We have noticed that several sentences in a review article by Drs. Jung and Roh published in J Clin Neurol [Circulating endothelial progenitor cells in cerebrovascular disease, J Clin Neurol 2008;4(4):139-147] are identical from those in an article by Dr. Rouhl et al. published in Stroke [Endothelial progenitor cell research in stroke: a potential shift in pathophysiological and therapeutical concepts, Stroke 2008;39(7):2158-2165]. The text of the Jung and Roh article neither mentions nor cites the article by Rouhl and colleagues. A review of this case by the editorial committee of Journal of Clinical Neurology concluded that Drs. Jung and Roh plagiarized the paper by Rouhl and colleagues. Drs. Jung and Roh have acknowledged the plagiarism in the original manuscript and given clear credit for the work of Dr. Rouhl and colleagues in a letter published in this issue as an "Apology". I regret that this has happened and that this plagiarism was not identified prior to publication.
Neurology ; Plagiarism ; Publications ; Stem Cells ; Stroke

Soft denture liners or conditioners may be valuable therapeutic materials. The life of these liners is short and varies, but it can be extended by the use of a mono-poly(polymethyl methacrylate coating material). This study determined whether coating three temporary soft denture liners with mono-poly affected the resiliency of soft liners, and evaluated the ability of mono-poly to prevent water absorption and alcohol loss from the underlying soft liners. 20x12mm cylindrical specimens of Coe-Soft, Soft-Liner, Coe-Comfort soft lining materials were made and divided into two groups of mono-poly uncoated(control) and mono-poly coated specimens. Specimens were immersed in water and compressed on an instron universal testing machine and weighted at initial, 24 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks. resiliency was determined by measuring the energy absorbed by the soft liners when stressed to a specific yield point. Mono-poly coating significantly increased the resiliency of the Soft-Liner, but had no effect on the other soft liners. Among the 3 soft liners, Soft-Liner showed the hightest resiliency and modulus of elasticity. The weight loss in Soft-Liner was the least among the 3 liners, and the weight loss in Coe-Soft was decreased by monopoly coating.
Absorption ; Denture Liners* ; Dentures* ; Elastic Modulus ; Water ; Weight Loss

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: While patient-centered outcomes are usually not reported, these may represent major aspects of the implant success for the patient. Use of a well-designed patient survey form can be an invaluable asset to the implant practitioners. PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to investigate patient satisfaction after implant therapy by means of a questionnaire. MATERIAL AND METHODS: South Korean patients (n = 100), who visited the dental examination center of Soon Chun Hyang university hospital, were asked to fill out the satisfaction questionnaire regarding aspects of cost, comfort, esthetics, chewing, gingival health, food impaction, phonetic aspect, screw loosening, and general satisfaction. Responses to statements were given on the Likert response scale. Four experimental groups of patients were distinguished with various location (A1, A2, A3), year (B1, B2, B3), number of implant replacements (C1, C2, C3), and treatment cost (D1, D2, D3). The reliability of the response scales was measured by calculation of its internal consistency, expressed as Cronbach's alpha. The scales were distinguished by means of factor analysis method. Possible differences in scale scores among the groups were assessed by One-way ANOVA (alpha = 0.05). RESULTS: Patients responded to most of the statements with high satisfaction. But the mean scale score of statement about cost was low. After the verification of internal consistency and factor analysis, five components, e.g. general satisfaction, comfort, chewing efficiency, esthetics, and phonetic aspect were grouped together. These components could be explained with common meaning and the first factor was named as 'general satisfaction' . Differences in patient satisfaction on the scale with esthetics were present between patients who have been wearing the implant prosthesis less than three years and those more than seven years (B1 < B3). CONCLUSION: The patients were generally satisfied with the outcome of implant treatment. But the patients' major complaint was high cost and while the statistically significant difference was not shown, the satisfaction scale about food impaction and esthetics was low. So the continuing efforts to make improvements about these problems are needed for the implant practitioners.
Dental Implants ; Esthetics ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Health Care Costs ; Humans ; Mastication ; Patient Satisfaction ; Prostheses and Implants ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Weights and Measures

Painful ophthalmoplegia is not common and may be due to variety of causes, of which distant metastsis of malignant lymphoma is rare. This is a case of painful ophthalmoplegia who has looked like Tolosa-Hunt syndrome at first showing normal CSF findings, increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and some response to steroid. About 2 months later, however, pelvic malignant lymphoma (diffuse undifferentiated according to Rappaport classification) was found, followed by lymphomatous meningitis. The symptoms of pain and ophthalmoplegia were markedly improved after systemic and intrathecal chemotherapy and radiotherapy of whole brain for the metastatic malignant lymphoma.
Blood Sedimentation ; Brain ; Drug Therapy ; Lymphoma* ; Meningitis ; Ophthalmoplegia* ; Radiotherapy ; Tolosa-Hunt Syndrome

Young adult stroke is not rare disease and have diverse causes. We studied 135 young adults aged 15 - 45 years who had been admitted to Severance Hospital with a diagnosis of cerebral infarction from January 1990 to June 1995. The results are as follows. 1. The diverse causes of earshot infarction in young adults have been found in most patients(88.2%). The major causes of cerebral infarction in young adults were atherosclerosis(32.6%) and cardioembolism(32.6%). The causes were significantly different between younger(15 - 30 years old) and older(31 - 45 years old) patients. 2. The major risk factors of atherosclerotic cerebral infarction were hypertension(29 patients), smoking(14 patients), and hyperlipidemia(11 patients). 3. The major causes of cardioembolism were valvular heart disease(21 patients) and prosthetic valve(I0 patients). The mitral valve prolapse was discovered only in one patient. 4. Fourteen patients had non-atherosclerotic vasculopathies. The moyamoya disease was the most common cause of them. 5. The other causes of cerebral infarction were found in 17 patients and the major causes were alcohol intoxication and postoperative thromboembolism. 6. The cerebral infarction occurred mostly in the carotid artery territory(95 patients) and the distribution of the involved vascular territory was not different between younger and older age groups. 7. The clinical outcomes were good in most patients (86, 7%). From the above results, we demonstrated that young adults with cerebral infarction had various causes and showed favorable clinical outcomes. We also found that the causes of cerebral infarction varied between younger and older groups. Our findings suggest that careful and thorough case-by-ease evaluation may be mandatory to clarify the causes of cerebral infarction in young adults.
Carotid Arteries ; Cerebral Infarction* ; Diagnosis ; Heart ; Humans ; Infarction ; Mitral Valve Prolapse ; Moyamoya Disease ; Rare Diseases ; Risk Factors ; Stroke ; Thromboembolism ; Young Adult*

Amidarone hydrochloride, benzofuran derivatives, particularly effective for the treatment of arrythmias by prolong the duration of the action potential in all cardiac-conducting tissues. We studied the 25 patients with typical amiodarone keratopathy, retrospectively. In 25 patients, ten patients developed grade 1, eleven patients developed grade 2, and four patients developed grade 3 keratopathy. They complained of decreased best corrected visual acuity(1 patient), halos(1 patient), hypothyroidism(3 patients), pulmonary toxicity(2 patients), thpatic dysfunction(5 patients) and sleep dusturbance(3 patients). Therefore ophthalmologists should be alert for the complications of amiodarone and regular careful slit-lamp examination will be helpful in minimizing amidarone toxicity.
Action Potentials ; Amiodarone* ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies

Diphenylbydantoin-induced movement disorders have been rarely reported. They include choreoathetosis, orofacial dyskinesia, asterixis, dystonia, and ballismus. A patient with epllepsy, who showed orofacial dyskinesia with toxic cerebellar syrnptoms after longterm use of diphenylhydantoin is presented. The involuntary movement rapidily disappeared with a reduction of diphenylhydantoin dose.
Dyskinesias ; Dystonia ; Humans ; Movement Disorders* ; Phenytoin

Painful ophthalmoplegia is an unusual presentation of malignant lymphoma. Moreover, spontaneous remission and exacerbation of it has quite rarely been reported. We present a patient who showed spontaneous remission and exacerbation of the painful ophthalmoplegia. Brain MR imagings showed infiltrating, iso-intensity mass a, TlWl and T2WI, and strong enhancement with gadolinium on TIWI in parasellar area. Malignant lymphoma of diffuse large cell type was found in cervical lymph node biopsy.
Biopsy ; Brain ; Gadolinium ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphoma* ; Ophthalmoplegia* ; Remission, Spontaneous*

We used the fluorophotometry to investigate the corneal epithelial barrier function after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). Twenty-five eyes of 21 subjects (13 women, 8 men) underwent PRK to correct rnyopia. Corneal epithelial healing time was measured and corneal epithelial permeability to sodiurn fluorescein was evaluated by fluorophotoinetry at I, 2, and 3 weeks after surgery. The corneal epithelial permeability increased significantly 1 week after surgery and returned to preoperative level 2 weeks after surgery. The permeability differences according to epithelial healing days and corrected diopters were not statistically significant(p>0. 05). These results suggest that PRK delays complete reconstruction of corneal epithelial barrier function. The corneal epithelium regained its functional barrier 2 weeks after PRK in patients, so, at least, during the first 2 weeks, care should be taken to miniinize further epithelial trauma from topical inedication or surgical manipulation.
Epithelium, Corneal ; Female ; Fluorescein ; Fluorophotometry ; Humans ; Lasers, Excimer* ; Permeability ; Photorefractive Keratectomy*

Objectives: This paper aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the factors influencing the dietary habits of male and female workers at a facility in Gwangju and their awareness of the same. Methods: A total of 32 workers were divided into eight groups based on work type, gender, and age, and focus group interviews (FGIs) were conducted. The FGIs included cognitive, behavioral, and environmental questionnaires based on dietary habits and the social cognitive theory. The interviews were analyzed by subject and sub-subject using audio recordings and transcriptions. Results: Male workers in the concerned company favored meat while female workers preferred vegetables, yet by and large, the preferences were irregular. Male workers living alone frequently ate ready meals and female workers often skipped meals. An analysis of the factors influencing the study subjects’ dietary habits from the cognitive, behavioral, and environmental perspectives showed that the main factors negatively affecting their dietary habits were shiftwork, living alone, and drinking. Workers were unaware of these factors and their poor eating habits. Instead, male workers complained of poor cooking skills, while female workers complained of loneliness. Workers thus appeared to need the support of nutrition education and a counseling assistant to cope with this situation. Conclusions The study identified the fact that the absence of nutrition education left the workers unaware of their poor eating habits. The workers would need counseling and support to help them build healthy dietary habits. It would also be necessary to focus on raising the workers’ cognitive awareness of dietary habits and enhancing their behavioral ability to cope with bad eating habits through nutrition education that reflects the reality of their situation.