No abstract available.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical aspects of severe endogenous endophthalmitis requiring evisceration,particularly underlying disease, causative microorganisms, and infection focus, and to assess the outcome of evisceration. METHODS: The records of 13 patients who were diagnosed with endogenous endophthalmitis requiring evisceration and treated at Yeungnam University Hospital from July 1994 to April 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Of the 13 patients, all patients had diabetes mellitus, five had advanced liver disease, and one had aplastic anemia. Infection foci were pyelonephritis, pneumonia, and liver abscess. Five cases were confirmed with positive culture of lebsiella pneumoniae. Ten cases underwent evisceration with hydroxyapatite implantation, and three cases were treated conservatively because the patient was in poor systemic condition. Of the 10 patients who underwent evisceration, ocular implants were exposed in five cases. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that evisceration with primary orbital implant insertion for endogenous endophthalmitis involves the risk of implant exposure, but after secondary repair, all patients have stable clinical courses.
Anemia, Aplastic ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Durapatite ; Endophthalmitis ; Humans ; Liver Abscess ; Liver Diseases ; Orbital Implants ; Pneumonia ; Pyelonephritis ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.
Hemangiopericytoma* ; Lung*

PURPOSE: Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is divided into acute and chronic forms. Unfortunately, there have been no known specific laboratory or clinical predictors for the diagnosis of chronic ITP. This study was performed to elucidate the prognostic significance of various clinical and laboratory parameters, including reticulated platelet percentage. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 60 patients who were diagnosed as ITP at the Department of Pediatrics, Wonju Christian Hospital from January, 1989 to January, 2001. Various kind of clinical parameters such as age, sex, symptom duration, prior URI history, response to treatment, and laboratory parameters like platelet count at initial presentation, lowest platelet count, duration of thrombocytopenia, initial reticulated platelet percentage, antiplatelet antibody IgG and IgM, antinuclear antibody (ANA), direct and indirect Coombs' test were compared between acute and chronic ITP. RESULTS: Fifteen % of patients (9/60) was chronic ITP. The peak age incidence was from 1 to 3 year of age in both acute (29.4%) and chronic ITP (22.2%). The acute ITP was prevalent in spring season, May and June. There was no difference in the incidence of prior URI history between acute and chronic ITP. Higher proportion of chronic ITP patients (5/9; 55.5%) than acute ITP patients (7/51; 13%) had symptom duration longer than 1 month (P <0.05). Increased initial reticulated platelet percentage (more than 8%) was noted in 55.3% (21/38) of acute ITP and in 40% (2/5) of chronic ITP. There were no significant differences in initial platelet count, lowest platelet count, antiplatelet IgM, antiplatelet IgG, ANA and Coombs' test between two groups. The response to initial treatment were excellent in acute and chronic ITP. Six cases of acute ITP relapsed within 1 month from initial presentation. Eight cases of chronic ITP relapsed, among them 5 cases relapsed after 2 months from initial presentation. CONCLUSION: We suggest that patients with > or =1 months duration of presenting symptoms and relapse after 2 months from initial presentation have the propensity of developing chronic ITP. Reticulated platelet percentage could not discriminate acute and chronic ITP. A more accurate detection method should be developed for reticulated platelets.
Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Blood Platelets* ; Coombs Test ; Diagnosis ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Incidence ; Pediatrics ; Platelet Count ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic* ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Seasons ; Thrombocytopenia

Hajdu-Cheney syndrome (HCS) is a rare skeletal dysplasia that is characterized by acroosteolysis of the distal phalanges, distinctive craniofacial and skull changes, dental abnormalities and generalized osteoporosis. The clinical and radiologic characteristics are variable and these characteristics progress with age. This syndrome shows autosomal dominant inheritance with sporadic cases. The genetic defects or molecular pathogenesis of HCS are still unknown. We experienced a case of Hajdu-Cheney syndrome in a 20-year-old man who had generalized osteoporosis with multiple non-traumatic spine compression fractures. He had acroosteolysis of the hands and feet, wormian bones in the skull, facial dysmorphism (mid-facial flattening, micrognathia and bushy eyebrows), a high arched palate, malocclusion and short dental alveolar processes. HCS was diagnosed based on the clinical and radiologic evidence. For the differential diagnosis, we excluded the other possible causes of the acroosteolysis and wormian bones, including hyperparathyroidism, osteogenesis imperfecta, hypophosphatemia and mandibuloacral dysplasia. The specific treatment of HCS is unknown, but case reports with bisphosphonate treatment have been reported.
Acro-Osteolysis ; Alveolar Process ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Foot ; Fractures, Compression ; Hajdu-Cheney Syndrome ; Hand ; Humans ; Hyperparathyroidism ; Hypophosphatemia ; Malocclusion ; Osteogenesis Imperfecta ; Osteoporosis ; Palate ; Skull ; Spine ; Wills ; Young Adult

Presently, media for sanitation education consisting of a sanitation manual and a CD-ROM intended for restaurant employers and employees was developed and evaluated. The sanitation manual consisted of five principles: prevention of foodborne illness, personal hygiene, control of food production, instrument and equipment cleaning and sanitation, and management of environmental sanitation. The CD-ROM was composed of animations detailed real-life examples of Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, and Norovirus foodborned illness outbreaks; slides summarizing the five principles of the manual; and a poster entitled You can prevent foodborne illness listing and describing the principles. A 15 question evaluation survey was developed to gauge the efficacy of the animations. The survey was divided into five sections on comprehension of the instructions, content organization concerning understanding, content organization concerning the information presented, content organization concerning retention of interest (concentration), and recommendations concerning concentration. Ranked on a 5-point scale the survey produced a mean value of 3.80+/-0.39 and individual scores of 3.92+/-0.45 (learning instruction), 3.86+/-0.48 (understanding), 3.82+/-0.52 (information), 3.75+/-0.49 (concentration), and 3.67+/-0.58 (concentration-recommendation). Overall, evaluation results of the animation were good and easy to understand, with only a few respondents electing to watch the animations more than once. In terms of continuous and recurring education, sanitation training programs should be easy to learn and contain sufficient and specific examples of the importance of sanitation in achieving food safety.
CD-ROM ; Comprehension ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Norovirus ; Restaurants ; Retention (Psychology) ; Salmonella ; Sanitation ; Staphylococcus aureus

No abstract available.
Humans ; Survival Rate*

No abstract available.
Pregnancy*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has resulted in a tremendous advance in the technology of medical diagnosis. However, even with all positive advances, there are usually some negative aspects, especially noise. It is well known that loud sounds can induce a hearing loss. This study was performed to determine the acoustic characteristics of MRI noise and whether or not the sound exposure resulting from routine MRI examinations is capable of altering the auditory thresholds of patients. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Digital Impulse Sound Level Meter was placed at patient's head level and at a 2m distance. Frequency of MRI noise was recorded by Digital audio tape and analyzed by Computerized Sound Lab (CSL). A total of 53 adults (106 ears) who were scheduled for MR imaging studies were included in the study. Pure-tone air-conductive auditory threshold was determined bilaterally in each patient before and after MRI. RESULTS: The noise levels at head level ranged from 80.8 dB to 86.0 dB, and at a 2 m distance, from 71.9 dB to 75.9 dB. The frequency ranged from 60 Hz to 2500 Hz. Nine of the 106 ears had a hearing loss of at least 10 dB at one frequency. CONCLUSION: The noise generated by the MRI is sufficiently intense to cause some temporary threshold shifts (TTS). TTS may transform to permanent threshold shifts. Therefore, it is important to devise a method to minimize the risk of these shifts, for example, by using earplug.
Acoustics* ; Adult ; Auditory Threshold ; Diagnosis ; Ear ; Ear Protective Devices ; Head ; Hearing Loss* ; Hearing* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Noise*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cochlear blood flow is considered important as one of many causes of various inner ear diseases. Many studies have been performed to prove the decrease in cochlear blood flow as a cause of those diseases. This study was performed to determine the effects of cochlear ischemia induced by AICA occlusion on the relation of cochlear blood flow (CBF) in guinea pigs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 3 guinea pigs, the AICA was exposed through the basal portion of the skull with stable systemic blood pressure. The CBF of the basal area was monitored with laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). The AICA was clamped for several minutes. With different durations, the LDF was measured under systemic blood pressure monitoring. RESULT: The vascular conductance in preocclusion state was 0.09+/-0.04 TPU (tissue perfusion unit)/mmHg. During occlusion of AICA for above 1 minute, abrupt decrease and following slow increase of CBF was observed. CONCLUSION: The autoregulation of CBF was identified, but it was incomplete even under the stable blood pressure. This study can be a good model for evalulation of hearing function during partial cochlear ischemia, but occulusion of labyrinthine artery will be a better choice for complete cochlea ischemia model.
Animals ; Arteries* ; Blood Pressure ; Blood Pressure Monitors ; Cochlea ; Guinea Pigs* ; Guinea* ; Hearing ; Homeostasis ; Ischemia ; Labyrinth Diseases ; Laser-Doppler Flowmetry ; Perfusion ; Skull