BACKGROUND/AIMS In Asian countries including Korea, the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is on the rise and its clinical impact has been emphasized. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of esophagitis patients with or without symptoms, and their association with psychological factors. METHODS Subjects diagnosed as erosive esophagitis of...

Chronic ulcerative dermatitis (CUS) is characterized by painful exacerbating and remitting oral erosions and ulcerations. A very characteristic direct immunofluorescence (DIF) pattern differentiates CUS from other immune-mediated oral vesiculo-erosive conditions. The clinical and histopathological features of CUS are very similar to erosive oral lichen planus. A middle-aged woman had CUS confir...

OBJECTIVES To assess the erosive potential of a number of readily available flavoured waters in the laboratory. METHODS The erosive potential was assessed by measuring the pH, neutralisable acidity and ability to erode enamel. These were compared to an orange juice positive control. RESULTS The pH of the flavoured waters ranged from 2.64-3.24 with their neutralisable acidity ranging from 4....

BACKGROUND Erosive tooth wear (ETW) is clinically characterized by a loss of tooth surface, and different enamel depths may have different susceptibility to demineralization. Therefore, the aim of this in vitro pilot study was to assess if the progression of erosive demineralization is faster on teeth already presenting signs of ETW when compared to originally sound teeth. METHODS We selected...

OBJECTIVES Despite early recognition and disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) treatment, a sizable proportion of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients show radiological progression. This study was performed to determine the frequency of erosive arthritis and the pace of radiological progression in an inception cohort of patients with very early RA (<or=3 months after onset of sympto...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a highly heterogeneous disease with respect to its joint destructivity. The reasons underlying this heterogeneity are unknown. Deficient apoptosis in rheumatoid synovial tissue has been recently demonstrated. We have therefore decided to study the synovial expression of survivin, a key member of the apoptosis inhibitor family. The levels of survivin and antibodies a...

Background: Type 1 vanilloid receptors (TRPV1) have been described on esophageal afferent sensitive neurons. Stimulation of TRPV1 receptors with capsaicin may induce heartburn. Capsaicin is the pungent component of chili and the most extensively studied TRPV1 agonist. Objectives: To investigate the effect of esophageal stimulation with intraesophageal capsaicin administration on induction of es...