The authors note that the units on page 188 were reported incorrectly.

BACKGROUND: Micro-needle patches have been recently used to increase skin permeability, which improves drug delivery, and for cosmetic purposes. However, these patches may often have limited efficacy due to insufficient skin penetration and reduced compliance caused by discomfort. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the efficacy and the safety of soluble micro-spicule containing epidermal growth factor (MS-EGF) for the treatment of periocular wrinkles. METHODS: Twenty healthy volunteers aged 33 to 54 years were enrolled in a randomized, controlled, split-face study. For 4 weeks, a periocular wrinkle was treated daily with either a soluble MS-EGF cream or a cream containing EGF alone. All subjects underwent 8 weeks of follow-up. Efficacy was assessed using an ultrasonic measurement of dermal depth and density, digital skin image analysis, 5-point photonumeric scale for periocular wrinkles and subjective satisfaction. RESULTS: MS-EGF group showed statistically significant increase of dermal depth and density compared to EGF alone group after 4 and 8 weeks. In addition, there was a marked improvement shown in clinical and 3-dimensional skin image in MS-EGF group. The treatments were well-tolerated; no significant side-effect was noted. CONCLUSION: The MS-EGF formulation may represent an effective and biocompatible advance in the treatment of periocular wrinkles.
Compliance ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Healthy Volunteers ; Permeability ; Skin ; Ultrasonics

Adipogenesis in murine preadipocyte 3T3L-1 has been used as a model system to study anti-obese bioactive molecules. During adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, we found that capsanthin inhibited adipogenesis (IC₅₀; 2.5 μM) and also showed lipolytic activity in differentiated adipocytes from the preadipocytes (ED₅₀ ; 872 nM). We identified that the pharmacological activity of capsanthin on adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 was mainly due to its adrenoceptor-β2-agonistic activity. In high-fat diet animal model study, capsanthin significantly enhanced spontaneous locomotive activities together with progressive weight-loss. The capsanthin-induced activation of kinetic behavior in mice was associated with the excessive production of ATP initiated by both the enhanced lipolytic activity together with accelerated oxidation of fatty acids due to the adrenoceptor β2-agonistic activity of capsanthin. Capsanthin also dose-dependently increased adiponectin and p-AMPK activity in high fat diet animals, suggesting that capsanthin has both anti-obesity and insulin sensitizing activities.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Adipocytes ; Adipogenesis* ; Adiponectin ; Animals ; Diet, High-Fat ; Fatty Acids ; Insulin ; Mice ; Mice, Obese* ; Models, Animal ; Weight Gain*

BACKGROUND: Hand eczema is one of the most common skin disorders and negatively affects quality of life. However, a large-scale multicenter study investigating the clinical features of patients with hand eczema has not yet been conducted in Korea. OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of various hand diseases, which is defined as all cutaneous disease occurring in hands, and to investigate the clinical features of patients with hand eczema and the awareness about hand eczema in the general population and to compare the prevalence of hand eczema between health care providers and non-health care providers. METHODS: To estimate the prevalence of hand diseases, we analyzed the medical records of patients from 24 medical centers. Patients were assessed by online and offline questionnaires. A 1,000 from general population and 913 hand eczema patients answered the questionnaire, for a total of 1,913 subjects. RESULTS: The most common hand disease was irritant contact dermatitis. In an online survey, the lifetime prevalence of hand eczema was 31.2%. Hand eczema was more likely to occur in females (66.0%) and younger (20~39 years, 53.9%). Health care providers and housewives were the occupations most frequently associated with hand eczema. Winter (33.6%) was the most common season which people experienced aggravation. The 63.0% and 67.0% answered that hand eczema hinders their personal relationship and negatively affects daily living activities, respectively. CONCLUSION: Hand eczema is a very common disease and hinders the quality of life. The appropriate identification of hand eczema is necessary to implement effective and efficient treatment.
Activities of Daily Living ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Eczema* ; Female ; Hand* ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Korea* ; Medical Records ; Occupations ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Seasons ; Skin ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Partial or complete absence of the posterior arch of the atlas is a well-documented anomaly but a relatively rare condition. This condition is usually asymptomatic so most are diagnosed incidentally. There have been a few documented cases of congenital defects of the posterior arch of the atlas combined with atlantoaxial subluxation. We report a very rare case of congenital anomaly of the atlas combined with atlantoaxial subluxation, that can be misdiagnosed as posterior arch fracture.
Adult ; Cervical Atlas/*abnormalities ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Spinal Diseases/*diagnosis

Almost all cases of acute methanol intoxication result from ingestion. Absorption of methanol following oral administration is rapid and peak concentration occurs within 30-60 min. Foromic acid converted metabolites of methanol are responsible for its toxic effect. Methanol poisoning typically induces nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and mild central nervous system depression. Then there is a latent period lasting, followed by an uncompensated metabolic acidosis and visual dysfunction, depending on the dose of methanol ingested. Here we report on three patients who were victims of methanol intoxication due to ingestion of windshield washer fluid, which was misidentified as an alcoholic beverage. One patient had a mild form, which included abdominal discomfort, another patient had a moderate case, which included nausea, vomiting, and acidosis, and the other patient had severe acidosis and altered mentality and visual dysfunction. Except one case of visual dysfunction, all three patients recovered successfully following medical treatment and hemodialysis.
Abdominal Pain ; Absorption ; Acidosis ; Administration, Oral ; Alcoholic Beverages ; Alcoholics ; Central Nervous System ; Depression ; Eating ; Humans ; Methanol ; Nausea ; Renal Dialysis ; Vomiting

Malignant rhabdoid tumors were first described in 1978 by Beckwith and Palmer as a rare variant of Wilms' tumors with a "rhabdomyosarcomatoid" pattern and a particularly poor prognosis. Week reclassified this disease as a distinct disease in 1989 and thereafter, there have been several reports about malignant rhabdoid tumor that occurred in various organs, including the colon. The histologic characteristics of rhabdoid tumor are noncohesive or loosely cohesive cells with high cellularity, an eccentric large nucleus and eosinophilic cytoplasm, and the cytoplasm is usually positive for vimentin and it contain hyaline inclusions. On immunohistochemical staining, the cells are usually positive for vimentin and cytokeratin and they are negative for desmin. This tumor progresses rapidly and it has a very poor prognosis, but survival is better if there is no lymphatic or distant metastasis. We experienced a patient who suffered with undifferentiated adenocarcinoma with rhabdoid features in the ascending colon.
Adenocarcinoma ; Colon ; Colon, Ascending ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Cytoplasm ; Desmin ; Eosinophils ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Keratins ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Rhabdoid Tumor ; Vimentin ; Wilms Tumor

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of the pancreas are rare. Its prognosis is better than pancreas adenocarcinoma due to the slow growth, however, malignant NET of the pancreas are observed. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the clinical characteristics and to find the predictive factors of NET which are associated with malignancy and survival. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the clinical outcomes of 122 patients with NET of the pancreas who were pathologically diagnosed at Asan Medical Center between 1990 and 2006. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 48.9+/-14.0 years and there was no gender predilection. The major clinical manifestations were abdominal pain (44.0%) in non-functional tumor, neuroglycopenic symptoms (100%) in insulinoma and diarrhea (60%) in gastrinoma. Tumor size ranged from 4 to 140 mm (average 29.8+/-23.22). Ninety cases (73.8%) were classified as benign tumors and 32 cases (26.2%) as malignant. In multivariate analysis of clinical characteristics, large sized tumor (>20 mm, p=0.001) was confirmed as sole independent factor to predict malignant NET. Surgical resection was performed in 114 patients. All patients with benign NET are still alive without recurrence. Six out of 32 patients with malignant NET died at an average 40.3 months after diagnosis. The factors indicating favorable outcome were small size of tumors (p=0.046), resection of primary tumor (p=0.000), absence of lymph node invasion (p=0.0116) and distant metastasis (p=0.0005). CONCLUSIONS: Large NET of the pancreas, regardless of their functioning status, were more likely to be associated with malignancy and predictor of worse survival.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neuroendocrine Tumors/*diagnosis/mortality/pathology ; Pancreatectomy ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/*diagnosis/mortality/pathology ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Analysis