We carried out survey on difference in awareness by age bracked and educational level of 182 mothers including their family history for the treatment of febrile convulsion, who had visited the emergency room and OPD of pediatrics, Dae Dong Hospital in Pusan, Korea, during the period from January, 1992, to December, 1992. The results were as follows: 1) The proportion of male and famale febrile convulsion patients was 1.5:1, and the distribution of patients in order of age was in the following; 81 cases(44.5%) of patients having the highest proportion between 1 to 2 years, 41 cases(22.5%) under 1 year, 35 cases (19.3%) between 3 to 5 year and 25 cases(13.7%) over 5 years. 2) The number of 110 cases(60.4%) were carries out by folk remedy, and 72 cases(39.6%) by medical treatment, for the method of treating febrile convulsion, thus folk remedial method being higher than medical treatment. Folk remedy was in the order of "needle picking", "massage", "acupuncturing" and "visit to herb store", and medical treatment was in the order of "visit to hospital", "taking of antipyretics", and "cold compress pad". 3) In comparison of treatment method according to age bracket of mothers of the patients, as the age of mothers of febrile convulsion patients become lower, patients were treated by folk remedy(p<0.05). 4) In comparison of treatment method according to educational level of mothers of the patients, no proportional difference in folk remedy and medical treatment was found(p>0.05). 5)In comparison of treatment method according to family history of mothers of the patients, no proportional difference in folk remedy and medical treatment was found(p>0.05).
Busan ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Medicine, Traditional ; Mothers ; Pediatrics ; Seizures, Febrile*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The definition of early extrahepatic bile duct cancer might be different from that of other gastrointestinal cancer because of the differences of histologic features including the lack of muscularis mucosa and submucosal layer in bile duct. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the concept of early extrahepatic bile duct cancer in Korea. METHODS: We evaluated seventynine cases of extrahepatic bile duct cancer who had received curative resection in Severence Hospital, Yonsei University from March 1986 to October 2005. We retrosptectively reviewed the medical records and analyzed variable prognostic factors to define early extrahepatic bile duct cancer. RESULTS: Invasion limited to the mucosa was noted in 5 cases (6.3%), fibromuscular layer in 12 cases (15.2%), adventitia of fibromuscular layer and serosa in 26 cases (32.9%), and invasion of adjacent organs in 36 cases (45.6%). Disease free 5-year survival according to the depth of invasion were 80.7% in tumor confined within mucosa, 80.0% within fibromuscular layer, 57.2% within adventitia of fibromuscular layer and serosa, and 51.5% in tumor with invasion of adjacent organ. There was no significant difference in the survival rate between patients with tumor confined to mucosa and patients with tumor invasion limited to the fibromuscular layer. However, the survival rate of patients with tumor limited to the mucosa or fibromuscular layer was significantly higher than that of patients with tumor invaded beyond fibromusular layer. In early cancer, there were more papillary polypoid type in gross finding and papillary adenocarcinoma in pathologic finding when compared to advanced cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Early extrahepatic bile duct cancer can be defined as the tumor invasion limited to the mucosa and fibromuscular layer.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Bile Duct Neoplasms/*diagnosis/mortality/surgery ; *Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Analysis

Occupational asthma has been defined airway inflammation, hyperresponsiveness, and reversible airway obstruction related to exposure in workplace. Several drugs can cause asthma by inhalation during the manufacture. We report a case of cephalosporin induced occupational asthma which had not been reported in Korea yet. A 28 year-old male, an laboratorian, developed paroxysmal cough, dyspnea and chest tightness for four months. He has handled powder of cephalosporins and its precursors for thirty months. His symptoms used to be worsened during and shortly after his work and subsided several hours after work. When he visited our hospital, he denied such symptoms and revealed no abnormality on physical examinations. Skin prick test revealed positive result for ceftriaxone, ACT and 7-ACA, but negative for the other antibiotics. Bronchial provocation with 7-aminocephalosporanic acid elicited a single early response. In this case, the patient showed a positive bronchial provocation test to 7-aminocephalosporanic acid and a positive skin prick test to 7-ACA, aminocephalosporanic thiazine, ceftriaxone. We presumed that pathogenic mechanism of cephalosporin-induced asthma may be an IgE-mediated allergic reaction by the strong positive reaction in skin test. But further studies will be necessary to evaluate exact pathogenesis of cephalosporin-induced asthma.
Adult ; Airway Obstruction ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Asthma ; Asthma, Occupational* ; Bronchial Provocation Tests ; Ceftriaxone ; Cephalosporins ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Inflammation ; Inhalation ; Korea ; Male ; Physical Examination ; Skin ; Skin Tests ; Thorax

The effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on experimental colitis was investigated in Sprague-Dawley rats. Colitis was induced by intracolonic instillation of 4% acetic acid. EA (2 Hz, 0.05 ms, 2 V for 20min) was applied to bilateral Hoku (LI-4) and Zusanli (ST-36) on 12 hrs and 36 hrs after induction of colitis. EA-treatment significantly reduced the macroscopic damage and the myeloperoxidase activity of colonic samples at 3 days post-induction of colitis. Colitic colon showed a decreased in vitro motility. However, colonic motility of EAtreated group was not significantly different from that of normal group. The anti-inflammatory effect of EA was not inhibited by a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, RU-486, but suppressed by a beta-adrenoceptor antagonist, propranonol. These results suggest that EA-treatment has a beneficial effect on colitis, and its anti-inflammatory effect is mediated by beta-adrenoceptor activation but not by endogenous glucocorticoiddependent mechanism.
Acetic Acid ; Adrenergic beta-Antagonists/pharmacology ; Animals ; Carbachol/pharmacology ; Cholinergic Agonists/pharmacology ; Colitis/chemically induced/enzymology/pathology/*therapy ; Electroacupuncture/*veterinary ; Enzyme Inhibitors/metabolism ; Gastrointestinal Motility/physiology ; Hormone Antagonists/pharmacology ; Male ; Mifepristone/pharmacology ; Muscle Contraction/physiology ; Muscle, Smooth/drug effects/physiology ; NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester/pharmacology ; Peroxidase/metabolism ; Propranolol/pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate differences in ultrasonographic findings between malignant and benign mammary duct ectasia. METHODS: From January 2003 to June 2005, 54 surgically proven mammary duct ectasia lesions depicted on sonograms were included in this study. We evaluated the ultrasonographic (US) findings in terms of involved ductal location, size, margin, intraductal echogenicity, presence of an intraductal nodule, calcification, ductal wall thickening and echo changes of the surrounding breast parenchyma. The US findings were correlated with the pathological features. RESULTS: Of the 54 lesions, 46 lesions were benign and eight lesions were malignant. Benign lesions included an inflammatory change (n=7), ductal epithelial hyperplasia (n=7), fibrocystic change (n=18), intraductal papilloma (n=11), atypical ductal hyperplasia (n=2) and sclerosing adenosis (n=1). Malignant lesions included ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (n=6), infiltrating ductal carcinoma (n=1) and mucinous carcinoma (n=1). On US images, the peripheral ductal location, an ill-defined margin, ductal wall thickening and a hypoechoic change of the surrounding parenchyma were features significantly associated with malignant duct ectasia. CONCLUSION: For ill-defined peripheral duct ectasia with ductal wall thickening and surrounding hypoechogenicity as depicted on US, the possibility of malignancy should be considered and radiologists should not hesitate to recommend a prompt biopsy.
Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; Biopsy ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma, Ductal ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating ; Dilatation, Pathologic ; Hyperplasia ; Papilloma, Intraductal ; Ultrasonography, Mammary

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Fabry disease is an X-linked recessive and progressive disease caused by alpha-galactosidase A (alpha-GaL A) deficiency. We sought to assess the prevalence of unrecognized Fabry disease in dialysis-dependent patients and the efficacy of serum globotriaosylceramide (GL3) screening. METHODS: A total of 480 patients of 1,230 patients among 17 clinics were enrolled. Serum GL3 levels were measured by tandem mass spectrometry. Additionally, we studied the association between increased GL3 levels and cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, or left ventricular hypertrophy. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients had elevated serum GL3 levels. The alpha-GaL A activity was determined for the 26 patients with high GL3 levels. The mean alpha-GaL A activity was 64.6 nmol/hr/mg (reference range, 45 to 85), and no patient was identified with decreased alpha-GaL A activity. Among the group with high GL3 levels, 15 women had a alpha-GaL A genetics analysis. No point mutations were discovered among the women with high GL3 levels. No correlation was observed between serum GL3 levels and alpha-GaL A activity; the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.01352 (p = 0.9478). No significant correlation was observed between increased GL3 levels and the frequency of cardiovascular disease or cerebrovascular disease. CONCLUSIONS: Fabry disease is very rare disease in patients with end-stage renal disease. Serum GL3 measurements as a screening method for Fabry disease showed a high false-positive rate. Thus, serum GL3 levels determined by tandem mass spectrometry may not be useful as a screening method for Fabry disease in patients with end stage renal disease.
Adult ; Aged ; Fabry Disease/blood/*diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic/blood/*therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Renal Dialysis ; Trihexosylceramides/*blood ; alpha-Galactosidase/genetics/metabolism