To evaluate the hypertensive effect of guanbenz acetate, we performed a prospective clinical study for 10 weeks or more in 27 patients with essential hypertension(mean age: 51, mean supine blood pressure: 176/105mmHg). The daily dose of guanabenz acetate was 8-49 mg. The results were as follows; 1) After 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of treatment, average supine systolic and diastolic blood pressures reduced to 156/94, 150/94, 149/93 and 144/93mmHg respectively(all P<0.05). 2) Pulse rate decreased slightly from pre-treatment average of 75 beats per minute to 71 beats per minute at the end of the study(P<0.05). 3) Average body weight, serum levels of total cholesterol, AST, ALT, BUN, creatinine, sodium and potassium were not significantly changed from pre-treatment values. 4) A few side effects in order of frequency were dry mouth, dizziness, sedation, weakness, etc. We conclude that guanabenz acetate may be used as an effective first line antihypertensive agent in essential hypertension.
Blood Pressure ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Creatinine ; Dizziness ; Guanabenz* ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Mouth ; Potassium ; Prospective Studies ; Sodium

Primary hypomagnesemia is a rare inherited disorder and it is considered to be due to either a defect in the intestinal transport of magnesium or a defect in renal tubular transport. It is important to measure the urinary excretion of magnesium to differentiate the causes of magnesium deficiency. We report here an one-month-old female infant of primary hypomagnesemia who presented generalized tonic-clonic seizures. She had hypomagnesemia(<1.5mg/dL) and several seizure attacks but normal magnesium creatinine ratio in random urine and normal magnesium excretion in 24-hour urine. Continuous oral magnesium supplementation was necessary to avoid the recurrence of symptoms and maintain serum rnagnesium levels.
Creatinine ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Magnesium ; Magnesium Deficiency ; Recurrence ; Seizures

Agenesis of corpus callosum occurs sporadically and may be transmitted as sex-linked, or autosomal-dominant or recessive traits. It has been associated with different syndromes. Clinical pictures vary from severe intellectual and neurologic abnormalities to asymptomatic and normaly intelligent cases. Agenesis of corpus callosum may occur alone, but it is more frequently associated with a high incidence of other anomalies. We report a male infant with agenesis of corpus callosum who was diagnosed to have ileal atresia and duplication.
Agenesis of Corpus Callosum* ; Corpus Callosum* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Male

BACKGROUND: The incidence of Cutaneous malignant tumors has increased recently and they have varied in their developing patterns according to social and environmental influences. However, we have little clinical data about the cutaneous malignant tumors in the Chonnam provinee. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to analyze the clinical characteristics of cutaneous malignant tumors observed in the Chonnam province and to compare them with the data previously reported in Korea. METHOD: We clinically analyzed 427 cases of cutaneous malignant tumors during a 10 year period betwecn January 1987 and Oetober 1996, at the Department of Dermatology, Chonnam Univemity Hospital in Kwangju. RESULTS: 1. The average armual incidence of cutaneous malignant tumors among the total number of outpatients was 1.00+/- 0.25%. The incidence tended to increase with time from 0.90+/-0.29% in the first 5 year-period to 1.15+/-0.09% in the late 5 year-period. The increasing rate was most pronmient in basal cell carcinoma. 2. The most common tumor in the 427 patients with malignant tumor was basal cell carcinoma (52.5%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (19.9%), malignant melanoma (13.3%), metastatic carcinoma (3.7%), malignant lymphoma (2.3%). 3. The mean age of onset was 60.7+/-16.0 years old (male; 59.6+/-15.0, female; 61.9+/-17.1) in the in the group as a whole; 63.9 in BCC, 63.3 in SCC and 55.8 in malignant melanoma. The ratio of men to women was 1.14:l. 4. The most common site of a11 malignant tumors was the head and neck (64.6%), where 89.3% of BCC, 58.8% of SCC, and 15.8% of malignant melanoma developed. The next common site was the lower exlremities and feet (15.7%) followed by the trunk (7,7%), and upper extremities and hands (7.3%).
Age of Onset ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Dermatology ; Female ; Foot ; Gwangju ; Hand ; Head ; Humans ; Incidence ; Jeollanam-do* ; Korea ; Lymphoma ; Male ; Melanoma ; Neck ; Outpatients ; Upper Extremity

PURPOSE: This study aims to develop a tool to predict occupational health patients' nursing needs or nursing time. METHOD: A tool was composed based on the materials and opinion of experts, and to verify the reliability and validity of the tool, nursing time of total 311 inpatients in 2 occupational health hospitals were surveyed. RESULTS: The developed tool was total 151 items and composed of physical function, cognitive function, communication, emotional and disturbance behavior, nursing skill, and rehabilitation need. The reliability of the tool was high, showing Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.95. But several items should be deleted for low corrected item-total correlation. According to the multiple regression analysis, physical function and rehabilitation need were shown to be the most powerful predictive variables for nursing time. CONCLUSION: The developed tool was appeared to have high reliability and validity. But further refinement of the tool is needed.
Accidents, Occupational ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Occupational Health ; Reproducibility of Results

We report two cases of cellulitis on the saphenous venectomy scar which developed after a coronary artery bypass graft(CABG). A 68-year-old male and a 62-year-old female developed acute cellulitis in the saphenous vein donor extremity after CABG. The repeated bacterial cultures were negative in both cases. However, onychomycosis was confirmed in one patient. The intervals between CABG and the initial bout of cellulitis in the male and female patient were 10 and 22 months, respectively. Although the exact pathogenesis remains obscure, factors such as direct bacterial infection, hypersensitivity to streptococcal exotoxins, a local compromise of lymphatic and venous drainage, and fungal infection might have contributed to the development of cellulitis in these patients.
Aged ; Bacterial Infections ; Cellulitis* ; Cicatrix* ; Coronary Artery Bypass* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Drainage ; Exotoxins ; Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Onychomycosis ; Saphenous Vein ; Tissue Donors

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the actual condition of the disabled due to Occupational accidents based on the functional evaluation tool. METHOD: The data were collected from 2 Workers Accident Medical Corporation, 311 subjects between February and August, 2007. The tool comprised of six components including physical function, cognitive function, communication, emotional and disturbing behavior, nursing skills and rehabilitation needs. RESULTS: Among the disabled, the average point of physical function of 5 was found in 61.92% and to express and understand were evaluated as normal in 36.69% and 33.44%, respectively. Also, hearing and vision were evaluated as normal in 53.50% and 37.98%, respectively. 19.01% of the disabled had emotional problems and 13.78% had disturbing behavior. Most disabled were in need of nursing skills with 97.73% ROM and activities. The 78.18% and 76.90% of disabled were in need of rehabilitation because of right and left leg in full movement disorders, respectively. CONCLUSION: The evaluation score for the disabled caused by Occupational accidents was diverse showing 10 to 19 points and 140 to 150 points. The result means the care cost should be determined depending on the care needs of the disabled because there is such a diverse range of care needs for them.
Accidents, Occupational ; Hearing ; Leg ; Movement Disorders ; Vision, Ocular

Isolated radial head dislocation, without an associated fracture of the ulna in adult, is rare. Two cases which can be thought as old unreduced isolated radial head dislocation were experienced in this hospital. Dislocated radial heads have not been reduced, however the cases revealed normal elbow motion including pronation and supination. We report these cases with a review of the literature.
Adult ; Dislocations ; Elbow ; Head ; Humans ; Pronation ; Supination ; Ulna

For the evaluation of the left ventricular diastolic function in mild to moderate hypertensive patients without left ventricular hypertrophy, 15 hypertensive patients (group A) and 15 normotensive subjects (group B) were examined by 2-D guided M-mode echocardiography. Various systolic and diastolic indices were derived from computer-assissted analysis of differential curves of left ventricular dimension and posterior wall thickness. The systolic and diastolic function indices of each of the two groups were compared. The results were as follows : 1) There were no significant differences in ejection fraction, left ventricular peak ejection rate and posterior wall thickening rate between two groups. 2) There were no significant differences in % ventricular A wave, left ventricular peak filling rate and posterior wall peak relaxation rate between two groups. 3) One third filling rate was 2.07+/-0.41 EDD/sec in group A and which was significantly lower than 3.29+/-0.88 EDD/sec of group B. Above result suggests that computer-assisted analysis of differential curves of left ventricular dimension and posterior wall thickness could be helpful in the early detection of diastolic dysfunction, and that left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in its early filling period may develop in the mild to moderate hypertensive patients even before left ventricular hypertrophy develops.
Echocardiography ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular* ; Relaxation

A new angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, enalapril, was administered in 20 hypertensive patients (7 mild, 6 moderate and 7 severe hypertensives) for 8 weeks or longer in order to see the blood pressure lowering effects. Additionally the left ventricular mass index was measured by 2-D guided M-mode echocardiography before and after enalapril therapy, and subjective symptoms and laboratory findings were also followed. The results were as follows: 1) After 8 weeks of enalapril treatment (the doses form 10 mg to 20mg once a day) blood pressure were lowered markedly in 10, moderately in 4, mildly in 4 cases, but the blood pressures were not lowered in 2 cases with severe hypertension. The means of the blood pressures of the group were lowered form 182.1+/-19.2 to 148.0+/-26.0mmHg in systolic and from 111.9+/-14.7 to 95.1+/-17.1mmHg in diastolic after 8 weeks of treatment (p<0.001). 2) Heart rates were not changed significantly with enalapril. 3) The symptoms of insomnia and headache were reported to be improved after enalapril in 13 cases. 4) No discernable changes in CBC and serum level of creatinine were observed. But the random urine protein was decreased in 6 cases with proteinuria in routine urinalysis. The serum lipid profile was not significantly changed, but in the 2 cases in which the ratio of total to HDL-cholesterol was above 5.0, the ratio fell to below 5.0. 5) There was no significant EKG change after enalapril. 6) In 9 cases out of 13 cases with the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) above 125g/m2 BSA, LVMI was followed by echocardiography after enalapril. LVMI was significantly decreased in 8 of 9 cases and mean values after enalapril was decreased from 183.1+/-88.0g/m2 BSA to 150.8+/-61.3g/m2 BSA (p<0.0025). 7) Side effects after enalapril administration were transient dizziness in 4 cases and ageusia in 2 cases. Above results suggest that the enalapril could be an initial choice in the treatment of essential hypertension as a single oral agent in once a day regimen resulting in good antihypertensive effects, improvement of subjective symptoms, regreassion of the left ventricular hypertrophy and few side effects.
Ageusia ; Blood Pressure ; Creatinine ; Dizziness ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Enalapril* ; Headache ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; Proteinuria ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Urinalysis