• 대한화상학회지
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.46-49
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• 2021

An anatomically normal first web space is essential for optimal prehensile movements of the thumb and hand. A 28-year-old woman presented with severe scarring and contractures of the first web space of both hands, following a flame burn injury sustained 25 years prior to presentation. First web space contracture may occur secondary to severe injuries, burns (as observed in our patient), or congenital hand anomalies. A significant amount of additional skin is required to release a severe first web space contracture. Reconstruction of wide areas of contractures using only local flaps is challenging. Among other free flaps used in clinical practice, the thinned lateral arm free flap provides flexible vascularized tissue for reconstruction of the skin after severe first web space contracture release. Reconstruction using lateral arm free flaps facilitated thumb abduction and opposition (which were initially difficult) and improved hand function in our patient.

• Medical Lasers
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.35-38
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• 2019

Thread-lifting is a minimally invasive procedure that shows good results and fewer complications as compared with those results and complications of standard surgery. Many procedures and techniques have been developed to create a younger appearance of facial/neck skin for aging people, and the demand for an improved aesthetic appearance is increasing. Since the incidence of side effects is much less than that of non-absorbable threads, which can lead to complications such as foreign body reactions, polydioxanone (PDO) threads are predominantly used for face lift procedures. A 66-year-old woman presented to our clinic with inflamed palpable masses. She had undergone a face lift with absorbable threads in our clinic 5 months previously. Excisional biopsy was performed with the patient under local anesthesia. During the operation, any threads were not detected and there was both fibrotic scar tissue and granulomatous tissue. For effectively promoting healing and managing the scars, treatment with LDM^®-MED was performed on the day after surgery. The treatment was performed according to the author's protocol. Although foreign body granuloma as a complication after using non-absorbable thread types have been previously reported, it is relatively rare to find this type of complication after using absorbable thread. In this report, we present a case in which a 66-year-old female with foreign body granuloma after undergoing a face lift using absorbable threads was treated with the application of dual-frequency ultrasound, which promoted wound healing.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.110-117
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• 2024

Percutaneous first annular pulley (A1 pulley) release, which has been increasingly used to treat trigger fingers, has been widely established as a safe and simple procedure. Multiple studies have reported positive results of percutaneous A1 pulley release. In this study, however, we report cases of patients who developed complications after undergoing percutaneous A1 pulley release at local clinics. A total of six patients visited our hospital for infectious complications after percutaneous A1 pulley release. Various sequelae such as damage to normal structures, insufficient procedure, and tissue necrosis were observed during the exploration. A retrospective study was conducted to identify the cause and trend of the observed complications by instruments (HAKI knife or needle). In the HAKI knife group, there was a tendency for damage to normal structures, while in the needle group, an insufficient release or serious soft tissue necrosis was observed. Based on these cases, our findings confirm the existence and characteristics of infectious complications following the percutaneous A1 pulley release. We further identify that the type of instrument used predicts the nature of complications. Thus, reliable and skilled performance of the procedure by experts is essential for safe treatment.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제16권5호
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• pp.281-285
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• 2016

CD4⁺ regulatory T cells (Tregs) are essential for normal immune surveillance, and their dysfunction can lead to the development of autoimmune diseases, such as type-1 diabetes (T1D). T1D is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease characterized by islet b cell destruction, hypoinsulinemia, and severely altered glucose homeostasis. Tregs play a critical role in the development of T1D and participate in peripheral tolerance. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can be utilized to obtain a renewable source of healthy Tregs to treat T1D as they have the ability to produce almost all cell types in the body, including Tregs. However, the right conditions for the development of antigen (Ag)-specific Tregs from PSCs (i.e., PSC-Tregs) remain undefined, especially molecular mechanisms that direct differentiation of such Tregs. Auto Ag-specific PSC-Tregs can be programmed to be tissue-associated and infiltrate to local inflamed tissue (e.g., islets) to suppress autoimmune responses after adoptive transfer, thereby avoiding potential overall immunosuppression from non-specific Tregs. Developing auto Ag-specific PSC-Tregs can reduce overall immunosuppression after adoptive transfer by accumulating inflamed islets, which drives forward the use of therapeutic PSC-Tregs for cell-based therapies in T1D.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.563-572
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• 2012

Objectives : The aim of this study was to suggest a new method to estimate the resistance by acupoint compositions by using the multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis(MF-BIA) of 5 kHz, 50 kHz and 200 kHz within 2 cm of acupoints as a local segment. Moreover, we try to confirm the relation to between measured resistance at skin surface and measured resistance by various manual acupuncture needle insertion depth. Methods : Ten male subjects participated in this study. We measured the resistance at left/right ST36 at skin surface and various manual acupuncture needle insertion depth(skin, 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm, 20 mm, 25 mm and 30 mm). Results : It was also observed that the all measured resistances were the highest at 5 kHz and the lowest at 200 kHz. There were significant differences at 5 kHz, 50 kHz and 200 kHz between measured resistance at skin surface and measured resistance by various manual acupuncture needle insertion depth(p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the left and right identical acupoints under the identical condition(p>0.05). Conclusions : We conclude that the measured resistance at skin surface has limitation as to reflect the information of tissue. However, the measured resistance at each frequency was changed as similar pattern by different insertion depth. Hence, we confirmed the possibility of assumption on information of tissue which was expected to locate an acupoint.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• 제46권6호
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• pp.589-593
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• 2019

Post-traumatic defects of the distal third of the leg often require skipping a few steps of the well-established reconstructive ladder, due to the limited local reliable reconstructive options. In rare cases, the reconstructive plan and flap choice may encounter challenges when the patient has psychiatric illness affecting compliance with postoperative care. We describe a case of a patient with severe intellectual disability and an open fracture of the distal lower limb. After fracture management and debridement of devitalized tissues, the resultant soft tissue defect was covered with a free gracilis flap. On postoperative day 7, the patient ripped out the newly transplanted flap. The flap was too traumatized for salvage, so a contralateral free gracilis muscle flap was used. The patient showed good aesthetic and functional outcomes at a 1-year follow-up. When planning the postoperative management of patients with psychiatric illness, less complex and more robust procedures may be preferred over a long and complex surgical reconstruction requiring good compliance with postoperative care. The medical team should be aware of the risk of postoperative collapse, focus on the prevention of pain, and be wary of drug interactions. Whenever necessary, free tissue transfer should be performed despite potential compliance issues.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.197-205
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• 2016

Adipose tissue is one of the major endocrine gland. More recently, local production of steroids in adipocytes differentiated from mouse 3T3-L1 cell-line was reported. We hypothesized that rat adipocytes have steroidogenic machinery and the expression patterns of the components might be differentially regulated, depending on the distribution and sex. To verify this hypothesis, we collected the adipose tissues depot-and sex-specifically at postnatal day (PND) 30, and performed quantitative RT-PCRs. In overall aspects, the abundances of the transcripts were lower in the brown adipose of both sexes. $3{\beta}-HSD$ transcript levels in female abdominal and reproductive adipose, CYP17 transcript levels in female reproductive adipose, $17{\beta}-HSD$ transcript levels in female abdominal and reproductive adipose, and CYP19 transcript levels in female abdominal adipose were significantly lower than those of male counterparts. Similar to steroidogenic factors, the abundance of the $ER-{\alpha}$ transcripts were generally lower in the brown adipose of both sexes. $ER-{\beta}$ transcripts were more abundant in male white adipose depots than their female counterparts. The levels of LHR transcripts in female reproductive adipose were significantly higher than those of male counterpart. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that the expressions of steroidogenesis-related genes were depot- and sex-specifically occurred in the immature male and female rat adipose tissues. Our study suggested that the adipose tissues are not only targets but de novo synthesizing sites of sex steroid(s), though the synthesizing activities could be much less than in gonads. Further researches in this field will be helpful for understanding the adipose physiology and for medical application such as sex-specific steroid supplement therapies for older populations.

• 한국조리학회지
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• 제3권
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• pp.291-313
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• 1997

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of dietary zinc and ethanol on the mineral contents of serum and changes of the liver tissue. Eighty male rats of Sprague-Dawley strain with average weight of 80$\pm$5g were divided into five groups according to zinc levels(5ppm and 100ppm), ethanol and isocaloric sucrose feedings. The rats were sacrificed after 4 and 7 weeks of feeding periods. The results are summarized as follows. 1. There was a decrease of weight gain in the ZD group compared with the C group and also decreased in the CE and ZDE groups fed the ethanol solution. The feed intake was decreased in the ZD and ZDE groups, and the feed efficiency was also greatly reduced in the ZDE group. 2. The liver weight of the ZD and ZDE groups was increased, however, the weight of testis was decreased in the same groups. And the weight of spleen was decreased in the ZD group. 3. The AST and ALT activities of serum were significantly increased in the ZDE group. 4. The content of serum zinc was influenced by the dietary zinc level, and the amount was significantly decreased in the ZD group. But the content of serum copper was remarkably increased in the ZD grou. The calcium and magnesium contents of serum were decreased in the ZD and ZDE groups. 5. The morphological changes of the liver tissue were not different among the C, CE and PF groups, but the abllooning denaturation of the liver cell together with the infiltration of the local inflammation cell was found in ZD and ZDE groups.

• Archives of Reconstructive Microsurgery
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.163-168
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• 2001

The defects of the abdominal wall could be brought about either congenitally, for instances in such cases as omphalocele or gastroschisis, or by various acquired causes-trauma, excision of tumors, excision of burn scar, tissue necrosis caused by infection, hematoma after abdominal surgery, tissue necrosis after radiation therapy and so on. As for the techniques of the reconstruction of the abdominal wall defects, many authors have developed and reported diverse methods. To summarize, primary closure, skin graft, local skin flaps, various myocutaneous flaps, free flap, fascia graft, artificial mesh, tissue expansion, etc could be used in the reconstruction of the abdominal wall defects. The periumbilical perforator-based island skin flap has a many advantages such as no significant sacrifice of the rectus abdominis muscle, wide rotation arc, reliable blood flow of the perforator, short elevation time for flap, and for middle-aged, obese patients, the donor site may be the best from the cosmetic point of view. We used perforator-based island skin flap in 5 cases with reasonable result from March 1999 to May 2001. There were no significant complications and donor sites could be repaired primarily.

• Archives of Reconstructive Microsurgery
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.21-26
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• 2012

The radial artery superficial palmar branch free flap is based on the perforators of the superficial palmar branch of the radial artery and its venae comitantes. This flap can be used as a sensible flap including palmar cutaneous branch of the median nerve. Forty radial artery superficial palmar branch free flaps were performed at Centum Institute during October 2010 to December 2011. There were 32 males and 8 females and their mean age were 48 years (range 30 to 66 years). The thumb injured in 13 patients, the index finger in 16 patients, the middle finger in 4 patients, the ring finger in 2 patients, and the little finger in 5 patients. The mean size of the flap was $2.5{\times}3.5$ cm(range $2{\times}2.5$ to $3{\times}7$ cm). The donor site was always closed primarily. The overall survival rate was 90.2 percent. The flaps showed well-padded tissue with glabrous skin. All patients have touch sensation and showed 12 mm two point discrimination in an average(range 8 to 15 mm). Donor site morbidity was conspicuous. One patient showed unsightly scar. Early postoperative range of motion of the affected thumb showed slightly limited radial and palmar abduction. But it improved after postoperative 2 months, and patients did not complaint limitation of motion. In conclusion, the radial artery superficial palmar branch free flap can be used as an option for soft tissue reconstruction of finger defects where local or island flaps are unsuitable.