Social Determinants of Smoking Behavior: The Healthy Twin Study, Korea / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify any influence of socioeconomic status on smoking and smoking cessation in a situation where genetic factors are controlled. METHODS: The sample for this study was 2502 members of the twins and families cohort who participated in the Korean Healthy Twins Study from 2005 to 2009. Groups of brothers or sisters, including twins and fraternal twins, were compared in terms of smoking and smoking cessation behaviors according to differences in socioeconomic status and gender. RESULTS: In a situation with complete control of genetic factors, results showed that the daily smoking amount, cumulative smoking amount, and dependence on nicotine decreased with higher-status occupations, and the rate of smoking and amount of cumulative smoking decreased with higher levels of education. Regarding smoking cessation behavior, a higher level of education was associated with a lower smoking cessation rate, and no significant gender differences were found. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental factors had a stronger influence on smoking behavior than did genetic factors. Genetic factors had greater influence on smoking cessation than did environmental factors; however, this requires verification in further studies.

A Case of Cushing's syndrome due to Primary Pimary Pigmented Nodular Adrenal Dysplasia ( PPNAD ): A Case of Carney's Complex / 대한내분비학회지

Primary Pigmented Nodular Adrenal Dysplasia (PPNAD) is a rare cause of Cushing's syndrome in infants and young adults. The familial occurrence, it may be variably associated with a complex of other pathologic characteristics that manifests extraadrenal disorders (includes cardiac myxomas, lentigines, mammary myxoid lesions, testicular tumors, pituitary adenomas, and neuroectodermal tumors) was considered indicative of Carneys complex. This was based on the failure of cortisol suppression by high-dose dexamethasone, either normal or suppressed basal adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels, and normal radiographic studies of the sellar turcica, and adrenals glands is almost normal or slightlg eulaged.. Bilateral adrenalectomy has thus the only effective means of cure. The disease may be a component of a rare, but potentially dangerous complex of abnormalities that follow an autosomal-dominant mode of inheritance. Recently we experienced a case of Carney's complex composed by Cushings syndrome due to PPNAD with familial purple colored lentigines on their lips and report it with reviews of the literatures.

Finger Prints in Schizophrenia / 대한피부과학회지

Finger print patterns were studied in a series of 99 male schizophrenics who met with the diagnostic criterias of International Pilot Study of schizophrenia except items associated with chronicity in exclusion criteria, As controls, the autbors used 400 Korean men who were free of congenital, dermatological, neurological and psychiatric disorders, The frequency distribution of the finger print patterns in the 99 s'chizophrenics were whorls 52.45%, loops 49.09% and arches 3.46%. and that of controls were vrhorls 49.65%, loops 46.38% and arches 3.97%, The diffeence in pattern frequency was statistically significant (P<0.05). However, the striking differences were found in the frequency of the ridge dissociation. The observed frequency was very significantly high (p<0.005) in the schizophrenics (16.16%) compared to controls (6.25%). This findings supported the rcport of the Raphael (18%) but the frequency of our controls(6.25%) were not matched with previous study of Abel (The frequency for his 4,000 control was negative. No plausible explanation is not found for the extraordinary high frequency of ridge clissociat,ions in the controls of tbis study. Although rnore extensive investigation in needed for the explanation of significantly high frequency of ridge dissociation in thes chizophrenics, the findings of the present study give us another evidence of the constitutional factors in schizophrenics.