Five eastern great egrets with a history of ataxia, wry neck, and wet feathers were submitted to the Veterinary Diagnostic Center for pathologic examination. Slightly enlarged livers with diffuse white-grayish nodules were observed. Microscopically, the hepatic and lung parenchyma contained granulomatous lesions consisting of central necrosis. Some hearts showed myofiber necrosis with infiltration of histiocytes and heterophils. Partial 16SrRNA and gyrB gene sequences of all isolates showed high similarities (99-100%) to those of Salmonella (S.) enterica subsp. enterica. Based on pathological and molecular biological results, S. enterica subsp. enterica systemic infections were diagnosed in eastern great egrets of Korea.
Animals ; Ataxia ; Feathers ; Heart ; Histiocytes ; Korea ; Liver ; Lung ; Neck ; Necrosis ; Salmonella enterica* ; Salmonella*

OBJECTIVES: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are considered to have problems with empathy. It has recently been suggested that there are two systems for empathy; cognitive and emotional. We aimed to investigate the neural response to cognitive and emotional empathy and elucidate the neurobiological aspects of empathy in patients with ASD. METHODS: We recruited patients with ASD (N=17, ASD group) and healthy controls (HC) (N=22, HC group) for an functional magnetic resonance imaging study. All of the subjects were scanned while performing cognitive and emotional empathy tasks. The differences in brain activation between the groups were assessed by contrasting their neural activity during the tasks. RESULTS: During both tasks, the ASD group showed greater neural activities in the bilateral occipital area compared to the HC group. The ASD group showed more activation in the bilateral precunei only during the emotional empathy task. No brain regions were more activated in the HC group than in the ASD group during the cognitive empathy task. While performing the emotional empathy task, the HC group exhibited greater neural activities in the left middle frontal gyrus and right anterior cingulate gyrus than the ASD group. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the brain regions associated with cognitive and emotional empathy in ASD patients differed from those in healthy individuals. The results of this study suggest that individuals with ASD might have defects both in cognitive empathy and in emotional empathy.
Autism Spectrum Disorder* ; Autistic Disorder* ; Brain ; Empathy* ; Gyrus Cinguli ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Co-administration of tadalafil and tamsulosin HCl in patients with benign prostate hyperplasia and erectile dysfunction is increasing in clinical settings. Development of fixed-dose combination (FDC) of tadalafil and tamsulosin HCl could contribute to improving patients' adherence and treatment efficacy. We evaluated the pharmacokinetics and safety profiles of a newly developed fixed-dose combination capsule of tadalafil 5 mg/tamsulosin HCl 0.4 mg in comparison with co-administration of each formulation in healthy volunteers under fasted and fed conditions. Two randomized, open-label, single-dose, two-way, crossover studies were completed in 29 subjects under fasted condition, and 33 subjects under fed condition. Serial blood sample collection for PK analysis was conducted up to 72 hours after dosing, and PK parameters were calculated using non-compartmental analysis. Geometric mean ratios and 90% confidence intervals of the C(max) and AUC(last) were used to evaluate comparative bioavailability. In both fasted and fed condition studies, the bioequivalence was established. The most common adverse drug reactions were orthostatic hypotension and headache with no statistical difference between treatment groups. All subjects with orthostatic hypotension recovered at follow-up test. Although changes in vital signs from baseline were statistically significant, there were no subjects with systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg and there were no clinically meaningful signs or symptoms associated. FDC of tadalafil and tamsulosin HCl can be an alternative to co-administration of individual drugs for providing better compliance. Changes in blood pressure should be kept in mind when tadalafil and tamsulosin HCl are co-administered in clinical settings.
Biological Availability ; Blood Pressure ; Compliance ; Cross-Over Studies ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Follow-Up Studies ; Headache ; Healthy Volunteers* ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Hypotension, Orthostatic ; Male ; Pharmacokinetics* ; Prostate ; Tadalafil ; Therapeutic Equivalency ; Treatment Outcome ; Vital Signs

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical features that could serve as predictive factors for improvement in gait speed after robotic treatment. METHODS: A total of 29 patients with motor incomplete spinal cord injury received 4-week robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) on the Lokomat (Hocoma AG, Volketswil, Switzerland) for 30 minutes, once a day, 5 times a week, for a total of 20 sessions. All subjects were evaluated for general characteristics, the 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT), the Lower Extremity Motor Score (LEMS), the Functional Ambulatory Category (FAC), the Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury version II (WISCI-II), the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and the Spinal Cord Independence Measure version III (SCIM-III) every 0, and 4 weeks. After all the interventions, subjects were stratified using the 10MWT score at 4 weeks into improved group and non-improved group for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The improved group had younger age and shorter disease duration than the non-improved group. All subjects with the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale level C (AIS-C) tetraplegia belonged to the non-improved group, while most subjects with AIS-C paraplegia, AIS-D tetraplegia, and AIS-D paraplegia belonged to the improved group. The improved group showed greater baseline lower extremity strength, balance, and daily living function than the non-improved group. CONCLUSION: Assessment of SCIM-III, BBS, and trunk control, in addition to LEMS, have potential for predicting the effects of robotic treatment in patients with motor incomplete spinal cord injury.
Gait* ; Humans ; Locomotion ; Lower Extremity ; Paraplegia ; Quadriplegia ; Rehabilitation ; Robotics ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Spinal Injuries ; Walking

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the neural activity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients is different from that of normal individuals when performing aesthetic judgments. METHODS: We recruited typical ASD patients without savant skills (ASD group, n=17) and healthy controls (HC group, n=19) for an functional magnetic resonance imaging study. All subjects were scanned while performing aesthetic judgment tasks on two kinds of artwork (magnificent landscape images and fractal images). Differences in brain activation between the two groups were assessed by contrasting neural activity during the tasks. RESULTS: The aesthetic judgment score for all images was significantly lower in the ASD group than in the HC group. During the aesthetic judgment tasks, the ASD group showed less activation than the HC group in the anterior region of the superior frontal gyrus, and more activation in the temporoparietal area and insula, regardless of the type of images being judged. In addition, during the aesthetic judgment task for the fractal images, the ASD group exhibited greater neural activity in the amygdala and the posterior region of the middle/inferior temporal gyrus (Brodmann area 37) than the HC group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the brain activation patterns associated with aesthetic experiences in ASD patients may differ from those of normal individuals.
Amygdala ; Autism Spectrum Disorder* ; Autistic Disorder* ; Beauty* ; Brain ; Fractals ; Humans ; Judgment ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Temporal Lobe