We reviewed surgical specimens from 11 patients with diffuse neurofibroma to define the specific clinicopathologic characteristics. Ten cases were cutaneous neurofibromas and one case was an uncommon gastrointestinal neurofibroma involving the rectum. The most frequent sites of involvement were the head and neck, especially the eyelids and the periorbital areas. They usually presented as a plaque-like elevation of the skin. They primarily occured in children and young adults and positive family histories of von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis were obtained in 45.4%. Pathologically, the involved skin & rectum were diffusely thickened by an infiltrative growing mass, showing proliferation of short fusiform cells in the uniform matrix of fine fibrillary collagen. The characteristic prominence of Wagner-Meissner bodies (45.4%) suggests they could be associated with pathogenesis of diffuse neurofibroma. On the basis of these findings, we could confirm diffuse neurofibroma to be a distinct form of neurofibroma.
Child ; Adult ; Male ; Female ; Humans

The double eyelid operation is one of the most common cosmetic surgery performed in orientals, and there are numerous studies about surgical procedures of that. In the case of appropriate candidates, the non-incision technique makes excellent cosmetic results, with the advantages of shorter operating time, less morbidity, less pain, no scarring and easy revision of shape. But, usually the non-incision technique is recommended in the cases with thin upper eyelid, small amount of orbital fat, less redundant skin of upper eyelid and in whom a wide fold is not desired so on. Therefore, the disadvantages of this method are that it cannot be applied to all patients. The postoperative complications are disappearance or faded fold, formation of cyst or lumps, asymmetry etc. and the incidence of these complications is slightly higher than those of the incisional method. In this study, the double eyelid operation using the continuous buried suture method was performed in 210 patients for formation of double eyelid from Jan. 1993 to Dec. 1995. In conclusion very good results can be obtained by the continuous buried suture method even in the cases of puffy upper eyelid. This method can make a double eyelid shape in the fashion the patient wants and can be a new indication for correction of unilateral double eyelid. This method is safe, satisfactory and take shorter postoperative recovery time and it can reduce the incidence of postoperative complications.
Cicatrix ; Eyelids* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Orbit ; Postoperative Complications ; Skin ; Surgery, Plastic ; Sutures*

No Abstract Available.
Chondrocytes* ; Phenotype*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to understand the meaning of experiences in home visiting nursing service among the elderly in community provided by nursing students. METHOD: This is a phenomenological study to investigate the experience of community-based patients. Data were collected through in-depth interviews from the 4th of March to the 15th of December 2003. Individual interviews were conducted with 8 patients on subjective experiences. Data were analyzed through Colaizzi's method, in which meaningful statements were extracted. RESULT: Four categories were identified from nine theme clusters. The four categories were 'thankfulness', 'dependence', 'sorrowfulness' and 'the sense of being'. CONCLUSION: These results show the importance of visiting nursing service for the elderly in community.
Aged* ; House Calls* ; Humans ; Life Change Events ; Nursing Services* ; Qualitative Research ; Students, Nursing

An eccrine nevus is a rare hamartoma characterized by an increase in the number or size of eccrine glands. Eccrine nevi usually present as localized hyperhidrosis and are not associated with overlying skin abnormalities. However, among the cases that have been reported in the literature, some unique presentations of eccrine nevi have been demonstrated, including a pigmented patch, a depressed nodule, linear papules, and a sacral skin tag. Herein, we report two unusual cases of coccygeal polypoid eccrine nevi and review the literature.
Coccyx ; Eccrine Glands ; Hamartoma ; Hyperhidrosis ; Nevus ; Skin ; Skin Abnormalities

No abstract available.
Endometriosis* ; Female

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) for gastric cancer is still uncommon because of technical difficulties, especially in esophagojejunostomy (EJ). There are many reports for various laparoscopic procedures of EJ using linear or circular staplers. On the other hands, there has been no report for hand-sewn anastomosis. We report successfully performed intracorporeally hand-sewn EJ after LTG. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The clinicopathologic data and short-term surgical outcomes of 6 patients who underwent totally laparoscopic total gastrectomy for upper gastric cancer from December 2010 and July 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: The mean age was 66.5 years and mean body mass index (kg/m2) was 24.6. All patients had medical comorbidities. The mean patient ASA score was 2.17. Among the 6 patients, previous abdominal operation was performed for 2 patients and combined operation was performed for 3 patients. The mean blood loss, operation time, and EJ anastomosis time was 130 ml, 379.7 minutes, and 81.5 minutes, respectively. The mean time to first flatus, first oral intake, and postoperative hospital stay was 3.0, 3.0, and 12.5 days, respectively. There was no 30-day mortality case. Postoperative aspiration pneumonia and multiple periventricular lacunar infarctions developed in 1 patient. There were no anastomosis-related complications and other major surgical complications. CONCLUSIONS: When the intracorporeal anastomotic technique becomes popular in LTG the intracorporeally hand-sewn EJ may be accepted as one method among the various laparoscopic procedures of EJ.
Body Mass Index ; Comorbidity ; Flatulence ; Gastrectomy ; Hand ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Pneumonia, Aspiration ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stroke, Lacunar

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to investigate the affecting factors according to gender in older adults by using the 2012 Korea Health Panel data. METHODS: The Korea Health Panel data 2012 were collected from February to August 2012 by Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and National Health Insurance Corporation and the number of respondents were 1,921. The data were analyzed by t-test, chi-square, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression using SPSS/WIN program. RESULTS: The limitation of activity was the most influential factor for health-related quality of life of both male and female. For male, the affecting factors on HRQoL were hearing problems and frustration. For female, the affecting factors on HRQoL were eating problems, depression and suicidal impulses. Drinking, moderate physical activities, vision problems and stress had a significant effect on HRQoL for both male and female. CONCLUSION: Health care providers should consider the differences between male and female when they design a program in order to improve HRQoL of older people.
Adult ; Depression ; Drinking ; Eating ; Female ; Frustration ; Health Behavior* ; Health Personnel ; Hearing ; Humans ; Korea* ; Male ; Motor Activity ; National Health Programs ; Quality of Life* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: As the pleural inflammation progresses, exudative pleural fluid becomes loculated rapidly with pleural thickening. Complete drainage is important 13 prevent pleural fibrosis, entrapment and depression of lung function Intrapleural urokinase instillation therapy has been advocated as a method to facilitate drainage of gelatinous pleural fluid and to allow enzymatic debriment of pleural surface. This study was designed to investigate the Predictors of effeotiveness of intrapleural urokinase in treatment of loculated pleural effusion METHOD: Thirty-five patients received a single radiographically guided pig-tail catheter ranging in size from 10 to 12 French Twenty-two patients had tuberculous pleural effusions, and 13 had non-tuberculous postpneumonic empyemas. A total of 240,000 units of urokinase was dissolved in 240 ml of normal saline and the aliquots of 80mL was instilled into the pleura1 cavity via pig-tail catheter per every 8hr. Effectiveness of intrapleural urokinase instillation therapy was assessed by biochemical markers, ultrasonography, and technical details. A greater than 50% improvement on follow-up chest radiographs was defined as success group. RESULT: Twenty-seven of 35 (77.1%) patients had successful outcome to urokinase instillation therapy. Duration of symptoms before admission was shorter in sucess group (11.8α6.9day) than in failure group (26.62α16.5day) (P<0.05). Amount of drained fluid during urokinsse therapy was larger in success group (917.1α392.7ml) than in failure group (613.8α259.7ml) (P<0.05). Pleural fluid glucose was higher in success group (89.7 α35.9mg/dl) than in failure group (41.2α47.1mg/dl) (P<0.05). Pleural fluid LDH was lower in success group (878.4α654.31U/L) than in failure group (2711.1α973.1IU/L) (P<0.05). Honeycomb septated pattern on chest ultrasonography was observed in six of eight failure group, but none of success group(P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Longer duration of symptoms before admission smaller amount of drained fluid during urokinase therapy, lower glucose value, higher LDH value in pleural fluid examination and honeycomb septation pattern on chest ultrasonography were predictors for failure group of intrapleural urokinase instillation therapy.
Biomarkers ; Catheters ; Depression ; Drainage ; Empyema ; Fibrosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gelatin ; Glucose ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lung ; Pleural Effusion* ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Thorax ; Ultrasonography ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator*

BACKGROUND: Social support is defined as interpersonal transaction ; the giving of symbolic or material aid to another. It has been shown to have both buffering effects and direct beneficial effects on diverse health related outcomes. But there has been the dearth of well-validated measurement instruments. This article describes the development of Korean version of the Duke-UNC functional social support questionnaire(DUFSS), focusing on the aspect of social support. METHODS: The 13-item, self-administered questionnaire was translated to Korean language. It was evaluated on 177 patients attending the family medicine clinic of Seoul National University Hospital during one month(November, 1996.) Comparisons to the family APGAR, COOP/ WONCA functional status chart are made to assess validity. Factor analyses are performed. Correlation of the questionnire score with the sum of family APGAR and each items of COOP/ WONCA functional chart are measured Internal consistency are evaluated. RESULTS: The questionnaire score are correlated with significantly correlated with social activity item. The total Cronbachs alpha is calculated as 0.89. The four content areas developed by factor analyses are donfidant support(items 8, 9, 10), af fective support(items 4, 5, 6, 7), instrumental support(items 3, 12) and quantity of support(item 1). These shows similarity to American study results. CONCLUSIONS: The Korean version of the Duke-UNC functional social support questionnaire has been documented as having high reliability and moderate validity. It covers two dimensions well(confidant support, affective support) with a small enough number of questions. Instrumental support may need further study.
Humans ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires