Treatment of male urinary incontinence is one of the most distressing problem in the urologic practice. Recent advances in implantable devices have improved the outlook for patients with incontinence, but the prosthetic surgery has mechanical problems to be solved, and does not maintain physiologic normality. Recently, we treated a case of postprostatectomy incontinence, and obtained a good result with surgical intercavernous embedding of the bulboperineal urethra.
Humans ; Male ; Urethra* ; Urinary Incontinence

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant neoplasms occuring worldwide. Surgical resection currently provides the best chance of long-term tumor free survival, but the most HCCs are not candidates for surgical excision due to poor liver function or poor medical background. Numerous noninvasive alternatives to surgical resection have been introduced to treat liver cancers. Radiofrequency thermal ablation has begun to receive much attention as an effective and minimally invasive technique for the local control of HCC. The biliary system related complications after radiofrequency ablation has rarely been reported. We report a case of biliary-duodenal fistula with liver abscess after radiofrequency ablation for HCC. The case was treated by abscess drainage and antibiotics.
Biliary Fistula/*diagnosis/etiology ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/diagnosis/*surgery ; Catheter Ablation/*adverse effects ; Duodenal Diseases/*diagnosis/etiology ; Duodenal Obstruction/diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Intestinal Fistula/*diagnosis/etiology ; Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis/*surgery ; Middle Aged ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

A baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) is used routinely to produce recombinant proteins in the milligram scale. Dual Ig domain containing cell adhesion molecule (DICAM) belongs to the type I class of transmembrane proteins. It consists of a signal peptide, two V-type Ig domains in the extracellular region, and a short cytoplasmic tail of 442 amino acids. To purify the recombinant DICAM protein from cells overexpressing the mouse full-length DICAM gene, recombinant baculovirus is infected and recovered in the Sf9 cells. As a result, mouse DICAM protein was efficiently expressed and extracted from the insect cells using the BEVS. This recombinant protein can be used in further studies for functional test of DICAM protein in the cells.
Amino Acids ; Animals ; Baculoviridae ; Cell Adhesion ; Cytoplasm ; Insects ; Mice ; Protein Sorting Signals ; Proteins ; Recombinant Proteins ; Sf9 Cells

PURPOSE: This study evaluated powdered burn wound dressing materials from wild silkworm fibroin in an animal model. METHODS: Fifteen rats were used in this experiment. Full-thickness 2x2 cm burn wounds were created on the back of rats under anesthesia. In the two experimental groups, the wounds were treated with two different dressing materials made from silkworm fibroin. In the Control Group, natural healing without any dressing material was set as control. The wound surface area was measured at five days, seven days and 14 days. Wound healing was evaluated by histologic analysis. RESULTS: By gross observation, there were no infections or severe inflammations through 14 days post-injury. The differences among groups were statistically significant at seven days and 14 days, postoperatively (P<0.037 and 0.001, respectively). By post hoc test, the defect size was significantly smaller in experimental Group 1 compared with the Control Group and experimental Group 2 at seven days postoperatively (P=0.022 and 0.029, respectively). The difference between Group 1 and Group 2 was statistically significant at 14 days postoperatively (P<0.001). Group 1 and control also differed significantly (P=0.002). Group 1 showed a smaller residual scar than the Control Group and Group 2 at 14 days post-injury. Histologic analysis showed more re-epithelization in Groups 1 and 2 than in the Control Groups. CONCLUSION: Burn wound healing was accelerated with silk fibroin spun by wild silkworm Antheraea pernyi. There was no atypical inflammation with silk dressing materials. In conclusion, silk dressing materials can be used for treatment of burn wound.
Anesthesia ; Animals ; Bandages* ; Bombyx* ; Burns* ; Cicatrix ; Fibroins* ; Inflammation ; Models, Animal ; Moths* ; Rats* ; Silk* ; Wound Healing ; Wounds and Injuries*

BACKGROUND: We made a comparative study on the antiemetic effect of midazolam and ondansetron added to intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) using fentanyl with gynecologic patients undergoing pelviscopic surgery. METHODS: The PCA using 20 microg/kg of fentanyl was started in all groups postoperatively. A dose of 16 mg of ondansetron was added to the PCA of group O (n = 30). A dose of 5 mg of midazolam was added to the PCA of group M (n = 30). While 16 mg of ondansetron and 5 mg of midazolam were added to the PCA of group MO (n = 30). Total volume of the PCA was 60 ml, and the PCA system was programmed to deliver 0.5 ml/h of continuous doses and a 0.5 ml bolus on demand, with a 15 minutes lockout interval. The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), sedation score, visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, and rescue drug dose for PONV were investigated at the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), 6 hours, and 24 hours after recovery. RESULTS: The incidence of PONV in group MO was significantly lower than in group O at PACU, 24 hours after recovery (P < 0.05). The sedation score and VAS pain score showed no differences among all groups. CONCLUSIONS: Midazolam added to PCA using fentanyl proved more effective than ondansetron in preventing PONV without adverse effects.
Analgesia, Patient-Controlled ; Antiemetics ; Fentanyl ; Humans ; Incidence ; Midazolam ; Ondansetron ; Passive Cutaneous Anaphylaxis ; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting

Biliary cast describes the presence of casts within the biliary tree. It is resultant sequel of cholangitis and hepatocyte damage secondary to bile stasis and bile duct injury. Biliary cast syndrome was first reported in patient undergone liver transplantation. The pathogenesis of biliary cast is not clearly identified, but proposed etiologic factors include post-transplant bile duct damage, ischemia, biliary infection, or post-operative biliary drainage tube. Although biliary casts are uncommon, most of biliary cast syndrome are reported in the liver transplant or hepatic surgery patients. A few reports have been published about non-transplant or non-liver surgery biliary cast. We report two cases of biliary cast syndrome in non-liver surgery patients.
Acute Disease ; Ascariasis/diagnosis ; Bile Duct Diseases/*diagnosis/ultrasonography ; Bile Ducts/ultrasonography ; Cholagogues and Choleretics/therapeutic use ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde/adverse effects ; Female ; Gallstones/diagnosis ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pancreatitis/etiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ursodeoxycholic Acid/therapeutic use

OBJECTIVES: Chigger mites are vectors for scrub typhus. This study evaluated the annual fluctuations in chigger mite populations and Orientia tsutsugamushi infections in South Korea.METHODS: During 2006 and 2007, chigger mites were collected monthly from wild rodents in 4 scrub typhus endemic regions of South Korea. The chigger mites were classified based on morphological characteristics, and analyzed using nested PCR for the detection of Orientia tsutsugamushi.RESULTS: During the surveillance period, the overall trapping rate for wild rodents was 10.8%. In total, 17,457 chigger mites (representing 5 genera and 15 species) were collected, and the average chigger index (representing the number of chigger mites per rodent), was 31.7. The monthly chigger index was consistently high (> 30) in Spring (March to April) and Autumn (October to November). The mite species included Leptotrombidium pallidum (43.5%), L. orientale (18.9%), L. scutellare (18.1%), L. palpale (10.6%), and L. zetum (3.6%). L. scutellare and L. palpale populations, were relatively higher in Autumn. Monthly O. tsutsugamushi infection rates in wild rodents (average: 4.8%) and chigger mites (average: 0.7%) peaked in Spring and Autumn.CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrated a bimodal pattern of the incidence of O. tsutsugamushi infections. Higher infection rates were observed in both wild rodents and chigger mites, in Spring and Autumn. However, this did not reflect the unimodal incidence of scrub typhus in Autumn. Further studies are needed to identify factors, such as human behavior and harvesting in Autumn that may explain this discordance.
Globus Pallidus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mites ; Orientia tsutsugamushi ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rodentia ; Scrub Typhus ; Trombiculidae

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) is often considered to be benign and it is also considered to be a manifestation of generalized atherosclerosis that involves the aortic valve. However, it is associated with high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a population-based study. This study was performed to evaluate the significance of AVS in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with AVS (AVS group, n=111) and patients with normal aortic valves (control group, n=99) who underwent coronary angiography (CAG) between May, 2004 and June, 2004 were enrolled in this study. We compared the CAG findings and the CAD risk factors in both groups, and we evaluated the diagnostic value of AVS for predicting CAD. We also performed multivariate logistic regression analysis for the risk factors, including AVS, of CAD. RESULTS: This study showed that AVS is an independent echocardiographic predictor of significant CAD in the patients with suspected CAD (OR=2.55, 95% CI: 1.25 to 5.17, p<0.001). The other independent predictors include the male gender and hypertension. AVS has a relatively high positive predictive value (75.7%) and predictive accuracy (65.2%) for the patients with suspected CAD. CONCLUSION: The recognition of AVS on transthoracic echocardiography should alert the physicians to the possibility of significant underlying CAD and further evaluation is indicated, even though angiographic documentation might not be available.
Aortic Valve* ; Atherosclerosis ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Disease ; Coronary Vessels* ; Echocardiography ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mortality ; Risk Factors* ; Sclerosis*