Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease and afflicts approximately 1% of general population. Once considered as a benign non-fatal disease, rheumatoid arthritis is a debilitating condition with a serious physical, emotional, and economic consequences. Life expectancy is reduced among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and survival rates are comparable to those for three-vessel coronary disease Hodgkin's disease, and diabetes mellitus. For the past 20 years the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has been developed on pyramid approach, which has had limited success. This led to a move towards using disease modifying antirheumatic drugs early in the disease. Future of rheumatoid arthritis tensive induction therapy, and treatment for resistant disease. This review will be focused on current principles and general guidelines of drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Antirheumatic Agents ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Coronary Disease ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Hodgkin Disease ; Humans ; Life Expectancy ; Survival Rate

A 35 year old woman, gravid 5, multiparous, was admitted to our department at 6 weeks and 5 days of gestation after being diagnosed with cervical pregnancy. Before the evacuation, the uterine arteries were embolized using angiographic techniques. As a result, dilatation and curettage were performed with minimal hemorrhage. We report one case of cervical pregnancy managed, successfully with preoperative uterine artery embolization and evacuation.
Adult ; Dilatation and Curettage ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Pregnancy* ; Uterine Artery Embolization* ; Uterine Artery*

No abstract available.
Herpes Zoster*

No abstract available.
Diverticulum*

We immunized sixty two healthy subjects with the five different viral titers (300, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 plaque forming unit; pfu) of the MAV/06 strain of live attenuated Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in order to gain sufficient information on safety and immuogenicity as a vaccine strain. Humoral immunity of all vaccine recipients was tested by the fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen (FAMA) assay and Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the quantitative detection of IgG antibody. We tested neutralized antibody in 62 subjects by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT50). All of thirty two subjects with initial seronegative response had antibody by FAMA method at four weeks after immunization with four different preparations of dosage. The geometric mean titers (GMTs) of VZV antibody to membrane antigen was 160.9 in 6 subjects with 1500 pfu group; 83.3 in 14 subjects with 1000 pfu group: 116.2 in 7 subjects with 500 pfu groups and 72.0 in 6 subjects with 300 pfu group. Thirty subjects who had VZV antibody at the time before immunization demonstrated elevated antibody titer by FAMA assay and PRNT50 test. Side reactions of the vaccination was not demonstrated in all cases.
Chickenpox* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Herpesvirus 3, Human ; Immunity, Humoral ; Immunization ; Immunoglobulin G ; Membranes ; Neutralization Tests ; Vaccination

PURPOSE: This study investigated sexual knowledge, its related factors, and the needs of sex education among elementary, middle, and high school students in order to develop a sex education program. METHODS: The participants comprised 721 students in grades 5 through 12, from Seoul and the Kyeonggi-do area, in South Korea. Data was collected from the end of August through the end of September 2014, using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. SPSS Statistics 21.0 was used for the descriptive analysis, chi-square, t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regressions. RESULTS: Higher-grade students had a higher level of sexual knowledge than lower-grade students, but the overall level of sexual knowledge was low. Multivariate analysis showed that gender, grade, school record, and experiences of sex education from family and school were significant predictors of sexual knowledge among adolescents. Coping skills related to sexual crisis situations was the most wanted content of sex education. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggested that it is important to develop a sex education program that considers the needs of sex education among adolescents. Also, it is important to periodically perform a survey to identify the need of sex education among elementary, middle, and high school students.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Adolescent ; Anonyms and Pseudonyms ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Korea ; Multivariate Analysis ; Seoul ; Sex Education

Scleroderma is a systemic disorder with multiorgan involvement. About 90% of patients with scleroderma has Raynaud's phenomenon and microvascular involvement is well recognized in scleroderma, but macrovascular involvement is not recognized. We experienced 2 cases of scleroderma with peripheral vascular occlusions that had been diagnosed by fernoral angiography. The one patient with limited scleroderma had anticentromere antibody and angiography of both fernoral arteries showed nonvisualization of posterior tibial artery. The other patient with diffuse scleroderma had anti-Scl-70 antibody and angiography of right fernoral artery showed occlusion of both anterior and posterior tibial arteries and stenosis of distal portion of peronial artery. Both patients didn't have the risk factors of atherosclerosis such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and smoking. In recent years, there have been reports that scleroderma is associated with macrovascular disease. In the future, the study on the freguency, prevention and treatment of macrovasular disease in scleroderma is necessary. We report 2 cases of scleroderma with peripheral vascular occlusions that had been diagnosed by fernoral angiography with review of literatures.
Angiography ; Arteries ; Atherosclerosis ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Obesity ; Peripheral Vascular Diseases* ; Risk Factors ; Scleroderma, Diffuse ; Scleroderma, Limited ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Tibial Arteries

OBJECTIVE: To investigate soluble Fas (sFas) protein in the sera of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: sfas protein was measured by sandwich ELISA METHOD: in the sera of 30 patients with SLE (mean age : 27.4+/-8.46, F:M=29:1) and 11 patients with fibromyalgia (mean age 35.8+/-11.5, F:M-11:0) as a control group. RESULTS: sfas was elevated in 6 (20%) patients of SLE and I (9%) of patients with fibromyalgia (p=0.41). sfas level was correlated with a shorter duration, lower dosage of systemic steroid and higher disease activity in patients with elevated sfas levlel compared to patients with normal serum levels of sfas. All patients with elevated sfas had been diagnosed with SLE for less than 1 month. Fifty % (6 out of 12)patients with SLE for less than I month showed elevated sfas in serum. There was no difference of in the age between patients with elevated and normal levels of sfas. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that elevated sera levels of sfas was associated with the early active phase of disease in some patients with SLE and may play a role in defective apoptosis.
Apoptosis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fibromyalgia ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic*

No abstract available.
Antibodies* ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Diagnosis ; Prognosis

No abstract available.
Chronic Disease ; Glycemic Index