We report an autopsy case of neonatal giant cell hepatitis that was presumed to be related to bacterial sepsis, endotoxemia and to the subsequent parenteral alimentation and antibiotics treatment. The patient died of candidal endocarditis and multiple brain infarcts. This female baby was born by a normal full term spontaneous delivery. Six days after delivery she developed fever and lethargy as she suffered from Cheyne-Stokes respiration with severe grunting. Blood culture grew Enterobacter and Acinetobacter. After management of the sepsis her general condition improved. On the 23rd day of admission she was found to have deep jaundice and hepatosplenomegaly. The liver became larger progressively and the edge was palpable at the umbilical level. Grade II systolic murmur was heard along the left lower sternal border. She died on the 31st day of hospitalization. Postmortem examination showed severe jaundice, hepatosplenomegaly, a large vegetation on the mitral valve and multiple petechial hemorrhages of the viscera. Microscopically the liver showed features of massive giant cell transformation, mild fibrosis and inflammatory cells, suggestive of giant cell hepatitis. Numerous yeasts and candidal pseudohyphae were seen in the cardiac vegetation, focally extending into the myocardium. There was a focus of candidal vasculitis in the bowel wall. In addition there were multiple bilateral organizing infarcts in the cerebral hemisphere as well as diffuse white matter damage associated with septicemia.
Female ; Infant, Newborn ; Humans

Retrospective analysis of 46 patients with intracerebral hematoma showed that the attack was most frequent in sixth decade and more prevalent in female. The most common cause of the attack was hypertension(80%) and the site of hemorrhage was putamen 32%, thalamic area 15%, subcortical area 7%, cerebellum 17%, ventricle 3%, and brain stem 4%. Mortality of total cases was 36% and there was no difference of mortality in both conservatively or operatively treated group(38% in conservative group, and 35% in operative group). The prognosis of the patient was unfavorable in the group of poor pretreatment Glasgow coma scale(GCS) and those of cases demonstrated more than 30cc of hematoma on computerized tomography(CT) of the brain. The improvement of GCS after management was better in operative group than in the conservative group.
Brain ; Brain Stem ; Cerebellum ; Coma ; Female ; Hematoma* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Mortality ; Prognosis ; Putamen ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.

This study investigated the relationship between depression, somatization, anxiety, personality, and laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR). We prospectively analyzed 231 patients with symptoms with LPR using the laryngopharyngeal reflux symptom index and the reflux finding score. Seventy nine (34.2%) patients were diagnosed with LPR. A significant correlation was detected between the presence of LPR and total scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (5.6±5.3 vs. 4.0±4.6, p=0.017) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (4.3±4.9 vs. 3.0±4.5, p=0.041). LPR was significantly more frequent in those with depression than in those without (45.6% vs. 27.0%, p=0.004). A multivariate analysis confirmed a significant association between the presence of LPR and depression (odds ratio, 1.068; 95% confidence interval, 1.011–1.128; p=0.019). Our preliminary results suggest that patients with LPR may need to be carefully evaluated for depression.
Anxiety ; Anxiety Disorders ; Depression* ; Humans ; Laryngopharyngeal Reflux* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prospective Studies ; Somatoform Disorders

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant* ; Intracranial Aneurysm* ; Middle Cerebral Artery

OBJECTIVES: The genes for transporters associated with antigen processing (TAP) are located near to HLA class II coding regions and related to antigen presentation. Therefore polymorphisms of TAP might alter the T-cell mediated immune response and influence susceptibility to schizophrenia, which is known to have alterations in T-cell immunity. The aim of this study was to verify the relationship between schizophrenia and polymorphisms of TAP2 genes. METHODS: 257 patients with schizophrenia and 184 normal controls participated in this study. TAP2 polymorphic residues at positions 379, 565 and 665 were typed using amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). The resulted products, TAP2379, TAP2565 and TAP2665 were assessed. RESULTS: The frequency of TAP2 alleles did not differ between patients with schizophrenia and controls. The polymorphic sites TAP2379, TAP2565 and TAP2665 did not show any difference in their amino acid substitution frequencies. CONCLUSION: This study did not show the association of the TAP2 gene with schizophrenia in Korean population. Further studies are needed to test the informative value of haplotypes including other polymorphic sites.
Alleles ; Amino Acid Substitution ; Antigen Presentation ; Clinical Coding ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Schizophrenia* ; T-Lymphocytes

Thoracic disc herniation is uncommon and only represents 0.25% to 0.75% of all symptomatic disc lesions. The difficulty in diagnosis has been the one of the major problems in the treatment of thoracic disc herniation. But at now, the use of computed tomography with or without water soluble contrast media makes the diagnosis more acurate. Recently, we diagnosed a case of T4, T5 disc herniation by computed tomography with iopamidol. Operation by transthoracic, transpleural approach was done with microsurgical technique, and the result was good. The case is reviewed and other surgical techniques on the literature is discussed.
Contrast Media ; Diagnosis ; Iopamidol

OBJECTIVE: Posttraumatic embitterment disorder (PTED), a subgroup of an adjustment disorder, is a feeling with anger and helplessness. Hemodialysis may be a trigger event leading to PTED. We investigated the prevalence of PTED in patients with each categorized stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the association between PTED and depression and functional impairment. METHODS: Patients were categorized into three groups according to the stages of CKD (stage I–II, III–IV, and V). CKD (I–II) group was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) >60 ml/min/1.73 m², CKD (III–IV) group as eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m², and CKD (V) group as CKD stage V including patients ongoing hemodialysis. Patients were assessed for the prevalence of PTED, depression, and decreased quality of life by using the scale of PTED, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and EuroQol Five Dimensional Questionnaires, Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-5D-VAS), respectively. RESULTS: A total of 445 patients were analyzed. The number of patients in CKD (I–II) was 166, CKD (III–IV) was 172, and CKD (V) was 107. Multivariate analysis by binomial logistic regression demonstrated that CKD (V) was significantly associated with the prevalence of PTED (odds ratio, 4.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.56–15.6; p=0.006) after adjustment for age, gender, and diabetes mellitus. Also, a significant correlation existed between PTED and EQ-5D-VAS in all stages, but the correlation was nonsignificant between PTED and PHQ-9 score in group CKD (V). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that PTED is underdiagnosed in CKD patients. Acknowledgment and diagnosis of PTED in CKD patients may lead to a better quality of life.
Adjustment Disorders ; Anger ; Depression ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diagnosis ; Dialysis ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Renal Dialysis ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic

Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1(ICAM-1) plays an important role in a variety of inflammatory and immune-mediated mechanisms, including lymphocyte recruitment and targeting, antigen presentation and recognition, and lymphocyte cytotoxicity.In order to study the changes of soluble ICAM-1 and relationship to the immune mechanism of Graves' disease, we performed the measurement of a soluble form of ICAM-1 in sera from patients with Graves' disease before and after treatment with antithyroid drugs using a highly sensitive ELISA method.Our results were as followed.1) The serum levels of soluble ICAM-1 in patients with Graves' disease before treatment were significantly elevated than normal controls(p<0.001).2) The serum levels of soluble ICAM-1 in patients with Graves' disease after treatment significantly decreased after treatment(p<0.001) but not as low as normal controls. 3) The serum levels of soluble ICAM-1 molecule in patients with ophthalmopathy were not elevated compared to patients with no ophthalmopathy(p>0.2).4) The serum levels of soluble ICAM-1 showed no significant correlation with serum titers of anti-thyroperoxidase antibody and anti-thyroglobulin antibody, serum T_3, T_4, TSH and goiter size in patients with Graves' disease.In conclusion, the soluble ICAM-1 levels reflect the activity of autoimmune reaction and might be used as a index of efficacy of antithyroid drug treatment of Graves' disease.
Antigen Presentation ; Antithyroid Agents ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Goiter ; Graves Disease ; Humans ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; Lymphocytes

OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose of this study was a replication of the effectiveness and tolerability of risperidone in the treatment of patients with acute mania in very larger cohort in naturalistic treatment setting to extend the data on the effect and tolerability of risperidone in the treatment of patients with acute mania to Asian population. METHODS: A total of 909 patients with DSM-IV criteria of bipolar disorder current manic and hypomanic episode, entered this large, open, multicentre study. The Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) and Simpson-Angus Rating Scale (SARS) were measured at baseline and weeks 1, 3 and 6, for the assessment of effectiveness and extrapyramidal symptom (EPS). RESULTS: This study showed statistically significant reduction of scores on the YMRS and CGI-s (mean change=-23.5+/-11.8, p<0.0001;mean change=-2.7+/-1.5, p<0.0001, respectively) from the baseline to the endpoint (week 6). Number of patients with 50% reduction or more in the YMRS and CGI-s scores was 693 (77.8%) and 630 (70.7%) at endpoint, respectively. There were no statistically significant increments of scores on SARS. Risperidone was generally well tolerated. CONCLUSION: The present larger open study demonstrates that risperidone add-on therapy is effective and tolerable in treatment of bipolar disorder, replicating results in various controlled and uncontrolled studies from Western countries.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bipolar Disorder* ; Cohort Studies ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Humans ; Risperidone*