We have developed standards based on international criterions for the quality control of dose tested by the measurement institutions of individual exposure doses through improving the reliability of data on the exposure dose of individuals working in radioactive environment and securing the accuracy and reliability of individual dose measurements. Laws related to radiation dose applied to domestic institutions refer to ANSI N13.11?1993, but currently , in U.S. and some other countries the measurement of radiation doses is based on ANSI N13.11?2001 that reduced test categories and tightened the standards. We made efforts to simplify the standards and to reduce the number of dosimeters required in experiment, and avoided preventing or hindering the use of future technologies not approved under the current law such as glass dosimeter and optical stimulation dosimeter. The Quality Management Manual of Radiation Dosimetry Service, Assessment Manual of Radiation Dosimetry Service Accreditation Program, and the Personnel Dosimetry Performance-Criteria for Testing are documents applicable in supervising laboratories.
Accreditation ; Glass ; Jurisprudence ; Quality Control ; Radiometry

Tick bites are dermatoses not commonly encountered in Korea. Identification of causative ticks as well as recognition of clinical signs and histopathologic findings are important in making a diagnosis in tick-related dermatoses. Hard ticks which belong to the Family Ixodidae are responsible for most tick-related diseases. Since the first human case of tick bite in Korea was reported in 1982, seventeen cases have been reported up to the present. All the inflicted ticks belonged to the genus Ixodes except a case by Haemaphysalis flava. Among 16 ticks, collected from 16 cases of tick bites caused by the genus Ixodes, nine I. nipponenses, an I. ovatus and I. persulcatus were identified. Recently we experienced 8 cases of tick bites, 6 of them were caused by the genus Ixodes including 4 I. nipponenses. One of them, whose essential complaint was fever and chills, showed the clinical course of tick bite pyrexia which had not been reported in Korea. The clinical and epidemiological findings of tick bites reported in Korea were reviewed, including these 8 cases.
Chills ; Diagnosis ; Fever ; Humans ; Ixodes ; Ixodidae ; Korea ; Skin Diseases ; Tick Bites* ; Ticks*

BACKGROUND: The complications associated with endoscopic stone removal arise from the sphincterotomy that is performed to facilitate stone extraction. Early complications such as bleeding, perforation, pancreatitis and sepsis occur in about 10% of all patients. Moreover late complications may emerge due to the loss of the sphincter function. So the endoscopic removal of the bile duct stones without a sphincterotomy seems preferable in order to avoid the early complications related to the sphincterotomy, and may also help to preserve the function of the sphincter of Cddi. AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of endoscopic balloon sphinteroplasty(EBS), we attempted to remove common bile duct stones, less than 12 mm, without sphincterotomy in 11 patients. We also investigated the effects of sphincteroplasy on the motility of sphincter of Oddi before and after EBS. RESULTS: All patients were treated succesefully, with two patients administered sublingual nitroglycerine for the medical sphincter dilatation. Only one patient had mild abdominal pain, while the others experienced no complications. Follow-up manometric examinations showed the papillary function to be well preserved. CONCLUSION: This results suggested that the endoscopic balloon sphincteroplasy without sphincterotomy for the removal of small-sized stones is a useful and safe method, and its major advantage may lie in the preservation of the sphincter function. We recommend that prospective studies, preferably randomized, with clear objectives, are needed to clarify the success and safety of this technique compared to the standard sphincterotomy.
Abdominal Pain ; Bile Ducts ; Common Bile Duct* ; Dilatation ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Nitroglycerin ; Pancreatitis ; Sepsis ; Sphincter of Oddi

The bleeding duodenal varices are a rare complication in patients with portal hypertension, but present a difficult diagnostic problem. If there is no bleeding esophageal, gastric fundal varices or ulcer in a patient with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and portal hypertension, the possibility of bleeding duodenal varices should be kept in mind. Thorough endoscopic examination of the entire duodenal mucosa is essential to document bleeding from duodenal varices. As an initial treatment, endoscopic sclerotherapy has had limited success in controlling active duodenal variceal bleeding. However, rebleeding rate is high, surgical treatment including shunt operation may be required for permanent control of bleeding and portal decompression. We report three cases of duodenal varices causing massive hemorrhage. All the patients had portal hypertension caused by liver cirrhosis of various etiologies and had varices in their esophagus. The second portion of the duodenum was the site of duodenal varices in all cases. The management was tailored to the condition of each patient, but only one patient among three survived.
Decompression ; Duodenum ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices ; Esophagus ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Mucous Membrane ; Sclerotherapy ; Ulcer ; Varicose Veins*

A 45-year-old woman with recurrent disturbances of consciousness for 4 years with hypoglycemia was hospitalized with the clinical suspicion of an insulinoma. The findings of transabdominal ultrasonography, computed tomography and angiography were negative. Transhepatic venous sampling for pancreatic hormone assay showed sudden step-up of serum level of insulin in the venous blood from the tail of the pancreas. Finally, an endoscopic ultrasonographic examination established with certainty the origin of the tumor from the tail of the pancreas, which was subsequently confirmed at operation. In conclusion, endoscopic ultrasonography is a useful and valuable procedure for the localization of insulinoma especially in patient with insulinoma of the pancreas that cannot be localized by conventional methods.
Angiography ; Consciousness ; Endosonography* ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; Insulin ; Insulinoma* ; Middle Aged ; Pancreas ; Ultrasonography

A 26-year-old female presented herself to our clinic due to noduloulcerative lesions of one month duration on her face and trunk with accompaning headache and mild fever. In family history, her husband was reported to have a history of chaner. On physical examinat.ion, rice sized eythematous papules and bean sized nodules with central ulceration were seen on the face and trunk. VDRL was 1:31 positive. A skin biopsy iif a noduloulcerative lesion showed ulceration, vascular dilatation with fibrinoid changes and perivascular inflarnmatory cellu infilt.rations, especially plasma cells. Immunoperoxidase stain showed T. pallidum at the epidermis and papillary dermis. The diagnsis was made asecondary syphilis with unusual clinical presentation as noduloucerative skin lesions. The skin lesions completely disappeared one month after treatment with injection of benzathine pelnicillin G 2.4 million unit intramuscularly weekly for three times.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Dermis ; Dilatation ; Epidermis ; Female ; Fever ; Headache ; Humans ; Plasma Cells ; Skin ; Spouses ; Syphilis* ; Ulcer

The effect of dietary zinc deficiency on the enzymatic components of free radical defense system was observed in the skin of rats. We measured the concentration of serum zinc and the enzymatic activities of CuZn superoxide dismutase(CuZn SOD), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase(GGPDH) and glutathione reductase (GSH-RD). The serum zinc level was sig nificantly lower in the zinc-deficient group compared to the zinc-supplemented group after 8 weeks of consuming the diet(P<0.01). CuZn SOD activity was not different between the two groups after 4 weeks. The Zn deficient group showed the significantly decreased activity of G6PDH after 4 and 8 weeks of consuming the diet(P<0.01). The activity of GSH-RD was increased in the zinc-deficient group compared to the supplemented group after 4 weeks of consuming the diet(P<0.01), but after 8 weeks the activity was not different between the two groups. From the results obtained, it could be concluded that GSH-RD may contribute to the oxygen free radical defense system in zinc deficiency in the earlier weeks of consum ing the zinc-deficient diet.
Animals ; Diet ; Glucose-6-Phosphate ; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase ; Glutathione Reductase ; Oxygen ; Rats* ; Skin* ; Superoxides ; Zinc*

This study was undertaken to identify the protein antigens reacting with IgM antibodies in the sera of various stages of syphilis before and after treatment, employing sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), immunoblotting and immunoperoxidase stain. The results were as follows : 1. Before treatment, the most strongly reacting antigens of T. pallidam precipitated by IgM antibodies in the sera of patients were polypeptides of molecular weights 47,000, 34,000 and 29,500. So it was observed that those were the major antigens of T. pallidum reacting with IgM antibodies. 2. After observing protein antigens of T. pallidum reacting with IgM antibodies in the sera of patients with syphilis before and after treatment, it was seen that in primary, secondary and early latent syphilis there was a loss of several antigens and s decrease in reactivity, but no changes occurred in late latent and reinfected syphilis. 3. From the observation of the reaction between serum antibodies of patients with trested syphilis and major antigens of T. pallidum, an evident decrease in reactivity was observed only with protein antigen of molecular weight 47,000 which reacts with IgM antibody. From the above results, it could be concluded that of molecular weight 47,000 could contribute to the assessment of the diagnosis of syphilis and the efficacy of treatment.
Antibodies* ; Diagnosis ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Humans ; Immunoblotting ; Immunoglobulin M* ; Molecular Weight ; Peptides ; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate ; Syphilis* ; Syphilis, Latent ; Treponema pallidum* ; Treponema*

The changes of serum IgG antibody reactivity to protein antigens of Treponema pallidum after treatment of syphilis were observed using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot. Until 9 to 12 months after treatment, it was seen that there was a loss of several antibodies and some diminution in their reactivity in primary, secondary and early latent syphilis, but no changes occurred in late latent and reinfected syphilis. In primary syphilis, there was a significant loss of two IgG antibodies to the treponemal antigens of molecular weights 68,500 and 47,000 at 11 months after treatment. According to our previous study, the treponemal antigen of molecular weight 68,500 was T. pallidum specific and appeared only in primary syphilis, and that of molecular weight 47,000 was one of the major antigens of T. pallidum. The reaction between serum IgG antibodies of 14 patients who had been treated for secondary, early latent and late latent syphilis 2 to 14 years ago and major antigens of T. pallidum was observed and any loss or decrease in reactivity was not discovered. From the results obtained, it was concluded that the observation of serum IgG antibody reactivity to protein antigens of T. pallidum is not helpful in evaluating the efficacy of treatment in secondary, early latent, late latent and reinfected syphilis. However, serum IgG antibodies to treponemal antigens of molecular weights 68,500 and 47,000 could possibly be useful in the assessment of the efficacy of treatment in primary syphilis.
Antibodies, Bacterial/*immunology ; Antigens, Bacterial/*analysis ; Blotting, Western ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G/*analysis ; Recurrence ; Syphilis/*diagnosis/immunology/therapy ; Time Factors ; Treponema pallidum/*immunology

The patient was a 35 year old woman complaining of non tender erythematous nodule on the left nipple for 2 years. Histopathologic findings showed focal acanthosis and extension of epithelium into some of the superficial ductal structures. In the dermis, the tubules were lined by a peripheral layer of cuboidal cells and a inner layer of columnar cells. The papillary projections of the luminal cells into the lumen also were shown. In the upper dermis, we could find the keratin cysta. She was treated with a simple excision of the nipple and subareolar tissue.
Adult ; Dermis ; Epithelium ; Female ; Humans ; Nipples* ; Phenobarbital