BACKGROUND: The incidence of atopic of atopic dermatitis (AD) varies widely by different ages and it has been well-founded that the epidemiology of AD has been studied on admission of the first grade schoolchildren. AD is a common skin disease of childhood and tends to increase significantly during recent decades, but informations regarding the exact prevalence of AD, based on the large-scale general population study, are unavailable in korea. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to elucidate the exact prevalence of AD and to evaluate the diagnostic significance of some well-known minor clinical features associated with AD in the first grade school children in one of Kouean cities, Puchon, kyunggi-do. METHODS: Four thousands and eighteen first grde school children (boys ; 2072, girls ; 1946) participated inthis study. Two dermatologists determined the presence of skin lesions by through skin examination. Diagnosis of AD was made only when typical flexural and/or extensor and/or infraauricular fissure/eczema exist. The frequency as well as their diagnostic significance of ten minor features of AD (xerosis, ichthyosiform skin lesion, hyperlinear palm,)keratosis pilaris, non-specific hand/foot dermatitis, cheilitis, nipple eczema, perifollicular accentuation, pityriasis alba, Dennie-Morgan infraorbital fold) thought suitable items for field survey by authors, were also evaluated. RESULTS: The total prevalence of AD in the first grade school children of Puchon city was 3. 78%. The prevalence in boys was 3.37% and that in girls was 4.2 Associated minor features in individuals diagnosed as having AD were, in order of frequency, pityriasis alba (59.8%), perifollicular accentuation (57.8%), , keratosis pilaris (56.5%), hyperlinear palms (55.2%), xerosis (43.3%), Dennie-Morgan infraorbital fold (26.3%), etc. All but the ichthyosiform skin lesions and nipple eczema were significantly more frequent in individuals diagnosed as having AD (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: A relatively low prevalence shown in this study might be due to rather strict diagnostic criteria. Some helpful and diagnostically significant minor clinical features of AD, suitable for field survy, is suggested. Further studies are needed for accurate estimation of the prevalence of AD in korea including different regional and age population.
Cheilitis ; Child ; Dermatitis ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Diagnosis ; Eczema ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Incidence ; Keratosis ; Korea ; Nipples ; Pityriasis ; Prevalence* ; Skin ; Skin Diseases

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the basophil histamine releasability in response to IgE- and non- IgE-mediated stimuli in children with atopic asthma. Met: Basophil histamine releasability was measured in Dermatophagoides farinae (D. farinae)-sensitive atopic asthmatics, D.farinae-sensitive healthy atopics, non-atopic asthmatics, and healthy non-atopics. Basophils were stimulated with D.farinae, goat antihuman IgE antibody, formyl-Met-Leu-Phe(fMLP), and Calcium ionophore A23187. Histamine was measured by automated fluorometric technique. RESULTS: Sponianeous histamine release was higher in atopic asthmatics compared to healthy non-atopics. Histamine release by D.farinae and by anti-IgE antibody was higher in atopic asthmatics compared to the other groups. There was no difference in histamine release by fMLP among all groups. Histamine release by Calcium ionophore was higher in healthy atopics and non-atopic asthmatics compared to healthy non-atopics. The atopics showed correlation between histamine release by D.farinae, by anti-IgE antibody and total serum IgE levels. CONCLUSIONS: Spontaneous and IgE-mediated histamine release were related to the presence of both atopy and asthma, whereas non-IgE mediated histamine release was different depending on the stimuli.
Asthma* ; Basophils* ; Calcimycin ; Calcium ; Child* ; Dermatophagoides farinae ; Goats ; Histamine Release ; Histamine* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E

In order to study the relations between attentional deficits and social functioning of the schizophrenia, 83 stable outpatients with DSM-IV schizophrenia and matched 60 normal controls were examined for their sustained attention, sensory register, and social functioning by means of Continuous performance test(CPT), Span apprehension task(SPAN), and Korean version of Social Adjustment Scale II-Revised Version(KSAS II-RV) respectively. Psychopathology was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS). The results were as follows. 1) Schizophrenic patients showed a significant deficit in the sustained attention and sensory register as manifested in the data of CPT and SPAN, compared with the matched normal controls. Schizohrenic patients also showed a significantly poor social functioning in measure of KSAS II-RV compared with the matched normal controls. 2) There was no correlation between three type of symptoms(positive/negative/general) and total scores of social functioning. But negative symptoms was correlated with the social leisure subarea of KSAS II-RV. 3) CPT was correlated with total scores of social functioning including the instrumental role and friend relation subareas of KSAS II-RV, whereas SPAN was only correlated with the instrumental role subarea of social functioning. 4) In the relations between attention and symptoms, CPT was correlated with negative symptoms. These results suggest that the deficit of the sustained attention may be a predictive factor of social functioning in the schizophrenic outpatients.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Friends ; Humans ; Leisure Activities ; Outpatients* ; Psychopathology* ; Schizophrenia ; Social Adjustment

BACKGROUND: For the patients undergoing propofol sedation under regional anesthesia, continuous monitoring of the hypnotic level is required for adequate sedation and rapid recovery. We evaluated the correlation between the observer's assessment of alertness/sedation (OAA/S) and the EEG-entropy. METHODS: We studied 40 patients who were scheduled for spinal anesthesia. Premedication with intramuscular midazolam 0.04 mg/kg was carried out 30 minutes before spinal anesthesia. When the anesthesia level was adequate for surgery but lower than T6, an infusion of propofol 10 mg/kg/h was started and this was decreased to 5 mg/kg/h after 1 minute. We measured the response entropy (RE), the state entropy (SE) and the OAA/S score. When the OAA/S score fell to 1, the infusion dose was decreased to half. After this, the infusion dose was decreased or increased to half or twice, respectively, to keep the OAA/S score at 2 or 3. RESULTS: The OAA/S was well correlated with the RE (Spearman's rho = 0.913) and also the SE (Spearman's rho = 0.915). With the increasing depth of sedation, there was a progressive decrease in the RE and SE (the OAA/S score/the mean of the RE/the mean of the SE = 5/98/89, 4/92/85, 3/85/78, 2/78/70, 1/66/59). CONCLUSIONS: EEG-entropy provided good information for monitoring the hypnotic level for the patients undergoing propofol sedation under spinal anesthesia.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, Conduction ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Electroencephalography ; Entropy ; Humans ; Midazolam ; Premedication ; Propofol

Tinnitus is a common medical condition where patients perceive unwanted noise in the absence of environmental stimuli. However, it is very difficult to find out definite causes of each patient's tinnitus. According to tinnitus classification systems, there are many different diagnostic tools. Representatively, tinnitus can be divided into objective and subjective tinnitus. Also, there are many etiologic factors for each classified tinnitus. Tinnitus assessment is defined as finding out the exact cause of tinnitus and prediction of treatment effect. It starts from history taking and physical examination to audiologic evaluations. Also, it is an important part in the relationship with the patient, as well as tinnitus objectification in the treatment process. And, it affects the consequent management of tinnitus. Otherwise, assessment of tinnitus is a challenging task due its subjective nature. Therefore, a multidimensional diagnostic approach to tinnitus is very important in appropriate treatment of tinnitus and in predicting the effect of the management.
Classification ; Humans ; Noise ; Physical Examination ; Tinnitus*

No abstract available.
Arthrogryposis* ; Pyloric Stenosis*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to examine differences of treatment responses and cognitive functions between typical antipsychotics and Olanzapine in schizophreniac inpatients. METHODS: Ninety-nine patients with schizophrenia treated by Olanzapine (n=56) or typical antipsychotics (n=43) by their attending were included in this study. Prior to entering the study, all subjects did not take any antipsychotics for at least 4 weeks. Cognitive and psychopathological evaluations were carried out on three times: prior to drug assignment immediately after admission (baseline), 3 months and 6 months after starting medications. Cognitive assessments were blinded to medication and psychopathological status. Cognitive functions were examined for sustained attention, sensory register, executive function, concentration and attention, and verbal memory and learning using Degraded Stimulus Continuous Performance Test, Span Apprehension Task, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Digit Span, and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. RESULTS: The Olanzapine group presented a significantly greater improvement in the perseverative response, perseverative errors, number of completed categories of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, forward Digit Span, immediate recall of Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, and positive and negative symptomatology than the typical antipsychotic group in the repeated-measures of ANCOVA among baseline, 3 month and 6 month assessments. These cognitive differences remained statistically significant after covarying out changes in symptomatology except forward Digit Span, which was affected by positive symptom in 3 month assessments. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that Olanzapine is associated with significantly greater symptomatic improvement and less cognitive than typical antipsychotics, and its benefits continued after 3 and 6 months of treatment in patients with schizophrenia.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Cognition* ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Learning ; Memory ; Memory, Short-Term ; Schizophrenia* ; Verbal Learning ; Wisconsin

No abstract available.

Transfollicular extrusion of sebaceous gland lobules was observed in a case of actinic keratosis and 2 cases of sebaceous hyperplasia. The patient of act.inic keratosis was a 44-year-old white man and the patients of sebaceous hvperplasia were a i3-year-old Korean girl and a 28-year-old Korean man. The sebaceous gland lobules located within the dilated infundibular area and partly between separated granular layers were intact and partly surrounded by keratin materjal. No histopathologic overlapping of sebaceous gland lobules was observed. We suppose that transfollicular ext,rusion of sebaceous gland lobules may not be artifact. but one of natural phenomena. But further study will be necessary to evaluate the significance of this peculiar histopathologic findings.
Adult ; Artifacts ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Keratosis ; Keratosis, Actinic ; Sebaceous Glands*