We report a case of a 44 year old femele with unilateral aldosterone-proudcing adrenal adenoma characterized by hypertension, plasma aldosterone excess, and low plasma renin, commonly but not invariably with hypokalemia. She also had asymmetric septal hypertrophy of left ventricle established with two-dimensional echocardiography. The electrocardiogram showed inverted T wave and prominent U wave with high QRS voltage on precordial leads. In the case of this patient, we are not sure whether asymmetric septal hypertrophy was caused by secondary hypertension and chronic aldosterone excess of primary aldosteronism, or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy per se, so further long=term follow-up is required to determine it. Following the successful unilateral adrenalectomy, however, the systemic pressure fell down to the normal level and electrolyte abnormalities were corrected immediaterly within a few days and the modest regression in septal hypertrophy was noted in one year, suggesting that the promary aldosteronism contributes to the development or porgression of asymmetric septal hepertrophy.
Adenoma ; Adrenalectomy ; Adult ; Aldosterone ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic* ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism* ; Hypertension ; Hypertrophy ; Hypokalemia ; Plasma ; Renin

PURPOSE: We evaluated the feasibility of extracting pure left ventricular blood pool and myocardial time-activity curves (TACs) and of generating factor images from human dynamic N-13 ammonia PET using factor analysis. The myocardial blood flow (MBF) estimates obtained with factor analysis were compared with those obtained with the user drawn region-of-interest (ROI) method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Stress and rest N-13 ammonia cardiac PET imaging was acquired for 23 min in 5 patients with coronary artery disease using GE Advance tomograph. Factor analysis generated physiological TACs and factor images using the normalized TACs from each dixel. Four steps were involved in this algorithm: (a) data preprocessing; (b) principal component analysis; (c) oblique rotation with positivity constraints; (d) factor image computation. Area under curves and MBF estimated using the two compartment N-13 ammonia model were used to validate the accuracy of the factor analysis generated physiological TACs. The MBF estimated by factor analysis was compared to the values estimated by using the ROI method. RESULTS: MBF values obtained by factor analysis were linearly correlated with MBF obtained by the ROI method (slope=0.84, r=0.91). Left ventricular blood pool TACs obtained by the two methods agreed well (Area under curve ratio: 1.02 (0~1 min), 0.98 (0~2 min), 0.86 (1~2 min)). CONCLUSION:: The RESULTS of this study demonstrates that MBF can be measured accurately and noninvasively with dynamic N-13 ammonia PET imaging and factor analysis. This method is simple and accurate, and can measure MBF without blood sampling, ROI definition or spillover correction. KW: N-13 ammonia, PET, Myocardial blood flow, Factor analysis
Ammonia* ; Area Under Curve ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Factor Analysis, Statistical* ; Humans ; Principal Component Analysis

No abstract available.
Constriction, Pathologic* ; Dilatation*

Actinomycosis is relatively rare infection which is produced by an anaerobic organism, actinomycetes, normally residing in the mouth, bowel and female genital tract. This disease is characterized by chronic inflammatory induration with abscess and multiple sinus formation. In most cases, the onset of this is preceded by an inflammatory or traumatic history on abdomen but diagnosis can't be made until operation. Recently this disease is treated with antimicrobial therapy and wide surgical excision. We experienced a case of omental actinomycosis and report it with brief review of literatures.
Abdomen ; Abscess ; Actinobacteria ; Actinomycosis* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Mouth ; Omentum

Corpus callsoum (CC) is the largest commissural fiber connecting the cerebral hemispheres. The gender difference in the size or the shape of CC is a long standing dispute. Some reported that adult female CC had more bulbous splenium and larger area considering brain size, but others failed to replicate this findings. There is no definite consensus on sexual dimorphism of CC yet, although extensive studies on sexual dimorphism has been expected to provide a clue to explain sociopsychological differences between male and female. This variable results are attributed to limited number of subjects, measured parameters, and method of measurement. We have employed comprehensive analytic parameters with large subjects to understand gender differences on CC of healthy Korean adults. We have analyzed the magnetic resonance image (MRI) in adults free from neurological disorders. The subjects were composed of 108 young people (3rd decade; male : 51, female : 57). Total area, its 5 sub-areas, linear parameters including height, length, and width and five specific angles of the CC were measured on the midsagittal MR images with NIH Image program (R) (Ver 1.6). The gender differences were observed in the area of splenium and length in the group. The male CC have larger splenium and longer length than female. The angle between neural axis and base of corpus callosum in female was significantly larger than that of male. This study reports not only gender difference of adult CC, but Korean adult standard morphometric data of CC research. These results might serve a useful basic data for various research in the fields of neuroanatomy, neuroradiology, and neuropsychiatry.
Adult* ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Brain ; Cerebrum ; Consensus ; Corpus Callosum* ; Dissent and Disputes ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Nervous System Diseases ; Neuroanatomy ; Neuropsychiatry

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Choledochal Cyst* ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: This pilot study aimed to evaluate the effect of dental amalgam, a restorative material, on children by measuring the mercury concentration in the urine as well as the number of teeth filled with dental amalgam. METHODS: Twenty children enrolled in grades 1-4 of two elementary schools in Daegu participated in this study. One trained dentist performed oral examinations and removed amalgam restorations from the teeth with a high and low speed handpiece. In order to measure the urinary mercury concentrations, urine samples were collected from all participants at baseline and immediately and 24 hours after removal of the dental amalgam restorations. RESULTS: The mean number of teeth from which the amalgam restorations was removed was 9.8 while the mean urinary mercury concentrations at baseline, immediately, and 24 hours after removal of dental amalgam restorations were 2.66, 2.76, and 2.76 microg/g creatinine, respectively. The mean urinary mercury concentration increased consistently after amalgam restoration removal. For those participants whose removed amalgamated surfaces were more than 11, the mean urinary mercury concentration immediately after amalgam restoration removal and 24 hours after removal increased consistently but showed no significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that dental amalgam restoration was related to urinary mercury concentration, and these findings present a possibility of mercury accumulation in the body. Therefore, we suggest future longitudinal studies to ensure the safety of children exposed to mercury by establishing criteria for amalgam removal.
Child* ; Creatinine ; Daegu ; Dental Amalgam ; Dentists ; Diagnosis, Oral ; Humans ; Longitudinal Studies ; Pilot Projects* ; Tooth

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of strip meniscometry test for dye eye syndrome (DES) by measuring the correlation between strip meniscometry and conventional test measurements. METHODS: All subjects were examined using the Schirmer test, tear breakup time (TBUT) and strip meniscometry using SMTube (Echo Electricity Co., Ltd., Fukushima, Japan). Tear meniscus height (TMH), tear meniscus depth (TMD) and tear meniscus area (TMA) were measured using Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography. The DES group (n = 46 eyes) was compared with the normal group (n = 30 eyes) and correlation was assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Strip meniscometry measurement was significantly correlated with Schirmer score (r = 0.6080, p < 0.01), TBUT (r = 0.5980, p < 0.01), TMH (r = 0.6210, p < 0.01), TMD (r = 0.6080, p < 0.01) and TMA (r = 0.6370, p < 0.01). Strip meniscometry was significantly lower in the DES group (4.58 ± 1.94 mm) than the normal group (7.07 ± 2.61 mm, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Strip meniscometry was significantly correlated with other conventional test measurements for dry eye syndrome. Strip meniscometry is less time consuming and a less invasive method than the Schirmer test. Strip meniscometry could be an efficient tool to evaluate patients with dry eye syndrome in a clinical setting.
Diagnosis* ; Dry Eye Syndromes* ; Electricity ; Humans ; Methods ; Tears ; Tomography, Optical Coherence

Conventional tests for the identification of mycobacteria may frequently result in erroneous identification and underestimate the diversity within the genus Mycobacterium. However, this problem can be overcome by molecular approach like as 16S rRNA gene (rDNA) or RNA polymerase gene (rpoB) sequence analysis. In this study, a molecular approach analyzing partial sequence of 16S rDNA and rpoB gene was applied to mycobacteria other than M tuberculosis (MOTT) isolates that had not been definitely identified by conventional physical and biochemical tests. Among the eighteen isolates included in this study, twelve isolates could be identified to the species level and six were identified to the complex level. Compared with the results by 16S rDNA analysis, the rpoB analysis could di6erentiate some of the strains into the subspecies level.
DNA, Ribosomal* ; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases ; Genes, rRNA ; Mycobacterium ; Sequence Analysis* ; Tuberculosis*

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate abnormal findings of social brain network in Korean children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with typically developing children (TDC). METHODS: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed to examine brain activations during the processing of emotional faces (happy, fearful, and neutral) in 17 children with ASD, 24 TDC. RESULTS: When emotional face stimuli were given to children with ASD, various areas of the social brain relevant to social cognition showed reduced activation. Specifically, ASD children exhibited less activation in the right amygdala (AMY), right superior temporal sulcus (STS) and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) than TDC group when fearful faces were shown. Activation of left insular cortex and right IFG in response to happy faces was less in the ASD group. Similar findings were also found in left superior insular gyrus and right insula in case of neutral stimulation. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that children with ASD have different processing of social and emotional experience at the neural level. In other words, the deficit of social cognition in ASD could be explained by the deterioration of the capacity for visual analysis of emotional faces, the subsequent inner imitation through mirror neuron system (MNS), and the ability to transmit it to the limbic system and to process the transmitted emotion.
Amygdala ; Brain* ; Autism Spectrum Disorder* ; Child* ; Cognition ; Humans ; Limbic System ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Mirror Neurons