No abstract available.
Angiokeratoma* ; Hypertrophy*

BACKGROUND: We have determined the effects of human telomerase RNA inhibiton using siRNA in tumor cells and human embryonic and mesenchymal stem cells. METHODS: We selected the sequences against the predicted loop; these sequneces were comprised of nucleotides from 76 to 94 residues and from 143 to 163 residues as the target sequences, and we cloned these sequences into pU6sh75 and pU6sh143 cells. Three different kinds of cell lines were used: HeLa, SNUhES3, and human mesenchymal stem cells. The degree of inhibition of telomerase activity was assessed by TRAP assay and RT-PCR. RESULTS: The telomerase activity of the HeLa and SNUhES3 cells were 135.3+/-14.5 and 109.0+/-18.2; these cells showed higher activity than human mesenchymal stem cells and Wi38 cells (46.3+/-5.0 and 26.0+/-12.0), which were control cells. When each of the types of cells was treated with siRNA-hTR, the transfection efficiency of pU6sh75 for the HeLa, SNUhES3, and human mesenchymal stem cells was 91.0+/-8.4%, 83.3+/-16.0% and 81.9+/-12.3%, respectively. In the case of pU6sh143, its transfection efficiency was similar to pU6sh75; the HeLa, SNUhES3 and human mesenchymal stem cells tranfection efficiency was 90.1+/-9.0%, 79.9+/-18.2% and 79.4+/-15.1%, respectively. After two days of transfection, the level of telomerase activity in the pU6sh75 transfected cells decreased to 64.3+/-10.1% and 56.0+/-11.0% in the HeLa and SNUhES3 cells, respectively. When the cells were transfected with pU6sh143, the telomerase activity also decreased in the HeLa and SNUhES3 cells (71.3+/-9.1% and 61.6+/-8.3%, respectively). However, the difference of telomerase activity was not significant in the human mesenchymal stem cells: 43.0+/-7.2% with pU6sh75 and 46.0+/-9.0% with pU6sh143. CONCLUSION: Telomerase RNA inhibiton with siRNA may be a feasible way to inhibit the telomerase activity of human tumor and embryonic stem cells.
Cell Line ; Clone Cells ; Embryonic Stem Cells ; Humans* ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Nucleotides ; RNA* ; RNA, Small Interfering ; Stem Cells* ; Telomerase* ; Transfection

Rectus sheath hematoma is an uncommon cause of acute abdomen, caused by a tear in deep epigastric vessels or its branches. It occurs spontaneously, after trauma or surgery. Rectus abdominus myonecrosis is a life threatening complication of rectus sheath hematoma. We report a case with fatal rectus sheath hematoma complicated by rectus abdominus myonecrosis caused by ischial fracture in a chronic active rheumatoid arthritis patient.
Abdomen, Acute ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Hematoma* ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: There is a need for effective processes in healthcare clinics, especially in tertiary hospitals, that consist of a set of complex steps for outpatient care, in order to provide high quality care and reduce the time cost. This study aimed to discover the potential of a process mining technique to determine an outpatient care process that can be utilized for further improvements. METHODS: The outpatient event log was defined, and the log data for a month was extracted from the hospital information system of a tertiary university hospital. That data was used in process mining to discover an outpatient care process model, and then the machine-driven model was compared with a domain expert-driven process model in terms of the accuracy of the matching rate. RESULTS: From a total of 698,158 event logs, the most frequent pattern was found to be "Consultation registration > Consultation > Consultation scheduling > Payment > Outside-hospital prescription printing" (11.05% from a total cases). The matching rate between the expert-driven process model and the machine-driven model was found to be approximately 89.01%, and most of the processes occurred with relative accuracy in accordance with the expert-driven process model. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge regarding the process that occurs most frequently in the pattern is expected to be useful for hospital resource assignments. Through this research, we confirmed that process mining techniques can be applied in the healthcare area, and through detailed and customized analysis in the future, it can be expected to be used to improve actual outpatient care processes.
Ambulatory Care ; Delivery of Health Care ; Hospital Information Systems ; Humans ; Mining ; Outpatients ; Prescriptions ; Tertiary Care Centers

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether intravenous injection of the zoledronic acid could promote osseointegration of the porous implant inserted into the rabbit medullary cavity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A rabbit intramedullary osseointegration model was used. A specially designed porous nitinol implant (Bio-Smart, Sungnam, Gyeonggi-do, Korea) was inserted in the right distal femur of twenty six rabbits. They were randomized into the control or the experimental groups. In the control group, an intravenous injection of normal saline 2 ml/kg (Daihan Pharm, Seoul, Korea) was given at the end of the operation. In the experimental group, an intravenous injection of zoledronic acid 0.1 mg/kg (AclastaG(R) 2 ml/kg, Norvatis, Stein, Switzerland) was given at the end of the operation. Six weeks later, all animals were sacrificed and undecalcified histologic sections were prepared. Then, histomorphometric measurement of bone affinity index (%) and bone ingrowth area rate (%) was carried out. RESULTS: Six rabbits were excluded due to death and wound infection. Nine rabbits in the control group and eleven rabbits in the experimental group were included for the analysis. The bone affinity indices were 19.9+/-7.9% in the control group, and 28.4+/-7.2% in the experimental group. Although there was no statistical significance (p=0.056), the bone affinity index of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. The bone ingrowth area rates were 8.7+/-3.7% in the control group, and 12.1+/-4.1% in the experimental group (p=0.046), indicating zoledronic acid had an positive effect on the promotion of bone ingrowth into the porous implant. CONCLUSION: In our rabbit intramedullary osseointegration model, intravenous injection of the zoledronic acid promoted early osseointegration of the porous implant. Zoledronic acid might be useful to promote the early osseointegration of the joint replacement implants.
Alloys ; Animals ; Diphosphonates ; Femur ; Imidazoles ; Injections, Intravenous ; Joints ; Osseointegration ; Rabbits ; Wound Infection

PURPOSE: Prealbumin is known as a biochemical marker for assessing nutritional status, and it is influenced by a systemic inflammatory condition. This study aims to find any correlation between patients' low serum prealbumin in electrical burn and unhealed burn surface area and insufficient nutritional support. METHODS: Data were collected by a review of the medical charts of patients admitted to Hanil General Hospital for electrical burn. Laboratory results such as prealbumin, albumin, total lymphocyte count (TLC), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were collected and tested every week. Residual burn surface area (residual BSA) during a specific period was calculated from the surgery record. Statistical analysis was conducted using Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 30 subjects were selected, all male. Average total burn surface area was 20.9±14.9%, and patients were operated on about three times after admission. There was statistical significance among all variables in Pearson's correlation test, but in multiple regression analysis, albumin and CRP were significant compared with prealbumin. CONCLUSION: The results could indicate that burn causes a systemic inflammatory reaction, which could affect the serum prealbumin level. Further study concerning the biological plausibility of each variable is needed.
Biomarkers ; Burns* ; Burns, Electric ; C-Reactive Protein ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Count ; Male ; Nutritional Status ; Nutritional Support ; Prealbumin*

No abstract available.
Malignant Atrophic Papulosis*

PURPOSE: Detecting and treating early colorectal cancers are most important for preventing advanced colorectal cancers which are difficult to manage. However, there is still a lack of data and guidelines in Korea about early colorectal cancers, especially when endoscopy is concerned. This study was undertaken in an effort to gather information in this area. METHODS: We experienced 107 early colorectal cancers from 1995 to 1998. We analyzed them with special reference to endoscopic characteristics and treatment. Ninty-six cases were followed for an average of 17 months. RESULTS: Ninty-four (87.9%) of the early colorectal cancers were detected during the last two years of the study. The male-to-female ratio was 2.1 to 1. The most common age group was the 7th decade. The rectum and the sigmoid colon were involved in 85% of the early cancers. Lesions smaller than 20 mm accounted for 54.2% of the early cancers and ones smaller than 10 mm 15%. There were no malignancies in flat-elevated lesions smaller than 10 mm; to the contrary, there was a 66.7% malignancy rate in depressed lesions. Malignancy developed in LSTs (Laterally spreading tumors) larger than 20 mm. Regarding configuration, protruded-type tumors accounted for 80.4% of the lesions, depressed-type tumors 5.6%, and LSTs 4.7%. The most common endoscopic characteristic of early colorectal cancer was redness. White spots, hardness, easy bleeding upon touch, and nodules were recognized in more than 20% of the tumors; depression and erosion were noticed in more than 10%. An expanded figure, convergence of mucosal folds, a whitish patch, and ulceration were useful in some cases. The submucosal cancer rate was 30.2% in protruded-type lesions and 66.7% in depressed-type ones. The overall adenoma-association rate was 93%. All lesions without an adenomatous component were submucosal cancers. The overall endoscopic resection rate was 87.9%. Among them, those who needed additional surgical resection accounted for 13.8% (13/94). Three recurrences were recognized. Those three were all early rectal cancers associated with villous tumors and were larger than 20 mm. All recurrences were treated endoscopically. There was one case of bleeding within 1 day after endoscopic resection. That was associated with a 20-mm, pedunculated lesion in the ascending colon and was treated using a detachable snare. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to recognize the endoscopic characteristics of early colorectal cancers, especially those of depressed lesions and LSTs. Those characteristics are also useful in selecting appropriate candidates for endoscopic resection.
Colon, Ascending ; Colon, Sigmoid ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Dental Caries ; Depression ; Diagnosis* ; Endoscopy ; Hardness ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Korea ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Rectum ; Recurrence ; SNARE Proteins ; Ulcer

An external thrombotic hemorrhoid is a very painful disease with a high incidence rate. The chief complaints encountered by the surgeon are protrusion and pain. However, because the spontaneous healing rate is very high, there is no consensus on whether conservative management or surgery is a more effective treatment policy. In an attempt to resolve this problem, we performed a clinical analysis of fifty patients with external thrombotic hemorrhoids who were treated by conservative management at Song-Do Colorectal Hospital from October 1996 to December 1996. We recorded the time required for the protrusion and the pain to disappear and performed manometry to check the sphincter pressure and tissue pathology to determine the pathogenesis of the external thrombotic hemorrhoid. The results are as follows: 1) Based on pathology, the cause of the external thrombotic hemorrhoids was venous thrombosis due to venous stasis, not a hematoma due to venous rupture. 2) Manometry showed that the resting sphincter pressure and the squeezing sphincter pressure for the patients with external thrombotic hemorrhoids was higher than those of the control group, which was the reason for the venous stasis. In conclusion, because an external thrombotic hemorrhoid is just a thrombosis due to venous stasis, the thrombosis can be improved by using methods such as a warm sitz bath and analgesics to decrease the sphincter pressure. Hence, conservative management should be the preferred treatment in almost all cases.
Analgesics ; Baths ; Consensus ; Hematoma ; Hemorrhoids ; Humans ; Incidence ; Manometry ; Pathology ; Rupture ; Thrombosis ; Venous Thrombosis

We reported a case of nevus sebaceus associated with trichilemmoma in a 19-year- old female patient. The lesion was a 2 x 2 cm sized yellowish verrucous plaque with two 0.3 x 0.3 cm sized dome-shaped papules. Histopathological examinat,ion revealed hyperkeratosis, papillomatosis and acanthosis, proliferation of sebaceus glands, presence of apocrine gland and mild inflammatory cellular infiltration around superficial vessels. In the epidermis of the lesion, there were two foci of lobulated mass consisted of clear cells with columnar basal cells and thick basement membrane.
Apocrine Glands ; Basement Membrane ; Epidermis ; Female ; Humans ; Nevus* ; Nevus, Sebaceous of Jadassohn ; Papilloma