No abstract available.
Lymphadenitis*

The Harris line (HL), caused by bone-growth arrest and manifesting on X-rays as a radiopaque transverse line in the metaphysis of the long bones, is an indicator reflecting stress conditions such as disease or malnutrition. HL frequency has been assumed to differ between pre-modern and modern societies, as reflective of increased caloric intake and overall nutritional improvements attendant on industrialization. To determine if such a change occurred in Korea, in the present study we compared the respective HL statuses in medieval Joseon and modern Korean population samples. HLs were found in 39.4% (28/71) of the Joseon Koreans. Whereas only 27.5% (11/40) of the males showed an HL, fully 54.8% (17/31) of the females exhibited it. Notably, HLs were observed in only 16.4% (35/213) of the modern Koreans; more remarkably still, the HL rate was almost the same between the sexes, 16.7% (20/120) for the males and 16.1% (15/93) for the females. The HL frequency was much higher in the Joseon Koreans than in their modern counterparts, reflecting the improvement of nutritional status that had been achieved in the course of South Korea's modernization. This HL-frequency decrease was much more obvious in the female populations. The higher HL frequency among the Joseon females might reflect the relatively poor nutritional condition of females in pre-modern Korean society.
Energy Intake ; Female ; Humans* ; Korea* ; Male ; Malnutrition ; Nutritional Status ; Republic of Korea ; Skeleton* ; Social Change ; Tibia

Excessive calcium is thought to be a critical step in various neurodegenerative processes including ischemia. Calbindin D28k (CB), calretinin (CR), and parvalbumin (PV), members of the EF-hand calcium-binding protein family, are thought to play a neuroprotective role in various pathologic conditions by serving as a buffer against excessive calcium. The expression of CB, PV and CR in the ischemic rat retina induced by increasing intraocular pressure was investigated at the transcript and protein levels, by means of the quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, western blot and immunohistochemistry. The transcript and protein levels of CB, which is strongly expressed in the horizontal cells in both normal and affected retinas, were not changed significantly and the number of CB-expressing horizontal cells remained unchanged throughout the experimental period 8 weeks after ischemia/reperfusion injury. At both the transcript and protein levels, however, CR, which is strongly expressed in several types of amacrine, ganglion, and displaced amacrine cells in both normal and affected retinas, was decreased. CR-expressing ganglion cell number was particularly decreased in ischemic retinas. Similar to the CR, PV transcript and protein levels, and PV-expressing AII amacrine cell number were decreased. Interestingly, in ischemic retinas PV was transiently expressed in putative cone bipolar cell types possibly those that connect with AII amacrine cells via gap junctions. These results suggest that these three calcium binding proteins may play different neuroprotective roles in ischemic insult by their ability to buffer calcium in the rat retina.
Amacrine Cells ; Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Calcium ; Calcium-Binding Protein, Vitamin D-Dependent ; Calcium-Binding Proteins ; Cell Count ; Ganglion Cysts ; Gap Junctions ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Intraocular Pressure ; Ischemia ; Neurons ; Proteins ; Rats ; Retina

The intrauterine fetal death(IUFD) is the death of the fetus prior to complete expulsion or extraction from its mother when the fetus is over 20 weeks gestation or weights more than 500 gm. This is a clinical study of 262 cases of IUFD and 262 control cases among 18542 deli-veries at Chung Goo Sung Sim Hospital during 10 years from 1987 to 1996. The results obtain-ed were as follows: 1. The incidence of IUFD was 1.41%. 2. The risk of IUFD was high in women older. 3. The risk of IUFD was high in women with parity of three or more, there was a previous history of IUFD in 11.2% of the IUFD cases and in 6.3% of the control cases, but there was no difference between the two groups of women in history of spontaneous abortion. 4. The sex ratio of male versus female was 1.24:1 in the IUFD cases, 1.11:1 in the control cases. 5. The low birth weight and preterm infants were much more frequent in the IUFD cases. 6. The mode of delivery IUFD was induced labor(77.5%), laparotomy(12.2%), spontaneo- us delivery(10.3%). The indications for laparotomy were placental abruption, placenta previa, transverse lie, previous cesarean section status, cephalopelvic disproportion and uterine rupture. 7. The most common cause of IUFD was unexplained causes(45.1%). 8. There were 67 cases(25.6%) of maternal complication, and the most common complica- tion was fever(35.8%). 9. In the incidence of abnormal coagulation test, the low platelet count(<100,000/mm3) was 8.0%, the prolonged prothrombin time(>14 seconds) was 7.2%, the prolonged partial thr- omboplastin time was 1.0%, the hypofibrinogenemia(<150mg/dl) was 7.2% and the elevated fibrinogen degradation products(>40 ug/ml) was 8.4%. 10. The risk of IUFD was lowered as the number of antenatal care was increased.
Abortion, Spontaneous ; Abruptio Placentae ; Blood Platelets ; Cephalopelvic Disproportion ; Cesarean Section ; Female ; Fetal Death* ; Fetus ; Fibrinogen ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Laparotomy ; Male ; Mothers ; Parity ; Placenta Previa ; Pregnancy ; Prothrombin ; Sex Ratio ; Uterine Rupture ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: Pneumonia is the most common cause of death among infectious diseases. Community-acquired pneumonia is the sixth leading cause of death in Korea. This study was designed to analyze the relationship of risk factors and mortality, especially the pneumonia severity index (PSI) in patients with community-acquired pneumonia diagnosed in the emergency department of a referral hospital. METHODS: The medical records of patients admitted to the Yeungnam University Hospital between March 2006 and March 2008 for community-acquired pneumonia were reviewed retrospectively. The demographic data, comorbidity, laboratory results, PSI score and class of PSI, all of which might influence the prognosis of pneumonia, were analyzed. RESULTS: Among 123 patients admitted for community-acquired pneumonia, 18 died (mortality rate of 15%). Laboratory data showed that sodium, glucose, blood urea nitrogen, albumin, platelets, hematocrit and arterial pH were related to the prognosis. For the pneumonia severity index, the mortality rate increased in a step-wise manner from class I through class V. Comorbidities such as neoplasms (p=0.000), cerebrovascular accidents (p=0.005) and liver disease (p=0.003), as well as systolic blood pressure (p=0.003), respiratory rate (p=0.024), sodium (p=0.000), glucose (p=0.000), blood urea nitrogen (p=0.000), albumin (p=0.003), hematocrit (p=0.000) and arterial pH (p=0.042) were the important risk factors for mortality in patients with community-acquired pneumonia. CONCLUSION: The pneumonia severity index could be used as a valuable index for predicting mortality of patients and the prognosis of community-acquired pneumonia in the emergency department.
Blood Glucose ; Blood Platelets ; Blood Pressure ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Cause of Death ; Communicable Diseases ; Comorbidity ; Emergencies ; Glucose ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Korea ; Liver Diseases ; Medical Records ; Nitrogen ; Pneumonia ; Prognosis ; Referral and Consultation ; Respiratory Rate ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sodium ; Stroke ; Urea

Background and Objectives: Previous studies reported abnormalities in MRI as a poor prognostic indicator of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Since abnormalities in three-dimensional (3D) fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) are strongly correlated with the initial hearing function, the prognostic value of the 3D FLAIR images should be carefully evaluated to avoid collinearity. We aimed to evaluate abnormalities on the 3D FLAIR images as an independent prognostic factor in the matched SSNHL groups.Subjects and Method We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 179 patients with SSNHL who underwent temporal MRI, including the 3D FLAIR sequence, between January 2015 and December 2019. Patients were divided based on the presence of cochlear abnormalities on the 3D FLAIR images. Hearing prognosis was evaluated with and without matching for initial hearing and treatment interval. Results: The groups were similar in sex (p=0.091), age (p=0.925), treatment interval (p= 0.216), and MRI interval (p=0.828). Notably, patients with cochlear abnormalities on the 3D FLAIR images showed distinctly more severe hearing loss (p<0.001) at the initial pure tone average (PTA) assessment and poorer outcomes (p<0.001) compared to those without abnormality. After matching for initial hearing and treatment interval, the hearing outcome, measured by PTA, was similar between the groups (p=0.681). Conclusion Cochlear signal abnormality in 3D FLAIR MRI was associated with poor initial hearing. However, it did not affect hearing recovery outcomes when the groups were matched.

PURPOSE: Controversy still exists over in the prognostic significance of microscopic tumor cell dissemination in patients with cancer. This study evaluated the prognostic implication of isolated tumor cells in the bone marrow of patients with gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four hundred nineteen (419) patients who underwent surgery for gastric cancer between June 1998 and July 2000 were enrolled in the study. Bone marrow aspirate was obtained from the iliac crest before removal of the primary tumor. Mononuclear cells were isolated and stained with AE-1/AE-3 PAN-CYTOKERATIN. RESULTS: Cytokeratin-positive cells were found in the bone marrow of 219 patients (52.3%). The incidence varied significantly with the depth of invasion (P=0.021) and the stage (P=0.026). The five-year survival rate of patients with cytokeratin-positive cells was 74.1% and that of patients without cytokeratin-positive cells was 81.1% (P=0.2481). There were no significant differences in the recurrence rate and the site of recurrence according to whether or not cytokeratin-positive cells were present in the bone marrow. CONCLUSION: The presence of cytokeratin-positive cells in the bone marrow of patients with gastric cancer did not predict outcome and recurrence. Therefore, it cannot be used as a prognostic factor.
Bone Marrow* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

No abstract available.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and discography in visualization of disc degeneration. METHOD: Forty-eight patients with suspected discogenic pain in lumbar spines and degenerative changes of the lumbar intervertebral discs in T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging were studied. Five types of discogram (cottonball, lobular, irregular, fissured, and ruptured) were classified by identifiable features in shape and density of radio-opaque shadow. Three types of MRI (bulging, protrusion, and extrusion) were classified by degrees of disc herniation. The correlation between two imaging techniques of lumbar intervertebral discs were analyzed using Spearman's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Of sixty-three discs, MRI finding of the disc herniation revealed as follows: bulging, 17 discs; protrusion, 20 discs; extrusion, 26 discs. Discography revealed as follows: cottonball, 15 discs; lobular, 2 discs; irregular, 11 discs; fissured, 10 discs; ruptured, 25 discs. 46 discs of 63 discs showed internal structural abnormalities (irregular, fissured, or ruptured). There was no statistically significant correlation between MRI and discography in visualization of the disc degeneration (r=0.081). CONCLUSION: Severity of the lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration in MRI was not correlated with degenerative severity of discographic imaging. Supplementary discography may be useful in evaluation of patients with discogenic pain since discographic imaging when compared to MRI visualizes disc degeneration more accurately.
Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Spine

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether cystometry performed by bladder filling stimulation using furosemide (DCMG) reveals different findings compared to conventional cystometry (CCMG) in the neurogenic bladder. METHOD: The maximum intravesical pressure (MPves) and compliance of the bladder in CCMG and DCMG were compared in 24 patients with neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury. The MPves was estimated by urethral leak pressure or intravesical pressure at 600 ml filling. Compliance was calculated from the cystometric bladder capacity and the MPves. For CCMG, the bladder was filled with 32oC normal saline via 10 F urethral catheter at 50 ml/min until the patient leaked or filled 600 ml. Three hours later, 20 mg of furosemide was injected intravenously after intravenous infusion of 300 ml normal saline for DCMG. Ultrasound measuring of filled urine volume was made at least every 5 minutes until defined MPves. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between DCMG and CCMG in hyperreflexic neurogenic bladders with respect to: decrease in MPves (p<0.05) and increase in compliance (p<0.05) in DCMG. There was no significant differences in MPves and compliance in hyporeflexic or areflexic neurogenic bladders between the two techniques (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: We have found DCMG provides a more effective and near physiological diagnostic method of detrusor characteristics than CCMG in evaluating both genuine MPves and compliance in patients with hyperreflexic neurogenic bladder.
Compliance ; Diuretics* ; Furosemide ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Ultrasonography ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic* ; Urinary Catheters