Obesity is a critical target for public health interventions worldwide. There are many causes of obesity, and the importance of the gut microbiota in its pathogenesis has recently been recognized. The composition and function of the gut microbiota play a role in obesity and metabolic disease, yet the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Advances in our understanding of the link between obesity and the gut microbiota have suggested the potential of its manipulation for treating obesity. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the interactions between the gut microbiota and obesity as well as the therapeutic potential of its modulation.

Obesity is a critical target for public health interventions worldwide. There are many causes of obesity, and the importance of the gut microbiota in its pathogenesis has recently been recognized. The composition and function of the gut microbiota play a role in obesity and metabolic disease, yet the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Advances in our understanding of the link between obesity and the gut microbiota have suggested the potential of its manipulation for treating obesity. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the interactions between the gut microbiota and obesity as well as the therapeutic potential of its modulation.
Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Metabolic Diseases ; Obesity ; Public Health

Painful periarticular calcification most commonly occurs within the rotator cuff of the shoulder and rarely around the elbow, hip, foot, and neck. As acute inflammatory reaction develops, severe pain, exquisite tenderness, local swelling, and limitation of motion with pain occur. In case of calcific tendinitis of the shoulder, it can be easily diagnosed according to the symptoms and with x-ray. However, in lesions of the hip, as it is a rare location and usually involves pain in the posterolateral aspect of the thigh, which can simulate radicular pain from a lumbar intervertebral disc, it could be difficult to diagnose. Hence, physicians usually focus on lumbar lesions; therefore, misdiagnosis is common and leads to a delayed management. Here, we report the case of a 30-year-old female patient with calcific tendinitis of the rectus femoris that was successfully managed with ultrasound-guided steroid injection. This study offers knowledge about the rectus femoris calcification.
Adult ; Diagnostic Errors ; Elbow ; Female ; Foot ; Hip ; Hip Joint ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; Neck ; Quadriceps Muscle* ; Rotator Cuff ; Shoulder ; Tendinopathy ; Thigh ; Ultrasonography

A total of 213 fine needle aspirations from pulmonary lesions in 193 patients performed from January, 1986 to March, 1989 were analyzed. The cytologic diagnoses were unsatisfactory in 10, negative in 60, atypical in 6, suspicious in 11 and malignant in 126 cases. The cytologic types of the malignant cases were 47 squamous cell carcinomas, 40 adenocarcinomas, 10 small cell carcinomas, 6 large cell carcinomas and 10 metastatic tumors. They were verified by the histologic confirmation in 31 cases and by the clinical data in the remainder. There were 5 false-negative cases and none was false-positive, representing 96% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Primary lung cancers were accurately typed in 73% of histologically confirmed case. Cell blocks, prepared in 99 cases, were helpful in tumor typing of 11 cases.
Neoplasm Metastasis ; Lung Neoplasms

A 22-year-old man was admitted with gradually aggravating stereotypic head movement with hypomania. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed a large suprasellar arachnoid cyst extending into the third ventricle, with obstructive hydrocephalus, characteristic of bobble-head doll syndrome. Endoscopic fenestration of the suprasellar arachnoid cyst was performed. Stereotypic head movement stopped immediately after surgery and hypomanic symptoms gradually improved within a month. During 4 years of follow-up observation without medication, neuropsychiatric symptoms did not relapse. We report our experience of surgically treating stereotypy and hypomania in a case of bobble-head doll syndrome and discuss the possible neuropsychiatric mechanisms of this rare disease.
Arachnoid ; Arachnoid Cysts ; Bipolar Disorder ; Brain ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head Movements ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Rare Diseases ; Recurrence ; Third Ventricle ; Young Adult

Delayed-onset continuous bruxism due to brain stem infarction has not yet been reported. A 49-year old man presented with quadriplegia and ophthalmoplegia. Brain MRI showed acute infarction in the bilateral midbrain, right thalamus and the superior cerebellum. One month later, the patient developed bruxism which persisted during sleep. A palatal myoclonus was not observed. Follow up MRI taken 4 months later showed bilateral olivary hypertrophy. We suggest that the patient's bruxism may be related to the olivary hypertrophy. The bruxism generator may be located in the pontine-reticular-formation (PRF). Bilateral large midbrain lesions interrupting the cortical inhibition may have produced bilateral olivary hypertrophy, which could stimulate the PRF, producing continuous bruxism.
Brain ; Brain Stem Infarctions* ; Bruxism* ; Cerebellum ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hypertrophy* ; Infarction ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mesencephalon ; Middle Aged ; Myoclonus ; Ophthalmoplegia ; Quadriplegia ; Thalamus

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: Glossopharyngeal neuralgia has the characteristic of a long remission phase between the pain attack phases. Although the concept of remission is very important for the treatment of patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia, due to the rarity of the disease, clear statistical studies on the remission phase for glossopharyngeal neuralgia are almost non-existent. METHODS: Previous chart reviews and phone interviews were conducted on a total of 38 patients. Among these study subjects, two patients were excluded because of their known secondary glossopharyngeal neuralgia from their brain tumors. Hence, the average duration of remission was investigated on 36 patients with idiopathic glossopharyngeal neuralgia. RESULTS: For the 27 patients who experienced their first remission, the average duration of the remission was 3.1 years. Among them, the average duration of the second remission of the 17 patients was 2.5 years, and for 4 patients who experienced a third remission, the average duration of the remission phase was 1.9 years. CONCLUSIONS: The difference in the mean duration of the remission phase of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are not statistically significant, and the occurrence rate of the left or right side and of the gender, male or female, are also statistically insignificant. However, it is possible to infer that a patient might face a pain attack phase when his or her remission phase has lapsed for about three years. This prediction may be applied when developing treatment plans for patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia.
Brain Neoplasms ; Female ; Glossopharyngeal Nerve Diseases ; Humans ; Male ; Statistics as Topic

The diagnosis and appropriate management of blunt abdominal trauma including retroperitoneal hematoma associated head injury is difficult. In our case, psoas muscle hematoma was revealed during the evaluation of fever. Psoas muscle hematoma most commonly results secondarily from coagulation defect or from retroperitoneal bleeding into the psoas sheath. The presenting signs and symptoms of this case are hypotension and anemia. Pain is also present in the back or abdomen. If it is associated with head injury and not presented massive hemorrhage, the actual diagnosis is not easy. The appropriate management depends on a careful initial evaluation including suspicion of physician, repetitive physical examination, the timely use of diagnostic procedures.
Abdomen ; Anemia ; Craniocerebral Trauma* ; Diagnosis ; Fever ; Head* ; Hematoma* ; Hemorrhage ; Hypotension ; Physical Examination ; Psoas Muscles

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A stellate ganglion block (SGB) induces vasodilatation in the head, neck, and upper extremities. Based on this principle, SGB has been widely used as one of the treatment modalities in sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss (S-SNHL). However, until now, published data establishing the statistical significance of the effect of SGB has been slim. We conducted this study to find out the effect of SGB in the treatment of idiopathic S-SNHL and to find out the factors influencing the prognosis of the disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the records of 221 patients seen in the past eight years between 1990 to 1997 who had an initial diagnosis of idiopathic S-SNHL and was admitted for treatment. One hundred twenty patients were treated with SGB and the other 101 patients were treated without SGB to use as a control group. RESULTS: The therapeutic result of SGB group was better than that of the control group. Especially, statistical difference was found in the following two subgroups; one in which the interval between the onset of disease and the initiation of treatment was from 8 to 28 days, and the other when the initial hearing loss was below 90 dB. CONCLUSION: We suggest that this study could be utilized as a standard of clinical treatment when SGB is performed.
Diagnosis ; Head ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural* ; Humans ; Neck ; Prognosis ; Stellate Ganglion* ; Upper Extremity ; Vasodilation