Ketotifen, a benzocycloheptathiophene, has an orally effective antiallergic as well as antihistaminic properties. In pervious studies, Ketotifen has shown encouraging results on patient with allergic rhinitis, either perennial or seasonal. 39 patients with allergic rhinitis had been treated with Ketotifen 1 mg twice daily for 8 weeks. And we obtained following results. 1) The efficacy rate in sneezing attack was 73.5%, in nasal discharge 71%, in nasal obstruction 58%. 2) Some improvements in at least one of three-major symptoms were noted within 1 week in 30.7%, within 2 weeks in 55.8%, within 3 weeks in 66.7%, within 8 weeks in 87.2%. 3) Physical findings such as colour, swelling of turbinate, character of rhinorrhea were not improved significantly. 4) Side effect was observed only in one patient with abdominal pain and diarrhea, which was subsided after interruption of administration. These results suggested that Ketotifen was effective in treatment of allergic rhinitis.
Abdominal Pain ; Diarrhea ; Humans ; Ketotifen* ; Nasal Obstruction ; Rhinitis, Allergic* ; Seasons ; Sneezing ; Turbinates

Though the occurrence of multiple primary malignant tumor is a rare finding but the reported cases of it has increased in recent years. We collected multiple primary cancer of different organ, tissue and the multicentric origin of bilaterally paired organs. This paper reports 6 cases of multiple primary malignant tumors which were experienced at Yeungnam university hospital in Taegu during the past 2 years with review of journals. The results were as follows. 1. The incidence of multiple primary cancer was 0.31% for 2 years (1987-1988). 2. The ratio between male and female was 1:1 and mean age of incidence was 54.1 years. 3. The ratio between synchronous and metachronous (interval more than 6 months) was 1:1. 4. The time interval between first and second cancer was average 2.7 years in metachronous cases. 5. The most frequent involved organ was stomach, breast and colon in order of frequency. 6. The incidence of familial cancer associations was found in one out of 6 cases. 7. The test of DNCB, multitest CMI and ratio of T4 to T8 were performed in 4 cases but there was no definitive evidence of abnormality. We concluded that every effort should be made to discover the presence of synchronous malignancies in the patients who are being treated for a known tumor, and also special care should be given to detect new metachronous lesions is required.
Breast ; Colon ; Daegu ; Dinitrochlorobenzene ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Neoplasms, Second Primary ; Stomach

No abstract available.
Free Tissue Flaps*

OBJECTIVES: The K-ARS(Korean ADHD Rating Scale) is one of the most important assessment tool of attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) in Korea. In this study, we presented detailed normative data on the K-ARS for school-aged children in Seoul metropolitan area to put it to practical use. METHODS: The subjects were 2,397 students(1,223 boys and 1,174 girls, aged 6-12) from 4 elementary schools in Seoul, and one caretaker of each child completed the K-ARS for parents. Children who showed high scores of the KARS for parents were screened, and 2 child psychiatrists interviewed them to make a clinical diagnosis. We compared the mean scores of the K-ARS for parents between ADHD and normal group, and examined the percentage of correct classification. RESULTS: There were some differences in score of the K-ARS for parents according to sex and age, so we presented continuous normative data with T score and subdivided cut-off points for ADHD screening. Interviews with child psychiatrists using DSM-IV criteria were performed to test diagnostic validity, and the difference in every the K-ARS for parents index between ADHD and normal group was significant(p<.001). Using 3 different cut-off points(80th, 90th, 93rd percentage), the accuracies of ADHD correct classification were 67.9, 72.2, 71.1% and all 3 canonical discriminants were significant(p<.05) between ADHD and normal group. CONCLUSION: The normative data and cut-off points on the K-ARS for parents are useful in screening ADHD children in Seoul metropolitan area.
Child ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Parents* ; Psychiatry ; Seoul

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the genotype frequencies of interleukin 10 (IL-10) gene polymorphisms and to investigate their association with the risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in preterm Korean infants. METHODS: Two hundred fourteen preterm infants born at Ewha Womans University Mok Dong Hospital between November 2003 and July 2008 were studied. The cord blood of preterm neonates and the corresponding maternal blood were analyzed by PCR for IL-10 gene (IL-10 -1082A/G, -819T/C, and -592A/C) polymorphisms. The clinical data of patients were collected retrospectively by chart review. RESULTS: The genotype frequencies of IL-10 genes in Korean mothers with preterm infants differ from other reports. The prevalence of two promoter SNPs of the IL-10 cytokine gene was similar but none had the IL-10-1082GG homozygote. Multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated the risk of RDS to be significantly lower in the infants of the mothers with an IL-10-592AC/CC genotype than in those with an AA genotype (P= 0.033). The risk of RDS was significantly lower in the mother with an IL-10-819TC/CC genotype than in those with a TT genotype (P=0.030). However, IL-10 polymorphisms in the cord blood were not significantly different in preterm infants with RDS compared with the preterm infants without RDS. When we compared the incidence of RDS and each IL-10 A-1082G/T-819C/A-592C haplotype, the ACC haplotype had a protective effect on RDS (P=0.007). CONCLUSION: We conclude that the maternal IL-10-592A/C and IL-10-819T/C polymorphisms may have a role in the development of the RDS in preterm infants.
Female ; Fetal Blood ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; Homozygote ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Interleukin-10 ; Logistic Models ; Mothers ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies

Vacuum disc phenomenon is a collection of gas in the intervertebral disc space but rarely causes nerve compression. However, some rare type of vacuum phenomenon in the spinal canal may bring about posterior gas displacement within the epidural space. The authors describe two patients with symptomatic epidural gas-containing cyst that seem to be originating from vacuum phenomenon in the intervertebral disc, causing lumbosacral radiculopathy. Radiographic studies demonstrated intervertebral vacuum phenomenon and accumulation of gas in the lumbar epidural space compressing the dural sac and the nerve root. The nerve root in both patients was compressed by gas containing cyst that was surrounded by thin walled capsule separable from the gaseous degenerated disc space. The speculative mechanism of the nerve root compression is discussed. The possibility of gas containing cyst should be considered in case of the nerve root compression in which epidural gas is present.
Displacement (Psychology) ; Epidural Space ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; Radiculopathy ; Spinal Canal ; Vacuum

No abstract available.
Cerebellopontine Angle*

PURPOSE: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder with a association of genetic, environmental, and immunologic factors in the development of AD. And AD can be classified into IgE mediated and non-IgE mediated. We investigated a difference of clinical characteristics and immune response between the two groups. METHODS: From January 2008 to December 2011, we enrolled 125 children who visited Dong-A University Medical Center and Busan Medical Center, and were diagnosed as AD with the Haniffin and Rajka's criteria. We checked the history of combined asthma and allergic rhinitis and allergic disease of family in patients. We measured serum total IgE, specific IgE by ImmunoCAP or skin prick test. We measured serum interleukin (IL) 4 (IL-4), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), IL-10, and IL-17, which are associated with chronic inflammatory disorder by flow cytometry method (Luminex). RESULTS: Eighty (64%) were included in the IgE mediated group, while forty-five (36%) were included in the non-IgE mediated group. The frequency of combined allergic disorder and serum total eosinophil count were relatively higher in IgE mediated group (P=0.023, P=0.032). The incidence of a family history in allergic disease and the mean of SCORing Atopic Dermatitis index had no difference between the two groups. Serum IL-4, IFN-gamma, IL-10, IL-17 were higher in the IgE mediated group, but there were no statistically significant differences between two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: IgE mediated AD showed higher total eosinophil count and higher incidence of bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis than non IgE mediated AD.
Academic Medical Centers ; Asthma ; Busan ; Child* ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Eosinophils ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E* ; Immunologic Factors ; Incidence ; Interferon-gamma ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-17 ; Interleukin-4 ; Interleukins ; Methods ; Rhinitis ; Skin

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the reliability of a questionnaire from an epidemiological study for nuclear power plants workers in Korea. METHODS: Among a total of 8,832 nuclear power plants workers who participated in the questionnaire survey, we selected 646 workers who repeatedly submitted the self-reported questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire for the categorical items was measured using kappa statistics and percentages of exact agreement, false disagreement and positive disagreement. Significance was evaluated for the continuous items by paired t-tests and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs). RESULTS: The questionnaire was observed to be highly reliable for the smoking history (kappa=0.85), which is known as an important confounding factor in assessing the cancer risk among radiation workers. Education level as a surrogate for the socio-economic status also appeared to be highly reliable with a kappa=0.89 and 95.09% of exact agreement. The history of alcohol drinking, medical exams and diseases showed more than moderately good agreement between the first and second responses (kappa>0.4). The self-reported values for physical measurements, the smoking period and smoking amount, and the period of alcohol drinking were highly correlated between the two responses (ICC>0.7). CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire from an epidemiological study for nuclear power plants workers in Korea was found to be reliable for most items. To estimate the cancer or noncancer risk for nuclear power plants workers, we need to use the national database for incidence of diseases or death from diseases and the exposure history, and the medical records as well as the data collected from this study.
Alcohol Drinking ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Incidence ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Nuclear Power Plants ; Questionnaires ; Smoke ; Smoking

PURPOSE: Midurethral sling procedure has become one of the most commonly performed procedures for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence(SUI). Although complication rate is very low, some patients are required further treatment to correct unwanted problems after surgery as it continues to be more widely used. We evaluated the mesh-related complications in those who required further procedures after midurethral sling procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2000 to December 2005, female patients who underwent additional surgery because of complications after midurethral sling procedures for stress urinary incontinence were evaluated in this study. RESULTS: In 675 patients, 298 received a tension-free vaginal tape(TVT) and 377 received a Monarc(transobturator route, TOT) as a sling material at 3 different hospitals. 34(5.0%) out of 675 patients required additional surgery to correct complications including obstructive voiding symptoms, mesh extrusion, failed or recurred SUI, wound pain and mesh in the bladder. Mean age of 34 patients was 54.7, and TVT was used in 21(7.0%) out of 298 patients, Monarc was used in 12(3.4%) out of 377 as midurethral sling materials. In 19 patients who showed obstructive voiding symptoms, all were cured by mesh cutting and in 8 patients who complained of immediate recurrence of SUI, 7 showed complete dryness by shortening the loosen mesh. Mesh extrusion with vaginal erosion were observed in 3 and all were cured by segmental resection of mesh without recurrence of SUI. 2 patients who showed recurrence of SUI after 2 years of TVT received Monarc procedure. Mesh in the bladder which was found after 6 months of TVT was managed by endoscopic resection of mesh with Monarc procedure in 1, and suprapubic pain after TVT was improved by resection of TVT segment through suprapubic incision in 1. All reoperation procedures were performed by local anesthesia except 1(mesh in the bladder). CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that midurethral sling is an excellent surgical procedure with low complication rate, high success rate in reoperation. However, care must be taken to reduce reoperation rate in applying tension of mesh on urethra because most patients(27 out of 34) who required reoperation have complained of obstructive voiding symptoms(19) and persistent incontinence(8).
Anesthesia, Local ; Female* ; Humans ; Recurrence ; Reoperation* ; Suburethral Slings* ; Urethra ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Incontinence* ; Wounds and Injuries