Vascular lesions involving the upper extremities have been treated by different route of upper thoracic sympathectomy with varying success. More recently, the anatomic and physiologic interest for autonomic nervous system has been progressively mounted but the surgical attack has plateau. It may be worthy for academic interest and clinical practice to estimate and to compare with the different surgical method. This paper concerns the treatment of a case suffering from atherosclerotic occlusion whom were treated by upper thoracic sympathetic ganglionectomy through the transaxillary transpleural route. This operation seems to be simpler than other surgical methods with lower morbidity, fewer complication and satisfying results.
Autonomic Nervous System ; Ganglionectomy ; Sympathectomy* ; Upper Extremity

BACKGROUND: Differences between sexes in sensitivity to nociceptive stimuli and response to analgesics have been noted in humans and animals. Male rats are more sensitive than female rats to the antinociceptive properties of morphine. Kappa-opioid analgesia is greater in women than in men. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the difference between the sexes in postoperative analgesic responses to patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) with butorphanol or fentanyl in 0.05% bupivacaine solution. METHODS: After obtaining their consents, 30 men and 30 women, less than 60 years old, undergoing elective gastrectomy under general anesthesia were randomly allocated into four groups of 15; butorphanol-female, butorphanol-male, fentanyl-female and fentanyl-male. An epidural catheter was introduced at the T7-8 or T8-9 interspinous space before the operation. Postoperative analgesia was provided with PCEA with butorphanol 50 microgram/ml or fentanyl 5 microgram/ml in a 0.05% bupivacaine solution. When patients first required analgesics after complete recovery of consciousness from anesthesia, a bolus of 5 ml was initially administered. The PCEA device was set to deliver a bolus of 2 ml, a lockout interval of 10 min and no basal infusion. PCEA consumption, pain intensity using a 10-cm visual analog score (VAS), patient's satisfaction to PCEA and side effects were evaluated at 3, 6, 24, and 48 h after the surgery. RESULTS: Cumulative PCEA consumption with butorphanol was less in the butorphanol-female group than in the butorphanol-male group at 24 and 48 h postoperatively. VAS pain scores and patients' satisfaction to PCEA were not different between the butorphanol-female group and the butorphanol-male group. Cumulative PCEA consumption with fentanyl was less in the fentanyl-male group than in the fentanyl-female group at 6, 24 and 48 h postoperatively. VAS pain scores and patients' satisfaction to PCEA were not different between the fentanyl-female group and the fentanyl-male group. There was no differece in side effects in both butorphanol groups and in both fentanyl groups. CONCLUSION: For postoperative analgesia with PCEA, butorphanol may be better for females than males, and fentanyl may be better in males than in females.
Analgesia ; Analgesia, Epidural* ; Analgesics ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Animals ; Bupivacaine ; Butorphanol* ; Catheters ; Consciousness ; Female ; Fentanyl* ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Morphine ; Rats

We sequenced 1,841 BAC clones by terminal sequencing, and 1,830 of these clones were characterized with regard to their human chromosomal location and gene content using Korean BAC library constructed at the Korean Science (KCGS). Sequence analyses of the 1,830 BAC clones was performed for chromosomal assignment: 1,144 clones were assigned to a single chromosome, 190 clones apparently assigned to more than one chromosome, and 496 clones to no chromosome. Evaluating gene content of the 1,144 BAC clones, we found that 706 clones represented 1,069 genes of which 415 genes existed in the BAC clones covering the full sequence of the gene, 180 genes covering a 50%~99%, and 474 genes covering less than 50% of the gene coverage. The estimated covering size of the KBAC clones was 73,379 kilobases (kb), in total corresponding to 2.3% of haploid human genome sequence. The identified BAC clones will be a public genomic resource for mapped clones for diagnostic and functional studies by Korean scientists and investigators worldwide.
Clone Cells* ; Genome ; Genome, Human ; Haploidy ; Humans ; Research Personnel ; Sequence Analysis

PURPOSE: To report an epidemiologic study of keratoplasty in which we analyze basic data of corneal transplants and corneal donations in Korea. METHODS: From June 2004 through October 2004, questionnaires were distributed to 25 hospitals. The questionnaires were about the characteristics of patients registered in eye banks for keratoplasty from May 2001 to April 2003, and about the results of keratoplasties performed from May 2002 to April 2003. RESULTS: The leading corneal diseases in patients registered for keratoplasty were infectious keratitis (22.0%), trauma (21.0%), and pseudophakic and aphakic bullous keratopathy (13.8%), in that order. The leading indications in corneal recipients were: trauma (15.5%), pseudophakic and aphakic bullous keratopathy (13.7%), and infectious keratitis (10.7%), in that order. In 233 cases of keratoplasties, penetrating keratoplasty was performed in 229 cases (98.3%) and lamellar keratoplasty was performed in 4 cases (1.7%). The most common combined surgery was cataract extraction. Common causes of graft failure were rejection of donor cornea and infection. Imported donor corneas were used in sixty-one cases (26.2%) among the 233 total keratoplasties. CONCLUSIONS: We constructed an epidemiologic data base of patients registered for keratoplasty, corneal donation, and the results of keratoplasties throughout Korea.
Cataract Extraction ; Cornea ; Corneal Diseases ; Corneal Transplantation* ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Eye Banks ; Humans ; Keratitis ; Keratoplasty, Penetrating ; Korea* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

PURPOSE: To report an epidemiologic study of keratoplasty in which we analyze basic data of corneal transplants and corneal donations in Korea. METHODS: From June 2004 through October 2004, questionnaires were distributed to 25 hospitals. The questionnaires were about the characteristics of patients registered in eye banks for keratoplasty from May 2001 to April 2003, and about the results of keratoplasties performed from May 2002 to April 2003. RESULTS: The leading corneal diseases in patients registered for keratoplasty were infectious keratitis (22.0%), trauma (21.0%), and pseudophakic and aphakic bullous keratopathy (13.8%), in that order. The leading indications in corneal recipients were: trauma (15.5%), pseudophakic and aphakic bullous keratopathy (13.7%), and infectious keratitis (10.7%), in that order. In 233 cases of keratoplasties, penetrating keratoplasty was performed in 229 cases (98.3%) and lamellar keratoplasty was performed in 4 cases (1.7%). The most common combined surgery was cataract extraction. Common causes of graft failure were rejection of donor cornea and infection. Imported donor corneas were used in sixty-one cases (26.2%) among the 233 total keratoplasties. CONCLUSIONS: We constructed an epidemiologic data base of patients registered for keratoplasty, corneal donation, and the results of keratoplasties throughout Korea.
Cataract Extraction ; Cornea ; Corneal Diseases ; Corneal Transplantation* ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Eye Banks ; Humans ; Keratitis ; Keratoplasty, Penetrating ; Korea* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

Infectious keratitis is the most common serious ocular infection, and may be caused by various bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. The authors performed prospectively an epidemiological study to identify risk factors and causative organisms, and to evaluate clinical manifestations, methods and results of treatment in infectious keratitis under the identical protocol from April 1995 to September 1997. Logistic regression analysis [univariate analysis and multivariate analysis] was used to evaluate possible risk factors. Six hundred sixty cases of infectious keratitis reported from 19 hospitals were studied. Two hundred eighty-three organisms[247 bacteria, 32 fungi, 4 acanthamoeba] were detected in 626 eyes with infectious keratitis excluding 34 pherpetic keratitis. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa, coagulase negative staphylococcus, Staphylococcus aureus and Serratia marcescens were the major orgnisms in bacterial keratitis. Aspergillus, Fusarium and Candida were the major isolates in fungal keratitis. Contact lens wear was a risk factor for bacterial keratitis. Female, age[less than 40 years] and occupation[student, house-wife, office worker, servise] were associated with bacterial keratitis. Risk factors in herpetic keratitis were age[between 40 and 59 years] and ocular adnexal diseases. Male was associated factor with herpetic keratitis.
Adnexal Diseases ; Aspergillus ; Bacteria ; Candida ; Coagulase ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epidemiology* ; Eye Infections ; Female ; Fungi ; Fusarium ; Humans ; Keratitis ; Keratitis, Herpetic ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Parasites ; Prospective Studies ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Risk Factors ; Serratia marcescens ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus aureus

Background: The risk and benefit of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for aged>80 years with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are controversial. In this study, we investigated the safety and efficacy of tPA in this population and utilized the artificial neural network (ANN) to established outcome predictive models. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the stroke registry data of patients with AIS, aged >80 years who arrived at the hospital within 3 hours from the onset of symptoms. The characteristics and the outcomes, presented as modified Rankin Scale (mRS), and mortality rate at 3 months between the tPA-treated and non-tPA groups were analyzed. An ANN algorithm was applied to establish predictive models. Results: A total of 80 patients aged>80 years with AIS were identified, and 49 of them received tPA. After adequate training, our ANN models accurately predicted the outcomes with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.974, and a low error to predict the mRS score at 3 months. After applying our prediction model to those in the non-tPA group, we demonstrated the potential benefits in those patients if they had undergone tPA therapy. Conclusions: Our results show that ANN can be a potentially useful tool for predicting the treatment outcomes of tPA. Such novel machine learning-based models may help with therapeutic decision making in clinical settings.