A middle-aged female patient showed long-standing multiple or confluent small hyperkeratotic papules on her palms and soles with subsequent development of well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma on the left sole and poorly differentiated pulmonary carcinoma. Arsenic as a possible etiological factor is discussed.
Arsenic ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Female ; Fibrinogen ; Humans

No abstract available.
Angiocardiography* ; Contrast Media* ; Electrolytes* ; Osmolar Concentration* ; Plasma* ; Renin*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Tuberculosis, Miliary*

Purpose: To investigate orbital morphology parameters associated with exophthalmos changes in patients undergoing endoscopic orbital decompression to treat thyroid-related orbitopathy. Methods: In total, 33 eyes of 18 patients with thyroid-related orbitopathy who underwent endoscopic orbital decompression were included in this retrospective study. Data were collected before and 6 months after surgery. We performed Hertel exophthalmometry and derived orbital morphology parameters from two-dimensional facial computed tomography records. Parameters associated with exophthalmos reduction on univariate linear regression analysis were subjected to multivariate linear regression analyses. Results: Univariate linear regression showed that the preoperative length of the medial orbital wall (β = 0.179, p = 0.032) and the postoperative distance from the cone apex to the medial wall defect (β = -0.139, p = 0.006) were associated with exophthalmos reduction after endoscopic orbital decompression surgery. Multivariate linear regression of these two parameters showed that the distance from the apex to the medial wall defect was associated with exophthalmos reduction (β = -0.118, p = 0.019). Conclusions The postoperative distance from the cone apex to the medial wall defect was associated with exophthalmos reduction. In patients with thyroid-related orbitopathy, this association should be considered when planning endoscopic orbital decompression.

The authors describe a technique consisting of subfascial temporalis dissection and performing a pedicled bone flap in pterional craniotomy. This technique provides reliable preservation of the frontalis nerve, does not necessitate the reconstruction of the temporalis muscle at the end of the surgery, and does not compromise the operative exposure.
Craniotomy

PURPOSE: We prospectively studied to evaluate the therapeutic effect of combination therapy of imipramine and desmopressin on the monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From April 1997 to July 2000, all of 129 monosymptomatic enuretic patients were randomized to three groups: combination therapy group of imipramine and desmopressin (I+D, 46 cases), imipramine group (I, 43 cases) and desmopressin group (D, 40 cases). We performed motivational counselling, reduction of fluid intake prior to bed time and voiding diary in addition to drug thrapy. Therapeutic response was classified as excellent (0-1 wet night/week), good (over 50% reduction of night) and poor responder (less than 50% reduction of night). RESULTS: Therapeutic response in group I+D, I and D were excellent in 84.8%, 81.4% and 60.0%, good in 10.9%, 11.6% and 35.0% and poor in 4.3%, 7.0% and 5.0%, respectively. As compared with group I and D, average response duration in group I+D was significantly shorter (p<0.05). There was no significant difference of relapse rate at 3 months after cessation of medication in excellent responders among each groups. There were no significant side effects in all of three groups. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that combination therapy of imipramine and desmopressin has no better therapeutic effect than impramine or demopressin monotherapy on the monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis, except shorter average response duration.
Child* ; Deamino Arginine Vasopressin* ; Humans ; Imipramine* ; Nocturnal Enuresis* ; Prospective Studies ; Recurrence

Preliminary in vitro experiments were performed to define the contraction effects of the serotonin and prostaglandin F2 alpha in cat's internal carotid artery. Subsquently 12 cats were used to study changes in contractility resulting from pretreatment with reserpine. The arteries, which were exposed to serotonin and prostaglandin F2 alpha contracted significantly just after exposure time. And by addition of higher concentrated serotonin and prostaglandin F2 alpha more contractions were noted. Arteries isolated from reserpine-pretreated cats responded to the serotonin and prostaglandin F2 alpha with similar pattern to those seen in control groups, but the contractility showed some what more decreased slope compared to those with high concentration of serotonin only. These results suggested that reserpine might have yet unknown effects which were different from known mechnism of serotonin to cerebral arteries.
Animals ; Arteries ; Carotid Artery, Internal ; Cats ; Cerebral Arteries ; Dinoprost ; Reserpine* ; Serotonin

No abstract available.
Follow-Up Studies* ; Hydronephrosis*

To investigate whether anti-Candida proteinase antibody could be a diagnostic marker, we examined seroreactivity to proteinase in sera from 90 healthy controls and 8 of C. albicans culture-positive patients. Previously we purified proteinases of C. albicans, C. tropicalis, and C. parapsilosis using a series of chromatographic steps consisting of DEAE- Sepharose, Sephacryl S-200, and size-exclusion HPLC. ELISA and Western blot technique were adopted to examine seroreactivity of C. albicans proteinase with sera. On ELISA, the seroreactivities of healthy controls and C. albicans-cultured patients were 0.601 +- 0.014 (mean+SEM), and 0.695 +- 0.079, respectively (P=0.084, t-test). In C. albicans-cultured patients, the positive rate was 62.5% (5/8) and the positive rate of healthy controls was 39% (35/90). On Western blot analysis, C. albicans proteinase molecule was blotted by all sera tested. But the intensity of blotted band was different with the same dilution of sera; the intensity of C. albicans proteinase molecule band blotted by 2 sera of 3 healthy control's sera was distinctively lower than that by C. albicans-cultured patients sera. However, all sera including C. albicans-cultured patient's sera did not blot the proteinase secreted by C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis. It is necessary to collect sequential sera of patients with candidiasis and to establish a cut-off value for ELISA or serum dilution for Western blot analysis that will give reliable test sensitivity and specificity.
Blotting, Western ; Candida albicans* ; Candida* ; Candidiasis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Peptide Hydrolases ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sepharose