The pinching motion is thought to be one of fundamental hand functions, the power of which has been quantified by measuring it isometrically with variously devised pinch-meters. The present authors describe the investigations on the pinching power of 350 healthy persons, 200 male and 150 female Koreans, by the use of Preston Pinch Gauge. Six kinds of pinch were chosen: (1) thumb index finger tip pinch (1-2TP), (2) thumb-middle finger tip pinch (1-3TP), (3) thumb-index finger pulp pinch (1-2PP), (4) thumb-middle finger pulp pinch (1-3PP), (5) thumb-index-middle finger pulp pinch (3PP), (6) key pinch (KP), which were classified again into 19 kinds according to the shape of thumb, index, middle, or other fingers during each pinch. We describe those as principal type, hyperextension-flexion type, hyperextension type and other type into four. It should be justified to calculate the mean normal value of principal type pinching power in Korean. Principal type of pinch involves 1-2TP, 1-3TP, 1-2PP, 1-3PP, 3PP and KP, as to Hyperextension type of 1-2PP, 1-3PP, 3PP and KP. Other type of pinch involving 1-2TP, 1-3TP, 1-2PP, 1-3PP, 3PP and KP is different from Principal type simply because of the shape of nonjoining fingers during pinch. Generally, the pinching power of Principal type was clearly highest among the four types except for pulp pinches.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Female ; Fingers ; Hand ; Humans ; Male ; Reference Values ; Thumb

Pilomattiaoma, aften called calcifying epithelioma of Malherbe, is a benign tumor originating from the outer root sheath cell of the hair follicle and extending into the hair matrix, Pilomatricoma usually occurs as a single, asymptomatic dermal or subcutaneous nodule. Multiple lesions are quite unueuel, comprising only 2-3.5% of cases. We report two patients with multiple pilomatricoma.
Hair ; Hair Follicle ; Humans ; Pilomatrixoma*

Intramuscular lipomas are benign soft-tissue mesenchymal tumors which rarely occur in the region of the head. These tumors present as slow-growing, generally painless masses and are easily misdiagnosed initially as epidermal inclusion cysts. We describe a 44-year-old woman who presented with an intramuscular lipoma of the frontalis muscle.
Adult ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Lipoma*

BACKGROUND:Acute vestibular neuronitis is the disease of which the etiology and pathophysiology are largely unknown . But the viral infection and ischemia of the labyrinth and the vestibular nerve are considered as general etiology. This study was performed to support the viral infection rather than the ischemic theory. MATERIALS & METHODS:We studied seventy years old female patient who showed painful vesicles on left auricle and vertigo with spontaneous nystagmus to the right side. We performed physical examination, serologic test, ENG test, pure tone audiogram, brain magnetic resonance imaging and polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS:We found small vesicles and vascular injection in left EAC, herpes zoster IgG positive, spontaneous right beating in electronystagmograpy, 54% left canal paresis in Caloric test , decreasing left side Tc in velocity step rotatory test, decresed gain, deviation to left in symmetry and phase lead in sinusoidal harmonic acceleration test, normal range hearing in pure tone audiogram, microangiopathy on cortex in brain MRI and negative PCR. CONCLUSION:This case supports viral infection etiology rather than ischemia in vestibular neuritis. But more studies to find the etiology of vestibular neuronitis are required.
Acceleration ; Brain ; Caloric Tests ; Ear, Inner ; Female ; Hearing ; Herpes Zoster ; Herpes Zoster Oticus ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Ischemia ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Paresis ; Physical Examination ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reference Values ; Serologic Tests ; Vertigo ; Vestibular Nerve ; Vestibular Neuronitis

Granuloma pyogenicum is an acutely and chronically inflamed granulation tissue protruded on conjunctiva, cornea, limbus and lid, which results from surgical trauma, foreign body, microbial infection or parasite as well as spontaneous occurrence. It rapidly enlarges forming painless polypoid mass, and consists of many inflammatory cells and characteristically well-developed capillaries. It can be frequently misinterpreted as squamous cell carcinoma or other tumor. Treatment is radical excision and electric fulguration followed by suture. The authors experenced a case of granuloma pyogenicum occurred after removal of pterygium.
Capillaries ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Conjunctiva* ; Cornea ; Foreign Bodies ; Granulation Tissue ; Granuloma* ; Granuloma, Pyogenic* ; Parasites ; Pterygium* ; Sutures

Due to an increasing interest in esthetics and concerns about toxic and allergic reactions to certain alloys, patients and dentists have been looking for metal-free tooth-colored restorations. Recent improvement in technology of new all-ceramic materials and composite materials has broadened the options for esthetic single crown restorations. The aim of this investigation was to study the fracture strength of the metal-free posterior single crowns fabricated using two recently introduced systems, Empress 2 ceramic and Targis-Vectris. Forty premolar-shaped stainless steel dies with the 1mm-wide circumferential shoulder were prepared. Ten cylindrical crowns having a diameter of 8.0mm and total height of 7.5mm were fabricated for each crown system respectively (PFM, Empress staining technique, Empress 2 layering technique, and Targis-Vectris). The crowns were filled with cement and placed on the stainless steel dies with firm finger pressure. The crowns were then stored in distilled water at room temperature for 24 hours before testing. The crowns were tested for fracture strength in an Instron universal testing machine (Instron 6022). With a crosshead speed of 1mm/min the center of the occlusal surface of the crown was loaded using a 4mm-diameter stainless steel ball until fracture occurred. The fracture surfaces of the crowns were gold coated and examined using scanning electron microscopy (Jeol JSM-840 Joel Ltd., Akishima, Tokyo, Japan). Within the parameters of this study the following conclusions were drawn: 1. The mean fracture strength for PFM crowns was 5829(+/-906)N; for Empress staining technique the fracture strength was 1697(+/-604)N; for Empress 2 Layering technique the fracture strength was 1781N(+/-400)N, and the fracture strength for Targis-Vectris was 3093(+/-475)N. 2. The fracture strength of the PFM crowns was significantly higher than that of the Empress 2 and the Targis-Vectris crowns (P<0.05). 3. The fracture strength of the Targis-Vectris crowns was significantly higher than that of the Empress 2 crowns (P<0.05). 4. No statistical difference was found when Empress staining technique was compared with Empress 2 layering technique. 5. The SEM image of fracture surface of Empress 2 crown showed a very dense microstructure of the lithium disilicate crystals and the SEM image of fracture surface of Targis-Vectris crown showed indentations of Vectris and some fibers torn off from Vectris.
Alloys ; Ceramics* ; Crowns* ; Dentists ; Esthetics ; Fingers ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Lithium ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Shoulder ; Stainless Steel ; Water

PURPOSE: We performed this study to describe the findings of MR Myelography(MRM) of herniated disc disease, spinal stenosis and spinal tumor and to evaluate the usefulness of the MRM in comparison to MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MRI and MRM were performed in 31 patients with herniated disc disease(12 patients), spinal stenosis(11 patients) and spinal tumor(8 patients). MRI and MRM were done with 1.5-T Signa MR, using fat suppressed heavily T2-weighted fast spin echo technique. We retrospectively analyzed MRM images about the thecal sac indentation, compression or displacement of the nerve root, extent and degree of narrowing of spinal canal, relationship between spinal tumor and spinal cord. MRM findings were compared with MRI in all cases. RESULTS: In 18 herniated disc cases of 12 patients, focal filling defect with cutoff or displacement of the nerve root in eight cases of paracentral herniated disc was seen. Cutoff and displacement of the nerve root were more clearly delineated on MRM than rvlRI. In the patients of spinal stenosis(11 cases), hourglass deformity of the thecal sac or complete spinal block of the subarachnoid space was clearly demonstrated. The extent and severity of spinal stenosis were more accurately evaluated on MRM than MRI. MRM finding of intramedullary tumor(3 cases) was enlargement of spinal cord. Five cases of intradural extramedullary tumor showed intradural filling defect, which caused contralateral displacement of the spinal cord with meniscus sign on inferior margin of the mass. CONCLUSION: MRM shows characteristic findings of herniated disc disease, spinal stenosis and spinal tumor. MRM yields excellent definition of the thecal sac, nerve roots and nerve root sleeves in relation to herniated disc and may be more accurate in evaluation of the degree and extent of spinal stenosis than MRI.
Congenital Abnormalities ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Myelography* ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Canal ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Diseases ; Spinal Stenosis ; Subarachnoid Space

OBJECTIVE: A number of studies to improve in vitro culture conditions have been tried over past ten years by using co-culture system with helper somatic cells. However, the mechanism of coculture is poorly understood. This study was designed to understand the mechanism for the mode of actual action of co-culture system of ICR strain's 1-cell embryos with human oviduct epithelial cells by examining the effect of conditioned medium and contactless coculture using a cell culture insert on the embryo development and by measuring the level of superoxide anion from conditioned medium after co-culture. METHODS: ICR strain's zygote embryos were cultured in medium alone (control), coculture, conditioned medium, or contactless coculture system for 6 days. Conditioned media (CM) were prepared as following 5 groups. All CM were collected after culturing oviduct cells for 2 days. CM-1 was stored at -20degrees C until use, and CM-2 was prepared just before use as a culture medium. CM-3 was cocultured with embryos and retrieved just before use. CM-4 and CM-5 were derives from the microfilteration of CM-2 and CM-3, respectively, using Microcon-10 (10 kDa molecular weight cut-off). The percentage of the embryos developed to hatched blastocyst stage and the level of superoxide anion in supernatant from medium alone culture (control), coculture, and contactless coculture were measured. RESULTS: The rates of embryo development to the hatched blastocyst stage were significantly higher in coculture (43%) than in control (0%) (p<0.05). The CM-1 group had no embryo development since 2-cell embryonic stage, whereas the CM-2, CM-3, CM-4 and CM-5 groups had the improved development to 4 or 8 cell embryo stage, but the similar rate of development to hatched blastocyst compared to control. The effect of coculture on embryo develpment was disappeared in the contactless coculture group. The level of superoxide anion was significantly reduced in coculture group compared to control. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that the present coculture system overcomes the 2-cell block in vitro and improves the embryo development. This beneficial effect may be due to the direct cell-cell contact between embryo and helper cells or the removal of deleterious components from medium rather than the embryotrophic factors.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Coculture Techniques* ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Embryonic Development ; Embryonic Structures ; Epithelial Cells ; Female ; Humans ; Molecular Weight ; Oviducts ; Pregnancy ; Superoxides ; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer ; Zygote

Endometrial adenocarcinoma is the third common malignancy of female genital tract and categorized as estrogen-dependent tumor (type I) or not (type II). Type II endometrial adenocarcinoma more frequently occurs in oriental, which may arise from genetic alterations such as K-ras and p53. To identify whether the K-ras and p53 mutational activation are occurred during endometrial carcinogenesis, we examined point mutations of K-ras codon 12, 13, 61 (PCR-RFLP) and p53 exon 5, 6, 7, 8 (PCR-SSCP) in the 19 samples of endometrial adenocarcinoma. The 9 samples of normal endometrium and 24 samples of endometrial hyperplasia were also examined. K-ras codon 12 mutations were found in one of 3 cases of atypical hyperplasia (33.3%) and three of 19 cases of endometrial adenocarcinoma (15.7%). The correlation with K-ras mutation and endometrial hyperplasia/adenocarcinoma was statistically insignificant(p=0.306). p53 mutation was found in only one case of endometrial adenocarcinoma which concomitantly occurred with K-ras mutation. It could not be determined that K-ras mutation was early or late event during endometrial carcinogenesis due to a few cases of atypical hyperplasia and no K-ras mutation in the benign endometrial hyperplasia. The endometrial adenocarcinoma with K-ras mutation was observed in postmenopausal old age groups, and revealed moderate to severe histologic grade, early clinical stage, and negative lymph node metastasis.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Carcinogenesis ; Codon ; Endometrial Hyperplasia* ; Endometrium ; Exons ; Female ; Genes, p53* ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Point Mutation

OBJECTIVES: The critical pathways provide high quality of medical services in a cost-effective manner. To investigate the decrease in length of hospital stay and increase of cost effectiveness by using critical pathways, we compared hospital stay, cost of treatment, and the patient's satisfaction before and after critical pathway use. METHODS: We made a critical pathway team, which consisted of obstetric staff members, a resident, two nurses, a pharmacist, two clerical staff members. We made critical pathways for the medical team and patients. A prospective evaluation of a critical pathway for cesarean section was used as a comparison for control patients. RESULTS: The data for 305 patients with a critical pathway were compared to those of 136 control patients. The mean hospital stay is shorter in critical pathway patients than control patients. The cost of treatment decreased and differences between DRG (Diagnosed Related Groups) and cost of treatment increased in critical pathway patients. CONCLUSIONS: Using critical pathways in cesarean section decreased the duration of hospital stay and increased cost effectivesess. The critical pathways were useful as a means to minimize cost while increasing patient satisfaction.
Cesarean Section* ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Critical Pathways* ; Diagnosis-Related Groups ; Female ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Patient Satisfaction ; Pharmacists ; Pregnancy ; Prospective Studies