No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Humerus*

This study was conducted to evaluate the tensile bond strength of three commercially available glass ionomer cements as orthodontic bracket adhesives. 120 premolars extracted for orthodontic treatment were prepared for bonding and standard edgewise brackets were bonded with Shofu GlasIonomer Cement (Shofu Co., U.S.A.), GC Fuji I(GC Co., Japan), KETAC-CEM(ESPE Co., West Germany) with different P/L ratio. The tensile bond strength was tested by Instron testing device after 24hours and 3months from bonding. After debracketing, bracket bases were examined to determine the failure sites. The results of this study were as follows: 1. KETAC-CEM showed the highest bond strength other than measurement after 24 hours and at its original P/L ratio, and seemed to have clinically a proper bond strength. It seemed, however, that both Shofu GlasIonomer Cement and GC Fuji I had an inappropriate bond strength. 2. The incorporation of additional powder into the mixture improved the tensile bond strength. 3. Prolonged storage time improved the tensile bond strength. 4. Of the failure, failure occured at the tooth-adhesive interface(54.2%) was the most common type. The second type of failure(36.7%) was combination type, where part of the adhesive remained on the tooth and part on the bracket. And the last type of failure(9.1%) occured at the adhesive-bracket interface.
Adhesives ; Bicuspid ; Glass Ionomer Cements* ; Glass* ; Orthodontic Brackets ; Tooth

No abstract available.
Arthrogryposis* ; Pyloric Stenosis*

BACKGROUND: There are many reports about the correlation between cardiovascular disorders and estrogen deficiency in postmenopausal women. The purpose of current study is to know that postmenopausal estrogen therapy may affect the lipid metabolism and endogenous fibrinolytic system and exercise tolerance. METHOD: We investigated the relation of estrogen treatment (srogen 0.625 mg/day) to serum lipid levels, angiotensin converting enzyme activity, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and parameters of treadmill test in 22 postmenopausal women of normal coronary artery with abnormal exercise test complained with chest pain accompanied by postmenopausal symptoms. RESULTS: Estrogen treatment significantly elevated the serum HDL-cholesterol level (42.8 to 50.1 mg/dl, p<0.05) and reduced the PAI-1 level (16.2 to 10.4 ng/dl, p<0.01) without considerable side effects. During the exercise test, the positivity appearance time and total exercise duration is significantly increased after estrogen treatment. CONCLUSION: The postmenopausal use of estrogen favorably changed the lipid level, fibrinolytic system and might improve the microcirculation which may protect against the ischemic heart disease risk without significant side effects.
Chest Pain ; Coronary Vessels ; Estrogens* ; Exercise Test ; Exercise Tolerance ; Female ; Humans ; Lipid Metabolism ; Microcirculation ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 ; Plasminogen Activators ; Postmenopause

No abstract available.
Ivermectin ; Larva Migrans

No abstract available.
Thyroiditis, Autoimmune ; Turner Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is the most common type of pattern hair loss in women. It has been suggested that FPHL is associated with several serological abnormalities. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics and serological abnormalities of the Korean FPHL patients and to compare them with the data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey V and other relative reports. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the age, duration and comorbidities in 264 Korean patients who have been diagnosed with FPHL. Serum levels of serum iron, total iron binding capacity, ferritin, hemoglobin, free thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone, testosterone and 25-(OH) vitamin D were being investigated. RESULTS: FPHL was most commonly found in patients aged from 20 to 29 years old and 55% of the patients visited the hospital one year after the onset of FPHL. In FPHL patients, the levels of testosterone, hemoglobin, serum ferritin, 25-(OH) vitamin D, thyroid stimulating hormone were all significantly higher than the average Korean adult women. And, the free thyroxine level was significantly lower than the average Korean adult women. When analyzed according to the menopausal status, premenopausal FPHL patients showed significantly higher serum levels of hemoglobin, ferritin, and 25-(OH) vitamin D than those of the Korean adult women. But, the postmenopausal FPHL patients showed significantly higher serum levels of 25-(OH) vitamin D than those of Korean adult women. CONCLUSION: The levels of ferritin, testosterone and vitamin D of FPHL patients were elevated higher than those of the Korean adult women. To confirm these results in the future, further large scaled evaluation is suggested.
Adult ; Comorbidity ; Female* ; Ferritins ; Hair* ; Humans ; Iron ; Korea ; Nutrition Surveys ; Retrospective Studies ; Testosterone ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine ; Vitamin D

A retrospective study of operative results was carried out in a series of 79 patients who operated upon for cervical spondylosis using anterior(modified Trans-Unco-Discal) approach over the past 10 years at the Department of Neurosurgery, Soonchunhyang University Hospital. The operative findings were analysed and also the correlation between preoperative clinicoradiological factors and postoperative clinical results were statistically assessed. The major results were as follows: 1) Of 79 patients, there were 53 in radiculopathy, 18 in radiculomyelopathy and 8 in myelopathy. Mean age was 49 years and the incidence was the highest in sixth decade. Male to female ratio was 2.3:1. 2) In 132 levels operation was performed and C 5, 6 was the most commonly involved level. Incidence of one level operated was 47% and one of above 2 levels operated was in 53%. Of 129 interbody grafts there were 79 levels using BOP and 50 levels using ilium. 3) Operative results; (1) Clinical results were graded excellent in 63%, good in 30%, fair in 6%, and poor in 1%. (2) Clinical results in radiculopathy was statistically significant better than one in myelopathy and radiculomyelopathy(p<0.05). As to number of osteophytes, clinical results in below 3 osteophytes was statistically significant better than above 4 osteophytes(p<0.05). (3) As to age, duration of symptoms, disc space narrowing, developmental canal stenosis, number of operated levels and material of bone graft, clinical results were non statistically significant. (4) Improvement rates in myelopathy and radiculomyelopathy(n=26) were 50% in Nurick's grade and 85% Kadoya's grade. (5) In 23 patients who could be performed follow-up at recently, improvement rate was 88% in Japanese Orthopeadic Association's scale. (6) The rates of complications were 16% and the most complication was related to bone graft. There was no significant correlation between the complications and clinical results in all cases.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Ilium ; Incidence ; Male ; Neurosurgery ; Osteophyte ; Radiculopathy ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; Spondylosis* ; Transplants

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between Fas gene & Fas-ligand gene polymorphisms, and bone mineral density (BMD) after hormone therapy (HT) in postmenopausal women. METHODS: Restriction fragment length polymorphisms at the Fas A670G, G1377A gene site and Fas-ligand C843T, IVS3nt169 (T/delT) gene site and BMD at the lumbar spine and proximal femur were analyzed in 229 postmenopausal women receiving sequential HT for 1 year. BMD were measured by DEXA. The subjects were divided in normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic on the basis of the T-score values according to the classification of the World Health Organization (WHO). RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounding factors such as age, BMI, and menopause duration, A670G polymorphism was significantly associated with BMD at the lumbar spine, the femur neck and trochanter in osteopenic and osteoporotic groups, and G1377A polymorphism was significantly associated with BMD at lumbar spine and the femur neck in osteopenic group. C843T polymorphism was significantly associated with BMD at lumbar spine and ward triangle in osteoporotic group, IVS3nt169 (T/delT) was not associated with BMD. In osteoporotic group after HT in postmenopausal women, A670G polymorphism A/A, G1377A polymorphism G/G, C843T polymorphism T/T were associated with significant annual bone mineral density change, compared with other polymorphism at the same gene. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that Fas, Fas-ligand gene polymorphisms may be an important contributor to the variation of BMD among postmenopausal women. and that a specific Fas, Fas-ligand polymorphisms are associated with significant BMD change in postmenopausal women after HT.
Bone Density ; Classification ; Female ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Humans ; Menopause ; Osteoporosis ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Spine ; World Health Organization

BACKGROUND: Paradoxical embolism through the patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a well-recognized mechanism for otherwise unexplained ischemic stroke. Although transthoracic contrast echocardiography (TCE) has been used frequently for noninvasive diagnosis of right to left shunt through PFO, its diagnostic accuracy appears limited, especially in patients with poor acoustic window. Since harmonic imaging (HI) can enhance the definition of contrast microbubbles, theoretical advantages of HI in the detection of right to left shunt through PFO using microbubbles can be considered. However, there are few data regarding the diagnostic efficacy of HI in the detection of right to left shunt through PFO. The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic value of transthoracic HI in the detection of right to left shunt through PFO in patients with stroke with that of fundamental imaging (FI). Methods: One hundred thirty-six consecutive patients with stroke (82 male, mean age:9) underwent TCE in both HI and FI and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during rest and Valsalva maneuver with intravenous administration of agitated saline. PFO was judged to be present if microbubbles appeared in the left atrium within 3 cardiac cycles of their appearance in the right atrium. TEE was regarded as the gold standard for assessing the diagnostic accuracy of TCE. Results: Right to left shunt through PFO was detected in 40 of 136 patients by TEE (29.4%). FI of TCE detected shunt through PFO in only 9 of 136 patients (6.6%). In contrast, HI detected shunt through PFO in 25 of 136 patients (18.4%). The overall sensitivity and specificity of FI and HI for detection of right to left shunt through PFO were 22.5%, 62.5% (p<0.05) and 100%, 100%, respectively. Valsalva maneuver during HI significantly increased the detection rate of shunt through PFO (during rest in 9 and during Valsalva maneuver in 25, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: HI with contrast microbubble injection significantly enhanced the detection of right to left shunt through PFO in patients with ischemic stroke compared with FI by transthoracic approach.
Acoustics ; Administration, Intravenous ; Diagnosis ; Dihydroergotamine ; Echocardiography* ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Embolism, Paradoxical ; Foramen Ovale, Patent* ; Heart Atria ; Humans ; Male ; Microbubbles ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stroke ; Valsalva Maneuver