The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of accessibility to dental cervices of maxillary molars upon plaque control level of these areas. Fifthy-seven dental students with healthy gingiae participated in this study. Maxillary dental casts were fabricated for each participants. Using the casts, cervical accessibility was measured at the mid-palatal point of maxillary first and second molars. Cervical accessibility was defined as the perpendicular distance from the entrance of gingival sulcus to the imaginary line between the most protruded points of palatal gingiva and tooth surface, and classified into degree I(< or =0.5mm), II(>0.5mm, < or =1.0mm), III(>1.0mm, < or =1.5mm), and IV(>1.5mm). Plaque score was recorded as the distance from crest of gingival margin to the most coronal extent of plaque. Measurements of plaque score were repeated 3 times at 1-week intervals. After the baseline measurements, the participants began to use unitufted brushes on randomly assigned right or left side. Two weeks later, a session of plaque score records identical to the baseline measurements was started. The maxillary second molars showed higher cervical accessibility than the first molars(p<0.01), but the plaque scores of maxillary second molars were also higher than those of first molars(p<0.01). For the maxillary first molars, correlation between accessibility and plaque score was statistically significant, but such correlation was not found for the second molars. Use of unitufted brushes decreased the plaque score(p<0.01). Correlation between accessibility and the degree of plaque score improvement was not found. These findings suggest that cervical accessibility may influence the amount of plaque, and use of adjunctive oral hygiene devices may be helpful in maintaining optimal oral hygiene level at the areas of low cervical accessibility.
Gingiva ; Humans ; Molar* ; Oral Hygiene ; Students, Dental ; Tooth

the ineidence of abdominal subcutaneous endometriosis is quite rare we have experienced one case of subcutaneous endometriosis. The typical clinical bistory and local findings of endometriasis enabk us to make the conect diagnosis. the treatment of choice is complete surgical excision of endometrial tissue and post operative medical therapy. This case was reported with a brief review of the comcemed literatures.
Diagnosis ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Subcutaneous Tissue*

No abstract available.
Pregnancy*

PURPOSE: We determined the clinical significance of telomerase activity and telomere length in breast cancer patients and also developed the measuring system of telomerase activity change with RNAse A pre-treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We measured the telomerase activity in 71 breast cancer tissues and paired normal tissues with TRAP (Telomeric Repeat Amplification Protocol) assay. Telomerase activity was calculated by computer-assisted densitometry compared to telomerase activity of the 293 control cell line. To develop the measuring system of telomerase activity modulation, we measured the telomerase activity after the treatment with RNAse A, 150microgram/ml, which inhibited 70% of telomerase activity compared to control in the 293 control cell line. In 59 paired tissues with telomerase activity, terminal restriction fragment (TRFs) length were measured using Southern blotting. RESULTS: Sixty-three out of 71 cancer tissues showed telomerase activity (88.7%), while no telomerase activity was detected in their paired normal tissues. Telomerase activity was correlated to the node metastasis (p=0.02) and stage (p=0.005), but not to the tumor size or the hormonal receptor status. TRFs were neither specific to tumor tissues nor related to any of the clinical parameters. However, changes of TRFs of the tumor tissues from their paired normal tissues were correlated to the telomerase activities. Also the patients with different TRFs between cancer and normal tissues were in more advanced stage. After pre-treatment with the 150microgram/ml of RNAse A, telomerase activity in the tumor tissues showed variable inhibition. Relative inhibition, the ratio of inhibited telomerase activity in each tumor tissue compared to the inhibition of 293 control cell line, was proportional to the telomerase activity. CONCLUSION: In breast cancer, telomerase activity was specific to the tumor tissues and correlated to tumor progression. A combination of telomerase activity and TRFs changes can be used as a guidline in detecting a better candidate for telomerase inhibition. Semi-quantitative assay with RI system can be used in evaluating the changes of telomerase activity after treatment with a new telomerase inhibitor with TRAP assay.
Biological Therapy* ; Blotting, Southern ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Cell Line ; Densitometry ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ribonuclease, Pancreatic ; Telomerase* ; Telomere

No abstract available.
Cisplatin*

Chromatin structure and dynamics that are influenced by epigenetic marks, such as histone modification and DNA methylation, play a crucial role in modulating gene transcription. To understand the relationship between histone modifications and regulatory elements in breast cancer cells, we compared our chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) histone modification patterns for histone H3K4me1, H3K4me3, H3K9/16ac, and H3K27me3 in MCF-7 cells with publicly available formaldehyde-assisted isolation of regulatory elements (FAIRE)-chip signals in human chromosomes 8, 11, and 12, identified by a method called FAIRE. Active regulatory elements defined by FAIRE were highly associated with active histone modifications, like H3K4me3 and H3K9/16ac, especially near transcription start sites. The H3K9/16ac-enriched genes that overlapped with FAIRE signals (FAIRE-H3K9/14ac) were moderately correlated with gene expression levels. We also identified functional sequence motifs at H3K4me1-enriched FAIRE sites upstream of putative promoters, suggesting that regulatory elements could be associated with H3K4me1 to be regarded as distal regulatory elements. Our results might provide an insight into epigenetic regulatory mechanisms explaining the association of histone modifications with open chromatin structure in breast cancer cells.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Chromatin ; Chromatin Immunoprecipitation ; Chromosomes, Human ; DNA Methylation ; Epigenomics ; Gene Expression ; Histones ; Humans ; MCF-7 Cells ; Transcription Initiation Site

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate medium- and long-term developmental directions of mental hospitals. METHODS: The preliminary investigation is composed of unstructured interviews with 10 psychiatrists, literature and case investigations, and development of models for medium- and long-term developmental model. The qualitative investigation consisted of constructed interviews with seven professionals. The quantitative investigation was conducted using questionnaires, which were sent to members of the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association, etc. Data were analyzed using frequency analysis. RESULTS: Through the preliminary investigation we were able to make three models : community model emphasizing linkage between mental hospitals and community, specialization model stressing specializations of mental hospitals, and extension model highlighting extensions of the roles of the mental hospital. In the qualitative investigation, two of the seven professionals gave a special preference for the community model, one for the specialization model, and two for the extension model. In the quantitative investigation, the community model and the specialization model were the most favorite models, and the extension model was the least favorite model. CONCLUSION: Three developmental models could be used in planning of the medium- and long-term developmental directions of mental hospitals, although each model needs to be embodied in order to work in practice.
Hospitals, Psychiatric* ; Psychiatry ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to reevaluate the prognostic factors by investigating the clinical and biological parameters concerned malignant gestational trophoblastic tumor in patients with hydatidiform mole. METHODS: From March 1995 to February 2000, 41 patients admitted to department of the Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yonsei University College of Medicine who were diagnosed with pathologically-proven gestational trophoblastic disease were selected. Parameters such as age, gravida, parity, presence of theca lutein cyst, ratio of uterine size to gestational age, hCG level, DNA ploidy, S-phase fraction were compared between malignant gestational trophoblastic tumor group and spontaneous remission group. RESULTS: Considering the clinical prognostic factors, the patients were divided into two age groups; the first group consisted of those older than 40 years of age and the second control group consisted of those under 40. The number of patients older than 40 in the spontaneous remission group and malignant gestational trophoblastic tumor group were 4(15.4%) and 7(46.7%), respectively, showing a significantly higher number in the group over 40years. Other parameters such as gravida, parity, presence of theca lutein cyst, ratio of uterine size to gestational age, hCG level, DNA ploidy, S-phase fraction showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The progression rate from hydatidiform mole to malignant gestational trophoblastic tumor was significantly higher in patients over 40 years of age. Therefore, more aggressive therapeutic approach should be considered in such patients.
DNA ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Gestational Trophoblastic Disease ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Hydatidiform Mole* ; Lutein ; Obstetrics ; Parity ; Ploidies ; Pregnancy ; Remission, Spontaneous ; Trophoblastic Neoplasms* ; Trophoblasts*

No abstract available.
Dexamethasone* ; Humans ; Membranes* ; Rupture*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale (RCB-K). METHODS: Participants (n=598) included patients recruited through an online panel survey. For the semantic adaptation step, the scale was translated into Korean and then back-translated to English by one psychologist, one public health professional, one psychiatrist who could speak both Korean and English, and one professional translator, without communication between those involved. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test whether the factor structure of the RCB-K was consistent with the English version. Convergent validity was assessed by correlating the RCB-K scores with those of other scales (i.e., O'Guinn & Faber's Compulsive Buying Scale, Problem Gambling Inventory). RESULTS: The factor structure of the RCB-K was consistent with the two-factor structure established for the original RCB. Cronbach's α was high (0.906), indicating that the reliabilities of the items in each subscale were satisfactory. The RCB-K score was significantly correlated with those for the O'Guinn & Faber's Compulsive Buying Scale (r=0.7) and the Problem Gambling Inventory (r=0.422). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate that the RCB-K is an effective and valid scale for evaluating the severity of compulsive buying. The findings suggest that the RCB-K is a promising assessment tool for use in the treatment and study of online compulsive buying behavior.
Gambling ; Humans ; Psychiatry ; Psychology ; Psychometrics ; Public Health ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Semantics ; Weights and Measures