Pityriasis Circinata is a rare, symptomless, etiologically uncertain disease, but often associated with chronic illness such as Tuberculosis, diseases of uterus and ovaries. It was first described- in Japan by Toyama(1906), Matsura(1906), then reported in South Africa, France, England, Germany, and North-Africa. However, much more frequent evidence noted in Far East. Many authers agree that this condition is a specific localized type of acquired ichthyosis. This disease is manifested by strictly round scaly, light or dark brownish ichthyotic patches of variable number and diameter. Mainly distributed on trunk, and extremities with freedom of flexure. And having history of winter exacerbation and summer remission. These two cases of pityriasis Circinata are, although Toyama quoted 4 Korean patients reports and 2 cases of Manchuria, the first report in Korea, which have been associated with tuberculous empyema and meningitis, respectively.
China ; Chronic Disease ; Empyema, Tuberculous ; England ; Extremities ; Far East ; Female ; France ; Freedom ; Germany ; Humans ; Ichthyosis ; Japan ; Korea ; Meningitis ; Ovary ; Pityriasis* ; South Africa ; Tuberculosis ; Uterus

This study was performed for the standardization and proper selection of effective antifungal agents by measuring the minimal inhibitory concentra-tions[MICs]of antifungals to fungi, separated from keratitis patients.Two strains of A.fumigatus and single strain of F.solani, A.falciforme, and A . alternata were used for this test.Standard powders of miconazole, itraconazole, clotrimazole, ketoconazole, and amphotericin B were used as antifungal agents. Microscopic and macroscopic measurements of MIC after 24, 48 and 72 hours of inoculation[105 conidia /ml]into YNB broth with culture temperature of 25 degrees C were performed by use of broth microdilution method.The results are as follows : itraconazole, amphotericin B, and clotrimazole were effective against A.fumigatus.F.solani showed resistance to all kinds of antifungal agents.A.falciforme and A.alternata were sensitive to amphotericin B and itraconazole, respectively. Further studies may be needed for the standardized measurement of MIC against filamentous fungi and also for in Vitro-in Vivo correlations for the treatment of fungal keratitis.
Amphotericin B ; Antifungal Agents* ; Clotrimazole ; Fungi ; Itraconazole ; Keratitis* ; Ketoconazole ; Miconazole ; Powders ; Spores, Fungal

Rickets is a syndrome of diverse etiology, characterized pathophysiologically by a failure of normal mineralization of bone and epiphyseal cartilage and clinically by skeletal deformities. Since the introduction of Vitamin D into the food supply of developed countries, nutritional Vitamin D defiency rickets has become an uncommon disease. In the developing countries Vitamin D deficient rickets occurs not uncommonly, however, and resultant skeletal disorders are still found infrequently. Recently, theories of Vitamin D metabolism have explained the rachitic syndrome, and many of the mystries of the calcium regulatory mechanism have also been uncovered. From January 1971 to May 1975 thirty-two patients with rickets were observed at Yonsei University Severance Hospital. These cases are analysed with a review of the literature. Following observations were made: Of the 32 patients, 14(43.8%) occured between 2 and 3 years of age. 2. The incidence in females was greater than in males (males 28%, females 72%). 3. Bow leg deformity was a major complaint and presenting physical finding. The enlargement of a joint was next. 4. The amelioration of laboratory values and radiological changes were revealed after 2 weeks from the initial treatment. 5. Brace was effective for tibial torsion and was combined with the process of medical treatment.
Braces ; Calcium ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Developed Countries ; Developing Countries ; Female ; Food Supply ; Genu Varum ; Growth Plate ; Humans ; Incidence ; Joints ; Male ; Metabolism ; Miners ; Rickets ; Vitamin D

The hand is a part of the human body, which has a complex structure, various functions and is one of the parts of the body most susceptible to trauma. With the increasing number of the traffic and occupational accidents proportionate to the rapld development of modern culture, fracture of the hand have become one of the commonest fracture of the human body. The object of treatment of fracture of the hand is to restore function the greatest degree possible with exact diagnosis and proper treatment based on the knowledge of anatomical structure and function. The authors have reviewed 228 cases of fractures of the hand (fracture with severe soft tissue injury were excluded) which were treated in the department of orthopedic surgery, Severance hospital from 1969 to 1978. The following results were obtained; 1. Fractures occured more commonly In man (80.3%) than woman. 2. Fractures occured more commonly in the second decade and the group between 10 and 30 years of age accounted for 73.7% of all fractures. 3. There was no significant differnnce between the left and right side. (105:123) 4. The commonest cause of the fracture was traffic accident (38.6%), machinary injury was the second (21.1%). 5. Most of the patients were brought to our hospital within 12 hours after injury (61.8%). 6. The most frequently fractured bone was the metacarpal (34.4%), then the proximal phalanx (28.1%), distal phalanx (16.9%), middle phalanx (10.5%) in decreasing frequency. 7. The average time for clinical union was 4.2 weeks in the case of the distal phalanx, 6.8 weeks in middle phalanx, 7.3 weeks in proximal phalanx and 6.5 weeks in metacarpal. 8. Complications were found in 8.3% of all cases and angulation deformlty was the most frequent.
Accidents, Occupational ; Accidents, Traffic ; Clinical Study ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hand ; Human Body ; Humans ; Orthopedics ; Soft Tissue Injuries

BACKGROUND: Germline mutations in the breast cancer-associated genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 confer susceptibility and a lifetime risk of breast. Several morphological and clinical features have been attributed to hereditary tumors. However, in sporadic breast cancer, the interrelationship between the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of these loci and clinical features remains to be fully elucidated. METHODS: Microdissected paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of 48 cases of surgically resected breast carcinoma were investigated to identify the LOH of BRCA1 and BRCA2 using microsatellite markers. RESULTS: Of 48 cases, 22 (45.9%) exhibited LOH at BRCA1 locus while in 29 out of 48 (60.4%) cases LOH was observed for the BRCA2 region. There was no significant correlation between LOH at BRCA1/2 and the patient's age, tumor size, histologic grade or lymph node metastasis. When comparing the frequency of LOH with the expression of several prognostic factors, such as p53, c-erb B2 protein, estrogen and progesterone receptor using immunohistochemical stain, there was only correlation with LOH at BRCA2 and the progesterone receptor. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that allelic deletion play a role to the development of sporadic breast cancers.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Estrogens ; Germ-Line Mutation ; Loss of Heterozygosity* ; Lymph Nodes ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Paraffin* ; Receptors, Progesterone

PURPOSE: Laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) has become a viable alternative treatment for patients suffering with early gastric cancer. Surgeons have long thought that obesity might increase the rate of intraoperative or postoperative complications. This study was performed to evaluate the impact of obesity, according to the learning curve, in patients who underwent laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 100 patients who had undergone LADG for gastric cancer between September 2004 and May 2007 at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. We measured the degree of obesity by using the body mass index (BMI: kg/m(2)), and we compared the surgical outcomes between the low BMI group (BMI < 25 kg/m(2), n=72) and the high BMI group (BMI >25 kg/m(2), n=28). We further subdivided the patients into the surgeons' number of cumulative LADG cases, the early learning curve group (from the first patient to the 50th patient) and the late learning curve group (from the 51th patient to the 100th patient). We analyzed them in terms of the operation time, the amount of intraoperative bleeding, the number of retrieved lymph nodes, the rate of operative morbidity and the length of the postoperative hospital stay. RESULTS: There no significant differences between the high and low BMI groups in terms of the patients' clinicopathologic characteristics and surgical outcomes, but there was a statistically significant difference in the operation times between the high BMI (303.3 min) and low BMI groups (269.3 min, P=0.029). The postoperative morbidity was not different between the high BMI (25%) and low BMI groups (12.5%, P=0.12). However, when we subdivided the patients by the learning curve, there was a statistically significant difference for the operation time (360 vs 297 minutes, respectively), postoperative morbidity (41.7 vs 10.5%, respectively) and the postoperative hospital stay (15.5 vs 8.6 day, respectively) between the high BMI and low BMI groups at the early learning curve period. Especially for male patients, the early learning curve period showed significant differences in the operation time, the postoperative morbidity and the postoperative hospital stay between the high BMI and low BMI groups, but in case of the female patients, there was no difference in postoperative morbidity and the length of the postoperative hospital stay. At the late learning curve period, there was no difference according to gender and obesity. CONCLUSION: Obesity itself does not increase operative morbidity when performing LADG in patients with gastric cancer. However, at a surgeon's initial period of performing LADG, a careful approach seems to be required for male obese patients.
Body Mass Index ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Learning ; Learning Curve ; Length of Stay ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Obesity ; Postoperative Complications ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stress, Psychological

PURPOSE: The increased expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 has been implicated in the development and progression of human cancers. We investigated COX-2 expression in normal, gastric adenomas and adenocarcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: COX-2 protein was assayed in gastrectomy and biopsy specimens, from 68 gastric adenocarcinomas, 40 gastric adenomas and 35 normal gastric tissues, by immunohistochemistry, and 32 specimens of normal and adenocarcinomas by western blot analysis. Correlation between COX-2 expression and various clinicopathological factors were studied in the gastric adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: COX-2 protein expression in epithelial cells was increased in 6/40 (15%) of the adenomas and 55/68 (80.9 %) of the adenocarcinomas, while normal mucosa was not expressed. COX-2 expression was increased in differ-entiated gastric carcinomas compared with those in the undifferentiated group (p<0.05). The expression of COX-2 protein was unrelated to tumor size, depth of tumor invasion and the presence of lymphatic or vascular invasions. Western blot analysis showed the enhanced expression of the COX-2 protein (23 out of 32)(71%) in gastric carcinomas compared to that of normal gastric mucosal epithelium. CONCLUSION: The above results indicated that the expression of COX-2 protein occurs in dysplastic epithelium and gastric carcinomas, which suggests COX-2 expression may contribute to tumor formation.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adenoma ; Biopsy ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinogenesis* ; Cyclooxygenase 2* ; Epithelial Cells ; Epithelium ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Mucous Membrane ; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases ; Stomach Neoplasms

Esophageal duplication cysts are congenital anomalies of the foregut that are rarely found in the abdomen. An accurate preoperative diagnosis is not always possible, so the definitive diagnosis can be made by histologic examination of the surgical specimen. We experienced a case of Intra-abdominal esophageal duplication cyst in a 52-year-old female, who initially presented with an esophageal submucosal tumor on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. She did not have any gastrointestinal symptoms. Barium esophagography, chest computed tomography scan and endoscopic ultrasonography demonstrated the cystic lesion in the intra-abdominal esophagus. Transhiatal enucleation of the lesion was performed successfully via the abdominal approach with no postoperative complications. Histologic study showed that the cyst wall contained a two-layered muscle coat and the surface of the lumen was lined by pseudo-ciliated columnar epithelium. The patient has been doing well without any complaints for 3 months of follow-up period.
Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Radiography, Abdominal ; Middle Aged ; Humans ; Female ; Esophageal Cyst/*diagnosis/pathology/*surgery ; *Abdomen

It has been reported that keratocytes endocytose foreign particles both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting the active participation of keratocytes in corneal wound healing and host defense mechanism. This study was conducted to investigate the phagocytosis of keratocytes against Candida albicans[C.albicans]and the intracellular response after phagocytosis. C.albicans were fixed with glutaraldehyde and then coated with fibronectin. After exposing these C.albicans to the cultured rabbit keratocytes, the phagocytosis of keratocytes against C.albicans was evaluated by light microscope[LM]and transmission electron microscope[TEM], while the intracellular response was evaluated by changes of acid phosphatase activity. Also the study about latex beads was performed at the same time to know even if keratocytes can phagocytose foreign particles, regardless of wheather or not the particles are biodegradable. After Wright staining, phagocytosed latex beads and C.albicans were observed on LM and these were recognized to be surrounded by limiting membranes inside the cytoplasm of keratocytes on TEM. The phagocytic rates of fibronectin-coated were increased to 1.5 times , as compared with that of non-coated group. Acid phosphatase activities were higher in C.albicans-exposed groups than in control[keratocytes cultured without C.albicans or latex beads]during the culture period of 24 hours and they also increased according to culture duration and reached to the plateau after 12 hours. In comparison with non-coated group, fibronectin-coated groups showed a increasing tendency of acid phosphatase activity. These results suggest that keratocytes can phagocytose not only foreign particles but also C.albicans and that fibronectin may act as effective opsonin on phagocytosis, and that keratocytes phagocytosing C.albicans increase acid phosphatase activity to digest engulfed C.albicans when corneal stroma was wounded or inflammed.
Acid Phosphatase* ; Candida albicans* ; Candida* ; Corneal Stroma ; Cytoplasm ; Fibronectins ; Glutaral ; Latex ; Membranes ; Microspheres ; Phagocytosis* ; Wound Healing ; Wounds and Injuries

In this immunohistochemical study we applied a monoclonal antibody(mAb) to evaluate the expression pattern of lymphocyte functionassociated antigen 3(LFA-3) in rabbit`s corneas before and after intracorneal injection of Candida albicans. Ten right eyes were induced to get immunocompromized cornea with subconjunctival injection of 2mg of dexamethasone once a day for 3 days(group I), and 10 left eyes had normal cornea without subconjunctival injection of dexamethazone(group II). Each 2 corneas in both group I and II were resected at 3, 12, 24 and 72 hours after intracorneal injection of C. albicans. Each 2 corneas without intracorneal injection of C. albicans in both groups were used as a control. The results were as follows: LFA-3 was expressed weakly on corneal epithlium in control of group I and group II. Expression of LFA-3 on vascular endothelium of group II was somewhat stronger than that of group I, LFA-3 was expressed moderately on vascular endothelium, and was detected on corneal stroma at 3 hors after intracorneal injection in both groups. Expression of LFA-3 on corneal stroma was slightly increased in both group II, and markedly increased in group I at 12 hours after intracorneal injection. Group II showed slightly increased LFA-3 expression on corneal and II to be expressed on corneal endothelium and inflammatory cells at 24 hours after injection. Its expression on corneal epithelium, stroma and endothelium was more increased in group II than in group I at that time. Group I showed moderate LFA-3 expression on corneal epithelium, corneal endothelium and inflammatory cells, and strong expression on corneal stroma and vascular endothelium at 72 hours after infection. Otherwise, LFA-3 expression in group II was weak to moderate n corneal epithelium, corneal endothelium and inflammatory cell, and moderate on corneal stroma and vascular endothelium. In this study, it was found that expression of LFA-3 in group I was weaker than that in group II in control and at 3 hours after intracorneal injection of C. albicans, but group I showed more strong LFA-3 expression than group II after 12 hours of intracorneal injection.
Antigens, CD58 ; Candida albicans* ; Candida* ; Cornea ; Corneal Stroma ; Dexamethasone ; Endothelium ; Endothelium, Corneal ; Endothelium, Vascular ; Epithelium, Corneal ; Lymphocytes ; Rabbits*