PURPOSE: This study was performed to investigate clinical findings of acute neurologic complications and risk factors for chronic neurologic complications of bacterial meningitis in children. METHODS: Pediatric patients with community acquired bacterial meningitis diagnosed at Seoul National University Children's Hospital and Bundang Seoul National University Hospital were included. We investigated the relative frequency of neurologic complications and distribution of causative organisms. Chronic neurologic complication was defined as persistent neurologic deficit including recurrent seizures 6 months from the diagnosis. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors for epilepsy and motor deficits, which were the most frequently reported chronic neurologic complications. RESULTS: A total of 90 cases were included in the study. Thirteen cases with less than 6 months follow-up duration were excluded from the analysis of risk factors for chronic neurologic complications. The mean age at diagnosis was 15.6 months. Streptococcus agalactiae was the most common pathogen accounting for 27 cases, followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (19 cases), Hemophilus influenzae type b (13 cases), and Neisseria meningitidis (12 cases). Acute neurologic complications were found in 28 cases (31%): cerebral infarction in 16 cases, subdural effusion in 15 cases, and hydrocephalus in 9 cases. Chronic neurologic complications were found in 41 (53%) cases: epilepsy in 28 cases, motor deficit in 16 cases, hearing loss in 6 cases, and cognitive impairment in 4 cases. Cerebral infarction and S. pneumoniae infection were identified as risk factors for epilepsy. Cerebral infarction was a unique risk factor for motor deficit. CONCLUSION: Cerebral infarction is the important risk factor for the development of chronic neurologic complications including epilepsy and motor deficit in pediatric patients with bacterial meningitis.
Accounting ; Cerebral Infarction ; Child ; Epilepsy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Haemophilus influenzae type b ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Logistic Models ; Meningitis, Bacterial ; Neisseria meningitidis ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Pneumonia ; Risk Factors ; Seizures ; Streptococcus agalactiae ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Subdural Effusion

PURPOSE: We evaluated outcomes of treatment in medial condyle fracture of the distal humerus in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven patients (4 females, 3 males) who were treated at the Pusan National University Hospital and followed-up until skeletal maturity after treatment were included. The average age at the time of fracture was 4.6 years (range, 2 to 10 years). Treatment was performed from 1 day to 6 months after the fracture: 4 patients underwent a surgical treatment for 17 days, 2 months, 2 months and 6 months after fracture, respectively. All fractures were Milch type 1. Five patients had Kilfoyle type 3, and two patients had type 2 fractures. Final outcomes were evaluated by the Mayo elbow performance score and carrying angle. RESULTS: There were 3 excellent, 3 good and 1 fair result at the final follow-up. There was no elbow pain in any of the patients. One of the four patients who underwent a late surgical treatment received corrective osteotomy due to cubitus varus. All four patients had a limitation of elbow motion. The other three patients who had accurate diagnosis and treatment had a full range of motion. CONCLUSION: Diagnosis of medial condyle fracture of the distal humerus based on plain radiograph is difficult in children due to its cartilaginous structures. When a patient shows pain, tenderness and swelling on the medial side of the elbow, an additional examination with magnetic resonance imaging may be required even if no fracture line is found in the radiograph. Accurate diagnosis and early treatment is important for good results.
Child* ; Elbow ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Humerus* ; Lifting ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Osteotomy

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect and prognostic factors of automated thermodynamic treatment (thermal compression therapy device [KCL 1100®]) for Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). METHODS: Patients (48 eyes of 24 subjects) with MGD were recruited for a prospective clinical trial. Patients received 15-minute treatments twice a day using the KCL 1100®. Severity of dry eye symptoms were evaluated using the Standard Patient Evaluation for Eye Dryness (SPEED) and Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), and severity of Meibomian gland function was evaluated using the Meibomian gland expressibility (MGE), Meibomian gland secretion (MGS) score and lipid layer thickness measured by LipiView®. To evaluate ocular surface, we measured tear break-up time (BUT) and fluorescein corneal staining score (Oxford scale). Data were presented for baseline and at 2 weeks and 1 month post-treatment. RESULTS: Dry eye symptom (SPEED, OSDI), Meibomian gland function (MGE, MGS), and ocular surface index (BUT, Oxford scale) of patients were significantly improved from baseline to 2 weeks (p < 0.05) and 1 month post-treatment (p < 0.05). In addition, patients with more severe dry eye symptom and Meibomian gland index at baseline examination achieved improvement in mild to moderate MGD (p < 0.05). Improvement of Meibomian gland function (MGE) was associated with improvement of ocular surface index (BUT, Oxford scale) (p < 0.05), but not with improvement of dry eye symptom (SPEED, OSDI) (p > 0.05). There were no significant adverse events during the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: KCL 1100® automated thermodynamic treatment is an effective and safe treatment for MGD. Additionally, KCL 1100® is more effective in patients with moderate dry eye symptom and MGD.
Fluorescein ; Humans ; Meibomian Glands* ; Prospective Studies ; Tears ; Thermodynamics*

BACKGROUND: It is known that there is a pronounced circardian periodicity for the time of onset of acute myocardial infarction(AMI), with prominent increase in incidence of onset in the morning hours. However, the characteristic circardian variability in AMI is blunted in patients receiving beta-blockers or aspirin therapy before their presentation with AMI. These findings are attributed to the increase in platelet aggregability, blood coagulability, and plasma catecholamine that change coronary tone and myocardial oxygen demand. We hypothesize that, in addition to above physiologic and biochemical parameters, morphologic patterns of the coronary artery lesions are related to the development of circardian variation in AMI. METHOD: Subjects were 160 patients with AMI(male 92, female 68, mean age 56.9 +/-10.5 years old). Patients were classified by the time of onset of typical chest pain(AMI) by 6-hour interval from mid-night. Circardian variability of onset of AMI was compared with clinical findings and coronary angiographic findings. RESULTS: Incidence of onset of AMI was most frequent in the morning hours(6AM-noon,42.5%). There was no difference in degree of stenosis, lesion length, incidence of intraluminal thrombus, among 3 subgroups of AMI according to time of attack. Morning hour group had more frequent ulceration of coronary lesion than that of other groups(22.4% vs. 5.4%, p<0.01), and less frequent calcified lesion than that of other groups(3.0% vs 5.4%, p<0.05). Normal or minimal coronary artery lesion, that is Iess than 25% stenosis, was more frequent in the morning hour group comparing to that of other groups(11.9% vs. 9.78%). Eccentric stenosis(15.7% vs, 11,1%) and diffuse irregular lesion(25.5% vs. 16.7%) tended to be more frequent in the morning hour group. There were no differences in sex, age, incidence of hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes, degree of alcohol ingestion, ejection fraction, maximal CK value, preinfarction angina duration, past history of MI, and in incidence of arrhythmia. CONCLUSIONS: There were more ulcerative coronary atherosclerotic lesions, but fewer calcified coronary lesions in the morning group than in afternoon and night group. These findings indicate that morphology of coronary artery lesions may play a role in causing circardian variation in AMI.
Angina, Unstable ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Aspirin ; Blood Platelets ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Vessels* ; Eating ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Oxygen ; Periodicity ; Plasma ; Smoking ; Thorax ; Thrombosis ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND: It is known that there is a pronounced circardian periodicity for the time of onset of acute myocardial infarction(AMI), with prominent increase in incidence of onset in the morning hours. However, the characteristic circardian variability in AMI is blunted in patients receiving beta-blockers or aspirin therapy before their presentation with AMI. These findings are attributed to the increase in platelet aggregability, blood coagulability, and plasma catecholamine that change coronary tone and myocardial oxygen demand. We hypothesize that, in addition to above physiologic and biochemical parameters, morphologic patterns of the coronary artery lesions are related to the development of circardian variation in AMI. METHOD: Subjects were 160 patients with AMI(male 92, female 68, mean age 56.9 +/-10.5 years old). Patients were classified by the time of onset of typical chest pain(AMI) by 6-hour interval from mid-night. Circardian variability of onset of AMI was compared with clinical findings and coronary angiographic findings. RESULTS: Incidence of onset of AMI was most frequent in the morning hours(6AM-noon,42.5%). There was no difference in degree of stenosis, lesion length, incidence of intraluminal thrombus, among 3 subgroups of AMI according to time of attack. Morning hour group had more frequent ulceration of coronary lesion than that of other groups(22.4% vs. 5.4%, p<0.01), and less frequent calcified lesion than that of other groups(3.0% vs 5.4%, p<0.05). Normal or minimal coronary artery lesion, that is Iess than 25% stenosis, was more frequent in the morning hour group comparing to that of other groups(11.9% vs. 9.78%). Eccentric stenosis(15.7% vs, 11,1%) and diffuse irregular lesion(25.5% vs. 16.7%) tended to be more frequent in the morning hour group. There were no differences in sex, age, incidence of hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes, degree of alcohol ingestion, ejection fraction, maximal CK value, preinfarction angina duration, past history of MI, and in incidence of arrhythmia. CONCLUSIONS: There were more ulcerative coronary atherosclerotic lesions, but fewer calcified coronary lesions in the morning group than in afternoon and night group. These findings indicate that morphology of coronary artery lesions may play a role in causing circardian variation in AMI.
Angina, Unstable ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Aspirin ; Blood Platelets ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Vessels* ; Eating ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Oxygen ; Periodicity ; Plasma ; Smoking ; Thorax ; Thrombosis ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND: Milnacipran is a balanced serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor with minimal side effects and broad safety margin. It acts primarily on the descending inhibitory pain pathway in brain and spinal cord. In many animal studies, intrathecal administration of milnacipran is effective in neuropathic pain management. However, there is no study for the neurological safety of milnacipran when it is administered neuraxially. This study examined the neurotoxicity of epidural milnacipran by observing behavioral and sensory-motor changes with histopathological examinations of spinal cords in rats. METHODS: Sixty rats were divided into 3 groups, with each group receiving epidural administration of either 0.3 ml (3 mg) of milnacipran (group M, n = 20), 0.3 ml of 40% alcohol (group A, n = 20), or 0.3 ml of normal saline (group S, n = 20). RESULTS: There were no abnormal changes in the behavioral, sensory-motor, or histopathological findings in all rats of groups M and S over a 3-week observation period, whereas all rats in group A had abnormal changes. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, the direct epidural administration of milnacipran in rats did not present any evidence of neurotoxicity in behavioral, sensory-motor and histopathological evaluations.
Animals ; Brain ; Cyclopropanes ; Injections, Epidural ; Neuralgia ; Norepinephrine ; Rats ; Serotonin ; Spinal Cord

An 18-year-old boy was admitted with chest discomfort, nausea, and dyspnea at rest. At the age of 3 years, he underwent muscle biopsy and dystrophin gene analysis owing to an enlarged calf muscle and elevated serum kinase level (6,378 U/L) without overt weakness; based on the results, Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) was diagnosed. The dystrophin gene showed deletion of exons 45 to 49. He remained ambulant and could step upstairs without significant difficulties. A chest roentgenogram showed cardiomegaly (cardiothoracic ratio, 54%), and his electrocardiogram (ECG) showed abnormal ST-T wave, biatrial enlargement, and left ventricular hypertrophy. The 2-dimensional and M-mode ECGs showed a severely dilated left ventricular cavity with diffuse hypokinesis. The systolic indices were reduced, including fractional shortening (9%) and ejection fraction (19%). Despite receiving intensive medical treatment, he died from congestive heart failure 5 months after the initial cardiac symptoms. We report a case of BMD with early-onset dilated cardiomyopathy associated with deletion of exons 45 to 49. Early cardiomyopathy can occur in BMD patients with certain genotypes; therefore, careful follow-up is required even in patients with mild phenotypes of BMD.
Adolescent ; Biopsy ; Cardiomegaly ; Cardiomyopathies ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Dyspnea ; Dystrophin ; Electrocardiography ; Exons ; Genotype ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Muscles ; Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne ; Nausea ; Phenotype ; Phosphotransferases ; Thorax

Purpose: Endoscopic tattooing is used to mark colorectal lesions for subsequent surgery. As a tattooing agent, India ink has been widely used but is not currently available in Korea. Indocyanine green (ICG) can be applied as an alternative agent. However, studies on colonoscopic tattooing by the direct injection of indocyanine green are lacking. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety between an ICG direct injection method and an India ink saline test injection method. Methods: A total of 227 patients who underwent preoperative endoscopic tattooing for colorectal neoplasm (149 patients in the ICG direct injection group and 78 patients in the India ink saline test injection group) were included in the study. The efficacy of the two methods was compared by visualization and safety was compared by evaluating the perioperative tattooing complications. Results: The visualization of lesions in the ICG group was not different from that of the India ink group (p=0.42, 96.0% vs 98.7%, respectively). Only one patient in the ICG group had abdominal pain related to tattooing, but no complications developed in the India ink group. Conclusion Considering the good visualization and low complication rate, the direct injection of ICG can be used as an alternative tattooing method.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: ovastatin, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, is known to show antiproliferative effects on VSMC after vessel injury, but a large amount of the drug is needed orally for this purpose. This study investigated the effects of lovastatin given locally to injured carotid arteries of rats on reducing neointimal hyperplasia. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Lovastatin was given perivascularly to balloon-injured carotid arteries of 21 rats in 1 microM to the low-dose group, and 30 microM to the high-dose group. The control group was treated with pluronic gel only. Two weeks later, the lumen area, neointimal areas and the number of actively proliferating cells were obtained and compared. RESULTS: eointimal area was 0.113+/-0.032 mm2, 0.065+/-0.017 mm2, 0.072+/-0.017 mm2 in the control, low-dose and high-dose groups respectively. The area was significantly smaller in the treatment groups (p<0.05), but no significant difference was observed between the treatment groups. The number of actively proliferating cells per mm2 of neointimal area were 714.5+/-227.4, 688.4+/-333.7, and 1526.3+/-744.0 in the groups respectively, and the number was significantly high in the high-dose group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Local administration of lovastatin is effective in reducing neointimal hyperplasia after vascular injury, but extremely high doses are not needed locally for this purpose.
Animals ; Carotid Arteries* ; Carotid Artery Injuries* ; Hyperplasia* ; Lovastatin* ; Oxidoreductases ; Rats* ; Vascular System Injuries

It was reported that 30-50% of inpatients are in a malnutrition status. Measuring the prealbumin level is a sensitive and cost-effective method for assessing the severity of illness in critically or chronically ill patients. However it is uncertain whether or not the prealbumin level correlates with the level of nutrition support and outcomes in critically ill patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum prealbumin level as an indicator of the effectiveness of nutrition support and the prognosis in critically ill patients. Forty-four patients who received total parenteral nutrition for more than 7 days at an intensive care unit (ICU) were studied. The serum prealbumin was measured at the initial time of nutrition support and at the almost seventh day since the first measurement. The patients were allocated into two groups. In Group 1 (n=31) and 2 (n= 13), the prealbumin level increased and decreased, respectively. Age, APACHE II score, nutrition status, nutritional requirement and amount of supply, mortality, hospital day and ICU day in the two groups were compared. The serum prealbumin level increased in 31 out of the 44 patients. The average calorie intake was 1334 Kcal/day (83% of energy requirement) in Group 1 and 1170 kcal/day (76% of energy requirement) in Group 2 (p=0.131). The mortality was 42% in Group 1 and 54% in Group 2 (p=0.673). The average hospital day/ ICU day in Groups 1 and 2 were 80 days/38 days and 60 days/31 days respectively. In conclusion, in critically ill patients, the serum prealbumin level did not respond sensitively to nutritional support. In addition an increase in the prealbumin level dose not indicate a better prognosis for critically ill patients.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biological Markers ; *Critical Illness ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Malnutrition/*blood/*diagnosis ; Middle Aged ; *Nutrition Assessment ; Prealbumin/*metabolism ; Prognosis ; Sensitivity and Specificity