No abstract available.
Knee Joint* ; Knee*

Exercise testing with Thallium imaging is widely used for the noninvasive evaluation of patients suspected of having coronary artery disease. However, many patients referred for stress testing connot exercise adequately for either physical or psychological reasons, and as a result may have nondiagnostic or suboptimal test results. Intravenous dipyridamole in conjunction with Thallium imaging is as effective alternative method without exercise. But, myocardial imaging using the standard scintillation camera technique(planner view) is hampered by superposition of proximal & distal cardial walls and by the segmental nature of myocardial ischemia. For this reason, Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography(SPECT) reslut in high specificity & sensitivity rates for the detection of coronar artery disease compared with conventional technique. So we performed dipyridamole Th-201 myocardial scintigraphy on 25 subjects who have suspicious angina or myocardial infarction instead of exercise Th-201 myocardial scintigraphy, and compared SPECT view with conventional plannar view. The results obtained are as follows : 1) T1-201 scintigraphic findings in 17 patients with suspicious angina were as follows ; redistribution defect was seen in 4 cases in plannar view and 13 cases in SPECT view. 2) T1-201 scintigraphic findings in 8 patients with myocardial infarction were as follows ; in planner view, perfusion defect was seen in all cases and 1 cases of them, redistribution defect was accompained, and in SPECT view, perfusion defect was seen in all cases and 6 cases of them, redistribution defect was accompained. 3) During dipyridamole infusion, the mean systolic & diatolic pressure decreased from 133+/-22.7/86+/-13.5 to 121+/-23.9/78+/-13.1mmHg and the heart rate increased from 68+/-12.4 to 84+/-12.4beats/min. 4) Adverse effects of dipyridamole were noted in 14(56%) of the subjects, but in 12 of these, the symptoms were mild in severity and subsided spontanously. To summarize, Dipyridamole-201 myocardial imaging is a useful and test for coronary artery disease, and the new tomographic technique, SPECT view, is more useful than the conventional plannar view.
Arteries ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Dipyridamole* ; Exercise Test ; Gamma Cameras ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Myocardial Perfusion Imaging ; Perfusion Imaging* ; Perfusion* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thallium* ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

The aim of this study was to investigate behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) measured by caregiver-administered neuropsychiatric inventory (CGA-NPI) as a function of dementia severity in early onset (EOAD) versus late onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). A total of 113 patients with AD consisting of 49 patients with EOAD and 64 patients with LOAD were enrolled consecutively. General cognitive function and severity of dementia were assessed by the Korean version of mini-mental status examination and clinical dementia rating (CDR), respectively. In the mild stage (CDR 0.5-1), LOAD patients had a significantly higher total CGA-NPI score than EOAD patients. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that disinhibition and night-time behavior were more common and severe in the LOAD group than the EOAD group. However, in the moderate to severe stage (CDR 2-3), EOAD patients had a significantly higher total CGA-NPI score with higher subscores in hallucination, agitation/aggression, irritability/lability, aberrant motor behavior, and appetite/eating change. This study suggested that the heterogeneity of BPSD in AD might be accounted for by dementia severity as well as age at symptoms onset.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Dementia* ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Population Characteristics

A 41-year-old female complaining of easy fatigue, headache, thickened extremities and deepened facial folds was admitted to the hospital. As early as 6 years ago, she had been told by family members that her voice was changed and both hands was thickened. Cranial plain radiography indicated ballooning of sella turcica. Sella MRI disclosed 2.2cm sized pituitary tumor with suprasellar extension. The pituitary tumor with hypothalamic extension was removed via a transsphenoidal approach. The postoperative course was uneventful until hyponatremia with sudden headache and respiratory arrest was developed. The case was due to hyponatremic encephalopathy on the basis of the clinical course and symptoms, and 3% hypertonic saline was infused for 12 hours until the hyponatremia was corrected. We have experienced a mortality case of hyponatremic encephalopathy in which surgieal removal of a pituitary tumor from a female acromegalic patient in menstruant period was followed by the sudden occurrence of hyponatremia, which in turn was later associated with marked brain edema.
Adult ; Brain Edema ; Extremities ; Fatigue ; Female ; Hand ; Headache ; Humans ; Hyponatremia ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mortality ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Radiography ; Sella Turcica ; Voice

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Vascular inflammation is an important feature in the atherosclerotic process. Recent studies report that leaves and branches of Carpinus turczaninowii (C. turczaninowii) have antioxidant capacity and exert anti-inflammatory effects. However, no study has reported the regulatory effect of C. turczaninowii extract on the arterial inflammatory response. This study therefore investigated modulation of the arterial inflammatory response after exposure to C. turczaninowii extract, using human aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (HAoSMCs). MATERIALS/METHODS: Scavenging activity of free radicals, total phenolic content (TPC), cell viability, mRNA expressions, and secreted levels of cytokines were measured in LPS-stimulated (10 ng/mL) HAoSMCs treated with the C. turczaninowii extract. RESULTS: C. turczaninowii extract contains high amounts of TPC (225.6 ± 21.0 mg of gallic acid equivalents/g of the extract), as well as exerts time-and dose-dependent increases in strongly scavenged free radicals (average 14.8 ± 1.97 µg/mL IC50 at 40 min). Cell viabilities after exposure to the extracts (1 and 10 µg/mL) were similar to the viability of non-treated cells. Cytokine mRNA expressions were significantly suppressed by the extracts (1 and 10 µg/mL) at 6 hours (h) after exposure. Interleukin-6 secretion was dose-dependently suppressed 2 h after incubation with the extract, at 1–10 µg/mL in non-stimulated cells, and at 5 and 10 µg/mL in LPS-stimulated cells. Similar patterns were also observed at 24 h after incubation with the extract (at 1–10 µg/mL in non-stimulated cells, and at 10 µg/mL in the LPS-stimulated cells). Soluble intracellular vascular adhesion molecules (sICAM-1) secreted from non-stimulated cells and LPS-stimulated cells were similarly suppressed in a dose-dependent manner after 24 h exposure to the extracts, but not after 2 h. In addition, sICAM-1 concentration after 24 h treatment was positively related to IL-6 levels after 2 h and 24 h exposure (r = 0.418, P = 0.003, and r = 0.524, P < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that C. turczaninowii modulates the arterial inflammatory response, and indicates the potential to be applied as a therapeutic use for atherosclerosis.
Antioxidants ; Arteries ; Atherosclerosis ; Betulaceae ; Cell Survival ; Cytokines ; Free Radicals ; Gallic Acid ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Interleukin-6 ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; Phenol ; RNA, Messenger

The incidental injection of metallic mercury into soft tissue is a rare event in the general population. Mercury can produce local inflammation, abscesses, granuloma, and membranous fat necrosis. Herein, we report a rare case of soft tissue mercury deposits with imaging findings, including magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings, located at the mercury droplet deposits which appear as signal voids on all sequences, with surrounding intermediate to high signal intensity on the T2- weighted image.
Abscess ; Fat Necrosis ; Foreign Bodies ; Granuloma ; Inflammation ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of the AMPLICOR HPV test in comparison with the Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) test in detecting HR HPV. METHODS: One hundred and fifty-three consecutive women attending the Colposcopy Clinic were included and cervical scrape specimens were tested for the presence of 13 HR HPV genotypes by both AMPLICOR HPV test and HC2 assay. RESULTS: The prevalence of HR HPV was 53/153 (34.6%) and 52/153 (34.0%) by AMPLICOR HPV test and HC2 assay, respectively. When discordant results were observed between AMPLICOR HPV test and HC2 assay, we used the HPV genotyping DNA chip and DNA sequence analysis, as reference standards. Concordant results were obtained for 128 (83.7%) of the 153 samples (Cohen's kappa=0.63, p<0.001). The genotyping showed that no HR HPV was detected in the 10 AMPLICOR negative HC2 positive samples, while HR HPV genotype was found in 3/13 (23.1%) AMPLICOR positive HC2 negative samples. The detection rates of HR HPV with AMPLICOR HPV test and HC2 assay were 38.7% and 48.4%, respectively, in CIN1; 95.0% and 100%, respectively, in CIN3/cancer. HPV positivity of AMPLICOR HPV test and HC2 assay increased linearly with the increasing grade of cytology or histology (p<0.001). In detecting high grade (CIN2+) lesions, sensitivities were 90.9% (CI, 75.9~97.0%), 95.5% (CI, 81.9~99.0%), respectively, for AMPLICOR HPV test and HC2 assay (p=1.00). The specificities of AMPLICOR HPV test and HC2 assay were 72.7% (CI, 64.3~79.8%) and 69.3% (CI, 60.7~76.7%), respectively (p=0.75). CONCLUSIONS: AMPLICOR HPV test is comparable to HC2 assay for detection of HR HPV, with similar sensitivity and specificity in detecting CIN2+ lesions. AMPLICOR HPV test can be considered clinically useful for detection of HR HPV. However, more data are clearly needed on the performance of AMPLICOR HPV test as a screening tool.
Chimera ; Colposcopy ; Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Prevalence ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) has been known as minimally invasive procedure to treat aggressive vertebral hemangioma, painful osteolytic vertebral tumors, and osteoporotic compression fractures. Some cases were reported to be associated with infrequent but serious complications of this procedure, such as severe arterial hypotension, pulmonary embolism, cerebral embolism, paraplegia, and bronchospasm. We report a case of acute pericarditis after PVP, which was treated successfully with open heart surgery.
Bronchial Spasm ; Fractures, Compression ; Heart Ventricles* ; Hemangioma ; Hypotension ; Intracranial Embolism ; Paraplegia ; Pericarditis* ; Polymethyl Methacrylate* ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Thoracic Surgery ; Vertebroplasty*

Hypopituitarism is not a common cause of delayed puberty, however it should always be considered, especially if there are such signs as severe dwarfism, dollish face, truncal obesity, small hands and feet, and microgenitalia. Either congenital or acquired, hypopituitarism can be resulted from hypothalamic and hypophyseal lesions. The clinical feature can be diverse depending on age of the patients, rate of progression, degree of hormone deficiency and characteristics of the lesion. The recent high interest in delayed puberty and the improved detection of hypothalamic hypophyseal lesions using combined pituitary fuction stimulation test, brain CT and MRJ, has made the differential diagnosis of hypopituitarism possible as the cause of delayed puberty. MRI has shown hypophyeal hypoplasia accompanied by anterior pituitary hypoplasia and ectopic neurohypophysis in some of the patients with hypopituitasm, and although the anatomical abnormality around the hypophysis in these patients is considered the reason for hypopituitarism, the pathogensis of which has not yet to be known. We, here, report a case of delayed puberty by hypopituitarism due to hypoplasia of anterior pituitary gland, pituitary stalk agenesis and ectopic neurohypophysis with brief review of the litereature.
Brain ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Dwarfism ; Foot ; Hand ; Humans ; Hypopituitarism ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Obesity ; Pituitary Gland* ; Pituitary Gland, Anterior* ; Pituitary Gland, Posterior* ; Puberty, Delayed*

PURPOSE: Several studies indicate that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs including aspirin and sulindac reduce the risk of colon cancer. Futhermore, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that inhibit the cyclooxygenase (COX) are shown to inhibit the development colon cancer in animal models of carcinogenesis. COX-1 is constitutively expressed to fulfill its beneficial housekeeping roles. COX-2 is not constitutively expressed by most normal tissues, but it is rapidly induced by certain inflammatory cytokines, tumor promoters, growth factors and oncogenes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of COX-2 in colorectal carcinoma development and the correlation between COX-2 expression and tumor angiogenesis and p53 overexpression. METHODS: Immunohistochemical analyses using antibodies against COX-2, factor VIII-related antigen, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and p53 were carried out on archival specimens of 15 colorectal adenoma and 41 adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: COX-2 expression was increased in 5/15 (33.3%) adenomas and 24/41 (58.5%) adenocarcinomas. COX-2 expression in adenocarcinoma was nearly significantly higher than in adenoma (P=0.050). In adenocarcinoma, COX-2 expression was increased in early cancer (TNM stage) (P=0.028) and well differentiated tumor (P=0.029). COX- 2 expression was not correlated with VEGF expression, microvessel density and p53 overexpression. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that enhanced expression of COX-2 occurs early during colorectal cancer progression. However, further investigations are needed to evaluate the relationship of COX-2 and tumor angiogenesis using other laboratory methods.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Adenoma ; Antibodies ; Aspirin ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinogens ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Cyclooxygenase 2* ; Cytokines ; Housekeeping ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Microvessels ; Models, Animal ; Oncogenes ; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases ; Sulindac ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; von Willebrand Factor