Intravertebral vacuum cleft in collapsed vertebra was considered as a typical finding of avascular necrosis. However, several authors reported some cases of intravertebral vacuum cleft in primary or secondary neoplasm, or in spondylitis emphasiging the differenhal diagnosis. MRI is known to be a useful diagnostic modality for diferentiation between benign and malignanct conditions causing vertebral collapse. We report MRI findings of two cases with intravertebral vacuum cleft diagnosed as posttraumatic collapse with avascular necrosis on radiological and clinical bases.
Diagnosis ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Necrosis ; Spine ; Spondylitis ; Vacuum*

BACKGROUND: Plasmapheresis or plasma exchange is the procedure to remove various pathogenic materials from the circulation of patients and retransfuse the formed elements into the doners with type specific fresh frozen plasma or albumin for the replacement of the withdrawn plasma. METHODS: In order to evaluate clinical experience of plasma exchange, we examined a total of 133 plasma exchange procedure on 25 patients of January 1993 - May 1994 in Kyungpook national university hospital. RESULTS: The results are as follows: 1. There were 8 kinds of diseases and the most frequent diseases was Guillian-Barre syndrome(l 2 cases) and the decreasing order was CIDP(6 cases), multiple myeloma(2 cases), acute fulminant hepatitis(1 case), mushroom poisoning(1 case), lupus nephritis(l case), TTP(I case) and myasthenia gravis(l case). 2. The patient's age ranged from 13 to 65 years. 3. There were 14 males and 11 females and the sex ratio was 1.3:1. 4. We had got clinical improvement in 16 of 25 cases, especially most dramatic effect in Guillian-Barre syndrome. CONCLUSION: To achieve more successful outcome of plasma exchange, we should select patients with restrict application, prevent rebound phenomenon with intense practice, choose what kind of replacement fluid to consider patient's clinical condition and check serological parameter with clinical evaluation to monitor effectiveness of treatment.
Agaricales ; Female ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Male ; Plasma Exchange* ; Plasma* ; Plasmapheresis ; Sex Ratio

No abstract available.
Animals ; Liver* ; Rats*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Liver* ; Rats*

BACKGROUND: Proteasomes are multi-subunit enzyme complexes present in the cytoplasm and nucleus of eukaryotic cells. Proteasomes are involved in the pathophysiological process resulting in development of many diseases. Release of proteasomes from lyzed erythrocytes has been suggested in recent reports. Accumulation of proteasomes in blood products could contribute to formation of storage lesions and have adverse effects on recipients; therefore, we conducted an analysis of changes in concentration of proteasomes in blood products during storage. METHODS: Concentrations of 20S proteasomes in supernatant of whole blood products obtained from eight healthy volunteers and in segments of 16 packed red blood cell (pRBC) units transfused to patients were measured by ELISA. Plasma samples containing several hemoglobin concentrations were prepared in order to assess the relationship between proteasome concentration and degree of hemolysis. RESULTS: Proteasome concentrations in whole blood products on day one of storage were significantly lower than those on day seven of storage and later (P<0.05). In segments of pRBC units, the proteasome concentration was 8.072+/-11.802 microg/mL (storage day: 13.8+/-4.7). Of the 32 pRBC units, two showed extremely high proteasome concentrations (36.662 and 62.798 microg/mL). Proteasome concentrations in plasma increased with increasing hemoglobin concentrations. CONCLUSION: During storage of whole blood products, except during the first seven storage days, levels of proteasome do not undergo significant change. However, hemolysis may be related to accumulation of proteasome. Further study to evaluate the effects of blood components containing high proteasome concentrations on recipients should be conducted.
Cytoplasm ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Erythrocytes ; Eukaryotic Cells ; Hemoglobins ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Plasma ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex

Candida Albicans is a saprophytic organism under normal circumstances and a limited pathogen when presents in large numbers. The common site of infection are the mouth, skin, vagina and respiratory tract. It is a common inhabitant of the G-I tract, where it does not usually cause symptoms. With impared defense mechanism or long-term antibiotic therapy, however it can became a significant pathogen. The clinical symptoms and endoscopic findings present a spectrum of changes depending on the degree of esophageal involvement. Painful awallowing and substernal chest pain are most common symptoms. Esophgeal infection is an unusual but impartant form of the diseases and can easily be confirmed by esophagoscopy. Recently we have experienced 4 cases of esophageal moniliasis confirmed by esophagoscopy and tissue biopay.
Candida albicans ; Candidiasis* ; Chest Pain ; Esophagoscopy* ; Mouth ; Respiratory System ; Skin ; Vagina

Generalized granuloma annulare is manifested by numerous, symrnetrical, shiny, normal-skin colored, discrete or confluent, papular eruption on the sunexposed areas, mostly in females of past middle age. Up to date, a variety of therapeutic approaches have been tried with inconsistent results. Recently several agents have been reported to be inconsistent results. Recently several agents have reported to be effective in the treatment of genealizecl granuloma annulare. Of these, dapsone has been used with favorable respones. The fact dapsone can inhibit the lysosomal enzyme release and the mononuclear cell-rnediated rnyeloperoxidase cytotaxicity would account for its effect in granuloma annulare even in part. We observed a case of generalized granulare in a 49-year old man, who had had numerous normal-skin colored or faintly violaceous, flattopped papular eruption on the sun-exposed areas for 3 years. He was treated successfully with dapsone 100mg a day for about 22 months.
Dapsone* ; Female ; Granuloma Annulare ; Humans ; Middle Aged

No abstract available.
Kidney Transplantation* ; Pancreatitis*

No abstract available.
Arteries* ; Prognosis*

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to develop an assessment tool for measurement of children's functioning in the mental health service. We conducted a preliminary study to develop a sensitive and inclusive scale focused on the functional changes of children rather than just focusing on their symptoms or screening. METHODS: The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale and the Korean-Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL) were both administered to 134 parents of children with emotional or behavioral problems who participated in the Aizone program and also to 186 parents of elementary school children in the Seoul metropolitan area as a control group. SPSS version 12.0 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Most of the reliability coefficients were over 0.70 except those of the conduct behavior items, which showed relatively high internal consistency. The corrected item-total correlations ranged from .411 to .758, except those of conduct behavior items and special measure items. In a concurrent validity test with K-CBCL, the total behavior problem score of K-CBCL was highly correlated with the total score of the Child and Adolescent Functional Assesment Scale (r=.610). For the construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis was performed for each of four areas, including behavior (at home/school), achievement, peer relationship, and emotion. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the scale was statistically reliable and valid, except for conduct behavior items. This study was conducted only for parents with elementary children. An adolescents group should be included in future studies.
Adolescent* ; Checklist ; Child* ; Equidae ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Mental Health Services* ; Parents ; Seoul