No abstract available.
Ultrasonics*

For some cyanotic children with deficient pulmonary blood flow, the Blalock-Taussig shunt is a life-saving or temporizing form of palhation. Extensive experience has been gathered, and mortality and morbidity as well as the incidence of shunt stenosis and thrombosis have significantly decreased. However, even nowadays, the most frequently encountered complication excluding mortality in early postoperative course is occlusion of the shunt. We experienced a case of Blalock-Taussig shunt occlusion with thrombus. We diagnosed him as ventricular septal defect with pulmonary atresia by echocardiography and performed a right classic Blalock-Taussig shunt at 7th day of age, Oxygen saturation was gradually decreased since the 6th day postoperative. He was diagnosed as thrombosis of shunt at 12th day postoperative by cardiac angiography, and then was treated with a local low-dose urokinase infusion(1,000U/kg/hr) through Cobra catheter(Cook. In. Co.). After 21 hours, thrombolysis of shunts was comfirmed. We stopped the urokinase and medicated low-dose aspirin(5mg/kg/day). After the eighth day, shunt flow by echocardiography was patent.
Angiography ; Child ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Echocardiography ; Elapidae ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn* ; Mortality ; Oxygen ; Pulmonary Atresia ; Thrombosis* ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator*

For some cyanotic children with deficient pulmonary blood flow, the Blalock-Taussig shunt is a life-saving or temporizing form of palhation. Extensive experience has been gathered, and mortality and morbidity as well as the incidence of shunt stenosis and thrombosis have significantly decreased. However, even nowadays, the most frequently encountered complication excluding mortality in early postoperative course is occlusion of the shunt. We experienced a case of Blalock-Taussig shunt occlusion with thrombus. We diagnosed him as ventricular septal defect with pulmonary atresia by echocardiography and performed a right classic Blalock-Taussig shunt at 7th day of age, Oxygen saturation was gradually decreased since the 6th day postoperative. He was diagnosed as thrombosis of shunt at 12th day postoperative by cardiac angiography, and then was treated with a local low-dose urokinase infusion(1,000U/kg/hr) through Cobra catheter(Cook. In. Co.). After 21 hours, thrombolysis of shunts was comfirmed. We stopped the urokinase and medicated low-dose aspirin(5mg/kg/day). After the eighth day, shunt flow by echocardiography was patent.
Angiography ; Child ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Echocardiography ; Elapidae ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn* ; Mortality ; Oxygen ; Pulmonary Atresia ; Thrombosis* ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator*

PURPOSE: The pathways of pain conduction in brain are not well known. Also, differences of somatic pain conduction between adult and young age have not been fully elucidated. This study was conducted to investigate any differences in the expression of c-Fos protein between adult and young rats after somatic pain was induced by formalin. METHODS: Male rats (n=70) were injected subcutaneously with 0.1mL of 5% formalin in the plantar surface of right hindpaw. Rats were sacrificed at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 6 hours, 24 hours after noxious formalin stimuli to hindpaws and rectums. Rat brains were removed and sliced in rat brain matrix. Brain slices were coronally sectioned at interaural 5.70-6.70mm. Serial sections were immunohistochemically reacted with polyclonal c-Fos antibody. The numbers of c-Fos protein immunoreactive neurons in cingulate cortex, primary somatosensory area, and hippocampus were examined and analyzed statistically with Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: The number of c-Fos protein immunoreactive neurons in the cingulate cortex, primary somatosensory area and hippocampus peaked at 2 hours after formalin-induced pain on adult rats. The number of c-Fos protein immunoreactive neurons in the cingulate cortex, primary somatosensory area and hippocampus peaked at 1 hour after formalin-induced pain on young rats. The numbers of c-Fos protein immunoreactive neurons of adult groups were higher than that of young groups at all points of time. CONCLUSION: The immunoreactions in adult group expressed more intense than those in young group. Earlier expression of immunoreactions in young group suggests of faster conduction of pain, compared to those in adult group. Larger number of c-Fos protein immunoreactive neurons were found within specific regions in both groups. These results could provide some basic knowledge in understanding the mechanism and control of pain in pediatric group.
Adult ; Animals ; Brain* ; Formaldehyde ; Gyrus Cinguli ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Male ; Neurons* ; Nociceptive Pain ; Rats* ; Rectum

BACKGROUND: Diverticulosis of the cecum and ascending colon is a rare disease in Western countries, it is more common in the Orient. Making the diagnosis preoperatively could be difficult, and the intraoperative assessment and decision of optimal treatments are difficult. METHODS: Therefore, we reviewed the patient's charts of diverticulosis of the cecum and ascending colon at our hospital from 1992 to 1997. RESULTS: During the past 5 years, a total of 53 cases of diverticulosis of the cecum and ascending colon had been treated at this hospital. Mean age was 41.8 years (range 20-70). The male to female ratio was 1.8 : 1. Frequent complaints were abdominal pain (46 cases, 86.8%), followed by diarrhea (5 cases, 9.3%), indigestion (4 cases, 7.5%), and bowel habits change (2 cases, 3.8%). Mean duration of illness was 3.5 days(range 24 hours~15 days). In non-surgical cases, diagnoses were established with barium enema, CT scan, or ultrasonography. The accuracy of these methods was 91%, 75%, and 25%. In surgical cases, the preoperative diagnoses were appendicitis(13 cases, 50.1%), diverticulitis (7 cases, 31.8%), and abscess (2 cases, 9.1%). Treatments of the cecum and ascending colon diverticulitis were conservative management (3 teases,58.5%) and surgical treatment (22 cases,41.5%). The operative procedures were right hemicolectomies (2 cases), ileocecal resections (2 cases), diverticulectomies (6 cases) and appendectomies only (11 cases). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that correct diagnosis of the diverticulitis of the cecum and ascending colon made before treatment is very important because correct assessment of diverticulitis intraoperatively is difacut. Liberal use of diagnostic modalities could facilitate to make correct diagnosis to set a proper plan for treatment.
Abdominal Pain ; Abscess ; Appendectomy ; Barium ; Cecum* ; Colon, Ascending* ; Diagnosis ; Diarrhea ; Diverticulitis ; Diverticulum* ; Dyspepsia ; Enema ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Rare Diseases ; Surgical Procedures, Operative ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography

This is a rare hereditary disease characterized by hyaline and lipid deposits in the skin and mucous membrane. It starts in infancy or early childhood with hoarseness and swallowing difficulty due to the deposition of the characteristic material in the larynx and pharynx. And then, a skin eruption appears over the face and scalp with bulla, papule, crust and depressed scar forms. A pathognomonic feature is the appearance of translucent papules along free margins of eyelids, giving the appearance of "beads on a string". Other ocular involvement is rare and drusen or degeneration may be seen at the macula. We have observed two cases of Urbach-Wiethe disease in a 7-year-old girl and ll-year-old boy and confirmed by the histopathologic results.
Child ; Cicatrix ; Deglutition ; Eyelids ; Female ; Genetic Diseases, Inborn ; Hoarseness ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Larynx ; Lipoid Proteinosis of Urbach and Wiethe* ; Male ; Mucous Membrane ; Pharynx ; Scalp ; Skin

This is a rare hereditary disease characterized by hyaline and lipid deposits in the skin and mucous membrane. It starts in infancy or early childhood with hoarseness and swallowing difficulty due to the deposition of the characteristic material in the larynx and pharynx. And then, a skin eruption appears over the face and scalp with bulla, papule, crust and depressed scar forms. A pathognomonic feature is the appearance of translucent papules along free margins of eyelids, giving the appearance of "beads on a string". Other ocular involvement is rare and drusen or degeneration may be seen at the macula. We have observed two cases of Urbach-Wiethe disease in a 7-year-old girl and ll-year-old boy and confirmed by the histopathologic results.
Child ; Cicatrix ; Deglutition ; Eyelids ; Female ; Genetic Diseases, Inborn ; Hoarseness ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Larynx ; Lipoid Proteinosis of Urbach and Wiethe* ; Male ; Mucous Membrane ; Pharynx ; Scalp ; Skin

BACKGROUND: Melanocytes grown in pure monolayer culure lack many of the cellular interactions that exist in vivo. This can be partially overcome by growing melanocytes together with other epidermal cells in skin equivalent models. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to grow human melanocytes in human epidermis reconstructed on dermal substrates in vitro and to examine their response to UV radiation. METHODS: The skin equivalents were prepared by seeding cultured human keratinocytes together with cultured human melanocytes(in a ratio of 5%) onto de-epidermized dermis. After 7 days of culture, they were exposed to UVB irradiation(total 150m J/cm over 5days). On day 12 of air exposure the sections of the skin equivalents were prepared for histology. The structure of the skin equivalents was studied following staining with hematoxylin and eosin. Melanocytes were characterized by DOPA staining and by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Melanocytes were localized singly within the basal layer of the reconstructs. Melanin was also visible both in the melanocytes and in neighboring keratinocytes. There was an increase in melanocyte size and dendricity following UV irradiation. Melanocytes became positive to staining with HMB-45 antibody following UV irradiation. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that melanocytes grown in reconstructed human epidermis are functional and capable of responding to UV irradiation.
Dermis ; Dihydroxyphenylalanine ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Epidermis* ; Hematoxylin ; Humans* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Keratinocytes ; Melanins ; Melanocytes* ; Skin

BACKGROUND: Parent's alcohol drinking not only influences their health but also their children. This research was designed to assess the family function of children who were affected by parent's alcohol drinking. METHODS: Questionnaire survey was performed on 208 high school students (129 males and 79 females) in Daejeon from March to April, 2005. We defined the students whose CAST (Children of Alcoholics Screening Test) score was 6 or more as children of alcoholics (COA) group. Then, we evaluated the family function by family APGAR score between the COA group and the control group. RESULTS: Among the total, 36 (27.9%) male and 27 (34.1%) female students were in COA group. There was a significant (P<0.01) negative correlation between the CAST score and the family APGAR score in all students. In boys, there was no significant correlation between the CAST score and the family APGAR score, but in girls, there was significant negative correlation (P<0.01). Mean family APGAR score of the COA group was significantly (P<0.05) lower than that of the control group in all students. In boys, there was no significant difference, but in girls, the COA group's family APGAR score was significantly lower than the control group's score (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The high school students, especially girl students, who were affected by parent's alcohol drinking showed a lower family APGAR score. Therefore, family physicians need to evaluate the family function when encountering students similar to COA group.
Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholics* ; Apgar Score ; Child* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening* ; Physicians, Family ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Methamphetamine (METH) is a powerful neurotoxic psychostimulant affecting dopamine transporter (DAT) activity and leading to continuous excess extracellular dopamine levels. Despite recent advances in the knowledge on neurobiological mechanisms underlying METH abuse, there are few effective pharmacotherapies to prevent METH abuse leading to brain damage and neuropsychiatric deficits. α-Pinene (APN) is one of the major monoterpenes derived from pine essential oils and has diverse biological properties including anti-nociceptive, anti-anxiolytic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory actions. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of APN in a METH abuse mice model. METH (1 mg/kg/day, i.p.) was injected into C57BL/6 mice for four alternative days, and a conditioned place preference (CPP) test was performed. The METH-administered group exhibited increased sensitivity to place preference and significantly decreased levels of dopamine-related markers such as dopamine 2 receptor (D2R) and tyrosine hydroxylase in the striatum of the mice. Moreover, METH caused apoptotic cell death by induction of inflammation and oxidative stress. Conversely, APN treatment (3 and 10 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly reduced METH-mediated place preference and restored the levels of D2R and tyrosine hydroxylase in the striatum. APN increased the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 to pro-apoptotic Bax ratio and decreased the expression of inflammatory protein Iba-1. METH-induced lipid peroxidation was effectively mitigated by APN by up-regulation of antioxidant enzymes such as manganese-superoxide dismutase and glutamylcysteine synthase via activation of nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2. These results suggest that APN may have protective potential and be considered as a promising therapeutic agent for METH-induced drug addiction and neuronal damage.