Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacteria species, which can affect any organ of the body including the eye. Primary ocular tuberculosis is very rare condition and likely to be caused by introduction of bacilli through epithelial injury. Post primary infections (or secondary infection) due to direct hematogenous spread or contiguous spread from an adjacent structure are more common presentations of ocular tuberculosis. The authors experienced 3 cases of ocular tuberculosis associated with systemic infection. One case was a scleral involvement of miliary tuberculosis and the others were choroidal tuberculoma from systemic tuberculosis.
Choroid ; Communicable Diseases ; Eye Infections ; Mycobacterium ; Tuberculoma ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Miliary ; Tuberculosis, Ocular

Authors analysed 25 cases of the narrow spinal canal in cervical and lumbar region, who admitted to the Catholic Medical Center, Seoul from Jan. 1970 to August 1976. Correlation between neurologic feature and radiologic finding was attempted and compared the measurements of narrow cervical and lumbar spinal canal with that of the healthy Korean. The mean anterioposterior diameter of the cervical canal in healthy Korean was 16.2mm at C4, 16.4mm. at C5, 16.6mm. at C6, and 16.4mm. at C7. The ratio of canal to vertebral body in the plain lumbar spine was 1 : 3.9 at L3, 1 : 3.8 at L4 and 1 : 3.8 at L5. The measurements of 25 cases of narrow spinal canal were significantly reduced comparing with the healthy one. The clinical symptoms were closely related to the severity of the narrow spinal canal while there was intermittent or insidious course of symptom in the group of mild narrow spinal canal. Symptom of root compression or neurogenic claudication is frequent manifestation in the severe narrow spinal canal. and the symptom is correlated to the severity of the narrowing. Urinary disturbance and pyramidal tract sign were evident in the cervical narrow canal. The characteristic myelographic feature was multiple constrictive defect at the level of the narrow canal. Common findings in laminectomy were the thickened laminae and hypertrophied ligamentum flavum in the narrow canal. Herniated disc was not found but in one case in the cervical narrow canal at surgery. The recovery of the symptom was better in the group of the narrow canal who had mild degree of narrowing or who had the symptom in short duration rather than prolonged course.
Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; Laminectomy ; Ligamentum Flavum ; Lumbosacral Region ; Pyramidal Tracts ; Seoul ; Spinal Canal* ; Spine

BACKGROUND: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma is one of the most aggressive human cancers with a median survival of only 6 months. Local surgical tumor debulking combined with radio-chemotherapy is generally used to treat this malady, but the low success rate has prompted the search for new therapeutic targets. We used 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta-D-ribofuranoside (AICAR) as an AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activator to induce growth suppression and apoptosis in the anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cells. METHODS: We investigated the effect of AICAR on the proliferation of thyroid cancer cell lines (ARO, WRO and FRO) by performing methyl-thiazoletetrazolium bromide assay. We wanted to see the effect of AICAR on the apoptosis and cell cycle of the thyroid cancer cells, and we wanted to determine the mechanism of these changes. RESULTS: The proliferation of all thyroid cancer cell lines was significantly inhibited by administration of AICAR. FRO was the most susceptible cell line to AICAR treatment and so further studies were then performed with this cell line. The suppressive effect of AICAR on cell proliferation was related with phosphorylation of AMPK and the increased apoptosis. Also, cell cycle analysis revealed that progression to the G2-M phase was arrested (S-phase arrest) by AICAR treatment. S-phase arrest was associated with the increased protein expression of p21. CONCLUSION: In the anaplastic thyroid cancer cell lines, AICAR inhibited proliferation due to the arrest in the S-phase; this was accompanied with the increased expression of p21. Overall, AMPK activation by AICAR or any other pharmacological agent could be a tempting potential target for thyroid cancer therapy.
Aminoimidazole Carboxamide ; AMP-Activated Protein Kinases ; Apoptosis ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Line ; Cell Proliferation ; Humans ; Phosphorylation ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms*

Intramedullary neurilemmoma of the spinal cord is extremely rare. This is not surprising, since schwann cells, considered the histogenetic source of such a tumor, normally are not present within the spinal cord. A case of intramedullary neurilemmoma in 47-year-old man is reported and the hypotheses as to it's origin are discussed. In a discussion on the origin of the condition, its is concluded that this case might have an origin from the dorsal root entry zone.
Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neurilemmoma* ; Schwann Cells ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Nerve Roots

Normal pressure hydrocephalus(NPH) is defined as a combination of dementia, gait disturbance and/or urinary incontinence, hydrocephalus on C-T scan, with a normal intracranial pressure. The clinical effect of CSF shunting in patients with this syndrome is sometimes striking but generally only 50-60% of the shunted patients benefit from the treatment. So many pre-operative investigations are performed including clinical examination, computed tomography, R-I cistrnography, T1/2 calculated from ventricular volume pressure curve and lumbar drainage. Among the pre-operative investigations, the effect of preoperative lumbar drainage was the most reliable indicator of NPH. The possible mechanisms of improved case are proposed. The differential diagnosis of primary brain atrophy and NPH can be made by the effect of pre-operative lumbar drainage.
Atrophy ; Brain ; Dementia ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drainage ; Equidae* ; Gait ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Hydrocephalus, Normal Pressure* ; Intracranial Pressure ; Strikes, Employee ; Urinary Incontinence

Fifteen cases of diffuse axonal injury(DAI) brought about by nonmissile head injury in humans are analyzed. All cases were subjected to comprehensive clinical studies such as measurement of cerebral blood flow by SPECT, continuous intracranial pressure monitoring and multimodality evoked potentials(MEPs). In the patients with DAI, a high incidence of low cerebral perfusion and abnormal MEPs. especially auditory evoked potentials, were found, with high incidence of high velocity traffic accident injury mechanism. On the other hand, a low incidence of increased intracranial pressure was found and dehydrating agents such as glycerol and mannitol did not exert a beneficial influence upon the clinical courses or the outcomes. The outcome of the patients with DAI depended upon the duration of coma and whether or not brain stem signs were noted.
Accidents, Traffic ; Axons ; Brain Stem ; Coma ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Diffuse Axonal Injury* ; Evoked Potentials* ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory ; Glycerol ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intracranial Pressure* ; Mannitol ; Perfusion ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

Pontine hematomas are very rare lesions that in the past found at postmortem examination rather than diagnosed from the clinical presentations. Computed tomography has particularly stimulated further neurosurgical interest in this relatively rare condition, making surgical evacuation possible in some cases. Four patients suffering from pontine hemorrhages, revealed by computed tomography, are discussed. The classification regard to the site, clinical features and outcomes of this lesion are discussed in an attempt to establish general criteria for adequate management. With regard to the site, three types of hemorrhage are to be considered the tegmentotectal(type I), the tegmentolateral(type II) and the tegmentobasilar(type III), 2 patients(type I II, treated conservatively) had a fair outcome, and 2 patients(one of type III, treated conservatively, and one of type I, by surgical evacuation) had a death. Surgical management for the pontine hemorrhages should be reserved for the type I(tegmontotectal) and type II(tegmentolateral), whenever the neurological conditions deteriorate progressively.
Autopsy ; Classification ; Hematoma ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Prognosis*

Many surgical procedures for pterygium and the postoperative cares for the prevention of recurrences have been employed, but no satisfactory methods are available yet. The authors analyzed the surgical procedures and postoperative cares doing ordinarily by 64 ophthalmologists who replied the questionnaire sent by us to 135 all regbteted Korean Ophthalmologists. The results are as follows; 1. The most preferred surgical procedure utilized was the bare scleral method. 2. 90Sr. irradiation was done, in the majority, to prevent the postoperative recurrence then long time instillations of mitomycin-c and steroid were utilized in the remainder. 3. The most utilized dosage of total 90Sr. irradiation were 4,000-6,000 rep. and 2 or 3 fractionated irradiations were performed in the majority. 4. The recurrence rates were 4.3% at 90Sr. irradiation, 5.2% at mitomycin-c instillation and 4.7% in average.
Mitomycin ; Pterygium* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Recurrence

Two cases of subdural tension pneumocephalus were introduced after posterior fossa surgery in the sitting position. The possible mechanism for entry of air into the subdural space is explained as the fluid pours out air bubbles to the top of the container. All of two cases manifested generalized seizure at recovery room and were diagnosed with plain skull series and computed tomogram. Subdural air evacuated patient fail to recover as expected, following posterior fossa surgery in sitting position.
Humans ; Pneumocephalus* ; Recovery Room ; Seizures ; Skull ; Subdural Space

A case of dissecting aneurysm of the intracranial vertebral artery in 46-year-old man is reported. Dissecting aneurysm of the vertebral artery associated with SAH is very rare. The characteristic angiographic findings of dissecting aneurysm were: 1) retention of contrast medium in the aneurysm; 2) the presence of double lumina; 3) "String" or "Pearl-string" sign. The therapeutic occlusion of the intracranial vertebral artery was performed successfully.
Aneurysm ; Aneurysm, Dissecting* ; Angiography ; Arteries* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Therapeutic Occlusion ; Vertebral Artery