The dematiaceous fungi, characterized by having melanin in their cell walls, have become significant due to an increasing cause of human skin disease in Korea. The disease caused by dematiaceous fungi contain pityriasis (tinea) nigra, onychomycosis (in part), black piedra, keratomycosis (in part), chromoblastomycosis, phaeohyphomycosis, and eumycotic mycetoma (in part). Chromoblastomycosis is subcutaneous mycotic disease that contain sclerotic cells and histologically show pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia with microabscess, and phaeohyphomycosis is a group of mycotic infections that contain dematiaceous yeast-like cells, pseudohypae-like elements, hyphae or combination of these form in tissue.
Cell Wall ; Chromoblastomycosis ; Fungi* ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Hyphae ; Korea ; Melanins ; Mycetoma ; Onychomycosis ; Phaeohyphomycosis ; Piedra ; Pityriasis ; Skin Diseases

Analysis and prediction of the care charges related to colorectal cancer in Korea are important for the allocation of medical resources and the establishment of medical policies because the incidence and the hospital charges for colorectal cancer are rapidly increasing. But the previous studies based on statistical analysis to predictthe hospital charges for patients did not show satisfactory results. Recently, data mining emerges as a new technique to extract knowledge from the huge and diverse medical data. Thus, we built models using data mining techniques to predict hospital charge for the patients. A total of 1,022 admission records with 154 variables of 492 patients were used to build prediction models who had been treated from 1999 to 2002 in the Kyung Hee University Hospital. We built an artificial neural network (ANN) model and a classification and regression tree (CART) model, and compared their prediction accuracy. Linear correlation coefficients were high in both models and the mean absolute errors were similar. But ANN models showed a better linear correlation than CART model (0.813 vs. 0.713 for the hospital charge paid by insurance and 0.746 vs. 0.720 for the hospital charge paid by patients). We suggest that ANN model has a better performance to predict charges of colorectal cancer patients.
Algorithms ; Colorectal Neoplasms/*economics/epidemiology ; Comparative Study ; *Decision Trees ; *Hospital Charges ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea/epidemiology ; *Models, Econometric ; *Neural Networks (Computer) ; Predictive Value of Tests

188Re (beta=22 MeV; gamma=155 keV; T1/2=16.9 hours) is an attractive therapeutic radioisotope which is produced from decay of reactor-produced tungsten-188 parent (T1/2=69 days). 188W has been produced from the double neutron capture reaction of 186W. 188Re can be easily obtained by elution of saline on alumina based 186W/188Re generator, which is commercially available. Complexes labelled with 188Re have been developed for the radiotherapy treatment of diseases because of the desirable nuclear properties of the radioisotope and it's chemical properties similar to those of technetium, a well established diagnostic agent.
Aluminum Oxide ; Humans ; Neutrons ; Parents ; Radiotherapy ; Technetium

No abstract available.
Hepatitis* ; Measles*

Mail questionnaire was administrated to 370 practising physicians and 388 pharmacists in Taegu city selected by systematic sampling to examine utilization states and opinion of pharmacy under medical care insurance programme and the attitude to the functional division between physicians and pharmacists from April to May 1992. Regarding the opinion on the outcome of drug-store under medical insurance, 71.2 percent of practicing physician answered failure but 13.4 percent of practicing pharmacists answered failure in contrast. Fifty percent of practicing physician asserted introducing functional division between physician and pharmacist while 66.9 percent of practicing pharmacist answered drug-store under medical insurance itself is successful programme. Average daily numbers of preparation of medicine was 32.2 case. Percentage of utilization of drug-store under medical insurance to average daily cases of preparing of medicine was 20 percent, percentage of utilization with physician's prescription was 0.7 percent. And 58.7 percent of practicing physician experienced outside the institute prescription. Regarding the opinion on the pros and cons of enforcing functional division between physician and pharmacist, 59.2 percent of practicing physician preferred pros and 17.7 percent cons ,but 38 percent of practicing pharmacist preferred pros and 45.5 percent cons. And pharmacist know better the content of functional division between physician and pharmacist, practicing emphasized to prevent misuse or abuse of medicine but practicing pharmacist emphasized to display physician and pharmacist's professional ability. And as an opinion on implementation style of functional division between physician and pharmacist in pros respondents, practicing physician favored mandatory enforcement (52.3%), while practicing pharmacist favored partial incomplete functional division (81.7%). As the method of prescription if functional division between physician and pharmacist will be enforced, both practicing physician and pharmacist preferred generic name (44.0%, 89%) mostly, but physician preferred brand name (35.3%) secondly. Regarding the reason for not implementing functional division between physician and pharmacist up to date, both physician and pharmacist answered problem of business right between physician and pharmacist, followed by lack of recognition, and interest of people and lack of the governmental willness. Regarding the opinion on prior decision of condition for enforcing functional division between physician and pharmacist, practicing physician and pharmacist named uneven distribution of medical facilities and drug-store between rural and urban, inequality of physician and pharmacist manpower and the problem of manpower demand and supply mostly, and practicing physician pointed out establishing attitude of acceptance on the part of pharmacist and practicing pharmacist favored establishing attitude of acceptance on the part of physician, which was different attitudes between physician and pharmacist. Following conclusion was reached; 1. Current drug-store under medical insurance program yield insufficient outcome, so we should consider program conversion from drug-store under medical insurance program to functional division between physician and pharmacist. 2. There were problem of business right and conflicts between physician and pharmacist at enforcing functional division between physician and pharmacist, so the government should search for formulating plan to resolve the problem and have neutral willness for the protection of the national health.
Commerce ; Daegu* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Humans ; Insurance ; Pharmacists* ; Pharmacy ; Postal Service ; Prescriptions ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Socioeconomic Factors

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: Because of recently increasing reports of resistance of Candida (C.) species to antifungal agents, it is necessary to perform antifungal susceptibility testing. ATB FUNGUS 2 (bioMerieux, France) is an easy-to-perform in-vitro antifungal susceptibility test. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to investigate the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of antifungal agents against Candida species isolated from skin lesion using ATB FUNGUS 2. METHODS: Eighty two clinical isolates of Candida species (including 56 C. albicans, 14 C. parapsilosis, 7 C. guilliermondii, 5 C. glabrata) were testeding ATB FUNGUS 2. MICs against itraconazole (ICZ), fluconazole (FCZ), flucytosine (FC) and amphotericin B (AMP) were read after 24 hours incubation. RESULTS: MIC of ICZ was <0.125microgram/ml on 73 (89.0%) clinical isolates of Candida species except > or =2.0microgram/ml on four strains (3 C. albicans, 1 C. glabrata) and 0.25~0.5microgram/ml on five strains (1 C. parapsilosis, 3 C. guilliermondii, 1 C. glabrata). MIC of FCZ was <8microgram/ml on 78 (95.1%) Candida species except >128microgram/ml on 3 C. albicans and 16microgram/ml on 1 C. parapsilosis. MIC of FC was <0.5microgram/ml on 76 (92.7%) Candida species except >64microgram/ml on 6 C. albicans. MIC of AMP was all (100.0%) <0.5microgram/ml. CONCLUSION: ATB FUNGUS 2 represented a simple and valuable method for antifungal susceptibility testing of Candida species.
Amphotericin B ; Antifungal Agents ; Candida* ; Fluconazole ; Flucytosine ; Fungi* ; Itraconazole ; Skin

No abstract available.
Bone Cysts* ; Fractures, Spontaneous*

Pediculosis (phthiriasis) palpebrarum is a rare disease which occurs on the eyelashes and is caused by Phthiriasis pubis (crab louse). The common symptoms are pruritus, irritation and foreign body sensation, but it is rarely associated with ocular diseases such as blepharitis, conjunctivitis or secondary bacterial infection. We report a case of pediculosis palpebrarum in a 3-year-old girl who had several lice and many nits on both eyelashes, and this was accompanied with blepharitis. She was treated by removal of lice and nits with fine forces, then application of petrolatum ointment twice a day for 7 days.
Bacterial Infections ; Blepharitis ; Child, Preschool ; Conjunctivitis ; Eyelashes ; Female* ; Foreign Bodies ; Humans ; Lice Infestations* ; Pediculus ; Petrolatum ; Phthiraptera ; Pruritus ; Rare Diseases ; Sensation

We report a case of herpes zoster in a 9-month-old female infant, who showed multiple, grouped, erythematous papulovesicles on the right upper chest, axilla and upper back along the T4 dermatome. The patient had no history of varicella or varicella vaccination, and her mother had no contact history with varicella during pregnancy. However, the mother had been infected with the herpes zoster virus about 3 years before. Multinucleated, giant cells were shown on a Tzanck smear, and histopathologic findings were consistent with the herpes viral infection. Laboratory findings revealed that the anti-Varicella-Zoster virus IgG was positive and IgM was negative. The patient was treated with acyclovir for 7 days and papulovesicles healed without sequelae.
Acyclovir ; Axilla ; Chickenpox ; Female ; Giant Cells ; Herpes Zoster* ; Herpesvirus 3, Human ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Infant* ; Mothers ; Pregnancy ; Thorax ; Vaccination