Spinal intramedullary cysticercosis is a rare manifestation of neurocysticercosis and may present as a isolated lesion. We report a case of cervical intramedullary cysticercosis in a 57-year-old man. The patient presented with weakness, numbness of the right upper extremity, and urinary difficulty. Magnetic resonance images demonstrated a round cystic lesion at the C4-5 level. We performed C4-5 laminectomy with total removal of intramedullary cystic lesion. Diagnosis was confirmed by histopathological examination. The patient was given albendazole(15mg/kg/day for 30 days) along with corticosteroid.
Albendazole ; Cysticercosis* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Laminectomy ; Middle Aged ; Neurocysticercosis ; Spinal Cord ; Upper Extremity

Recently chronic angiopathy of diabetes mellitus has become serious complication of diabetes mellitus. Chronic angiopathic complication of diabetes mellitus is divided into macrovascular disease and microvascular disease. Macrovascular disease includes coronary arterial disease, cerebrovascular disease, foot lesion and microvascular disease includes diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy. It is well known that microvascular disease'is relatively unique in diabetic patients and macrovascular disease is frequently found in non diabetic patients, although prevalence rate is still high in diabetic patients. This finding supports the view that microvascular disease and macrovascular disease have different pathogenesis. The authors evaluated and invested the 180 patients with diabetes mellitus who have taken neurologic examination and NCV studies f rom January 1, 1990 to September 30, 1992. The results were as followed: 1.There is a significant tendency that diabetic patients with neuropathy are accompanied by other microangiopathy (retinopathy or nephropathy) than diabetic patients without neuropathy. 2.Between diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy and without peripheral neuropathy, there is no difference in the prevalence of macroangiopathy.
Diabetes Complications* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetic Neuropathies* ; Diabetic Retinopathy ; Foot Diseases ; Humans ; Neurologic Examination ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Prevalence

PURPOSE: Many pediatric urologists still favor using prophylactic antibiotics to treat children with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). However, breakthrough infection sometimes occurs, leading to significant increases in morbidity as a result of renal scarring. Therefore, we tested whether abnormal renal scan and other factors are predictive of breakthrough infection using univariate analyses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 163 consecutive children who were diagnosed with vesicoureteral reflux between November 1997 and June 2010. Clinical parameters for the statistical analysis included form of presentation, gender, age, VUR grade, laterality, presence of intrarenal reflux, class of antibiotic drug, and presence of abnormal renal scan by Dimercapto-succinic acid. Clinical parameters used for prognostic factors were established by univariate analyses. Fisher's exact test and unpaired t-test were done using SPSS software [SPSS ver. 12.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA)]. RESULTS: Breakthrough infection developed in 61 children (48.0%). A total of 58 children (45.7%) had abnormal renal scans. Time to development of breakthrough infection was significantly longer in girls (9.0+/-8.2 months) than in boys (5.8+/-4.8 months, p<0.05). On univariate analysis, though statistically not significant, the most predictive factor of breakthrough infection was abnormal renal scan (p=0.062). In patients with abnormal renal scans, breakthrough infection was not associated with mode of presentation, gender, grade or prophylactic antibiotics. However, there was a significant difference between patients younger than 1 year and those 1 year old or older. Mean+/-SD age at diagnosis of VUR in patients with breakthrough infection (1.14+/-3.14) was significantly younger than in those without breakthrough infection (5.05+/-3.31, p=0.009). There was also a significant difference between patients with bilateral or unilateral reflux (p=0.028). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that abnormal renal scan was the most predictive factor of breakthrough infection and demonstrated statistical significance in patients under the age of 1 year. Parents and physicians should remain aware that these patients are at high risk of breakthrough urinary tract infection, which may potentially lead to renal damage.
Anti-Bacterial Agents/*therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Urinary Tract Infections/*drug therapy/etiology ; Vesico-Ureteral Reflux/complications/*drug therapy/*microbiology

We have studied the clinical correlations between duration of epilepsy and anticonvulsant treatment response in temporal lobe epilepsy. We evaluated correlations between the duration of epilepsy before control and frequencies after six and twelve months of antiepileptic drug treatment, respectively. And we analyzed differences of epilepsy duration between no recurrence group, reduced seizure frequencies below 25% of before control frequencies and reduced seizure frequencies above 25% of before control frequecies groups respectively. We concluded that there are no positive correlations between the duration of epilepsy and seizure frequencies after antiepileptic drug treatment (Spearman correlation coefficients 0.2801 p=0.354 at six months antiepileptic drug treatment, 0.2797 p=0.355 at twelve months). We also concluded that there are no differencies of epilepsy duration between no recurrence group, group with reduced seizure frequencies below 25% of before control frequencies and group with reduced seizure frequencies above 25% of before control frequecies after six months of antlepileptic drug treatment(p=0.6511)and after twelve months of antiepileptic drug treatment (p=0.9469).
Epilepsy* ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe* ; Recurrence ; Seizures ; Temporal Lobe*

Tuberculous meningitis is qutie a common disease and delay in treatment is associated with poor prognosis. But the study on the prognosis of tuberculous meningitis is rare in Korea. We analyzed the clinical and laboratory findings of 159 cases seen between 1986 and 1990 at the Yonsei University College of Medicine, Severance Hospital. The specific aims of this study were to evaluate the clinical presentation, course and outcome and to determine the factors that may have influence on the outcome of tuberculous meningitis. The following results were obtained. 1. The highest incidence of age was noted in third decade as 37 cases (23.3%)and there was a tendency that the annual incidence of tuberculous meningitis declined since 1989. 2. The most presenting symptoms on admission were headache in 114 cases (71.7%), fever and chilling in 112 cases (70.4%), nausea and vomiting in 71 cases (44.7%), altered consciousness in 38 cases(23.9%) in order and clinical stage on admission revealed 83 cases of stage 2 and 14 cases of stage 3. 3. Associated tuberculous lesions other than central nervous system were found in 56 cases (35.2%) including miliary tuberculosis (15.7%), pulmonary tuberculosis (13.8%), spinal tuberculosis (3.1%), renal tuberculosis and so on. 4. Comparing with those who have not developed neurological sequelae on discharge, the mean protein value of cerebrospinal fluid on admission was increased and the mean glucose value and WBC count were decreased in patients who have developed neurological sequelae. 5. Brain computed tomography scan was performed in 122 cases and it revealed no abnormal findings in 54 cases (44.3%), enlarged ventricle in 44 cases (36.1%), basal enhancement in 25 cases (20.5%), lacunes in 18 cases (14.8%) and tuberculous granu-lomas in 8 cases (6.6%). 6. The neurological sequelae were developed in 53 cases (33.3%) including altered consciousness (13.2%), cranial nerve palsies (10.1%), death (5.0%), hemiparesis (4.4%), paraparesis(3.1%)and so on. 7. Prognosis of tuberculous meningitis app.
Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Consciousness ; Cranial Nerve Diseases ; Fever ; Glucose ; Headache ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Nausea ; Paresis ; Prognosis ; Tuberculosis, Meningeal* ; Tuberculosis, Miliary ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; Tuberculosis, Renal ; Tuberculosis, Spinal ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: The association of age, sex and renal parenchymal damage (RPD) in vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is well known. We compared various factors between infants and children in a cohort of patients with primary VUR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of 147 patients diagnosed as VUR between 1997 and 2010 were reviewed. Of these children 91 (61.9%) were boys and 56 (38.1%) were girls. 99 (67.3%) of the 147 patients were younger (Group 1), and 48 (32.7%) were older than 1 year (Group 2). The impact of patient's gender and age as well as VUR grade on RPD were analyzed in each patient. The Fisher's exact test and chi square test was done with SPSS ver. 12.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS: VUR was unilateral in 88 patients (59.9%) and bilateral in 59 patients (40.1%). Abnormal renal scan was found in 78 (37.7%) renal units. The incidence of VUR was significantly higher in male in group 1 (p<0.01) and in female in group 2 (p<0.01). The incidence of abnormal renal scan was significantly higher in intermediate and high grade VUR comparing low grade VUR in group 1 (p=0.042). In both group, abnormal renal scan didn't show any difference between male and female statistically (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that VUR in infant was significantly higher in male than in female, whereas VUR in children was significantly higher in female. This may be due to that characteristic of a population where neonatal circumcision is not a common procedure in infant and urinary tract infections are more common in female children. Further study may be needed to identify gender difference in RPD in infant with high grade reflux.
Chi-Square Distribution ; Chicago ; Child ; Circumcision, Male ; Cohort Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Male ; Medical Records ; Urinary Tract Infections ; Vesico-Ureteral Reflux

No abstract available.
Rabbits*

Korea is undergoing a rapid environmental change in health and welfare. Therefore, the law mandates the establishment and implementation of plans in accordance with the changes. A total of 49 long-term plans related to health and welfare were specified by the National Law Information Center, the Korean representative legal information website managed by the Korea Ministry of Government Legislation. Of the 49 long-term plans, 10 plans (20.4%) were not yet fully constructed. Eight out of 10 non-constructive plans have been put into force for more than a year, but these plans still require further systematic planning and development. The complete construction of long-term plans is substantial to account for the changes in South Korean health and welfare. In addition, a systematic plan with solidarity and continuity between the mutual plans should be established in planning.
Information Centers ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Social Welfare

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify status and characteristics of patients who have been readmitted to ICU, and to analyze risk factors associated with the readmission to ICU within 48hours.METHODS: Data were collected from patient's electronic medical reports from one hospital in B city. Participants were 2,937 patients aged 18 years old or older admitted to the ICU. Data were analyzed using odd ratios (ORs) from multivariate logistic regressions.RESULTS: 2.2% of the 2,937 patients were early readmitted to ICU. Risk factors for early readmission to ICU were existence of respiratory disease, use of mechanical ventilator, and duration of hospitalization (longer).CONCLUSION: The assessment on the respiratory system of the patient who will be discharged from the ICU was identified as an important nursing activity. Therefore, the respiratory system management and education should be actively conducted. In addition, early ICU readmission may be prevented and decreased if a link was built to share the information on patient condition between the ICU and general wards.
Critical Care ; Education ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Logistic Models ; Nursing ; Patient Readmission ; Patients' Rooms ; Respiratory System ; Risk Factors ; Ventilators, Mechanical

The recent advances in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) enable to precisely edit the desired bases in hPSCs to be used for the establishment of isogenic disease models and autologous ex vivo cell therapy. The knock-in approach based on the homologous directed repair with Cas9 endonuclease, causing DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), produces not only insertion and deletion (indel) mutations but also deleterious large deletions. On the contrary, due to the lack of Cas9 endonuclease activity, base editors (BEs) such as adenine base editor (ABE) and cytosine base editor (CBE) allow precise base substitution by conjugated deaminase activity, free from DSB formation. Despite the limitation of BEs in transition substitution, precise base editing by BEs with no massive off-targets is suggested to be a prospective alternative in hPSCs for clinical applications. Considering the unique cellular characteristics of hPSCs, a few points should be considered. Herein, we describe an updated and optimized protocol for base editing in hPSCs. We also describe an improved methodology for CBE-based C to T substitutions, which are generally lower than A to G substitutions in hPSCs.