No abstract available.
Animals ; Epididymitis* ; Male ; Models, Animal* ; Rats* ; Testis*

PURPOSE: Perinatal asphyxia occurring in newborn is one of the major causes of acute mortality and chronic neurological disability in survivors. We have studied the relationship between early electroencephalography(EEG) findings and clinical course and neurologic outcome in severe asphyxiated neonates. METHODS: Between the period of July 1999 and June 2002, 25 neonates who were diagnosed with severe perinatal asphyxia(1-minute Apgar score of < or =3 and initial pH is less than 7.2) at NICU in Dongsan Medical Center were enrolled. An EEG was recorded and analyzed within three days of life and divided into two groups - group 1(normal or focal change on EEG) and group 2(generalized abnormal EEG). Between the two groups, clinical courses and neurologic outcomes were compared. RESULTS: Fifteen infants(60%) were group 1 and ten infants(40%) were group 2(polyspikes, burst- suppression, generalized low voltage). Associated maternal disease, days of hospitalization, need for ventilator support, delay of oral feeding and convulsion duration are significantly higher and longer in group 2. Also, poor neurologic outcome(expire, developmental delay) was significantly higher in group 2(60%) than group 1(13.3%). CONCLUSION: Thus, the early neonatal EEG in asphyxiated newborn can be a predictable diagnostic tool in assessment of neurologic outcome.
Apgar Score ; Asphyxia ; Electroencephalography ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Infant, Newborn* ; Mortality ; Seizures ; Survivors ; Ventilators, Mechanical

Hospital from recent 6 years. The age range extended from 1 month to 34 years with 11 cases arising between the age of 10 and 19. The duration of torsion was less than 6 hours in 2 cases, 6-24 hours in 9 cases and 24 hours or longer in 10 cases. The testicular salvage rate was 100% (11/ II) for the patients operated within less than 24 hours after torsion. and 44% (4/9) for the patients over .24 hours. The degree of torsion was less than 180 degrees in 12 cases, whose testicular salvage rate was 100%. Among the 8 cases who had more than 360 degrees of torsion, orchiectomy was performed in 5 cases. But the duration of torsion of all these cases was more than 24 hours. Thus the testicular salvage in patients with testicular torsion was closely related to the duration of torsion and early scrotal exploration should be done in patients with suspicious testicular torsion.
Humans ; Orchiectomy ; Spermatic Cord Torsion ; Testis*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of combination functional electrical stimulation (FES) and standing frame training on standing balance in stroke patients. METHODS: Patients who had hemiparesis and postural instability after stroke were randomly assigned to one of the two groups; study group underwent FES on the quadriceps and tibialis anterior muscle simultaneously with standing balance training. The control group received standing frame training and FES separately. Both the groups received their respective therapies for 3 weeks. Stability index in Biodex Balance master system, Berg Balance Scale (BBS), manual muscle test, the Korean version of Modified Barthel Index, and Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination were used to evaluate the effects of the treatment. RESULTS: In total, 30 patients were recruited to the study group and 30 to the control group. Three weeks after treatment, both the groups showed improvement in postural stability scores and physical and cognitive functions. When changes in postural stability were compared between the groups, the study group showed more significant improvement than the control group with regards to the scores of BBS and the stability indices. CONCLUSION: In this study, we found the therapeutic effectiveness of combined therapy of FES and standing frame in subacute stroke patients. The presented protocol is proposed as time-saving and can be applied easily in the clinical setting. Thus, the proposed combined therapy could be a useful method for improving standing balance in subacute stroke patients.
Cognition ; Electric Stimulation ; Humans ; Methods ; Paresis ; Rehabilitation ; Stroke

Recently, [I-123]IPT SPECT has been used for early diagnosis of Parkinson's patients(PP) by imaging dopamine transporters. The dynamic time activity curves in basal ganglia(BG) and occipital cortex(OCC) without blood samples were obtained for 2 hours. These data were then used to measure dopamine transporters by operationally defined ratio methods of (BG-OCC)/OCC at 2 hrs, binding potential Rv=k3/k4 using graphic method or RA= (ABBG-ABOCC)/ABOCC for 2 hrs, where ABBG represents accumulated binding activity in basal ganglia(integral 0 120minBG(t)dt) and ABOCC represents accumulated binding activity in occipital cortex(integral 0 120minBG(t)dt). The purpose of this study was to examine the IPT pharmacokinetics and investigate the usefulness of simplified methods of (BG-OCC)/OCC, RA, and RA which are often assumed that these values reflect the true values of k3/k4. The rate constants K1, k2, k3 and k4 to be used for simulations were derived using [I-123]IPT SPECT and aterialized blood data with a standard three compartmental model. The sensitivities and time activity curves in BG and OCC were computed by changing K1 and k3(only BG) for every 5min over 2 hours. The values (BG-OCC)/OCC, RA, and Rv were then computed from the time activity curves and the linear regression analysis was used to measure the accuracies of these methods. The rate constants K1, k2, k3, k4 at BG and OCC were 1.26+/-5.41%, 0.044+/-19.58%, 0.031+/-24.36%, 0.008+/-22.78% and 1.36+/-4.76%, 0.170+/-6.89%, 0.007+/-23.89%, 0.007+/-45.09%, respectively. The Sensitivities for ((delta S/S)/(delta k3/k3)) and ((delta S/delta S)/(delta K1/K1)) at 30min and 120min were measured as (0.19, 0.50) and (0.61, 0.23), respectively. The correlation coefficients and slopes of ((BG-OCC)/OCC, RA, and Rv) with k3/k4 were (0.98, 1.00, 0.99) and (1.76, 0.47, 1.25), respectively. These simulation results indicate that a late [1-123]IPT SPECT image may represent the distribution of the dopamine transporters. Good correlations were shown between (BG-OCC)/OCC, RA or Rv and true k3/k4,, although the slopes between them were not unity. Pharmacokinetic computer simulations may be very useful technique in studying dopamine transpoter systems.
Computer Simulation* ; Dopamine* ; Early Diagnosis ; Linear Models ; Pharmacokinetics ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

No abstract available.
Fertilization in Vitro* ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone*

PURPOSE: To investigate the difference of the epidemiological, microbiological, and clinical characteristics and risk factors of inpatients with infectious keratitis between an elderly group (group I > or = 60 years) and a younger group (group II < 60 years). METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 255 eyes (male/female: 158/97 eyes, I/II: 116/139 eyes) with infectious keratitis hospitalized at Yeungnam University Hospital between January 2004 and December 2008 was performed. RESULTS: The proportion of bacterial/fungal/herpes viral keratitis was 42/31/27% in group I and 74/8/17% in group II. The proportion of fungal keratitis in relation to bacterial keratitis was higher in group I, as compared to group II (p < 0.001). The ratio of Gram-positive/negative bacteria was 43/30% in group I and 48/46% in group II. The proportion of Gram-positive bacteria in relation to Gram-negative bacteria was higher in group I, as compared to group II (p = 0.025). The most commonly isolated microorganisms were Staphylococcus epidermidis (I/II: 9/10 eyes) among Gram-positive bacteria, Enterobacter species (I: 6 eyes) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (II: 9 eyes) among Gram-negative bacteria, and Candida species (I: 6 eyes, II: 2 eyes) among fungi. Clinical aspects and treatment outcomes, such as previous ocular surgery (I/II: 23/9%), hypertension (26/7%), diabetes mellitus (17/7%), presentation at our clinic after 1 week (43/16%), initial visual acuity less than 0.1 (54/32%), hypopyon (28/15%), epithelial healing time (16/10 days), corneal perforation (18/5%), operative treatment (23/7%), and final visual acuity less than 0.1 (36/14%) were statistically significantly poorer in group I, as compared to group II. Risk factors for unimproved visual outcomes included fungal keratitis in group I and previous ocular surgery and ocular surface disease in group II. CONCLUSIONS: Considering that clinical aspects and treatment outcomes are poor in elderly inpatients with infectious keratitis, special efforts are necessary for a more accurate differential diagnosis and appropriate early treatment to achieve successful treatment outcomes.
Aged ; Bacteria ; Candida ; Corneal Perforation ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Enterobacter ; Eye ; Fungi ; Gram-Negative Bacteria ; Gram-Positive Bacteria ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Inpatients ; Keratitis ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Staphylococcus epidermidis ; Visual Acuity

Here we report a case of Strongyloides stercoralis infection of the gastric and pancolonic mucosa in a 79-year-old female with a monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. Endoscopic biopsies were performed in gastric antrum, cecum, distal ascending colon, and hepatic flexure of the colon. On microscopic examination, there were many adult worms, larvae and eggs in the gastric and colonic mucosa. Worms, larvae, and eggs were located in the crypts and within the lumen of the crypts. The body wall of the adult worm was composed of cuticle and a weak muscle layer. A routine stool examination failed to detect larvae or ova. Based on the histopathologic examination, these parasites were confirmed as S. stercoralis.
Adult ; Aged ; Biopsy ; Cecum ; Colon ; Colon, Ascending ; Eggs ; Female ; Humans ; Larva ; Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance ; Mucous Membrane ; Muscles ; Ovum ; Paraproteinemias ; Parasites ; Pyloric Antrum ; Stomach ; Strongyloides stercoralis ; Strongyloidiasis