Cognitive rehabilitation is integral part of the neurorehabilitation of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Key features after TBI are cognitive (impaired attention and memory, slowed processing speed, deficit in working memory and executive dysfunction) and behavioral sequelae (somatic and pain concern, depression, anxiety, social withdrawal and maladjustment, impulsivity, and poor judgement). Two basic approaches of cognitive rehabilitation is restoration of impaired function (basic skill training) and compensation to adapt cognitive disabilities. In addition, holistic approaches, systemically integrated interventions for remediation of cognitive deficit, functional skills and interpersonal functions, are also effective and are widely accepted in neurorehabilitation program for patients with TBI. Recent data of many researches and accumulation of clinical experiences on cognitive rehabilitation enable us to provide evidence based approaches in specific population of cognitive dysfunction after TBI.

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Lymph Node Excision* ; Lymph Nodes* ; Mastectomy, Segmental* ; Radiotherapy*

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is performed more frequently than before in Korea. Central nervous system (CNS) complications are often the major prognostic determinants following the surgery. We carried out a prospective study to clarify the incidence and risk factors of neurologic complications after CABG surgery. METHODS: A consecutive series of 150 patients undergoing 152 CABG operations from March 1995 to July 1997 by one cardiac surgeon was evaluated by a team of neurologists before and after the surgery. The patients received extensive preoperative examinations including the evaluation of intracranial & extracranial cerebral artery disease. RESULTS: In 44 operations (28.9%), we detected various neurologic complications, including encephalopathy (36 operations, 23.7%), cerebral infarction (5 operations, 3.3%), and seizure (7 operations, 4.6%). Eight patients died postoperatively including one due to neurologic complication. On univariate analysis, age, degree of intracranial artery disease (ICAD), duration of bypass time, hypotension index, duration of ventricular assistant device (VAD), intraoperative event, intra- or postoperative arrhythmia, reoperation, and postoperative bleeding were statistically significant risk factors of CNS complications (p< 0.05). After multivariate analysis, however, age alone remained significant (p=0.02). The degree of ICAD showed marginal significance (p=0.06). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of CNS complication in the patients undergoing CABG surgery was 28.9%. Our results showed that age was an independent risk factor of CNS complications. And the possibility of ICAD as a risk factor was suggested. Further study with a large number of patients would be necessary to prove the above suggestion.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Arteries ; Central Nervous System* ; Cerebral Arterial Diseases ; Cerebral Infarction ; Coronary Artery Bypass* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Incidence ; Korea ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prospective Studies ; Reoperation ; Risk Factors ; Seizures ; Transplants

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the actual condition of management of stump and prosthesis, difficulties with or without prosthesis in the activities of daily living and the present status of cognizance of rehabilitation services in amputees. METHOD: This study was designed as a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire included the general demographic characteristics, causes of amputation, amputation level and time, practical status of fitting and management of prosthesis, satisfaction of prosthesis, difficulties in activities of daily living under prosthesis. The change of recognition of rehabilitation medicine and the degree of acceptance of rehabilitation services followed by duration-after amputation was also investigated. RESULTS: The most common cause of amputation was vehicular accidents and the mean age was 35.6 years old. The results showed that the amputees had low satisfaction in the prosthesis itself and the management. The role of rehabilitation medicine in fitting and management of prosthesis was insignificant. The 69% of amputees answered that the rehabilitation services were provided after the amputation, but only 40% of amputees reported they had known the services were provided by rehabilitation medicine. This discrepancy probably implied the poor recognition of the role of rehabilitation medicine, even though the rehabilitation services provided to the amputees has been significantly increased in recent 5 years. CONCLUSION: There is a little progress of recognition and role of rehabilitation medicine although the acceptants of rehabilitation services were increased. Physiatrists should take an active participation to the amputee community for extension of recognition and role of rehabilitation medicine.
Activities of Daily Living ; Amputation ; Amputees ; Humans ; Prostheses and Implants ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Accurate and rapid identification of pathogens is one of the most important tasks of the clinical microbiology laboratory, and, in cases of rare pathogens, the identification is difficult and time-consuming upon the use of conventional methods alone. Herein, we will report our molecular work involving the identification of bacteria and fungi. METHODS: Sixty bacterial isolates had been collected from November 2004 to May 2007, and 15 fungal isolates had been collected from September 2005 to May 2007. Species identifications were performed using sequence analyses of the 16S rRNA region of bacteria and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of fungi. The data were compared with those of GenBank (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) or EMBL (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/). RESULTS: Sixty bacterial isolates included: 23 isolates with genus information (group 1), 17 isolates (group 2) that were too fastidious for genus or species identification, 16 isolates (group 3) with results from identification kits having low confidence, and 4 isolates (group 4) with odd antibiograms according to the species. In 58 of 60 isolates, identification of the genus or species could be obtained using molecular genetic methods. Thirty-eight isolates (63%) and 20 (33%) of 58 isolates could be identified at the species and genus levels, repectively. Among the total of 15 fungal isolates, 11 (73%) and 4 (27%) isolates were identified at the species and genus levels, respectively. CONCLUSION: 16S rRNA and ITS sequencing analyses are very useful for identifying the species or genus of a pathogenic microorganism in the clinical microbiology laboratory.
Bacteria ; Base Sequence ; Databases, Nucleic Acid ; Fungi ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Molecular Biology ; Sequence Analysis

Primary adrenal lymphoma is extremely uncommon. The tumor is accidentally discovered by abdominal ultrasonography(USG), computed tomography(CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with nonspecific symptoms and diagnosed at operation or autopsy. In this case, a 60-year-old man was admitted for the evaluation of mild left frank discomfort for two months before admission. The abdominal USG was performed and showed the dense masses in both adrenal glands. The laboratory tests including blood count, chemistry and hormonal tests showed the normal levels except for the basal ACTH level of 108 pg/ml(normal range: 9~52 pg/ml). The 123I MIBG scan was normal. The bilateral adrenalectomy was done. The tumor was diagnosed as diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma(NHL) according to the Revised European-American lymphoma(REAL) classification. He was treated with the adjuvant combination chemotherapy of CHOP(cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine and prednisolone) but expired due to sepsis after the second chemotherapy. We describe the first case of primary bilateral adrenal NHL in Korea. Primary adrenal lymphoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of suprarenal mass.
3-Iodobenzylguanidine ; Adrenal Glands ; Adrenalectomy ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Autopsy ; B-Lymphocytes ; Chemistry ; Classification ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Humans ; Korea ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Sepsis ; Vincristine

Experimental animals were inhalated 50 ppm formaldehyde gas for 3 times with one hour exposure and one hour rest. The olfactory mucosa were taken from the animals on 4, 7, 9, 11 days and 2-6 weeks after the inhalation. The characteristics of the various glycoproteins and the mitotic activity of the olfactory epithelial cells were investigated using lectins and 5'-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU, 50 mg/kg) which injected one hour before sacrifice of the animals. The results were as follows; 1. In experimental animals, the degenerative changes of the olfactory epithelium such as atrophy and squamous metaplasia were observed until 2 weeks after formaldehyde gas inhalation. 2. In control animals, positive reactions appeared in the supporting cell to PNA, SBA, WGA, ECL, PHA-L and in the olfactory cells to PNA, SBA, WGA, UEA and in the proper basal cell to GS-I, SBA, WGA, PHA-L. In experimental groups, the positive reaction was increased in the supporting cells to SBA, ECL, PHA-L and in Bowman's gland to used lectins except ECL, GS-I. 3. The number of BrdU labelled cells in the olfactory epithelium was 14.8+/-1.2/mm in the control animals. The mitotic activities were decreased to 4.8+/-0.8 mm in 2 weeks and recovered in 3 weeks after the gas inhalation. 4. To find the stem cells of olfactory receptor cells, double labelling method was performed with lectins which were specific for proper basal cells (GS-I or PHA-L) and BrdU immunohistochemistry. The ratio of globose/proper basal cells in BrdU labelled cells with GS-I lectin positive reaction was 82%/18% in control group, 39.3%/60.7% in lesion group and 55.5%/44.5% in recovery group.
Animals ; Atrophy ; Bromodeoxyuridine ; Epithelial Cells ; Formaldehyde* ; Glycoproteins ; Immunohistochemistry ; Inhalation ; Lectins ; Metaplasia ; Olfactory Mucosa* ; Rats* ; Stem Cells

BACKGROUND: A diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion is clinically important, as the prognosis of lung cancer patients with malignant pleural effusion is poor. The diagnosis will be difficult if a cytological test is negative. This study was performed to investigate whether the detection of hypermethylation of the p16 (CDKN2A) and retinoic acid receptor b2 (RARB2) genes in pleural fluid is useful for a diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion. METHODS: Pleural effusion was collected from 43 patients and was investigated for the aberrant promoter methylation of the RARB2 and CDKN2A genes by use of methylation-specific PCR. Results were compared with findings from a pleural biopsy and from pleural fluid cytology. RESULTS: Of 43 cases, 17 cases of pleural effusion were due to benign diseases, and 26 cases were from lung cancer patients with malignant pleural effusion. Hypermethylation of the RARB2 and CDKN2A genes was not detected in the case of benign diseases, independent of whether or not the patients had ever smoked. In 26 cases of malignant pleural effusion, hypermethylation of RARB2, CDKN2A or either of these genes was detected in 14, 5 and 15 cases, respectively. The sensitivities of a pleural biopsy, pleural fluid cytology, hypermethylation of RARB2, hypermethylation of CDKN2A, or hypermethylation of either of the genes were 73.1%, 53.8%, 53.8%, 19.2%, and 57.7%, respectively; negative predictive values were 70.8%, 58.6%, 58.6%, 44.7%, and 60.7%, respectively. If both genes are considered together, the sensitivity and negative predictive value was lower than that for a pleural biopsy, but higher than that for pleural fluid cytology. The sensitivity of hypermethylation of the RARB2 gene for malignant pleural effusion was lower in small cell lung cancers than in non-small cell lung cancers. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that detection of hypermethylation of the RARB2 and CDKN2A genes showed a high specificity, and sensitivity was higher than for pleural fluid cytology. With a better understanding of the pathogenesis of lung cancer according to histological types at the molecular level, and if appropriate genes are selected for hypermethylation testing, more precise results may be obtained.
Biopsy ; Genes, p16 ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Methylation ; Pleural Effusion ; Pleural Effusion, Malignant ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prognosis ; Receptors, Retinoic Acid ; Smoke

Serum CA 125 is the most useful marker for monitoring patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. However, it can be elevated above normal level in a variety of conditions other than ovarian cancer such as endometriosis, pelvic inflammation disease, and other malignant or nonmalignant disorders, including pulmonary diseases. Recently, we experienced a case of bronchiectasis in which the serum CA 125 level was elevated, changing with the patient's condition. There was no evidence of underlying malignant disease on positron emission tomography or on gynecologic examination, including transvaginal ultrasonography. During follow-up for 14 months, we could not find any clue of malignant disease that could have been the cause of the elevated levels of serum CA 125. Elevated serum CA 125 level should be interpreted carefully according to the patient's clinical condition. In addition, our case suggests that CA 125 may be used as a surrogate marker for acute inflammatory status for chronic pulmonary diseases.
Biomarkers ; Bronchiectasis ; CA-125 Antigen ; Endometriosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lung Diseases ; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Positron-Emission Tomography

An elevated serum CA19-9 level is an indication of pancreatic and biliary tract cancer. However, it has recently become known that nonmalignant gastrointestinal diseases and a variety of nonmalignant respiratory diseases, such as idiopathic interstial pneumonia, collagen vascular disease associated lung diseases, diffuse panbronchiolitis and bronchiectasis, can also show an elevated serum CA19-9 level. We recently encountered a case of bronchiectasis with persistently elevated serum CA19-9, but without any evidence of malignant disease in endoscopic retrograde pancreatocholangiography, abdominal computed tomography, and positron emission tomography. After serial follow-up of 3 years and 10 months, there was still no evidence of cancer. It is believed that the elevated serum CA19-9 level was due to bronchiectasis. An elevated serum CA19-9 level should be interpreted carefully with the patients' clinical condition.
Biliary Tract Neoplasms ; Bronchiectasis ; Bronchiolitis ; Collagen ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Haemophilus Infections ; Lung Diseases ; Pneumonia ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Vascular Diseases