No abstract available.
Enterocolitis, Neutropenic* ; Leukemia*

OBJECTIVE: Adult onset Still s disease is an acute systemic inflammatory disorder. There are no pathognomonic symptoms or specific laboratory abnormalities. In recent reports, serum ferritin concentration is increased in active disease phase and decreased after defervescence. Our purpose was to determine the clinical significance of serum ferritin as an indicator for disease activity. METHODS: Seven patients who were diagnosed as adult onset Still s disease at Samsung Medical Center between October 1994 and March 1997, were reviewed. In these patients we checked leukocyte count, ESR, CRP and serum ferritin concentrations at the time of diagnosis and during follow-up periods and recorded febrile events during follow-up periods. RESULTS: At the time of diagnosis and during febrile periods, the concentrations of ferritin were extremely high(927ng/ml to 96,650ng/ml normal 10-290.8 ng/ml). The values were unrelated to other manifestations of the disease or laboratory findings. The ferritin concentrations decreased rapidly after adequate treatment. Eleven febrile reattacks happened in 7 patients. Serum ferritin concentrations were increased in 8 febrile attacks, while leukocyte count, ESR, and CRP were increased in 5, 5, 6 febrile attacks respectively, There were 10 events of increased serum ferritin concentrations in 7 patients during follow-up periods and 8 events were related with fever. The increases of other laboratory tests were similar. CONCLUSIONS: In all patients, serum ferritin concentrations were increased at the time of diagnosis and closely related to fever. During follow-up periods, serum ferritin concentrations are helpful in monitoring disease activity and guiding decisions about treatment.
Adult* ; Diagnosis ; Ferritins* ; Fever ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leukocyte Count ; Still's Disease, Adult-Onset*

A fine needle aspiration biopsy specimen of a retroperitoneal mass in a 26-year-old man who had had an orchiectomy for seminoma was submitted for cytologic evaluation. Cytologic features of the specimen included uniform neoplastic cells found singly or in groups of several cells intermingled with lymphocytes in a characteristic foamy, lacelike background. These cells varied from 10 to 20 m in diameter. The nuclei were round to ovoid with fine or reticular chromatin and one or more prominent nucleoli. The poorly defined cytoplasm stained pale-blue or blue with cytoplasmic vacuoles. The cytologic appearance was consistent with seminoma. Documented reports of the cytological appearance of seminoma are rare. The diagnosis of primary gonadal seminoma by fine needle aspiration biopsy is probably not indicated since the treatment of a primary gonadal tumor, regardless of its histogenesis, requires surgical resection. However, fine needle aspiration biopsy is extremely valuable in the diagnosis of extragonadal as well as metastic and recurrent seminoma.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Chromatin ; Cyclosporine* ; Cytoplasm ; Diagnosis ; Endothelin-1* ; Gonads ; Humans ; Liver ; Lymphocytes ; Nephrosis, Lipoid* ; Orchiectomy ; Plasma* ; Seminoma ; Vacuoles

Liver function tests before treatment showed abnormalities of liver function tests during treatment, while 15(68. 2%) of 22 patients who had abnormal liver function tests before treatment showed abnormalities during treatment. In 12 of the 25 patients who showed abnormalities of liver function tests during treatment with allopurinol, allopurinol was stopped and all patients showed improvement of liver function tests. In remaining 13 patients, 10 patients were improved and other 2 patients showed only mild abnormalities of liver function tests despite of continuing allopurinol and 1 patient was lost during follow-up. CONCLUSION: Abnormalities of liver function tests were common during treatment with allopurinol. Most patiensts who had mild abnormalities of liver functions tests during treatment with allopurinol were improved regardless of continuing allopurinol.
Allopurinol* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gout* ; Humans ; Liver Function Tests* ; Liver*

PURPOSE: In the management of acute poisoning, the anion gap and the osmol gap are easily derived from serum laboratory findings and arterial blood gas analysis. The anion gap is known to be increased by the effects of the toxic material itself and secondary complications or by an exacerbation of an underlying illness. The osmol gap can be increased by the presence of osmotically active materials in the body, such as alcohol, glycols and mannitol. This study was proposed to investigate the significance of an increased anion gap in acutely poisoned patients and the effect of alcohol ingestion in increasing the osmol gap, which might help to understand the significance of an increased osmol gap in acutely poisoned patients. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of poisoned patients who had visited the emergency departments of the Anam and the Ansan hospitals of Korea University was used in this study. Serum laboratory findings and arterial blood gas analysis were used to measure the anion gap and the osmol gap. Patients were categorized into a non anion-gap group versus a high anion-gap group and a normal osmolgap group versus a high osmol-gap group. Frequency of toxidrome, blood pH and drinking history were included to evaluate the relations between the groups. RESULTS: Of 204 patients, 195 patients who completed the tests were included in the study. In the 99 patients with a high anion-gap, 38 (38.38%) patients showed development of toxidrome. In the 96 patients with a non anion-gap, only 15 (15.62%) patients showed toxidrome. Forty-six (80.7%) of the 57 patients with a high osmol-gap and 20 (22.2%) of the 90 patients with a normal osmol-gap had a history of drinking. CONCLUSION: In poisoned patients, the group with a higher anion gap showed a higher frequency of toxidrome. This suggests that in the management of a poisoning victim with an uncertain history, should a high anion gap be found, an intense observation and evaluation is necessary to identify the cause. An increase in the osmol gap in poisoned patients is generally considered to be from alcohol ingestion. Thus, for a patient with an increased osmol gap, measurement of the serum ethanol level should be done to exclude the effect of alcohol.
Acid-Base Equilibrium* ; Blood Gas Analysis ; Drinking ; Eating ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Ethanol ; Glycols ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Korea ; Mannitol ; Poisoning* ; Retrospective Studies

Occlusive disease of the iliac segment, proximal to the transplant artery (prox-TRAS), in kidney transplant recipients is a rare complication. Prox-TRAS, located in the common iliac artery, is extremely rare in these patients. Herein, we present an interesting case of a common iliac artery stenosis that manifested as decreased allograft function and uncontrolled blood pressure without other typical clinical symptoms. The patient was successfully treated with percutaneous luminal angioplasty and stent insertion.
Allografts* ; Angioplasty ; Arteries ; Blood Pressure ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Iliac Artery* ; Kidney ; Kidney Transplantation ; Phenobarbital ; Stents ; Transplant Recipients

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess whether alcohol intake is associated with the risk of thyroid cancer by a meta-analysis of observational studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched PubMed and EMBASE in June of 2015 to locate eligible studies. We included observational studies such as cross-sectional studies, case-control studies, and cohort studies reporting odd ratios (ORs) or relative risk (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: We included 33 observational studies with two cross-sectional studies, 20 case-controls studies, and 11 cohort studies, which involved a total of 7,725 thyroid cancer patients and 3,113,679 participants without thyroid cancer in the final analysis. In the fixed-effect model meta-analysis of all 33 studies, we found that alcohol intake was consistently associated with a decreased risk of thyroid cancer (OR or RR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.83; I2=38.6%). In the subgroup meta-analysis by type of study, alcohol intake also decreased the risk of thyroid cancer in both case-control studies (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.65 to 0.92; I2=29.5%; n=20) and cohort studies (RR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.82; I2=0%; n=11). Moreover, subgroup meta-analyses by type of thyroid cancer, gender, amount of alcohol consumed, and methodological quality of study showed that alcohol intake was significantly associated with a decreased risk of thyroid cancer. CONCLUSION: The current meta-analysis of observational studies found that, unlike most of other types of cancer, alcohol intake decreased the risk of thyroid cancer.
Alcohol Drinking ; Case-Control Studies ; Cohort Studies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Humans ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms*

Patients with fixed orthodontic appliances frequently have increased levels of plaque accumulation leading to the possibility of gingivitis or enamel decalcification. Although many methods may be helpful in reducing dental plaque formation, the optimal mechanical removal of plaque is the most important factor during orthodontic treatment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an electric toothbrush (with a specially designed orthodontic brush head) compared to a manual toothbrush in controlling plaque and gingivitis for patients with fixed orthodontic appliances. Oral hygiene status was measured in thirty-four patients using a plaque index, a gingival index and a bleeding index, before and four weeks after the attachment of fixed orthodontic appliances. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: electric and manual toothbrush groups. Oral hygiene instruction was given according to the type of toothbrush used. The Braun Oral-B D9511 with Braun Oral-B Ortho OD 15-1 brush head was used as the electric toothbrush while the Butler G.U.M. 124 was given as the manual toothbrush. After four and eight weeks, oral hygiene status was measured again. Through a comparison between the electric and the manual toothbrush groups, the following results were obtained. 1. All oral hygiene indices showed an increasing tendency after four weeks of fixed orthodontic appliance. 2. All indices presented a decreasing tendency four and eight weeks after oral hygiene instruction. 3. In case of the gingival index and bleeding index, the decreasing tendency did not show a statistically significant difference between the electric and the manual toothbrush groups. 4. The decreasing tendency of plaque index presented a statistically significant difference between the two groups, showing that the electric toothbrush was more effective in terms of oral hygiene. These findings suggest that an electric toothbrush is useful to orthodontic patients with fixed appliances.
Dental Enamel ; Dental Plaque ; Gingivitis ; Head ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Oral Hygiene Index ; Oral Hygiene* ; Orthodontic Appliances ; Periodontal Index

PURPOSE: This study examined the associations of Korean fermented cabbage kimchi consumption with the incidence risk of metabolic syndrome and its components in Korean adults.METHODS: We used the community-based cohort data from the 2001 ~ 2012 Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES). General characteristics, food group frequencies and nutrient intakes at baseline from 3,560 healthy individuals aged 40 ~ 69 years and the incidence of metabolic syndrome and its component from 2,259 participants, after excluding the data with incomplete anthropometric and blood test, during 10-year follow-up were analyzed. The participants were classified into three groups according to their daily consumption frequency of Korean fermented cabbage kimchi: ‘less than once (< 1/day)’, ‘once or twice (1 ~ 2/day)’, and ‘three times (3/day)’.RESULTS: After controlling for potential confounders such as age, education, income, residence area, alcohol drinking and energy intake, the consumption frequencies of rice and legumes were significantly higher, and the consumption frequency of meat was significantly lower in the 3/day group compared to that of the other two groups in men and women. The average intakes of energy and most nutrients, except fat and cholesterol, were higher in the 3/day group compared to those of the other two groups in men and women. Frequent consumption of kimchi was associated with a lower incidence of metabolic syndrome in all the models (unadjusted, age-adjusted, and multivariable-adjusted models) in women. When examining the multivariable-adjusted model, the hazard ratio for metabolic syndrome was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.47 ~ 0.86) for the 3/day group compared to that of the < 1/day group in women. However, there was no significant association between kimchi consumption and the incidence of metabolic syndrome in men.CONCLUSION: Our results show that consumption of kimchi at every meal was significantly associated with a lower incidence of metabolic syndrome in women.
Adult ; Alcohol Drinking ; Brassica ; Cholesterol ; Cohort Studies ; Education ; Energy Intake ; Epidemiology ; Fabaceae ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Genome ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Incidence ; Longitudinal Studies ; Male ; Meals ; Meat

PURPOSE: To investigate the correlations between parameters of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and prognostic factors in rectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 29 patients with rectal cancer who underwent gadolinium contrast-enhanced, T1-weighted DCE-MRI with a three Tesla scanner prior to surgery. Signal intensity on DCE-MRI was independently measured by two observers to examine reproducibility. A time-signal intensity curve was generated, from which four semiquantitative parameters were calculated: steepest slope (SLP), time to peak (Tp), relative enhancement during a rapid rise (Erise), and maximal enhancement (Emax). Morphologic prognostic factors including T stage, N stage, and histologic grade were identified. Tumor angiogenesis was evaluated in terms of microvessel count (MVC) and microvessel area (MVA) by morphometric study. As molecular factors, the mutation status of the K-ras oncogene and microsatellite instability were assessed. DCE-MRI parameters were correlated with each prognostic factor using bivariate correlation analysis. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Erise was significantly correlated with N stage (r=-0.387 and -0.393, respectively, for two independent data), and Tp was significantly correlated with histologic grade (r=0.466 and 0.489, respectively). MVA was significantly correlated with SLP (r=-0.532 and -0.535, respectively) and Erise (r=-0.511 and -0.446, respectively). MVC was significantly correlated with Emax (r=-0.435 and -0.386, respectively). No significant correlations were found between DCE-MRI parameters and T stage, K-ras mutation, or microsatellite instability. CONCLUSION: DCE-MRI may provide useful prognostic information in terms of histologic differentiation and angiogenesis in rectal cancer.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cell Differentiation ; Contrast Media/*pharmacology ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Female ; Gadolinium/pharmacology ; Genes, ras ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/*methods ; Male ; Microcirculation ; Microsatellite Instability ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; Prognosis ; Rectal Neoplasms/*diagnosis/genetics/*pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Time Factors