The endoscopic variceal ligation(EVL) has been adopted as a new treatment for acute hemorrhage from esophageal varices that ranks the highest mortality rate in upper gastrointestinal tract bleedings. This treatment method has good effects for the urgent treatment and eradication of varices from acute variceal bleeding in repeated sessions. We enrolled 34 patients with an acute or chronic variceal bleeding episode at the time of admission in this study from Apr. 8, 1992 to June. 2, 1994. Among 34 patients, there were 31 males and 3 females, at ages between 45-66(mean: 52 years). The incidence of symptoms on admission was 10 in tarry stool, 9 in hematemesis 8 in ascites, 4 in hepatic encephalopathy and 3 in nonspecific symptoms. Varices were eradicated or reduced to grade I in 30(88.2%) of the 34 patients by 4-25 bands (mean: 10.8 bands) in 1-7 EVL sessions(mean: 3.1 sessions). After EVL, there are complicated by active bleeding in 3 patients, dysphagia in 3 patienta and transient chest discomfort in 5 patients but subsided during 24 hours. These results indicated that EVL is a safe method for treatment of bleeding from esophageal varices.
Ascites ; Deglutition Disorders ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices* ; Female ; Hematemesis ; Hemorrhage* ; Hepatic Encephalopathy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Ligation* ; Male ; Mortality ; Thorax ; Upper Gastrointestinal Tract ; Varicose Veins

No abstract available.
Endoderm* ; Endodermal Sinus Tumor*

No abstract available.

Objective To quantitatively assess severity of movement disability by analyzing physical activities recorded by an actigraph monitor in patients with neurology disorders.Methods Eighty-one patients with Parkinson' s disease(PD)and 61 patients with acute cerebral infarction(ACI)accompanying impaired upper limb motor function were included in the study.PD patients and ACI patients were treated using the international PD and ACI treatment guidelines,respectively.The patients were asked to wear an Actigraph monitor for 6 days before the treatment in both PD and ACI patient groups and at 24-38 days post-treatment in PD patients or at 28 days post-treatment in ACI patients.The recorded data was analyzed by power-law exponent(PLE)and detrended fluctuation analysis(DFA).Clinically,before and after the treatments,PD patients were evaluated using the conventional Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS),and ACI patients were evaluated by assessing upper limb motor function using Fugl-Meyer Assessment(FMA)and Functional Independence Measure(FIM).The correlation of the UPDRS scores with PLE was analyzed in PD patients,and the correlation of FMA or FIM with DFA in ACI patients.Results Both the UPDRS scores and the PLE values in PD patients were improved after the drug administration(UPDRS total:32.8 ± 16.2 and 28.8 ± 14.7,Z =2.080,P =0.038; UPDRS Ⅲ:18.6 ± 8.2 and 15.7±6.8,Z=2.155,P=0.031; PLE:0.98 ±0.25 and 0.82 ±0.21,Z=2.212,P=0.027,before and after the treatment,respectively).There were a linear correlation coefficient of 0.699 between the improvements of total UPDRS scores and the PLE values,and of 0.823 between the UPDRS Ⅲ and the PLE values.FMA,FIM scores and DFA were improved significantly than before treatment(FMA:12.39 ± 8.21 and 30.28 ±7.29,Z=3.016,P =0.004; FIM:8.98 ±7.29 and 13.21 ±7.6,Z =2.282,P=0.038; DFA:0.86 ±0.31 and 0.98 ±0.27,Z =2.360,P =0.036,before and after the treatment,respectively).It also showed linear correlations between the improvements of FMA scores and DFA(r =0.638),and between FIM scores and DFA(r =0.712,both P ＜0.05).There was no correlation between UPDRS scores and DFA values in PD patients,nor between FIM scores or FMA scores and PLE values in ACI patients.Conclusions Actigraph device can be used to monitor patients activity in movement disorders.Analysis of its PLE can provide a quantitative evaluation in PD while its DFA may provide useful specific assessment of impaired upper limb motor function in ACI patients.It can also be used in quantitatively assessing new drug efficacy.

Collagen is the major component of scar tissue. Considerable progress of fibroblast growth kinetics and of collagen synthesis has been achieved in the past decade. We have been interested in fibroblasts activities as they are expressed by cells cultured in collagen substrate. This study is to examine the effects of collagen substrate and peptide growth factors In culture medium on DNA and protein synthesis of human dermal fibroblasts. Collagen, interleukin-1(IL-1) and transforming growth factor-beta(TGF-beta) were added to fibroblast culture media according to the designed experiment model and DNA and protein synthesis were measured by [3H]-thymidine, [3H]-leucine, and [3H]-proline incorporation method. The morphological features of fibroblasts were observed by light microscope. The results were as follows ; 1) There were significant decreases of DNA and protein synthesis of cultured fibroblasts in the presence of collagen substrate compared with those in Control groups(p<0.01). 2) DNA and protein synthesis were decreased as dose dependant manner of collagen density in culture media. 3) Morphological features of fibroblasts became less stellate and flat, more spindle-like in the presence of collagen. 4) In responsiveness to IL-1, collagen non-treated groups responded to IL-1 but collagen treated groups were unresponsive to IL-1 (P<0.05). 5) Cells In collagen non-treated groups responded to TGF-beta as dose-related manner(P<0.01). Collagen treated groups desponded to TGF-beta but did not show TGF-beta dose-dependant relationship. In Conclusion, collagen substrate in the culture medium could lower the DNA and protein synthesis of fibroblasts. Cells in collagen substrate were unresponsive or less responsive to peptide growth factors than those in non-collagen substrate.
Cicatrix ; Collagen* ; Culture Media ; DNA* ; Fibroblasts* ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Interleukin-1 ; Kinetics ; Transforming Growth Factor beta

Electrical conductivity of eyeball replaced with vitreous substitutes were also measured in both the non-enucleated and enucleated eye. The study of correlation between the electroretinogram and conductivity of eyeball to be replaced with vitreous substitutes was also evaluated. The electrical conductivity of each vitreous replacement was shown 74.5% in vitreous, 77.5% in saline, 100% in air and silicone oil respectively relative to standard material -1.5 battery, 100%. There was no difference of conductivity between the enucleated eye and non-enucleated eye. There were no correlation between the ERG amplitude and conductivity. As a result of experiments, the decrease in amplitude is suggested as a damage of retina by manipulation and surgery rather than decrease of conductivity with vitreous replacements.
Electric Conductivity* ; Rabbits* ; Retina ; Silicone Oils

In general, the long head of the biceps brachii originates from the superior glenoid labrum and the supraglenoid tubercle, crosses the rotator cuff interval, and extends into the bicipital groove. However, rare anatomic variations of the origins of the long head have been reported in the past. In this report, we review the clinical history, radiologic findings, and arthroscopic identifications of 3 anatomic variants of the biceps tendon long head. As the detection of long head of biceps tendon pathology during preoperative radiologic assessment can be difficult without prior knowledge, surgeons should be aware of such possible anatomic variations.
Anatomic Variation ; Head* ; Pathology ; Rotator Cuff ; Shoulder ; Tendons

The success rate of endonasal lacrimal surgery have been reported inferior to that of external lacrimal surgery. But nowadays, owing to developement of surgical instrument, such as endoscope, and improvement of surgical skill, better success rates have been reported. We have performed endonasal lacrimal surgery in 36 eyes of 34 patients and external lacrimal surgery in 41 eyes of 36 patients who have had lacriaml pathway obstruction confirmed by dacryocystography. Endonasal lacrimal surgery has been performed with endoscope, fiberoptic light pipe, and conventional lacrimal surgery instruments. Primary success rates are 84.0% in endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR), 89.5% in external DCR, 81.8% in endonasal conjunctivodacryocystorhinostomy(CDCR), and 90.9% in external CDCR. The rate of postoperative complications are 32.0% in endonasal DCR, 47.4%, in external DCR, 27.3% in endonasal CDCR, and 40.9% in external CDCR. Therefore, in order to increase the success rate of endonasal lacrimal surgery, improvement of surgical technique, use of adequate surgical instrument and careful followup examination for proper management of postoperative complicaitons are considered essential.
Dacryocystorhinostomy ; Endoscopes ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Postoperative Complications ; Surgical Instruments

PURPOSE: To compare clinical outcomes of the tumor prosthetic replacement and osteosynthetic fixation for pathologic fracture of skeletal metastatic lesion of the proximal femur. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 1994 May to 2009 May, medical records of 22 patients who underwent tumor prosthetic replacement with tumor resection (group 1) and 15 others (16 hips) who underwent osteosynthetic fixation without tumor resection (group 2) were reviewed. The mean age of overall patients were 59 (group 1) and 60 (group 2). Mean follow up periods were 23 and 11 months. The oncological and functional results were evaluated with Kaplan-Meier methods and Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) scoring system, 1993. The statistical evaluation was assessed with Log rank test and t-test. RESULTS: The mean survival periods were 24 months in group 1 and 11months in group 2. The 1 year survival rates were 86% in group 1 and 50 % in group 2, and 2 year survival rates were 29.7% in group 1 and 9.4% in group 2. The mean MSTS functional score were 26.4 (19-30), 87.9% in group 1 and 15.3 (10-23), 51.0% in group 2. CONCLUSION: The results of tumor resection and prosthetic replacement in selected cases was better than osteosynthetic fixation without tumor resection for metastatic bone tumors around proximal femur in oncological and functional aspects.
Femur ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Humans ; Joints ; Medical Records ; Survival Rate

A statistical analysis of the diagnostic value for 244 aspiration biopsy cytology(ABC) among a total 1,043 cases from various sites was performed. ABC, using diagnostic terminology similar to that of a surgical pathology reports, was compared to the final tissue diagnosis. For the entire series, a sensitivity of 91.8%, a specificity of 99.3%, a positive predictive value of 98.9%, a negative predictive value of 94.8%, and an efficacy of the test of 96.3% were shown. There were 8 false negative and 1 false positive diagnosis. The diagnostic accuracy was 89.8%. Those results indicate that the ABC is a considerably highly accurate procedure that should be routinely employed.
Biopsy, Needle ; Child* ; Diagnosis ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A* ; Intranuclear Inclusion Bodies ; Meningioma ; Pathology, Surgical ; Sensitivity and Specificity