• Title/Summary/Keyword: four examinations

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A Clinical Study of Children Who Showed Benign Hemophagocytic Histiocytes in Bone Marrow Examination (골수 검사상 양성 혈구 탐식 조직구가 나타난 소아의 임상적 고찰)

  • Park, Jin A;Park, Joo Young;Park, Ji Min;Park, Seat Byoul;Kim, Heung Sik;Jeon, Dong Seok
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.45 no.8
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    • pp.1007-1015
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    • 2002
  • Purpose : The aim of this study is to find a method to diagnose and treat children who showed benign hemophagocytic histiocytes in bone marrow examination. Methods : We analyzed the clinical data of thirty patients retrospectively who showed benign hemophagocytic histiocytes in bone marrow examination from January 1995 to November 2001 at Keimyung University Dong-san Hospital. Bone marrow histiocytes were classified into a few, some, and many according to the number of histiocytes comparing with the white cells. Results : The age of thirty patients ranged from two months to 15 years. The median age was 5.6 years with male predominance(2.3 : 1). The most frequent clinical manifestation was fever; others were respiratory symptom, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy and skin rash(in order of frequency). Common laboratory findings were leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia and abnormal liver function test. Infection was present in 30 patients; causative organisms were documented in 15 patients, and bacterial infection was more common. Epstein Barr virus was the cause of infection in four patients. Bone marrow examination showed a few(20.0%), some(75.0%) and many(30.0%) hemophagocytic histiocytes. Combination immunochemotherapy including immunoglobulin, steroids and cyclosporine were helpful in 22 out of 30 patients. The mortality rate was high in young patients who showed some to many hemophagocytic histiocytes. Conclusion : Bone marrow examinations and early detection of histiocytes will be helpful in children who have fever, hepatosplenomegaly and abnormal liver function test. Immunochemotherapy were helpful and further investigation will be needed for the detection of the relationship between the bone marrow findings and prognosis.

Control of Diatrype stigma occurred on the bed-log of Shiitake by resistant Shiitake strains (표고골목 해균인 주홍꼬리버섯을 방제하기 위한 저항성 표고균주 선발)

  • Lee, Bong-Hun;Bak, Won-Chull;Ka, Kang-Hyeon;Yoon, Kab-Hee;Park, Hyun;Cha, Byeong-Jin
    • Journal of Mushroom
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    • v.3 no.3
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    • pp.109-114
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    • 2005
  • Attempts were made to control Diatrype stigma occurred on the bed-log of shiitake by resistant shiitake strains. In selection test of resistant shiitake strains, 67 out of 77 strains tested were proved to be resistant to D. stigma. Among them, 13 strains including KFRI 5 were effective to inhibit the access of D. stigma, and 7 strains including KFRI 180 remarkably invaded the territory of D. stigma. Among 31 shiitake strains made by hybridization of resistant strains for D. stigma, 8 strains including KFRI 537 inhibited the access of D. stigma, and 4 strains including KFRI 545 invaded the territory of D. stigma. The effects of temperatures and inoculation orders to the resistance were confirmed in PDA plates and test tubes filled with sawdust of Quercus acutissima. Four kinds of temperature treatments as follows were tested: (1) continuous incubation at $14^{\circ}C$, (2) continuous incubation at $25^{\circ}C$, (3) changing of incubation temperature from $14^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$ as soon as mycelia of both shiitake and D. stigma meet together, (4) changing of incubation temperature from $25^{\circ}C$ to $14^{\circ}C$ as soon as mycelia of both shiitake and D. stigma meet together. Three kinds of inoculation procedure were tested: (1) inoculation of shiitake 3 days ahead of D. stigma inoculation, (2) inoculation of D. stigma 3 days ahead of shiitake inoculation, (3) simultaneous inoculation of both fungi. In PDA plate test, the strain KFRI 137 showed outstanding ability to inhibit mycelial growth of D. stigma and the strain KFRI 180 invaded into the territory of D. stigma in most of treatments. Hybrid strains, KFRI 545, 546, and 547 were more resistant than their parent strains, KFRI 488 and 405. In test tube examinations, all the strains of shiitake showed high resistance at the treatment of change in temperature from $14^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$ when mycelia of both shiitake and D. stigma meet together. On the other hand, resistance of all the strains growing at $25^{\circ}C$ decreased when the temperature was changed into $14^{\circ}C$ after mycelia of both fungi. In these cases, the resistance reached to 7~20% of the highest resistance. The strain KFRI 259 invaded the territory of D. stigma, contrary to PDA plate test. Among the strains, KFRI 393 strain was the most resistant under the continuous incubation at $25^{\circ}C$.

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Clinical Study of Pulmonary Resection for Tuberculosis(V) (폐결핵의 외과적 치료)

  • 김우식;배윤숙;정성철;정승혁;유환국;이정호;김병열
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.35 no.11
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    • pp.799-806
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    • 2002
  • In spite of the establishment of chemotherapy and the gradual decrease in prevalence, pulmonary tuberculosis is still mainly treated with an operation. Through analyzing and examining some cases of surgical treatment, we hope to provide some help in treating of pulmonary tuberculosis in the future. Material and Method: By comparing four journals previously published in our department with 144 cases of lung surgery during ten years from January of 1991 to December of 2000 performed by the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery of the National Medical Center, we analyzed and reviewed the most recent trends and the results of the surgical treatment. Annual frequency of the operation, distribution of age, examination of sputum, adaptability and types of techniques, complications, and results of the postoperative follow-up were used as methods. Result: It was found that the annual frequency of operations had decreased. The ratio of men to women, 2:1 indicates that there are more incidences in men. Aging of patients could be speculated by the .results that the decrease in the incidence rate in the 20s age range and increase rate in the 50s age range. The range of preoperative lesions belonged mostly to far advanced and moderately advanced tuberculosis. By monitoring the period of use in preoperative antituberculosis drugs, cases for more than 3 years remarkably increased from 16.0 % to 55.6 %. The positive reactive rate for preoperative sputum examinations were drastically decreased from 91 % to 27 %. Total pulmonary destruction and partial destruction were the most common cases in terms of adaptability to the operations and there were significant increases in forming empyema accompanied by parenchymal lesions from 4.0 % to 20.1 %. Pneumonectomy and pulmonary lobectomy were the major type of operations. Especially, there were increases in the incident rate of empyema and recurrence of tuberculosis resulted. Post operative follow-up indicates that the rate of complete recovery was more than 70 % and the rate of gradual increase in treating with persistent antituberculosis drug was from 5.8 % to 18.0 %. Conclusion: In recent cases, there is an increasing number of patients showing tolerance to chemotherapy. Patients with pleural tuberculosis and severe lesions were typically increased. It is important to accurately analyze those complaints accurately that are mostly difficult to be treated medically. Surgical treatment is strongly recommended Before multiple drug resistance occurs.

Staging of Esophageal Cancer Using Positron Emission Tomography : Comparing to Computed Tomography (양전자방출단층촬영술(PET)을 이용한 식도암 환자의 병기 결정 -전산화단층촬영술(CT)과의 비교-)

  • 심영목;박승준;김병태;김성철
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.388-393
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    • 1999
  • Background: Correct preoperative staging of esophageal cancer is a prerequisite for adequate treatment. We prospectively compared the accuracy of positron emission tomography (PET) with [fluorine-18]FDG in the staging of esophageal cancer to that of computed tomography (CT). Material and Method: The findings of FDG PET and of chest CT including lower neck and the upper abdomen of 20 biopsy-proven squamous cell carcinoma patients (male, 19; female, 1; mean age, 61) were compared with the pathologic findings obtained from a curative esophagectomy with lymph node dissection. Result: The sensitivities of FDG PET and CT for diagnosis of primary tumor were the same, 90.0% (18/20). Both FDG PET and CT failed to show the primary tumor in 2 of 20 patients; one had a 1cm sized carcinoma in situ and the other had T1 stage cancer. By using the results of the pathologic examinations of 193 removed lymph node groups, we calculated the diagnostic sensitivities, specificities and accuracies of PET and CT (*$\chi$2 p < 0.005). Sensitivity** Specificity Accuracy* PET 55.6%(30/54) 97.1%(135/139) 85.5%(165/193) CT 13.0%(7/54) 98.6%(137/139) 74.6%(144/193) One of four patients with a false-positive for PEThad had active pulmonary tuberculosis. Among the 24 tumor involved lymph node groups, PET failed to show tumor metastasis in 5 lymph node groups abutting the tumor and in 14 lymph node groups located where the decay correction was not performed. Conclusion: Based on the above findings, it is suggested that [F-18]FDG-PET is superior to CT in the detection of nodal metastases and in the staging of patients with esophageal cancer.

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Nodal Status of the Head and Neck Cancer Patients (두경부 암 환자의 경부 림프절 전이 분석)

  • Yang, Dae-Sik;Choi, Myung-Sun;Choi, Jong-Ouck
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.321-329
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    • 1997
  • Purpose : It is well known that the risk of lymph nodes metastases to head and neck cancers are influenced by the location and size of the Primary tumor. as well as the degree and types of histological differentiation. However, data on the statistical analyses of lymph node metastases from the head and neck cancers among Korean Population are not available at present. In order to obtain current status of such data, we have analyzed cancer patients at the department of radiation oncology, korea universityhospital for radiation treatment. Materials and Methods : We have evaluated nine-hundred and ninetyseven (997) head and neck cancer Patients who visited to the Department of radiation oncology, between November 1981 to December 1995. After careful physical examinations and CAT scan, Patients were divided into two groups, those with positive lymph node metastases and with negative lymph node metastases. The nodal status were classified according to the TNM system of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Besults : Four-hundred and sixteen Patients out of the 997 patients were lymph node positive $(42\%)$ and 581 patients were lymph node negative $(58\%)$ when they were first presented at the department of radiation oncelogy. According to the AJCC classification, the distribution of positive lymph node is as follow: Nl:106 $(25.5\%),\;N2a:100\;(24\%),\;N2b:68\;(16.4\%),\;N2c:69\;(16.6\%),\;3:73\;(15\%).$ respectively. The frequency of lymph node metastases according to the primary sites is as follow : larynx 283 $(28.5\%)$, paranasal sinuses: 182 $(18\%),\;oropharynx:144\;(14.5\%)\;nasopharynx:122(12\%),\;oral\;cavity\;92\;(9\%),\;hypopharynx:71\;(7\%),\;falivary\;gland:58\;(6\%)$ unknown primary:31 $(3\%),\;skin:\;14(2\%)$,. The most frequent Primary site for the positive Iymph node metastases was nasopharynx $(71\%)$ followed by hypopharynx $(69\%),\;oropharynx\;(64\%),\;oral\;cavity\;(39\%)$ The most common histologic type was squamous cell carcinoma (652/997: $65.4\%$). followed by malignant lymphoma $(109/997:11\%)$. Conclusion : Statistical results of lymph node metastases from head and neck cancer at our department were very similar to those obtained from other countries. It is concluded that the location of Primary cancer influences sites of metastases on head and neck, and stage of the primary cancer also influences the development of metastatic lesions. Since the present study is limited on the data collected from one institute. further statistical analyses on Korean cancer Patients are warrented.

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Postpartum Reproductive Tract Recovery and Prevalence of Health Problems in Dairy Cows (젖소의 분만 후 생식기의 회복 및 질병 발생 조사)

  • Jeong, Jae-Kwan;Choi, In-Soo;Kang, Hyun-Gu;Jung, Young-Hun;Hur, Tai-Young;Kim, Ill-Hwa
    • Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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    • v.32 no.2
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    • pp.168-173
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    • 2015
  • This study estimated the degree of uterine inflammation and resumption of ovarian cyclicity in postpartum dairy cows. In addition, the prevalence of health problems during calving and the postpartum period was investigated. A total of 224 Holstein dairy cows from four dairy farms in Chungcheong Province were used for the study. Uterine discharge was scored on a 0 to 5 rank scale (metricheck score) using a metricheck instrument from 1 to 8 weeks postpartum and uterine cytology (neutrophil level) was examined at 4, 6 and 8 weeks postpartum to evaluate uterine inflammation. Resumption of ovarian cyclicity was evaluated based on progesterone analysis (${\geq}1ng/mL$) at 4, 6 and 8 weeks postpartum. Postpartum disorders were diagnosed by veterinarians in the research team. The metricheck score decreased linearly (p < 0.0001) from weeks 1 ($3.4{\pm}0.1$) to 4 ($2.0{\pm}0.1$) postpartum, and then remained at that level through week 8 postpartum ($1.6{\pm}0.1$, p > 0.05). The neutrophil levels determined by uterine cytology assays also decreased (p < 0.0001) from week 4 ($22.3{\pm}1.8%$) to 6 ($12.1{\pm}1.4%$) postpartum, and then remained at that level through week 8 postpartum ($9.2{\pm}1.4%$, p > 0.05). The proportion of cows exhibiting the ovarian cyclicity increased linearly (p < 0.0001) from weeks 2 (12.1%) to 8 (74.3%) postpartum. The prevalence of dystocia and retained placenta were 20.5% and 30.4%, respectively. The prevalence of ketosis, milk fever, abomasal displacement, septicemic metritis, endometritis, subclinical endometritis, pyometra, and ovarian cysts were 18.8%, 3.6%, 4.0%, 36.2%, 29.5%, 17.0%, 4.5%, and 14.7%, respectively. The prevalence of digestive problems and mastitis were 5.4% and 9.6%, respectively. The prevalence of culling and death were 4.0% and 3.6%, respectively. The prevalence of dystocia, retained placenta, septicemic metritis, endometritis, ovarian cysts, digestive problems, mastitis, and culling differed among farms (p < 0.05 to 0.01). In conclusion, proper examinations for uterine inflammation and ovarian cyclicity during 4 to 8 weeks postpartum are useful clinical tools to maintain herd reproductive health. Dystocia, retained placenta, septicemic metritis, and endometritis were predominant disorders in dairy cows of the survey area.

A Study on the School Health Services in the Universities, Colleges and Junior Colleges (우리나라대학의 학교보건관리에 관한 실태조사)

  • 손무인
    • Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.83-97
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    • 1983
  • The present study is to provide information for the improvement of school health services through research on the current condition of its organization and practice in universities, colleges and junior colleges. The scope of this study is consisted of four components including health organizations/units, school health services, environmental sanitation and health education for the 30 universities, the 20 colleges and the 32 junior colleges in Korea. The major findings are summarized as follows: (1) Among the sampled schools, around 73% of them have the health service organization/unit. When we break down health service organization/unit into the types by the level of school, around 73% of the universities have formal organization called "health center" and 20.0% of them have an informal organization called "health room". For the colleges level, 30.0% of them have the "health center" and 40.0% of them have the "health room". The figure of junior colleges is a quite different from universities and colleges, 56.3% of junior colleges have the "health room" only but the other have no service organization at all. (2) It was found that only 22.0% of 82 schools have the health committee for the school health services. It might be necessary to have a kind of expert committee to establish an annual health service program, budget and health policy in the school. (3) Approximately 29% of those schools having formal health organizations/units appointed directors as a medical persons. 13.4% of the sampled schools are appointed doctors (including the dentists) at health service organization/unit, 9.8% are appointed pharmacist and 65.9% are appointed nurses. Therefore, the data imply that the school health services are depending mainly on nurses. (4) The major activities of school health services are covering primary medical care (84.1%), health counseling (72.0%), physical examination (68.3%), vaccination (58.5%), tuberculosis control (54.9%), parasite control (29.3%) and dental health case(9.8%). Also 69.5% of the schools have the program on the environmental sanitation and the health education program. (5) In regard to health budget taking account of 34 schools, approximately 92% of them have less than 5,000 won per students and only 8.8% of them have more 10,000 won per students. At the average health budget per students is 4089.8 won in universities, 1617.1 won in colleges and 475.0 won in junior colleges. (6) The students enjoy the benifit of medical insurance at 11.0% of 82 schools surveyed. They are all universities. (7) The study found that 56 universities, colleges and junior colleges provide the annual physical examination. Only 21.4% of them have provided it for all students and school employees. (8) 64.3% of the 56 schools surveyed keep a record of the regular physical examinations. Records must be utilized as the basic data for the evaluation of the student's health condition and so the individual student is encouraged to take care of his own health. (9) At the 59 schools which practice health counseling, the main concerns of the counsellees are venereal disease, tuberculosis and psychoneurosis. This shows the need to practice health education in the area of preventive medicine. (10) 69.5% of the 82 universities, colleges and junior colleges surveyed are concerned with supervision of the environmental sanitation in their school, but non-professionals are in charge at 70.1% of them. This indicates negligence in environmental sanitation. (11) 53.7% of the 82 schools responded that they have no special instructive measure for the students' health and 54.9% are found to be negative in the use of a health education method. This reveals a problem. They are not positive to the recognition of their function as the initiative organization for the students' health. (12) The supplementary education for the faculty of the school health services is executed only at 8.5% of all the schools surveyed.

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Ultrasonographic Evaluation in Patients with Inguinal Hernia (서혜부 탈장에서의 초음파 조영술)

  • Kwon, Oh-Kyoung;Jung, Jin-Hyang;Park, Jin-Young;Chang, Soo-Il
    • Advances in pediatric surgery
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.16-22
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    • 2002
  • Between March 1999 and January 2000, 82 boys with the diagnosis of inguinal hernias (12 bilateral and 70 unilateral hernias), underwent Ultrasound (US) examination of both sides of the groin, a total of 164 inguinal imaging prior to surgery. The patients ages ranged from 3 days to 12 years with a mean of 32.6 months. Ninty four examinations were on the clinically symptomatic side and 70 were on the asymptomatic side. The US criteria for the diagnosis of an inguinal hernia were as follows: 1) visceral hernia, the presence of bowel loops, or omentum in the inguinal canal, 2) communicating hydrocele, the presence of fluid in the processus vaginalis, 3) widening of patent processus vaginalis at the level of internal inguinal ring. The width of patent processus vaginalis at the level of internal inguinal ring over 4 mm is considered an occult hernia. Among the 94 symptomatic groins, US findings showed 31 (33%) visceral hernias, 18 (19%) communicating hydroceles, and 38 (41%) widening of the internal inguinal ring, and 7 (7%) groins without abnormalities. In 70 asymptomatic groins, there were 4 (6%) visceral hernias, 5 (7%) communicating hydroceles, 11 (16%) widening of the internal inguinal ring, and 50 (70%) groins without abnormalities. Among the 70 asymptomatic groins there were US abnormalities in 20 (28%). One hundred and seven groins with positive US findings were surgically explored. Among 107 operated sites, the operative findings were compatible with the US diagnosis in 104, a sensitivity for US of 97.2%. In patients with US findings of widening of internal inguinal ring (>4 mm), there was patent processus vaginalis in 36 out of 38 symptomatic groins and 10 of 11 asymptomatic groins. The sensitivity of US to the operative findings in widening of internal inguinal ring was 93.8%. For visceral hernia and communicating hydrocele, the sensitivity of positive US findings was 100%. Ultrasonography for inguinal hernias appears to be a rapid, reliable, and noninvasive screening diagnostic tool with high positive specificity. Therefore, we recommend the use of US as a routine diagnostic tool in pediatric patients with inguinal hernias and hydroceles.

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Present and Future of the Journal of Distribution Science (유통과학연구의 현재와 미래)

  • Kim, Dong-Ho;Youn, Myoung-Kil
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.10 no.5
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    • pp.7-17
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    • 2012
  • The recent announcement of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) to cease journal accreditation operations as of the end of the year 2014 can easily influence the future of many research journals in Korea. Although this plan has not yet been formalized or structured, its facilitation would be the major turning point for the current Korean research and scholarly journals and publications. In addition, the NRF's plan to select and fund top 20 or more research journals over the five year period beginning 2015 suggests that the competition will most likely increase among Korean journals. Each journal would need to develop its unique strategy to improve and strengthen its competitiveness to become or maintain its position as a major research journal in Korea. The association of Korean Distribution of Science (KODISA) and its research journal, Journal of Distribution Science (JDS), has been continuously improving its reputation as a reputable journal in the distribution and related fields since its establishment in 1999. Due to demand, JDS has had to undergo several changes in its publication cycle first from semiannual publication to quarterly, then finally to monthly publications in 2012, and has become one of the major social science journals in Korea. Furthermore, with the redesigning of its webpage with English language in July of 2011, KODISA has made the published journals freely accessible and available to both domestic and foreign researchers, scholars, practitioners, and learners. These changes have resulted in the rapid increase in the bounce rate and the number of journal submissions by foreign scholars, with four research articles having been submitted by foreign scholars just in March of 2012 alone. However, although the changes and outcomes have resulted in a reasonable success so far, the achievement may only become a short-term success without continuously developing, improving, and implementing both effective and efficient strategies through critical, thorough, and frequent examinations and evaluations of both KODISA and JDS. As such, the purpose of this research is to carefully examine both KODISA and JDS to identify problematic factors and to develop appropriate strategies to change or modify those problems for further strengthening and improving their reputation and status. The paper examines and analyzes the past, present, and future of KODISA and JDS and their managerial, operational, and systematic procedures and operations. The narrow scope of research and inefficiencies in promoting the association and the journal and the improvement of impact factors are identified as the notable problems that could hinder JDS from being included in SCOPUS or SSCI in the near future. This type of examination and exploration has not been previously conducted, so the major limitation of this paper can be identified as not meticulously elaborating on the problems nor proving detailed recommendations based on the existing researches. This article asserted that solving the problem of the narrow scope of research would lead to facilitation of resolving other inefficient problems. Inclusion of international academic disciplines to the distribution and their related fields would be the viable initiation of expanding the research area, and this strategy could promote the journal as well as improve its impact factors. The narrow scope of research seems to be a good research topic and merit further exploration as an individual research project, because this kind of research could yield the creation of new understandings or theories.

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HISTOLOGICAL CHANGES AND EXPRESSION OF MATRIX METALLOPROTEINASE-2 AND TISSUE INHIBITOR OF MATRIX METALLOPROTEINASE-2 IN THE CANINE MANDIBULAR CONDYLE AFTER DISTRACTION OSTEOGENESIS (성견에서 하악골 신장술 후 하악과두 연골의 조직학적 변화와 Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2)와 Tissue Inhibitor of Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2)의 발현)

  • Byun, June-Ho;Park, Bong-Wook;Cho, Yeong-Cheol;Sung, Iel-Yong;Son, Jae-Hee;Kim, Jong-Ryoul
    • Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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    • v.28 no.5
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    • pp.404-416
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    • 2006
  • Purpose : This study was to clarify the changes in mandibular condyle after unilateral mandibular distraction osteogenesis throughout histological changes and expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2). Materials & Methods : Intraoral distractors were placed via submandibular incision in 8 dogs. Two unoperated animals served as controls. Distraction was performed five days after osteotomy as a rate of 0.5 mm twice per day for 10 days. Two animals were sacrificed on 7, 14, 28, and 56 days after completion of distraction, respectively. Ipsilateral condyles were harvested and processed for histological and immunohistochemical examinations. Results : The condyle cartilage is separated into four layers: fibrous layer, proliferative layer, hypertrophic layer, and calcified layer. At 7 days and 14 days after distraction, the condylar cartilage showed the decreased thickness of the articular cartilage and reduced cellularity. At 28 days after distraction, there was an increase in cellularity of fibrous, proliferative, and hypertrophic layer. However, it demonstrated reduced cellularity compared to the control. At 56 days of after distraction, the articular cartilage was an almost normal histologic structure. Positive Safranin-O staining, indicative of sulfated proteoglycans, was examined in the condylar cartilge of nonloaded control. At 7 days and 14 days after distraction, the sulfated proteoglycans is almost completely depleted from the noncalcified part of the condylar cartilage. At 28 days after distraction, there was an increase in Safranin-O staining intensity. However, the staining intensity of the experimental condyle was weaker than that of the control. At 56 days of after distraction, the condylar cartilage showed almost normal Safranin-O staining pattern. In control condyle, MMP-2 immunostaining was seen in fibrous, proliferative, and hypertrophic layer of condylar cartilage, however, it demonstrated lack of staining in fibrous and proliferative layer. At 7 days and 14 days after distraction, strong MMP-2 immunoreactivity was seen in the fibrous, proliferative and hypertrophic layer of the condylar cartilage. At 28 days after distraction, MMP-2 immunostaining was seen in the fibrous and hypertrophic layer of condylar cartilage, however, their immunoactivity was reduced. At 56 days after distraction, MMP-2 immunoreactivity showed almost normal immunostaining pattern. In control condyle, TIMP-2 immunostaining was primarily seen in fibrous and hypertrophic layer of condylar cartilage, however, it demonstrated lack of staining in proliferative layer. At 7 days after distraction, very weak TIMP-2 immunoreactivity appeared in fibrous, proliferative and hypertrophic layer of the condylar cartilage. At 14 days after distraction, weak TIMP-2 immunoreactivity was seen in the fibrous, proliferative and hypertrophic layer of the condylar cartilage. At 28 days after distraction, TIMP-2 immunoreactivity was increased in the fibrous and hypertrophic layer of condylar cartilage. At 56 days after completion of distraction, TIMP-2 immunoreactivity showed almost normal immunostaining pattern. Conclusions : The results show that short-term outcome of physiologic distraction osteogenesis may lead to degenerative changes in the condylar cartilage. These alterations in the condylar cartilage may be considered as a pressure-related degeneration of the cartilage tissue. However, the long-term results suggest that the condylar cartilage display repair activity after mandibular distraction osteogenesis.