No abstract available.
Adsorption* ; Agglutination* ; Animals ; Caragana* ; Erythrocytes* ; Humans* ; Mice*

Developmental venous anomalies are congenital anomalies of the intracranial venous drainage and clinically asymptomatic. Cavernous hemangiomas are vascular malformations composed of dilated vascular channels lined with a single layer of endothelial cells without any intervening normal neural tissue. Although, cavernous hemangioma may be clinically silent, but frequently cause variable neurologic manifestations; intracranial hemorrhage, seizures, and focal neurologic deficits. Frequent association of these two diseases has already been reported and it has been suggested that cavernous hemangiomas not the developmental venous anomalies that cause the acute clinical symptoms. A 4 year old girl with sudden onset of headache, vomiting, gait disturbance and signs of unilateral cerebellar dysfunction 2 days before admission showed a 2.5x2.5cm sized hematoma with heterogenous signal intensity both in CT and MRI in the left cerebellar hemisphere. Four-vessel cerebral angiography revealed characteristic findings of developmental venous anomalies. Pathologic findings of the surgically removed hematoma disclosed typical feature of cavernous hemangioma. Based on the findings in this case and review of the literatures, we concluded that the possibility of other diseases such as cavernous hemangiomas must be considered in patients who has intracranial hemorrhage due to the developmental venous anomalies.
Cerebellar Diseases ; Cerebral Angiography ; Child, Preschool ; Drainage ; Endothelial Cells ; Female ; Gait ; Headache ; Hemangioma, Cavernous* ; Hematoma ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Seizures ; Vascular Malformations ; Vomiting

A 68-year-old man was refered for evaluation and treatment of advanced esophageal cancer. He complained of substernal dysphagia for solid and liquid foods. He did not remember episodes about ingesting something that correlated with symptoms. The single-contrast esophagogram revealed subtotal obstruction of the cervical esophagus with barium outlining the polypoid-filling defect irregularly. After 18 hours later, the patient underwent endoscopic examination and at the direct esophagoscopic finding, the food materials mainly consisted of packed rice was filled in the cervical esophagus. After saline irrigation, a fish bone, which was about 50X9 mm, and looked like a knife was lodged just distal to the impacted food materials. The fish bone was removed successfully from the esophagus. The patient experienced dramatic relief of symptoms shortly after procedure.
Aged ; Barium ; Deglutition Disorders ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagus ; Humans

This study was undertaken at the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chonnam University Medical School, to investigate the association between some of the risk factor and the incidence of intrauterine fetal growth restriction(IUGR). The studied population was selected from patients who admitted at Chonnam University Hospital during January, 1992 through May, 1997, with following criteria, Korean, singletone pregnancy with live birth and known gestational weeks with 28 or more. And then, the risk factors were analyzed in terms of maternal factor, placental factor, and fetal factor. The following results were obtained. 1) The incidence of IUGR was 6.1%. 2) The incidence of IUGR was higher at young aged mother and nullipara. 3) Only 39.1% of etiologic factors for IUGR was found to have known causes. According to the risk factors for IUGR, hypertensive disorder during pregnancy, anemia, cardiac disease, leukemia, and pulmonary tuberculosis were associated with increased incidence of IUGR. 4) The relative risk of IUGR was much higher in neonates born with congenital anomalies. 5) According to the placental causes of IUGR, placenta previa and placenta abruption showed some association with IUGR.
Anemia ; Fetal Development* ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; Gynecology ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Jeollanam-do ; Leukemia ; Live Birth ; Mothers ; Obstetrics ; Placenta ; Placenta Previa ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors ; Schools, Medical ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

No abstract available.
C-Reactive Protein* ; Humans ; Membranes* ; Prospective Studies* ; Rupture*

Fibrohistiocytic tumors are a diverse group of benign and malignant soft tissue lesions, including dermatofibroma, dermatofibrosarcomaprotuberans, and malignant fibrous histiocytoma. On the clinical point of view, the distinction between benign and malignant lesions and malignancy grading is far more important. Therefore, we investigated 23 fibrohistiocytic tumors, using PCNA (PC10) which was a useful marker of proliferating activity, to differentiate the benign lesions from the malignant and correlate with other prognostic factors including tumor necrosis. cellularity, histologic grade, and mitotic counts. The results obtained were as follows 1) Positive tumor cells were clearly identified by the characteristic diffuse or granular nuclear staining. 2) The number of PCNA-positive tumor cells were 2.16+/-2.39% in dermatofibroma, 16.12+/-7.38% in dermatofibrosacoma protuberans, and 28.02+/-17.47% in the malignant fibrous histiocytoma. The numbers of PCNA-positive tumor cells in the malignant lesions higher than in the benign (p<0.001). 3) Deep seated, large size (>5 cm) and recurred or metastatic cases of MFH were more the high PCNA index (more than 20%) than the low index (less than 20%) groups. 4) PCNA index in MFHs had positive correlation with the number of mitotic counts (r=0.7582, p<0.001), cellularity (r=0.5908, p<0.05) and histologic grade (r=0.4164, p<0.05). These results suggested that reactivity on PCNA might assist in the distinction between benign and malignant lesions in fibrohistiocytic tumors, and could be a useful prognostic factor in the patients with malignant fibrous histiocytoma.
Neoplasm Metastasis

Vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) is an exercise-based treatment program designed to promote vestibular adaptation and substitution. The goals of VRT are 1) to enhance gaze stability, 2) to enhance postural stability, 3) to improve vertigo, and 4) to improve activities of daily living. VRT facilitates vestibular recovery mechanisms: vestibular adaptation, substitution by the other eye-movement systems, substitution by vision, somatosensory cues, other postural strategies, and habituation. The key exercises for VRT are head-eye movements with various body postures and activities, and maintaining balance with a reduced support base with various orientations of the head and trunk, while performing various upper-extremity tasks, repeating the movements provoking vertigo, and exposing patients gradually to various sensory and motor environments. VRT is indicated for any stable but poorly compensated vestibular lesion, regardless of the patient's age, the cause, and symptom duration and intensity. Vestibular suppressants, visual and somatosensory deprivation, immobilization, old age, concurrent central lesions, and long recovery from symptoms, but there is no difference in the final outcome. As long as exercises are performed several times every day, even brief periods of exercise are sufficient to facilitate vestibular recovery. Here the authors review the mechanisms and the key exercises for each of the VRT goals.
Activities of Daily Living ; Cues ; Exercise ; Head ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Orientation ; Posture ; Vertigo ; Vision, Ocular

BACKGROUND: One of the main disadvantages of caudal block is the long latent period before a satisfactory blockade is obtained. Many investigators have used various preparations of local anesthetic solutions to improve the speed of onset. This study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of prewarming of lidocaine HCl for caudal block. METHODS: Fifty healthy young patients (ASA I) were allocated into two groups, A and B. In group A, the local anesthetic solution were injected at room temperature (25 degrees C), while in group B, they were injected at 37oC. All the caudal block were performed using 2% lidocaine HCl 20 ml with fentanyl 100ug and epinephrine 1:200,000. The onset time was defined as the period from completion of injection until the patient first noticed loss of sensation to pin-prick on perianal region. Assessment of sensory loss was made at 15 seconds interval. We have compared the onset of sensory blockade between groups. The duration of analgesia and any significant side effects were also recorded. RESULTS: The onset of sensory blockade was significantly faster in group B (3.5 +/- 0.5 minutes) than group A (6.2 +/- 0.9 minutes). The duration of analgesia were not significantly changed between groups. Side effects of urinary retention, pruritus and nausea were noted between both groups but the difference was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: We have found that the onset time was 44% faster with warm lidocaine-fentanyl mixture (37 degrees C) than with the room temperature (25 degrees C). The improved clinical usefulness was achieved with no increase in side effects. The technique is a safe and effective method to reduce the latency of onset.
Analgesia ; Epinephrine ; Fentanyl ; Humans ; Lidocaine ; Nausea ; Pruritus ; Research Personnel ; Sensation ; Urinary Retention

Autogenous costal cartilage graft has been commonly used for reconstruction of auricular deformity. However, the risk of complication and discomfort at the donor site, as well as distortion of the graft due to morphological change in the cartilage have been serious drawbacks to this procedure. Previous studies examining the chondrogenic potential of perichondrium have suggested that perichondrium may be used as graft for cartilage reconstruction. When a perichondrial flap or a free perichondrium was used as graft, new cartilage formed appositional to the grafted perichondrium. However, the neocartilage was often irregular in shape and varied considerably in quantity. In this study, the feasibility of controlling the shape and the mass of neocartilage was investigated using coral, a porous biomaterial, as a template. A coral a template was wrapped with perichondrial flap from the ears of New Zealand white rabbits and placed into a subcutaneous pocket in the rabbits and placed into a subcutaneous pocket in the rabbit's back by incision. A total of 12 animals were used. Formation of new cartilage was later evaluated by gross and histological examination of the perichondrial flap and the coral template. New cartilage was formed in 11 animals. Immature chondrocytes were visible by 3 weeks after the surgery, and by 8 weeks the immature chondrocytes had formed a cartilage. New cartilage was formed only on the surface of the coral template. These results indicated that the shape and the mass of new cartilage may be controlled by using coral template. Therefore, the desired shape of cartilage may be achieved using a coral template of corresponding shape, and this may help in correcting subtle auricular contour defect and in correcting other structural defects that also require new cartilage formation.
Animals ; Anthozoa* ; Cartilage ; Chondrocytes ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Ear ; Humans ; Rabbits ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Scrub Typhus*