No abstract available.
Gait*

No abstract available.
Dementia* ; Humans ; Urinary Incontinence*

Beta-fluoroethylacetate has been extensively used as the rodenticide in Korea. In some patients with acute poisoning, beta-fluoroethylacetate caused cerebellar dysfunction as a single and persistent neurologic sequela after a period of an acute neurological disorder which is characterized by mental deterioration, seizures, and respiratory failure. But there has been no report of pathological findings to explain neurological deficit. We tried to verify the histologic changes of the central nervous systems in beta-fluoroethylacetate poisoned rats. Silver staining(Gallyas) was used to evaluate the histology. In acute intoxication experiment with LD50(7mg/Kg), beta-fluoroethylacetate elicited acute onset of consciousness deterioration, generalized tonic-clonic seizures and large amplitude tremulous activity involving whole body with full recovery after 24 hours. There was no discernible pathologic change in CNS in acutely poisoned rats. However, when poisoned with sublethal dose(5mg/Kg) daily for five days, a moderate degree of nerve cell degeneration was found selectively in dentate nucleus, Purkinie cell layer, vestibulo-cochlear nucleus and striatum. This change was not seen in hippocampus, cerebral cortex or cerebellar cortex. These findings were well correlated with the previous reports of selective pathology in human 5-FU intoxication cases. Our preliminary results suggest that beta-fluoroethylacetate, a kind of cellular metabolism inhibitor may induce selective neuropathology mainly involving cerebellar output pathway in rats.
Humans ; Rats ; Animals ; Poisons

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common etiology of dementia, that has not been previously reported in Korea. We have experienced two cases of Alzheimer's disease, one occurred in a 53-year-old man with dementia and the other occurred in a 36-year-old woman with a family history of early onset dementia. A neocortical biopsy was done to rule out the cause of dementia and showed diffusely scattered numerous senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in cortex of both cases. Interestingly, GFAP, an immunohistochemical stain showed strong positivity in neuritic plaques and the surrounding fibrillary gathering.
Adult ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Biopsy ; Dementia ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; Neurofibrillary Tangles ; Plaque, Amyloid

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common etiology of dementia, that has not been previously reported in Korea. We have experienced two cases of Alzheimer's disease, one occurred in a 53-year-old man with dementia and the other occurred in a 36-year-old woman with a family history of early onset dementia. A neocortical biopsy was done to rule out the cause of dementia and showed diffusely scattered numerous senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in cortex of both cases. Interestingly, GFAP, an immunohistochemical stain showed strong positivity in neuritic plaques and the surrounding fibrillary gathering.
Adult ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Biopsy ; Dementia ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; Neurofibrillary Tangles ; Plaque, Amyloid

Carbon disulfide(CS2), a volatile solvent, has been widely used in the manufacture of the artificial silk because of its highly fat-soluble property. It has been accepted that CSz is mostly absorbed to the human beings by inhalation arld does harms mainly to the central and peripheral nervous systems and the cardiovascular system. But it is conkoversial whether the pathologic changes are due to the direct toxic effects of the CS2 or to the secondary effects of the CS2-induced arteriosclerosis. Recently the authors have observed the six patients of viscose-rayon worker with a longstanding exposure to the CS2 and obtained the results as follows:1. The ages of onset in the 6 subjects (5 males and one female) were ranged from @41 to 53 years(mean;47.1) and the duration of exposure from 11 to 18 years(mean;l4.5). 2. Three of them had no hypertension. 3. Neurologically they showed headache, dizziness, general malaise, gait difficulty, visual and memory disturbances, paresthesia of distal extremities, dementia, parkinsonian features, pseudobubar palsy, spastic gait, dysarthria, hyperreflexia, and reduced or absent ankle jerks. 4. Nerve conduction studies(N=4) revealed that three of them had polyneuropathy of axonal type.
Ankle ; Arteriosclerosis ; Axons ; Carbon* ; Cardiovascular System ; Dementia ; Dizziness ; Dysarthria ; Extremities ; Gait ; Gait Disorders, Neurologic ; Headache ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Inhalation ; Male ; Memory ; Neural Conduction ; Paralysis ; Paresthesia ; Peripheral Nervous System ; Polyneuropathies ; Reflex, Abnormal ; Silk

No abstract available.
Alcoholics* ; Erythrocyte Indices* ; Humans

The triad of bilateral optic atrophy, hearing deficit, peripheral neuropathy is knoun to be a rare disorder. The authors experienced eight patients in three generations of the same family with this triad of deficits. The disorder developed since their childhood and the course was slowly progressive. Nerve conduction study suggested peripheral neuropathy and sural nerve biopsy was compatible with demyelinating neuropathy, as there were reduction of myelinated nerve fibers in number and focal onion-bulb formation. The mode of inheritance of the family seems to be autosomal dominant, with relatively high penetrance. In many respects, the disorder resembles the cases reported by Sylvester(1958) and Iwashita et al.(1970). But still we do not know the exact etiology of this disorder.
Biopsy ; Deafness* ; Family Characteristics ; Hearing ; Humans ; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated ; Neural Conduction ; Optic Atrophies, Hereditary* ; Optic Atrophy ; Penetrance ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases* ; Sural Nerve ; Wills

A total of 28 patients of confirmed cerebral parenchymal cysticercosis was followed serologically by ELISA(enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) and clinically over 1 year after praziquantel treatment. The subjects were confined to pure cerebral parenchymal form of neurocysticercosis patients in order to evaluate the effect of praziquantel on specific IgG antibody level. The main clinical features were epilepsy and headache and the brain CT showed multiple low densities, cystic rnass, nodule and calcifications. The patients included in this study were categorized into 3 groups according to the follow-up period, namely, group I (1-2 years), group II (2-3 years) and group III(over 3 years). In serum, the post-treatment(last follow-up) anti-body levels were decreased to 71% in group I, 50% in group II and 52% in group III of pre-treatment levels. Also, in CSF, the post-treatment antibody levels were decreased to 81% in group I, 71% in group II and 33% in group III of pre-treatment levels. Eight patients(2 in group I, 3 in group II, 3 in group III) showed negative conversion of IgG antibody in both serum and CSF during follow-up period. All antibody levels in serum and CSF were expected to decline below negative range around 56-57 months after praziquantel treatment by simple linear regression analysis. However, in CSF, it took about 66-67 months for high pre-treatrnent titer patients above 0.8 to convert into negative range and about 34-35 rnonths for low pre-treatrnent titer ones below 0.8. In conclusion. It might be possible to differentiate serologically the early cured from the chronically ill patients uith slowly calcifying lesion by ELISA in neurocysticercosis, :which would be also helpful to determine the next treatment modality.
Brain ; Chronic Disease ; Cysticercosis* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay* ; Epilepsy ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Headache ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Linear Models ; Neurocysticercosis ; Praziquantel*

BACKGROUND: The Samsung Dementia Questionnaire (SDQ) has recently been developed for screening dementia. Objectives of this study are to develop a short form of SDQ (S-SDQ) and to cross-validate S-SDQ in a new sample. METHODS: Factorial analysis of SDQ items was used to develop the S-SDQ. The S-SDQ was administered to informants of 100 dementia patients (61 Alzheimer's disease, 39 vascular dementia) and to those of 100 hospital control subjects. Two groups were matched in terms of age and sex. The retest of S-SDQ was conducted in 75 informants to determine the reliability of tests and retests which were spanned average 23.9 days. RESULTS: The S-SDQ was not influenced by education, age or sex. S-SDQ scores negatively correlated with the K-MMSE (r=-0.84). The S-SDQ showed stepwise scaling with dementia severity. The area under the ROC curve for the S-SDQ was 0.974 (S.E.=0.084). With respect to a diagnosis of dementia, the SDQ (cut-off point 8) had a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 90%. The S-SDQ was found to have a high test-retest reliability (r=0.97). CONCLUSIONS: An abbreviated version of SDQ (S-SDQ) had high sensitivity, specificity and test-retest reliability which were comparable to those of original SDQ. Thus, the S-SDQ can be a useful, brief dementia screening questionnaire.
Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia* ; Diagnosis ; Education ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity