The postnatal development of somatostatin [SOM]- and neuropeptide Y[NPY]- immunoreactive[ir] neurons were examined in rat cerebral cortex considering their coexistence in cortical neurons. Using double immunohistochemical staining for SOM and NPY with diaminobenzidine and benzidine dihydrochloride as chromogens, we subdivided immunoreactive cells into double-labeled SOM/NPY-, SOM only-, and NPY only-ir neurons. Interestingly, SOM/NPY- and SOM only-ir neurons were detectable even at the day of birth, in contrast to NPY only-ir cells which first appeared in most cortices from two weeks of age. The morphological features of double-labeled SOM/NPY neurons were not identical to those SOM only- and NPY only-ir neurons. No apparent changes in the shape and size of single-labeled neurone occurred with age ; throughout their postnatal life they were round and ovoid, had a thin rim of perinuclear cytoplasm, and short processes. In contrast, the features of SOM/NPY-ir neurons were not consistent during postnatal life. By day P7, these neurons showed immature features ; they began to show more advanced neuronal characteristics by week P2, when they had a larger and more intensely-stained cytoplasm. In addition, their processes were longer, thicker and more complex than at earlier ages. At this age, SOM/NPY-ir somata were close to their maximum size. From week P4, they became smaller and were lightly labeled. SOM/NPY-ir somata were larger than SOM only- and NPY only-ir somata at and after two weeks of age. The present results showing different postnatal maturation patterns such as time of appearance and morphological features suggest that double-labeled SOM/NPY and single-labeled neurons might be different populations regulated by different mechanisms in their development, and with different functional properties during development.
Animals ; Cerebral Cortex* ; Cytoplasm ; Neurons* ; Neuropeptide Y* ; Neuropeptides* ; Parturition ; Rats* ; Somatostatin*

BACKGROUND: Dyskinesia is a common side effect complicating long-term levodopa therapy for Parkinson's disease. However, the pathogenesis of dyskinesia has not been completely understood. In recent animal studies, it has been reported that a NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) antagonist reduced levodopa-induced dyskinesia. These findings suggest that the hyperfunction of NMDA receptors on striatal efferent neurons contributed to the pathogenesis of dyskinesia. Amantadine has also been recently shown to antagonize central NMDA receptors. In the present study, we observed amantadine efficacy in levodopa-induced dyskinesia in parkinsonian patients. METHODS:Twenty-two parkinsonian patients with levodopa-induced dyskinesia participated in a placebo-controlled, cross-over study. We prescribed 100 mg amantadine daily as a starting dose, which was built up every four days and titrated up to 400 mg a day. After two weeks of a wash-out period, a placebo was given with the same schedule. The doses of levodopa and other antiparkinsonian drugs were unchanged during this period. We assessed the duration and disability of dyskinesia (UPDRS part IV, item 32 and 33) based on diary and interview. RESULTS: Amantadine was superior to placebo in reducing the duration of dyskinesia in 9 patients (42.9%) and the disability of dyskinesia in 11 patients (52.4%). The reduction of the duration and disability of dyskinesia was correlated with the dose of amantadine. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that amantadine can improve levodopa induced dyskinesia and supports the view that the hyperfunction of NMDA receptors contributes to the pathogenesis of levodopa induced dyskinesia.
Amantadine* ; Animals ; Appointments and Schedules ; Cross-Over Studies ; Dyskinesias* ; Humans ; Levodopa ; N-Methylaspartate ; Neurons, Efferent ; Parkinson Disease ; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate

Decreased number of the Neuropeptide-Y[NPY] immunoreactive neurons in the corpus striatum and primary motor cortex of aged rat was detected by the immunohistochemical method. The animals were categorized into control and aged group and we used 10 Sprague-Dawley rat weighing 250-300gm for control group. 10 Sprague-Dawley rat weighing over 600gm for aged group. The number of NPY-immunoreactive neurons in corpus striatum and primary motor cortex were counted under the light microscope and the following results were obtained. 1. The NPY-immunoreactive neurons were evenly distributed in corpus striatum and in the primaty motor cortex, the NPY-immunoreactive neurons were concentrated within the layer II, III and layer V, VI. The typical NPY-immunoreactive perikarya was multipolar shape. 2. Decreased number of NPY-immunoreactive neurons were detected in some areas of corpus striatum and primary mortor cortex of the aged rat. 3. Decrease of NPY-immunoreactive neurons were most prominent in the caudate-putamen and there were moderate decrease of NPY-immunoreactive neurons in the primary motor cortex, mild decrease of NPY-immunoreactive neurons in the nucleus accumbens but the NPY-immunoreactive neurons were not observed in the globus pallidus in both control and aged rat. NPY is supposed to act as a neurotransmitter of local circuit neurons in the striatum and may exert its potent vasoconstrictor effects on cerebral vessels which influences on the microcirculation of cerebral cortex and striatum. So our results seems to provide an important data on change of the function in the striatum and primary motor cortex of aged rat brain.
Aging ; Animals ; Brain ; Cerebral Cortex ; Corpus Striatum* ; Globus Pallidus ; Microcirculation ; Motor Cortex ; Neurons* ; Neuropeptide Y* ; Neuropeptides* ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Nucleus Accumbens ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Spinal fixation using pedicle screws has recently been the focus of increased attention, but the adequate size of pedicle screw and maximum percentage fill as related to the pedicle diameter and are not well known. The objects of this study were to determine the ideal ratio among pedicle, drill and screw diameter, and to determine the maximum percentage fill of the screw without significant decrease of pull-out strength. The materials used for the experiments were 376 thoracic pedicles obtained from the 38 young pigs, and the diameters of pedicles ranged from 3.0 to 8.5mm. After 40% to 100% drilling as compared to pedicle diameter, screws were inserted carefully, and measurements were taken of the outer pedicle changes and pull-out strengths, and adequate drill and screw sizes as related to the diameters of given pedicles were determined. It was found that pull-out strength was the strongest after 60% drill, and the larger the drill diameter, the smaller the holding power, and the larger the screw diameter, the greater the holding power. Maximum pull-out strength was seen at 80-90% fill with 60% drill. After sequentially drilling each pedicle with increasingly larger drill bits, larger screws could be inserted with pedicle changes such as expansion, cutout, split fracture, and comminuted fracture. after larger drilling up to 100%, pedicle screws with diameters smaller than 115% of measured pedicle diameters could be safly inserted without fracture and significant decrease of pull-out strength. It is concluded that effective percentages of drill and screw diameters to the pedicle diameter are 60% and 80-90% respectively, and pedicle screw up to 115% of measured pedicle diameter can be safely inserted into pedicle without significant decrease of pull-out strength. It is thought that fresh pedicle has elasticity and larger screw can be inserted to the pedicle with strong holding after larger drilling.
Elasticity ; Fractures, Comminuted ; Pedicle Screws ; Swine

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is rare in children, mainly affecting male adolescents. It usually occurs secondary to alveloar rupture in the pulmonary interstitium, followed by dissection of gas towards the hilum and mediastinum. Many pathological and physiological events can lead to alveolar rupture, but the most common cause in children is asthma. The most frequent triggers in the pediatric age group are asthma, vomiting of any cause, situations reproducing the Valsalva maneuver (e.g., shouting, coughing), and intense sport activities. We report two cases of pneumomediastinum, occuring in a patient with vigorous coughing and pneumonia and in a patient with dyspnea and pneumonia. We describe the clinical and radiologic findings of two cases. In addition, we have made a comprehensive review of the literature on spontaneous pneumomediastinum in children.
Adolescent ; Asthma ; Child ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Mediastinal Emphysema* ; Mediastinum ; Pneumonia ; Rupture ; Sports ; Subcutaneous Emphysema ; Valsalva Maneuver ; Vomiting

The sparsity of publication concerning CT findings of tuberculous arthritis prompted authors to retrospectively evaluate 12 patients with tuberculous arthritis for characteristic CT findings. In each patient, the diagnosis of tuberculous arthritis was confirmed by surgery or biopsy. The CT examinations were evaluated by two radiologists retrospectively. Involved joints were the hip joint in seven patients, the sacroiliac joint in three parients, and the shoulder and ankle joint in one patients each. CT features included subchondral bony erosion(12 patients), soft tissue mass in the joint space(nine), widenining of the joint space(eight), ipsilateral muscle atrophy(eight), thickening of the joint capsule(seven), intra-articular effusion(six), soft tissue abscess(five),and bony sclerosis(four). In seven patients with the duration of symptoms less than 1 year, thickening of joint capsule and intra-articular effusion were the predominent findings, while bony sclerosis, gross bone destruction, and soft tissue mass in joint space were seen in five patients with the duration of symptoms longer than 1 year. Our results indicate that CT is useful in the diagnosis of tuberculous arthritis by demonstrating characteristic pathologic changes of the joint space, soft tissue abnormality and bony involvement.
Ankle Joint ; Arthritis* ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Hip Joint ; Humans ; Joint Capsule ; Joints ; Publications ; Retrospective Studies ; Sacroiliac Joint ; Sclerosis ; Shoulder

Lipoma is a common benign neoplasm, but lipoma arising from the pleura is rare; it is composed of mature adipose tissue and occasionally fibrous stroma. The tumor shows characteristic radiographic and CT features of pleural mass, and the lesion is homogeneous and low density, with CT numbers indicating fat. The mass was removed by surgery and confirmed as a lipoma originating from the parietal pleura.
Adipose Tissue ; Lipoma* ; Pleura

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Hemifacial spasm(HFS) is a chronic and often progressive disorder characterized by unilateral irregular clonic and tonic contractions of one or more muscles of facial expression. Many previous electrophysiologic studies showed characteristic features of HFS differentiating from other involuntary movements of the face. However, there has been no electrophysiologic study for estimating the clinical severity of HFS. This study was prospectively designed to evaluate the relationships between electrophysiologic findings and clinical severity of HFS. METHODS: The authors performed direct facial nerve stimulation, blink reflex, and lateral spread response in 62 patients with HFS, and compared the results of affected side with those of unaffected each other. Clinical severity was graded into seven groups (0-6) by questionnaire and confirmed by a neurologist. RESULTS: The results were as following. 1) The total number of subjects were 62, the number of patients in group 2 was 3 (4.8%), group 3 was 12 (19.3%), group 4 was 25 (40.3%), group 5 was 21 (33.9%), and group 6 was 1(1.6%). 2) The mean age was 54.5+/-9.1years old, the mean duration of the illness was 6.4+/-4.9years, male was 11(17.7%) and female was 51(82.3%), and involved sites were right in 26(41.9%) and left in 36(58.1%) patients. 3) Direct stimulation of facial nerve showed no differences between affected and unaffected sides in HFS. 4) The results of blink reflex showed more increased latencies and larger amplitudes of R1 & R2 responses in affected sides than in unaffected sides of HFS, but no differences among the groups. 5) The lateral spread responses were found in 45 of 62 (72.6%) patients by stimulation of zygomatic branch and recording in mentalis muscle, 26 of 62 (41.9%) patients by stimulation of mandibular branch and recording in orbicularis oculi muscle on affected side. 6) There was a linear correlation between the presence of lateral spread response with zygomatic or mandibular stimulation and the grade of clinical severity. CONCLUSION: We suspected that the lateral spread response was a significant electrophysiological test for estimating the clinical severity of HFS.
Blinking ; Dyskinesias ; Facial Expression ; Facial Nerve ; Female ; Hemifacial Spasm* ; Humans ; Male ; Muscles ; Prospective Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Writer's cramp is one of the most frequent type of task-related dystonia. It is primarily defined by the appearance of involuntary muscle contractions soon after one begins to write and often co-exists with postural tremor. The cause of writer's cramp as well as other focal dystonia is still a matter of debate. Although the genetic background of some dys-tonia was well known, there have been few cases of writer's cramp that involve other family members. We experienced one family with writer's cramp and postural tremor. A 42-year-old man noted handwriting difficulty of gradual onset which began with postural tremor at the age of 25. When he wrote certain letters or numbers, he automatically had to press hard or hold the pen tightly, experiencing tremor as well as dystonia. His mother and four siblings also had simi-lar disabilities. All were right-handed, and had a postural tremor, prominent in their right hands. They noted the onset of symptoms between the age of 20 and 40. The symptoms had slowly progressed over a period of years and no patient described a remission of symptoms. Two of them eventually no longer attempted to write due to writer's cramp. Two members could write but barely readable and the other two had minimal distress. Alcohol somewhat relieved the cramp in only one of them. Levodopa was no beneficial to the cramp and baclofen relieved the cramp minimally. We report this rare case with familial writer's cramp and postural tremor that suggests autosomal dominant inheritance.
Adult ; Baclofen ; Dystonia ; Dystonic Disorders* ; Hand ; Handwriting ; Humans ; Levodopa ; Mothers ; Muscle Cramp ; Muscle, Smooth ; Siblings ; Tremor ; Wills

The aim of this study is to determine whether full-mouth disinfection therapy(FMT) in our clinical setting would show better improvement of clinical parameters than partial mouth disinfection therapy(PMT) in chronic periodontitis and aggressive periodontitis patients. Among 12 patients, 6 were treated FMT and other 6 were treated PMT. Clinical parameters were calculated 3 months and 6 months after initial therapy. 1. There were no statistically significant differences between FMT and PMT in the reduction rate of bleeding on probing after 3 months, 6 months 2. Initial probing depth was 4-6mm, the mean probing depth after 3 months was 2.2mm vs 2.5mm(FMT vs PMT), after 6 months was 2.4mm vs 2.8mm. This was significantly lower in the FMT groups. 3. Initial probing depth was > or = 7mm, the reduction rate of mean probing depth during first 3 months was 4.8mm vs 4.1mm(FMT vs PMT), and 3 to 6 months was 0.5mm vs 0.3mm. This was significantly larger in the FMT groups. 4. Initial probing depth was 4-6mm, the mean clinical attachment level after 3 months was 2.3mm vs 2.7mm(FMT vs PMT), after 6 months was 2.7mm vs 3.0mm. This was significantly lower in the FMT groups. 5. Initial probing depth was > or = 7mm, the reduction rate of mean probing depth during first 3 months was 4.0mm vs 3.0mm(FMT vs PMT), and 3 to 6 months was 0mm vs -0.1mm. This was significantly larger in the FMT groups. Although the results provided us with succeccful clinical improvement in aggressive periodontitis, further research is needed to prove its additional benefit in the treatment of chronic periodontitis