Osteoarticular infections due to non-typhoidal Salmonella are rare, occurring with an incidence rate of 0.1-0.2%. An immunocompromised state and the existence of sickle cell anemia are known risk factors for development of septic arthritis due to Salmonella. In this report, we describe a patient with septic arthritis of the left knee caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella . An 82-year-old woman visited the emergency room presenting with left knee pain, fever and dyspnea. The patient had osteoarthritis and was treated with oral analgesics, but not with an intra-articular injection. Upon assessment of the patient's joint fluid and blood culture results, non-typhoidal Salmonella (Salmonella group D) was detected. Arthroscopy-guided irrigation and debridement, and administration of oral antibiotics (fluoroquinolone) over six weeks were required in order to achieve a full recovery from the infection.
Aged, 80 and over ; Analgesics ; Anemia, Sickle Cell ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Arthritis, Infectious ; Bacteremia ; Debridement ; Dyspnea ; Emergencies ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Incidence ; Injections, Intra-Articular ; Joints ; Knee ; Knee Joint ; Osteoarthritis ; Risk Factors ; Salmonella ; Salmonella Infections

Anemia is a common cause of referrals to gastroenterologists. Only a small number of anemia cases result from vascular abnormalities. Visceral artery aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms are rare forms of vascular disease that have significant potential for rupture, resulting in potentially life-threatening hemorrhaging. We present the case of a 70-year-old female patient with a pseudoaneurysm of the superior mesenteric artery complicated with rupture, who had no abdominal pain and only anemia.
Abdominal Pain ; Aged ; Anemia* ; Aneurysm ; Aneurysm, False* ; Arteries ; Female ; Humans ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior* ; Referral and Consultation ; Rupture* ; Vascular Diseases

Firstly, parathyroid hormone (1-14) [PTH (1-14)] analogue containing various alpha-amino-iso-butyric acid residue (Aib) was synthesized by exchanging the 1st and 3rd Ala residues of alpha carbon of PTH (1-14). This analogue revealed to have the quite tight and stable alpha-helical structure using the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The biological activities of these analogues were examined using a cAMP-generating assay in LLC-PK1 cell lines stably transfected with the wild-type human PTH1 receptor. Only the PTH analogue substituted with methyl moiety without acetylation showed significant cAMP generating action with 15.0 +/- 3.414 of EC50. Then, we used an ovariectomized rat model system to compare the in vivo effects of parathyroid hormone analogue with that of PTH (1-84). Daily subcutaneous administration of the unacetylated Aib1,3PTH (1-14) for 5 weeks in 30 nM/kg subcutaneously with positive control group receiving PTH (1-84) with 8 nM/ kg were performed. However, there was no significant change in spinal or femoral bone mineral density assessed by dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in the Aib1,3PTH (1-14) group where definite increase of these parameters shown in the PTH (1-84) group (p < 0.001). Assessment of bone strength was evaluated with no significant differences among all groups. It was quite disappointing to see the actual discrepancies between the result of significant pharmacokinetic potency and the in vivo clinical effect of the Aib1,3PTH (1-14). However, there are several limitations to mention, such as the short duration of treatment, matter of dosage, and insufficient effect of tight alpha-helical structures with absence of C-terminus. In conclusion, our findings suggest that unacetylated Aib1,3PTH (1-14) did not exhibit any anabolic effects at the bones of ovariectomized rats.
Transfection ; Time Factors ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Stress, Mechanical ; Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission ; Rats ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Protein Conformation ; Protein Binding ; Peptides/chemistry ; Parathyroid Hormone/*analogs & derivatives/chemistry/*metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Molecular Conformation ; Models, Statistical ; Models, Molecular ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; LLC-PK1 Cells ; Humans ; Female ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Densitometry ; Cyclic AMP/metabolism ; Cell Line ; Bone and Bones/metabolism ; Bone Density ; Biomechanics ; Animals ; Aminoisobutyric Acids/*metabolism ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Alanine/chemistry

Acrodermatitis continua of Hallopeau (ACH) is a rare form of acropustular eruption characterized by a presence of aseptic pustules on inflammatory periungual or subungual regions. Frequently accompanied by paronychia, atrophic skin changes, onychodystrophy, and osteolysis of distal phalanges of the digits, it is considered to be a variant of pustular psoriasis with a chronic relapsing course and refractoriness to many therapeutic modalities. Here, we present a case of a 45-year-old female who presented with multiple pustules pathologically diagnosed as pustular psoriasis on her left thumb. She suffered from ACH for over a decade, and in the process experienced frequent relapses and showed poor response to numerous treatment modalities such as narrow band UVB, topical steroid, steroid intralesional injection, oral retinoids, 308 nm excimer laser, and oral immune suppressants. However, the patient showed dramatic clinical improvements to administration of etanercept (TNF-alpha antagonist, twice a week) for a period of one month. The cessation of etanercept led to recurrence of symptoms and marked deterioration of the skin lesion within a month again, but the re-initiation of treatment soon relieved the problem. After completion of a three months trial of etanercept, the cutaneous lesion subsided, and the patient is now successfully controlled with topical steroid maintenance therapy. Hereby, we report a patient with ACH successfully treated with etanercept.
Acrodermatitis ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Injections, Intralesional ; Lasers, Excimer ; Middle Aged ; Osteolysis ; Paronychia ; Psoriasis ; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor ; Recurrence ; Retinoids ; Skin ; Thumb ; Etanercept

Charcoal has been commonly used for enteral detoxication although it causes few adverse effects. The major causes of morbidity and mortality secondary to activated charcoal therapy are pulmonary aspiration, gastrointestinal complication, and fluid and electrolyte abnormalities. Aspiration of charcoal is associated with pulmonary compromise due to increased microvascular permeability with concomitant lung edema, surfactant depletion, atelectasis, and obliterative bronchiolitis. Herein we report the case of a patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome with chemical pneumonitis after aspiration of activated charcoal in sorbitol with a review of the related literatures.
Bronchiolitis ; Capillary Permeability ; Charcoal ; Edema ; Humans ; Lung ; Pneumonia ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Sorbitol

In view of this pandemic, as of February 2020, South Korea has the second highest number of confirmed cases in the world. Herein, we report four confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the early stage of the pandemic in South Korea and describe the identification, diagnosis, clinical course, and management, including one patient’s initial mild symptoms at presentation and their progression to pneumonia on day 21 of illness. Within 48 hours of hospitalization, all four patients underwent evaluation for initial laboratory parameters, COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and chest computed tomography (CT) findings. All four mild COVID-19 patients were discharged, and they were re-examined 14 days after discharge. Despite all four of them being asymptomatic, one patient was re-admitted after confirmation of COVID-19 through PCR viral nucleic acid detection. She could be discharged after 7 days with two subsequent negative COVID-19 PCR at 24-hour intervals. Patients with mild COVID-19 generally have normal follow-up chest CT scans after discharge, even if the early chest CT definitely indicates pneumonia. Re-hospitalized patients with COVID-19 PCR positive results after discharge were not related to her initial chest CT, lab, symptoms compared other three patients.

IL-22, a pleiotropic cytokine, is known to have a profound effect on the regeneration of damaged intestinal barriers. The tissue-protective properties of IL-22 are expected to be potentially exploited in the attenuation and treatment of colitis. However, because of the disease-promoting role of IL-22 in chronic inflammation, a comprehensive evaluation is required to translate IL-22 into the clinical domain. Here, we present the effective production of soluble human IL-22 in bacteria to prove whether recombinant IL-22 has the ability to ameliorate colitis and inflammation. IL-22 was expressed in the form of a biologically active monomer and non-functional oligomers. Monomeric IL-22 (mIL-22) was highly purified through a series of 3 separate chromatographic methods and an enzymatic reaction. We reveal that the resulting mIL-22 is correctly folded and is able to phosphorylate STAT3 in HT-29 cells. Subsequently, we demonstrate that mIL-22 enables the attenuation of dextran sodium sulfate-induced acute colitis in mice, as well as the suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Collectively, our results suggest that the recombinant mIL-22 is suitable to study the biological roles of endogenous IL-22 in immune responses and can be developed as a biological agent associated with inflammatory disorders.

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) can partly explain irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and rifaximin has been observed to improve abdominal symptoms in nonconstipated IBS patients. However, there are few reports on the association of the rifaximin treatment periods with the results of a lactulose breath test (LBT). Therefore, we performed a retrospective review of patient charts to investigate the relation between the rifaximin treatment periods with LBT results in nonconstipated IBS patients. We also evaluated the time to achieve a symptomatic improvement in the IBS patients as compared to the changes in the LBT. We reviewed the charts for patients who showed IBS symptoms with documented positive results for LBT during their initial visit and who had a follow-up LBT after treatment with rifaximin. The LBT values were compared to the subjects' symptom scores. A total of 102 subjects had a follow-up LBT to assess LBT normalization. The subjects were divided into groups according to treatment periods of 4 weeks (n = 36), 8 weeks (n = 43), and 12 weeks (n = 23). The groups with a longer treatment exhibited an increase in the hydrogen gas value at 90 min and its sum during 90 min at the initial LBT. There were significant differences in hydrogen gas value at 90 min and in its sum during 90 min at the initial LBT between the groups treated for 4 and 12 weeks. The most significant treatment response was observed during the first 4 weeks for all treatment groups. Symptomatic improvement occurred earlier than LBT normalization in the treatment period over 4 weeks. The results indicate that different rifaximin treatment periods are needed in accordance with LBT levels to effectively eradicate SIBO.
Biomarkers/analysis ; Breath Tests/*methods ; Constipation ; Drug Administration Schedule ; Drug Monitoring/*methods ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Agents/administration & dosage ; Humans ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome/*diagnosis/*drug therapy ; Lactulose/*analysis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Reproducibility of Results ; Rifamycins/*administration & dosage ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVES: Dental implants installation in patients with diabetes remains controversial as altered bone healing around implants has been reported. And little is known about the biological factors involved in bone healing around implants. The present study aimed to investigate the biological markers around immediately placed implants in rats with controlled and uncontrolled diabetes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty rats (40 sites) were divided into the control, insulin-treated and diabetic groups. The rats received streptozotocin (60 mg/kg) to induce diabetes; animals in the insulin-treated group also received three units of subcutaneous slow-release insulin. Two threaded titanium alloy implant (1.2x3 mm) were placed in the extraction socket of the both maxillary first molars and allowed for healing. Bone blocks including implant were harvested at 3 days, 1, 2 and 4 weeks. The levels of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-4, transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1, osteocalcin (OC) and osteonectin (ON) were measured in the peri-implant osseous samples by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The BMP-4 level increased immediately in all groups by day 3, then decreased abruptly in the control and the insulin-treated groups. However, by week 4, all groups showed mostly the same amount of BMP-4 expression. The level of TGF-beta1 also instantly increased by day 3 in the insulin-treated group. This level elevated again reaching the same values as the control group by week 4, but was not as high as the diabetic group. In addition, the expression of OC and ON in the control and insulin-treated groups was higher than that of the diabetic group at 2 weeks and 4 weeks, indicating active bone formation in these groups. CONCLUSION: The immediate placement of titanium implants in the maxilla of diabetic rat led to an unwanted bone healing response. Conclusively, the results of this study suggest that immediate implant insertion in patients with poorly controlled diabetes might be contraindicated.
Alloys ; Animals ; Biological Factors ; Biomarkers ; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins ; Dental Implants ; Humans ; Insulin ; Maxilla ; Molar ; Osteocalcin ; Osteogenesis ; Osteonectin ; Rats ; Streptozocin ; Titanium ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; Transforming Growth Factors

The concept of oriental medicine is according to the Yin-Yang Doctrine and the Five Elements theory which is based on oriental philosophy. Traditionally, doctors of oriental medicine have practiced by feeling pulses for diagnosis, acupuncturing, and prescribing herbal medicine for treatment. Nowadays, however, most oriental doctors are having hard time in managing their own clinics by progressive worsening of the medical environment, because the numbers of patients are absolutely decreasing, but the numbers of oriental clinics are relatively increasing. Therefore, they are intending to overcome the difficulties by enlarging their field of medical treatment in various aspects, and introducing treatment remedies including unreasonable or unproved methods, especially into the field of dermatology. Here we present a case of multiple scarring of the face following removal of pigmented nevi by acupuncture in an oriental clinic. We report this case to emphasize the necessity of understanding the current status of dermatologic treatments conducted in oriental clinics, and to inform the dangerousness and correct medical information to the public.
Acupuncture ; Cicatrix ; Dangerous Behavior ; Dermatology ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Nevus, Pigmented ; Philosophy ; Yin-Yang