This study aimed to investigate the mechanism of action of baclofen on the detrusor muscle isolated from rat. Rats (Sprague-Dawley) were sacrificed by decapitation and exsanguination. Horizontal muscle strips of 2 mm x 15mm were prepared for isometric myography in isolated muscle chamber bubbled with 95% / 5%-OZ / CO2 at 371C, and the pH was maintained at 7.4 Detrusor strips. contracted responding to the.. electrical field stimulation (EFS) by 2 Hz, 2U msec, monophasic square wave of 60 VDC. The initial peak of EFS-Induced contraction was tended to be suppresed by a,p-methylene-adenosine 5'-triphosphate (mATP), a partial agonist of purinergic receptor, and baclofen, a GABAB receptor agonist (statistically nonsignificant). The late sustained contraction by EFS was suppressed significantly (p < 0.05) by additions of atropione, a cholinergic muscarinic receptor antagonist and baclofen. The adenosine 5'-triphosphate-induced contraction was completely abolished by mA TP but not by baclofen. In the presence of atropine, the subsequent addition of acetylcholine could not contract the muscle strips: but the addition of acetylcholine in the presence of baclofen evoked a contraction to a remarkable extent.
Acetylcholine ; Adenosine ; Animals ; Atropine ; Baclofen* ; Decapitation ; Exsanguination ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Myography ; Rats* ; Receptors, Muscarinic

PURPOSE: This is to examine the neurodevelopmental outcomes of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants by Korean infant developmental screening test. METHODS: 29 VLBW infants and 39 normal term infants, at their corrected age of 1 to 3 years, were included for the study. Risk factors which influence neurodevelopmental outcomes were analyzed. RESULT: The mean levels of developmental quotients for VLBW infants were lower than those of term infants (P<0.001); gross motor 99.3+/-27.28 vs. 121.3+/-19.08, fine motor 95.9+/-27.22 vs. 118.3+/-17.77, social-personality 100.2+/-28.01 vs. 126.3+/-21.31, language 99.5+/-27.34 vs. 120.1+/-18.82, cognitive-adaptive 101.4+/-28.60 vs. 122.7+/-19.59, and total developmental quotient is 99.3+/-27 vs. 121.7+/-19.18. Nevertheless, the mean levels of the individual developmental quotients for VLBW infants were in normal range. There were five VLBW infants (17%) those who scored lower than 80, also showed neurologic sequelae. The infants who had the more risk factors during hospitalization scored the less developmental quotient (R(2)=0.35, P=0.01). CONCLUSION: Although the mean levels of the individual developmental quotient for VLBW infants, assessed by Korean infant developmental screening test, were lower than those of term infants, they are in normal range.
Child ; Child Development* ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Infant* ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight* ; Mass Screening* ; Reference Values ; Risk Factors

Enterobacter cloacae, a gram negative bacillus is an increasingly frequent cause of nosocomial pediatric infection. It can cause infection of postsurgical wounds, meningitis, and infection of the gastrointestinal, urinary, and respiratory tracts. Newborn infants often are colonized by Enterobacter species in the gastrointestina tract or respiratory tract soon after birth, and a acquisition of hospital strains in immunocompromised newborn infants is common. Neonatal pneumonia has been associated with many infectious agents. Pneumatocele, a cyst-like lesion that develops within the lung parenchyma, is an unusual complication of pneumonia in the neonate, especially in the preterm neonate. Pneumatocele has been reported to occur with Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. We describe 2 cases of premature neonates with pneumonia and subsequent pneumatocele formation caused by Enterobacter cloacae.
Bacillus ; Colon ; Enterobacter cloacae* ; Enterobacter* ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Lung ; Meningitis ; Parturition ; Pneumonia ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Respiratory System ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Wounds and Injuries

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the welfare status of nurses and the status of fixed night shifts and flexible work arrangements in both general hospitals and advanced general hospitals in Korea. METHODS: A total of 167 hospitals participated in this study, done from April to October 2018. RESULTS: There were 103 hospitals utilizing the fixed night shift system, 22 in the two-shift system, 3 in the fixed holiday shift, 79 in the fixed shift system, and 39 in the short-time working system. The average welfare benefits for nurses increased to 33.02 million won on average. However, welfare services for the nurses were poor: 41.8% of the respondents had a nurses' lounge, 81.7% were given dormitory space at their place of employment, 41.8% had access to welfare facilities, and 56.4% were provided with welfare support countermeasures. CONCLUSION: The results show an increasing trend of hospitals to utilize fixed night shift and flexible work arrangements. An institutional strategy at the national policy level should be established to implement flexible work arrangements including the fixed night shift system, which has a poor level of welfare.
Employment ; Holidays ; Hospitals, General ; Korea ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Diagnoses of pyelonephritis caused by Staphylococcus aureus should be accompanied by investigations of concomitant bladder obstruction and metastatic infections, especially to the spine or heart. Complicated pyelonephritis due to S. aureus requires more than 2 weeks of antibiotics, which is the typically recommended treatment duration for pyelonephritis. We describe a patient who was diagnosed with complicated epidural and paraspinal abscesses after insufficient evaluation and treatment of acute pyelonephritis due to S. aureus. A 62-year-old man with type 2 diabetes was admitted with fever, increased urinary frequency, and left flank pain. He was diagnosed with acute pyelonephritis caused by S. aureus. His fever and flank pain subsided after 3 days of intravenous antibiotics. Evaluation of bladder obstruction and metastatic infection were not performed, as he declined further evaluation. The patient was discharged with oral antibiotics and was requested to attend weekly appointments but was lost to follow-up. One month later, the patient presented at the outpatient clinic with similar symptoms. Computed tomography showed recurrent pyelonephritis and a distended bladder. His flank pain persisted despite administration of an opioid agent. Therefore, magnetic resonance imaging was performed, revealing epidural and paraspinal abscesses. Ultrasound-guided aspiration of the paraspinal muscle layer was performed, and blood and percutaneous aspirated fluid cultures revealed S. aureus growth. The pattern of antimicrobial sensitivity was identical to that at his first admission. Following more than 4 weeks of antibiotics, magnetic resonance imaging showed the abscesses had decreased in size. The patient was discharged without neurologic sequelae and was provided with oral antibiotics.
Abscess* ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Appointments and Schedules ; Diagnosis ; Epidural Abscess ; Fever ; Flank Pain ; Heart ; Humans ; Lost to Follow-Up ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Paraspinal Muscles ; Pyelonephritis* ; Spine ; Staphylococcus aureus* ; Staphylococcus* ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Tract Infections

Acromegaly is a slowly progressing condition resulting from excess growth hormone (GH), generally caused by a GH-secreting pituitary adenoma. Cancer is the third most common cause of mortality in patients with acromegaly, and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is known to influence tumor formation by increasing cell proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis. Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell neoplasm, and previous studies have suggested the possible role of IGF-1 in its development of MM. However, no cases of acromegaly accompanied with MM have been reported in Asia to date. We here report the case of a 58-year-old woman with acromegaly accompanied with MM who presented with longstanding acromegalic manifestations resulting from a GH-secreting pituitary adenoma and also exhibited anemia, a reversed albumin/globulin ratio, and plasmacytosis on bone marrow examination. Because IGF-1 has been suggested to play an important role in the development and progression of MM, the patient promptly underwent surgical removal of the pituitary adenoma via a transsphenoidal approach. Since there is currently no consensus on therapeutic guidelines and suggested prognosis for MM with acromegaly, long-term follow-up of such cases is needed.
Acromegaly* ; Anemia ; Apoptosis ; Asia ; Bone Marrow Examination ; Cell Proliferation ; Consensus ; Female ; Growth Hormone ; Growth Hormone-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma ; Humans ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Multiple Myeloma* ; Neoplasms, Plasma Cell ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Prognosis

PURPOSE: This study investigates Korean speech sound development, including articulatory error patterns, among the Japanese-Korean children whose mothers are Japanese immigrants to Korea. METHODS: The subjects were 28 Japanese-Korean children with normal development born to Japanese women immigrants who lived in Jeonbuk province, Korea. They were assessed through Computerized Speech Lab 4500. The control group consisted of 15 Korean children who lived in the same area. RESULTS: The values of the voice onset time of consonants /p(h)/, /t/, /t(h)/, and /k*/ among the children were prolonged. The children replaced the lenis sounds with aspirated or fortis sounds rather than replacing the fortis sounds with lenis or aspirated sounds, which are typical among Japanese immigrants. The children showed numerous articulatory errors for /c/ and /l/ sounds (similar to Koreans) rather than errors on /p/ sounds, which are more frequent among Japanese immigrants. The vowel formants of the children showed a significantly prolonged vowel /o/ as compared to that of Korean children (P<0.05). The Japanese immigrants and their children showed a similar substitution /n/ for // [Japanese immigrants (62.5%) vs Japanese-Korean children (14.3%)], which is rarely seen among Koreans. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that Korean speech sound development among Japanese-Korean children is influenced not only by the Korean language environment but also by their maternal language. Therefore, appropriate language education programs may be warranted not only or immigrant women but also for their children.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Child ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Mothers ; Multilingualism ; Phonetics ; Pyridines ; Thiazoles ; Voice

PURPOSE: This study investigates Korean speech sound development, including articulatory error patterns, among the Japanese-Korean children whose mothers are Japanese immigrants to Korea. METHODS: The subjects were 28 Japanese-Korean children with normal development born to Japanese women immigrants who lived in Jeonbuk province, Korea. They were assessed through Computerized Speech Lab 4500. The control group consisted of 15 Korean children who lived in the same area. RESULTS: The values of the voice onset time of consonants /p(h)/, /t/, /t(h)/, and /k*/ among the children were prolonged. The children replaced the lenis sounds with aspirated or fortis sounds rather than replacing the fortis sounds with lenis or aspirated sounds, which are typical among Japanese immigrants. The children showed numerous articulatory errors for /c/ and /l/ sounds (similar to Koreans) rather than errors on /p/ sounds, which are more frequent among Japanese immigrants. The vowel formants of the children showed a significantly prolonged vowel /o/ as compared to that of Korean children (P<0.05). The Japanese immigrants and their children showed a similar substitution /n/ for // [Japanese immigrants (62.5%) vs Japanese-Korean children (14.3%)], which is rarely seen among Koreans. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that Korean speech sound development among Japanese-Korean children is influenced not only by the Korean language environment but also by their maternal language. Therefore, appropriate language education programs may be warranted not only or immigrant women but also for their children.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Child ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Mothers ; Multilingualism ; Phonetics ; Pyridines ; Thiazoles ; Voice

Most common cause of brisk hematochezia is diverticular bleeding in Western countries. It occurs in 15% of patients with diverticulosis and one-third of them appear to be massive. Most of diverticulosis in Western countries occur in the left colon but the right colon is more common in Korea. Especially, the reports of diverticular bleeding on left colon are rare in Korea. We report a case presenting with multiple diverticuli complicated by recurrent massive bleeding restricted to the left colon. 75-year-old female was admitted due to hematochezia and dizziness. On past history, two years and two weeks ago respectively, she was treated of diverticular bleeding with and without diverticulitis. Hemoglobin level was 9.8 g/dL. On Colonoscopy, numerous diverticuli were seen at sigmoid colon upto splenic flexure which showed fresh blood clots in the lumen. We diagnosed her as recurrent massive diverticular bleeding on the sigmoid colon. She received elective laparoscopic left hemicolectomy.
Aged ; Colonoscopy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diverticulosis, Colonic/complications/*diagnosis/surgery ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage/*diagnosis/etiology/therapy ; Humans ; Recurrence ; Sigmoid Diseases/*diagnosis/etiology/therapy ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to show the total survival rate of implants with maxillary sinus floor elevation and the effects that reach the survival rate by classifying types of graft materials, implant surface, operation method, bone height. METHODS: In a total of 131 patients, 251 implants with sinus floor elevation were installed simultaneously or after regular healing. Various bone grafts (autograft, xonograft, allograft, alloplast) and implant surface (MTX-HA implant, chemical etching implant, Titanium oxide surface implant, resorbable blasting media implant, resorbable blast texturing implant, HA-coated implant) were used. All implants were investigated clinically and radiographically, being with 1 to 5 years follow-up period after installation. RESULTS: The survival rate of 251 implants with maxillary sinus floor elevation was 94%. The types of implant, surface, graft material, bone height have no statistically signi-ficant differencies. CONCLUSIONS: It can be suggested that maxillary sinus floor elevation may have predictable result with various bone graft materials and implant surface.
Dental Implants ; Floors and Floorcoverings ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Maxillary Sinus ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Titanium ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Transplants