The bony spur formation without degenerative change in the lumbar spines in the young age group is quite interesting and not uncommon. This bony spur is different from the degenerative spur in the old age group in shape and mechanism of formation. The authors analyzed 111 patients with such posterior lumbar bony spur for recent 3 years and 9 months. The authors concluded that posterioly located Schmorl's node is a main cause of the bony spur without degenerative change at lumbar region. The authors advocated 'Juvenile spur' as a new disease entity.
Humans ; Lumbosacral Region ; Spine*

No abstract available.
Amniocentesis* ; Cytogenetics*

Seckel syndrome is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder of severe growth retardation and distinct craniofacial, orodental, and skeletal anomalies. We report hereby the first two Korean cases of typical Seckel syndrome who had characteristic symptoms of intrauterine growth retardation, small head, large eyes, sharp facial features (beaked nose, dysplastic ears and narrow face) with underdeveloped chin, dwarfism, severe mental retardation, and other malformation. We report two cases of Seckel syndrome with a brief review of related literatures.
Chin ; Dwarfism ; Ear ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; Head ; Intellectual Disability ; Nose

Thermography is a sensitive and reliable method for diagnosis of radiculopathy. Skin temperature alterations of the involved dermatome named thermatone are diagnostic for sensory root involvement in radiculopathy which can be demonstrated by thermography. Digital infrared thermographic imaging system using computer is development and could measure thermal difference more exactly without hazards or discomforts to patient. Authors present 186 cases of thermographic evaluation in herniated lumbar disc disease by digital infrared thermographic imging system and the results are evaluated with literature review.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Radiculopathy ; Skin Temperature ; Thermography

No abstract available.
Chorion* ; Chorionic Villi Sampling* ; Chorionic Villi* ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Amniotic Fluid* ; Female ; Humans ; Infant* ; Prospective Studies*

No abstract available.
Microvascular Decompression Surgery*

PURPOSE:The pathogenesis of short stature in growth hormone(GH) deficiency is believed to be based on the growth failure of growth plate chondrocytes by reduced growth hormone dependent insulin-like growth factor- I (IGF- I ) level in serum. Therefore, author studied the growth promoting effect of IGF- I purified from human serum on the chondrocytes, cultured from rat rib cartilage. METHODS:Rat rib cartilage were treated with type II collagenase and hyaluronidase and were cultured in Ham's F-12 culture media containing 10% fetal calf serum. Growth promoting effect of IGF- I was measured by MTT dye by adding 20ng/ml IGF- I purified by protein-diol 120 column(YMC Co, Japan) from human serum, to 1*104 cultured chondrocytes separated into each of 96 well culture vessel. RESULTS: 1) When elution time of biotin labeled IGF- I by protein pak 300sw column was compared to elution time of standard molecular weight, IGF- I exists as large complex of 150Kd and small complex of 50Kd with free 7Kd form in serum before acid treatment. After acid treatment, IGF- I exists as small complex of 50Kd with free 7Kd form. 2) IGF- I purified from blood samples, as compared to genetic engineering product standard IGF- I , showed good parallelism in competition inhibition curve by purity analysis utilizing IGF- I antibody, and thus it is assumed that complex protein as inhibiting factor for purified IGF- I does not exist. Furthermore, complex protein was not present on the Western ligand method using biotin-labeled IGF- I ligand after purified IGF- I transferred to nitrocellulose paper following SDS-PAGE electrophoresis. 3)IGF- I of 20ng/ml showed 30% growth promoting effect, when rat rib chondrocyte culture with Dulbeco's modified Eagles medium(DMEM) is considered to show maximum growth promoting effect, while with pure culture medium, DMEM, showing minimum effect. CONCLUSIONS:The results of this study suggest that IGF- I purified by this method assumes the role of growth promoting effect on the chondrocytes, and that the described method of radioimmuno assay of IGF- I also could effectively remove inhibiting protein complex, therefore allowing more accurate assay.
Animals ; Biotin ; Cartilage ; Chondrocytes* ; Collagenases ; Collodion ; Culture Media ; Eagles ; Electrophoresis ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Genetic Engineering ; Growth Hormone ; Growth Plate ; Humans* ; Hyaluronoglucosaminidase ; Molecular Weight ; Rats* ; Ribs* ; Staphylococcal Protein A

PURPOSE: The prevalence and severity of childhood obesity are increasing rapidly worldwide. Spontaneous and stimulated growth hormone (GH) secretion are impaired in obesity. However, despite the low GH levels, normal or increased insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels have been observed in obese subjects. Growth velocity is commonly normal or increased in obese children. As for the possible mechanisms underlying these observations, overnutrition, chronic hyperinsulinemia and increased free IGF-I have been suggested. To explain the possible mechanisms by which obese children are taller than normal weight children, we have compared height, leptin, insulin, IGF-I and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) with body mass index and studied the relationship among these parameters in obese and control group. METHODS: Auxological and endocrine evaluation were performed in 33 obese children (18 boys and 15 girls) and 47 non-obese children (24 boys and 23 girls) at Hanyang University Hospital from Jan. 1999 to Dec. 2000. Obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than the 95th percentile for age and sex. Fasing blood samples were taken for the measurement of serum leptin, insulin, IGF-I and IGFBP-3 by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: The serum concentrations of leptin, insulin, IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were significantly higher in obese children than those in non-obese children. The serum concentrations of leptin (r=0.751, P=0.000), insulin (r=0.746, P=0.000) and IGF-I (SDS) (r=0.747, P=0.000) showed positive correlation to BMI. And the serum concentrations of IGFBP-3 showed positive correlation to BMI with low correlation coefficient respectively (r=0.275, P=0.015). The serum concentration of insulin correlated to that of IGF-I (SDS) positively (r=0.585, P=0.000). CONCLUSION: This study suggest that increased sensitivity of GHR modulated by chronic hyperinsulinemia and increased circulating IGF-I produced by accumulated adipose tissue may enhance the growth in obese children.
Adipose Tissue ; Body Mass Index ; Child* ; Growth Hormone ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism ; Insulin* ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3* ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I* ; Leptin* ; Obesity ; Overnutrition ; Pediatric Obesity ; Prevalence ; Radioimmunoassay