No abstract available.
46, XX Disorders of Sex Development* ; Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital* ; Female* ; Humans

A 29-year-old Korean woman visited the Department of Surgery in MizMedi Hospital with a palpable itching mass on the right breast that had existed for the past 7 months. She had no history to eat either frogs or snakes, but had the history of drinking impure water. Sonography revealed a serpiginous hypoechoic tubular structure associated with partial fat necrosis in breast parenchymal layer and subcutaneous fat layer. It also revealed oval cystic lesions. At operation, an ivory white opaque ribbon-like worm that measured 16.5 cm in length and 0.5 cm in width was extracted. Anti-sparganum specific serum IgG level in the patient's serum (absorbance = 0.71), measured by ELISA, was found to be significantly higher than those of normal controls (cut off point = 0.21). Sonography and ELISA appear to be helpful to diagnose sparganosis. Breast sparganosis is rarely found throughout the world.
Adult ; Animals ; Antibodies, Helminth/blood ; Breast/*parasitology ; Breast Diseases/diagnosis/*parasitology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Human ; Immunoglobulin G/blood ; Sparganosis/diagnosis/*parasitology ; Sparganum/immunology/isolation & purification ; Ultrasonography, Mammary

Etretinate, an effective retinoid in the treatment of pustular, erythrodermic and chronic plaque type psoriasis, has the disadvantage of a long terminal elimination half-life. On the other hand, acitretin, the active metabolite of etretinate, has much shorter terminal elimination half-life and is being reported as an agent with good antipsoriatic activity by several authors. To evaluate the clinical efficacy of acitret.in in comparison with etretinate, we treated 10 patients wit,h acitretin at a dose of 30mg per day and 11 patients with etretinate at a same dose for 12 weeks. The PASI score at 12 week was significantly reduced in each group as compared with baseline PASI score. In the acitretin treated group the initial PASI score of 14.5 reduced to 3.9, while the etretinate group PASI score reduced from 12.0 to 3.1. The PASI score differ ences between the acitretin and etretinate groups at each time during therapy and the end of therapy were not statistically significant. The severity of adverse reactions with acitretin was similar to those with etretinate but their incidence was higher. The change in laboratory parameters in the acitretin group was simlar to that of the etretinate group. In view of these results and the known pharmacokinetic advantage of acitretin, that is the short terminal elimination half-life, it is conceivable that acitretin may be a useful alternative to etretinate in the treatment of psoriasis.
Acitretin* ; Etretinate* ; Half-Life ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Psoriasis*

We have investigated the clinical response of 12 patients with erythrodermic psoriasis to therapy with etretinate. Initial dosage of etretinate was 20-60mg/day. The time for complete disappearance of scales averaged 19.9 days. In 10 of 12 patients(83.3%) satisfactory results were obtained after 2 to 11 months of treatment. Cheilitis was the most common side effect. Three patients had mild elevation of blood lipids, which was corrected by dose reduction. Remission period, of ten patients who showed good result, averaged 4.2 months.
Acitretin* ; Cheilitis ; Etretinate* ; Humans ; Psoriasis* ; Weights and Measures

A 24 year old man presented a large keloidal patch on the posterior thigh with persistent purulent fistulae and comedones on it. Histopathological findings showed folliculoperifolliculitis with polymorphs, lymphocytes, plasma cells, multinucleated giant cells and hypertrophic sclerotic connective tiasue. Clinically and histopathologically the diasgnoais of folliculitis keloidalis was made, which is known to develop mostly on the posterior neck. The lesion was treated by surgical excision and skin graft.
Acne Keloid* ; Fistula ; Folliculitis* ; Giant Cells ; Humans ; Keloid ; Lymphocytes ; Neck ; Plasma Cells ; Skin ; Thigh* ; Transplants ; Young Adult

Pemphigua foliaceus is a rare, relatively mild and chronic variety of pemphigus which is characterized by superficial flaccid bullae which show acantholytic changes in the upper part of the epidermis histopathologically. We report herein five cases of pemphigus foliaceus. The patients had erythematous and crusted patches chiefly on face, chest and back areas, except for case 2 who had flaccid bullae on the upper extrimities. The diagnosis of all these patients were confirmed by immunofluorescence studies. Among these five patients, one was recognized as a rifampicin induced pemphigus foliaceus, and the other one revealed concurrent lesions of psoriasis.
Diagnosis ; Epidermis ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Humans ; Pemphigus* ; Psoriasis ; Rifampin ; Thorax

The authors investigsted the effects of azelaic acid on human melanoma cells (G 361 melanoma cell line) and cultured normal melanocytes obtained from the prepuce of newborn. The results were as follows : 1. The proliferation of melanoma cells was decreased, but not in a dose-and time- ependent fashion. The cell population of melanoma cells after 2, 4, and 6 days of culture was decreased to 3.80 x 10(5)cells/well, 4.55 x 10(5)cells/well, and 4.30 X 10(5)cells/ well, respectively, in the presence of 10(-2)M azelaic acid. The proliferation of mormal elanocytes of normal melanocytes was decreased in a dose-dependent, but not in a time-dependent fashion. The cell population of normal melanocytes after 2, 4, and 6 days of culture was significantly decreased to 6.38 x 10(5)+/-1.37 x 10(5) cells/well, 5.33 x 10(5)+/-0.73x10(5) cells/well, and 7.20x10(5)+/-1,11 x10(5)cells/well, respectively, in the presence of 10(-2) M azelaic acid(p<0,05, p<0.01). 2. A dose-and time-dependent inhibition of DNA synthesis was not found in either group. However, DNA synthesis in melanoma cells was decreased to 92710+5188 CPM, 16268+/-15S5 CPM, 8518+/-996 CPM, respectively, after 2, 4, and 6 days of culture, and in normal melanocytes was decreased to 9398+/-2279 CPM(p>0.05) and 6953+/-1217 CPM (p<0.05) after 4 and 6 days of culture in the prensence of 10(-2) Mazelaic acid, 3. There was no difference in melanin content per well at various concentrations in either group, but the melanin content per individual melanocyte of the melanoma cells was increased to 0.0303 ng/cell, 0.0253 ng/cell, and 0.0377 ng/cell, respectively, and that of normal melanocytes was signifieantly increased to 0.0754+/-0.0215 ng/cell, 0.0719+/-0.0144 ng/cell(p<0.05), and 0.1089+/-0.0185 ng/cell(p<0.05), respectively, after 2, 4, and 6 days of culture in the presence of 10(-2) M azelaic acid.
DNA ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Melanins ; Melanocytes* ; Melanoma

Isolated pulmonary stenosis, a relatively common congenital anomaly that accounts for about 10 percent of all congenital heart disease, is characterized by stenosis of pulmonary valve itself, infundibulum or both of them. Since cardiac catherterization was applied to man by Cournand and Ranges, pulmonary stenosis had been easily diagnosed and many clinical studies had been investigated. It has a wide clinical spectrum depending on the degree of stenosis. The electrocardiogram, phonocardiogram and chest X-ray have proved useful in estimating the severity of hemodynamic facotrs in individual cases. This series comprises 47 cases in whom the clinical diagnosis of isolated pulmonary stenosis was confirmed by right heart catheterization with cardiac cineangiography at Severance Hospital, Yonsei University. An attempt was made to correlate the electrocardiographic, phonocardiographic, chest X-ray findings, and types of stenosis with the hemodynamic data in these cases. 1. Of 47 patients, 33 were male and 14 female. Their ages ranged from 2 to 42 years: the mean age was 19.1 years. 2. The incidence was 5.9 percent of all 797 catheterized congenital heart disease cases. The pulmonary valvular stenosis was 30 (68.3%), infundibular 7 (14.6%) and combined 10 (21.6%) cases. 3. The correlation between electrocardiogram and hemodynamic data were as follows. i) The regression equation between right ventricular sysytolic pressure (RVSP) and height of R wave in V1 lead (RV1) was RVSP=3.32 RV1+48.2: its correlation coefficient was 0.818 and it was very significant (p=0.000). ii) The higher the RVSP, the more the frontal axis of QRS complex shifted to the right side (r=0.55. p=0.001). iii) The RVSP of the groups with positive ECG findings such as p-pulmonale, right ventricular hypertrophy or right ventricular strain were much higher than the RVSP of the groups without such findings (p=0.032.0.000, 0.000). iv) The group with RV1 higher than 20 mm showed much more elevated mean of RVSP than the group with lower RV1 (p=0.000). v) The groups with the above mentioned positive ECG findings showed good correlation with the severity of RVSP which was arbitrarily classified as 49 or less, 50~100, and 100 mmHg or more (chi-square=8.96, 26.69, 19.06; p=0.011, 0.000, 0.000). 4. The group with late occurrence of the maximum intensity of the ejection systolic murmur showed higher mean of RVSP than the group with early peak of the murmur (p=0.014). 5. The means of RVSP of the groups with chest X-ray findings such as decreased pulmonary vascularity, were much higher than the means of RVSP of the groups without such findings (p=0.000, 0.005, 0.015). The groups with above mentioned positive chest X-ray findings showed good corelations with the severity of RVSP which was classified as above limits (chi-square=7.55, 10.94, 13.36; p=0.022, 0.004, 0.001). 6. Combined pulmonary valvular and infundibular stenosis showed more severe systolic pressure gradient and higher mean of RVSP than the isolated types (p=0.000).
Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiac Catheterization ; Cardiac Catheters ; Catheters ; Cineangiography ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Hemodynamics* ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular ; Incidence ; Male ; Pulmonary Valve ; Pulmonary Valve Stenosis* ; Systolic Murmurs ; Thorax

PURPOSE: Marginal fit is a very important factor considering the restoration's long-term success. However, adding porcelain to copings can cause distortion and lead to an inadequate fit which exposes more luting material to the oral environment and causes secondary caries. The purpose of this study was to compare the marginal fit of 2 different all-ceramic crown systems before and after porcelain veneering. This study was also intended to verify the marginal fit of crowns originated from green machining of partially sintered blocks of zirconia (Lava CAD/CAM system) and that of crowns obtained through machining of fully sintered blocks of zirconia (Digident CAD/CAM system). MATERIAL AND METHODS: 20 crowns were made per each system and the marginal fit was evaluated through a light microscope with image processing (Accura 2000) at 50 points that were randomly selected. Each crown was measured twice: the first measurement was done after obtaining a 0.5 mm coping and the second measurement was done after porcelain veneering. The means and standard deviations were calculated and statistical inferences among the 2 groups were made using independent t-test and within the same group through paired t-test. RESULTS: The means and standard deviations of the marginal fit were 61.52 +/- 2.88 micrometer for the Digident CAD/CAM zirconia ceramic crowns before porcelain veneering and 83.15 +/- 3.51 micrometer after porcelain veneering. Lava CAD/CAM zirconia ceramic crowns showed means and standard deviations of 62.22 +/- 1.78 micrometer before porcelain veneering and 82.03 +/- 1.85 micrometer after porcelain veneering. Both groups showed significant differences when analyzing the marginal gaps before and after porcelain veneering within each group. However, no significant differences were found when comparing the marginal gaps of each group before porcelain veneering and after porcelain veneering as well. CONCLUSION: The 2 all-ceramic crown systems showed marginal gaps that were within a reported clinically acceptable range of marginal discrepancy.
Ceramics ; Crowns ; Dental Porcelain ; Light ; Zirconium

No abstract available.