PURPOSE:Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis is the most common thyroid disease in children and adolescents, and also is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in children and adolescents. We studied the clinical manifestations and natural courses of chronic autoimmune thyroiditis in children and adolescents. METHODS:We analyzed retrospectively twenty one children and adolescents who were diagnosed as chronic autoimmune thyroiditis before 15 years of age. The diagnoses were made from July 1997 to February 2004 at Ajou Univesity Hospital. We reviewed the clinical manifestations and thyroid functions of these patients. RESULTS:Nineteen patients were female and two were male. The mean age at diagnosis was 9.95+/-3.1 years, the mean duration of follow up was 23.52+/-22.98 months. At diagnosis, the most common chief complaint was goiter (15 patients/21 patients) and the others were short stature, easy fatigue, cardiac murmur and weight loss. Eighteen patients had goiters at diagnosis. Four had familial history of thyroid disease, Three of them had maternal history of thyroid disease and one had paternal history of thyroid disease. At diagnosis, Seven patients were euthyroid and four patients were hyperthyroid, eighteen patients had antithyroglobulin antibody, seventeen patients had antimicrosomal antibody, fourteen patients had both of them. At last follow-up, eight patients were euthyroid and ten patients were hypothyroid, three patients were hyperthyroid. CONCLUSION: Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis in children and adolescents can have the various important influences on the metabolism including the growth. The clinical manifestations and thyroid functions should be monitored in children and adolescents with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis.
Adolescent* ; Child* ; Diagnosis ; Fatigue ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Goiter ; Heart Murmurs ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; Male ; Metabolism ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Diseases ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroiditis, Autoimmune* ; Weight Loss

No abstract available.
Meningitis*

The medical curriculum is designed to provide a core of scientific knowledge and technical skills that ultimately enables a student to care for primary patients. In addition to specific knowledge, the school offers an environment in which students have the opportunity to acquire the habits of study, the sound attitud, and the sense of responsibility for patients that characterize the true physician. To achive these purposes, the clerkship of medical student is very important. We investigated current problems in clinical clerkship of Chonnam University Medical School, and the problems were as follow: (1) relatively short period of clinical training especially in main subjects, (2) lack of presonnels in charge of clinical training, (3) lack of objective test, (4) lack of clinical training in primary care hospital, (5) lack of opportunity of self learning. The methods to improve clinical training were to promote interests in clinical education of staffs, to prolong the duration of clinical clerkship, to select and educate the personnel in charge of clinical education, to do the objective tests, to do the elective tests, to do the elective course, to use of integrated course and problem oriented education, and to let the student care the patients under supervision.
Clinical Clerkship ; Curriculum ; Education ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do ; Learning ; Linear Energy Transfer ; Organization and Administration ; Primary Health Care ; Schools, Medical ; Students, Medical*

PURPOSE: We studied the incidence and clinical course of BCG lymphadenitis to investigate the BCG related problem. SUBJECT AND METHODS: Three hundred and eighty-six infants received BCG vaccine (Pasteur-1173p2) in the Well Baby Clinic, Dept. of Pediatrics, Chonnam University Hospital from May 1993 and April 1994. Among them, twenty three infants developed regional lymphadenitis. We investigated the clinical course in twenty six infants with BCG lymphadenitis (three infants were transferred from the Public Health Center and they also had taken same BCG preparations). According to the lymph node size, we divided them into three groups (A : below 1cm, 5 infants; B : 1 to 2cm, 10; C : above 2cm, 11), and evaluated the clinical outcome. RESULTS: 1) The incidence of BCG lymphadenitis was 6.0% (23/386), the differences according to sex or age at vaccination were not observed. 2) Twenty three of twenty six infants (88.5%) showed one lymph node (left axillary 19 infants, left cervical 3 infants, left supraclaviclar 1 infant), but three (11.5%) showed multiple lymph node involvement. 3) Eight (30.8%) showed spontaneous improvement, but eighteen (69.2%) received single or double antituberculous medication at the beginning or after a period of observation. Two infants were treated by incision and drainage. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of BCG lymphadenitis was relatively higher (6.0%) than previous reports, and the two thirds of the cases received antituberculous medication and or surgical treatment. Further prospective study according to the recent recommendation by the Korean Health Administration should be needed.
BCG Vaccine ; Drainage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Jeollanam-do ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphadenitis* ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Mycobacterium bovis* ; Pediatrics ; Public Health ; Vaccination

A subperiosteal ganglion has been very rarely reported, since Ollier reported first one in 1864. A subperiosteal ganglion is produced by mucoid degeneration and cyst formation within the periosteum, which results in cortical erosion. The characteristic plain radiolographic appearance of irregular cortical erosion and scalloping, with reactive periosteal bone spicules, has been considered pathognomonic of subperiosteal ganglion. Magnetic resonance imaging is performed to further characterize the soft tissue component of the mass. As in our patient, the characteristic signal intensities of magnetic resonance imaging are especially useful in identifying the lesion as a ganglion and in defining the lobular nature and the anatomical extent. We report here the case of a 35-year-old female who had a sudperiosteal ganglion of the distal radius.
Adult ; Female ; Ganglion Cysts* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pectinidae ; Periosteum ; Radius*

We did clinical analysis on the macular circulatory state in 34 patients(34 eyes)who were diagnosed to have branch retinal vein occlusion and followed for over 6 months. After dividing them into two groups according to their occlusion sites, we evaluated the differences of foveal capillary ring state and size of macular ischemic area between the ones who had vein occlusion in their first retinal branches and the others in their second and the rest retinal branches. We were unable to find any differences between them. However, we could find statistical correlation between their visual acuities in acute stage of the disease and macular circulatory states even though we could not find any differences between their final visual acuities or degree of their visual improvement and circulatory states during follow up period.
Capillaries ; Follow-Up Studies ; Retinal Vein Occlusion ; Retinaldehyde ; Veins ; Visual Acuity

BACKGROUND: Although postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy is known to reduce cardiovascular mortality, the mechanism is not clear yet. Furthermore, the effect of estrogen on vascular tonus is reportedly variable according to the animal models, vascular beds and agonists used. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Bilateral ovariectomies were performed in 12 week-old, 18 spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and 18 normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). Rats were divided into three groups according to the dose of 17beta-estradiol (E 2 ) pellets implanted subcutaneously two weeks after ovariectomy: control (no implantation), low-dose (0.5 mg) and high-dose (5 mg) E 2 replacement group. Two weeks after pellet implantation, organ bath experiments were performed using descending thoracic aortae. For endothelium-dependent relaxation, acetylcholine (10(-9) -3x10(-6) M) was cumulatively added into the vessels precontracted with 10(-7) M norepinephrine (NE). For vasoconstrictor responses, cumulative concentration-contraction curves were constructed in quiescent vessels using NE (10(-9) -10(-5) M), U46619 (10(-9) -3x10(-6) M), endothelin-1 (10(-10) -10(-7) M). In addition, contraction to angiotensin II (10(-7) M) was also obtained. Serum 17beta-estradiol levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. Blood pressure was measured by tail-cuff method in some SHRs before ovariectomy and after placebo/E 2 replacement. RESULTS: Endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine was impaired in WKY treated with 5 mg E 2 (pIC 50 : control vs 5mg E 2 : 7.75+/-0.13 vs 7.27+/-0.16: n=6: p<0.05). No significant effect was noted in SHR. Contraction to angiotensin II was inhibited by low-dose E 2 in WKY and high-dose E 2 in SHR (% of the contraction to 60 mM KCl: WKY: control vs 0.5 mg E 2 : 39+/-5 vs 25+/-2: SHR: control vs 5 mg E 2 : 34+/-4 vs 22+/-2: n=6 and p<0.05 in WKY and SHR). In contrast, NE-induced contraction was enhanced by E 2 replacement (both low- and high-dose) in WKY and SHR (WKY: control vs 0.5 mg E 2 vs 5 mg E 2 : AUC: 280+/-24 vs 387+/-26 vs 374+/-25: maximal contraction: 137+/-8 vs 166+/-8 vs 162+/-3: pD 2 : 7.63+/-0.11 vs 8.17+/-0.13 vs 8.13+/-0.13: SHR: control vs 0.5 mg E 2 vs 5 mg E 2 : AUC: 265+/-17 vs 349+/-16 vs 406+/-19: maximal contraction: 152+/-6 vs 181+/-9 vs 203+/-16: pD 2 : 7.45+/-0.13 vs 7.91+/-0.08 vs 8.04+/-0.04: n=6 and p<0.05 between control and treated groups in WKY and SHR for all parameters). Contraction to U46619 was enhanced by E 2 replacement in SHR (control vs 0.5 mg E 2 : AUC: 478+/-30 vs 574+/-23: maximal contraction: 181+/-9 vs 230+/-10: n=6: p<0.05 for both parameters). Maximal contractile response to endothelin-1 was also enhanced in SHR (control vs 0.5 mg E 2 vs 5 mg E 2 : maximal contraction: 165+/-7 vs 189+/-7 vs 199+/-8: n=6 and p<0.05 between control and treated groups) but not in WKY. Blood pressure was not different between placebo and E 2- treated SHR (171+/-2 vs 174+/-4 mmHg). CONCLUSION: In WKY, chronic high-dose estrogen replacement impairs endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine.: low-dose estrogen replacement does not affect endothelium-dependent relaxation in SHR and WKY. Estrogen replacement enhances the contraction to most of the contractile agonists tested except angiotensin II in both WKY and SHR. These results suggest that estrogen replacement affect the vascular tonus differently according to the vasoactive substances and/or hormones without significant effect on blood pressure.
15-Hydroxy-11 alpha,9 alpha-(epoxymethano)prosta-5,13-dienoic Acid ; Acetylcholine ; Angiotensin II ; Animals ; Aorta, Thoracic ; Area Under Curve ; Baths ; Blood Pressure ; Endothelin-1 ; Estrogen Replacement Therapy* ; Estrogens* ; Female ; Models, Animal ; Mortality ; Norepinephrine ; Ovariectomy ; Radioimmunoassay ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred SHR* ; Relaxation

No abstract available.
Blood Pressure* ; Child* ; Gwangju* ; Humans

We performed a retrospective analysis of the results of surgical treatment of sixteen patient with comminuted fracture of the distal femur from September 1993 to August 1995 and evaluated the efficacy of the angled blade plate as one of the fixation devices used. The fractures were limited to C2 and C3 fracture classifed according to the AO classification. After an average follow-up of 13 months (range, 9 to 24 months), all of the fractures had healed. Postoperatively, the arc of flexion was limited between 90degrees and 125degrees in eight, normal arc in five, and severely restricted arc of joint motion was present unexceptionally in three patients with deep infection. In angular deformity, average 5.8degrees of valgus and 2.4degrees posterior angulation were showed. The functional results by Sanders-Swiontkowski-Rosen-Helfet rating system were showed excellent in 3, good in 7, fair in 3, and poor in 3 cases. The overall results were seen to be excellent to good in ten cases (62.5%) but in twelve patients using the angled blade plate, excellent to good results were showed 10 patients (83.3%). We attribute the favorable results in our series to restoration of the articular surface through the modified extensile approach, sufficient stable fixation using the angled blade plate with conforming to the concept of bridge plate, routinely performing the bone graft for medial buttress and bone healing, and early mobilization of the extremity.
Classification ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Early Ambulation ; Extremities ; Femur* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Comminuted ; Humans ; Joints ; Retrospective Studies ; Transplants

The chondrogenic potential of free autogenous periosteal grafts for osteochondral defects was investigated at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Yonsei University, Wonju College of Medicine. Five millimeter diameter of circular full-thickness defects were made in patellar groove of both femur in 64 adolescent rabbits and the rectangular periostei, prepared from the proximal tibiae, were placed over the defects of patellar groove and sutured(cambium layer, facing joint surface) and the rabbits were allowed to move actively. A serial gross and histologic examinations of neochondrogenesis were done during 8 weeks. The results were as follows. l. At 2 weeks after operation, neochondrogenesis was hardly seen either in the graft group or in the control group. The defects were partially filled with some fibrous tissue. 2. After 6 weeks of operation, all defects in the graft group(postop 6 weeks and 8 weeks) were filled with hyaline cartilage cells but only 38% (postop 6 weeks) and 44% (postop 8 weeks) of the control group were filled with hyaline cartilage cells. 3. The cartilages, formed at 6 and 8 weeks, were more mature and better than those formed at 4 weeks. 4. The newly formed hyaline cartilage of the graft group filled the defect earlier and were better than those of the control group. 5. The chondrocytes in the newly formed tissue were originated from the cambium layer of periosteal grafts. 6. Free autogenous periosteal grafts can repair a full-thickness defect in a joint surface by producing tissue that resembles articular cartilage grossly and histologically.
Adolescent ; Cambium ; Cartilage ; Cartilage, Articular ; Chondrocytes ; Femur ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Hyaline Cartilage ; Joints ; Rabbits ; Tibia ; Transplants