BACKGROUND: The stratum corneum presents a significant barrier to transdermal drug delivery. Approaches to improve percutaneous absorption of drugs have included iontophoresis and skin penetration enhancers. Oleic acid has been studied as a skin penetration enhancer for drugs, primarily via its action mainly on the stratum corneum lipid structure. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the interaction between oleic acid and stratum corneum lipids in vivo. METHODS: Male hairless mice were treated topically with oleic acid. Barrier function was assessed by transepidermal water loss measurement and ultrastructural observation with ruthenium tetroxide (RuO₄) staining. RESULTS: Oleic acid in propylene glycol had a profound effect on epidermal barrier function and was found to be concentration dependent. Moreover, ultrastructural examination with RuO4 post-fixation demonstrated that there were marked alterations in the stratum corneum lipid structure. CONCLUSION: This study provides direct evidence that oleic acid increases the epidermal permeability through a mechanism involving the stratum corneum lipid membrane perturbation via the lacunae formation within the stratum corneum.
Animals ; Humans ; Iontophoresis ; Male ; Membranes ; Mice ; Mice, Hairless ; Oleic Acid* ; Permeability ; Propylene Glycol* ; Ruthenium ; Skin ; Skin Absorption ; Water

A 61-year-old male was presented with oozing crusted erythematous skin lesions on the ex-tensor site of the right forearm, the extensor site of the left forearm, left calf, right shin, and the right portion of the buttock. He was diagnosed as having multiple pagetoid Bowen's disease by H&E staining, special staining and by an electron microscopic examination. He was treated with a topical application of 5-flurouracil cream and cryosurgery. The skin lesions were mostly healed after 7 months. We herein report a case of multiple pagetoid Bowen's disease on the sun-protected area that may be caused by arsenic ingestion.
Arsenic ; Bowen's Disease* ; Buttocks ; Cryosurgery ; Eating ; Forearm ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Skin

The authors have experienced a case of lacrimal gland mixed tumor. The patient was 19 years old male who had exophthalmos of his left eye which had grown slowly for one year. The tumor was completely resected with no significant difficulties during operation. About one year later, the patient was readmitted because of recurrent mixed tumor at the same site. A brief review of the related literatures is presented.
Adult ; Deception ; Exophthalmos ; Female ; Humans ; Lacrimal Apparatus* ; Male ; Orbit ; Orbit* ; Young Adult

Atrial septal defect is one of the most common congenital heart diseases in adult, of which absolute causes is not confirmed, but explained by multifactorial inheritance. In Korea, there has been no case report of atrial septal defect in identical twins in spite of some reports of atrial septal defect in relatives and twins in other countries. We present a first case of atrial septal defect in identical twins whose mother had no infection or medication history during pregnancy.
Adult ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial* ; Humans ; Korea ; Mothers ; Multifactorial Inheritance ; Pregnancy ; Twins ; Twins, Monozygotic*

No abstract available.
Dermatitis, Allergic Contact* ; Rosa*

No abstract available.
Anemia ; Gaucher Disease* ; Humans ; Siblings* ; Thrombocytopenia

Microvenular hemangioma (MH) is a recently described, uncommon, acquired vascular, tumor presenting clinically as a small reddish nodule in young and middle, aged individuals of either gender. Histologically, thin and irregularly branching small venules with inconspicouous lumia and without cellular atypia are found widely throughout the dermis. The presence of histologic features of the collagen dissection and vascular tufts makes it necessary to differentiate MH with Kaposi's sarcoma and angioblastoma. As we are aware, the description of these two cases which showed the characteristic clinical and histologic features of MH, is the first report of MH in Korea.
Collagen ; Dermis ; Hemangioma ; Korea ; Sarcoma, Kaposi ; Venules

The Korea's first-ever on-line biomedical ethics education class began in September 1999. The class, one of the 18 on-line lectures offered in the Fall Semester, 1999 by Seoul National University Virtual Campus, allows the Korean general public the opportunity to attend an SNU lecture. Although the discussion sites are limited to the randomly selected 40 students taking the 16-week-long course, any one can read the instructor's lecture on the Internet. (http://snuvc. snu.ac.kr/class/h601) The topics of this course include abortion, euthanasia, organ transplantation, human cloning and etc. As members of the team responsible for this unprecedented biomedical ethics education program in Korea, we, the authors, report the experiences that the team went through both in preparing for and running the course. We concludes from the experience that we had that 16 weeks are too long for an on-line course without academic credits or sufficient number of tutors. Also, we suggest that in the near future the on-line biomedical ethics course should be able to be used for continuing education of such medical professions as medical doctors and nurses.
Bioethics* ; Cloning, Organism ; Education ; Education, Continuing ; Euthanasia ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea ; Lectures ; Organ Transplantation ; Running ; Seoul ; Transplants

Eccrine poroma is a benign skin appendage tumor originating from the intradermal part of the sweat duct. It is found commonly on the hairless surface of the feet, although eccrine poroma of the hands, head, trunk, and legs have been reported. Histopathologically, the tumor extends from the lower portion of the epidermis into the dermis as broad, anastomosing bands. The tumor cells are smaller than squamous cells, having a uniform cuboidal appearance and a round, deeply basophilic nucleus, connected by intercellular bridges. In eccrine poromas, narrow ducta1 lumina and occasional cystic spaces are found within the tumor bands, but a large cystic space is very unusual. We report a case of eccrine poroma with a large cystic space extending from epidermis into the reticular dermis.
Basophils ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Foot ; Hand ; Head ; Leg ; Poroma* ; Skin ; Sweat

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The olfactory identification test has been used in clinical assessment of olfactory ability for the following reasons: it is fast, it yields results compatible to a threshold test, and it gives a picture of how well the patient can deal with odors of everyday life. However, items in UPSIT (University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test)and CCCRC (Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Research Center)identification test which are widely used in the world are selected for western people. Accordingly, these items in the tests are not appropriate for Koreans of different cultural background. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the selection of proper items for the olfactory identification test, 42 natural odors familiar to Koreans were applied to 40 normal subjects and 40 patients with decreased sense of smell without sinonasal diseases. Among 42 items, 16 items with high identifiability and familiarity were chosen according to the results of test-retest in normal subjects. RESULTS: The results of olfactory identification test using 16 selected items showed high correlation with olfactory threshold. CONCLUSION: These 16 items can be used for an olfactory identification test for Koreans.
Humans ; Odors ; Pennsylvania ; Recognition (Psychology) ; Smell