OBJECTIVES: This study examined the selective deficits of executive function in patients with mild traumatic brain injury that in normal range of general intelligence level and aimed to analysis of the correlation between K-WAIS result and executive function. METHODS: 59 subjects were included in this study, who were diagnosed as mild traumatic brain injury(MTBI) and they have visited in neuropsychiatric department of Wonkwang University Hospital during from March, 2005 to September, 2010. For measurement of general intelligence quotient, the Korean-Wechsler Adults Intelligence Scale(K-WAIS) was administered and for measurement of executive intelligence quotient(EIQ), Executive Intelligence Test(EXIT) was administered. RESULTS: Of patients, 50.8% included at abnormal EIQ group. The patients of abnormal EIQ showed poorer full scale IQ(FIQ), performance IQ(PIQ) and in subscale that picture arrangement, digit symbol, digit span, block design, object assembly and comprehension were significantly different. In terms of relationships between K-WAIS and EIQ, FIQ and PIQ have positive correlation with EIQ. And in subscale, picture arrangement, digit symbol, digit span, block design, object assembly and comprehension show positive correlation with EIQ. CONCLUSION: This study suggest that MTBI patients with have normal range of general intelligence level may have deficit of executive function is common. The decline of FIQ, PIQ and some subscales of K-WAIS may suggest executive dysfunction in MTBI patients.
Adult ; Brain ; Brain Injuries ; Comprehension ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Reference Values ; Wechsler Scales

Cardiovascular diseases have been the most serious threat to life and health. The socioeconomic ramifications of heart disease have long been a source of vexing legal as well as medical problems with no easy resolution as yet in hand. Heart weight, one of the important factors for the diagnosis of cardiomegaly and various heart diseases, shows extreme variability according to the height, weight, age, sex, nutritional status of individuals as well as other various factors. The purpose of this investigation was to find a practical method for calculating expected normal range of heart weight in a given individual. The study was performed on 259 autopsy cases of normal Korean men and women, consisting of 123 men and 136 women in age from newborn to 77 years old. Height, body weight, and heart weight were measured and the body surface area was calculated by height (cm)0.725 x weight (kg)0.425 x 71.84 and height (cm)0.7763 x weight (kg)0.4081 x 71.84 in men and women, respectively. The results showed that the mean heart weight of men and women older than 20 years old were 316.20 +/- 51.15 g (n=96) and 275.87 +/- 44.69 g (n=108), respectively. Heart weight was gradually increased according to the age. The body weight (men: r=0.81, women: r=0.84) and body surface area (men: r=0.83, women: r=0.83) were better univariate predictors of normal heart weight than body height (men: r=0.78, women: r=0.75) and age (men: r=0.42, women: r=0.57). No significant difference was found in predictive precision between body weight and body surface area. Since the body surface area was calculated from body weight and height, measuring the body weight was essential for calculating expected normal range of heart weight in a given individual, and calculation of expected normal range of heart weight using body weight was simpler method than using body surface area.
Aged ; Autopsy ; Body Height ; Body Surface Area* ; Body Weight* ; Cardiomegaly ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hand ; Heart Diseases ; Heart* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Nutritional Status ; Reference Values ; Young Adult

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: Surgeons are confronted frequently with the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in the cases of acute appendicitis in the elderly. Despite the improvements in management, the morbidity and mortality remain high. In order to verify contributing factors of high morbidity and mortality and establish more proper diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, we compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of acute appendicitis in the elderly with those of younger people. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 30 elderly and 248 younger people who were pathologically diagnosed as appendicitis after an appendectomy. RESULTS: There was no difference in the rates of occurrence of right lower abdominal pain and tenderness between the two people. The rate of appendiceal perforation was significantly higher in the elderly. Prehospital delay was significantly longer in the elderly. Concomitant diseases were more prevalent in the elderly. The hospital stay was significantly longer and the rate of complication was relatively higher in the elderly also. CONCLUSIONS: When a vague and unexplained abdominal discomfort occurs in the elderly, we should suspect and rule out acute appendicitis as the cause of the discomfort. Early aggressive diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are essential components in managing acute appendicitis in the elderly. In addition, perioperative evaluation and prophylactic measures for concomitant diseases are needed to decrease morbidity and mortality in the elderly.
Abdomen, Acute ; Abdominal Pain ; Aged* ; Appendectomy ; Appendicitis* ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Retrospective Studies

Traditional adipose tissue transplantation has unpredictable viability and poor absorption rates. Recent studies have reported that treatment with platelet-rich plasma (PRP), adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), and stromal vascular fraction (SVF) are related to increased survival of grafted adipose tissue. This study was the first simultaneous comparison of graft survival in combination with PRP, ASCs, and SVF. Adipose tissues were mixed with each other, injected subcutaneously into the back of nude mice, and evaluated at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Human adipocytes were grossly maintained in the ASCs and SVF mixtures. Survival of the adipose tissues with PRP was observed at 4 weeks and with SVF at 8 and 12 weeks. At 12 weeks, volume reduction in the ASCs and SVF mixtures were 36.9% and 32.1%, respectively, which were significantly different from that of the control group without adjuvant treatment, 51.0%. Neovascular structures were rarely observed in any of the groups. Our results suggest that the technique of adding ASCs or SVF to transplanted adipose tissue might be more effective than the conventional grafting method. An autologous adipose tissue graft in combination with ASCs or SVF may potentially contribute to stabilization of engraftment.
Adipocytes/*transplantation ; Adipose Tissue/cytology/*transplantation ; Adult ; Animals ; Female ; *Graft Survival ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; *Platelet-Rich Plasma ; Stem Cells ; Stromal Cells/*transplantation ; Transplantation, Heterologous

Most intracranial meningiomas present on the C-T as typical features with homogeneous, occasionally lobulated mass of density equal or greater than of surrounding brain tissue. After contrast injection, there is uniform and homogeneous enhancement in the density. Infrequently a significant number present as atypical features which are regional inhomogenecity of tumor mass on C-T and common source of error in the diagnosis of meningioma. The authors reviewed 25 consecutive meningiomas, all confirmed pathologically. 7 cases have been encountered as atypical features on the C-T. Among them, 2 cases of peritumoral low density were diagnosed as meningioma with C-T only. 5 cases(2 cases of peritumoral cyst, 2 cases of intratumoral cyst, 1 case of peritumoral bleeding) were misdiagnosed initially as malignant lesion based on C-T findings. Those C-T patterns have been found to correlate with certain histologic and morphologic alternation in tumor anatomy. Close correlation with pathological findings of tumor necrosis, cystic changes and hemorrhage was noted.
Brain ; Diagnosis ; Hemorrhage ; Meningioma* ; Necrosis

PURPOSE: The cytotoxicity by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is mediated by inhibition of thymi- dylate synthase (TS), which is a rate-limiting enzyme for DNA synthesis. To test whether the resistance to 5-FU would be associated with cellular TS activity, we analyzed TS gene expression from human gastrointestinal cancer cell lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We established the experimental conditions for quantitating TS mRNA expression by competitive RT-PCR using mimic DNA. Based on this method, we compared TS mRNA expression between 5-FU resistant cell line and parent cell line and investigated the expression of TS mRNA following 5-FU administration in 6 human gas- trointestinal cancer cell lines. RESULTS: Competitive RT-PCR using mimic DNA seemed to be more effective than Northern blot analysis for quantitation of TS gene expression. The quantity of TS mRNA and IC50 value of 5-FU in 5-FU resistant H630 was found to be 2.5 and 10 times higher than in parent cell line, respectively. And also, we observed linear relationship between TS mRNA level and IC50 value of 5-FU (r 0.76) in 6 gastrointestinal cancer cell lines. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that overexpression of TS mRNA may play a role in the development of 5-FU resistance in human gastrointestinal malignancies
Blotting, Northern ; Cell Line ; DNA ; Drug Resistance* ; Fluorouracil* ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; Gene Expression ; Humans* ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Parents ; RNA, Messenger* ; Thymidylate Synthase*

Bacterial endophthalmitis is a very difficult ophthalmic disease to treat because of the consistently poor results with conventional therapy. lntravitreal injection of antibiotics is increasingly gaining the acceptance as a method of producing high vitreal concentrations that may be useful in the treatment of bacterial endophthalmitis. The author performed this experiment to determine the clerance rare of intravitreal gentamicin in the rabbit eyes. We observed the clearance of gentamicin in phakic and aphakic rabbit eyes into which 20 micro gram/0.1 ml of gentamicin was injected. In phakic eyes, about 52% of gentamicin was cleared at 24 hours after injection. In aphakic eyes with intact posterior capsule, 64% of gentamicin was cleared at 24 hours after injection. In aphakic eyes with incised posterior capsule, the clearance rate at 24 hours after injection was about 70%. Intravitreal gentamicin was cleared more rapidly from the aphakic eyes than from that of phakic eyes.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Endophthalmitis ; Gentamicins*

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the correlations between neurological and psychiatric symptoms at two weeks after stroke. METHODS: For 412 stroke patients, stroke severity was evaluated by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), disability by the Barthel Index(BI) and modified Rankin Scale(mRS), cognitive function by the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination(K-MMSE), and muscle power by grip strength. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed by Symptom check list-90-Revision(SCL-90-R), consisted of nine symptom domains : Somatization, Obsessive-compulsive, Interpersonal sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic anxiety, Paranoid ideation, Psychoticism, and Additional items. The correlations between the neurological and psychiatric symptoms were investigated at the time of admission and before discharge(i.e. before and after treatment). RESULTS: At the time of admission, NIHSS score was associated with scores on Phobic anxiety and Additional items ; and scores on BI and mRS were associated with Depression, Phobic anxiety and Additional items. At the time of discharge, NIHSS score was associated with scores on Somatization, Depression, Phobic anxiety, and Additional items ; scores on BI and mRS were associated with scores on Depression, Phobic anxiety and Additional items ; MMSE score was associated with Obsessive-compulsive, Depression, Phobic anxiety, and Additional items ; and grip strength was associated with Somatization, Depression, Anxiety and Additional items. CONCLUSIONS: More severe neurological symptoms were associated with higher psychiatric morbidity particularly in depression, phobic anxiety, sleep and appetite disturbance at acute stage of stroke. More intensive psychiatric care and intervention are needed for the high risk group.
Anxiety ; Appetite ; Depression ; Hand Strength ; Hostility ; Humans ; Muscles ; National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Stroke

PURPOSE: We evaluated the effect of tamsulosin for the short-term treatment of urinary stones. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred forty-seven patients who were diagnosed with urinary stones were enrolled in this prospective, randomized multicenter study. The treatment and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) group (Group 1, n=115) was given diclofenac sodium 100 mg plus tamsulosin 0.2 mg for 1 week. The control and SWL group (Group 2, n=92) was given diclofenac sodium for 1 week. The treatment and no SWL group (Group 3, n=19) was treated the same as Group 1. The control and no SWL group (Group 4, n=21) was given diclofenac sodium only. Patients in Groups 3 and 4 did not want to take SWL treatment. The size of the stone, expulsion rate according to stone location and ESWL machines, changes in pain score, and distance of stone migration when expulsion of the stone failed were compared among the groups. RESULTS: There were no differences in the 4 groups in sex or stone size. The stone expulsion rate of lower ureter stones in group 1 (59.6%) was significantly higher than in group 2 (30.8%) (p=0.01). The distance of stone migration in group 3 was longer than that in group 4 (5.63+/-5.48 cm compared with 0.33+/-0.68 cm; p=0.002). Although the difference was not significant in the SWL groups, the distance of stone migration in group 1 was longer than that in group 2 (7.08+/-6.9 cm compared with 5.46+/-7.4 cm; p>0.05). There were no significant differences in changes on the pain scale among the groups. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that adjunctive medical therapy for 1 week with tamsulosin after SWL increases the stone expulsion rate of lower ureteral stones and increases the distance of stone migration in case of failure of stone expulsion.
Diclofenac ; Humans ; Lithotripsy ; Prospective Studies ; Shock ; Sulfonamides ; Ureter ; Urinary Calculi