Single dose(1.0 cc) of 20 % 2, 6-diiodo-4-nitrophenol solution was injected to 82 hookworm infected cases and 79% of them became egg-negative within 2-3 weeks after the injection. Mild to severe local pain were experienced for several minutes in all cases. Two cases complained of paralysis of the arms of the same side. The tablet of the same formula was given orally to 21 cases for 1-4 days. The 2-4 day course with 360 mg/day were enough to eliminate the parasite, and showed no systemic side effects.
parasitology-helminth-nematoda ; hookworm ; chemotherapy ; 2, 6-diiodo-4-nitrophenol

No abstract available.
Transplants

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to show the efficacy of a bioabsorbable polylactide (PLA) screw for treating syndesmotic injuries of ankle fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten patients who underwent an open reduction and internal fixation operation for ankle fractures that had syndesmotic injuries from Dec. 1992 to Feb. 1997 were enrolled into the study. There were 6 men and 4 women. The average age of the patients was 42.6 years and the average follow-up period was 2 years 7 months. The cases were analyzed by clinical and radiological findings at the time of their last follow-up evaluation. RESULTS: According to the clinical results, there was statistically no significant difference between finding an average of 15.8 degrees of dorsiflexion and 45.8 degrees of plantar flexion of the ankle on the affected side of the individuals and that of 17.8 degrees of dorsiflexion and 48.5 degrees of plantar flexion on their normal contralateral side. Upon radiological analysis, the medial clear space was decreased from 7.3+/-1.8 mm to 3.1+/-1.0 mm, the tibio-fibular clear space was decreased from 7.8+/-0.9 mm to 4.9+/-0.5 mm and the tibio-fibular overlap increased from 4.6+/-1.8 mm to 10.5+/-1.4 mm. Also there was no pain and instability in the affected side in any of the patients at the time of the last follow-up. CONCLUSION: A bioabsorbable PLA screw is a good implant for stabilizing syndesmotic injuries of the ankle fractures because there is no evidence of a significant osteolysis resulting around the implant, there is a gradual transfer of stress to the surrounding bone, and there is no requirement for a subsequent removal.
Ankle Fractures* ; Ankle Injuries* ; Ankle* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Osteolysis

Even the antituberculous drugs could cure the disease itself, it might not prevent progressive kyphosis and its sequelae. Therefore, radical curettage and anterior arthrodesis with autogenous strut bone graft has been used to prevent this deformity. From May 1982 to May 1989, twenty four cases of spinal tuberculosis treated with anterior arthrodesis were analysed about the progression of postoperative kyphosis. These cases were followed up for more than 1 year at least, and the following results were obtained; 1. Lumbar spine was most commonly involved. There was involvement of one disc space in 12 cases, only narrowing of disc space in 7 cases, and two disc spaces in 5 cases. 2. The degree of vertebral loss was under 1 in 15 cases, 0 (disc space narrowing only) in 7 cases, and over 1 in 2 cases. 3. Compared with immediate postoperative kyphotic angle, there was increase of kyphotic angle in 15 cases but most of them were under 10 degress. 4. Preoperative degree of vertebral loss of 15 incerased cases was 0.5 and that of 9 decreased of maintained cases was 0.2 in average. 5. Preoperative vertebral involvement of 15 increased cases was 1.3 and that of 9 decreased or maintained cases was 1.2 in average.
Arthrodesis ; Clinical Study ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Curettage ; Kyphosis ; Spine ; Transplants ; Tuberculosis, Spinal

PURPOSE: The increased prevalence of childhood asthma in Korea from 3.4% in 1964 to 15% in 1995 might be very important for morbidity and mortality in children. Recognition of this led to consider the necessity of new management strategies emphasizing patient education. We developed the educational program including asthma-specific play game called 'Malgunsum asthma game' to improve the child's interest and evaluated its educational effect. METHOD: Twenty asthmatic children between the age seven to fifteen were attended Malgunsum Asthma Camp. The Children were randomly assigned to 5 groups, and each player had to move the horse by answering the questions on the card. The first one who reaches the goal wins the game. RESULTS: All the children well followed the play rule and were interested to the game. CONCLUSION: This educational game model will achieve better control of asthma by leading the patients to understand the nature of asthma, how to identify and control the aggravating factors, how to recognize symptoms and appropriate steps for asthma, and the importance of daily maintenance therapy with anti-inflammatory medications.
Asthma* ; Child ; Horses ; Humans ; Korea ; Mortality ; Patient Education as Topic ; Prevalence

PURPOSE: Thyroid tumor is one of the most common endocrine tumors, and yet little is known about its molecular process of development and progression. Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, the inducible form of the COX enzyme for prostaglandin synthesis, is up-regulated in gastrointestinal cancers and is a key mediator of epithelial cell growth. Regular intake of aspirin or other nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with a decreased incidence of colorectal, esophageal, gastric, and lung cancer. We sought to determine the involvement of COX-2 in human thyroid cancer. METHODS: COX-2 protein was assayed in thyroid tissue of 64 which were inflammatory disease and benign tumor and malignant tumor with or without metastasis patients by using immunohistochemistry and Western Blot analysis. RESULTS: COX-2 protein was not expressed in normal thyroid tissue. But COX-2 protein was expressed strongly in inflammatory tissue. Expression of COX-2 was very high in both benign and malignant tumor. There is no difference in pathology and malignant potential or existence of metastasis. CONCLUSION: There was no correlation between clinicopathological characteristics of thyroid tumor and intensity of COX-2 protein expression. In addition, there was no difference of expression of COX-2 between inflammatory thyroid disease and thyroid tumor. This study indicates that COX-2 protein over expression may contribute to an early event of gastric cancer development, and it further suggests that selective inhibition of COX-2 may provide a chemopreventive effect against thyroid cancer.
Aspirin ; Blotting, Western ; Cyclooxygenase 2* ; Epithelial Cells ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; Humans* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Incidence ; Lung Neoplasms ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pathology ; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Thyroid Diseases ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms

OBJECTIVES: Thalamic structural changes were implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia by some studies. So, we investigated the differences in thalamic volumes between previously untreated patients with first-episode schizophrenia and controls. METHODS: Thalamic volumes of 24 subjects with schizophrenia and 24 controls were measured from their T1-weighted coronal magnetic resonance images using manual tracing. The thalamus was further segmented into regions that roughly reflected individual thalamic nuclei. RESULTS: Comparing to the controls, significantly smaller volumes were found in the left posterior subdivision of thalamus in patient group. Tendency of volume differences were also seen in right posterior subdivision of thalamus in patient group. These regions primarily comprised the pulvinar, a thalamic nucleus thought to be an important component of aberrant circuitry in schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest the possibility of a volumetric alteration of the thalamus in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.
Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Pulvinar ; Schizophrenia ; Thalamus

BACKGROUND: Solid tumors require neovasculization for growth and metastasis. Recently, several angiogenic factors have been identified. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is thought to be one such angiogenic factor and is also thought to be a selective mitogen for endothelial cells. In this study, we examined the expression of VEGF and its relationship with microvessel density, and we also determined its prognostic significance in gastric cancer patients. METHODS: One hundred one specimens resected from patients with gastric carcinomas were investigated by staining with a polyclonal antibody against VEGF. Correlations between the expression of VEGF, the microvessel density, various clinicopathologic factors, and the patient's survival were studied. RESULTS: The normal gastric mucosa was not immunoreactive with an anti-VEGF antibody. VEGF was mainly localized to the cytoplasm or the membrane of the carcinoma cell. Of the 101 tumors, strong VEGF expression was detected in 48 (47.5%) tumors. VEGF expression was correlated with depth of tumor invasion, lymph-node metastasis, and stage. Microvessel density, determined by immunohistochemical staining for CD31, was significantly higher in VEGF-strong tumors than in VEGF-weak tumors. Also, patients with VEGF-strong tumors had a significantly poorer prognosis than those with VEGF-weak tumors. However, multivariate analysis indicated that the expression of VEGF was not an independent prognostic factor in patients with gastric cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The fact that VEGF expression in gastric carcinomas was more prevalent in more advanced tumors means that VEGF may contribute to the progression of the tumor. Further study is needed to evaluate the significance of VEGF as a prognostic factor.
Angiogenesis Inducing Agents ; Cytoplasm ; Endothelial Cells ; Gastric Mucosa ; Humans ; Membranes ; Microvessels ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis* ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*

Among congenital brachymetatarsias fourth metatarsal bone shortening is most common form and unusually involves multiple metatarsal bones. We report a case of the patient with bilateral 1st and 4th multiple rays brachymetatarsia treated with callostasis. Twenty eight months after procedure, right side showed 1st metatarsal lengthening about 11.5 mm (29.23%) and 4th metatarsal 17.86 mm (35.87%). Twenty one months later, left side showed 1st metatarsal lengthening about 14.58 mm (36.8%) and 4th metatarsal 20.52 mm (43.01%). In healing index right side showed 1st metatarsal 3.4 month/cm, 4th metatarsal 2.5 month/cm and left side showed 1st metatarsal 4.2 month/cm, 4th metatarsal 2.3 month/cm. Final follow-up results presented excellent outcome in cosmetic problem, easy wear of shoes, and measurement of patient's self satisfaction.
Cosmetics ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Metatarsal Bones ; Osteogenesis, Distraction ; Shoes