OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate the cognitive factors that can longitudinally predict the response to treatment in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: The subjects were 49 patients with schizophrenia who were newly hospitalized in an acute psychiatry ward and had not been treated with medication for at least 8 weeks prior to the study. The symptoms and cognitive functions of the patients were evaluated at baseline before treatment (T0), at eight weeks after treatment (T1), and one year after treatment (T2). Clinical symptoms were assessed using the PANSS, and cognitive functions were estimated using the Vigilance Test, Cognitrone Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and the Korean version of the Memory Assessment Scales (K-MAS). RESULTS: The patient group showed marked impairments in cognitive function when compared to the normal group, but the patients' clinical symptoms and cognitive functions improved after drug treatment. The patients also showed consistent improvement in verbal and nonverbal memory function as time progressed. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between clinical symptoms and cognitive functions in the patient group. The cognitive variables that best predicted treatment response and prognosis were total errors on the WCST and immediate list recall component of the K-MAS. It was also shown that the number of total errors on the WCST was a better cognitive predictor than the number of errors in immediate recall. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study show that the neurocognitive functions of patients with schizophrenia can be stabilized with treatment intervention, that treatment response is related to improvement in cognitive function, and that cognitive domains, especially executive function, can predict treatment response and prognosis in patients with schizophrenia.
Cognition ; Executive Function ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Memory ; Memory, Short-Term ; Prognosis ; Schizophrenia ; Weights and Measures ; Wisconsin

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to determine the correlation between the incidence of chronic lung disease and the combined use of gentle ventilation and high-frequency ventilation. METHODS: The subject group consisted of 63 very low birthweight infants of less than 1500gm who were born and survived through ventilator treatment in the Fatima neonatal intensive care unit for four years from January 1995 to December 1998. The analysis was performed retrospectively with medical records. Ventilator treatment was based on the combined use of gentle ventilation and high-frequency ventilation by means of the flow interruptor type of Infant star. High- frequency ventilation was carried out for 24 hours after surfactant replacement, when PaCO2 exceeded 60mmHg, or if the period of gentle ventilation exceeded one week. When the results of arterial blood gas analysis and the state of the body became stable, the aggressive weaning was performed. RESULTS: For 49(77.8%) of 63 infants, the weaning was possible within seven days. The other 14 infants(22.2%) needed ventilator treatment for more than seven days. The mean duration of ventilator treatment was 12.3 days. The causes of weaning failure included sepsis, patent ductus arteriosus, chronic lung disease, and intraventricular hemorrhage. Two infants who had received ventialtor treatment for more than two weeks were found to have incidence of chronic lung disease. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that the combined use of gentle ventilation and high-frequency ventilation can help reduce pulmonary damage, and it will be important to shorten the period of ventilator treatment.
Blood Gas Analysis ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent ; Hemorrhage ; High-Frequency Ventilation ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Intensive Care, Neonatal ; Lung Diseases* ; Lung* ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Sepsis ; Ventilation* ; Ventilators, Mechanical ; Weaning

PURPOSE: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a neurodegerative disease due to persistent measles virus infection. We investigated the role of programmed death-1 (PD-1) molecule which is related with chronic viral infection in developing SSPE in mouse. METHODS: We adopt the PD-1-/-, PD-1-/+, and wild type BALB/c 3 week old mice to make an animal model of SSPE by injecting measles virus (SSPE strain) intraventricularly. Three months after infusion of virus, the mice were sacrificed and examined if the typical pathologic lesions had been progressed. The sera were collected from each group of mice and the serum level of IL-21 was measured with ELISA kit. RESULTS: The necrotic lesions on white matter and gliosis were found in focal areas in wild type BALB/c. The extent of lesion was smaller in heterotype BALB/c. Scanty lesions were found in PD-1-/- mice. The sera level of IL-21 was not elevated in all three groups. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the PD-1 molecule may play a role in persistent viral infection.
Animals ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Gene Knockout Techniques* ; Gliosis ; Measles virus ; Measles* ; Mice* ; Models, Animal ; Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis ; Viruses

Behcet's disease is a systemic vasculitis, characterized by recurrent oral aphthous ulcers, recurrent genital ulcers, skin lesion, and ocular involvement. Monoclonal antibody to the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is considered as a possible therapeutic approach to achieve clinical improvement, preventing relapse in Behcet's disease refractory to conventional anti-inflammatory drugs or immunosuppressive durgs. We report the use of infliximab, which is one of the TNF-alpha monoclonal antibodies, in a 17-year-old girl with Behcet's disease exhibiting severe mucocutaneous, ocular and neurological involvement refractory to standard treatment.
Adolescent ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Child* ; Female ; Humans ; Recurrence ; Skin Ulcer ; Stomatitis, Aphthous ; Systemic Vasculitis ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Infliximab

Although arthralgia with or without hyperuricemia commonly occurs in a patient receiving antituberculous treatment including pyrazinamide, acute gouty arthritis is rarely reported. Here we report a case of acute gouty arthritis presented after antituberculous treatment in a patient with asymptomatic hyperuricemia and mild renal insufficiency. A 76-year-old woman complained sudden onset of painful swelling in both first metatarsophalangeal joints 9 weeks after antituberculous treatment. She had hypertensive nephropathy with mild renal insufficiency and asymptomatic hyperuricemia for 8 years. Needle aspiration of the joint fluid demonstrated needle-shaped strongly negative birefringent monosodium urate crystal. The painful swelling improved with steroid and colchicine.
Aged ; Arthralgia ; Arthritis, Gouty* ; Colchicine ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperuricemia ; Joints ; Metatarsophalangeal Joint ; Needles ; Pyrazinamide* ; Renal Insufficiency ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic* ; Tuberculosis ; Uric Acid

DiGeorge syndrome is an immunodeficient disease associated with abnormal development of 3rd and 4th pharyngeal pouches. As a hemizygous deletion of chromosome 22q11.2 occurs, various clinical phenotypes are shown with a broad spectrum. Conotruncal cardiac anomalies, hypoplastic thymus, and hypocalcemia are the classic triad of DiGeorge syndrome. As this syndrome is characterized by hypoplastic or aplastic thymus, there are missing thymic shadow on their plain chest x-ray. Immunodeficient patients are traditionally known to be at an increased risk for malignancy, especially lymphoma. We experienced a 7-year-old DiGeorge syndrome patient with mediastinal mass shadow on her plain chest x-ray. She visited Severance Children's Hospital hospital with recurrent pneumonia, and throughout her repeated chest x-ray, there was a mass like shadow on anterior mediastinal area. We did full evaluation including chest computed tomography, chest ultrasonography, and chest magnetic resonance imaging. To rule out malignancy, video assisted thoracoscopic surgery was done. Final diagnosis of the mass which was thought to be malignancy, was lymphoproliferative lesion.
Child ; Diagnosis ; DiGeorge Syndrome* ; Humans ; Hypocalcemia ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mediastinal Neoplasms ; Phenotype ; Pneumonia ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thorax ; Thymus Gland ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE: Endometriosis is the presence of normal endometrial mucosa (glands and stroma) abnormally implanted on the outside of uterus. The pathophysiology of endometriosis is not clear yet, but Sampson's theory of the transplantation of endometrial tissue onto the pelvic peritoneum via retrograde menstruation is most widely accepted. Vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) is involved in the pathophysiology of endometriosis via its angiogenetic property. This study was designed to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphism and its haplotype and diplotype of VEGF genes are associated with the risk of advanced endometriosis or not. METHODS: This study investigated 260 patients of endometriosis; they underwent operation, and were diagnosed with endometriosis stage III, IV histopathologically. And control group of 199 women underwent surgery with benign ovarian cyst. The single nucleotide polymorphisms of VEGF gene were -2578C>A, 405G>C, 936C>T. They were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism, and haplotype and diplotype analysis were done. RESULTS: The result of this study showed no association among -2578C/A, 405G>C, 936C>T single nucleotide polymorphisms and severe endometriosis. Haplotype and diplotype of -2578C>A, 405G>C, 936C>T in the VEGF gene were shown to have no association with endometriosis. We found no association between VEGF genetic polymorphism and risk of endometriosis. And haplotype and diplotype analysis also revealed no statistically significant value between VEGF polymorphism and endometriosis. CONCLUSIONS: So, the results of this study suggest polymorphism of VEGF gene may not be associated with risk of endometriosis in Korean women.
Endometriosis ; Endothelial Cells ; Female ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Menstruation Disturbances ; Mucous Membrane ; Ovarian Cysts ; Peritoneum ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Transplants ; Uterus ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

PURPOSE: We investigated complications after laparoscopic sentinel basin dissection (SBD) for patients with gastric cancer who were enrolled in a quality control study, prior to the phase III trial of sentinel lymph node navigation surgery (SNNS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed prospective data from a Korean multicenter prerequisite quality control trial of laparoscopic SBD for gastric cancer and assessed procedure-related and surgical complications. All complications were classified according to the Clavien-Dindo Classification (CDC) system and were compared with the results of the previously published SNNS trial. RESULTS: Among the 108 eligible patients who were enrolled in the quality control trial, 8 (7.4%) experienced complications during the early postoperative period. One patient with gastric resection-related duodenal stump leakage recovered after percutaneous drainage (grade IIIa in CDC). The other postoperative complications were mild and patients recovered with supportive care. No complications were directly related to the laparoscopic SBD procedure or tracer usage, and there were no mortalities. The laparoscopic SBD complication rates and patterns that were observed in this study were comparable to those of a previously reported trial. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our prospective, multicenter quality control trial demonstrate that laparoscopic SBD is a safe procedure during SNNS for gastric cancer.
Classification ; Drainage ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Mortality ; Postoperative Complications ; Postoperative Period ; Prospective Studies* ; Quality Control* ; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy ; Stomach Neoplasms*

The purpose of this study was to establish a prediction rule for severe illness in adult patients hospitalized with pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009. At the time of initial presentation, the baseline characteristics of those with severe illness (i.e., admission to intensive care unit, mechanical ventilation, or death) were compared to those of patients with non-severe illnesses. A total of 709 adults hospitalized with pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 were included: 75 severe and 634 non-severe cases. The multivariate analysis demonstrated that altered mental status, hypoxia (PaO2/FiO2 < or = 250), bilateral lung infiltration, and old age (> or = 65 yr) were independent risk factors for severe cases (all P < 0.001). The area under the ROC curve (0.834 [95% CI, 0.778-0.890]) of the number of risk factors were not significantly different with that of APACHE II score (0.840 [95% CI, 0.790-0.891]) (P = 0.496). The presence of > or = 2 risk factors had a higher sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value than an APACHE II score of > or = 13. As a prediction rule, the presence of > or = 2 these risk factors is a powerful and easy-to-use predictor of the severity in adult patients hospitalized with pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009.
APACHE ; Adult ; Aged ; Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use ; Female ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype/*isolation & purification ; Influenza, Human/drug therapy/*epidemiology/mortality ; Intensive Care Units ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pandemics ; Predictive Value of Tests ; ROC Curve ; Respiration, Artificial ; Risk Factors ; Severity of Illness Index

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine clinical practice patterns in the management of pregnant women admitted with threatened preterm labor (TPL) in Korea. METHODS: Data from women admitted with a diagnosis of TPL were collected from 22 hospitals. TPL was defined as regular uterine contractions with or without other symptoms such as pelvic pressure, backache, increased vaginal discharge, menstrual-like cramps, bleeding/show and cervical changes. Data on general patient information, clinical characteristics at admission, use of tocolytics, antibiotics, and corticosteroids, and pregnancy outcomes were collected using an online data collections system. RESULTS: A total of 947 women with TPL were enrolled. First-line tocolysis was administered to 822 (86.8%) patients. As a first-line tocolysis, beta-agonists were used most frequently (510/822, 62.0%), followed by magnesium sulfate (183/822, 22.3%), calcium channel blockers (91/822, 11.1%), and atosiban (38/822, 4.6%). Of the 822 women with first-line tocolysis, second-line tocolysis were required in 364 (44.3%). Of 364 with second-line, 199 had third-line tocolysis (37.4%). Antibiotics were administered to 29.9% of patients (284/947) with single (215, 22.7%), dual (26, 2.7%), and triple combinations (43, 4.5%). Corticosteroids were administered to 420 (44.4%) patients. Betamethasone was administered to 298 patients (71.0%), and dexamethasone was administered to 122 patients (29.0%). CONCLUSION: Practice patterns in the management of TPL in Korea were quite various. It is needed to develop standardized practice guidelines for TPL management.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Back Pain ; Betamethasone ; Calcium Channel Blockers ; Dexamethasone ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Magnesium Sulfate ; Muscle Cramp ; Obstetric Labor, Premature* ; Physician's Practice Patterns ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnant Women ; Premature Birth ; Retrospective Studies* ; Tocolysis ; Tocolytic Agents ; Uterine Contraction ; Vaginal Discharge