No abstract available.
Adult* ; Anatomic Landmarks* ; Humans ; Vertical Dimension*

Since introduction of venous flap in 1980, many experimental studies and clinical applications of various kinds of venous flaps were reported. Venous flap has the following advantages : (1) nonbulky and goo-quality of flap (2) long & large vascular pedicle (3) easy & rapid elevation of flap (4) no sacrifice of major arteries (5) a single operative field. But, we also have some disadvantages of difficult handling of the pliable veins and the tmcertainty of flap survival. For the better result we had to design the size of the flap larger than that of defect and increase the number of draining vein to reduce the postoperative edema of the flap. We have treated the defects of soft tissue of the hand using free arterialized venous flap from the flexor aspect of the forearm & had an excellent results.
Arteries ; Edema ; Forearm ; Hand* ; Veins ; Wounds and Injuries*

No abstract available.
Erythropoietin* ; Humans* ; Renal Dialysis*

No abstract available.
Ankle*

BACKGROUND: Esmolol is a short acting sympathetic beta receptor antagonist, and it was successfully applied to induced hypotension. Esmolol lowers blood pressure by decreasing cardiac output, and does not cause vasodilation. This property of esmolol may help to decrease bleeding during induced hypotension. In this study, we tried to elucidate the effect of esmolol on induced hypotension for total hip arthroplasty. METHOD: Twenty patients receiving total hip arthroplasty were randomly divided to two groups. Esmolol group (10 patients) received esmolol as a hypotensive agent, and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) group (10 patients) received SNP as a hypotensive agent. We measured arterial blood gas analysis, vital sign, amounts of bleeding, amounts of transfusion and administered fluid, and various laboratory findings. RESULTS: Induced hypotension was successfully performed in either esmolol and SNP group. Heart rate increased by SNP, and decreased by esmolol. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in amounts of bleeding, amounts of transfusion or administered fluid, and laboratory findings. Arterial oxygen tension was relatively constant in esmolol group, but decreased in SNP group. CONCLUSION: Esmolol can be used as a single hypotensive agent during induced hypotension without significant side effects during total hip arthroplasty.
Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip* ; Blood Gas Analysis ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiac Output ; Heart Rate ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypotension* ; Nitroprusside* ; Oxygen ; Sodium* ; Vasodilation ; Vital Signs

No abstract available.

As one of many cell-many cell-based cartilage repairing methods, transplantation of chondrocyte-embedded-collagen gels in cartilage defect was performed for more satisfactory regeneration of cartilage. The authors performed this study to investigate whether the TGF-beta1 treatment of chondrocytes can do some additional synergistic effect on the transplantation of chondrocyte-embedded-collagen gels for crtilage repair. Chondrocytes were isolated from the articular cartilage of newborn Sprague-Dawley rats. Chondrocytes cultured for 10 days in monolayer were embedded in the 0.45% type I collagen gel. Full-thickness cartilage defect was made in the patellar groove of adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Chondrocytes culdefect was made in the patellar groove of adult Sprague-Dawley rats. The cartilage defects were treated with the following methods in a total of 200 animals, which were assigned to 5 different groups of 40 rats. In the control group, the deffect was left without any treatment, in group I, the defect was filled with collagen gel only, in group II, with collagen gel coontaining 10 ng/ml concentration of TGF-beta1, in group III, with collagen gel containing chondrocytes, and in group IV, with collagen gel containing chondrocytes and TGF-beta1. At 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 weeks after the operation, eight rats of each group were sacrificed, and their distal femurs were harvested for the histologic and biomechanical tests. The section s were stained with hematoxilin and eosin. Alcian-blue, and Safranin-O. Regenerated cartilage was analyzed by the semiquantitative histological grading system. Point indentation test was performed as a biomechanical evaluation, and the stiffness was calculated. The results of the histological grading system revealed that the scores gradually increased with time in all groups, and the scores of group III and IV were higher than those of control, group I and II. The biomechanical study showed that the stiffness gradually increased to reach a plateau level in each group. In control, group I and II, the stiffness increased up to the eighth week and remained around the increased level at the twelfth week, and did not show any statistically significant difference between the groups. In group III and IV, the stiffness was higher than in control group, and increased markedly at the fourth week and the increased level was maintained onwards. The results of this study showed that the transplantation of chondrocyte-embedded-collagen gels enhanced the healing process, and the treatment of TGF-beta1 demonstrated at least partially significant improvement.
Adult ; Animals ; Cartilage ; Cartilage, Articular* ; Chondrocytes ; Collagen ; Collagen Type I ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Femur ; Gels ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Regeneration ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1

PURPOSE: Non-enhanced spiral computed tomography (NESCT) has become the preferred method for imaging urinary calculi. We evaluated the Hounsfield units (HU) of urinary calculi on NESCT as a predictor of the therapeutic effect of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated 72 patients with urinary calculi who underwent ESWL. The HUs of calculi were measured on the pretreatment NESCT and at post-treatment via radiographic assessment. The patients were divided into 2 groups, the response group (n=39): the patients with remnant calculi less than 3mm or they were without remnant calculi, and the non-response group (n=33): the patients with remnant calculi greater than 3mm. The HUs of the response and non-response groups were then compared. RESULTS: The HUs of the response and non-response groups were 529.7+/-168.2 and 814+/-116.6, respectively, and the HUs of the non-response group was significantly higher than that of the non-response group. CONCLUSIONS: The HU of urinary calculi, as seen on NESCT, can help to predict the therapeutic effect of ESWL and also select the most effective treatment modalities for the patients suffering with urinary calculi.
Calculi ; Humans ; Lithotripsy* ; Tomography, Spiral Computed ; Urinary Calculi*

Polyneuropathy includes a lot of diseases damaging peripheral nerves. It shows roughly the same areas on both sides of the body, featuring weakness, numbness, and burning pain. Polyneuropathy is known to usually begin in the hands and feet and progress to the arms and legs. Sometimes it can involve other parts of the body such as the autonomic nervous system. Lots of causes can induce acute or chronic polyneuropathy, so finding the original cause is most important for the treatment of polyneuropathy. There are too many different types of polyneuropathies to be discussed in this review, so we will discuss some of various acquired polyneuropathies such as diabetic neuropathy, vasculitic neuropathy, alcoholic neuropathy, Vitamin B12 deficiency neuropathy, and drug-induced neuropathy, with special focus on symptoms, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.
Alcoholic Neuropathy ; Arm ; Autonomic Nervous System ; Burns ; Diabetic Neuropathies ; Diagnosis* ; Foot ; Hand ; Hypesthesia ; Leg ; Peripheral Nerves ; Polyneuropathies* ; Prognosis* ; Vitamin B 12 Deficiency

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Although uncountable clinical trials have been done to develop the treatment of AD, there are a couple of drugs that can be used only for symptomatic treatment. Therefore, many studies based on the amyloid cascade hypothesis and the tauopathy hypothesis are still ongoing. After the failure of numerous huge Phase III clinical trials, arguments on those hypotheses have arisen and efforts to establish other possible therapeutic strategies based on diverse plausible mechanisms associated with AD have been done as well. One of the new therapeutic targets for AD is the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway. In this review, questions on the two hypotheses, the definition of the PI3K/AKT pathway, the relationship between the pathway and AD, and the possibility of the modulation of the pathway as a new therapeutic strategy for AD will be discussed briefly.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Amyloid ; Dementia ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase ; Tauopathies