Pararenal pseudocyst is a collection of fluid within the renal fascia outside the renal capsule and a relatively rare clinical entity which commonly occur as a result of trauma. either accidental or operative. Histologically, the wall is composed mostly of dense collagenous fibrous connective tissue. with no cellular elements capable of cyst formation. A case of pararenal pseudocyst associated with renal hypertension developed in 6 year-old boy after blunt abdominal trauma was reported.
Child ; Collagen ; Connective Tissue ; Fascia ; Humans ; Hypertension, Renal ; Male

Cavernous hemangioma of the bladder is the rarest of all bladder tumors. Less than 75 cases were reported in the literatures since Broca reported the first case in 1869. We report a case of cavernous hemangioma of the bladder in a 7-year-old girl and literatures were reviewed.
Child ; Female ; Hemangioma, Cavernous* ; Humans ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder*

Extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma accounts for about 10 to 15 percent of all such tumors and the combination of pheochromocytoma and renal artery stenosis is rare. We report an unusual case of extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma causing renal artery stenosis which was developed in a 11-year-old boy and the literatures were reviewed.
Child ; Humans ; Male ; Pheochromocytoma* ; Renal Artery Obstruction* ; Renal Artery*

Psychophysiological and functional neuroimaging studies have frequently and consistently shown that emotional information can be processed outside of the conscious awareness. Non-conscious processing comprises automatic, uncontrolled, and fast processing that occurs without subjective awareness. However, how such non-conscious emotional processing occurs in patients with various psychiatric disorders requires further examination. In this article, we reviewed and discussed previous studies on the non-conscious emotional processing in patients diagnosed with anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression, to further understand how non-conscious emotional processing varies across these psychiatric disorders. Although the symptom profile of each disorder does not often overlap with one another, these patients commonly show abnormal emotional processing based on the pathology of their mood and cognitive function. This indicates that the observed abnormalities of emotional processing in certain social interactions may derive from a biased mood or cognition process that precedes consciously controlled and voluntary processes. Since preconscious forms of emotional processing appear to have a major effect on behaviour and cognition in patients with these disorders, further investigation is required to understand these processes and their impact on patient pathology.
Anxiety Disorders ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Bipolar Disorder ; Cognition ; Depression ; Functional Neuroimaging ; Humans ; Interpersonal Relations ; Pathology ; Psychopathology* ; Schizophrenia

The effect of alloxan-diabetic rat fed with normal, high fat, low protein and high protein diets on the rate of urea production and the activities of enzymes associated with the urea cycle (ornithine transcarbamoylase, E.C. 2.1.3.3, OTC; arginase, E.C. 3.5.5.1) have been studied in intact and isolated perfused liver. The amount of urea excretion was the highest in the high protein diet group. When each diet group was treated with alloxan, total urea excretion showed little differences between each diet group and its corresponding control group with the exception being in the normal diet group. However, the enzyme activity of OTC was increased significantly by alloxan treatment in low and high protein diet groups as compared to corresponding control groups. Similar results were obtained in arginase activity, although the magnitude of the change was less marked. In liver perfusion experiments on rats treated with alloxan, the amount of urea production and changes in OTC and arginase activity were very similar with those in the intact liver. These results suggest that alloxan treatment in normal diet group causes an increase in urea excretion both in intact and perfused liver regardless of changes in enzyme activities and total urea excretion, and enzyme activities are affected by changes in dietary components but the changes of enzyme activities may not correlate with total urea excretion.
Alloxan ; Animal ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/metabolism* ; Dietary Fats/pharmacology* ; Dietary Proteins/pharmacology* ; In Vitro ; Liver/metabolism* ; Male ; Perfusion ; Rats ; Urea/metabolism* ; Urea/urine

BACKGROUND: Functional MRI is a new neuroimaging method that detects focal blood flow change associated with neural activation. This study aimed at improving it for use as a clinical test. METHODS: We separated image reconstruction from scan acquisition as an off-line process, systematized post-processing stages, and employed SPM96 package for statistical analysis. Tasks easy enough for most neurological patients were designed for activation of motor, somatosensory, visual, and language areas. From twenty consecutive patients admitted to neurology wards, frequency of expected activation and inactivation among defined regions of interest was obtained as a measure of sensitivity and quasi-specificity. RESULTS: It took about 4 minutes for data acquisition per task condition. Thus within half an hour all four tasks were tested in cooperative patients. Post-processing took about an hour per task condition, using PC-based analysis packages. Sensitivity and quasi-specificity were about 70% and 90%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our newly developed method shortened the time for fMRI acquisition and systematized post-scan analysis. Data obtained from patients showed acceptable reliability for clinical use, but further research and improvement should be necessary.
Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Neuroimaging ; Neurology

BACKGROUND: Thoracoscopic sympathicotomy was, at first, thought to be a simple and safe method for treatment of hyperhydrosis. However, few studies refer to the cardiac effects of this procedure, despite the fact that the T2 ganglia are in the direct pathway of the sympathetic innervation of the heart. An imbalance of right and left sympathetic efferent activity has been proposed as a mechanism for arrhythmia in patients with long QT syndrome. The aim of this study was to compare hemodynamic effect as well as ECG changes after right and left side sympathicotomy. METHODS: 42 patients with essential hyperhydrosis in ASA physical status class 1 undergoing thoracoscopic sympathicotomy were randomly divided into two groups: left side first operation group (group L, n = 22) and right side first operation group (group R, n = 20). Anesthesia was induced with thiopental sodium (5 mg/kg) and pancuronium (0.05 mg/Kg) and maintained with enflurane. During the procedure, we recorded blood pressure at both forearms and heart rate and ECG were recorded after anesthetic induction as baseline values, immediately after one side resectioned of sympathetic trunk, and after complete resectioning of both side. All operations were done with usual methods by experienced surgeons. All the records were coded and analysed singl blind by one author. RESULTS: After sympathicotomy, there was a significant decrease in heart rate but not in blood pressure. However, statistically there were no significant changes in QT interval during sympathicotomy either right side first operation or left side first operation. CONCLUSIONS: The main result of this study was that there were no significant changes in QT interval during sympathicotomy of either right or left side first operations. However, This does not mean that there was no possibility of prolongation of QT interval during thoracoscopic sympathicotomy. Careful observation of QT interval changes is needed during sympathicotomy.
Anesthesia ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Blood Pressure ; Electrocardiography ; Enflurane ; Forearm ; Ganglia ; Heart ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Long QT Syndrome ; Pancuronium ; Thiopental

BACKGROUND: When it comes to wasting blood components, it usually means wastage before transfusion due to several reasons such as improvement of the patient's condition, death of the patient, delay of blood returning, etc. Yet blood components can sometimes can be wasted after a transfusion is started and this is referred as residual blood wastage. In this study, we analyzed the rate and causes of discarded blood components that are not used and the residual blood wastage in order to help reduce the rate of blood component wastage. METHODS: From January 2009 to December 2010, the number of and the reasons for discarded blood components without use and residual blood wastage were analyzed by reviewing the laboratory information system and wastage statements at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital. RESULTS: The number of blood components issued during the study period was 24,001 units. Among them, the number of units discarded without use was 162 units (0.7%) and the number of units of residual blood wastage was 115 units (0.5%). Among the reasons for the discarded blood component without use, improvement of the patient's conditions ranked as 1st with 80 units (49.5%) and death of the patient ranked as 2nd with 42 units (25.9%). The biggest reason for the residual blood wastage was transfusion-related side effects with as many as 52 units (45.2%). Other than side effects, the wastage of residue from pediatric transfusion were 48 units (41.7%), followed by delay of surgery with 5 units (4.3%) and patients' refusal with 4 units (3.5%). CONCLUSION: The wastage of residue from pediatric transfusion was the second most common cause of residual blood wastage in our hospital. According to this, we should evaluate the routine use of pediatric transfusion bags and their cost-effectiveness in our hospital.
Clinical Laboratory Information Systems ; Disulfiram ; Humans ; Korea

BACKGROUND: We postulate that a delay in the implementation of hepatic arterial embolization for traumatic liver injury patients will negatively affect patient prognosis. Our work also seeks to identify factors related to the mortality rate among traumatic liver injury patients. METHODS: From January 2008 to April 2014, patients who had been admitted to the emergency room, were subsequently diagnosed with traumatic liver injury, and later underwent hepatic arterial embolization were included in this retrospective study. RESULTS: Of the 149 patients that underwent hepatic arterial embolization, 86 had the procedure due to traumatic liver injury. Excluding the 3 patients that were admitted to the hospital before procedure, the remaining 83 patients were used as subjects for the study. The average time between emergency room arrival and incidence of procedure was 164 min for the survival group and 132 min for the non-survival group; this was not statistically significant (p = 0.170). The average time to intervention was 182 min for the hemodynamically stable group, and 149 min for the hemodynamically unstable group, the latter having a significantly shorter wait time (p = 0.047). Of the factors related to the mortality rate, the odds ratio of the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) was 18.48 (p < 0.001), and that of albumin level was 0.368 (p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: In analyzing the correlation between mortality rate and the time from patient admission to arrival for hepatic arterial embolization, there was no statistical significance observed. Of the factors related to the mortality rate, GCS and albumin level may be used as prognostic factors in traumatic liver injury.
Coma ; Embolization, Therapeutic ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Humans ; Incidence ; Liver* ; Mortality* ; Odds Ratio ; Patient Admission ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Time Factors

PURPOSE: Selective inhibition of multiple molecular targets may improve the antitumor activity of radiation. Two specific inhibitors of selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) were combined with radiation on the HeLa cell line. To investigate cooperative mechanism with selective COX-2 inhibitor and EGFR blocker, in vitro experiments were done. MATERIASL AND METHODS: Antitumor effect was obtained by growth inhibition and apoptosis analysis by annexin V-Flous method. Radiation modulation effects were determined by the clonogenic cell survival assay. Surviving fractions at 2 Gy (SF2) and dose enhancement ratio at a surviving fraction of 0.25 were evaluated. To investigate the mechanism of the modulation of radiosensitivity, the cell cycle analyses were done by flow cytometry. The bcl-2 and bax expressions were analyzed by western blot. RESULTS: A cooperative effect were observed on the apoptosis of the HeLa cell line when combination of the two drugs, AG 1478 and NS 398 with radiation at the lowest doses, apoptosis of 22.70% compare with combination of the one drug with radiation, apoptosis of 8.49 %. In cell cycle analysis, accumulation of cell on G0/G1 phase and decrement of S phase fraction was observed from 24 hours to 72 hours after treatment with radiation, AG 1478 and NS 398. The combination of NS 398 and AG 1478 enhanced radiosensitivity in a concentration-dependent manner in HeLa cells with dose enhancement ratios of 3.00 and SF2 of 0.12 but the combination of one drug with radiation was not enhanced radiosensitivity with dose enhancement ratios of 1.12 and SF2 of 0.68 (p=0.005). The expression levels of bcl-2 and bax were reduced when combined with AG 1478 and NS 398. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the selective COX-2 inhibitor and EGFR blocker combined with radiation have potential additive or cooperative effects on radiation treatment and may act through various mechanisms including direct inhibition of tumor cell proliferation, suppression of tumor cell cycle progression and inhibition of anti-apoptotic proteins.
Apoptosis ; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Flow Cytometry ; HeLa Cells* ; Humans ; Radiation Tolerance* ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor* ; S Phase