No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: Oral allergy syndrome(OAS) is composed of it,ching sense and edema in oral cavity, lips, throat, pharynx, and larynx following eating some fresh fruits or vegetables. It has been known that most of patients with OAS are allergic to pollens. Common epitopes were found among pollens, fruits and vegetables. Although OAS is a common farm of food allergy in adults, this is the first epidemiologic study of OAS in Korea. MATERIAL AND METHOD: One hundred and fifty one patients who showed positive skin reaction to pollens were telephone-interviewed. Investigation of the prevalence and clinical manifestations of OAS was possible in 81 patients. RESULT: The prevalence of OAS among these patients was 34.6% (28/81). OAS was found in 24(48%) out of 50 patients sensitized to tree pollens, whereas 4(13%) of 31 grass or weed pollen-sensitized paients had OAS. Most common causative food was apple and all of 17 apple- OAS patients were sensitized to tree pollens. Peach was the second common food and 14 of 15 peach-OAS patients were sensitized to tree pollens. Besides oral symptoms, rhinitis, asthma, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or generalized urticaria were accompanied in half of the OAS patients (14/28). Some patients showed OAS to some unique Korean foods such as dropwort, taro and Aster. CONCLUSION: OAS was very common in pollen-sensitized patients. Larger epidemiologic studies are needed to find unique Korean foods and their antigensm causing OAS.
Adult ; Asthma ; Colocasia ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Edema ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epitopes ; Filipendula ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Fruit ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Korea ; Larynx ; Lip ; Mouth ; Nausea ; Pharynx ; Poaceae ; Pollen* ; Prevalence ; Prunus persica ; Rhinitis ; Skin ; Urticaria ; Vegetables ; Vomiting

Leiomyoma is a benign myogenic tumor found mainly in the uterus, skin and the alimentary tract. However, leiomyoma of the nasal septum is very rare and only four cases have been reported in the literature. We present a case of leiomyoma that had rose from the nasal septum and had been removed by endoscopic sinus surgery. This case might well be the fifth case in the world.
Leiomyoma* ; Nasal Septum* ; Skin ; Uterus

To evaluate the nutritional status according to the degree of metabolic acidosis(MA) and determine that MA is a risk factor for malnutrition, we screened the laboratory data of 37 hemodialysis(HD) patients who were clinically stable for more than 6 months and taken bioelectrical impedence analysis(BIA) twice 6 months apart to check lean body mass (LBM). Mean age of patients was 49.1+/-15.0 years and sex ratio 1:2.4. Mean serum albumin level was 3.97+/-0.36g/dl and weekly Kt/V and normalized protein catabolic rate(nPCR) were 3.04+/-0.85 and 0.99+/-0.21g/kg/day. According to mean total CO2 content during the periods between BIA, the patients were divided to three groups[group 1(n=16):&18mEq/L, group 2(n=9):18< or =tCO2&21mEq/L, group 3(n=12):> or =21mEq/L). Group 1 had significantly higher body weight gain than group 2 and 3(1.82+/-1.62 vs. 0.77+/-3.13 and 1.35+/-3.85kg, P<0.05), and higher LBM gain(1.99+/-4.38 vs. 3.35+/-7.99kg, P<0.05), nPCR(1.05+/-0.20 vs. 0.91+/-0.13g/kg/day, P<0.05), intact parathyroid hormone(88.4+/-78.7 vs. 32.0+/-26.5pg/ml, P< 0.05), and phosphate(5.4+/-1.3 vs. 3.9+/-1.3mg/dl, P< 0.05) than group 3. There were no differences in age, serum albumin, BUN, creatinine and weekly Kt/V among three groups. Mean total CO2 level was inversely correlated with body weight gain and LBM gain. In conclusion, metabolic acidosis in stable HD patients may be the result of high protein intake and not related to decrease of body weight by protein catabolism.
Acidosis* ; Body Weight ; Creatinine ; Humans ; Malnutrition ; Metabolism ; Nutritional Status ; Renal Dialysis* ; Risk Factors ; Serum Albumin ; Sex Ratio

We investigated the usefulness of tumor-associated antigen (TA-4) by a radioimmunoasay method in estimating the extent of disease and tracking the clinical course of disease in 58 patients with cervical cancer. According to our results and those of other authors, the normal range of serum TA-4 was arbitrarily taken to be less than 2 ng/ml. The proportion of the pretreatment positive serum TA-4 level of 48 squamous cell carcinoma patients was 60%. And 40% in 5 adenocarcinoma patients. Advanced disease group showed higher incidence of positive serum TA-4 level; 40%, 72%, 63%, and 100% in stage I to IV, respectively. And the absolute values of TA-4 were higher in advanced disease. In patients treated with radiation, elevated serum TA-4 level usually declined after 3000 cGy and further dropped to normal range in 44c13 after 5000 cGy. The Positive rate in Primary cervical cancer was 59% (32/54) and 100% (4/4) in recurrent cervical cancer. And 15 patients with recurrent or persistent disease during follow-up revealed 80% positive serum TA-4 level. In conclusion, it would be suggested that serial serum TA-4 measurements may be helpful in tracking the clinical course during and after treatment.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cervix Uteri* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Radiotherapy ; Reference Values ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

In maintenance dialysis patients, death is most often due to cardiac disease. The common causes of death in nondiabetic dialysis patients are congestive heart failure. Relation between taurine and cardiac contractility had been reported in animal studies. Uremic patients have taurine deficiency and this may induce impairment in cardiac contractility. We performed this study to evaluate the relationship between plasma taurine concentration and left ventricular(LV) function by echocardiography in clinically stable 23 hemodialysis(HD) patients. HD patients had significantly lower plasma taurine concentrations(29.1+/-9.4 micromol/L) compared to control(57.6+/-17.5 micromol/L). There were significant correlations between plasma taurine concentrations and fractional shortening(FS)(r=0.422, P<0.05), and taurine and LV end-diastolic diameter(LVEDD)(r=-0.531, P<0.01). By partial correlation analysis of controlling hematocrit, this correlations were maintained between taurine and LVEDD(r=-0.46, P<0.05) and there was a tendency of correlation between taurine and FS(r=0.37, P=0.09). There was a significant correlation between plasma taurine concentrations and normalized protein catabolic rate(NPCR)(r=0.42, P<0.05), insulin-like growth factor 1(IGF-I)(r=0.43, P<0.05) and prealbumin(r=0.54, P<0.05). Group I in whom plasma taurine concentrations were below median value had significantly lower FS(29.7+/-8.2 vs. 38.5+/-8.0%, P<0.05) and higher LVEDD(57.7+/-4.7 vs. 53.1+/-3.0mm, P<0.05) and LV mass index(299.2+/-73.1 vs. 192.4+/-49.7g/m2, P<0.05) than group II in whom plasma taurine concentrations were above median value. On linear multiple regression analysis, plasma taurine concentrations and diastolic blood pressure were independently correlated with FS. In conclusion, taurine deficiency may be one of the factors affecting LV dysfunction in maintenance HD patients.
Animals ; Blood Pressure ; Cause of Death ; Dialysis ; Echocardiography ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Failure ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Plasma* ; Renal Dialysis* ; Taurine* ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left*

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) in Korean postmenopausal women and the association between OVCFs and clinical factors such as age, bone mineral density (BMD), and quality of life. Methods: According to the population distribution in four regions in Korea, 1,281 postmenopausal female patients were recruited from nationwide orthopedic outpatient clinics. Radiologic, asymptomatic, and within 3 months of OVCF groups were analyzed based on age, fracture location, and prevalence according to BMD. In addition, BMD, T-score, body mass index, and European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) were investigated in the three groups, and the differences between groups were compared and analyzed. Results: The prevalence of radiologic OVCFs at the T11–L1 was 3.7 times higher in the 70s group (44.0%) than in the 50s group (11.9%). Femur and total hip BMD were significantly lower in patients with thoracolumbar junction fractures than in patients with L2–5 fractures, whereas no difference was observed in lumbar spine BMD. Of the three OVCF groups, the within 3 months of OVCF group had the lowest lumbar spine T-score of –2.445. The asymptomatic OVCF group also showed significantly lower lumbar spine T-score than did the group without radiologic OVCFs (p < 0.001). The EQ-5D showed a significant decrease in the radiologic OVCF group (p < 0.001) and within 3 months of OVCF group (p < 0.001). Conclusions The prevalence of OVCFs in the thoracolumbar junction rapidly increases with old age and low BMD in Korean postmenopausal women. Femur and total hip BMD are more predictive of thoracolumbar junction fractures than lumbar spine BMD.Patients with radiologic OVCFs had a significantly lower quality of life than no OVCF group. Therefore, this study shows it is important to treat and prevent osteoporosis before an OVCF occurs.

The mainstay of diagnosing scrub typhus is through serologic testing. However, because of the delay of several days from the onset of the illness to the increase in the antibody titer, diagnosis can be difficult in the early stage of the illness. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical usefulness of adenosine deaminase activity (ADA) in diagnosing scrub typhus. A total of 104 patients were enrolled during the study period. Of these patients, 59 patients were diagnosed with scrub typhus and the mean serum ADA level was 46.7+/-11.6 U/L. High serum ADA levels strongly supported the diagnosis of scrub typhus, especially in patient without eschar. The remaining 44 patients did not have scrub typhus and 95% (42/44) of them had normal serum ADA levels. Therefore, evaluating serum ADA level could help diagnose patients with acute febrile disease such as scrub typhus, especially in its early stage of disease progression.
Adenosine ; Adenosine Deaminase ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Orientia tsutsugamushi ; Scrub Typhus ; Serologic Tests

The mainstay of diagnosing scrub typhus is through serologic testing. However, because of the delay of several days from the onset of the illness to the increase in the antibody titer, diagnosis can be difficult in the early stage of the illness. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical usefulness of adenosine deaminase activity (ADA) in diagnosing scrub typhus. A total of 104 patients were enrolled during the study period. Of these patients, 59 patients were diagnosed with scrub typhus and the mean serum ADA level was 46.7+/-11.6 U/L. High serum ADA levels strongly supported the diagnosis of scrub typhus, especially in patient without eschar. The remaining 44 patients did not have scrub typhus and 95% (42/44) of them had normal serum ADA levels. Therefore, evaluating serum ADA level could help diagnose patients with acute febrile disease such as scrub typhus, especially in its early stage of disease progression.
Adenosine ; Adenosine Deaminase ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Orientia tsutsugamushi ; Scrub Typhus ; Serologic Tests

STUDY DESIGN: A nationwide, observational, and cross-sectional study targeting postmenopausal patients from 62 orthopedic outpatient clinics in Korea between October 2010 and February 2011. PURPOSE: This study was carried out to investigate comorbidity, trauma history, and the status of osteoporotic fracture treatment in Korean postmenopausal women. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: There has been little reports on the comorbidity, family history, trauma history, and treatment status of osteoporotic fractures in patients visiting the orthopedic outpatient clinics in Korea. METHODS: A total of 1,255 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 80 years were enrolled in the study and the population distribution was reflected by region. Comorbidity, familial history of osteoporosis, familial history of osteoporotic fracture, history of falls, and status of osteoporotic fracture management were evaluated using an interview and questionnaire. The relationship between family history of osteoporosis and bone mineral density was analyzed. RESULTS: A number of patients (23%) had a family history of osteoporosis and 16.5% had a family history of fractures. Most (64.7%) of the patients had one or more comorbidities, including 58.8% exhibiting a chronic disease and 16.4% suffering from diseases that restrict exercise or walking. The results of the questionnaire indicated that 21.8% of these fracture patients had experienced a fracture previously and that the most common type of fracture was that of the spine. Lumbar spine bone mineral density was found to be lower in the presence of family history of osteoporosis. CONCLUSIONS: Postmenopausal women are liable to have osteoporotic fractures due to the high prevalence of osteoporosis, a history of falling, and the comorbidity with diseases that restrict ambulation. A better understanding of postmenopausal women in the orthopedic outpatient settings is important to the management of osteoporotic fractures.