Demodex is a common ectoparasite in human eyelash. However the occurrence rate and pathogencity are still controversial. The purpose of this study were to investigate the occurrence rate and classification of Demodex from eyelashes and its relationship with blepharitis. We selected 28 blepharitis patients and 132 patients without blepharitis(control group) who vistied St. Family's Hostital from March 1992 to July 1992. The following results were obtained. Demodex was observed in 17 out of 28 blepharitis patients(60.7%) and in 32 out of 132 control group(24.2%). This difference was stastically significant(p<0.05). In blepharitis patients. Demodex index was 19.6 and lash index was 12.2. In control group. Democlex index 7.4 and lash index 5.3.
Blepharitis* ; Classification ; Eyelashes ; Humans ; Incidence*

Conjunctival goblet cells are thought to be the main source of tear mucin, and it is believed that this mucin plays an important role on increasing the tear film stability and the wettability of the ocular surface. The measurement of the conjunctival goblet cell density is useful for the differential diagnosis among the various ocular surface diseases, and for the evaluation of the efficacy of the treatment. This method can be checked simply and rapidly, but the normal conjunctival goblet cell density in Korean has not been reported. We examined the goblet cell density in the 68 eyes (57 patients) of normal subjects using an impression cytological technique on the palpebral and bulbar conjunctiva. The results were as follows: 1. Normal goblet cell density was 1316.9 +/- 491.7 cells/mm2 in the inferior palpebral conjunctiva, 57.9 +/- 67.9 cells/mm2 in the superor bulbar conjunctiva. 2. There was no significant difference in goblet cell density according to sex and age ( p>0.05, t-test). 3. The goblet cell density was increased as a rise of break-up time(BUT), but was not correlated with BUT(r=0.24, 0.05). Also there was no correlation between the goblet cell density and Schirmer test value (r=-0.10, 0.09), (r=regression coefficient). It is suggested that the above findings would aid in the diagnosis of the dry eye syndrome and allow differential diagnosis among the various ocular surface diseases.
Conjunctiva ; Cytological Techniques ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Dry Eye Syndromes ; Goblet Cells* ; Mucins ; Tears ; Wettability

Conjunctival fibroblastic proliferation with contracting scar formation has been implicated as a possible cause of glaucoma filtering surgery failure. The inhibitory effect of plasma coagulation factor XIII deficiency on the healing following trabeculectomy of the eyes in rabbits was studied. The plasma coagulation factor XIII deficiency was induced by two successive intravenous injections of anti-rabbit plasma coagulation factor XIII-goat immunoglobulin. Grossly, artificially prepared filtering bleb was well preserved on plasma coagulation factor XIII ddicient groups compared with control groups. Histologically. wound healing following trabeculectomy was delayed and the size of the scar was reduced on plasma coagulation factor XIII deficient groups compared with control groups. The above findings suggest that plasma coagulation factor XIII deficiency inhibit the healing precess following traheculectomy.
Blister ; Blood Coagulation Factors* ; Cicatrix ; Factor XIII* ; Fibroblasts ; Filtering Surgery ; Glaucoma ; Immunoglobulins ; Injections, Intravenous ; Plasma* ; Rabbits* ; Trabeculectomy* ; Wound Healing

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The agreement between pure-tone average (PTA) and speech recognition threshold (SRT) has become more important with the increasing demands for medical certification. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between the SRT and several variations of PTA, and to determine which PTA formula would provide the best agreement with SRT for different audiometric configurations. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Audiological data on 783 ears were retrospectively collected. The air-conduction PTAs were calculated using five different formulas: three-frequency average (3FA), weighted three-frequency average (W3FA), four-frequency average (4FA), weighted four-frequency average (W4FA), and six-frequency average (6FA). The audiometric configuration was classified into five categories. The PTA-SRT relationships were analyzed using correlation and simple linear regression for each audiometric configuration. RESULTS: Highest correlation was observed between the SRT and W3FA for all audiometric configurations with the correlation coefficient of 0.964 as a whole. The SRT and 3FA were best-matched in the linear regression models for overall/flat/high frequency gently sloping/low frequency ascending; the SRT and W3FA were best-matched for high frequency steeply sloping (HFSS); the SRT and 4FA were best-matched for miscellaneous audiograms. CONCLUSION: The most stable PTA variations that make the best-matched pairs with SRT for any audiogram are the conventional 3FA and W3FA doubling 1 kHz threshold. The addition of frequencies higher than 2 kHz to a PTA formula seems to have impeded the PTA-SRT agreement, especially for HFSS audiograms. W3FA should be the method of choice in predicting SRT from PTA for HFSS audiograms.
Certification ; Ear ; Hearing Loss, Functional ; Linear Models ; Methods ; Retrospective Studies

This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of total Ginseng saponin (GTS) on the blood pressure of the rat and to elucidate its mechanism of action. GTS, when injeced into a femoral vein of the rat, caused dose-related fall in blood pressure with secondarily elevation of the blood pressure. The depressor effect of GTS was blocked by treatment of atropine and prazosin, but not affected by pretreatment with chlorisondamine or cyproheptadine. GTS inhibited significantly the pressor response evoked by norepinephrine. The pressor effect of GTS was not affected by treatment with atropine or cyproheptadine, but was attenuated markedly by pretreatment with chlorisondamine. From the above mentioned results, it is thought that GTS produces the pressor and the depressor actions in the rat, and that its depressor response is exerted partly through the stimulation of cholinergic muscaric receptors with the blockade of adrenergic alpha-receptors, and that its pressor response is revealed by stimulation of nicotinic receptors in autonomic ganglia.
Animals ; Atropine ; Blood Pressure* ; Chlorisondamine ; Cyproheptadine ; Femoral Vein ; Ganglia, Autonomic ; Norepinephrine ; Panax* ; Prazosin ; Rats* ; Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha ; Receptors, Nicotinic ; Saponins*

Clinically, the infarction of posterior spinal arteries is rarely recognized due to rich anastomosis. As a result, there have been few clinical reports of posterior spinal artery infarction. A 38-year-old man experienced severe transitory neck and occipital pain after his friend had struck him on the cervical area. A few days later, he developed dysmetria, dysdiadochokinesia, and decreased vibration and position senses on the right side of his body. Routine laboratory find-ings, an echocardiogram, a work-up for connective tissue diseases, and CSF studies were all found to be normal. A MRI showed increased signals in the right posterior and posterolateral part of the lower medulla and some portion of the first cervical cord on T2- and proton-weighted images without significant enhancements. A cerebral angiogram showed a long narrow thread-like segment in the distal portion of the right vertebral artery, which was indicative of a dissection. The right posterior inferior cerebellar artery was not visualized.
Adult ; Arteries* ; Cerebellar Ataxia ; Connective Tissue Diseases ; Friends ; Humans ; Infarction* ; Lateral Medullary Syndrome ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neck ; Proprioception ; Spinal Cord ; Vertebral Artery ; Vibration

Optic neuritis refers to any inflammatory disorder of optic nerves, but it usually denotes an acute or subacute disease of optic nerves attributed to inflammation associated with demyelination. The diagnosis of optic neuritis is usually made on a clinical ground. The condition usually presents as a painful subacute unilateral loss of vision, which progresses over a few days to 2 weeks. The pain varies in severity, although it typically does not interfere with sleep. We report 2 cases of atypical optic neuritis rapidly recovered by the administration of high doses of steroid that presented with severe eyeball pain accompanied by vague visual loss and painlessly insidious onset of visual loss respectively, with normal findings in fundoscopic examinations, visual evoked potentials and orbital MRIs.
Child ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Diagnosis ; Evoked Potentials, Visual ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Optic Nerve ; Optic Neuritis* ; Orbit

BACKGROUND: Advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is characterized by progressive pulmonary hypertension leading to right heart dysfunction, which plays a important role in clinical evaluation but remains difficult and challenging to quantify. The noninvasive doppler echocardiographic value referred to as the Tei index has been suggested as a simple, reproducible and reliable parameter of the right ventricular function. The purpose of this was to assess the right ventricular function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using the Tei index and to evaluate its relationship with the pulmonary functional status. METHODS: The study population comprised of 26 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 10 normal control subjects. The Tei index was obtained by dividing the sum of the isovolumetric contraction and the relaxation tines by the ejection time using a pulsed-wave doppler. It was compared with the other available Doppler echocardiographic parameters of systolic or diastolic and with the pulmonary function of the patients. RESULTS: The Tei indices of the patients with COPD were significantly higher than those of normal subjects (0.45±0.17 vs. 0.27±0.03, p<0.01). The isovolumetric contraction time/ejection time(0.32±0.08 vs. 0.25±0.05, p<0.05), the isovolumetric relaxation time/ejection time(0.29±0.16 vs. 0.15±0.08, p<0.05) and the preejection period/ejection time (0.46±0.10 vs. 0.38±0.06, p<0.05) were prolonged and the ejection time (255.2±32.6 vs. 314.2±16.5 msec, p<0.05) was significantly shortened in patients with COPD compared to normal subjects. The tei indices were inversely correlated with the FEV1(r=-0.46, p=<0.05) and were prolonged significantly in patients with a severe obstructive ventilatory dysfunction(less than 35% of predicted FEV1) compared to those with a mild and moderate ventilatory dysfunction. The tei indices showed an inverse correlation with the ejection time (r=-0.469), the isovolumetric contraction time/ejection time(r=0.453), the isovolumetric relaxation time/ejection time(r=0.896) and the preejection period/ejection time(r=0.480). CONCLUSION: The tei index appeared to be a useful noninvasive means of evaluating the right ventricular function. It revealed a significant correlation with the pulmonary function in patients with COPD.
Echocardiography* ; Heart ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Relaxation ; Ventricular Function, Right*

Superwarfarin intoxications that induce profound and prolonged coagulopathy are being increasingly reported, to such an extent that it is becoming a comparatively common intoxication. However, there have been few reported cases of superwarfarin intoxication with an inadvertent cause or an unknown origin. A 58-year-old man with recurrent painless hematuria was found to have an acquired deficiency of vitamin K dependent clotting factors, and a large amount of vitamin K was required to correct the coagulopathy. He had no history of warfarin use or any exposure to rodenticides, but brodifacoum was detected in his serum. It is important for physicians to be aware that significant coagulopathy can occur secondary to superwarfarin intoxication, without any known exposure to substances that might induce this.
4-Hydroxycoumarins ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Rodenticides ; Vitamin K ; Warfarin

The thalassemias are congenital disorders in which globin chains are present in decreased amount or absent. Beta-thalassemia, a quite common disorder in Central Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, has been reported sporadically in Korea since 1988, and some mutations have been identified. We recently analyzed the beta-gene complexes of a family diagnosed with beta-thalassemia minor. The patient was a 20-year-old female who visited our hospital because of anemia and jaundice since her childhood. Through blood tests and hemoglobin electrophoresis, she was diagnosed as having beta-thalassemia minor. Subsequently, DNAs from the patient and her parents were analyzed in search of mutations in beta-gene complex. It was revealed that the patient and her father, a 50-year-old male, have G to A substitutions at position 1 in the second intervening sequence (IVS II-1, G-->A). The mutation was associated with silent mutation of C to T substitution at the codon 91 (CTG-->TTG). To our knowledge, this mutation has not been previously reported in Korea.
Africa, Central ; Anemia ; Asia, Southeastern ; beta-Thalassemia* ; Codon ; Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities ; DNA ; Electrophoresis ; Fathers ; Female ; Globins ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Introns* ; Jaundice ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Middle East ; Parents ; Point Mutation* ; Thalassemia ; Young Adult