosis ; Electromyography ; Fructosamine ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Neural Conduction ; Neurologic Examination ; Paraspinal Muscles ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Radiculopathy* ; Thorax

No abstract available.
Erythrocytes*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identity the effects of a tailored health promotion program on rural residents' self efficacy, health problems and quality of life. METHOD: Data were collected from May 13th, 2006 to July 29th, 2006. The subjects were selected at Gajo-myeon, Geochang-gun, Gyeonsangbuk-do, Korea. Forty three residents were included in the experimental group and 39 in the control group. The 12-week health promotion program was given to the experimental group. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, chi2-test, t-test and ANCOVA test with the SPSS/Win 12.0 program. RESULT: The experimental group showed higher scores of self efficacy and quality of life than the control group, and a lower score of health problem than the control group. CONCLUSION: From the above results, it can be concluded that the tailored health promotion program for rural residents is an effective intervention for improving their self efficacy and quality of life and reducing their health problems. Therefore, it is necessary to spread the tailored health promotion program for residents in other rural areas in Korea.
Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Health Promotion* ; Korea ; Quality of Life* ; Self Efficacy*

No abstract available.
Hepatitis A/*epidemiology ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype/*isolation & purification ; Influenza, Human/*epidemiology