Acute tubular necrosis has been rarely reported as a complication of typhoid fever in the literature. We experienced four cases of acute tubular necrosis associated with typhoid fever in children. Patients showed significant titer of widal reaction associated with acute renal failure and one of them rised in 2 months after onset of clinical symptoms. Renal biopsy findings were compatible with acute tubular necrosis and immune complexes were not deposited in the glomeruli. Clinical and urinary findings were normalized by hemodialysis and antibiotic therapies. In conclusion, close longterm follow up of widal titer is mandatory in acute tubular necrosis, especially when associated with high fever.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Antigen-Antibody Complex ; Biopsy ; Child ; Fever ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Necrosis* ; Renal Dialysis ; Typhoid Fever*

The finger flexor injuries are very difficult to treat satisfactorily. It is usually said that the earlier the treatment performed, the better result obtained. But the delicasy of the hand anatomy and its function as well as the absence of the hand surgeon in the first aid care make the problem more complex. Even if we made the primary treatment to the flexor tendon injuries, some disabilities are often remained. We have treated fifty eight cases of old flexor tendon injuries in forty eight patients, the results can be summarized as follows. 1. The cause of the tendon damage is due to the laceration injury in the majorities of the cases. T,he tendon injuries are especially common between the late second and the early third decade. 2. In the injury of the Zone II with pulley distortion, the pulley reconstruction using palmaris longus or fascia from other sites will prevent bowstring and help the tendon function. 3. The Zone II can be subdivided into two subspecific areas. The proximal area is from the distal palmar crease to the midoprtion of porximal phalanx and the distal one is from the midportion of the proximal phalanx to the insertion of the sublimis tendon. In the proximal area one can repair the injured tendon directly after removal of the A1 and about proximal half of the A2 pulley without any subsequent bowstring if the tendon and its tunnel is relatively well preserved. Thus one can convert this proximal portion of Zone II to Zone III. So the proximal area of the Zone II should be differentiated from the remaining distal part of the Zone II. 4. At six months after the operation the result of the operation was analyzed by the percentage of the recovery, which was calculated by the postoperative active range of the interphalangeal joints divided by one hundred seventy five degrees that means the available total range of motion of normal interphalangeal joints. Excluding the cases with the tenodesis or arthrodesis, the total result revealed good or excellent in about ninty percentages with this method. 5. There were two fingers that showed a postoperative lumbrical plus state in Zone II, which were recovered spontaneously within three to four months postoperatively. So it is considered that the relative shortening of the lumbrical muscles can be treated and overcome conservatively by the active use of the fingers, and there is no need to perform an lumbrical tenotomy to correct this kind of muscle imbalance.
Arthrodesis ; Fascia ; Fingers ; First Aid ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints ; Lacerations ; Methods ; Muscles ; Patella ; Patellar Ligament ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Tendon Injuries ; Tendons ; Tenodesis ; Tenotomy ; Tibia

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Rhabdomyoma*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To determine the treatment modalities and the prognosis of a patient with liver cirrhosis, quantitative estimation of liver function is important. We assessed the Child-Pugh score (CPS), the common method as a severity index for the cirrhosis, the Promthombin, gamma GT, and Apolipoprotein A1 (PGA) index and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between these indices in the patients with cirrhosis only and hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC), according to underlying causes (HBV and alcohol). METHODS: We reviewed medical records of 339 cirrhotic patients with/without hepatocellular carcinoma and divided patient groups by disease and underlying cause: cirrhosis caused by alcohol; LC-Al, cirrhosis caused by HBV; LC-B, hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis caused by alcohol; HCC-Al, hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis caused by HBV; HCC-B. We assessed the CPS, PGA index and MELD score and calculated the correlation coefficient between these scores. RESULTS: Among the total of 339 patients, 201 patients were diagnosed on the liver cirrhosis only, and 138 patients on the hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis. In each groups, mean score values were not significantly different in CPS, PGA index and MELD score. The correlation of CPS, PGA index and MELD score in all groups, except for the correlation of PGA index and MELD score in HCC-Al group, was significantly positive (p<0.05). Compared to correlation coefficients between three indices, the patients with cirrhosis only had higher tendencies than the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The patients by HBV had higher tendencies than by alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: The correlations between CPS, PGA index and MELD score showed significantly positive correlations in the patients with liver cirrhosis only and hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis (except in HCC-Al group). The patients with cirrhosis only had higher correlation coefficients than the patients with PHC and the patients by HBV had higher than by alcohol.
Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*complications ; Female ; Hepatitis B/*complications ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis/*complications ; Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic/complications ; Liver Neoplasms/*complications ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; *Severity of Illness Index

No abstract available.
Necrosis* ; Typhoid Fever*

The demand for intravenous sedated upper gastrointestianl endoscopy is currently increasing steeply. Despite this trend, patient status complication due to this procedure is largerly neglected by most physicians. Recently, in three patients, mouthpiece fragment were left within the patients' body after intravenous sedated upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. They were transferred to our institution for the removal of the fragment. The patients complained of an uneasy sensation from within their body, around their necks and chests. After conducting therapeutic endoscopy, the fragment could be located around the distal part of their esophagus and within their stomach. The fragment were removed successfully by using snare in two patients, and by using forceps in another patient.
Eating* ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal* ; Esophagus ; Humans ; Neck ; Sensation ; SNARE Proteins ; Stomach ; Surgical Instruments ; Thorax

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed in order to investigate the frequency of the TNF2 allele in patients with coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP). METHODS: We compared the genotype distribution of TNFalpha gene promoter polymorphism between 80 CWP patients and 54 healthy controls. RESULTS: The results were as follows : 1. The rare allele TNF2 was significantly more frequent in CWP patients (20.6 %) than in controls (10.2 %). 2. The spontaneous or LPS-induced release of TNFalpha from the peripheral monocytes was slightly increased in the TNF2 group, but these values were not significantly different between groups. 3. In the CWP TNF2 group, the increase of LPS-induced TNFalpha release was significant in comparison with that of the controls. CONCLUSIONS: From the above results, we suggest that the TNF2 allele is strongly associated with susceptibility to CWP development.
Alleles ; Anthracosis ; Coal* ; Genotype ; Humans ; Monocytes ; Pneumoconiosis* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The principle of the rapid urease test is the assessment of the color change of the pH indicator, phenol red, by ammonium and bicarbonate ions which were produced by the urease. We modified a conventional rapid urease test, and quantified H. pylori infection by measuring the change of spectrophotometric absorbance. METHODS: 202 patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms were endoscopically examined and three biopsies were performed in each antrum and fundus. Two biopsy specimens were stained with Giemsa and scored from 0 to 4 according to the distribution of bacteria by the Wyatt method. Another specimen was used for the quantitative rapid urease test. The tissue was incubated in a cuvette containing 10% of urea solution and phenol red at 37C. We measured optical densities in 550 nm at 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 30 min, 1 hrs, 2 hrs, 4 hrs and 24 hrs time points.
Ammonium Compounds ; Bacteria ; Bicarbonates ; Biopsy ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Phenolsulfonphthalein ; Urea ; Urease*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Apolipoprotein E (Apo E) is important in plasma lipid metabolism and is a component of several plasma lipoprotein-lipid particles. Three major Apo E isoforms are encoded by three common allelic forms, epsilon2, epsilon3, and epsilon4 at the APO E locus. The goal of this study was to examine the association between polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) and fatty liver disease. METHODS: We examined the distribution of APOE alleles from 116 fatty liver patients and 50 controls in Korea. RESULTS: The frequencies of APOE alleles in fatty liver patients were 6.5% in epsilon2, 85.7% in epsilon3 and 7.8% in epsilon4. The corresponding frequencies in control subjects were 4.0% in epsilon2, 91.0% in epsilon3 and 5.0% in epsilon4. There were no significant differences in the distribution of APOE genotypes between fatty liver patients and controls. APOE epsilon2 and epsilon4 allele frequencies in fatty liver patients were more than those in controls. However, there was no significant differences in APOE epsilon2 and epsilon4 allele frequencies. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that APOE alleles seem not to be directly associated with the pathogenesis of fatty liver disease.
Adult ; Aged ; Apolipoproteins E/*genetics ; English Abstract ; Fatty Liver/*genetics ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Human ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Polymorphism (Genetics)

BACKGROUND: Pneumoconiosis, like other chronic respiratory diseases, is essentially incurable and, for many, pregressive. While improved survival time is an important aim of treatment, there is growing recognition that for some people, improving the quality of life is more important than extending the length of life. Recently the measurement of the quality of life is used to assess the efficacy of therapeutic agents. METHODS: We interviewed 63 pnemoconiotics who were admitted to St. Mary's Hospital between April and August 1999, using COOP charts, Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ), and a newly developed questionnaire concerning clinical and socioeconomic features of the pneumoconiotics - Pneumoconiotic Respiratory Questionnaire (PRQ). Also, ILO classification of the chest film, pulmonary function test, and arterial blood gas analysis of the patients were evaluated. Then we compared the scores between insurace assisted and non-insurance assisted patients, and between clinically stable and unstable patients. RESULRS: Domains of CRQ and PRQ showed a high internal consistency reliability (alpha =0.86-0.89, 0.77-0.81) except the dyspnea domain(alpha=0.63) of CRQ. The scores of CRQ and PRQ showed statistically significant correlations with the results of COOP charts, pulmonary function test and arterial blood gas analysis. The dyspnea domain and socia l activity domain of the PRQ showed significant difference between insurance assisted and non-insurance assisted patients, and between clinically stable and unstable patients. CONCLUSION: Korean translation of the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire and the newly developed Pneumoconiotic Respiratory Questionnaire are reliable and valid method and are likely to be useful for the measuring of quality of life in patients with the chronic respiratory disease including pneumoconiosis.
Blood Gas Analysis ; Classification ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Insurance ; Longevity ; Pneumoconiosis* ; Quality of Life* ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Thorax