BACKGROUND: Most patients with acute viral hepatitis A (AVHA) spontaneously recover, but a few patients experience complications. This study was carried out to examine clinical features of AVHA complicated with acute renal failure (ARF). METHOD: Medical records of 404 patients with AVHA were reviewed. Clinical features of AVHA patients with ARF (group A) were compared with those of AVHA patients without ARF (group B). RESULT: ARF complication was present in 11 patients (3%). There were no differences between group A and B in sex ratio and age. Microscopic hematuria (7 cases), proteinuria (7 cases), metabolic acidosis (4 cases), oliguria (4 cases), pulmonary edema (3 cases) and hyperkalemia (2 cases) were found in group A. The prevalence of heavy alcohol drinking (64% vs 3%, p<0.001) and diabetes mellitus (18% vs 1%, p=0.01) was higher in group A than B. The peak value of ALT (median: 4,290 IU/L vs 1,266 IU/L, p=0.006) and total bilirubin (median: 10.8 mg/dL vs 6.0 mg/dL, p=0.001) was higher in group A than B. Duration of admission was longer in group A than B (median: 14 days vs 5 days, p<0.001). Four patients of group A recovered with renal replacement therapy, while 7 patients recovered with conservative treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The AVHA patients with ARF experienced more severe hepatitis than those without ARF, but they had a good prognosis with the proper treatment.
Acute Disease ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alanine Transaminase/analysis ; Bilirubin/analysis ; Biological Markers/blood ; Child ; Diabetes Mellitus/epidemiology ; Female ; Hepatitis A/*complications/diagnosis ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Acute/*virology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is very common among patients with a urological malignancy. We assessed the prevalence and patterns of use of complementary therapies among patients with bladder, prostate and renal cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between May and July 2004, we conducted a survey to assess the use of CAM at 13 outpatient clinics in Korea. Seven hundred and eleven patients with bladder (269), prostate (300) or renal cancers (142) were selected to answer a self-administered questionnaire on CAM, which were then analyzed. RESULTS: Among 711 patients with urological malignancies, 279 (39.2%) had been treated with at least one type of CAM, in addition to conventional Western treatment. The cancer patients treated with radiation therapy or immunotherapy were more likely to employ CAM than those using other therapies. Age, gender, cancer type, occupations, religions, level of education and disease status (stable or progressive) were not associated with the prevalence of CAM. 44.3% of CAM users wanted to discuss CAM techniques with their doctors, but only 24.8% received an explanation of there use. CONCLUSIONS: CAM is used by a large number of patients with urological malignancies, particularly in those undergoing radiation therapy or immunotherapy. Urologists need to have an accurate knowledge and apprehension of CAM. The possible effects and side effects should be defined, with appropriate guidelines recommended for patients with a urological malignancy.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Complementary Therapies* ; Education ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Kidney Neoplasms ; Korea ; Occupations ; Prevalence ; Prostate ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the mode of injury, associated lesions, time of injury, and the checking times of MRI/CT and Bone scans in multiple spine fractures SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: CT was predominantly used to discover and identify the fracture levels of the spine. However, fracture level identification in the entire spine was limited. CT, MRI and Bone scans were used for diagnosing multiple spine fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1999 and 2004, 12 patients who had more than level 3 spine fractures were studied. The mode of injury, associated lesions, time of injury, and checking times of MRI/CT and Bone scans were analyzed. RESULTS: The causes of the spinal injuries were from a fall from height, from traffic accidents and from multi-complex forced trauma in 7, 4 and 1 cases, respectively. Most cases had no severe associated lesions. The accuracy of the plain roentgenograms was 26% and that of CT was 35.3%, and the average checking time was 1.5 days. The accuracy of MRI was 100% and the average checking time was 4.3 days. The accuracy of the bone scans was 100%, and the average checking time was 11.7 days. The fracture patterns consisted of 37, 7, 3 and 3 non-compression (74%), compression (14%), burst (6%) and fracture-dislocation types (6%), respectively. The major treatment methods used with these patients were conservative. The treatment methods in 4 cases were with the use posterior instrumentation. CONCLUSIONS: MRI produced more accurate and faster results than the other methods of detection. The accuracy of the plain roentgenograms was 26%, which was relatively inaccurate. Therefore, if the patient complains of multiple back pains, the surgeon must check other diagnostic tools.
Accidents, Traffic ; Back Pain ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Injuries ; Spine* ; Young Adult*

Group B subtype, A1B3, was observed in a 22-year-old blood donors by conventional serologic test. In our family study, his father demonstrated uncomplicated B phenotype and his mother typed as group A. We sequenced exon 6 and 7 of phenotypically A1B3 propositus and his family members by direct sequencing and PCR-based cloning. And we have identified a novel Bvar allele characterized by a 547G>A polymorphism present in propositus and his father. This suggests that the Bvar allele is expressed differently depending on the co-inherited ABO allele.
Alleles* ; Blood Donors ; Child* ; Clone Cells ; Cloning, Organism ; Exons ; Fathers* ; Humans ; Mothers* ; Phenotype ; Serologic Tests ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Onychomycosis and tinea pedis are common superficial fungal infections. Causative organism in onychomycosis and tinea pedis have been extensively studied, but the pathogenic role of non-dermatophyte is still controversial. Trichosporon species are soil and water-inhabiting yeasts, and occasionally found in the normal flora of human skin, mouth, and nails. Trichosporon spp. have been reported to be one of the pathogens in onychomycosis and tinea pedis. OBJECTIVE: We performed mycologic studies to investigate the prevalence and significance of trichosporon spp. in skin and nail lesions, which were clinically suspected of onychomycosis and tinea pedis. METHOD: We performed a survey of the mycologic laboratory records of patients clinically suspected of onychomycosis and tinea pedis from August 2001 to July 2002, and tried to identify trichosporon to species level by using API 20C kit systems. RESULTS: Out of total 1509 nail and skin samples examined, 663(43.9%) were culture positive. Trichosporon spp. were recovered from 11.2%(74/663) of the samples. In onychomycosis considered alone, the prevalence of solitary isolated Trichosporon spp. was 7.7%. In species level, T. asahii(62.1%), T. mucoides(20.3%), and T. inkin(14.9%) were isolated in decreasing frequency. The positive rate for KOH examination in trichosporon spp. was 52.9%. Among the isolated trichosporon spp., mixed cultures with other organisms were 13(17.6%) and solitary isolates were 61(82.4%). 31(41.9%) were not only positive for KOH examination but also founded in pure culture in relatively large colony counts. In pure culture isolations, high colony counts predominated over mixed cultures. CONCLUSION: Trichosporon spp. is a relatively common isolates from fungal cultures of skin and nail, and it may be pathogenic in some cases of skin or nail infection.
Humans ; Mouth ; Onychomycosis* ; Prevalence ; Skin ; Soil ; Tinea Pedis* ; Tinea* ; Trichosporon* ; Yeasts

We report a case of fixed cutaneous type sporotrichosis with atypical histopathologic findings in a 18-year-old male patient, who presented with a 1-year history of a 4x3 cm sized, crusted, erythematous plaque and several small erythematous papules on the left knee. The histopathologic findings showed pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia, abscess formation, chronic granulomatous inflammation and many PAS-positive fungal spores and hyphae in the dermis. Sporothrix schenckii was identified with fungal culture of biopsy specimen. The lesions improved with three pulses of itraconazole 400mg daily for a week per month.
Abscess ; Adolescent ; Biopsy ; Dermis ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Hyphae ; Inflammation ; Itraconazole ; Knee ; Male ; Spores, Fungal ; Sporothrix ; Sporotrichosis*

Dental caries is a chronic disease that causes the destruction of tooth structure by the interaction of plaque bacteria, food debris, and saliva. There has been attempts to induce remineralization by supersaturating the intra-oral environment around the surface enamel, where there is incipient caries. In this study, supersaturated remineralized solution "R" was applied to specimens with incipient enamel caries, and the quantitative ananlysis of remineralization was evaluated using microradiography. Thirty subjects volunteered to participate in this study. Removable appliances were constructed for the subjects, and the enamel specimen with incipient caries were embedded in the appliances. The subjects wore the intra-oral appliance for 15 days except while eating and sleeping. The removable appliance were soaked in supersaturated solution "R", saline, or Senstime(R) to expose the specimen to those solutions three times a day, 5 minutes each time. After 15 days, microradiography was retaken to compare and evaluate remineralization. The results were as the following: 1. The ratio of remineralized area to demineralized area was significantly higher in the supersaturated solution "R" and Senstime(R) than in the saline. (p<0.05) 2. Remineralization in the supersaturated buffer solution "R" occurred in the significantly deeper parts of the tooth, compared to the Senstime(R) group containing high concentration of fluoride.(p<0.05) As in the above results, the remineralization effect of remineralized buffer solution "R" on incipient enamel caries has been proven. For clinical utilization, further studies on soft tissue reaction and the effect on dentin and cementum are necessary. In conclusion compared to commercially available fluoride solution, remineralization solution "R" showed better remineralization effect on early enamel caries lesion, so it is considered as effecient solution for clinical application.
Bacteria ; Chronic Disease ; Dental Caries ; Dental Cementum ; Dental Enamel ; Dentin ; Eating ; Fluorides ; Microradiography ; Tooth

We report the first case of toenail onychomycosis caused by Trichosporon asahii in a 60-year old Korean man. The patient presented with a typical distal subungual onychomycosis. Direct microscopic examination of scrapings on the potassium hydroxide(KOH) preparation revealed fungal elements. On modified dermatophyte agar, the colony was white color and wrinkled, folded with furrows and convolutions and microscopic morphology showed long rectangular arthroconidia and lateral blastoconidia of trichosporon species. The fungus was identified as T. asahii using API 20C AUX (bioMerieux S.A., l'Etolile, France) kit.
Agar ; Arthrodermataceae ; Fungi ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Nails* ; Onychomycosis* ; Potassium ; Trichosporon*

A 26-year-old woman had an ovarian Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor (SLCT) associated with an elevated level of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). The tumor had a heterologous element of intestinal-type mucinous epithelium, retiform and intermediately differentiated tubules of the Sertoli cells, and AFP-producing Leydig cells. AFP was demonstrated within the Leydig cells by an immunohistochemical technique. After surgery, the serum AFP level of the patient fell to the normal range. The present case is the first documented case of AFP producing a SLCT of the ovary reported in Korea.
Adult ; alpha-Fetoproteins* ; Epithelium ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Leydig Cells ; Male ; Mucins ; Ovary* ; Reference Values ; Sertoli Cells ; Sertoli-Leydig Cell Tumor*

On the whole, the major impetus for the institutionalization of public hygiene in Korea came from two directions. On one hand, the self-enlightened intellectuals had introduced a variety of Western ideas and theories on public hygiene since the mid-eighteenth century. On the other hand, Japan strongly influenced the modern systems of Korean health care and medical education, especially through Japanese efforts at the sanitary control of infectious diseases such as smallpox and cholera. The institutionalization of Korea's public hygiene in this period corresponded not to the high ideas of the progressive intellectuals but to the larger social and institutional changes caused by the major political events. Ideas of public hygiene were institutionalized as a powerful strategy of linking the imperial capital and colonial domains.
Colonialism/*history ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Japan ; Korea ; Politics ; Public Health/*history ; Sanitation/*history ; Western World