During acute stages of hospitalized stroke patients, family caregivers face many challenges. They often experience emotional distress. social isolation. and financial constraints. However. the burden of caregiving of stroke patients in acute stages has never been studied properly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related to the caregivers' burden with acute stroke. The subjects were 123 acute stroke patients and their caregivers who were admitted to neurology and neurosurgery units at Dan Kook University Hospital in Chung-Nam area. An interview was performed with the use of standardized questionnaire which included data pertaining to the patients/caregivers characteristics, caregiver burden (Modified Zarit's Burden Scale), and social support (Fersonal Resource Questionnaire). Our results showed that the mean burden score was 3,11. indicating high level of burden, Among the sub-domain scores, financial burder was the highest, In univariate analysis, the factors related to caregiver burdens were: inability to communicate between patients and caregiver (p<.001): low cognitive function of the patients(p<.001): low level of ADL(p<.001), the gender of caregiver(p<.001) the current employment status of caregivers(p<.01) the presence of social support for caregiver(p<.001), and the availability of alternative caregivers (p<.001). In multiple regression analysis, social support for family caregivers (87%), low level of patient's cognition (2%), availability of 2nd caregiver (1%). and gender of caregiver (female, 0,4%) were significant explanatory factors of overall burden, The caregivers' burden in acute stages during hospitalization following stroke was high, Recognition of high levels of caregivers' burden and those relating factors affecting caregiver burden may allow us to develop different nursing strategies to unload the level of burden for caregivers in acute stages of stroke.
Caregivers ; Cognition ; Employment ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Neurology ; Neurosurgery ; Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Social Isolation ; Stroke*

No abstract available.
Nephrotic Syndrome*

PURPOSE: This paper evaluate and classified the risk factors that could possibly cause ischemic stroke in children, and investigate whether TOAST classification could be applied to the ischemic stroke in children. METHODS: From March 1995 to February 2002, we retrospectively reviewed the medical record of 87 patients under the age 16 who had been registered to the Ajou Stroke Registry. We evaluated the risk factors of ischemic stroke according to the Ajou Stroke Registry Protocol, and classified the risk factors into 6 main subgroups. In addition, the risk factors were investigated according to the age distribution. TOAST classification had been applied to children with ischemic stroke. RESULTS: There was 64 ischemic stroke(73.6%) and 23 hemorrhagic stroke(26.4%) among the 87 patients. In children with ischemic stroke, there was three major peak age; 13 patients younger than 1 year old(15.3%), 26 patients in age 5 to 8 years old(40.6 %), 22 patients in 9 to 12 years old(34.3%). Vasculopathy(48.6%) was the most common risk factor of the ischemic stroke in this study. Other important risk factors in order of frequency were hypertensive encephalopathy(12.5%), infectious disease(7.8%), metabolic disease(7.8%), and hematologic disease(6.2%). Moyamoya disease was the most common cause of ischemic stroke due to vasculopathy. If we analyze the risk factors according to the age at the presentation of ischemic stroke, 90% of the ischemic stroke due to vasculopathy had been developed after 5 years of age. However, ischemic stroke due to infectious disease had been developed less than 4 years of age. Major stroke was the most common subtype of the ischemic stroke in children, but TIA had been found in 80% of the patients with ischemic stroke due to moyamoya disease. TOAST classification determined the subtype of the ischemic stroke only in 2 children. Risk factors of ischemic stroke in the remained 62 patients were extremely variable, and could not be applicable to the TOAST classification. CONCLUSION: Risk factor of ischemic stroke were found in the 90% of patients. Although risk factors of ischemic stroke were extremely variable in children, cerebral vasculopathy including moyamoya disease was the most common. However, inherited metabolic disorder, coagulopathy, and hypertensive encephalopathy were also relatively common risk factors of ischemic stroke especially in children older than 5 years old. Therefore, we must extensively evaluate all the possible risk factors of ischemic stroke in children. TOAST classification could not be applicable in children because the risk factors of ischemic stroke were extremely variable.
Age Distribution ; Child* ; Child, Preschool ; Classification ; Communicable Diseases ; Humans ; Hypertensive Encephalopathy ; Medical Records ; Moyamoya Disease ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors* ; Stroke*

Idiopathic progressive atrophoderma of Pasini and Pierini(IPAPP) is charcterized by sharply dermatcated, atrophic and slate-gray to brownish patches. We report a 17-year-old female with well-defined, atrophic, and brown colored patched on the abdomen, flank, and back. Histologic finding showed marked thining of dermis with thichening of collagen fibers and fragmentation of elastic fibers.
Abdomen ; Adolescent ; Collagen ; Dermis ; Elastic Tissue ; Female ; Humans

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a normal inhabitant of skin, throat, mouth, vagina, and urethra. It is not usually pathogenic, particularly in immunocompetent hosts. This report describes a case of a pyogenic liver abscess caused by Staphylococcus epidermidis in a healthy 12-year-old boy. He was admitted to Seoul St. Mary's Hospital with intermittent fever for 6 days. Findings on abdominal computed tomography (CT) showed a mass measuring 7.0x6.5 cm in the right hepatic lobe. Culture of the abscess resulted in growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis as a causative organism. The patient was successfully treated with intravenous administration of antibiotics and percutaneous drainage of the abscess.
Abscess ; Administration, Intravenous ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Child ; Drainage ; Fever ; Humans ; Liver Abscess ; Liver Abscess, Pyogenic ; Mouth ; Pharynx ; Skin ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus epidermidis ; Urethra ; Vagina

Lovastatin, a competitive inhibitor of the rate limiting enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis was administered to 34 patients with primary hypertlipidemia, 20 mg once daily with the evening meal. Patients experienced mean total and LDL cholesterol reductions of 30.9% and 34.0% respectively. HDL cholesterol level was significantly increased by 15.4% and plasma triglyceride level was decreased by 11.2%. maximal hypocholesterolemic effects were evident at 8 weeks, after which the effects were stable. Adverse effects were noted in 2 patients who had mild gastrointestinal symptoms, that subsided after discontinuing the drug. We concluded that lovastatin is a well tolerated and effective agent for the treatment of primary hyperlipidemia.
Cholesterol ; Cholesterol, HDL ; Cholesterol, LDL ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias* ; Lovastatin ; Meals ; Plasma* ; Triglycerides

No abstract available.

The normal function of the ureterovesical junction was fundamental to prevent vesicouretera1 reflux but the role of ureter in preventing vesicoureteral reflux has not been defined. To clarify the role of ureter in vesicoureteral reflux, a total 34 reimplanted juxta-vesical ureters from 22 patients were examined by light microscope, polarized microscope and computerized image analyzer. As the degree of reflux was increasing, the amount of ureteral muscle did not change significantly but that of ureteral collagen increased significantly In 6 patients with bilateral vesicoureteral reflux, which were different in grade each other, the amount of ureteral muscle and collagen were not different significantly between the lower grade and the higher grade. The amount of ureteral muscle tended to increase with grade of reflux in the dilated terminal ureters in excretory urography but not in the non-dilated. Inflammatory cell infiltration to ureteral wall gave no effect to the contents of ureteral muscle and collagen. It was suggested that the content of ureteral muscle decreased and the content of ureteral collagen increased with degree of reflux and the dilation of terminal ureter with muscle hypertrophy was a compensatory response to the increased workload.
Collagen ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Ureter* ; Urography ; Vesico-Ureteral Reflux*

BACKGROUND: The claudins are a family of transmembrane proteins associated with tight junctions and they are critical for maintaining cell-to-cell adhesion in sheets of epithelial cells. However, their role in the progression of cancer remains largely unexplored. The aims of this study were to evaluate the expression patterns of claudin-1 and -4 in benign lesions and invasive ductal carcinomas (IDC) of the breast, and relationships between the expression of these markers and the clinicopathological characteristics in IDC patients. METHODS: We examined the claudin-1 and -4 protein expressions by performing immunohistochemical stainings in 54 benign lesions and 120 IDCs via the tissue microarray method. We evaluated the correlation between the expression of these markers and the clinicopathological characteristics of IDC. RESULTS: The expressions of claudin-1 (p=0.099) and -4 (p=0.000) were up-regulated in IDCs as compared with benign lesions. The claudin-1 expression correlated with the loss of estrogen receptor (p=0.036) and progesterone receptor (p=0.011). The claudin-4 expression correlated with lymph node metastasis (p=0.043), the nuclear grade (p=0.030), the histologic grade (p=0.007), and the loss of estrogen receptor (p=0.001) and progesterone receptor (p= 0.029). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that claudin-1 and -4 may play a significant role in the carcinogenesis of IDC of the breast and these may represent novel markers for this disease.
Breast* ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Ductal* ; Claudin-1* ; Claudin-4 ; Claudins ; Epithelial Cells ; Estrogens ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Receptors, Progesterone ; Tight Junctions

No abstract available.
Heart Valve Prosthesis* ; Heart Valves*