No abstract available.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the tubal patency in the young-aged women underwent diagnostic laparoscopy with Fitz-High-Curtis Syndrome (FHCS). METHODS: Clinicopathologic results of young-aged women who underwent diagnostic laparoscopy with pelvic inflammatory disease from March 2005 through April 2007 were reviewed. Twenty six patients aged 19-29 years old and preserved their both tubes after diagnostic laparoscopy were included in this study. All were underwent chromopertubation test (CPT) during laparoscopy and postoperative hysterosalpingography (HSG) 3 months later. RESULTS: Of 26 patients, eight patients were diagnosed with FHCS and the others were not. There was no significant difference in mean age, mean hospitalization days, and frequency in past-history of parturition, abortion, chlamydia and gonococci infection between patients with FHCS and with non-FHCS (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in frequency of tubal obstruction in laparoscopic CPT (P>0.05) but not in postoperative outpatient HSG (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The tubal obstruction may be more frequent in FHCS than non-FHCS and the reliability of laparoscopic CPT for diagnosing the tubal obstruction is supposed to be low. Therefore, as for FHCS patients, HSG should be executed to investigate tubal factor which is helpful to forecast the fertility.
Aged ; Chlamydia ; Fallopian Tube Diseases ; Female ; Fertility ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hysterosalpingography ; Laparoscopy ; Outpatients ; Parturition ; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Background: Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies against desmosomal proteins. Owing to its high mortality rate, prompt and accurate diagnosis of pemphigus is crucial. Objective: To determine the positivity rates of immunoblotting in patients diagnosed with pemphigus using clinical, histopathological, direct immunofluorescence (DIF), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 84 patients diagnosed with pemphigus between 2001 and 2021 at the Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju, Korea. Results: Among the 55 patients with pemphigus vulgaris included in the immunoblotting study, 46 (83.6%) exhibited positive findings for the 130 kDa band. Of the 29 patients with pemphigus foliaceus, 17 (58.6%) showed positive findings for the 160 kDa band. In cases where autoantibodies were difficult to detect with negative DIF and ELISA results, immunoblotting aided in the diagnosis of 18.2% of pemphigus vulgaris cases and 6.9% of pemphigus foliaceus cases. Conclusion Immunoblotting can serve as an alternative diagnostic method for patients with mild-to-moderate disease or those who have undergone treatment, especially when DIF or ELISA tests yield negative or atypical results.

Background: Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies against desmosomal proteins. Owing to its high mortality rate, prompt and accurate diagnosis of pemphigus is crucial. Objective: To determine the positivity rates of immunoblotting in patients diagnosed with pemphigus using clinical, histopathological, direct immunofluorescence (DIF), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 84 patients diagnosed with pemphigus between 2001 and 2021 at the Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju, Korea. Results: Among the 55 patients with pemphigus vulgaris included in the immunoblotting study, 46 (83.6%) exhibited positive findings for the 130 kDa band. Of the 29 patients with pemphigus foliaceus, 17 (58.6%) showed positive findings for the 160 kDa band. In cases where autoantibodies were difficult to detect with negative DIF and ELISA results, immunoblotting aided in the diagnosis of 18.2% of pemphigus vulgaris cases and 6.9% of pemphigus foliaceus cases. Conclusion Immunoblotting can serve as an alternative diagnostic method for patients with mild-to-moderate disease or those who have undergone treatment, especially when DIF or ELISA tests yield negative or atypical results.

Background: Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies against desmosomal proteins. Owing to its high mortality rate, prompt and accurate diagnosis of pemphigus is crucial. Objective: To determine the positivity rates of immunoblotting in patients diagnosed with pemphigus using clinical, histopathological, direct immunofluorescence (DIF), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 84 patients diagnosed with pemphigus between 2001 and 2021 at the Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju, Korea. Results: Among the 55 patients with pemphigus vulgaris included in the immunoblotting study, 46 (83.6%) exhibited positive findings for the 130 kDa band. Of the 29 patients with pemphigus foliaceus, 17 (58.6%) showed positive findings for the 160 kDa band. In cases where autoantibodies were difficult to detect with negative DIF and ELISA results, immunoblotting aided in the diagnosis of 18.2% of pemphigus vulgaris cases and 6.9% of pemphigus foliaceus cases. Conclusion Immunoblotting can serve as an alternative diagnostic method for patients with mild-to-moderate disease or those who have undergone treatment, especially when DIF or ELISA tests yield negative or atypical results.

Background: Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies against desmosomal proteins. Owing to its high mortality rate, prompt and accurate diagnosis of pemphigus is crucial. Objective: To determine the positivity rates of immunoblotting in patients diagnosed with pemphigus using clinical, histopathological, direct immunofluorescence (DIF), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 84 patients diagnosed with pemphigus between 2001 and 2021 at the Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju, Korea. Results: Among the 55 patients with pemphigus vulgaris included in the immunoblotting study, 46 (83.6%) exhibited positive findings for the 130 kDa band. Of the 29 patients with pemphigus foliaceus, 17 (58.6%) showed positive findings for the 160 kDa band. In cases where autoantibodies were difficult to detect with negative DIF and ELISA results, immunoblotting aided in the diagnosis of 18.2% of pemphigus vulgaris cases and 6.9% of pemphigus foliaceus cases. Conclusion Immunoblotting can serve as an alternative diagnostic method for patients with mild-to-moderate disease or those who have undergone treatment, especially when DIF or ELISA tests yield negative or atypical results.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Several specific foods are known to precipitate gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms and GERD patients are usually advised to avoid such foods. However, foods consumed daily are quite variable according to regions, cultures, etc. This study was done to elucidate the food items which induce typical GERD symptoms in Korean patients. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-six Korean patients with weekly typical GERD symptoms were asked to mark all food items that induced typical GERD symptoms from a list containing 152 typical foods consumed daily in Korea. All patients underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy followed by 24-hour ambulatory esophageal pH monitoring. The definition of “GERD” was if either of the 2 studies revealed evidence of GERD, and “possible GERD” if both studies were negative. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-six cases (51 GERD and 75 possible GERD) were enrolled. In 19 (37.3%) of 51 GERD cases and in 17 (22.7%) of 75 possible GERD cases, foods inducing typical GERD symptoms were identified. In the GERD group (n = 19), frequent symptom-inducers were hot spicy stews, rice cakes, ramen noodles, fried foods, and topokki. In the possible GERD group (n = 17), frequent symptom-inducers were hot spicy stews, fried foods, doughnuts, breads, ramen noodles, coffee, pizza, topokki, rice cakes, champon noodles, and hotdogs. CONCLUSIONS: In one-third of GERD patients, foods inducing typical symptoms were identified. Hot spicy stews, rice cakes, ramen noodles, fried foods, and topokki were the foods frequently inducing typical symptoms in Korea. The list of foods frequently inducing typical GERD symptoms needs to be modified based on their own local experiences.
Bread ; Coffee ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Esophageal pH Monitoring ; Gastroesophageal Reflux* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Symptom Assessment

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of multidetector-row computed tomography (CT) in the evaluation of reperfused myocardial infarction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eleven rabbits were subjected to 90-min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery followed by reperfusion. Multidetector-row CT was performed 31 hours+/-21 after the procedure and preand post-contrast multiphase helical CT images were obtained up to 10 min after contrast injection. The animals were sacrificed after 30 days and histochemical staining of the resected specimens was perfomed with 2'3'5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC). RESULTS: In all 11 cases, the areas of myocardial infarction demonstrated with TTC-staining were identified on the CT images and the lesions showed hypoenhancement on the early phases up to 62 sec and hyperenhancement on the delayed phases of 5 min and 10 min compared with normal myocardial enhancement. The percentage area of the lesion with respect to the left ventricle wall on CT was significantly correlated with that of the TTC-staining results (p < 0.001 for both early and delayed phase CT) according to the generalized linear model analysis. The areas showing hypoenhancement on early CT were significantly smaller than those with hyperenhancement on delayed CT (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Multidetector-row CT may be useful in the detection and sizing of reperfused myocardial infarction.
Animals ; Feasibility Studies ; Models, Animal ; Myocardial Infarction/*radiography ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury/*radiography ; Rabbits ; Reproducibility of Results ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Tomography, Spiral Computed ; *Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods

Applying work restrictions for asymptomatic healthcare personnel (HCP) with potential exposure to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is recommended to prevent transmission from potentially contagious HCP to patients and other HCP. However, it can lead to understaffing, which threatens the safety of both patients and HCP. We evaluated 203 COVID-19 exposure events at a single tertiary hospital from January 2020 to June 2021. A total of 2,365 HCP were potentially exposed, and work restrictions were imposed on 320 HCP, leading to the loss of 3,311 working days. However, only one of the work-restricted HCP was confirmed with COVID-19. During the study period, the work restriction measures might be taken excessively compared to their benefit, so establishing more effective standards for work restriction is required.