No abstract available.
Headache ; Injections, Epidural ; Pneumocephalus

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to explore clinical nurses' experience of positive organizational culture in order to provide data for effective strategies of acquisition and retention of competent nurses. METHODS: In this qualitative study, interviews with four focus groups of four to six nurses, 19 in total, were held. Compositional factors in groups included clinical experience, age, work place, and position. Interviews proceeded until data were saturated. RESULTS: Fifteen sub-themes, categorized into six themes, emerged. Positive organizational culture themes included "Helping nurses to be organization members", "Allowing nurses to communicate with one another", "Helping nurses take an initiative to lead organization", "Having competent leader take charge of organization", "Enabling nurses to achieve organizational changes", and "Leading nurses to accomplish organizational performance." CONCLUSION: Results indicate that positive organizational culture is related to increases in occupational satisfaction and decreases in turnover through supportive organizational culture which makes it possible to reinvest expenses required for training new members to promoting quality growth in the organization and the prestige of professional nurses. In order to improve occupational satisfaction and sustained growth in nurses, it is necessary to provide nurses with positive work environments and require members to make active efforts leading to strategic changes.
Focus Groups ; Organizational Culture* ; Workplace

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare tumor that accounts for less than 2% of all cerebral neoplasms. A 72-year-old man had been suffering from recurrent cranial nerve palsies for several years. His condition improved with steroid treatment, but then eventually worsened; he developed encephalopathic symptoms, quadriparesis, axonal neuropathy, and skin lesions. He was eventually diagnosed with PCNSL following an examination of skin and sural nerve biopsy samples. Biopsy of skin lesions or nerves should be considered for the accurate and early diagnosis of PCNSL.
Aged ; Axons ; Biopsy ; Central Nervous System ; Cranial Nerve Diseases ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; Organic Chemicals ; Peripheral Nervous System ; Quadriplegia ; Skin ; Stress, Psychological ; Sural Nerve

No abstract available.
Carotid Arteries ; Paraganglioma

No abstract available.
Brain Diseases ; Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome ; Uremia

No abstract available.
Epilepsy

BACKGROUND: The etiology of transient global amnesia (TGA) is uncertain. Recent studies have demonstrated a high signal intensity on diffusion MRI in TGA patients. In this study we reviewed and compared the use of electroencephalography (EEG) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in TGA in order to determine their sensitivity and to reveal clues about the etiology of this condition. METHODS: Twenty patients (7 males and 13 females; aged 58.0+/-12.1 years, mean+/-SD) who had been diagnosed with TGA at Dongguk University International Hospital within a 2-year period (2007 and 2008) were included in the study. All patients underwent EEG and DWI. RESULTS: The EEG of 12 of the 20 patients (60.0%) exhibited abnormalities; all 12 exhibited slowing on either the left side (n=6) or bilaterally (n=6). Spikes or sharp waves were detected in two patients. DWI revealed unilateral high signal intensities in the hippocampus of eight patients; five of these patients had left hippocampal lesions, and the other three had right hippocampal lesions. Four patients with a unilateral DWI lesion exhibited bilateral EEG abnormalities, and six patients exhibited only EEG abnormalities (without DWI abnormalities). Three patients had a high-signal-intensity lesion on DWI without EEG abnormalities. Five patients had normal EEG and DWI results. Interestingly, no patient had EEG abnormalities confined to the right temporal area. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that left temporal dysfunction is important for the development of TGA. EEG might be complementary to DWI in TGA investigations, and may be superior at illustrating the associated memory dysfunction.
Aged ; Amnesia, Transient Global ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Electroencephalography ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Male ; Memory

Diabetic nephropathy is characterized by an expansion of the glomerular mesangium, caused by mesangial cell proliferation and an excessive accumulation of extracellar matrix (ECM) proteins, which eventually leading to glomerulosclerosis. TGF-beta1 was found to play an important role in the accumulation of ECM in the kidney. In this study, TGF-beta1 RNA interference was used as an effective therapeutic strategy. The inhibitory effect of TGF-beta1 small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) on the high glucose-induced overexpression of TGF-beta1 in rat mesangial ceys (RMCs). A high levels of glucose induces TGF-beta1 mRNA and protein, and TGF-beta1 siRNAs reduce the ability of high glucose to stimulate their expression. We also examined the inhibitory effect of TGF-beta1 siRNAs on the expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 and Collagen Type I which are down-regulators of TGF-beta1. The expression of TGF-beta1, PAI-1 and Collagen Type I was increased in RMCs that were stimulated by 30 mM glucose. TGF-beta1 siRNAs reduces high glucose-induced TGF-beta1, PAI-1, and Collagen Type I mRNA and protein expression in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that TGF-beta1 siRNAs effectively inhibits TGF-beta1 mRNA and protein expression in RMCs. These suggest that TGF-beta1 siRNAs through RNAi may be a useful tool for developing new therapeutic applications for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy.
Transforming Growth Factor beta1/*metabolism ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rats ; RNA, Small Interfering/*metabolism ; Microscopy, Fluorescence ; Mesangial Cells/*metabolism ; Male ; Glucose/*metabolism ; Glomerular Mesangium/*metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Diabetic Nephropathies/pathology ; Collagen Type I/metabolism ; Cells, Cultured ; Cell Proliferation ; Animals