Herpes zoster oticus (Ramsay Hunt syndrome) is characterized by facial nerve paralysis associated with vesticular eruptions and cochleovestibular symptoms. Many evidences have supported that it is caused by the reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus in the geniculate ganglion. Recently we experienced a case 49-year-old man presented severe vertigo and a vesicular eruptions of auricle and external ear canal. It is an unusual variant of herpes zoster oticus that involves only vestibular nerve without facial nerve palsy and hearing loss. We believe this case results from reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus in the vestibular ganglion and report with a review of literatures.
Dizziness ; Ear Canal ; Facial Nerve* ; Ganglion Cysts ; Geniculate Ganglion ; Hearing Loss ; Herpes Zoster Oticus* ; Herpes Zoster* ; Herpesvirus 3, Human ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Paralysis* ; Vertigo ; Vestibular Nerve*

BACKGROUND: The chronic disease patients have various psychological problems during the treatment. Therefore, it is needed about understanding and support for chronic disease patients. The main purposes of this study are to identify the psychometric characteristics. METHODS: To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of chronic disease patients-liver cirrhosis, chronic pulmonary disease, etc. -a questionnaire(SCL-90-R) survey was performed toward 100 chronic disease patients in admission to 2 general hospital. 100 persons without any disease were investigated by the same questionnaire for comparison. The survey was performed from June to August 1996. RESULTS: The disease history among the patients, 31% of patients suffered from liver disease, 19% of patients suffered from chronic respiratory disease. 30% of patients reported that they were not expected a recovery from the disease. The patients have a significant higher score in the somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism than normal control (p<0.05). Most of the psychometric characteristics were associated with expectancy of the recovery, education about the disease, number of admission, duration of admission and type of disease(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The chronic disease patients showed higher score psychological symptoms in various characteristics than normal control. Therefore it will be needed that is an proper treatment and psychological support continuously.
Anxiety ; Chronic Disease* ; Depression ; Education ; Fibrosis ; Hospitals, General ; Hostility ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; Lung Diseases ; Psychometrics* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: The chronic disease patients have various psychological problems during the treatment. Therefore, it is needed about understanding and support for chronic disease patients. The main purposes of this study are to identify the psychometric characteristics. METHODS: To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of chronic disease patients-liver cirrhosis, chronic pulmonary disease, etc. -a questionnaire(SCL-90-R) survey was performed toward 100 chronic disease patients in admission to 2 general hospital. 100 persons without any disease were investigated by the same questionnaire for comparison. The survey was performed from June to August 1996. RESULTS: The disease history among the patients, 31% of patients suffered from liver disease, 19% of patients suffered from chronic respiratory disease. 30% of patients reported that they were not expected a recovery from the disease. The patients have a significant higher score in the somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism than normal control (p<0.05). Most of the psychometric characteristics were associated with expectancy of the recovery, education about the disease, number of admission, duration of admission and type of disease(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The chronic disease patients showed higher score psychological symptoms in various characteristics than normal control. Therefore it will be needed that is an proper treatment and psychological support continuously.
Anxiety ; Chronic Disease* ; Depression ; Education ; Fibrosis ; Hospitals, General ; Hostility ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; Lung Diseases ; Psychometrics* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Fruitful findings have been produced from five out of sixty cells which were obtained from each 63 individual Aplisia caught at the Jeju coast. Spiking patterns of three out of five cells, such as relaxation oscillator, bursting within a short time of the inter-burst interval, chaotic bursting, period doubling sequences, bursting with long trains of action potentials separated by short silent periods, regular repeated beating or elliptic bursting, and silent states had been changed in order as the temperature was lowered to 10 degrees C from 32 degrees C. In the intervals of every about 40 minutes repeated ups and downs of temperature produced similar firing patterns at the allowable temperature ranges. The other two cells showed difference from these. The amplitudes of the action potentials of the two cells will not be highly decreased in 24 hours. Average spike frequencies, the inter-burst interval, peak to peak spike amplitude of action potentials, minimum potential values are compared and analyzed by using the computer programme. The spike frequencies according to temperature show the distribution of bell type, with maximal spike frequencies at intermediate temperatures and minimal ones at either end. The most common pattern consist of high spike frequency during falling and low one during rising temperatures.
Action Potentials ; Aplysia* ; Fires ; Fruit ; Hot Temperature* ; Relaxation

No abstract available.
Cartilage ; Rabbits ; Temporomandibular Joint Disc ; Temporomandibular Joint ; Transplants

Temperature affects the firing pattern and electrical activity of neurons in animals, eliciting diverse responses depending on neuronal cell type. However, the mechanisms underlying such diverse responses are not well understood. In the present study, we performed in vitro recording of abdominal ganglia cells of Aplysia juliana , and analyzed their burst firing patterns. We identified atypical bursting patterns dependent on temperature that were totally different from classical bursting patterns observed in R15 neurons of A. juliana . We classified these abnormal bursting patterns into type 1 and type 2; type 1 abnormal single bursts are composed of two kinds of spikes with a long interspike interval (ISI) followed by short ISI regular firing, while type 2 abnormal single bursts are composed of complex multiplets. To investigate the mechanism underlying the temperature dependence of abnormal bursting, we employed simulations using a modified Plant model and determined that the temperature dependence of type 2 abnormal bursting is related to temperaturedependent scaling factors and activation or inactivation of potassium or sodium channels.

Temperature affects the firing pattern and electrical activity of neurons in animals, eliciting diverse responses depending on neuronal cell type. However, the mechanisms underlying such diverse responses are not well understood. In the present study, we performed in vitro recording of abdominal ganglia cells of Aplysia juliana , and analyzed their burst firing patterns. We identified atypical bursting patterns dependent on temperature that were totally different from classical bursting patterns observed in R15 neurons of A. juliana . We classified these abnormal bursting patterns into type 1 and type 2; type 1 abnormal single bursts are composed of two kinds of spikes with a long interspike interval (ISI) followed by short ISI regular firing, while type 2 abnormal single bursts are composed of complex multiplets. To investigate the mechanism underlying the temperature dependence of abnormal bursting, we employed simulations using a modified Plant model and determined that the temperature dependence of type 2 abnormal bursting is related to temperaturedependent scaling factors and activation or inactivation of potassium or sodium channels.

We performed experiments using Aplysia neurons to identify the mechanism underlying the changes in the firing patterns in response to temperature changes. When the temperature was gradually increased from 11degrees C to 31degrees C the firing patterns changed sequentially from the silent state to beating, doublets, beating-chaos, bursting-chaos, square-wave bursting, and bursting-oscillation patterns. When the temperature was decreased over the same temperature range, these sequential changes in the firing patterns reappeared in reverse order. To simulate this entire range of spiking patterns we modified nonlinear differential equations that Chay and Lee made using temperature-dependent scaling factors. To refine the equations, we also analyzed the spike pattern changes in the presence of potassium channel blockers. Based on the solutions of these equations and potassium channel blocker experiments, we found that, as temperature increases, the maximum value of the potassium channel relaxation time constant, taun(t) increases, but the maximum value of the probabilities of openings for activation of the potassium channels, n(t) decreases. Accordingly, the voltage-dependent potassium current is likely to play a leading role in the temperature-dependent changes in the firing patterns in Aplysia neurons.
Aplysia ; Computer Simulation ; Fires ; Neurons ; Potassium ; Potassium Channel Blockers ; Potassium Channels ; Relaxation

BACKGROUND: Noninvasive measurements that relate to the extent and severity of coronary atherosclerosis have long been sought for clinical screening of patients with chest pain syndromes and for use in clinical trials. Intima-media thickeness (IMT) of the carotid artery has been suggested to be associated with coronary artery atherosclerosis. In this study, we tried to assess the relation of carotid artery atherosclerosis by B-mode ultrasonography with presence and severity of coronary artery disease. METHOD: We studied 57 patients (36 men, 21 women) with ischemic heart disease, mean age 65+/-8 yrs (48 to 83 yrs), who underwent both coronary angiography and carotid ultrasonography with 10 MHz transducer. The patients who had received revascularization procedure were excluded. We classified the patients into two groups, the control group without significant coronary stenosis (18 patients) and the coronary artery disease (CAD) group (39 patients) with significant luminal stenosis (> or =50%). The CAD group was divided into single vessel disease group (SVD, 19 patients) and multivessel disease group (MVD, 20 patients). IMT was measured in far wall of common carotid artery (CCA) at 10 mm proximal to carotid bulb and abnormal IMT was defined if the measurement was greater than mean IMT+2SD of control group. Serum total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride (TG), Lipoproteinp (a)(Lp(a)) were measured and history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking were investigated. RESULTS: A significant difference in IMT of the CCA was found between control and CAD group (0.76+/-0.09 mm vs. 0.97+/-0.20 mm; p<0.0001). Also a significant difference in the number of atherosclerotic plaque was found between the two groups (control; 0.67+/-1.14 vs. CAD; 1.87+/-1.75; p<0.005). In the CAD group, both mean IMT and numbers of athero-sclerotic plaque tended to increase in MVD group compared with SVD group (1.03 mm vs. 0.91 mm; p=NS, 2.65 vs. 1.05; p<0.05). The sensitivity of IMT for prediction of significant CAD was 66.7%, the specificity 83.3%, the positive predictive value 89.7%, and the negative predictive value 53.6%. The sensitivity of plaque presence on the carotid artery for prediction of CAD was 71.8%, the specificity 61.3%, the positive predictive value 80.3% and the negative predictive value 50.5%. Among risk factor, diabetes mellitus and Lp (a) were correlated well with IMT of CCA, Hypertension was correlated with atherosclerotic plaque. History of smoking was correlated with coronary artery disease. CONCLUSION: Increases in IMT and plaque of the carotid artery, as measured noninvasively by ultrasonography, can be used as a predictor of significant coronary artery stenosis.
Atherosclerosis ; Carotid Arteries* ; Carotid Artery, Common ; Chest Pain ; Cholesterol ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Stenosis* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Lipoproteins ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Phenobarbital ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic* ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Transducers ; Triglycerides ; Ultrasonography

Vascular complications such as hematoma, pseudoaneurysm and arteriovenous fistula that occur after intracoronary or intracardiac procedures are responsible for considerable morbidity and some mortality. Iatrogenic aneurysms are usually postcatheterization pseudoaneurysms of the femoral artery. Nowadays, it is not uncommon as a consequence of more complex interventional procedures, larger catheters and prolonged anticoagulation treatment. Surgical repair has been mainstay of treatment for pseudoaneurysm. However, recently has it been shown that color Doppler ultrasound-guided direct, noninvasive compression of the pseudoaneurysm stops the blood flow in the communication and lead to pseudoaneurysm clotting and obliteration. We report a case of pseudoaneurysm in femoral artery, which was developed at the right inguinal puncture site in 74 year old male patient with myocardial infarction who had received continuous intravenous infusion of heparin and had undergone primary percutaneous coronary angioplasty and temporary pacemaker insertion treated successfully with color Doppler ultrasound guided direct compression.
Aged ; Aneurysm ; Aneurysm, False* ; Angioplasty ; Arteriovenous Fistula ; Cardiology* ; Catheters ; Femoral Artery* ; Hematoma ; Heparin ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Male ; Mortality ; Myocardial Infarction ; Punctures ; Ultrasonography