Kerion celsi is a severe inflammatory type of tinea capitis that presents as a boggy mass studded with broken hairs, oozing purulent material from follicular orifices. This infection is caused most commonly by zoophilic or geophilic pathogens. Trichophyton(T.) rubrum is an anthropophilic dermatophyte that is found all over the world. It has become one of the most important causative agents in tinea unguium and tinea pedis. But, kerion celsi caused by T. rubrum is rare. Kerion celsi is uncommon in adult. We report a case of kerion celsi caused by T. rubrum in a 72-year-old woman. She presented with localized tender erythematous plaques with pustules with oozing purulent material on the frontal scalp. A fungal culture from tissue of the lesions was grown on Sabouraud's dextrose agar and showed typical whitish cottony colonies of T. rubrum. The nucleotide sequence of internal transcribed spacer region for clinical isolate was identical to that of T. rubrum strain UZ1588_14 (GenBank accession number KP326579.1). She was treated with 200 mg of oral itraconazole daily for 3 months. The skin lesions improved 1 month after treatment, and recurrence has not been observed.
Adult ; Agar ; Aged* ; Arthrodermataceae ; Base Sequence ; Female ; Glucose ; Hair ; Humans ; Itraconazole ; Onychomycosis ; Recurrence ; Scalp ; Skin ; Tinea Capitis* ; Tinea Pedis ; Trichophyton*

No abstract available.
Head* ; Killer Cells, Natural* ; Lymphocytes* ; Neck*

OBJECTIVE: The birth weight distributions are obtained to be classified according to the duration of pregnancy, and then compared with other results already published in literature to verify the difference. METHODS: A total of 17,291 deliveries in Gachon medical center hospital from January 1996 to December 1999 is retrospectively reviewed. The data of 28~42th week of gestation are analysed, and the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles of birth weight are determined for each week and also according to sex and parity. Furthermore the 10th, 50th, 90th percentiles are compared with those from other reports. RESULTS: 1. The 10th, 50th, 90th percentiles of birth weight classifed according to gestational age are as follow : in 28th week of pregnancy, 1,068, 1,240 and 1,812 g; in 32th week, 1,470, 1,890 and 2,266 g; in 36th week, 2,170, 2,720 and 3,240 g; in 40th week, 2,910, 3,370 and 3,870 g; in 42th week, 2,977, 3,475 and 4,023 g.2. The mean birth weight of the male neonates is greater than that of the female ones from 37th week to 41th week (p<0.01).3. Comparisons of 10th, 50th, 90th percentiles of birth weight with Park groups show that there is an increase of birth weight by 100~144 g. CONCLUSION: Comparison of the birth weight-gestational age table with ones published by other groups shows that infants tend to be heavier.
Birth Weight ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Parity ; Parturition* ; Pregnancy ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the changes in cardiovascular risk markers including pulse wave velocity (PWV), microalbuminuria, inflammatory cytokines, and adhesion molecules after treatment with beraprost sodium (BPS) in patients with diabetic nephropathy.METHODS: This was a multicenter, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with microalbuminuria were included. The primary endpoints were changes in microalbuminuria in spot urine and PWV after BPS or placebo (PCB) treatment for 24 weeks. The secondary endpoints were changes in clinical and metabolic parameters.RESULTS: A total of 52 patients completed the 24-week trial. Changes in PWV were not different significantly in the BPS and PCB groups (right, P=0.16; left, P=0.11). Changes in microalbuminuria were 14.2±157.0 and 34.5±146.6 (µg/mg Cr) in the BPS and PCB groups, respectively (P=0.63). Subgroup analysis in the high blood pressure (BP) group (baseline systolic BP >120 mm Hg and diastolic BP >80 mm Hg), showed that microalbuminuria decreased by −47.6 in the BPS group compared with an increase by 116.4 (µg/mg Cr) in the PCB group (P=0.04). Also, in the large waist circumference group (>95 cm), microalbuminuria decreased significantly in the BPS group (P=0.04).CONCLUSION: Short-term treatment of BPS for patients with diabetic nephropathy did not show significant improvement in various cardiovascular risk factors. However, BPS significantly decreased microalbuminuria in study subjects with higher cardiovascular risk such as high BP or large waist circumference.
Cytokines ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Prospective Studies ; Pulse Wave Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Sodium ; Vascular Stiffness ; Waist Circumference

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Humans ; Tinea Capitis* ; Trichophyton*

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Cellulitis* ; Humans ; Sporotrichosis*

BACKGROUND: Graves' disease (GD) is an autoimmune thyroid disorder caused by antibodies stimulating the thyrotropin (TSH) receptor. TSH receptor antibody (TRAb) measurement is useful for predicting GD relapse after antithyroid drug (ATD) treatment. However, the association of other thyroid autoantibodies with GD relapse remains obscure. METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled patients with GD who were initially treated with ATD. TRAb, thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), and thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) were measured at the initial diagnosis and at the time of ATD discontinuation. RESULTS: A total of 55 patients were enrolled. The mean age was 49.7 years, and 39 patients (70.9%) were female. Antibody positivity at diagnosis was 90.9%, 69.1%, and 61.9% for TRAb, TPOAb, TgAb, respectively. Median ATD treatment period was 15.1 months. At the time of ATD withdrawal, TRAb titers decreased uniformly overall. Conversely, TPOAb and TgAb showed various changes. After withdrawal of ATD, 19 patients (34.5%) experienced relapse. No clinical features or laboratory results were significantly related to relapse in the overall patient group. However, in the TPOAb positive group at diagnosis, increasing titer of TPOAb or TgAb after ATD treatment was significantly and independently related to relapse free survival (TPOAb: hazard ratio [HR], 17.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.66 to 195.43; P=0.02) (TgAb: HR, 5.73; 95% CI, 1.21 to 27.26; P=0.03). CONCLUSION: Changes in TPOAb or TgAb titers during treatment might be useful for predicting relapse after ATD treatment in patients with positive TPOAb at diagnosis.
Antibodies ; Autoantibodies ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Graves Disease ; Humans ; Iodide Peroxidase ; Receptors, Thyrotropin ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroglobulin ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyrotropin

PURPOSE: Very low birth weight infants frequently suffer severe anemia. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of rhEPO for prevention of anemia of prematurity and for reduction of the need for transfusion in very low birth weight infants. METHODS: Eighty very low birth weight infants(<1.5 kg) whose gestational age was under 33 weeks were enrolled at 9 university hospital in Korea. This study was conducted as a double-blind randomized, dose-controlled study. In high dose EPO group, 500 IU/kg of rhEPO was subcutaneously administered every other day for 17 times. In low dose EPO group, 250 IU/kg of rhEPO was subcutaneously administered every other day for 17 times. In control group, placebo was administered in the same manner. The effectiveness of rhEPO was evaluated for multiple parameters. RESULTS: 1) Infants receiving high dose rhEPO showed a significant increase in hemoglobin and hematocrit by 3 weeks(P<0.05). 2) Infants receiving high & low dose rhEPO showed an increase in reticulocyte count by 1 week(P<0.05). 3) There were no significant changes in platelet, WBC count, and ANC in each group. 4) Serum concentration of erythropoietin, iron, TIBC and ferritin were highly variable in study patients.5) Incidence of anemia k transfusion in high dose rhEPO group was lower than low dose and control group(P<0.05). 6) Number of patients who did not receive transfusion and whose hematocrit did not fall below 30% in high dose rhEPO group was significantly higher than in low dose and control group(P<0.01). CONCLUSION: High dose recombinant human erythropoietin(rhEPO) treatment for anemia of prematurity may minimize the decrease in hemoglobin and hematocrit, rapidly increase reticulocyte count and reduce the need for transfusion.
Anemia* ; Blood Platelets ; Erythropoietin ; Ferritins ; Gestational Age ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Humans* ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature* ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Iron ; Korea ; Reticulocyte Count

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic hypoparathyroidism is a relatively rare disease characterized by hypocalcemia and hyperphosphatemia due to parathyroid hormone deficiency of unknown cause. It usually develop at young age and various clinical symptoms and signs accompanied with hypocalcemia develop at late period. And rarely associated with polyglandular autoimmune syndrome during follow-up. So we reviewed retrospectively our clinical experiences in diagnosis and management. METHODS: We observed the 6 cases with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism from 1986 to 2002. Four female and two male patients were examined demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, radiologic finding, and occurrence of polyglandular autoimmune syndrome. RESULTS: All patients aged from 18 to 51 years and had no familial history. The most frequent two symptoms of idiopathic hypoparathyroidism were paresthesia (67%) and tetany (67%). The incidence of Chvostek's and Trousseau's sign were 83% and 67%, respectively. From the history taking, patient who had psychotic problem was two, ocular lesion was two, and Graves's disease was one before admission. One patient had transient hypogonadism because of acute illness but recovered during follow-up. One patient developed primary adrenal insufficiency after 2 years. Neuroimaging study revealed bilateral calcification and ECG showed Q-T interval prolong. CONCLUSION: Idiopathic hypoparathyroidism may be suspected in patients with various neurologic symptoms and signs associated with hypocalcemia. It was difficult to predict other endocrine dysfunction at diagnosis. Therefore, we need to follow-up laboratory examinations for early detection of accompanied autoimmune disease in idiopathic hypoparathyroidism patient.
Addison Disease ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Diagnosis ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hyperphosphatemia ; Hypocalcemia ; Hypogonadism ; Hypoparathyroidism* ; Incidence ; Male ; Neuroimaging ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Paresthesia ; Rare Diseases ; Retrospective Studies ; Tetany

PURPOSE: Assessment of the proliferative ability of cancer cells is necessary not only for the biologic characterization of tumors, but also for the selection of treatment and evaluation of prognosis. Recently, there have been several studies examining the proliferative activity of various malignant tumors using immunohistochemical methods. PCNA is a nuclear protein related to the cell cycle and found with high expression in proliferative tissues, including cancers. METHODS: In our study, to evaluate whether PCNA expression was useful as a prognostic factor in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma, we quantitated the immunohistochemical expression of PCNA in the formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue from 55 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma and correlated the results with established clinicopathologic parameters. RESULTS: The results were as follows. 1) PCNA expression in papillary thyroid carcinoma did not correlate with the age, sex or metastatic L/N activity of the patient, nor with the size, invasion, or recurrence of the tumor. 2) There was a close relationship between the expression rate of PCNA in thyroid tumor cells and that in metastatic L/N cells (p=0.056, in p<0.1). 3) The expression of PCNA in the metastatic L/N (+) group was higher than in the metastatic L/N (+) group (p=0.045). CONCLUSION: It is suggested that PCNA expression is not an appropriate prognostic factor in papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Cell Cycle ; Humans ; Nuclear Proteins ; Paraffin ; Prognosis ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen* ; Recurrence ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms*