Wallerian degeneration is well known as the anterograde degeneration of axon and their accompanying myelin sheath from injury to the proximal portion of the axon or its cell body. The most common cause of wallerian degeneration is cerebral infarction. Authors experienced three patients with old hemispheric infarct with typical wallerian degeneration in the brain stem, which was demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in two cases and CT in one case. This report demonstrates the wallerian degeneration in the corticospinal tract on the MRI and CT with the brief review of the literatures.
Axons ; Brain Stem ; Brain* ; Cell Body ; Cerebral Infarction ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Myelin Sheath ; Pyramidal Tracts ; Wallerian Degeneration*

Sparganum is parasite infesting principally in the cats or dogs, but many human reported. In Korea, the reported cases of human sparganosis are over 20 cases. However the urogenital infestation of sparganum is relatively rare, and none of any report of infestation in the epididymis is available. We experienced a case of the sparganum infesting on the epididymis which vas confused with the epididymitis on palpation.
Animals ; Cats ; Dogs ; Epididymis* ; Epididymitis ; Humans* ; Korea ; Male ; Palpation ; Parasites ; Sparganosis* ; Sparganum

Transitional vertebrae include lumbarization and sacralization of lumbosacral region. The prevalence of transitional vertebra was reported as 3 to 21%. It is known that transitional vertebra is related to herniated nucleus pulposus and spinal stenosis but there is no report in English literature about the relationship of transitional vertebra to spondylolysis or spondylolytic spondylolisthesis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship of transitional vertebra to spondylolysis or spondylolytic spondylolisthesis and to find out the clinical relevance for the treatment. The cases included 182 cases of spondylolysis or spondylolytic spondylolisthesis who were treated at Severance hospital from 1987 to 1993. There were 33 cases of transitional vetebra; 12 lumbarization and 21 sacralization. And there were remaining 149 cases of control group. The degree of anterior sippage was measured by Meyerding's grading and percentage of Taillard method. As the results, the degree of average anterior slippage of L4 was 14.5% in the cases of isthmic defect in L4 and sacralization. The average slippage of L4 was 11.4% in the control group. The degree of average anterior slippage of L5 was 12.5% in the cases of isthmic defect in L5 and lumbarization, and 9.5% in the cases of isthmic defect in L5 and sacralization. The average slippage of L5 was 16.2% in the control group. In summary and conclusion, the cases with isthmic defect in L4 and sacralization showed more anterior slippage than the cases with isthmic defect in L4 without transitional vertebrae, and the cases with isthmic defect in L5 and sacralization showed less anterior slippage than the cases with isthmic defect in L5 without transitional vertebrae. It is concluded that more aggressive treatment is recommended in the cases of isthmic defect in L4 and sacralization, whereas more conservative treatment is recommended in the cases of isthmic defect in L5 and sacralization.
Lumbosacral Region ; Methods ; Prevalence ; Spinal Stenosis ; Spine ; Spondylolisthesis ; Spondylolysis

The CT findings of the acute cerebral infarction are well known. However the CT findings of early stroke within 24 hours of the onset have not been sufficiently reported. The purpose of this study is to evaluate early acute cerebral infarction on CT within 24 hours after ictus. The early and accurate CT diagnosis could lead to the appropriate therapy and improved outcome of the patients. Authors retrospectively analyzed 16 patients with early acute cerebral infarction. Acute cerebral infarction was confirmed by follow-up CT in 11 patients, SPECT in 4 patients, and MRI in 1 patient. The CT findings of early acute cerebral infarction include effacement of cortical sulci or cistern (n=16, 100%), hyperattenuation of MCA (n=3), obscuration of lentiform nucleus (n=6), loss of insular ribbon (n=6) and subtle low density in hemisphere (n=5). The most frequent findings was effacement of cortical sulci in our study, and it was though to be the most important sign of early acute cerebral infarction.
Cerebral Infarction* ; Corpus Striatum ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

No abstract available.
Cryotherapy* ; Nevus*

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency and characteristics of needlestick/sharps injuries (NSIs) in nursing students in Korea. METHODS: The study was based on a survey of questionnaires completed by 341 nursing students who had sustained at least one NSI during clinical practice in hospitals. RESULTS: The NSI incidence rate was 36.4%. Approximately half of the students reported two to four NSIs. Most (90.2%) of the NSIs occurred on the fingertips and were caused by a hollow-bore needle (46.8%) or lancet (45.8%). Some students were exposed to used needles contaminated with unknown pathogens (37.3%), HBs Ag (2.3%), Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) (0.8%), or HIV (0.6%). Students cited the reason for injury as carelessness, inexperience, hastiness, or recapping. Almost two-thirds of students who reported having experienced an NSI knew about post-exposure treatment. However, only one-third of the students with NSIs completed an official report. CONCLUSION: Korean nursing students lack knowledge about injury prevention, report procedures, and treatment after NSI. A revised educational approach with emphasis on occupational risk, skill development, and injury reporting is necessary to prevent NSI and to ensure that students obtain post-exposure prophylaxis.
Dietary Sucrose ; HIV ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Needles ; Needlestick Injuries ; Post-Exposure Prophylaxis ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases ; Students, Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study was made of patients undergoing posterolateral fusion of the lumbar spine. OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical outcomes of the patients who underwent posterolateral fusion of the lumbar spine with commercially available allogeneic bone graft with those patients in a similar consecutive control group who underwent posterolateral fusion of the lumbar spine with autogenic bone graft and to determine whether the commercially available allogeneic bone is useful for postero-lateral fusion of the lumbar spine. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: Major differences exist in the ability of an allogeneic bone graft to regenerate a viable cellular network as compared to an autogenic bone graft. This is related to the immunologic response of the host to the foreign bone. The fusion rate of deep freezing allogeneic bone graft was reported as 80-100%. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-nine patients with spondylolisthesis treated with decompression, fixation with pedicle screws and posterolateral fusion were retrospectively reviewed. Nineteen patients (group 1) were treated with commercially available allogeneic bone (Tutoplast) graft mixed with autogenic bone and the remaining 60 patients (group 2) were treated with autogenic bone graft. Operating time, amount of transfusion, duration of hospital stay, symptom improvement, fusion rate, duration of fusion, and complications were studied. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of duration of hospital stay, amount of transfusion, symptom improvement, and complications . However, there were significant differences between the allogeneic and autogenic groups in terms of operating time (212.3 versus 230.9 minutes), fusion rate (36.8% versus 98.3%), and duration of fusion (10.2 versus 6.4 months), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Commercially available allogeneic bone is less useful for posterolateral fusion of the lumbar spine.
Decompression ; Freezing ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine* ; Spondylolisthesis ; Transplants

Plasmid vectors with either RSV or CMV promoter are frequently used for DNA- mediated immunization due to the availability in commercial. Consequently, influence of the vector constituents, such as promoter, enhancer and transcription termination signal etc. on vaccination efficiency is not studied extensively. As an initial attempt to develop an efficient vector system for DNA-rnediated immunization, influence of promoter for antigen gene expression on vaccination efficiency has been analyzed. Initially, plasmids with either B-actin or muscle creatine kinase (MCK) promoter were constructed from the plasmid with prototype CMV promoter. In addition, ovalbumin (OVA) antigen gene has been cloned into each vectors to generate the plasmid vectors with different promoters for induction of the anti-OVA immune responses. Antigen protein expression in antigen gene transfected mouse muscle myoblast cells showed that the level from MCK promoter containing plasmid was slightly higher than those from either CMV or B-actin promoter containing plasmids. Also, the same plasmid turned out to be slightly more efficient than other plasmids in antibody imrnune response induction in vivo, when they were applied both through intramuscularly and intradermally. These results suggest that the commonly used CMV promoter containing plasmid vector could be further modified to develop an efficient vector for DNA-mediated immunization.
Animals ; Clone Cells ; Creatine Kinase, MM Form ; Gene Expression ; Immunization ; Mice ; Myoblasts ; Ovalbumin ; Plasmids* ; Vaccination*

Frequent anomalies causing a left-sided appendix are situs inversus and malrotation. The ectopic position of the appendix frequently causes a delay or error in diagnosis because of atypical symptoms. A physical examination is of limited value unless dextrocardia is present. A left-sided appendix is a rare anomaly, but when other diseases are ruled out, it must be considered especially at the emergency department.
Appendicitis* ; Appendix ; Dextrocardia ; Diagnosis ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Physical Examination ; Situs Inversus