OBJECTIVES: Alzheimer's disease(AD) and mild cognitive impairment(MCI) affect several nervous structures involved with the autonomic nervous system. Association between neuropsychiatric deficits and heart rate variability has been observed. But cardiac autonomic function in AD has been scarcely studied and the results reported are conflicting. We investigated autonomic function in normal control, MCI, AD using heart rate variabil-ity(HRV) technique. METHODS: Time and frequency-domain variability of 5-min R-R interval series was comparatively evaluated in 26 normal control subjects, 22 MCI subjects and 34 AD subjects. Analysis of variance(ANOVA) was used to compare the differences across groups. Correlations between MMSE-KC and HRV components were performed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed among the groups in time, frequency-domain analysis of HRV (p>0.05). HRV were not found to be significantly correlated with the degree of cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences in HRV with MCI, AD subjects when compared with normal controls. Further investigation is required to use HRV technique as noninvasive parameters of MCI and AD.
Alzheimer Disease ; Autonomic Nervous System ; Heart ; Heart Rate ; Mild Cognitive Impairment

As South Korea becomes a super-aged society by 2025, the number of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is increasing rapidly. PD is characterized by motor symptoms, such as bradykinesia, tremor, and rigidity, and non-motor symptoms, such as depression, cognitive impairment, and autonomic nervous system disorders. The pathophysiology of dysphagia in PD is a complex interplay of motor disorders caused by dopamine deficiency in the basal ganglia and the involvement of the brainstem swallowing center and the peripheral nerve system affected by the PD pathology. Dysphagia in PD presents difficulties in taking medications, contributes to malnutrition and dehydration, and reduces the overall quality of life. Despite dysphagia being a prevalent problem in PD, a significant number of patients remain unaware of the swallowing difficulties. Therefore, healthcare practitioners need to understand dysphagia in PD, consider early screening and objective evaluations, and proactively implement swallowing treatment and compensatory therapy as needed. This review examines the pathophysiology, clinical characteristics, screening and diagnosis, and severity assessment of dysphagia in PD.

PURPOSE: To evaluate US and CT characteristics of small renal cell carcinomas with diameter less than 3cm. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analysed US and CT findings of the small renal cell carcinomas which were surgically confirmed. We analysed echogenicity, peritumoral hypoechoic rim, intratumoral cysts on US. We analysed CT with viewpoints of tumor margin, growth pattern, renal contour change, attenuation on pre- and postcontrast scan, homogeneity, and perirenal changes. RESULTS: The US characteristics of the small renal cell carcinomas were hyperechogenicity(89%), peritumoral hypoechoic rim(66%) and intratumoral cysts(44%). They had relatively well-defined margin(90%), smooth and round contour(90%), endophytic growth pattern(65%), and outward bulging of renal contour(75%) on CT. They had iso- or high attenuation(87%) on precontrast CT, and were relatively homogeneous low-attenuated on postcontrast CT. CONCLUSION: The constellation of US and CT findings may be helpful in the diagnosis and understanding of the internal architecture of the small renal cell carcinomas.
Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Diagnosis ; Retrospective Studies

We report a case of recurrent herpes genitalis in a 5-year-old girl which was considered to result from childhood sexual abuse. The skin lesion was an eroded erythematous macule with overlying multiple vesicles on the labia majora. We detected Herpes simplex virus DNA by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a biopsy specimen from the vesicular lesion.
Biopsy ; Child, Preschool ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 ; DNA ; Female ; Herpes Genitalis* ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sex Offenses* ; Simplexvirus ; Skin

We report a case of recurrent herpes genitalis in a 5-year-old girl which was considered to result from childhood sexual abuse. The skin lesion was an eroded erythematous macule with overlying multiple vesicles on the labia majora. We detected Herpes simplex virus DNA by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a biopsy specimen from the vesicular lesion.
Biopsy ; Child, Preschool ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 ; DNA ; Female ; Herpes Genitalis* ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sex Offenses* ; Simplexvirus ; Skin

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight* ; Critical Care*

Dementia is defined as a syndrome which is characterized by various impairments in cognitive functions, especially memory function, Most of the diagnostic criteria for dementia include memory impairment as no essential feature. Memory decline can be present as a consequence of the aging process, But it does not cause significant distress or impairment in social and occupational functionings while dementiadoes. Depression may also be associated with memory impairment. funcitionings while dementiadoes. Depression may also be associated with memory impairment. However, unlike dementia, depression dose not cause decrease in delayed verbal learning and recognition memory. In dementia, different features of memory impairment may be present depending on the involved area. Memory impairment in cortical dementia is affected by the disturbance of encoding of information and memory consolidation, while memory imparnene in subcrotical denentiy is affected y the disturbance of retrieval in subcortial dementia.
Aging ; Dementia ; Depression ; Humans ; Memory* ; Verbal Learning

Decubitus ulcer is often seen in the skin and underlying tissue of debilitated or immobilized patients as the result of prolonged pressure and impaired circulation. It manifests chiefly as an ulcer over bony prominences, but tumefaction is an extremely unusual presentation. A 53-year old male, a paralytic of the lower extremity for 18 years, developed a recurrent decubital ulcer despite repeated surgical repair, from which a rapidly growing, large fungating mass grew within a month. The last resected mass was bosselated and measured 15x9x3 cm with a major area of cicatrix-like induration, interdigitated with skeletal muscle bundles at the central area. Microscopically, the mass was composed of an upper half of active granulation tissue layer and a deeper half of dense, poorly cellular, fibrocollagenous bundles admixed with florid proliferation of atypical fibroblasts, but the absence of mitosis and the multifocal admixture of active inflammatory process-granulation tissue formation seemed to help exclude genuine fibromatosis, nodular fasciitis or proliferative myositis. We assume that this rapidly growing pseudofibromatosis is an additional manifestation of a prolonged decubitus ulcer, possibly related to the modified reparative process of decubitus ulcer following repeated excisions, for which we propose a term of decubitoma.

BACKGROUND: In recent studies, tacrolimus ointment has been shown to be effective for the treatment of atopic dermatitis with an excellent safety profile. OBJECTIVE: This study was done to assess the efficacy and side-effects of tacrolimus ointment for the facial atopic dermatitis(AD) in Korean. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Open-label, non-comparative study with 2 months' follow-up was done to assess the efficacy and safety of tacrolimus ointment (Protopic0ointment 0.1%, Fujisawa, Japan) in moderate to severe facial AD. Patients were instructed to apply it two times daily for 8 weeks. Facial lesions were evaluated at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks of treatment with in-tensity score by investigator. RESULTS: In comparing of intensity scores and each clinical score at baseline with those of 4 and 8 weeks of treatment, a significant decrease was noticed at all follow-up periods. Burning sense(54.5%) and pruritus(18.2%) were detected. CONCLUSION: Tacrolimus ointment is effective in treatment of severe facial AD and has tolerable mild adverse effects at the site of application in Korean.
Burns ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Research Personnel ; Tacrolimus*

BACKGROUND: The granulocyte-specific antigen NA which exist specifically on neutrophils and eosinophils have its antigenic determinant on Fcgamma receptor III. The alloantibodies and autoantibodies against this antigen are responsible for neonatal alloimmune neutropenia, chronic benign autoimmune neutropenia of infancy and transfusion-related acute lung injury. After discovering of biallelic polymorphism of NA antigen, there have been attempts to replace technically cumbersome serotyping methods by DNA-typing. This study was performed to investigate the genotype frequency of NA antigen In Koreans by DNA typing. METHODS: Using genomic DNA extracted from venous blood of 200 Koreans, genotype of NA antigen system was determined through polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP), and the frequency was compared with previous studies. The NA genotypes of seven individuals were compared with their known phenotypes. RESULTS: The genotype frequencies of NA1+NA2-, NA1+NA2+, and NA1-NA2+ were 28.5%, 59.0%, and 12.5% respectively. The gene frequencies calculated from genotype frequencies were 0.58 and 0.42 for NA1 and NA2 respectively. The NA genotypes of seven individuals were correlated precisely with their phenotypes. CONCLUSION: The gene frequency of NA1 in Koreans was higher than that of Caucasian. The genotype frequencies of NA antigen in Koreans were similar to those of the Japanese and Chinese. This study will serve as a basic data for the study of the patients with diseases associated with granulocyte-specific antigens in Koreans.
Acute Lung Injury ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Autoantibodies ; DNA ; DNA Fingerprinting ; Eosinophils ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype* ; Humans ; Isoantibodies ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Serotyping