No Abstract Available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis*

Colonic lesions by irritant laxative abuse are devided into melanosis coli, cathartic colon, soap or chemical colitis. Melanosis coli is the brownish or black discoloration of the colon because of the accumulation of lipofuscin pigment in macrophages located in lamina propria and associated with anthraquinone containing laxative abuse. The site of this lesion is more common in cecum and proximal colon, but whole colon can be involved. This lesion is occurred between 4 months and 13 months from initiation of drug medication, and the lesion is benign because the pigments disappear by withdrawning the laxatives. A number of cases were reported in our country, all of the cases were associated with prolonged administration of anthraquinone type laxatives. We presents two cases of melanosis eoli that had administrated aloe to treat the chronic constipation during long terms, and one case of melanosis coli that had not administrated laxatives or a specific drug with chronic constipation. All of three cases were confirmed by colonoscopy.
Aloe ; Cecum ; Colitis ; Colon ; Colonoscopy ; Constipation ; Laxatives ; Lipofuscin ; Macrophages ; Melanosis* ; Mucous Membrane ; Soaps

No abstract available.
Sinusitis*

No abstract available.
Anemia, Refractory* ; Cyclosporine*

PURPOSE : Developmental screening tests are in widespread use, but few reliable and valid tests are available. One of the oldest and best known developmental screening test was recently restandardized and revised as Denver II. Because the Denver II was published without evidence of its accuracy in developmental screening, we evaluate its accuracy in chidren with developmental delay to see whether it can be used on Korean children. METHODS : The Denver II was translated and was administered to 244 children attending the child development clinic in Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital to evaluated motor delay(Group I, n=68), language delay(Group II, n=84) or other problem(Group III, n=92). RESULTS : 1) The ratio of male to female and the mean age of the subject were 2.4:1 and 25.1 months overall, 1.6:1 and 11.8 months in Group I, 4.6:1 and 35.6 months in Group II, and 1.3:1 and 25.4 months in Group III. 2) The distribution of results(abnormal, normal and questionable) were 76%, 13% and 10% in Group I, 76%, 10% and 14% in Group II, and 38%, 53% and 9% in Group III. 3) The neurologic problems were determined 75%(cerebral palsy, central hypotonia, infantile spasm, myopathy etc.) in Group I, 74%(mental retardation, developmental language disorder, epilepsy, cerebral palsy etc.) Group II and 39%(mental retardation, epilepsy, cerebral palsy etc.) in Group III. 4) The sensitivity and the specificity of Denver II were 0.88 and 0.41 in Group 1, 0.90 and 0.27 in Group II, 0.81 and 0.77 in Group III, and 0.85 and 0.59 overall. CONCLUSION: Although the Denver II in identifying children at risk for developmental delay has a excellent sensitivity, it has a poor specificity, especially in identifying children at risk for language delay. These results demonstrate that the Denver fail to reliably identify children in need of developmental delay evaluation. So the Denver II should be standardized and modified to be used on Korean children with developmental delay.
Cerebral Palsy ; Child ; Child Development ; Epilepsy ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Language Development Disorders ; Male ; Mass Screening* ; Muscle Hypotonia ; Muscular Diseases ; Paralysis ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Spasms, Infantile

No abstract available.
Mitral Valve* ; Quinidine*

Juvenile dermatomyositis is an uncommon autoimmune disease with classic heliotrope discoloration of eyelids, erythematous skin rash of joints and proximal muscle weakness. Quite different from adults, malignancy is rarely accompanied in juvenile dermatomyositis. However vasculitis, muscle atrophy, calcification and gastrointestinal involvement are often observed in juvenile dermatomyositis. A six year old boy was admitted with chief complaints of general weakness and skin rash. Muscle biopsy was performed which was consistent with dermatomyositis. The patient was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin, steroid, methotrexate and physiotherapy. We report a case of juvenile dermatomyositis.
Adult ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Biopsy ; Dermatomyositis* ; Exanthema ; Eyelids ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; Joints ; Male ; Methotrexate ; Muscle Weakness ; Muscular Atrophy ; Vasculitis

We experienced a case of late infantile Batten's disease in a 4-year-7-month-old boy who was admitted to child neurology service of Kangnam St. Mary's hospital for evaluation of progressive psychomotor deterioration. He was in quite normal state of development until 3 years of age when his mother first became concerned because he showed such emotional change as crying and fear, Since then he acted strange and major motor milestones were progressively deteriorated, and eventually he was unable to walk and run at 4 years of age. At that time the patient began to have seizure and it was described as jerking movements of both arms simultaneously and generalized tonic clonic movements of upper and lower extremities. Denver developmental examination revealed a severe retardation in all his developmental milestones. On admission he has definitely mentally retarded, he had no speech and his vision was impaired. He had noted bilateral nystagmus. Fundi revealed pale sharp disc, dark degeneration of macula and marked attenuated retinal arterioles. Brain CT showed mild cortical atrophy. EEG showed paroxysmal burst spikes and slow waves which was compatible with myoclonic seizures. AEP and needle EMG studies were normal. A diagnosis of Batten's disease was made on the basis of brain biopsy which showed ballooning of the large neurons, granular lipopigment bodies in cytoplasm, bright fluorescence cytoplasmic granules under UV light and numerous dense bodies on EM finding. He died at the age of 12 years due to pneumonia.
Arm ; Arterioles ; Atrophy ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Child ; Crying ; Cytoplasm ; Cytoplasmic Granules ; Diagnosis ; Electroencephalography ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Mentally Disabled Persons ; Mothers ; Needles ; Neurology ; Neurons ; Pneumonia ; Retinaldehyde ; Seizures ; Ultraviolet Rays

Neuro-Behçet's disease (NBD) represents a significant complication of Behçet's syndrome, potentially leading to elevated mortality and disability rates. The standard treatment for parenchymal NBD typically entails administering high-dose corticosteroids to prompt rapid-onset effects, coupled with immunosuppressants to prevent subsequent relapses. A 48-year-old male with NBD presented with progressively worsening dysarthria over 9 months. This patient experienced increased intraocular pressure while using glucocorticoids, which worsened his pre-existing glaucoma. The patient had a prior diagnosis of NBD and presented with progressive dysarthria over a period of nine months, leading to a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. The brain MRI revealed multifocal punctate high signal intensities in the left frontoparietal area, insula, and basal ganglia. Instead of the standard steroid pulse therapy, the patient received adalimumab-cyclophosphamide combination as an alternative induction therapy. Subsequent serial brain MRI scans exhibited no emergence of new lesions, and the patient remained devoid of clinical relapses even after 17 months from the commencement of induction treatment. Adalimumab-cyclophosphamide combination could be used as a corticosteroid-free induction strategy for NBD. Further investigations are warranted to establish the most suitable combination regimen.

BACKGROUND: Although being associated with an elevated plasma atrial natriuretic peptide(ANP), its precise role in the postobstructive diuresis has not been fully understood. Evidence has been provided suggesting that the locally-synthesized ANP in the kidney contributes to the regulation of urinary sodium excretion. The present study was aimed to investigate whether an altered regulation of local ANP system is involved in the postobstructive diuresis. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Both proximal ureters were ligated for 48 hours, after which the kidneys were taken without releasing the ligature, being designated as bilateral ureteral obstruction(BUO) group; or the ligature was released and 4 or 24 hr later, urinary data were collected, being designated as BUR-4 or BUR-24, respectively. Sham operated rats were used as control. Plasma ANP levels were determined by radioimmunoassay. The expression of ANP and natriuretic peptide receptor(NPR)-A mRNAs was determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). To further examine whether the altered renal ANP system, if any, was associated with an altered biological effects of guanylyl cyclase, ANP-stimulated cGMP accumulation was determined in membrane preparations of the glomeruli and papillae by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: The plasma ANP level was increased in BUO group compared with that in the control(260.5+/-32.5 vs. 133.3+/-23.5pg/mL, p<0.05), decreased in BUR-4 group(3.6+/-0.5 vs. 143.5+/-42.8pg/mL, p<0.01), while not significantly different in BUR-24 group. In BUR-4. the urinary flow rate increased compared with that in the control(1598+/-370 vs. 215+/-34 microL/hr, p<0.01), along with increases of FENa(11.5+/-4.1 vs. 0.25+/-0.02%, p<0.05) and UNaV (153.7+/-23.7 vs. 36.5+/-9.3microEq/hr, p<0.01). In BUR-24, the urinary parameters were normalized. Renal tissue expression of ANP mRNA was increased in BUO as well as in BUR-4, while not changed in BUR-24. NPR-A mRNA expression was decreased in the kidney of BUO. The ANP-stimulated accumulation of cGMP in the isolated glomeruli and papillae in BUO was significantly reduced. The guanylyl cyclase activities were partly recovered in BUR-4 and completely in BUR-24. CONCLUSION: An enhanced local activity of ANP in the kidney may be causally related to the postobstructive diuresis.
Animals ; Atrial Natriuretic Factor ; Diuresis ; Guanylate Cyclase ; Humans ; Kidney* ; Ligation ; Male ; Membranes ; Plasma ; Radioimmunoassay ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; RNA, Messenger ; Sodium ; Ureter