Acute changes of the bilateral basal ganglia shown in the brain MRI a diabetic uremic patient have been rarely reported. We report a 52-year-old diabetic uremic patient who had neurological disturbances. At admission, axial diffusion-weighted images and T2-weighted images showed high signal intensities in the bilateral basal ganglia, and axial T1-weighted images visualized low signal intensities in same area. The underlying mechanism may be associated with metabolic as well as vascular factors.
Basal Ganglia* ; Brain ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Uremia

Cutaneous focal mucinosis is a condition with an asymptomatic, small, dermal, white to flesh-colored papule with a predilection for the face, neck, trunk, and extremities. This is usually presented as solitary lesion but rarely as multiple papules or nodules. Histologically, a localized area of the collagen in the upper dermis is largely replaced by homogenous mucinous material in which spindle-shaped fibroblasts are scattered. We report a case of cutaneous focal mucinosis which was presented as multiple lesions covering widespread skin lesion throught the face, chest and back.
Collagen ; Dermis ; Extremities ; Fibroblasts ; Mucinoses* ; Mucins ; Neck ; Skin* ; Thorax

We experienced 3 cases of food-borne botulism within a family. They presented with progressive ptosis, dysphonia, dysarthria and limb weakness, which had started about 12 hours after ingestion of vacuum-packed sausage. Two cases progressed to respiratory failure. Botulinum toxin A was detected from the stool sample of one case. Conservative treatment with mechanical ventilation was done and they recovered from respiratory failure over a 30-70 days period. This is the first case report of food-borne botulism in Korea.
Botulinum Toxins ; Botulism* ; Dysarthria ; Dysphonia ; Eating ; Extremities ; Humans ; Korea ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory Insufficiency

PURPOSE: We performed 65 cases of posterior fusion surgery for cervical and/or high thoracic lesions using a polyaxial screw-rod system. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 486 screws were implanted in 65 patients. RESULTS: Fixation of the screws was carried out over an average of 2.9 spinal segments. Upon evaluation by postoperative CT scans, twelve (2.5%) screws had suboptimal trajectories but two of these revealed radiculopathy in one patient and required screw repositioning. No vascular sequelae resulted. There has been no segmental motion in any of the cases to date. As for other complications, there was one case of dural tearing and two cases of lateral mass fractures. There were no infections or other wound healing problems or hardware failures. No patients had neurological deterioration after surgery. There were statistically significant improvements in the mean Neck Disability Index (NDI) scores and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores in the preoperative and late postoperative follow-up evaluations. Although further studies are required to establish the long-term results of fusion rates and clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION: We cautiously suggest that the posterior polyaxial screw-rod system can be safely used as a primary or additional fusion method in this risky region. The successful and safe use of this method is dependent on a precise preoperative surgical plan and tactics for ensuring safe screw fixation.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; *Bone Screws ; Cervical Vertebrae/radiography/*surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Recovery of Function ; Reproducibility of Results ; Spinal Diseases/physiopathology/*surgery ; Spinal Fusion/instrumentation/*methods ; Thoracic Vertebrae/radiography/surgery ; Time Factors ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome

It has been reported that inflammatory diseases such as pneumonitis, retinitis, and hepatitis are associated with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). Intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 is an important inflammatory mediator, helping monocytes adhere to endothelial cells when tissues are infected by pathogen including the HCMV. However, little is known about the mechanism of ICAM-1 stimulation by the HCMV infection in monocytes. In this study, a monocytic cell line THP-1 was used to understand ICAM-1 expression by the HCMV infection. Flow cytometric analyses demonstrated that ICAM-1 was stimulated by the HCMV in THP-1 cells with maximum at 24 hours post infection. The stimulated ICAM-1 expression was dependent on the amount of input virus. In order to understand the mechanism of ICAM-1 stimulation during the HCMV infection, cells were treated with specific inhibitors of key elements in inflammation: NF-kappaB inhibitor PDTC, cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitor NS398, and MEK inhibitor PD98059. Flow cytometric analyses revealed that ICAM-1 expression was decreased when treated with PDTC, but not with NS398 or PD98059. Thus, it is suggested that HCMV-induced ICAM-1 expression in THP-1 cells is associates with NF-kappaB.
Cell Line ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Cytomegalovirus ; Endothelial Cells ; Flavonoids ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; Monocytes ; NF-kappa B ; Nitrobenzenes ; Pneumonia ; Proline ; Retinitis ; Sulfonamides ; Thiocarbamates ; Viruses

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells and generated from diverse sources including monocytes which are known to be the sites for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) latency. HCMV has been known to suppress or evade from immune functions involving monocytes and DC. Thus, it was attempted to investigate the effect of HCMV infection on the differentiation of DCs from monocytes. Monocytes were prepared from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and they expressed high levels of CD14, CD11a, CD11b, CD11c and HLA molecules, while they did not express lymphocyte-specific CD molecules. The surface expressions of CD molecules and HLA in immature DCs (imDCs) differentiated from HCMV-infected monocytes differed from those in uninfected imDCs. Specifically, the expressions of CD11a, CD11b, CD11c, CD40 and HLA-DR were decreased compared to uninfected imDCs, while CD80 expression was increased in imDCs differentiated from HCMV-infected monocytes. DCs were allowed to mature (mDCs) by treating imDCs with interferon gamma and LPS. When HCMV-infected imDCs were differentiated to mDCs, the expression of mDC-specific CD83 as well as HLA molecules were decreased. Thus, our results suggest that HCMV inhibits phenotytpic differentiation of DCs.
Antigen-Presenting Cells ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Dendritic Cells* ; HLA-DR Antigens ; Humans* ; Interferons ; Monocytes

The purposes of this study were to investigate the importance level on factors affecting the foodservice management contract perceived by the salespersons in the foodservice company. To get the data on the perceived importance level on the affecting the foodservice management contract, the questionnaires were developed by the delphi technique and modified by the pilot test. The questionnaires consisted of 4 categories and 19 items on the factors affecting the foodservice management contract and the importance level on the factors were measured by 5-likert scale. From March 12 to April 13 in 2003, the self-administrative questionnaires were mailed to the 60 salespersons. The questionnaires were responded from the 48 salespersons(respondent rate : 77 %). As a result, the salesperson' perceived importance level of 'the sales ability' was higher than those of the other categories in the private contract and the salesperson' perceived importance level of 'the evaluation of the foodservice company' was higher than those of the other categories in the competitive bid. The importance of the 'the evaluation of the foodservice company' between the private contract and the competitive bid was significantly different(p<.05), and the importance of 'the sales ability' of the competitive bid was significantly higher than that of the private contract(p<.001).
Commerce ; Delphi Technique ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires

The purposes of this study were to investigate the importance level on factors affecting the foodservice management contract perceived by the salespersons in the foodservice company. To get the data on the perceived importance level on the affecting the foodservice management contract, the questionnaires were developed by the delphi technique and modified by the pilot test. The questionnaires consisted of 4 categories and 19 items on the factors affecting the foodservice management contract and the importance level on the factors were measured by 5-likert scale. From March 12 to April 13 in 2003, the self-administrative questionnaires were mailed to the 60 salespersons. The questionnaires were responded from the 48 salespersons(respondent rate : 77 %). As a result, the salesperson' perceived importance level of 'the sales ability' was higher than those of the other categories in the private contract and the salesperson' perceived importance level of 'the evaluation of the foodservice company' was higher than those of the other categories in the competitive bid. The importance of the 'the evaluation of the foodservice company' between the private contract and the competitive bid was significantly different(p<.05), and the importance of 'the sales ability' of the competitive bid was significantly higher than that of the private contract(p<.001).
Commerce ; Delphi Technique ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown promise in potentially repairing injured spinal cord. These and similar cell types are being tested clinically, but the understanding about delivering method and subsequent results is lacking. This study was designed to compare the MSCs engraftment results after intralesional, intracisternal, or intravenous injection in a rat with spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS: A total of 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats (300-350 g in size) were used with 12 in each group. Allogenic MSCs were cultured from human bone marrow aspirates. The SCI was induced using an NYU (New York University) impactor and MSCs were transplanted 1 week after the SCI. Behavioral testing was performed weekly for 6 weeks. The recipients were analyzed histologically to evaluate the extent of cell delivery and survival at the injury site. RESULTS: All three experimental groups showed better behavioral recovery compared with the control group since 6 weeks after stem cell injection (p<0.05). The intracisternal injection group showed the best functional improvement (p<0.05). The intralesional injection group showed the best engraftment until 4 weeks after stem cell injection (p<0.05). A number of the injected MSCs were trapped in the spleen in the intravenous injection group. CONCLUSION: Transplantation of stem cells by a variety of routes can deliver cells with the potential to repair injured spinal cord. Intracisternal injection can easily be translated to patients after some modifications, thus accelerating clinical application of cell therapies.
Animals ; Bone Marrow ; Humans ; Injections, Intralesional ; Injections, Intravenous ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Spleen ; Stem Cells ; Transplants

The purposes of this study were 1) to investigate the importance level on factors affecting the foodservice management contract perceived by the clients in the office building, government and public offices and manufacturing company in Seoul and Kyungi 2) to compare the perceived importance levels of the present contract and future contract 3) to compare the perceived importance levels of the competitive bid with those of the private contract. To collect the data on the perceived importance level on the affecting the foodservice management contract, the questionnaires were developed by the delphi technique and modified by the pilot test. The questionnaires consisted of 4 categories and 19 items on the factors affecting the foodservice management contract and the importance level on the factors were measured by 5-likert scale. From March 12 to April 13 in 2003, the self-administrative questionnaires were mailed to 280 clients. The questionnaires were responded from the 50 clients (respondent rate : 25%). On the factors affecting the present contract and the future contract, among the 4 categories (the appropriateness of foodservice operation plan, the evaluation of the foodservice company, sales ability, the conditions of the cost in the contract), the importance level of the appropriateness of foodservice operation plan was higher than those of the other categories. In the comparison of the perceived importance level between the present contract and the future contract, the importance level of 4 items (sanitation and safety management plan, menu management plan, service management plan, food cost per meal) in the future contract were significantly higher than those in the present contract (p < .01, p < .05, p < .05, p < .01). There were the significant differences between the private contract and competitive bid on the factors affecting the present contract in the 3 items, which were[renewal plan for interior and environment],[strategic alliance with the contractor],[lobby of the foodservice company](p < .05, p < .05, p < .05). And on the factors affecting the future contract, there were significant differences in the 2 items, which were[renewal plan for interior and environment]and[cost per meal]in comparing the competitive bid and private contract (p < .05, p < .01). The clients perceived the appropriateness of foodservice operation plan was more important than the other categories in the future foodservice management contract. It was proposed that the foodservice management contract company should focus on the foodservice operation to satisfy the customers and clients in order to get more contract in the future.
Commerce ; Delphi Technique ; Postal Service ; Safety Management ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires