No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Laser Coagulation* ; Prostatic Hyperplasia*

No abstract available.
Anus, Imperforate* ; Perineum* ; Ultrasonography*

Intracavernous self-injection therapy is now being widely used to treat patients with erectile dysfunction. Many men with erectile dysfunction can achieve normal erection with this therapy, but about 50% of men using this therapy eventually discontinue treatment for reasons relating to penile pain, needle-phobia and side effects including corporeal scarring, penile hematoma and priapism. Therefore, the less invasive route of drug administration is highly recommended. We investigated the efficacy and safety of transurethral instillation of PGE1 solution for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in comparison with an intracavernous injection of PGE1. Forty seven normal males and nine neurogenic impotent patients due to spinal cord injury (SCI) were enrolled in this study and all subjects were evaluated with the penile duplex color doppler ultrasonography before and after the drug administration. Penile length and circumference were measured before and after the drug administration. The erectile response was recorded on a five-point erection assessment scale by Padma-Nathan. Of 12 normal males used transurethral instillation of PGE1 solution 5 (42%) were achieved erection allowing sexual intercourse (score 4 or 5). The mean peak systolic velocity at 30 minutes was 75.82+/-56.84cm/sec, 63.11 +/- 48.11cm/sec and end diastolic velocity at 30 minutes was 3.49+/-8.10cm/sec, 10.51 +/- 1.12cm/sec and resistance index was 0.96+/-0.15, 0.78+/-0.15 in normal males and SCI patients respectively. Mean length and circumference of penile shaft before and after transurethral instillation of PGE1 showed significant difference. Of 9 patients, 5 (55.5%) were achieved erection allowing sexual intercourse. With the transurethral instillation of PGE1 solution, urethral pain and burning sense were noticeable complication but systemic side effect was not noticed. In conclusion, transurethral PGE1 instillation can be satisfactorily used for the patients with erectile dysfunction of less prominent organic and neurogenic origin, although the effect of transurethral instillation of PGE1 is obviously less than that of intracavernosal injection.
Alprostadil* ; Burns ; Cicatrix ; Coitus ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Male* ; Priapism ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color

Localized pigmented villonodular synovitis is a monoarticular proliferative condition that may affect any joint but is frequently found in the knee. The locaiized form was less frequent than the diffuse one. The estimated frequency of localized pigmented villonodular synovitis among patients performed an arthroscopic procedure was known one case lor each 2,500 cases. Previous reports pointed that the lower recurrence rate after the arthroscopic excision for localized form. We also experienced a case of localized pigmented viilonodular synovitis located at the posterior compartment of the knee, so we report this case with review of literatures.
Humans ; Joints ; Knee* ; Recurrence ; Synovitis ; Synovitis, Pigmented Villonodular*

No abstract available.

We have had an opportunity to study a patient with acute sensory neuronopathy. The patient was a 32-yearold housewife; the rapidly spreaded tingling sensation along both arms and legs developed, rendering her severely ataxic. There was no history of antecedent illness, familial neurological disease, or exposure to toxins and special drugs. On examinations, there was no abnormality in her mental and cranial nerve function. There was no motor weakness. She showed the profound loss of kinesthetic sense which was acutely progressive and associated with severe sensory ataxia and pseudoathetosis. All tendon reflexes were absent. However, cutaneous senses were preserved. There was no significant abnormal laboratory finding except elevated CSF protein content. On electrophysiologic findings, the decrease in the amplitude of action potentials with only mild slowing of conduction velocities of sensory nerves were found even though motor nerve conduction studies were normal. Median and tibial somatosensory evoked potentials could be elicited, although the median N19 scalp response and tibial N45 waveforms were prolonged in latency. Plasmapheresis were provided; clinical features improved. However, the electrophy-siological abnormalites remained. Thus we wish to report an additional case of woman suffering from the acute sensory neuronopathy, complementing the cases described by Stemm, Schaumburg and Asbury.
Action Potentials ; Arm ; Ataxia ; Complement System Proteins ; Cranial Nerves ; Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory ; Female ; Humans ; Kinesthesis ; Leg ; Neural Conduction ; Plasmapheresis ; Reflex, Stretch ; Scalp ; Sensation

As one of many cell-many cell-based cartilage repairing methods, transplantation of chondrocyte-embedded-collagen gels in cartilage defect was performed for more satisfactory regeneration of cartilage. The authors performed this study to investigate whether the TGF-beta1 treatment of chondrocytes can do some additional synergistic effect on the transplantation of chondrocyte-embedded-collagen gels for crtilage repair. Chondrocytes were isolated from the articular cartilage of newborn Sprague-Dawley rats. Chondrocytes cultured for 10 days in monolayer were embedded in the 0.45% type I collagen gel. Full-thickness cartilage defect was made in the patellar groove of adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Chondrocytes culdefect was made in the patellar groove of adult Sprague-Dawley rats. The cartilage defects were treated with the following methods in a total of 200 animals, which were assigned to 5 different groups of 40 rats. In the control group, the deffect was left without any treatment, in group I, the defect was filled with collagen gel only, in group II, with collagen gel coontaining 10 ng/ml concentration of TGF-beta1, in group III, with collagen gel containing chondrocytes, and in group IV, with collagen gel containing chondrocytes and TGF-beta1. At 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 weeks after the operation, eight rats of each group were sacrificed, and their distal femurs were harvested for the histologic and biomechanical tests. The section s were stained with hematoxilin and eosin. Alcian-blue, and Safranin-O. Regenerated cartilage was analyzed by the semiquantitative histological grading system. Point indentation test was performed as a biomechanical evaluation, and the stiffness was calculated. The results of the histological grading system revealed that the scores gradually increased with time in all groups, and the scores of group III and IV were higher than those of control, group I and II. The biomechanical study showed that the stiffness gradually increased to reach a plateau level in each group. In control, group I and II, the stiffness increased up to the eighth week and remained around the increased level at the twelfth week, and did not show any statistically significant difference between the groups. In group III and IV, the stiffness was higher than in control group, and increased markedly at the fourth week and the increased level was maintained onwards. The results of this study showed that the transplantation of chondrocyte-embedded-collagen gels enhanced the healing process, and the treatment of TGF-beta1 demonstrated at least partially significant improvement.
Adult ; Animals ; Cartilage ; Cartilage, Articular* ; Chondrocytes ; Collagen ; Collagen Type I ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Femur ; Gels ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Regeneration ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1

Severe burns cause pathophysiological processes that result in mortality. A laboratory biomarker, red cell distribution width (RDW), is known as a predictor of mortality in critically-ill patients. We examined the association between RDW and postoperative mortality in severe burn patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed medical data of 731 severely burned patients who underwent surgery under general anesthesia. We evaluated whether preoperative RDW value can predict 3-month mortality after burn surgery using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, logistic regression, and Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis. Mortality was also analyzed according to preoperative RDW values and incidence of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI). Results: The 3-month mortality rate after burn surgery was 27.1% (198/731). The area under the ROC curve of preoperative RDW to predict mortality after burn surgery was 0.701 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.667–0.734; P < 0.001) with a cut-off point of 12.9. The adjusted hazard ratio in patients with RDW > 12.9 was 1.238 (95% CI, 1.138–1.347; P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that the survival rate was 88.8% for the non-AKI group with RDW ≤ 12.9 and 17.6% for the AKI group with RDW > 12.9. Preoperative RDW was considered an independent risk factor for mortality (odds ratio, 1.679; 95% CI, 1.378– 2.046; P < 0.001). Conclusions: Preoperative RDW may predict 3-month postoperative mortality in patients with severe burns, while preoperative RDW > 12.9 and postoperative AKI may further increase mortality after burn surgery.

No abstract available.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli*