PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate alterations of regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular reserve (CVR), and correlation between these alternations and cognitive dysfunction in patients with chronic traumatic brain injury (TRI) and normal brain MRI findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty TBI patients and 19 healthy volunteers underwen1 rest/acerazolamide brain SPECT using Tc-99m HMPAO. Korean-Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale test was also performed in the patient group. Statistical analysis was performed with statistical parametric mapping software (SPM97), RESULTS: CBF was diminished in the left hemisphere including Wernicke's area in all patients with lower verbal scale scores. In addition, a reduction in CBF in the right frontal, temporal and parietal cortices was related with depressed scores in information, digital span, arithmetic and similarities, In patients with lower performance scale scores. CBF was mainly diminished in the right hemisphere including superior temporal and supramarginal gyri, premotor, primary somatomotor and a port of prefrontal cortices, left frontal lobe and supramarginal gyrus. CVR was diminished in sixty-four Brodmann's areas compared to control. A reduction in CVR was demonstrated bilaterally in the frontal and temporal Iobes in patients with lower scores in both verbal and performance tests, and in addition, both inferior parietal and occipital lobes in information subset. CONCLUSION: Alterations of CBF and CVR were demonstrated in the symptomatic TBI patients with normal MRI finding. These alterations were correlated with the change of intelligence, of which the complex functions are subserved by multiple interconnected cortical structures.
Adult ; Brain ; Brain Injuries* ; Frontal Lobe ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Intelligence* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Occipital Lobe ; Rabeprazole ; Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

No abstract available.

The toxicity and adrenostatic effect of o,p'-DDD, a derivative of the insecticidal DDT, on the adrenal cortex were well known. It known that the toxicity was based on the blocking of steroid biopsynthesis when cholesterol was converted to pregnenolone. Lysodren(R) was also known to be capable of producing a regression of adrenocortical carcinoma and its metastases, and this drug became one of useful choice for the treatment of unoperable adrenocortical carcinomas. Recently, fine structural effect of o,p'-DDD on the adrenocortical carcinoma show that the mitochondria is the primary target organelle. o,p'-DDD was dissolved in corn oil and it was orally administered for 28 days to investigate the ultrastructural effects of zona fasciculata of rat adrenal cortex. The results obtained were as follow: 1) The body weight was decreased after feeding o,p'-DDD. 2) Light microscopic examination showed no remarkable change except increased fine lipid droplets of zona fasciculata in group I (o,p'-DDD 75 mg/kg feeding). Moderately increased intracytoplasmic lipid droplets and pyknotic nuclei bearing membrane indentations were seen in group II (o,p'-DDD 150 mg/kg feeding). Large sized lipid droplet aggregates, pyknotic nuclei with severe nuclear membrane indentations and karyorrhexis in focal area were evident in group III. 3) Immunohistochemical staining for ACTH in pituitary gland showed increasing number of ACTH secretory cell and increasing intensity of staining property according to the dosage of o,p'-DDD. 4) Ultrastructural examination showed increased intracytoplasmic lipid droplets and mild increased peroxisome. There was no remarkable ultrastructural changes in mitochondria in group I. Moderately increased lipid droplets and clusters formation, compressed mitochondria, partial disappearance of mitochondrial cristae, increased peroxisome and nuclear membrane indentations were seen in group II. In group III, nuclear membrane showed prominent indentation. Numberous cytoplasmic vacuolation, double membrane ring in mitochondria, disappearance of mitochondrial cristae, myelin figure formation in mitochondrial matrix, and fatty changes in mitochondrial matrix were seen. These findings showed that the primary target organelle of attack by o,p'-DDD on zona fasciculata of adrenal gland in rat is mitochondria and it was developed from double ring formation in mitochondrial matrix.
Rats ; Animals

Coronary artery disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality across the world. Percutaneous coronary intervention has become the major technique of revascularization. However, restenosis remains a major limitation of this procedure. Recently the need for repeat intervention due to restenosis, the most vexing long-term failure of percutaneous coronary intervention, has been significantly reduced owing to the introduction of two major advances, intracoronary brachytherapy and the drug-eluting stents. Intracoronary brachytherapy has been employed in recent years to prevent restenosis lesions with effective results, principally in in-stent restenosis. Restenosis is generally considered as an excessive form of normal wound healing divided up in processes: elastic recoil, neointimal hyperplasia, and negative vascular remodeling. Restenosis has previously been regarded as a proliferative process in which neointimal thickening, mediated by a cascade of inflammatory mediators and other factors, is the key factor. Ionizing radiation has been shown to decrease the proliferative response to injury in animal models of restenosis. Subsequently, several randomized, double-blind trials have demonstrated that intracoronary brachytherapy can reduce the rates of both angiographic restenosis and clinical event rates in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention for in-stent restenosis. Some problems, such as late thrombosis and edge restenosis, have been identified as limiting factors of this technique. Brachytherapy is a promising method of preventing and treating coronary artery restenosis.
Brachytherapy* ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Drug-Eluting Stents ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Models, Animal ; Mortality ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Radiation, Ionizing ; Thrombosis ; Wound Healing

No abstract available.
Durapatite* ; Radionuclide Imaging*

PURPOSE: Purpose of this study is to synthesize 99mTc-labeled transferrin for infection imaging and to compare it with 67Ga-citrate for the detection of infectious foci. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Succinimidyl 6-hydrazino-nicotinate hydrochloride-chitosan-transferrin (Transferrin) was synthesized and radiolabeled with 99mTc. Labeling efficiencies of 99mTc-Transferrin were determined at 10 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 2 hr, 4 hr and 8 hr. Biodistribution and imaging studies with 99mTc-Transferrin and 67Ga-citrate were performed in a rat abscess model induced with approximately 2 x 10(8) colony forming unit of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923. RESULTS: Successful synthesis of Transferrin was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Labeling efficiency of 99mTc-Transferrin was 96.2+/-0.7%, 96.4+/-0.5%, 96.6+/-1.0%, 96.9+/-0.5%, 97.0+/-0.7% and 95.5+/-0.7% at 10 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 2 hr, 4 hr and 8 hr, respectively. The injected dose per tissue gram of 99mTc-Transferrin was 0.18+/-0.01 and 0.18+/-0.01 in the lesion and 0.05+/-0.01 and 0.04+/-0.01 in the normal muscle, and lesion-to-normal muscle uptake ratio was 3.7+/-0.6 and 4.7+/-0.4 at 30 min and 3 hr, respectively. On image, lesion-to-background ratio of 99mTc-Transferrin was 2.18+/-0.03, 2.56+/-0.11, 3.08+/-0.18, 3.77+/-0.17, 4.70+/-0.45 and 5.59+/-0.40 at 10 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 2 hr, 4 hr and 10 hr and those of 67Ga-citrate was 3.06+/-0.84, 4.12+/-0.54 and 4.55+/-0.74 at 2 hr, 24 hr and 48 hr, respectively. CONCLUSION: Transferrin is successfully labeled with 99mTc, and its labeling efficiency was higher than 95% and stable for 8 hours. 99mTc-Transferrin scintigraphy showed higher image quality in shorter time compared to 67Ga-citrate image. 99mTc-transferrin is supposed to be useful in the detection of the infectious foci.
Abscess ; Animals ; Mass Spectrometry ; Models, Animal ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Rats ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Stem Cells ; Transferrin

No abstract available.
Animals ; Chorionic Gonadotropin* ; Humans* ; Mice* ; Uterus*

Anterior mediastinal teratoma was removed from the right hemithorax of a 15-year-old male patient presenting initially with right chest discomfort and hemoptysis. He was died following precipitous clinical deterioration, 2 months after open thoracotomy. The true malignant nature of this tumor, that there are endodermal sinus tumor and squamous cell carcinoma, was apparent on resection specimen. The former had metastasized to right supraclavicular lymph node. A similar case has not been reported previously on the review of the pertinent literature on malignant mediastinal teratoma.
Male ; Humans

BACKGROUND: The purposes of this study are to determine the prevalence of malnutrtion and its trend of change and to establish its relationship with dysphagia and functional outcome in rehabilitation patients. METHOD: We included 39 patients who were admitted into rehabilitation ward, and we evaluated nutri- tional parameters(serum albumin, serum lymphocyte, and weight loss) and dysphagia at the time of admi- ssion and four weeks after admission. We analyzed total rehabilitation inpatients and stroke patients who were major inpatients of rehabilitation ward. We measured Functional Independence Measure(FIM) and length of stay as clinical outcome scales. RESULTS: Malnutrition was observed in 76.9% of total patients and 69.6% in stroke patients at the time of admission. After four weeks, malnutrition was observed in 65.4% and 66.7%, respectively. Prevalence of dysphagia was 25.0% in non-malnourished patients and 22.0% in malnourished patients at the time of admission. It was not changed significantly after four weeks of rehabilitation. The length of stay was 31.3+/-16.0 days in non-malnourished patients and 39.8+/-19.4 days in malnourished patients. The FIM effi- ciency was 1.0+/-0.6 in non-malnourished patients and 2.3+/-6.5 in malnourished patients. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that malnutrition was highly prevalent in rehabilitation inpatients and it did not improved significantly through four weeks of rehabilitation. Therefore, it is important to be concerned about malnutrition and it needs proper and active management.
Deglutition Disorders ; Humans ; Inpatients* ; Length of Stay ; Lymphocytes ; Malnutrition* ; Prevalence ; Rehabilitation* ; Serum Albumin ; Stroke ; Weights and Measures

The measurement of pathologically low levels of tissue pO2 is an important diagnostic goal for determining the prognosis of many clinically important diseases including cardiovascular insufficiency, stroke and cancer. The target tissues nowaday have mostly been tumors or the myocardium, with less attention centered on the brain. Radiolabelled nitroimidazole or derivatives may be useful in identifying the hypoxic cells in cerebrovascular disease or traumatic brain injury, and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. In acute stroke, the target of therapy is the severely hypoxic but salvageable tissue. 18F-MISO PET and 99mTc-EC-metronidazole SPECT in patients with acute ischemic stroke identified hypoxic tissues and ischemic penumbra, and predicted its outcome. A study using 123I-IAZA in patient with closed head injury detected the hypoxic tissues after head injury. Up till now these radiopharmaceuticals have drawbacks due to its relatively low concentration with hypoxic tissues associated with/without low blood-brain barrier permeability and the necessity to wait a long time to achieve acceptable target to background ratios for imaging in acute ischemic stroke. It is needed to develop new hypoxic marker exhibiting more rapid localization in the hypoxic region in the brain. And then, the hypoxic brain imaging with imidazoles or non-imidazoles may be very useful in detecting the hypoxic tissues, determining therapeutic strategies and developing therapeutic drugs in several neurological disease, especially, in acute ischemic stroke.
Anoxia ; Blood-Brain Barrier ; Brain Injuries ; Brain* ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Head Injuries, Closed ; Humans ; Hypoxia, Brain* ; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain ; Imidazoles ; Myocardium ; Neuroimaging ; Permeability ; Prognosis ; Radiopharmaceuticals ; Stroke ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon