No abstract available.
Cryopreservation* ; Humans* ; Oocytes*

The evolution of brain imaging techniques over the last decade has been remarkable. Along with such technical developments, research into chronic pain has made many advances. Given that brain imaging is a non-invasive technique with great spatial resolution, it has played an important role in finding the areas of the brain related to pain perception as well as those related to many chronic pain disorders. Therefore, in the near future, brain imaging techniques are expected to be the key to the discovery of many unknown etiologies of chronic pain disorders and to the subjective diagnoses of such disorders.
Brain ; Chronic Pain ; Neuroimaging ; Pain Perception

Pseudoaneurysm, or false aneurysm, rarely presents as a cause of facial tumor. Among the cases of pseudoaneurysm reported in the world literature, more than 75% have been of a traumatic origin. Pseudoaneurysm most frequently arises in the superficial temporal artery, but the pseudoaneurysm of our present case arose in the supraorbital artery, and this type of presentation has been only rarely reported on. The most typical clinical findings consist of a tender, growing, pulsating nodule. We report here on a case of pseudoaneurysm that was due to trauma, and the tumor was pulseless. This lesion was treated with percutaneous glue embolization.
Adhesives ; Aneurysm, False ; Arteries ; Temporal Arteries

Eccrine hidrocystomas are benign cystic dilatations with eccrine differentiation. The clinical presentation usually occurs as a solitary tense vesicle or translucent papule located predominantly on the face, whereas multiple eccrine hidrocystomas are unusual. Histologically, eccrine hidrocystoma consists of one or more partially collapsed unilocular cysts in the dermis, which show flattened epithelium that is partially lined by two layer of cuboidal epithelium. We report here on a case of the patient with multiple eccrine hidrocystomas that showed an especially generalized presentation that included the face, neck, anterior chest and both arms.
Arm ; Dermis ; Dilatation ; Epithelium ; Hidrocystoma ; Humans ; Neck ; Thorax ; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation

Nicolau syndrome, also known as livedoid dermatitis or embolia cutis medicamentosa, is a rare cutaneous adverse drug reaction characterized by the acute onset of cutaneous and soft-tissue necrosis following intramuscular drug injection. The typical presentation is pain around the injection site, developing into erythema, a livedoid patch, and necrosis of the skin, subcutaneous fat, and muscle tissue. We report a 72-year-old man who presented with a painful, erythematous patch on his left buttock. The patient was treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (diclofenac sodium) injection.
Aged ; Buttocks ; Dermatitis ; Diclofenac ; Drug Toxicity ; Erythema ; Humans ; Muscles ; Necrosis ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Fat

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we compared the magnetic resonance (MR) image artifacts caused by a conventional metal-based cochlear implant and a newly developed liquid crystal polymer (LCP)-based device. METHODS: The metal-based cochlear implant system (Nurobiosys Co.) was attached to side of the head of a subject and the LCP-based device was attached to opposite side. In both devices, alignment magnets were removed for safety. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed on a widely used 3.0 T and an ultra-high 7.0 T MRI machine. 3.0 and 7.0 T MR images were acquired using T1- and T2*-weighted gradient echo sequences, respectively. RESULTS: In the 3.0 T images, the metal-based device on the left side generated the significant amount of artifacts. The MR images in the proximity of the metal package were obscured by the artifacts in both axial and sagittal views. On the other hand, the MR images near the LCP-based device were relatively free from the artifacts and clearly showed the brain structures. 7.0 T MR images showed the more severe distortion in the both sides but the metal-based cochlear implant system caused a much larger obscure area than the LCP-based system. CONCLUSION: The novel LCP-based cochlear implant provides a good MRI compatibility beyond present-day cochlear implants. Thus, MR images can be obtained from the subjects even with the implanted LCP-based neural prosthetic systems providing useful diagnostic information. Furthermore, it will be also useful for functional MRI studies of the auditory perception mechanism after cochlear implantations as well as for positron emission tomography-MRI hybrid imaging.
Artifacts ; Auditory Perception ; Brain ; Chimera ; Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Electrons ; Hand ; Head ; Liquid Crystals ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Magnetics ; Magnets ; Polymers

Boiled silkworm pupa is a traditional food in Asia, and patients with silkworm pupa food allergy are common in these regions. Still now only one allergen from silkworm, arginine kinase, has been identified. The purpose of this study was to identify novel food allergens in silkworm pupa by analyzing a protein extract after heat treatment. Heat treated extracts were examined by proteomic analysis. A 27-kDa glycoprotein was identified, expressed in Escherichia coli, and purified. IgE reactivity of the recombinant protein was investigated by ELISA. High molecular weight proteins (above 100 kDa) elicited increased IgE binding after heat treatment compared to that before heat treatment. The molecular identities of these proteins, however, could not be determined. IgE reactivity toward a 27-kDa glycoprotein was also increased after heating the protein extract. The recombinant protein was recognized by IgE antibodies from allergic subjects (33.3%). Glycation or aggregation of protein by heating may create new IgE binding epitopes. Heat stable allergens are shown to be important in silkworm allergy. Sensitization to the 27-kDa glycoprotein from silkworm may contribute to elevation of IgE to silkworm.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Allergens/*chemistry/*immunology ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Bombyx/*chemistry/genetics/growth & development/*immunology ; Epitopes/immunology ; Female ; Food Hypersensitivity/etiology ; Glycoproteins/*chemistry/genetics/*immunology ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E/immunology ; Male ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Molecular Weight ; Proteomics ; Pupa/chemistry/immunology ; Recombinant Proteins/biosynthesis/chemistry/immunology ; Sequence Alignment

BACKGROUND: Many variants of dermatofibromas have been described, and being aware of the variants of dermatofibromas is important to avoid misdiagnosis. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to evaluate the clinical and pathologic characteristics of 122 cases of dermatofibromas. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and 122 biopsy specimens of 92 patients who were diagnosed with dermatofibroma in the Department of Dermatology at Eulji Hospital of Eulji University between January 2000 and March 2010. RESULTS: Nearly 80% of the cases occurred between the ages of 20 and 49 years, with an overall predominance of females. Over 70% of the lesions were found on the extremities. The most common histologic variant was a fibrocollagenous dermatofibroma (40.1%). Other variants included histiocytic (13.1%), cellular (11.5%), aneurysmal (7.4%), angiomatous (6.5%), sclerotic (6.5%), monster (4.9%), palisading (1.6%) and keloidal dermatofibromas (0.8%). There were 9 dermatofibromas (7.3%) that were the mixed type with two co-dominant histologic features. CONCLUSION: The results of this study are consistent with previous reports on the clinical features of dermatofibromas. However, we observed several characteristic subtypes of dermatofibroma and we compared the frequency of the histologic subtypes.
Aneurysm ; Biopsy ; Dermatology ; Extremities ; Female ; Histiocytoma, Benign Fibrous ; Humans ; Keloid ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: Thanks to advancements in surgical techniques and instruments, many surgical modalities have been developed to replace transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). However, TURP remains the gold standard for the surgical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). We conducted a meta-analysis on the efficacy and safety of minimally invasive surgical therapies for BPH compared with TURP. METHODS: This meta-analysis used a Medline search assessing the period from 1997 to 2011. A total of 784 randomized controlled trials were identified in an electronic search. Among the 784 articles, 36 randomized controlled trials that provided the highest level of evidence (level 1b) were included in the meta-analysis. We also conducted a quality analysis of selected articles. RESULTS: Only 2 articles (5.56%) were assessed as having a low risk of bias by use of the Cochrane collaboration risk of bias tool. On the other hand, by use of the Jadad scale, there were 26 high-quality articles (72.22%). Furthermore, 28 articles (77.78%) were assessed as high-quality articles by use of the van Tulder scale. Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) showed the highest reduction of the International Prostate Symptom Score compared with TURP (P<0.0001). Bipolar TURP, bipolar transurethral vaporization of the prostate, HoLEP, and open prostatectomy showed superior outcome in postvoid residual urine volume and maximum flow rate. The intraoperative complications of the minimally invasive surgeries had no statistically significant inferior outcomes compared with TURP. Also, there were no statistically significant differences in any of the modalities compared with TURP. CONCLUSIONS: The selection of an appropriate surgical modality for BPH should be assessed by fully understanding each patient's clinical conditions.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Cooperative Behavior ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Hand ; Holmium ; Intraoperative Complications ; Lasers, Solid-State ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Phosphates ; Prostate ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Titanium ; Transurethral Resection of Prostate ; Volatilization

PURPOSE: We assessed the visual and anatomical outcomes, and the safety profile of long-term intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections (aflibercept, ranibizumab, and bevacizumab) given to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NAMD). METHODS: We analyzed medical records collected over 7 years of treatment-naive NAMD patients who received outpatient clinic-based intravitreal anti-VEGF injections. All were treated employing either “treat-and-extend” or “as needed” protocols at the discretion of the retinal specialist. The number of injections, adverse events associated with injection, and measures of visual acuity (VA), central foveal thickness (CFT), and intraocular pressure (IOP) were recorded. RESULTS: Overall, we assessed 196 eyes of 196 patients (average age 68.6 ± 9.6 years; 77 females). Patients received an average of 17.3 ± 13.5 injections over 78.0 ± 16.5 months of clinical follow-up. The initial mean VA (logMAR) was 0.75 ± 0.58 and the CFT was 349.7 ± 152.6 µm. Both parameters exhibited maximal improvements at the 6-month visit (p < 0.05). However, the clinical outcomes worsened over the 7-year clinical course; the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.91 ± 0.78 and the CFT was 284.5 ± 105.8 µm at 7 years. The BCVA at 7 years was significantly correlated with the initial BCVA. IOP-related events increased 11-fold and anterior chamber reactions increased 3-fold over the years, but no significant complications such as endophthalmitis were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: The use of intravitreal anti-VEGF agents was associated with initial visual improvements over 6 months but did not prevent the worsening of NAMD over 5 years. The BCVA at the initial visit was a strong predictor of the final BCVA. A more intensive injection schedule might improve long-term outcomes.
Anterior Chamber ; Appointments and Schedules ; Choroidal Neovascularization ; Endophthalmitis ; Endothelial Growth Factors ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Macular Degeneration ; Medical Records ; Outpatients ; Ranibizumab ; Retinaldehyde ; Specialization ; Visual Acuity