OBJECTIVES: Sleep problems has been consistently reported as a suicidal risk factor in adults and, recently, also in adolescents. In this study, dividing study subjects by the previous suicidal behaviors (suicidal vs non-suicidal), we compared the group differences of suicidal risk factors, and examined the possibility of sleep as a suicidal risk factor. METHODS: Study subjects were 561 (271 boys and 290 girls) from a community sample of high school students. Suicidal Risk Behavior Checklist, Center for Epidemiological Study-Depression (CES-D), Symptom Checklist-90-Revision (SCL-90-R) Anxiety and Aggression subscale, Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were done. RESULTS: Forty six students (8.1%) reported previous actual self-harm behavior as a suicidal attempt, 181 students (32.4%) reported having suicidal thought only. Three hundred thirty four students (59.5%) reported no previous suicidal behavior (thought and attempt, both). Suicidal behavior group showed higher score on risk behaviors such as school violence, substance use and internet addiction. CES-D, SCL-90-R, PSQI showed significant group difference. Logistic regression analysis showed suicidal risk were significantly associated with depression, stress in suicidal risk factors and sleep latency, daytime dysfunction in PSQI. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows the most prolonged sleep latency and increased index of all PSQI components except sleep efficiency in suicidal attempt group. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep Problems had a strong association with the suicidal risk behavior in adolescents. Sleep problems, especially, prolonged sleep latency, daytime dysfunction might be important markers for suicidal behavior. Screening for sleep problems in adolescents are encouraged for the parents, school teachers, and related medical physicians.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aggression ; Anxiety ; Checklist ; Depression ; Humans ; Internet ; Logistic Models ; Mass Screening ; Parents ; Risk Factors ; Risk-Taking ; Suicide ; Violence

PURPOSE: Kawasaki disease is notorious for coronary arterial complication which is usually developed as a febrile disease in early childhood. Increased polymorphonucleus(PMN) cell levels in acute phases may be associated with the pathophysiology of Kawasaki disease. We studied the relationship between coronary arterial dilatation and elastase activity which was excreted from PMN cell and roles as an important factor for vasculitis. METHODS: Ten patients diagnosed with Kawasaki disease in Yonsei University Medical Center were examined between November, 2001 and January, 2002. In addition, 15 patients with other febrile diseases were also examined. Echocardiography was done in patients with Kawasaki disease on the first day of admission and four weeks after the onset of the disease. At each time, venous samples were drawn and separated into plasma and leukocytes. In patients with other febrile disease, samples were drawn on admission. Elastase activities in plasma and neutrophil extracts were measured. RESULTS: The significant increased plasma elastase activity, 6.19+/-0.74 U/mL, found in Kawasaki disease patients compared with the other febrile disease patients, 4.86+/-1.17 U/mL(P<0.05). And there was no significance between the above two diseases in terms of the elastase activity in neutrophil extracts. The relationship between initial elastase activity and the coronary arterial complication which was shown in subacute phase wasn't significant. CONCLUSION: Plasma elastase activity was increased in Kawasaki disease significantly, but the initial plasma elastase activity in the acute phase could not reflect the range of coronary arterial complication.
Academic Medical Centers ; Dilatation* ; Echocardiography ; Humans* ; Leukocyte Elastase* ; Leukocytes ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Neutrophils* ; Pancreatic Elastase ; Plasma ; Vasculitis

PURPOSE: This study was initiated to establish the hazard ratios for risk of urinary stone formation in chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 140 male patients who were injured before 1987 were eligible for this investigation and they were followed up on a yearly basis from January 1987 and December 2003. RESULTS: Over the 17 years, 39 patients (27.9%) and 21 patients (15.0%) were diagnosed with bladder and renal stones for a total of 59 and 25 episodes, respectively. On multivariate analysis, bladder stone was more common for the patients who were injured at 24 years old or older than is was for those patients who were injured at less than 24 years old (odds ratio [OR]: 2.490; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.092-5.677; p=0.030). In another model, the patients with complete injury had a greater risk of renal stone formation than those with incomplete injury (OR: 4.095; 95% CI: 1.295-12.944; p=0.016). We also found that renal stone was more common for the patients with urethral catheterization (UC) than for the patients who could spontaneous void (OR: 5.668; 95% CI: 1.306-24.604; p=0.021), and for patients with bladder stone than for those without bladder stone (OR: 4.678; 95% CI: 1.447-15.126; p=0.010). CONCLUSIONS: Injury characteristics are important for the development of urinary stone in chronic traumatic SCI patients. In addition, our findings suggest that for the cases who cannot undergo intermittent catheterization or when the bladder cannot empty spontaneously, suprapubic cystostomy is better than UC is regards to renal stone formation in this population.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Cystostomy ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Male* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Risk Factors* ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder Calculi ; Urinary Calculi* ; Urinary Catheterization ; Urinary Catheters ; Young Adult

A 65-year-old woman with a deeply infiltrating basal cell carcinoma in the right ala underwent full-thickness excision of most of the ala, including the alar rim, crease, and the adjacent cheek, leaving a 'through-and-through' defect. Reconstruction was performed by using the reverse nasolabial flap and a cartilage graft across the alar defect, harvested from the concha, to prevent nostril collapse and to maintain the alar shape. The reverse or turnover nasolabial flap is a variant of the conventional nasolabial flap; however, it may be more suited for the repair of a full-thickness, lateral alar defect. The reverse nasolabial flap functions both as an inner liner and an outer cover and the repair is performed as a single-stage procedure. Furthermore, this flap can provide both excellent function and excellent cosmetic outcome.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Cartilage* ; Cheek ; Female ; Humans ; Nasal Cartilages ; Surgical Flaps ; Transplants*

No abstract available.
Down Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Port-wine stain (PWS) is a congenital capillary malformations characterized by ectasia of capillaries and venules. These vascular channels progress gradually to hyperplasia of soft and hard tissues, manifested as hypertrophy of involved structures. Especially, when these lesions involve the lip, macrocheilia may develop with time. Usually vascular-specific laser treatment is used for PWS, however with no favorable effect with soft-tissue hypertrophy. Therefore, surgical treatment may be necessary in such cases. OBJECTIVE: The subjects were 9 patients who had PWS with lip hypertrophy, who were aged from 9 to 65 years. METHODS: The patients underwent cheiloplasty which include making an incision horizontally on a labial mucosa of the lip, and dissection of hypertrophied soft tissue in the front and back of the orbicularis oris muscle. RESULTS: Of the 9 patients, only 2 had postoperative complication such as mild chewing of the labial mucosa. After a minor revision surgery, these symptoms disappeared. Good to excellent results were achieved in all patients during the final postoperative cosmetic evaluation. CONCLUSION: Surgical correction is appropriate for treatment of three-dimensional tissue deformity such as lip hypertrophy with good cosmetic results and minimal complications.
Aged ; Capillaries ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Cosmetics ; Dilatation, Pathologic ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Hypertrophy ; Lip ; Mastication ; Mucous Membrane ; Port-Wine Stain ; Postoperative Complications ; Vascular Malformations ; Venules

Aniridia is a congenital lack of iris and rudimentary iris tissue, almost always bilateral, occuring as a dominant characteristic by an autosomal gene with high penetrance and variable expression. The syndrome of congenital aniridia may be composed of four phenotypes. The authors have experienced one an iridic family: mother, one daughter and four sons. The most family members have ectopia lentis. cataract. corneal pannus and glaucoma as well as aniridia, so they were expected the first phenotype of aniridia due to a failure in development of retinal ectoderm. Two sons of them were operated in Chungnam National University Hospital for control of glaucoma and visual impairment due to cataractous ectopic lens. In one case the intraocular pressure was not controlled after trabeculectomy and in another case lens extraction resulted in visual improvement. The review was made of relating literatures for the case of aniridia family, breifly.
Aniridia* ; Cataract ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Ectoderm ; Ectopia Lentis ; Glaucoma ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Iris ; Mothers ; Nuclear Family ; Penetrance ; Phenotype ; Retinaldehyde ; Trabeculectomy ; Vision Disorders

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) in patients with acute vestibular neuritis (AVN) by identifying the recovery period of Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and comparing the result of SOT with those of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) tests and subjective symptoms. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: A prospective study was conducted on 41 patients who were diagnosed with AVN. The SOT was measured daily until the equilibrium composite score recovered the normal value. A survey, composing of questionnaires on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), motion sensitive quotient (MSQ) and Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC), was conducted on the patient's initial visit and on the day the normal value of SOT was recovered. Videonystagmography and the caloric test were also performed, and the results were compared with those of the SOT. RESULTS: The mean duration from the onset of vertigo to the recovery of SOT scores was 3.7±2.9 days (median 3.0 days) and that from the onset of vertigo to the disappearance of spontaneous nystagmus was 17.1±27.2 days (median 6.0 days). The scores of 4 questionnaires (VAS, DHI, MSQ, and ABC) were significantly different between the initial day and the day of recovery to the normal value of SOT (p<0.001). However, the velocity of spontaneous nystagmus on the initial visit and the degree of canal paresis from the caloric test showed no significant correlations to recovery duration from the onset of vertigo to the normalization of SOT score. CONCLUSION: The recovery duration of vestibulospinal reflex (VSR) is much shorter than that of VOR in patients with AVN. The recovery of subjective symptoms showed close correlation with the recovery of VSR, but the results of VSR was not correlated with that of VOR. Therefore, CDP could be a very useful test for monitoring the resolution of subjective symptoms in patients with AVN.
Caloric Tests ; Compensation and Redress* ; Cytidine Diphosphate ; Dizziness ; Humans ; Methods ; Paresis ; Prospective Studies ; Reference Values ; Reflex ; Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular ; Vertigo ; Vestibular Neuronitis*

Periodic alternating nystagmus (PAN) is a spontaneous horizontal jerky nystagmus that reverses its direction periodically with a quiescent interval. PAN has been reported in acquired and congenital forms. The main lesion site of the acquired form of PAN has been attributed to the caudal brainstem or cerebellum. Herein we report a 63-year-old male patient with Meniere's disease, who presented PAN during a vertigo attack. The patient demonstrated no abnormality on neurologic evaluation and brain imaging, which is different feature compared to the central or congenital form of PAN. It should be kept in mind that peripheral vestibular disorders such as Meniere's disease can produce PAN.
Brain Stem ; Cerebellum ; Humans ; Male ; Meniere Disease ; Middle Aged ; Neuroimaging ; Nystagmus, Pathologic ; Vertigo

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify the diverse patterns of nystagmus and analyze their clinical significance in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) of the anterior semicircular canal. METHODS: Fifty-three patients diagnosed with anterior canal BPPV (AC-BPPV) were analyzed retrospectively. Patients were classified according to the presence or absence of the torsional component of the nystagmus and the direction of Dix-Hallpike test which induced the nystagmus. We compared the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes among the different patient groups. RESULTS: There were 11 patients with unilateral down beat (DB) nystagmus, 11 patients with bilateral DB nystagmus, 14 patients with ipsilateral torsional down beat (TDB) nystagmus, 7 patients with contralateral TDB nystagmus, and 7 patients with bilateral TDB nystagmus. There were no differences between the unilateral and the bilateral DB groups in terms of the duration of nystagmus or vertigo and the number of treatment sessions. In addition, the ipsilateral TDB group showed no significant clinical difference compared to the contralateral or bilateral TDB group. CONCLUSION: Various nystagmus patterns can be seen in AC-BPPV. There was no statistically significant difference in the clinical characteristics according to the different nystagmus patterns. This information may be helpful for clinicians in counseling and managing the patients with AC-BPPV.
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo ; Counseling ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Semicircular Canals ; Vertigo