A statistical observation was made on congenital anomalies of the genitourinary tract of the out-patients and in-patients in the Department of Urology, Seoul National University Hospital during the period January, 1954 through December, 1964 and the following results were obtained. I. Statistics on out-patients. 1) During the period, 17,177 cases(14,909 males and 2,268 females) seen at our out-patient Department, 262 cases (239 males, 23 females) had congenital anomalies of the genito-urinary tracts, giving a rate of 1.53%(male: 1.31 %, female: 0.22 %). 2) A gradual tendency of annual increase is observed. 3) Of 262 cases, 234 cases or 89.3 % were seen by us at the ages of 39 years or below, and 28 cases or 10.7% at the ages of 40 years or above. 4) Of the anomalies, 86 cases or 32.8 % were testicular, 77 cases or 29.3 % urethral, 54 cases or 20.6 % penile, and 1 case or 0.3% vesical, the lowest. 5) Hypospadia is observed in 31.6 % of all the anomalies, cryptorchidism in 23.6 % and congenital complete phimosis in 18.7 % II. Statistics on in-patients. 1) During the period, of 1,158 cases hospitalized (886 males, 272 females), 88 cases (76 males, 12 females) had congenital anomalies of the genito-urinary tracts, giving a rate of 7.6 % (male: 6.5%, female: 1.1%). 2) A gradual tendency of annual increase is observed. 3) Of 88 cases, 71 cases or 80.7% were seen by us at the ages of 29 years or below, and 17 cases or 19.3 % at the ages of 30 years or above. 4) Of the anomalies, 34 cases or 38.6 % were urethral, 25 cases or 28.5 % renal, 21 cases or 23.9 % testicular and 1 case or 1.1 % vesical, the lowest. 5) Hypospadia is observed in 37.5 % of all the anomalies, cryptorchidism in 23.6 % and nephroptosis in 15.9%.
Cryptorchidism ; Female ; Humans ; Hypospadias ; Male ; Outpatients ; Phimosis ; Seoul ; Urology

Although percutaneous abscess drainage has become and accepted alternative from of therapy for selected patients with abscess, it is well known that there are several factors in the failure of adequate drainage such as pre-and post- procedural management, technique itself, various features of abscess, and selection and application of catheters. Among these factors, we made an experiment about drain efficacy of commonly used various catheters with different viscosities of water-glycerin solution under the two different pressure gradients. The experimental values of flow rate were lower than than the calculated values. An efficacy of experimental value was 4-14%. Because the inner diameter of fittings and stopcocks was usually smaller than the inner diameter of catheters, these factors also affected the drain efficacy. Finally, we though that it will be very helpful to the treatment of patients as well as to study about the catheter drainage, if the drain efficacy of individual catheters has been notified.
Abscess ; Catheters* ; Drainage ; Humans ; Viscosity

Calcifying fibrous pseudotumors (CFP) are rare soft tissue tumors that have unique histopathologic features characterized by a dense hyalinized collagenous tissue interspersed with benign spindle cells, lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate, and psammomatous or dystrophic calcifications. We report here on a case of calcifying fibrous pseudotumors in the pleura and provide a literature review.
Collagen ; Hyalin ; Pleura ; Pleural Diseases

PURPOSE: Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) recipients are vulnerable to invasive infection by Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp). This study was performed to evaluate immune responses after Hib and Sp vaccination in Korean pediatric HCT recipients. METHODS: Patients were prospectively enrolled at Samsung Medical Center during 2009-2011. ELISA tests to detect anti-PRP IgG antibody and antibodies to Sp serotypes 4, 6B, 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F were performed at the Center for Vaccine Evaluation and Study, Ewha Medical Research Institute. RESULTS: Ten patients (two allogeneic, eight autologous recipients) with median age 5.4 years (range 2.7-12.2 years) were enrolled. Before Hib vaccination, 60% of patients' anti-PRP IgG titers were below 0.15 microg/mL. After vaccination, 100% of patients' anti-PRP IgG titers increased above 0.15 microg/mL (cut-off value for detection) and 1.0 microg/mL (cut-off value for seroprotection). For pneumococcus, in 2-5 year-old patients, pre-vaccination geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) of IgG for six serotypes (4, 6B, 9V, 14, 18C, and 23F) were below 0.35 microg/mL and at 5 months post-vaccination GMCs of IgG for all seven serotypes increased to above 0.35 microg/mL. In patients older than 5 years, pre-vaccination GMCs of IgG for four serotypes (4, 9V, 14, and 23F) were below 0.35 microg/mL and at 3 months post-vaccination GMCs of IgG for all seven serotypes increased to above 0.35 microg/mL. CONCLUSION: Most HCT recipients had low or no protective antibodies to Hib and Sp before vaccination, but showed good immune responses to protective levels after vaccination.
Academies and Institutes ; Antibodies ; Antibody Formation* ; Cell Transplantation* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Haemophilus influenzae type b* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Prospective Studies ; Streptococcus pneumoniae* ; Transplants* ; Vaccination*

PURPOSE: Exercise enhances memory function by increasing neurogenesis in the hippocampus, and circadian rhythms modulate synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. The circadian rhythm-dependent effects of treadmill exercise on memory function in relation with neurogenesis were investigated using mice. METHODS: The step-down avoidance test was used to evaluate short-term memory, the 8-arm maze test was used to test spatial learning ability, and 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine immunofluorescence was used to assess neurogenesis. Western blotting was also performed to assess levels of synaptic plasticity-associated proteins, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tyrosine kinase receptor B, phosphorylated cAMP response element-binding protein, early growth response protein 1, postsynaptic density protein 95, and growth-associated protein 43. The mice in the treadmill exercise at zeitgeber 1 group started exercising 1 hour after sunrise, the mice in the treadmill exercise at zeitgeber 6 group started exercising 6 hours after sunrise, and the mice in the treadmill exercise at zeitgeber 13 group started exercising 1 hour after sunset. The mice in the exercise groups were forced to run on a motorized treadmill for 30 minutes once a day for 7 weeks. RESULTS: Treadmill exercise improved short-term memory and spatial learning ability, and increased hippocampal neurogenesis and the expression of synaptic plasticity-associated proteins. These effects of treadmill exercise were stronger in mice that exercised during the day or in the evening than in mice that exercised at dawn. CONCLUSIONS: Treadmill exercise improved memory function by increasing neurogenesis and the expression of synaptic plasticity-associated proteins. These results suggest that the memory-enhancing effect of treadmill exercise may depend on circadian rhythm changes.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Circadian Rhythm* ; Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein ; Early Growth Response Protein 1 ; Exercise Test ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; GAP-43 Protein ; Hippocampus ; Learning ; Memory* ; Memory, Short-Term ; Mice* ; Neurogenesis ; Neuronal Plasticity ; Post-Synaptic Density ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Spatial Learning

PURPOSE: Exercise enhances memory function by increasing neurogenesis in the hippocampus, and circadian rhythms modulate synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. The circadian rhythm-dependent effects of treadmill exercise on memory function in relation with neurogenesis were investigated using mice. METHODS: The step-down avoidance test was used to evaluate short-term memory, the 8-arm maze test was used to test spatial learning ability, and 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine immunofluorescence was used to assess neurogenesis. Western blotting was also performed to assess levels of synaptic plasticity-associated proteins, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tyrosine kinase receptor B, phosphorylated cAMP response element-binding protein, early growth response protein 1, postsynaptic density protein 95, and growth-associated protein 43. The mice in the treadmill exercise at zeitgeber 1 group started exercising 1 hour after sunrise, the mice in the treadmill exercise at zeitgeber 6 group started exercising 6 hours after sunrise, and the mice in the treadmill exercise at zeitgeber 13 group started exercising 1 hour after sunset. The mice in the exercise groups were forced to run on a motorized treadmill for 30 minutes once a day for 7 weeks. RESULTS: Treadmill exercise improved short-term memory and spatial learning ability, and increased hippocampal neurogenesis and the expression of synaptic plasticity-associated proteins. These effects of treadmill exercise were stronger in mice that exercised during the day or in the evening than in mice that exercised at dawn. CONCLUSIONS: Treadmill exercise improved memory function by increasing neurogenesis and the expression of synaptic plasticity-associated proteins. These results suggest that the memory-enhancing effect of treadmill exercise may depend on circadian rhythm changes.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Circadian Rhythm* ; Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein ; Early Growth Response Protein 1 ; Exercise Test ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; GAP-43 Protein ; Hippocampus ; Learning ; Memory* ; Memory, Short-Term ; Mice* ; Neurogenesis ; Neuronal Plasticity ; Post-Synaptic Density ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Spatial Learning

Purpose: To assess the added value of radiomics models from preoperative chest CT in predicting the presence of spread through air spaces (STAS) in the early stage of surgically resected lung adenocarcinomas using multiple validation datasets. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 550 early-stage surgically resected lung adenocarcinomas in 521 patients, classified into training, test, internal validation, and temporal validation sets (n=211, 90, 91, and 158, respectively). Radiomics features were extracted from the segmented tumors on preoperative chest CT, and a radiomics score (Rad-score) was calculated to predict the presence of STAS. Diagnostic performance of the conventional model and the combined model, based on a combination of conventional and radiomics features, for the diagnosis of the presence of STAS were compared using the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: Rad-score was significantly higher in the STAS-positive group compared to the STAS-negative group in the training, test, internal, and temporal validation sets. The performance of the combined model was significantly higher than that of the conventional model in the training set {AUC: 0.784 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.722–0.846] vs. AUC: 0.815 (95% CI: 0.759–0.872), p=0.042}. In the temporal validation set, the combined model showed a significantly higher AUC than that of the conventional model (p=0.001). The combined model showed a higher AUC than the conventional model in the test and internal validation sets, albeit with no statistical significance. Conclusion A quantitative CT radiomics model can assist in the non-invasive prediction of the presence of STAS in the early stage of lung adenocarcinomas.

Mitochondrial dysfunction in dopaminergic neurons of patients with idiopathic and familial Parkinson's disease (PD) is well known although the underlying mechanism is not clear. We established a homogeneous population of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hAD-MSCs) from human adult patients with early-onset hereditary familial Parkin-defect PD as well as late-onset idiopathic PD by immortalizing cells with the hTERT gene to better understand the underlying mechanism of PD. The hAD-MSCs from patients with idiopathic PD were designated as "PD", from patients with Parkin-defect PD as "Parkin" and from patients with pituitary adenomas as "non-PD" in short. The pGRN145 plasmid containing hTERT was introduced to establish telomerase immortalized cells. The established hTERT-immortalized cell lines showed chromosomal aneuploidy sustained stably over two-years. The morphological study of mitochondria in the primary and immortalized hAD-MSCs showed that the mitochondria of the non-PD were normal; however, those of the PD and Parkin were gradually damaged. A striking decrease in mitochondrial complex I, II, and IV activities was observed in the hTERT-immortalized cells from the patients with idiopathic and Parkin-defect PD. Comparative Western blot analyses were performed to investigate the expressions of PD specific marker proteins in the hTERT-immortalized cell lines. This study suggests that the hTERT-immortalized hAD-MSC cell lines established from patients with idiopathic and familial Parkin-defect PD could be good cellular models to evaluate mitochondrial dysfunction to better understand the pathogenesis of PD and to develop early diagnostic markers and effective therapy targets for the treatment of PD.
Adult ; Aneuploidy ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Line ; Diagnosis ; Dopaminergic Neurons ; Humans* ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells* ; Mitochondria ; Parkinson Disease* ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Plasmids ; Strikes, Employee ; Telomerase

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To compare efficacy and tolerability of rabeprazole (RAB) 10 mg versus omeprazole (OME) 20 mg in patients with duodenal ulcer. METHODS: This randomized, comparative, multicenter study was conducted at 10 centers in Korea, from February to September in 1999. Patients with active duodenal ulcer as proven by endoscopy were randomized to RAB (n=123) or OME (n=123) groups. One hundred-twenty-three patients received RAB 10 mg once daily, and 123 patients received OME 20 mg once daily for 2 or 4 weeks. Primary efficacy parameter was complete healing by endoscopy and secondary parameter was the improvement in the severity of clinical symptoms after the therapy. RESULTS: After 2 weeks, complete healing was achieved in 81.7% (85/104) of patients given RAB 10mg and in 81.1% (77/95) of patients given OME 20 mg (p=0.902). After 4 weeks, complete healing was documented in 97.1% (101/104) of patients given RAB 10 mg and in 93.7% (89/95) of patients given OME 20 mg (p=0.315). The percentages of patients resolved daytime pain and night-time pain at Day 4 were 87.5% and 90.1% in RAB group and 79.0% and 80.5% in OME group (p=0.138 and p=0.087 for day-time k night-time pain, respectively). No clinically meaningful changes or other between-group differences were observed in laboratory parameters and adverse events which were evaluated to be related with medication. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, rabeprazole 10 mg produced healing rates and symptom relief equivalent to omeprazole 20 mg at weeks 2 and 4 in patients with active duodenal ulcer and provided a tendency of faster symptom relief than omeprazole 20 mg, although it didn't reach statistical significance. Both the treatments were well tolerated.
Duodenal Ulcer* ; Endoscopy ; Humans ; Korea ; Omeprazole* ; Rabeprazole*

Acute total occlusion of the aorta is a rare and clinically critical condition requiring aggressive immediate diagnosis and treatment. A 73-year-old male was seen at our hospital complaining of pain sensation in both legs. Under the likely impression of an acute total occlusion of the aorta, emergency abdominal aortogram was done, which revealed total occlusion of the distal aorta and both iliac arteries. Intra-arterial thrombolysis with urokinase was attempted for 48 hours as intervention during the acute stage is highly related to distal thromboembolic events. Follow-up angiography showed improved arterial flow but residual stenosis at both the common iliac arteries. Self-expandable nitinol stents were inserted at both the iliac arteries by the v-kissing technique resulting in a satisfying outcome as seen on angiography without complications. The patient was discharged without additional medical problems. From our experience, we conclude that the use of intra-arterial thrombolysis with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty is an alternative to the conventional surgical approach in treating acute total occlusion of the aorta.
Aged ; Alloys ; Angiography ; Angioplasty ; Aorta ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Emergencies ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Iliac Artery ; Leg ; Male ; Sensation ; Stents ; Thromboembolism ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator