While there have been not a few reports on the seroepidemiological characteristics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Korea, most of them, however, have had several limitations; operational definition of HBV infection, validity of detection methods of HBV serologic markers, size of the study population, and confirmation of the vaccination history against HBV, etc. In order to avoid such limitations, authors randomly selected 1,495 healthy adults among the 217,511 insured (target population) of Korean Medical Insurance Corporation, living in seoul, and tested HBV(HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc) of all the subjects were tested, 392(26.2%) of interview failure cases 742 nonvaccinee were excluded from the actual population. Finally, the serologic markers tested of 742 nonvaccinee (study population) only were analyzed for the seroepidemiologic observation of the natural infection of HBV. The seroepidemiological characteristics of HBV infection in Korea were as follows ; 1 Point prevalence of HBs antigenemia was 11.7(9.1-14.3)% in male, which was slightly higher than that of female, 9.5(3.7-15.3)%. This level was one of the highest among those of Asian-Pacific countries. Decreasing tendency of HBsAg prevalence after the age of 50 was observed, which seems to be due to selective attrition of HBV chronic carriers among the healthy adults and/or to the limited-lasting duration of the HBs antigenemia, in part. 2. Point prevalence of anti-HBc(78.8% in male, 50.9% in female) was higher than that of anti-HBs(65.2% in male, 46.6% in female), respectively. And both of them were higher in male than in female. Increasing tendency of the prevalence of both antibodies was observed by age, which seems to be largely due to recurrent infection in adults and to some cumulative effect, in part, of their relatively longer-lasting duration. 3. The level of HBV infection defined by positive for at least one of the 3 serologic markers of HBV by RIA method was 84.7(81.8-87.6)% in male and 61.2(51.9-70.5)% in female, which was also one of the highest among those of Asian-Pacific countries. The proportion of susceptible population to HBV infection among healthy adults was 15.3% in male and 38.8% in female. 4. The relative frequency of current or past infection and chronic carrier among HBV infected person was estimated. The currently or past infected was estimated 75.7% in male and 71.8% in female, and chronic carrier state, 13.8% in male and 14.1% in female. The analysis of the geometric mean of the antibody titer in anti-HBs positive sera indicated also to be compatible with the above findings, suggesting that active, even though inapparent, infection of HBV occur so frequently among healthy adults in Korea.
Adult* ; Antibodies ; Carrier State ; Female ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Insurance ; Korea ; Male ; Prevalence ; Radioimmunoassay ; Seoul* ; Vaccination

No abstract available.
Graves Disease* ; Humans ; Thyroid Gland*

Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is a relatively rare, but is a well known tumor that occurs almost in male, most frequently during the adolescent stage. Its character is histologically benign but clinically malignant because of locally invasive character to the adjascent structures, massive bleeding tendency during surgical procedure and high recurrence rate after treatment. Recently many advancements diagnostic method and surgical technique has reached satisfactory result in treating this difficult tumor. The authors present a case of nasopharyngeal angiofibroma in 16 years old male patient, who was received surgical removal of the tumor through the transpalatal approach after full diagnostic evaluation and preoperative hormonal therapy.
Adolescent ; Angiofibroma* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Recurrence

This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of UVB radiation on epidermal melanoctes of C57BIL mouse, The results are summarized as follows : l) The numerical increase of DOPA positive melanocytes following UVB irradiation was due to both of active mitosis of epidermal melanocytes and the conversion of dormant. malanocytes to DOPA-positive melsnocytes. 2) Long term effects of UVB irradiatinn on the epidermal melanocytes suggest the persistent activation of typrosinase in UVB irradiated melanocytes.
Animals ; Dihydroxyphenylalanine ; Melanocytes* ; Mice* ; Microscopy, Electron ; Mitosis

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

The folling results were obtained through the clinical review and Virology Laboratory of 100 cases of meningitis seen at ward of the pediatric department of Has Sung Hospital during the period from May to June, 1993. 1) Early childhood period was the most frequent age group and male was predominant in aseptic meningitis. 2) The common chief complaints were fever, vomiting, headache in order. 3) On physical examination meningeal irritation signs were not prominent. 4) On admission, leukocytosis (WBC count>10.000/mm(3)) on peripheral blood was showed in 36%. 5) The findings of cerebrospinal fluid showed that cells (Mean WBC count 671.8/mm(3)) were increased in all cases, and protein and sugar were mostly within normal limit. 6) Echovirus 9 was thought to be main causative agent according to the cerebrospinal fluid culture and antibody test. 7) On follow up study 2 months after discharge, 14 cases showed minimal abnormalities of EEG but no abnormal finding in BERA.
Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Echovirus 9 ; Electroencephalography ; Fever ; Follow-Up Studies ; Headache ; Humans ; Leukocytosis ; Male ; Meningitis ; Meningitis, Aseptic* ; Physical Examination ; Virology ; Vomiting

The digital dust indicator (Sibata P-5), one of the direct-reading instruments was evaluated for the respirable dust in the underground coal mine environments. As a reference, respirable dust was determined using three cyclones and/or impactors. All the tests were performed on aerosol in twenty underground coal mines. The coefficients of mass-relative concentration were 0.067+/-0.054 (Mean+/-Standard deviation) (range: 0.006-0.172). The relationship between relative concentration and temperature was not significant statistically. Also, the relationship of relative concentration and relative humidity was not significant. Mass concentration and relative concentration were 5.31+/-5.22 mg/m3 and 162+/-163 CPM (Mean+/-Standard deviation) respectively. The range of mass concentration was 1.22-22.69 mg/m3; relative concentration 16-628 CPM. The relationship of mass concentration and relative concentration was not significant in these ranges.
Coal ; Cyclonic Storms ; Dust* ; Humans ; Humidity

OBJECTIVES: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted to evaluate the role of obesity in the development of colorectal cancer. METHODS: Three hundred and twenty four histologically confirmed female colorectal cancer cases and 26,998 non-cancer controls were selected from patients invited to the Aichi Cancer Center, Nagoya, Japan between 1989 and 1995. Information concerning demographic factors, medical history, family medical history, reproductive factors and dietary factors were obtained from self-administered questionnaires and medical records. The effects of weight and body mass index to colorectal cancer were examined using multiple logistic regression to control for other risk factors. RESULTS: There was no significant association between female colorectal cancer and obesity. Heavier weight adjusted for height or body mass index did not increase the risk of colorectal cancer. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that there is no associa-tion between colorectal cancer risk and obesity in women.
Body Mass Index ; Case-Control Studies* ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Demography ; Female* ; Humans ; Japan ; Logistic Models ; Medical Records ; Obesity* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Reproductive History ; Risk Factors

The soleal line in 115 (left; 61, right; 54) cases of tibiae was studied morphometrically by the method of Mysorekar and Nandedkar. 1. The soleal line showed a uniform character throughout in 26 cases and a mixed characters in 89 cases. The bones showing uniform character were seen generally as a lineal line or wide line. 2. The soleal line having mixed characters divided into three parts. In the upper and middle thirds, the major type of line was wide line. In the lower third, the line was commonly seen as a lineal line. In about 12% of the bones examined the line was seen as a groove, particularly in the middle and lower thirds. 3. The soleal line commenced 1-2cm below the fibular facet In about 61% of cases. 4. The length of the soleal line was 10.5cm, and the ratio to that of the tibia was about 30%. The results of this study provide the characters of the soleal tne of the tibia in Korean. The soleal line, unlike the textbook description, generally shows mixed characters of a line.
Methods ; Tibia*

BACKGROUND: Endocrine pancreas tumor is a rare disease which incidence is less than 2% of all pancreatic tumors. But it comprises various types of tumor and usually secretes several hormones from one type of tumor although the patient with this tumor complains of sole symptom associated with only one hormone. The mechanism and clinical significance of multiple hormone secretion in the endocrine pancreas tumom are not yet clearly defined. METHODS: We analyzed retrospectively the clinicopathologic features of 20 cases which were operated at Seoul National University Hospital during the period between February 1989 and May 1998. RESULTS: The most common tumor was insulinoma (13 cases) and the second most common tumor was nonfunctioning tumor (6 cases). There was one case of somatostatinoma. Most of the patients with insulinoma complained of neuroglycopenic symptoms. There were 9 cases (45.0%) in which the tumors secreted more than two kinds of hormones, 7 cases in insulinoma, 2 cases in nonfunctioning tumors. Whether the tumor secreted multiple hormones was detected by the method of immunohistochemical staining. Though the tumors secreted more than two kinds of hormones, the patients with the tumors complained of symptoms which were associated with the cell type most strongly stained by immunohistochemical method. Whether or not the tumors secreted multiple hormones was not associated with the pathologic features such as tumor size, histologic patterns of the tumor, status of tumor cell differentiation and malignancy. CONCLUSION: From this results, we suggest that endocrine tumors of the pancreas secreted multiple hormones not by the mechanism of dedifferentiation from already differentiated endocrine cells but by the mechanism of neogenesis of multipotent islet stem cells. Since the relationship between the function of multiple hormone secretion in the endocrine pancreas tumors and islet stem cell would be significant, further study should be needed to find out the function of stem cells and application of stem cells to clinical use.
Cell Differentiation ; Endocrine Cells ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insulinoma ; Islets of Langerhans ; Pancreas* ; Rare Diseases ; Retrospective Studies ; Seoul ; Somatostatinoma ; Stem Cells