Osteoid osteoma is a relatively common benign tumor that most commonly affect the cortex of the long bone, Adolescent and young adult males are most frequently affected. It causes aching pain that worsens at night and commonly is relieved by aspirin. The typical radiographic appearance is a lucent nidus with surrounding dense cortical thickening. If the lesion is located in intra-articular cancellous bone, an osteoid osteoma may present with clinical findings that are more indicative of an inflammatory synovitis, and with atypical radiographic findings such as lack of both surrounding sclerosis and a lucent nidus. Therefore intra-articular osteoid osteoma may pose a diagnostic difficulty. Recently, we experienced 3 cases of intra-articular osteoid osteoma(2 humeral haed, 1 femoral head) and present them in detail.
Adolescent ; Aspirin ; Humans ; Male ; Osteoma, Osteoid ; Sclerosis ; Synovitis ; Young Adult

STUDY DESIGN: The authors reviewed 14 patients with neurologic deficits caused by ossification of ligamentum flavum(OLF) of thoracic and thoracolumbar spine. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical and roentgenographic characteristics and suggest the treatment method of the OLF in the thoracic and thoracolumbar spine. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: The reported OLF mainly developed at the thoracolumbar area. It compressed the spinal cord and resulted to the symptoms of thoracic myelopathy. The methods of treatment were posterior decompression including laminectomy or laminoplasty, and sometimes anterior and posterior decompression, with or without fusion. The OLF was not common disease yet and many surgeons have met a problem in making the decision of the extent of posterior decompression multiple or selective. METHODS: The authors reviewed 14 patients with the OLF using clinical reports and roentgenographic studies. We checked the plain roentgenograms, computed tomograms, and magnetic resonance imagings. We performed the posterior decompression using total laminectomy without fusion. We divided three groups according to the operative methods. Group I included the patients with one or two levels of OLF treated with posterior extensive laminectomy. Group II included the patients with OLF in three or more levels, or combined other cord-compressing diseases. They had been treated with multiple posterior or anterior decompression for the entire cord-compressing levels. Group III included the patients with same conditions as group II but they had been treated with selective decompression for the mainly symptomatic levels of OLF. RESULTS: We found the OLF at 54 segments of 14 patients. The involvement of OLF was 29 segments(53.7%) in thoracolumbar and 25 segments(46.3%) in thoracic area. The most commonly involved segment was T10-11(16.7%) and the second was T11-12(14.8%). Clinically the most common neurologic deficit was motor weakness and sensory deficit. The most symptomatic level of OLF was T10-11 and T12-Ll segment(28.6% at each) and the next was T11-12 segment(21.4%). We got the favorable results in group I and group III. But the final results of group II were not good. CONCLUSION: The OLF was most common at the thoracolumbar area and the symptoms and signs were revealed same as those of the thoracic myelopathy. We obtained favorable clinical results after posterior laminectomy without fusion in cases with the OLF in 1-2 segments. In the cases with multiple OLF in three or more segments, or the cases with other cord-compressing diseases, we could get more favorable results in the patients with the selective decompression than the patients with multiple decompression for the entire cord-compressing diseases.
Decompression ; Humans ; Laminectomy ; Ligamentum Flavum* ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; Spine*

No abstract available.
Hyperostosis, Cortical, Congenital*

No abstract available.

The HUMACTBP2 locus was investigated to collect population genetic data in the Korean population and to evaluate the applicability for the forensic field. An Automatic fluorescent-based sequencer (377 automatic DNA sequencer, ABI) was used to detect amplified fragments of the HUMACTBP2 locus electrophoresed on 4% denaturing polyacrylamide sequencing gels. ACTBP2 allelic ladder consisting of different sizes of 18 alleles was constructed and employed as an internal size standard in combination with a GS-350 size standard for precision of allele-band sizing. By utilizing different fluorescent dyes, both the allelic ladders and samples were able to be analyzed in the same lane by 99% orecision of allele-band sizing. Among the Korean population (n=224), 26 alleles in the range of 239-313 bp are determined. allele No. 6 is found 45 times (0.100) which is mostly frequent, and the rest of allele is distributed with their relative frequency of 0.002-0.100. The comparison between observed and expected numbers of homozygous and heterozygous individuals confirms that ACTBP2 locus is in the state of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium among the Korean population. The heterozygosity is 0.9389+/-0.0034(93.89%), and the power of discrimination(PD) and power of exclusion(PEX) are calculated to be 0.991(99.1%)and 0.890(89.0%), respectively, showing the high informativeness for individual identification. Thus, these results mean that the HUMACTBP2 locus can effectively be used for the forensic application.
Alleles ; DNA ; Fluorescent Dyes ; Gels ; Genetic Variation*

No abstract available.
Thoracoscopy*

An outbreak of dermatosis occurred in a livestock fodder factory at Kyongju in May 1994. Authors conducted a questionnaire survey on 60 workers in the factory and a dermatologist examined their skin lesion. Authors also collected mites and identified them. The obtained results were summarized as follows; 1. Twentyeight cases of dermatosis were identified with attack rate of 46.7%. Attack rate was not different by department, age, sex, educational level and employment duration. Attack rate was 67.5% in productive worker and 5.0% in clerical workers (p<0.01) but was not significantly different between departments among productive workers (p>0.05). 2. Three cases among 28 dermatosis cases and one subject among 32 non-cases had a history of same dermatosis last year. Only one of dermatosis cases had a history of dermatosis among family members. History of other skin lesion and allergy was very rare in both cases and non-cases. 3. Skin lesions of the cases were rice-sized erythematous papules or vesicles with a central biting point. Onset date of dermatosis was between May 1 and June 10. Duration was from one day to more than 30 days. Skin lesion was most frequent at the back(75.0%). and also observed at the arms(64.3%). abdomen(60.7%), legs(57.1%), chest(32.1%) and neck (25.0%). Skin lesion was aggravated while workers are sweeping the floor(35.7%), working at the workplace(21.4%) and in bed at night(28. 6%). 4. Total l,637 mites were collected and identified into 3 suborder, 7 families and 17 species. Dermafophagoides farinae was most frequent Nnd most of the species identified were blood sucking mites. Authors concluded that the outbreak of dermatosis was brought about by mite-bites and grain beetle parasitizing Acarophenax tribolii was the most suspected species. Further studies to identify the specific species causing dermatosis and route of import are needed.
Beetles ; Edible Grain ; Employment ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Korea ; Livestock ; Mites* ; Neck ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Skin ; Skin Diseases*

No abstract available.
Diabetes Mellitus* ; Tuberculosis*

No abstract available.
Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic*

Purpose: To evaluate the risk factors for the development of osteonecrosis in civilian professional divers by an epidemiologic study and to determine the correlation between osteonecrosis in divers and coagulopathy by analysis of serologic markers that are related to thrombophilia and hypofibrinolysis. Materials and Methods: Forty-two divers, who collected pen shells (Atrina pinnata), and among whom 10 had osteonecrosis (group 1), were compared with 32 divers without osteonecrosis (group 2). Both groups were evaluated based on the number of years of diving experience, number of dives per year, mean number of dives per day, mean diving time and depth, and diving methods. We determined any statistically significant differences among these variables. We measured the levels of serologic markers that were related to hyperlipidemia, thrombophilia, and hypofibrinolysis from the divers and a control group of 20 physicians (group 3). The levels of the serologic markers were compared between groups 1 and 2 and between the divers and the control group, in order to determine the relationship between the serologic markers and the development of dysbaric osteonecrosis. Results: None of the variables demonstrated any statistically significant differences, except for the mean diving time, in which group 1 had a mean diving time of 124 minutes and group 2 had a mean diving time of 62.1 minutes (P<0.05). In the analysis of the serologic markers, there were no statistically significant differences between groups 1 and 2; however, in comparison with the group 3, the divers demonstrated significantly decreased activity levels of proteins C and S (Protein C: P<0.05; Protein S: P<0.05), and an increase in the levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) (P<0.05). Conclusion: The divers with osteonecrosis had a longer mean diving time than did those divers without osteonecrosis. In the serologic marker analysis, the divers with osteonecrosis demonstrated significantly decreased activity levels of Proteins C, S and a significant increase in the levels of PAI-1, compared with the control group.
Biomarkers* ; Diving ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Epidemiology ; Hyperlipidemias ; Osteonecrosis* ; Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 ; Plasminogen Activators ; Protein S ; Risk Factors ; Thrombophilia