The depth of wound level is as important as the level of the tendon injury itself. And the timing of the operative procedure is an important factor. As a rule, tendons injured outside of the flexor sheath yield much better results than those injured within the sheath. The nutritional supply of the flexor tendons is not completely understood. Many elaborate studies have outilned the vascular anatomy of these tendons, and not all authors are in agreement. It is now clear that synovial fluid within the sheath supplies nutrition to the tendon much as synovial fluid in a joint supports cartilage. With this in mind, the present study was designed to determine the effect of exposing tendons for varying periods of time on the viability of the tendon and sequential morphological changes. The results are as follows: 1. Twelve hours after tendon sheath removal, collagen fibrillar dissociation and irregular surface of the tendon sheath were noted on the chicken flexor tendons by electronmicroscopy. 2. Superficial tenocyte necrosis was created after 24 hours of tendon exposure. 3. At 3 days, inflammatory cell infiltration and thickening of the outer synovial layer were noted. After 7 days, fibrosis of the degenerated tendon started from the exposed surface. 4. The fibrous connective tissue and new blood vessel infiltration into the tendon were progressed after 7 days. From these morphological results, any interference with the synovial environment leads to a regressive change of the flexor tendons immediately. It is suggested that delayed primary wound covering procedure within three days an after exposed tendon injury is ideal, and it should by done at least 7 days after tendon exposure.
Blood Vessels ; Cartilage ; Chickens ; Collagen ; Connective Tissue ; Equipment and Supplies ; Fibrosis ; Joints ; Necrosis ; Surgical Procedures, Operative ; Synovial Fluid ; Tendon Injuries ; Tendons ; Wounds and Injuries

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Dinoprost* ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Tubal*

No abstract available.
Cells, Cultured*

No abstract available.
Cells, Cultured*

Many factors exert an influence on enzyme activity and thus on the rate of reactions that they catalyse. The most important of these factors are pH, temperature, substrate concentration, and the concentration of some inhibitors present. A solution of the enzyme diastase, which breaks down molecules of the polysaccharide starch to the disaccharide maltose by hydrolysis, was provided. Activity of these enzyme was measured by the rate at which starch was removed from the reaction mixture. These experiments were designed to study this reaction rate under varying conditions and the following results were obtained. 1. The range of optimum pH for this enzyme at room temperature was 4.0-7.0 and the optimum pH was 5.0. 2. The range of optimum temperatures for this enzyme at pH 7.0 was 30-50 degrees C and the optimum temperature was 40 degrees C. 3. The relationship between the enzyme activity and substrate concentration could be expressed by the Michaelis-Menten equation. The limiting velocity of these enzyme at room temperature and pH 7.0 was 415 microgram starch removed/ml of reaction mixture/min and Km, Michaelis constant, was 343 microgram/ml. 4. Inhibitors NaCl and HgCl2 blocked this enzyme activity completely at 1% and 0.01% respectively.
Amylases* ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Hydrolysis ; Maltose ; Mercuric Chloride ; Starch ; Water*

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a common category of spinal disease in which a decrease in the volume of the spinal canal results in compression of the neural elements. Its pressure symptoms are characterized by vague back-pain and chronic sciatica. The goals of surgical treatment in lumbar spinal stenosis are the relief of pain and the preservation or restoration of neurologic function. Extensive laminectomy in lumbar spinal stenosis results in postoperative instability and postoperative vertebral subluxation with pain, restricted movement, and further neural compression occurs after decompressive laminectomy. Therefore internal fixation devices have been used in these circumstances to prevent postoperative instability while the fusion being consolidated. From February 1988 to October 1988, 36 patients of lumbar spinal stenosis had undergone operations with decompressive laminectomy and segmental spinal instrumentation with transpedicular screws at the department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine. In 18 patients degenerative changes in lumbar spine were the principal aetiologic factor:7 patients had spondylolisthetic spinal stenosis:ll patients had combined spinal stenosis. All patients were followed up for periods varying between twelve and ninteen months. According to Kim's criteria, the postoperative results were as follows;excellent in 17 cases(47.2% ), good in 15 cases(41.7% ) and fair in 4 cases(11.1% ). The study revealed that segmental spinal instrumentation with transpedicular screws provided a rigid fixation, early ambulation, minimal fusion and reducing of recovery period were possible. In conclusion, segmental spinal instrumentation with transpedicular screws is a good and reliable method of stabilization after extensive decompressive laminectomy.
Early Ambulation ; Humans ; Internal Fixators ; Laminectomy ; Methods ; Sciatica ; Spinal Canal ; Spinal Diseases ; Spinal Fusion ; Spinal Stenosis ; Spine

With the increasing number of the occupational accidents proportionate to the rapid development of modern culture, fractures of the hand have become one of the commonest fractures of the human body. The authors have reviewed 211 cases of injured hand in industry which were treated in the department of orthopedic surgery, InCheon Severance hospital from Jan. to Dec. in 1989. The following results were obtained; 1. The peak incidence was in the age group from 21 to 30 years in 87 cases (41.2%). Injured males outnumbered females predominantly by 92.9% vs 7.1%. 2. The hand injuries happened most commonly in the day time (from 8 oclock A.M. to 6 oclock P.M.) but there were no differences between month in the year. 3. Most of patients injured hand (73.9%) arrived at hospital within 1 hour after accidents. 4. The commonest cause of the injury was due to electric saw (21.9% ). 5. Of the 98 fracture cases left hand was more frequently involved than right hand and 64 cases monodigit and remained were polydigits. 6. 43 (32.6%) of total 132 fractured sites were index finger and 74 (56.1%) were distal phalanx. 7. The index finger was also most vulnerable to amputation (56.8% out of 44 amputation cases) and the most distal part was more vulnerable to amputation. 8. The most common method was primary closure and splint. The method of treatment was affected in part by the economic and social status of the patients. 9. In order to prevent hand injuries in industry, preventive policy should be established by improvement of working environments, machines and education.
Accidents, Occupational ; Amputation ; Education ; Female ; Fingers ; Hand Injuries ; Hand ; Human Body ; Humans ; Incheon ; Incidence ; Male ; Methods ; Orthopedics ; Splints

BACKGROUND: Coagulase negative staphylococcus (CNS) spp. is a major pathogenic organism of nosocomial and community-acquired urianry tract infections, and causes infrctions in the immunocompromised host, and in particular, bloodstream infetions in patent with indwelling devices. High prevalance of methicillin resistance has been noticed in CNS which also have been recongnized as an important multidrug resistant pathogen. The optimal phenotypic method for detecting methicillin resistance still remains controversial, and new guidelines for detecting methicillin resistance of CNS was proposed by NCCLS in January 1999. We evaluated the relationship between mecA gene by PCR method and antimicrobial susceptibility tests according to the new NCCLS guidelines. METHODS: A total of 82 CNS isolates were examined for MICs and penicillin MICs by disk diffusion and agar dilution method according to NCCLS guidelines, and detections, and detection of mecA gene by PCR. RESULT: In disk diffusion method, 66 strains (80.5%) and 63 strains (76.8%) showed resistance to penicillin and oxacillin, respectively, and in agar dilution method, 71 strains(86.6%) and 53 strains (64.6%), respectively. In PCR method, mecA genes were detected in 49 strains(59.8%). Comparing with mecA gene detection by PCR method, the sensitivity of disk diffusion and agar dilution method was 95.8% and 89.8%, repectively. However, the sensitivity of disk diffusion and agar dilution method was 65.3% and 75.5%, respectively using previous NCCLS criteria. CONCLUSION: The new criteria of NCCLS detects the methicillin resistance induced by mecA gene more sensitively than previous one.
Agar ; Coagulase* ; Diffusion ; Immunocompromised Host ; Methicillin Resistance ; Oxacillin ; Penicillins ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Staphylococcus*

BACKGROUND: Early detection and treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is very important because CMN infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after organ transplantation. CMV antigenemia assay has been reported to be very sensitive and specific for detection of CMV infection among many laboratory methods. However, there is no single method correlated well with the infection state up to now. We compared the results of SHARP Signal System Assay (Digene, USA) using PCR and hybridization with those of CMV antigenemia assay (Clonab CMV-kit; Biotest AG, Germany) to evaluate their clinical usefulness. METHODS: We performed SHARP Signal Assay on whole blood samples of 125 from 56 transplanted patients submitted for CMV antigenemia at Samsung Medical Center. We compared the results with those of CMV antigenemia and evaluated the correlation with CMV disease state. RESULTS: Fifty six patients were classified as three groups; 43 patients with no evidence of CMV infection, four patients with CMV infection and 9 patients with CMV disease. Twenty four cases (19.2%) showed discrepant results between the two methods. Of the 22 cases showing positive only by SHARP Signal Assay, two cases were proved to be CMV disease, 12 cases were on antiviral treatment and remaining cases had no evidence of infection. Two cases showing positive only by CMV antigenemia were confirmed to be CMV disease. For CMV disease, the sensitivity of SHARP Signal Assay and CMV antigenemia were 85.7% and 90.5%, respectively and the specificity of them were 73.1% and 93.3%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: CMV antigenemia is thought to be useful for early diagnosis and follow-up of antiviral treatment as a quantitative and highly specific method, and SHARP Signal Assay can be used as a complementary method because it correlates well with disease state.
Cytomegalovirus Infections* ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Diagnosis* ; Early Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mortality ; Organ Transplantation ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Transplants