No abstract available.
Fetus* ; Humans ; Mothers*

Pelvic actinomycosis is a rare disease, and has variable clinical manifestations and courses, which make it difficult to diagnose the disease initially. We experienced a pelvic actinomycosis in a woman who complained vaginal discharge and lower abdominal pain, and had not been carring a intrauterine contraceptive device. This infection results in tissue destruction, fibrosis, and the formation of draining sinuses. We describe the case with brief review of clinical diagnosis and management.
Abdominal Pain ; Actinomycosis* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Intrauterine Devices ; Rare Diseases ; Vaginal Discharge

OBJECT: Pre-ALL is a very rare preteukemic state, which percedes acute lymphocytic leukemia, while MDS(pre-ANLL), usually the well-known type of preleukemic state, precedes acute non-lymphocytic leukemia. Initially it shows transient pancytopenia without any evidence of leukemia in bone marrow findings, followed by acute lymphocytic leukemia after recovery from pancytopenia of a short period within weeks or months. We report a case with pre-ALL in childhood. CASE: A 15-month-old male baby was admitted with the complaints of fever and cough for 5 days and pallor for 2 weeks prior to admission. On admission, CBC showed pancytopenia without any evidence of leukemia, which was recovered spontaneously in a short period, and then was followed by acute lymphocytic leukemia of CALLA negative, early pre-B cell type. During antileukemic chemotherapy, he had suffered from severe bacterial infections and was finally died of sepsis 8 months after first admission. CONCLUSION: We report a case of pre-ALL in childhood, which was preceded by CALLA negative, early pre-B cell ALL, with a review of the literatures, briefly.
Bacterial Infections ; Bone Marrow ; Cough ; Drug Therapy ; Fever ; Humans ; Infant ; Leukemia ; Male ; Pallor ; Pancytopenia ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* ; Precursor Cells, B-Lymphoid ; Sepsis

Unlike the United States, cases of firearm suicides in Korea are rare and are usually limited to military soldiers and policemen. In addition, there is no case report of a suicide by a homemade handgun in Korea. The present victim was a 24-year-old soldier with a fascination for firearms. He had a history of depression and social phobia during his military service. He constructed a homemade handgun from a plastic model gun, also known as a BB gun. During the vacations, he committed suicide with the homemade gun, which caused a penetrating gunshot wound to his chest. The structure and ammunition of the homemade handgun is demonstrated in this report. We have also discussed a few details of the forensic investigation and evaluation of the homemade handgun fatality.
Depression ; Firearms ; Humans ; Korea ; Military Personnel ; Plastics ; Phobic Disorders ; Suicide ; Thorax ; United States ; Wounds, Gunshot ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Leiomyoma* ; Vagina*

Seven patients with average age of 15years and 6 months (range: 8 years and 11 months 25 years and 6 months) underwent forearm lengthening by callotasis. The indications for lengthening were shortening and/or deformity of the forearm due to exostosis of the distal ulna in three cases, growth disturbance due to physeal injury of the distal radius in three, congenital radial dislocation in one. Three had lengthening of the radius, three of the ulna and one of both the radius and the ulna. The average lengthening achieved was 3.8 cm (3.5 - 4.0) in radius, 2.7 cm (2.3 - 3.0) in ulna. Complications encountered were pin tract infection in two cases, nonunion in one and temporary nerve palsy in one. All of these complications were recovered completely without any residua. Retrospective review after average 41 months of follow-up (range: 36 to 78) showed satisfactory improvement in appearance and function. Callotasis was considered as one of the safe and reliable treatment methods for bone lengthening and deformity correction of the forearm.
Bone Lengthening ; Congenital Abnormalities* ; Dislocations ; Exostoses ; Follow-Up Studies ; Forearm* ; Humans ; Osteogenesis, Distraction* ; Paralysis ; Radius ; Retrospective Studies ; Ulna

PURPOSE: We measured the bone mineral density (BMD) of the cortical and cancellous bone of the lumbar spine in women by using QCT to evaluate the influence of the aging process and menopause on both bones. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The BMD of cancellous and cortical bone in L1, L2 and L3 was assessed by QCT in 510 patients from 1997 to 1999. RESULTS: The rate of cancellous bone loss was more markedly increased than that of cortical bone with aging process and menopause, while the density of cortical bone was more effective to whole bone density. Cortical bone density and whole bone mineral density were higher in L3 than L1 vertebra. On the contrary, the cancellous bone density was higher in L1. CONCLUSION: The BMD of cancellous bone decreased a lot more than that of cortical bone in postmenopausal women. We conclude that preventing cancellous bone loss is of the utmost importance for the prevention of osteoporosis after menopause.
Aging* ; Bone Density* ; Female ; Humans ; Menopause ; Osteoporosis ; Spine

Angiogenesis plays a fundamental role in development of circulation system, reorganization of reproductive system, wound healing. Pathological angiogenesis is deeply involved in a variety of diseases, particularly solid tumor growth and metastasis. However, it is not easy to study the mechanism of angiogenesis because endothelial cells proceed complex differentiation by interaction with extracellular matrix proteins and growth factors. However, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) form polygonal networks of capillary-like tubes in 3D Matrigel cultures. Differentiation of endothelial cells will be observed accurately by application of videomicroscopy. Thrombospondin-1 is secreted by a wide variety of cells including endothelial cells and is incorporated into their matrix. Thrombospondin-1 can modulate differentiation of endothelial cells by increasing cell-cell interactions as well as cell-substrate interactions. The current study was undertaken to determine which mechanism is involved in inhibition of angiogenesis by Thrombospondin-1. They was secreted from HUVEC during the process of angiogenesis in 3D Matrigel culture. When applied to endothelial cells attachment to the surface of Matrigel was not decreased, but spreading was decreased. In addition, bigger clusters was formed by enhancement of cell to cell binding by Thrombospondin-1. They inhibit cord and tube formation of HUVEC by inhibition of migration. These results suggest that Thrombospondin-1 inhibits angiogenesis by blocking differentiation of endothelial cells to motile phenotype in 3D Matrigel culture.
Cell Culture Techniques* ; Endothelial Cells* ; Extracellular Matrix Proteins ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Microscopy, Video ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; Phenotype ; Wound Healing

No abstract available.
Osteosarcoma* ; Spine*

To demonstrate the stimulation effect on fracture healing by capacitively coupled electrical field, the rabbits' fibulae were fractured and treated with a capacitively coupled electrical signal (10V peak to peak, 60 kiloherz, symmetrical quadriangular wave) that was applied non-invasively over the skin surface overlying the approximate site of the fractured fibulae. Each fibula was evaluated with gross, roentgenographic, histological and mechanical tests after 21 days of the electrical stimulation, and compared to control group statistically. Maximum bending moment, Young's modulus of elasticity and bending stiffness were calculated by 3 point bending test, and the ratios of the fractured to the intact fibulae of the electrically stimulated rabbits were compared to the non-stimulated rabbits statistically. The results revealed that the fractured fibulae exposed to capacitively coupled electrical field showed the higher degree of fracture healing than the non-stimulated fibulae.
Elastic Modulus ; Elasticity ; Electric Stimulation ; Fibula ; Fracture Healing ; Rabbits ; Skin