A case of primary melanoma of the spinal cord in 20 year-old male is presented. The symptoms and signs were those of cervical cord compression caused by the melanoma, for which underwent laminectomy and was histologically verified.
Humans ; Laminectomy ; Male ; Melanoma* ; Spinal Cord* ; Young Adult

Trichloroethylene (TCE) has been widely used as a degreasing agent in many manufacturing industries. Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer presented "sufficient evidence" for the causal relationship between TCE and kidney cancer. The aim of this study was to review the epidemiologic evidences regarding the relationship between TCE exposure and kidney cancer in Korean work environments. The results from the cohort studies were inconsistent, but according to the meta-analysis and case-control studies, an increased risk for kidney cancer was present in the exposure group and the dose-response relationship could be identified using various measures of exposure. In Korea, TCE is a commonly used chemical for cleaning or degreasing processes by various manufacturers; average exposure levels of TCE vary widely. When occupational physicians evaluate work-relatedness kidney cancers, they must consider past exposure levels, which could be very high (>100 ppm in some cases) and associated with jobs, such as plating, cleaning, or degreasing. The exposure levels at a manual job could be higher than an automated job. The peak level of TCE could also be considered an important exposure-related variable due to the possibility of carcinogenesis associated with high TCE doses. This review could be a comprehensive reference for assessing work-related TCE exposure and kidney cancer in Korea.
Carcinogenesis ; Case-Control Studies ; Cohort Studies ; International Agencies ; Kidney Neoplasms* ; Kidney* ; Korea ; Occupational Exposure* ; Occupations ; Trichloroethylene*

OBJECTIVES: There is a trend to make health care facitilities smoke-free because of the overwhelming data associating tobacco smoking and passive smoking with serious health risks except closed psychiatric units. this study was designed to estimate the feasibility of smoking bans on psychiatric inpatient units as a pilot study by assessing smoking incidence, nicotine addiction score and smoking patterns of the psychiatric inpatients. METHODS: The psychiatric inpatients admitted to one mental hospital from June 1 to June 30, 1994 answered to the questionnaires including Fagerstroms Tolerance Questionnaire (8 items) and modified smoking motives questionnaires (21 items). Also the medical records of the patients were examined for sociodemographic data and diagnosis. RESULTS: The smoking incidence of the psychiatric inpatients was 72.7%. After admission to the closed unit, 42.7% of the patients increased the amount of smoking. The mean Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire was 4.89+/-2.38, which was less than nicotine addiction score. Many patients smoked for relief of their stresses. CONCLUSION: There is a need to set a smoke-free or smoke-control psychiatric unit. These data indicate that smoking can be stopped on inpatient psychiatry units if the patients' stresses could be well controlled by some methods other than smoking.
Delivery of Health Care ; Diagnosis ; Hospitals, Psychiatric ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inpatients* ; Medical Records ; Nicotine ; Pilot Projects ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution

No abstract available.
Cervix Uteri* ; Female

No abstract available.
Burkholderia cepacia* ; Burkholderia*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical value of bicarbonate gap (BG) in acute gastroenteritis by comparison of clinical manifestations and laboratory findings. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 135 patients who had acute gastroenteritis. We classified them into two groups: BG< or =-5 (group A), BG>-5 (group B). We made a comparative study for clinical manifestations, serum electrolyte, albumin, protein, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, anion gap (AG), delta anion gap (deltaAG) and delta bicarbonate (deltaHCO3-) between the two groups. RESULTS: The duration of hospitalization and diarrhea was significantly longer in group A than group B. In laboratory findings, serum sodium, serum total CO2, total protein, AGcorrected and deltaAG were lower in group A than group B. deltaHCO3- and chloride were higher in group A than group B. CONCLUSION: BG may be a sensitive predictor enough to access the severity of acute gastroenteritis.
Acid-Base Equilibrium ; Acidosis ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Creatinine ; Diarrhea ; Gastroenteritis ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Sodium

This study reports the protective of systemic nicardipine and intracisternal nicardipine administration in the three-hemorrhage canine model of chronic cerebral vasospasm. Twenty-one dogs were assigned to one of three groups : control, intravenous nicardipine, and intracisternal nicardipine. All animals received a total of 12ml of fresh unheparinized autologous blood via three cisternal injection. Selective vertebral angiograms were obtained before intravenous nicardipine for 7 days continuously, the other seven were treated by intracisternal nicardipine for 7 days, and the remaining were not treated. Animals were sacrificed at day 9. Comparisons were based on the percentage of reduction in basilar artery diameter(% RBAD). The ultrastructural changes were studied by transmission electron microscopy(TEM). There was a mean reduction(+/- standard deviation) of 54+/-6% in control dogs, 35+/-4% in dogs with intravenous nicardipine, 32+/-6% in dogs with intracisternal dicardipine(difference significant, t-test, P<0.05). The preventive effects of intracisternal nicardipine was superior to those of intravenous nicardipine. There was a strong trend toward reduction of medial necrosis in the basilar artery in dogs with intravenous and intracisternal group compared to control dogs. All basilar arteries showed structural changes with celectron microscopic examination ; these included medial necrosis, lysosome, initial changes, endothelial cell vacuoles, and adventitial erythrocytes, leukocytes. Intimal proliferation was unusual in all three groups, but reduction of intimal proliferation was found in dogs with treatment, and it was believed that vasospasm in this stage is due to long-standing smooth muscle contraction and not to arterial wall thickening. There was significant reduction of blood clot in intracisternal nicardipine group, which may be due to inhibitory action on platelet aggregation of nicardipine. These investigations support the hypothesis that the presence of clotted blood around the intracranial arteries is the cause of vasospasm.
Animals ; Arteries ; Basilar Artery ; Dogs ; Endothelial Cells ; Erythrocytes ; Leukocytes ; Lysosomes ; Muscle, Smooth ; Necrosis ; Nicardipine* ; Platelet Aggregation ; Vacuoles ; Vasospasm, Intracranial*

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a rare, but a potentially life threatening condition associated with the use of antipsychotics. The most frequent signs and symptoms of NMS include fever, muscle rigidity, autonomic dysfunction such as tachycardia, tachypnea, and labile blood pressure. Acute complications of NMS include disseminated intravascular coagulation, sepsis, seizure, myocardial infarction, acute renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis and death. We report a rare case of acute renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis associated with neuroleptic malignant syndrome.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Blood Pressure ; Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation ; Fever ; Muscle Rigidity ; Myocardial Infarction ; Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome ; Rhabdomyolysis ; Seizures ; Sepsis ; Tachycardia ; Tachypnea

The skin lesion of herpes zoster is classically limited to a single dermatome, and most cases of multi-dermatomal herpes zoster have contiguous skin lesions. Noncontigous multi-dermatomal herpes zoster is very rare in both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed persons. The phenomenon of zoster occurring in two non-contiguous dermatomes has been referred to as zoster duplex unilateralis or bilateralis. We report here on a case of herpes zoster duplex bilateralis in a 49-year-old woman who had previously received chemotherapy for breast cancer treatment.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Female ; Herpes Zoster ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Skin

Hypertensive intracerebral hematoma is a serious and potentially lethal condition. The indication of surgery in this hematoma is still controversial. Authors have treated 335 cases of hypertensive intracerebral hematomas which were confirmed by computerized tomography between July 1, 1982 and June 30, 1986. The hematomas have been classified according to their modes of extension on computerized tomography. The outcome was assessed on their basis of activity daily living. According to our study, moderate and severe types of putaminal hematoma cases have shown better results with surgery than conservative management. Mortality was 23.7 percent in surgery and 35.3 percent in conservative management.
Hematoma* ; Mortality ; Putaminal Hemorrhage