No abstract available.
Defense Mechanisms*

OBJECTIVES: The course of Alzheimer's disease is often complicated by psychiatric symptoms including depression, delusion and hallucination. And these psychiatric symptoms may be due to neuropathological changes of the disease itself. This study examined whether psychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease are associated with cerebral perfusion using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). METHODS: Supratentorial transaxial perfusion measurements were obtained in frontal, anterior temporal, posterior temporoparietal and occipital cortical areas in both hemispheres, in a baseline population of 29 mild to moderately impaired AD patients. We interviewed all the patients and their primary caregivers to assess their current and past psychiatric functioning. To compare the SPECT findings, all the patients were divided into two groups by presence of depression, delusion, hallucination and illusion, of which symptoms were explored separately. RESULTS: The patients with hallucination had hypoperfusion of both the posterior temporoparietal and the occipital regions of interest, compared with scans of the patients without hallucination. And in other symptom profiles, there was no difference in SPECT findings between the patients with symptoms and without symptoms. CONCLUSION: Psychotic patients with Alzheimer's disease had a pattern of cerebral perfusion deficits, which is different from that of nonpsychotic patients. This finding suggests that specific patterns of cerebral dysfunction probably be related to the specific psychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Caregivers ; Delusions ; Depression ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Illusions ; Perfusion ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

OBJECTIVES: Single photon emission computed tomography is a practical modality for the study of physiologic cerebral activity in vivo. So to improve the diagnostic utility of brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). we evaluated an objective method of differentiating patients and healthy elderly controls using a semiquantitive image analysis protocol. METHODS: Supratentorial transaxial perfusion measurements were obtained in frontal, anterior temoral, posterior temporoparietal and occipital cortical areas in both hemispheres, in a baseline population of 14 healthy elderly controls and 19 mild to moderately impaired AD patients as well as 9 cases of vascular dementia. RESULTS: Statistically significant hypoperfusion was noted in both posterior temporoparietal regions of interest in the AD group compared with controls. And also hypoperfusion in left posterior temporoparietal area was found in the vascular dementia group compared with controls. Several correlations between perfusion ratio in some cortical area and MMSE score, BDS score and duration of disease in patients with Alzheimer's dementia. CONCLUSION: We found that all subjects with AD demostrated flow deficits in temporoparietal cortex bilaterally, and that the cortical-to-cerebellar ratio in bilateral temporoparietal region allowed the differentiation of all patients with AD from both controls and from the patients with vascular dementia. And ratio in specific region showed a correlation with cognitive function, disease severity and duration ing the AD group. Single photon emission computed tomography appears to be useful in the differential diagnosis of dementia and reflects clinical features of the disease.
Aged ; Alzheimer Disease ; Brain ; Dementia* ; Dementia, Vascular ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Perfusion ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Brain Stem* ; Brain* ; Electroshock* ; Hypothalamus* ; Mice*

OBJECTIVE: Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a common skeletal disease with serious consequences due to fracture, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. This study was carried out to evaluate the changes of national osteoporosis markets during the last 5 years and to estimate the trends of national osteoporosis market in the future. METHODS: The use of the medications for osteoporosis treatment was evaluated in terms of sales of drugs for osteoporosis treatment. The sales audit of drugs for osteoporosis treatment from Intercontinental Marketing Services (IMS) were used to analyse the sales of specific drugs. RESULTS: The total national osteoporosis market has been increased progressively and markedly during the last 5 years and was valued at 167.4 billion Korean won (KRW) in 2008. The use of hormone therapy was decreased markedly by 40% after reporting of WHI results and the reduction of hormone therapy has been continuing during the recent 5 years. The market size of the non-hormonal osteoporosis drugs has been grown by 73% during the last 5 years and was valued at 134.5 billion KRW in 2008. This non-hormonal drug market was dominated by bisphosphonates. which account for over 80% of total sales. The use of bisphosphonates and active vitamin D metabolites has been increasing but raloxifene and calcitonin, decreasing. CONCLUSION: The survery of recent national osteoporosis market using IMS sales audit showed that the use of drugs for osteoporosis treatment has been markedlly increasing during last 5 years from 2004 to 2008. This has been attributed to non-horomonal pharmacological drugs, especially bisphosphonate.
Calcitonin ; Commerce ; Diphosphonates ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Marketing ; Osteoporosis ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal ; Raloxifene Hydrochloride ; Vitamin D

Inflammatory pseudotumor is an uncommon lesion with unknown etiology characterized by sclerosing inflammation which clinically and radiographically mimics a neoplastic lesion. A 47-year-old man presented with sudden headache and dysarthria. Brain CT scan revealed a 2.6x2.2 cm sized, round, and hyperdense mass in the anterolateral wall of the left lateral ventricular trigone. On MR imaging studies, the mass showed low signal intensity in the wall of the trigone on T2-weighted image, central mixed (iso- and high-) signal intensity with peripheral low-signal intensity on T1-weighted image. Subtle staining of left choroid plexus with irregular shaped distal branch of anterior choroidal artery was found on the cerebral angiography. These findings suggested a small tumorous lesion originated from the left choroid plexus. During the hospital days, the mass manifested as repeated hemorrhages. The mass was successfully removed via left occipital transcortical approach. The histopathological report of the specimen was hemorrhage and fibrosis, with dense lymphoplasma cell infiltration, suggestive of an inflammatory pseudotumor.
Arteries ; Brain ; Cerebral Angiography ; Choroid ; Choroid Plexus ; Dysarthria ; Fibrosis ; Granuloma, Plasma Cell ; Headache ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lateral Ventricles ; Middle Aged

We experienced a case of synchronously occurring multiple leiomyosarcoma in the jejunum and stomach. The presented case was a 75-year-old man with signs of panperitonitis. We performed a subtotal gastrectomy, a segmental resection of the jejunum and a Roux-en-Y anastomosis. Histologic examination of the resected specimen revealed a high-grade leiomyosarcoma having a high-grade mitosis and pleomorphism. Although it showed high malignancy potential, it was less than 5 cm in size. Also, it was a synchronously occurring multiple leiomyosarcoma having a sparing lesion in the duodenum and showed a lymphatic metastasis. In that point of view, it had many unusual aspects.
Aged ; Anastomosis, Roux-en-Y ; Duodenum ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Intestine, Small* ; Jejunum ; Leiomyosarcoma* ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Mitosis ; Stomach*

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of symptomatic postdiscectomy pseudocyst (PP) after endoscopic discectomy and to compare the results of surgical and conservative management of them. METHODS: Initial study participants were 1,503 cases (1,406 patients) receiving endoscopic lumbar discectomy by 23-member board of neurosurgeons from March 2003 to October 2008. All patients' postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were evaluated. On the postoperative MRI, cystic lesion of T2W high and T1W low at discectomy site was regarded as PP. Reviews of medical records and radiological findings were done. The PP patients were divided into two groups, surgical and conservative management by treatment modality after PP detection. We compared the results of the two groups using the visual analogue scale (VAS) for low back pain (LBP), VAS for leg pain (LP) and the Oswestry disability index (ODI). RESULTS: Among 1,503 cases of all male soldiers, the MRIs showed that pseudocysts formed in 15 patients, about 1.0% of the initial cases. The mean postoperative interval from surgery to PP detection was 53.7 days. Interlaminar approach was correlated with PP formation compared with transforaminal approach (p=0.001). The mean VAS for LBP and LP in the surgical group improved from 6.5 and 4.8 to 2.0 and 2.3, respectively. The mean VAS for LBP and LP in the conservative group improved from 4.4 and 4.4 to 3.9 and 2.3, respectively. There was no difference in treatment outcome between surgical and conservative management of symptomatic PP. CONCLUSION: Although this study was done in limited environment, symptomatic PP was detected at two months' postoperative period in about 1% of cases. Interlaminar approach seems to be more related with PP compared with transforaminal approach.
Diskectomy ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; Leg ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Medical Records ; Military Personnel ; Postoperative Complications ; Postoperative Period ; Treatment Outcome

No abstract available.
Amino Acids* ; Blastocyst* ; Embryonic Structures*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Constitution and Bylaws* ; Mice* ; Oocytes*