The purpose of this study is to evaluate the cephalometric reproducibility in digitized cephalometric radiography by comparing the measurement errors between the remeasured and retaken conventional and digitized lateral cephalometric radiography. The mean of the differences and error percentage of each cephalometric measurement were obtained using 96 lateral cephalometric radiography from 48 patients between the age of 11 and 13. The results were as follows; 1. The repeated measurement group of conventional radiography showed least amount of mean differences while those of the retaken measurement group of digitized image showed largest amount of mean differences in every measurement. 2. The measurements which showed statistically significant difference between the conventional radiography and digitized image were S-Go, Ar-Go, S-Ar-Go and S-sN-sNT in repeated measurement group. 3. The measurements which showed statistically significant difference between the repeated and retaken measurement groups were N-S-Ar, MP-L1 and S-sN-sPog in conventional radiography and S-N, Go-Me and N-A in digitized image. 4. Large amount of error percentage was shown at A-N-B and N-A in retaken measurement group of conventional radiography and N-S-Ba and A-N-B in retaken measurement group of digitized image. 5. The amount of error percentage at Ar-Go and N-S-Ar in retaken measurement group of conventional radiography and S-N, N-A, S-N-B and N-S-Ba in retaken measurement group of digitized image was more than double than those from remeasured groups.
Humans ; Radiography*

Pancreatic neoplasm is complicated and can be preceded by extra-pancreatic manifestations, such as cutaneous and musculoskeletal symptoms. Awareness of these associations is important for timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment. We report a case of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (NET) presenting with arthritis and panniculitis. The patient had a two month history of right knee pain and subcutaneous nodules in both legs. Synovial fluid analysis from the right knee joint revealed a mildly increased white blood cell count without crystallization. A skin biopsy of a subcutaneous nodule revealed lobular panniculitis. The initial treatment with empirical antibiotics did not alleviate the symptoms; however, the right knee arthritis and skin nodules improved with steroid treatment. On the eighth day of hospitalization, the patient complained of abdominal discomfort. Abdominopelvic computed tomography scanning revealed a 14-cm sized pancreatic mass with peritoneal metastasis. Percutaneous needle biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of pancreatic NET.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Arthritis* ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Needle ; Crystallization ; Diagnosis ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Knee ; Knee Joint ; Leg ; Leukocyte Count ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neuroendocrine Tumors* ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Panniculitis* ; Skin ; Synovial Fluid

To understand protozoan, viral, and bacterial infections in diarrheal patients, we analyzed positivity and mixed-infection status with 3 protozoans, 4 viruses, and 10 bacteria in hospitalized diarrheal patients during 2004-2006 in the Republic of Korea. A total of 76,652 stool samples were collected from 96 hospitals across the nation. The positivity for protozoa, viruses, and bacteria was 129, 1,759, and 1,797 per 10,000 persons, respectively. Especially, Cryptosporidium parvum was highly mixed-infected with rotavirus among pediatric diarrheal patients (29.5 per 100 C. parvum positive cases), and Entamoeba histolytica was mixed-infected with Clostridium perfringens (10.3 per 100 E. histolytica positive cases) in protozoan-diarrheal patients. Those infected with rotavirus and C. perfringens constituted relatively high proportions among mixed infection cases from January to April. The positivity for rotavirus among viral infection for those aged < or = 5 years was significantly higher, while C. perfringens among bacterial infection was higher for > or = 50 years. The information for association of viral and bacterial infections with enteropathogenic protozoa in diarrheal patients may contribute to improvement of care for diarrhea as well as development of control strategies for diarrheal diseases in Korea.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy, safety, and tolerability of paliperidone extended release (ER) in patients with schizophrenia by switching previous antipsychotics to paliperidone ER. METHODS: An open-label, 24 weeks, prospective, non-comparative, multi-center study evaluated total 387 patients with schizophrenia requiring a switch in antipsychotic medication due to suboptimal efficacy, intolerability, and non-compliance. Patients were switched to flexible-dose trial of paliperidone ER (3-12 mg/day). Efficacy was measured by Krawiecka Scale, Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia-Severity (CGI-SCH-S), Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia-Improvement (CGI-SCH-I), sleep visual analog scale (VAS), and Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP). Safety assessments included adverse events (AEs), evaluation of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) using the Drug Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale (DIEPSS), and laboratory tests. RESULTS: Data from a total of 321 subjects who took the paliperidone ER and had at least one follow-up assessment without a major protocol violation were analyzed. Switching to paliperidone ER led to a significant improvement in the Krawiecka, CGI-SCH-S, CGI-SCH-I, PSP, and DIEPSS scales. However, serum prolactin levels and metabolic parameters including body weight and waist circumference were significantly increased. Insomnia was the most common adverse event. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that patients with schizophrenia who showed insufficient response or intolerance to other previous antipsychotics can be switched to paliperidone ER, with efficacy, safety, and tolerability.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Body Weight ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Isoxazoles ; Prolactin ; Prospective Studies ; Pyrimidines ; Schizophrenia ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Waist Circumference ; Weights and Measures

Background: The benefits of transradial access (TRA) over transfemoral access (TFA) for bifurcation percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are uncertain because of the limited availability of device selection. This study aimed to compare the procedural differences and the in-hospital and long-term outcomes of TRA and TFA for bifurcation PCI using secondgeneration drug-eluting stents (DESs). Methods: Based on data from the Coronary Bifurcation Stenting Registry III, a retrospective registry of 2,648 patients undergoing bifurcation PCI with second-generation DES from 21 centers in South Korea, patients were categorized into the TRA group (n = 1,507) or the TFA group (n = 1,141). After propensity score matching (PSM), procedural differences, in-hospital outcomes, and device-oriented composite outcomes (DOCOs; a composite of cardiac death, target vessel-related myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization) were compared between the two groups (772 matched patients each group). Results: Despite well-balanced baseline clinical and lesion characteristics after PSM, the use of the two-stent strategy (14.2% vs. 23.7%, P = 0.001) and the incidence of in-hospital adverse outcomes, primarily driven by access site complications (2.2% vs. 4.4%, P = 0.015), were significantly lower in the TRA group than in the TFA group. At the 5-year follow-up, the incidence of DOCOs was similar between the groups (6.3% vs. 7.1%, P = 0.639). Conclusion The findings suggested that TRA may be safer than TFA for bifurcation PCI using second-generation DESs. Despite differences in treatment strategy, TRA was associated with similar long-term clinical outcomes as those of TFA. Therefore, TRA might be the preferred access for bifurcation PCI using second-generation DES.