Global incidence of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) is rapidly increasing, but the diagnosis of these diseases at their early stage is challenging. Therefore, the availability of reproducible and reliable biomarkers to diagnose such diseases is more critical than ever. In addition, biomarkers could be used not only to diagnose diseases but also to monitor the development of disease therapeutics. Urine is an excellent biofluid that can be utilized as a source of biomarker to diagnose not only several renal diseases but also other diseases because of its abundance in invasive sampling. However, urine was conventionally regarded as inappropriate as a source of biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases because it is anatomically distant from the central nervous system (CNS), a major pathologic site of NDD, in comparison to other biofluids such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma. However, recent studies have suggested that urine could be utilized as a source of NDD biomarker if an appropriate marker is predetermined by metabolomic and proteomic approaches in urine and other samples. In this review, we summarize such studies related to NDD.

PURPOSE: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is known to be more common in children with epilepsy than in the general population. Thirty one to forty percent of ADHD is accompanied with epilepsy. Few studies regarding this matter have been reported in Korea. This study was aimed to evaluate the comorbidity of ADHD in children with epilepsy. METHODS: This is a two center based, retrospective and controlled study. Thirty four ADHD children with epilepsy from Chungbuk National University hospital and 38 ADHD children without epilepsy from Cheonju St. Mary's hospital were recruited from January 2005 to June 2010. RESULTS: In ADHD children with epilepsy, twelve (35.2%) had partial seizures, 11 (32.2%) did generalized seizures and 11 (32.2%) were unclassified. EEG abnormalities were found in the frontal lobe (15 cases), in the central lobe (7 cases), in the temporal lobe (6 cases), and in the occipital lobe (3 cases). In ADHD children with epilepsy, the combined type was major (76.4%) and in ADHD children without epilepsy, the inattentive type was major (50.5%) (P=0.004). Learning disability was mor common in ADHD with epilepsy than in ADHD without epilepsy (P=0.01). CONCLUSION: This study showed that ADHD children with epilepsy are more likely to have combined type (76.4%) and learning disability as compared with ADHD without epilepsy.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Child ; Comorbidity ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsy ; Frontal Lobe ; Humans ; Korea ; Learning Disorders ; Occipital Lobe ; Retrospective Studies ; Seizures ; Temporal Lobe

Indocyanine green (ICG) could be applied for multiple functions such as fluorescent tumor localization, fluorescence lymph node mapping (FLNM), and intraoperative angiography in colorectal cancer surgery. With the near-infrared (NIR) systems, colonoscopic ICG tattooing can be used to define the early colorectal cancer that cannot be easily distinguished through the serosal surface. The lymphatic pathways can be visualized under the NIR system when ICG is injected through the submucosal or subserosal layer around the tumor. Intraoperative ICG angiography can be applied to find a favorable perfusion segment before the colon transection. Although all fluorescence functions are considered essential steps in image-guided surgery, it is difficult to perform multifunctional ICG applications in a single surgical procedure at once because complex protocols could interfere with each other. Therefore, we review the multifunctional ICG applications for fluorescent tumor localization, FLNM, and ICG angiography. We also discuss the optimal protocol for fluorescence-guided colorectal surgery.

Indocyanine green (ICG) could be applied for multiple functions such as fluorescent tumor localization, fluorescence lymph node mapping (FLNM), and intraoperative angiography in colorectal cancer surgery. With the near-infrared (NIR) systems, colonoscopic ICG tattooing can be used to define the early colorectal cancer that cannot be easily distinguished through the serosal surface. The lymphatic pathways can be visualized under the NIR system when ICG is injected through the submucosal or subserosal layer around the tumor. Intraoperative ICG angiography can be applied to find a favorable perfusion segment before the colon transection. Although all fluorescence functions are considered essential steps in image-guided surgery, it is difficult to perform multifunctional ICG applications in a single surgical procedure at once because complex protocols could interfere with each other. Therefore, we review the multifunctional ICG applications for fluorescent tumor localization, FLNM, and ICG angiography. We also discuss the optimal protocol for fluorescence-guided colorectal surgery.

In the last decade Computed Tomography(CT) has played a critical role in the diagnostic evaluation of the patients with focal brain injury. But it is apparent from pathologic studies that CT underestimates the severity of the many forms of cerebral injury such as primary brain stem injury, non-hemorrhagic cortical contusion and diffuse axonal injury(DAI). Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI), however, has been shown to be highly sensitive in detecting diffuse brain injury(DBI). Among the consecutive 13 cases of DBI patients in this series for 10 months, twelve patients were verified as MR evidence of injury in prospective studies. The anatomical distribution of the injuries were 11 cases of corpus callosal lesion, 6 cases of lobar white matter lesion, 1 case of primary brain stem lesion. The sensitivities of MR imaging in detecting the primary lesion were 76.9%(10/13) in T1WI and 92.3%(12/13) in T2WI. In DBI, patients with callosal injuries had higher incidence(8/12) than lobar white matter and primary brain stem lesion, the corpus callosal atrophy by midsaggital MR imaging and behavioral seguellae in survivous of severe head injury implicate the corpus callosal injury and degeneration. More accurate detection and delineation of traumatic lesions with MR should permit more accurate prediction of neurologic and cognitive recovery and assist in optimizing form of treatment.
Atrophy ; Axons ; Brain ; Brain Injuries* ; Brain Stem ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Prospective Studies

BACKGROUND: Elevation in plasma homocysteine has been widely studied as an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis. And epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that the persons who take the folate and vitamin B6 have lower incidence of atherosclerotic vascular disease and lower plasma homocysteine level. But, not yet the effects of vitamin B6 and folate on the level of plasma homocysteine and brachial artery dilation on healthy subjects was not evaluated. METHODS: We evaluated the effects of 50 mg of vitamin B6 and 1 mg of folate on endothelial function, plasma homocysteine levels to one healthy postmenoausal woman and nineteen men in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design. RESULTS: In our study, supplement of vitamin B6 and folate significantly lowered plasma homocysteine level (placebo : folate =6.56 +1.55 micromol/L vs. 5.37 +1.04 micromol/L, p=.001). But, there were no statistically significant increament of flow-mediated dilation (FMD) compared to placebo (placebo : folate =5.12 +3.26% vs. 6.69 +2.60%, p=.070) and there were no significant correlation between the improvement of homocysteine level and increament of flow mediated dilation on healthy subjects. CONCLUSION: Compared to persons with absolute or relative hyper-homocysteinemia, our study did not show such favorable effects in healthy persons. So further studies must to be held to discover the effect of folate and vitamine B6 in healthy persons.
Atherosclerosis ; Brachial Artery* ; Cross-Over Studies ; Female ; Folic Acid* ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Plasma* ; Risk Factors ; Vascular Diseases ; Vitamin B 6* ; Vitamins*

Acute coronary closure occurs 2-10% during the procedure of PTCA, 50-80% of those events are in the catheterization room. The causes of acute coronary closure are mainly due to dissection, thrombosis or spasm. We recently experienced a case of acute left main coronary artery closure due to guiding catheter induced embolization in the 56 year-old female, unstable angina patient complicated by diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure. The patient received cardiopulmonary resuscitation shortly after acute closure because of cardiac arrest. During the resuscitation, we performed PTCA at the site of acute closure. The blood pressure maintained normaly after successful recanalization. And then we inserted IABP(intraaortic balloon pump) balloon and did PTCA of original stenosis sites. The patient removed IABP 24 hours later and discharged a month later without complication.
Angina, Unstable ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation* ; Catheterization ; Catheters* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Vessels ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Female ; Heart Arrest ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Middle Aged ; Resuscitation ; Spasm ; Thrombosis

PURPOSE: Dexamethasone is a well-known treatment for preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. However, serious side effects have been identified, including hypertension, and cardiac hypertrophy. This study was undertaken to examine whether dexamethasone induced cardiac hypertrophy in preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 12 infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia treated with dexamethasone at Korea University Hospital from August 1995 to February 1999. Serial two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiographic measurements were taken before treatment and at 1,2,3,4,5 weeks after the start of dexamethasone therapy. RESULTS: Patients receiving dexamethasone had a significantly increase in interventricular septal thickness and left ventricular posterior wall thickness. These effects were transient, reached their maximal degree by the third week of treatment, and approached pretreatment conditions by the fifth week of treatment. Heart rate was increased but statistically not significant. The fractional shortening, systolic and diastolic arterial pressure were transiently increased during dexamethasone therapy. CONCLUSION: We conclude that a transient myocardial hypertrophy is associated with dexamethasone therapy in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Follow up of careful echocardiac monitoring should be considered in infants with dexamethasone therapy.
Arterial Pressure ; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia ; Cardiomegaly* ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic* ; Dexamethasone* ; Echocardiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypertrophy* ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature* ; Korea ; Retrospective Studies

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA), also termed Bland-White-Garland syndrome, is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly characterized by myocardial ischemia which becomes symptomatic during early infancy leading to infarction, left heart failure or even death. More than 90% of patients can be dead within first year of life if untreated, so adult type ALCAPA without surgical correction is quitely rare. We present a case of a 20-year-old man with ALPACA syndrome whose diagnosis took several years to be made because he was mistaken to have organic mitral regurgitation.
Adult* ; Bland White Garland Syndrome ; Camelids, New World ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diagnosis ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Infarction ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: This study was constructed to review our experience for the treatment for iliac artery occlusion/stenosis with performing angioplasty/stenting and open bypass surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the 86 primary endovascular and open bypass procedures that were done for iliac artery occlusion/stenosis between 2000 and 2005. The data was divided into two groups by the procedure: the endo group (31 limbs, 36%), and the bypass group (55 limbs, 65%). RESULTS: The outcomes were defined according to the reported standards of the Society for Vascular Consensus (TASC). The lesion types were significantly more severe in the patients in the bypass group (P=0.000). The initial technical & clinical success rates were 100% in both groups. The cumulative 48-month primary & secondary patency rates were 76.1% and 95.2% in the endo group and 78.0% and 93.8% in the bypass group, respectively. The perioperative complication rates were 6% in the endo group and 9% in the bypass group, respectively. The mean hospital stay was more significantly shorter in the endo group (5.4 days vs. 15.1 days, respectively, p=0.000). CONCLUSION: The treatment of iliac artery lesion with angioplasty/stenting was a safe and effective method in our experience. Selective angioplasty/stenting may be preferable to bypass surgery for treating TASC A and B type iliac artery occlusions.
Consensus ; Extremities ; Humans ; Iliac Artery* ; Length of Stay ; Retrospective Studies