The amebicidal activity of traditional anitiamoebic drug (emetine, carbasone, diodoquin, chloroquine, atabrine, chloramphenicol and tertracycline) and newly appeared chemicals(niridazole, metronidazole and No. 8603 substance) were assayed by in vitro experiment using five strains of human originated E, histolytica. The variety of amebicidal activity of drugs by the strains were discussed. Ranges of amoebicidal activity of traditional antiamoebic drugs kept almost similar titers of previous reports at the concentration; 1:5,000 to 1:20,000 with emetine hydrochloride, 1:10.000 to 1:20,000 with carbarsone, 1:8,000 to 1:16,000 with diodoquin, 1:50,000 with chloroquine, 1:1,000 to 1: 4,000 with atabrine ,1:1,000 to 1:2,000 with chloramphencol and 1:5,000 to 1:8,000 with tetracycline. The newly appeared chemicals showed higher amebicidal titres at the concentration; 1:500,000 to 1:5,000,000 with niridazole, 1:50,000 to 1:100,000 with metronidazol and 1:100,000 to 1:500,000 with No.8603 substance. Emetine, chloramphenicol and No. 8603 substance showed amebicidal activities at lower concentration to intestine originated amebae (YS 14, YS 15 and NAMRU II strain) than to liver originated amebae (YS 24 and YS 25 strain ), while carbarsone, chloroquine and metronidazole showed the activity at higher concentrations. Diodoquin showed lower amebicidal titres to trophozoite borne amebae (NAMRU II, YS 24 and YS 25 strain) than to cyst borne amebae(YS 14 and YS 15 strain), but niridazole showed converse results. The concentration of atabrine for amebicidal activity was not constant according to strains of the amoeba, but tetracycline showed almost settled titers.
parasitology-protozoa ; Entamoeba histolytica ; virulence ; in-vitro ; chemotherapy ; emetine ; carbasone ; diodoquin ; chloroquine ; atabrine ; chloramphenicol ; tertracycline ; niridazole ; metronidazole ; No. 8603 substance

Total 9 cases of extraintestinal amoebiasis, amebic liver abscess and amebic lung abscess, were treated with metronidazole. The diagnosis and progress check were done by (1) stool examination, (2) size and pain of liver, (3) hematological examination, (4) urinanalysis, (5) X-ray or liver scanning (6) examination of aspirated pus from liver and (7) immobilization test of E. histolytica. Results are summarized as follows: Amebic hepatitis: Metronidazole was given to 3 cases with daily dose of 0.9-1.2 gm for 3-7 days. Clinical symptoms were completely restored by the treatment. Amebic lung abscess: One case was treated with metronidazole for 3 days with the daily dose 1.2 gm. X-ray findings showed remarkable improvement by the treatment. An additional administration of the drug for 6 days resulted complete resolution of the pneumonic changes. Amebic liver abscess: Four cases were treated with metronidazole. The daily doses were 0.4-2.4 gm and continued for 2-10 days. Aspiration of the abscess for 1-10 times or continuous drainage of pus were performed during the course supplementarily. All cases were recovered to normal by the combining treatment. No remarkable side effect was noticed by the drug administration, and no relapse was experienced up to date.
parasitology-protozoa-Entamoeba histolytica ; chemotherapy ; metronidazole ; liver ; lung ; amoebiasis

Purpose: To analyze the clinical results of fitting mini-scleral contact lenses prescribed for vision correction in eyes with keratoconus, and the parameters of eyes related to the base curve radius (BCR) of the final prescribed lenses. Methods: From January 2016 to March 2021, 24 patients (44 eyes) who used mini-scleral lenses for more than 3 months due to keratoconus were enrolled. The keratoconus stage before prescription, degree of corrected visual acuity improvement, follow-up period, and complications and causes of failure to maintain the lenses were analyzed. The correlations between the BCR of the final prescribed lenses and the morphological factors of the eyes were analyzed. Results: The average Amsler–Krumeich keratoconus stage before wearing a lens was 2.2 ± 0.8 and 90.9% of patients had a corrected visual acuity improvement exceeding 2 lines. Excluding four eyes in two patients (9.9%) who gave up wearing mini-scleral lenses, the average duration of wearing lenses was 23.6 ± 17.8 months, and the average daily wearing time was 8.79 ± 3.14 hours. Complications were conjunctival injection in five eyes (three patients) and sterile keratitis and superficial punctate keratitis in one eye, respectively. The causes of failure to maintain the mini-scleral lens were injection in two eyes (one patient) and handling difficulty in two eyes (one patient), and they gave up after an average of 6 months. Only the radii of the anterior and posterior corneal best fit sphere before wearing the lens were found to have a significant positive correlation with the BCR of the finally prescribed lenses (p < 0.001). Conclusions Mini-scleral lenses provide relatively good vision improvement without serious complications in patients at various stages of keratoconus, and the BCR of the finally prescribed lens had a good correlation with the anterior and posterior corneal best fit sphere.

Acupuncture is recognized as a component of alternative medicine and is increasingly used worldwide. Many studies have shown the various effects of acupuncture around the eyes for ophthalmologic or nonophthalmologic conditions. For ophthalmologic conditions, the effect of acupuncture on dry eye syndrome, glaucoma, myopia, amblyopia, ophthalmoplegia, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, blepharospasm, and blepharoptosis has been reported. Recently, several studies on dry eye syndrome have been reported and are in the spotlight. However, given the variety of study designs and reported outcomes of periocular acupuncture, research is still inconclusive, and further studies are required. In addition, although a systematic and reliable safety assessment is required, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no reports of a literature review of ocular complications resulting from periocular acupuncture. This review collected cases of ocular injury as severe adverse events from previously published case reports of periocular acupuncture. A total of 14 case reports (15 eyes of 14 patients) of adverse events published between 1982 and 2020 were identified. This review article provides a summary of the reported cases and suggestions for the prevention and management of better visual function prognosis.

As the prevalence of myopia has recently increased, there is growing interest in interventions to slow myopia progression. The choroid, the rearmost and largest part of the uveal layer, is a tissue rich in blood vessels located between the retina and the sclera. Recent advancements in diagnostic equipment have enabled direct imaging of the choroid, leading to increased research on its role in both normal and pathological conditions. Regarding myopia, it has been reported that; 1) the choroidal thickness decreases as the degree of myopia and axial length increase, 2) in the case of moderate to high concentrations of atropine or orthokeratology lenses, which are known to slow myopic progression, choroidal thickening is accompanied from the early stages of application, and 3) the mechanism by which choroidal thickening slows myopia progression is also being actively investigated. As a result, the choroid is being recognized as a therapeutic target for developing new interventions to slow myopia progression. Additionally, the increase in choroidal thickness has been reported as a predictive factor for the subsequent myopia progression, suggesting its potential role as a biomarker for assessing the likelihood of future myopia progression.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of propofol using a target-controlled infusion (TCI) with two currently used anesthetic regimens during major operations. METHODS: Forty-two patients undergoing major gynecological surgery were divided into three groups according to the period during which the surgeries were performed. Group propofol/TCI (n = 16) received 1% propofol using TCI-50% N2O, Group isoflurane (n = 14) received thiopental 5 mg/kg-isoflurane-50% N2O, and Group enflurane (n = 12) received thiopental 5 mg/kg-enflurane-50% N2O. All patients also received 2 microgram/kg of fentanyl before induction. Concentrations of propofol and volatile anesthetics were varied according to the patient's hemodynamic responses. Consumption of volatile anesthetics was measured by weighing the vaporizers by a precision weighing machine. RESULTS: Biometric data, duration of surgery and of anesthesia were similar in the three groups. Recovery from anesthesia was significantly shorter in the propofol/TCI group. Episodes of postoperative nausea and vomiting in the recovery room were less common in propofol/TCI group. Patient satisfaction was similar in all three groups. Total (intra- and postoperative) costs were significantly higher in the propofol/TCI group. CONCLUSIONS: When compared with the standard anesthetic regimens, the use of propofol using TCI anesthesia during major operations was associated with higher costs, but did not offer any clinically significant advantages in cost-effectiveness over the standard anesthesia regimens.
Anesthesia* ; Anesthetics ; Enflurane ; Female ; Fentanyl ; Gynecologic Surgical Procedures ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Isoflurane ; Nebulizers and Vaporizers ; Patient Satisfaction ; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting ; Propofol* ; Recovery Room ; Thiopental

The experimental infection of rats with seven strains of Entamoeba histolytica were carried out according to animal ages, number of inoculated amebae, rat strain differences and rat-culture passages. The rat cecal scoring technique of Neal (1951) was utilized to measure the invasiveness of the parisite. The results are summarized and concluded as follows; 1. In the infection of Sprague-Dawley strain rat with YS9-strain and NAMRU II-stran amebae, which wem confirmed highly invasive to the membrane of cecum of rabbits in the previous reports (Cho,1968; Cross,1968), remarkab1e invasiveness was observed in the 30-day-old rat groups with the average cecal score above 5.0. Although no statistical differences of virulence by the number of inoculations showed in rat groups, the cecal scores were markedly reduced in the 50,000 amebae inoculated rats. 2. The hybrid albino rats were considered unsuitable for virulence study of E. histolytica, since the invasiveness of the amabae was inconsistant. 3. The virulences of YS 14 and YS16-strains from cyst carrier showed no virulence, YS 15 from cyst carrier and YS 24 from liver abscess were moderately invasive, and only YS25 from liver abscess showed highly invasive as with YS 9 and NAMRU II-strain amebae. By rat-culture passage, YS14-strain and YS24-strain amebae showed marked increase of invasiveness. It was presumed that the rat-culture passage should be indispensably supplememed in the studies on the virulence of E. histolytica.
Adult ; Animals ; Cecum/microbiology ; Entamoeba histolytica/*pathogenicity ; Female ; Human ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rats ; Virulence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used in various fields of medicine, with applications encompassing all areas of medical services, such as the development of medical robots, the diagnosis and personalized treatment of diseases, and personalized healthcare. Medical AI research and development have been largely focused on diagnosis, prediction, treatment, and management as an auxiliary means of patient care. AI is mainly used in the fields of personal healthcare and diagnostic imaging. In urology, substantial investments are being made in the development of urination monitoring systems in the personal healthcare field and diagnostic solutions for ureteral stricture and urolithiasis in the diagnostic imaging field. This paper describes AI applications for urinary diseases and discusses current trends and future perspectives in AI research.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of orthokeratology lenses on axial length elongation and associated factors in eyes treated withorthokeratology lenses for 2-3 years. Methods: Thirty-four eyes of 20 patients treated with orthokeratology lenses for more than 22 months were enrolled into the orthokeratology(OK) group. Uncorrected distant visual acuity, spherical equivalent, axial length, and high-order aberrations of theanterior cornea at baseline and during the follow-up period were analyzed retrospectively. Spectacle-wearing patients matchedwith the OK group patients by sex, age, refractive error and follow-up period were selected as a control group. To adjust for follow-upperiod differences, the 24-month conversion axial length changes were calculated and compared between the two groups. Results: The 24-month conversion mean axial length change showed significant differences (0.50 ± 0.23 mm in the OK groupversus 1.00 ± 0.28 mm in the control group; p< 0.001). For the OK group, the age at starting OK lens (r = -0.572, p= 0.001)showed statistically significant correlation with axial elongation. The anterior corneal spherical aberrations (SA) and coma with 6mm pupil at last follow-up (SA: r = 0.543, p= 0.001; coma: r = 0.420, p= 0.017) and the total SA and total coma changes (ㅿSA:r = 0.518, p= 0.002; ㅿcoma: r = 0.420, p= 0.017) also showed a statistically significant correlation. The initial age and axiallength, the anterior corneal SA and ㅿSA values were identified as factors significantly correlated with axial length elongation bymultiple regression analysis. Conclusions The OK lens effectively suppressed axial length elongation during a 2-3 years treatment period. However, whenthe age of starting OK lens was younger and the anterior corneal spherical aberration during the follow-up period was larger, therisk of axial elongation was higher.

BACKGROUND: Dystrophic calcification can occur in any soft tissue with the absence of a systemic mineral imbalance and is often associated with trauma, infection, or inflammation. It is easily found in the site of the heart and skeletal muscles and rarely appears in the head and neck area. CASE REPORT: We present a rare case of multiple calcified masses in the left masseter muscle of a 26-year-old female with a history of trauma in the area. In computed tomography, multiple radiopaque masses were observed inside the left masseter muscle and blood test results were normal. The calcified masses were diagnosed as dystrophic calcification and removed by surgery without any complications. CONCLUSION: Different types of calcifications may occur in the cheek area, and they need to be distinguished from dystrophic calcification. Thorough clinical examination and history taking is required together with blood testing and radiographic examinations.
Adult ; Cheek ; Female ; Head ; Heart ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Masseter Muscle* ; Miners ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Neck