After dual plating with a locking compression plate for comminuted intraarticular fractures of the distal humerus, the incidence of ulnar nerve injury after surgery has been reported to be up to 38%. This can be reduced by an anterior transposition of the ulnar nerve but some surgeons believe that extensive handling of the nerve with transposition can increase the risk of an ulnar nerve dysfunction. This paper reports ulnar nerve injuries caused by the incomplete insertion of a screw head in dual plating without an anterior ulnar nerve transposition for AO/OTA type C2 distal humerus fractures. When an anatomical locking plate is applied to a distal humeral fracture, locking screws around the ulnar nerve should be inserted fully without protrusion of the screw because an incompletely inserted screw can cause irritation or injury to the ulnar nerve because the screw head in the locking system usually has a slightly sharp edge because screw head has threads. If the change in insertion angle and resulting protruded head of the screw are unavoidable for firm fixation of fracture, the anterior transposition of the ulnar nerve is recommended over a soft tissue shield.
Head* ; Humeral Fractures ; Humerus* ; Incidence ; Intra-Articular Fractures ; Surgeons ; Ulnar Nerve*

Reports of osteomyelitis in the proximal humerus with pyogenic glenohumeral arthritis of adjacent joints mostly involve pediatric patients. Nowadays, osteomyelitis that is secondary to adjacent pyogenic glenohumeral arthritis is extremely rare, even more so in adults than in pediatrics. We report a rare case of the pyogenic glenohumeral arthritis followed by osteomyelitis of the proximal humerus in an elderly patient. Initially, we diagnosed a case of pyogenic glenohumeral arthritis only, which, despite arthroscopic synovectomy, did not resolve and severe pain continued. Subsequent radiological imaging, performed after our suspicion of a secondary involvement, allowed us to diagnose osteomyelitis combined with the pyogenic glenohumeral arthritis, which we had overlooked because of the extreme rarity of the condition in adults since the antibiotic era began.
Adult ; Aged* ; Arthritis* ; Arthritis, Infectious ; Humans ; Humerus* ; Joints ; Osteomyelitis* ; Pediatrics ; Shoulder

To assess the pattern of psychiatric symptoms and to evaluate the relationship between exposure related variables(duration of work and urinary hippuric acid concenturation) and psychiatric symptoms in organic solvent exposed workers, case control study of forty-two solvent exposed workers and ninety-six non-exposed workers was conducted. The general health questionnaire 28(GHQ28) was administered to evaluate psychiatric symptoms and urinary hippuric acid concenturations was measured to estimate the present status of solvent exposure in exposed group and to estimate normal level in non-exposed group. The meand concenturation of urinary hippuric acid was significantly higher in exposed group (2.953g/creatinine g) than non-exposed group (0.395g/creatinine g) (P<0.01). The total positive rates of symptoms were significantly higher in exposed group(28.2%) than non-exposed group(17.5%) (P<0.05). The positive rates of symptoms for four sub-scales of GHQ 28 in exposed group were in the order of somatic symptoms, anxiety, social dysfunction, depression and in the order of social dysfunction, anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms in non-exposed group.The positive rates of symptoms for somatic symptoms and anxiety were significantly higher in exposed group than non-exposed group (P<0.05) and the proportion of workers with six or more positive symptoms(dysthymic states) in exposed group were significantly higher than non-exposed group (P<0.01). After the effect of age, sex, level of income, level of education, and duration of work were controlled, the total score of GHQ28 was still significantly different between exposed and non-exposed group(P<0.01). In multiple logistic regression analysis on the dysthymic state, the odds ratio of level of income was statistically significant in both group. The odds ratios of exposure related variables such as duration of work and hippuric acid concenturations were not statistically significant but there was a tendency that exposure related variables had an effect on dysthymic state in exposed group.In future, comtinuous evaluation of psychiatric symptoms on organic solvent exposed workers and studies to detect the factors that affect on psychiatric symptoms are required.
Anxiety ; Case-Control Studies ; Depression ; Education ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Solvents* ; Toluene

Mail questionnaire was administrated to 370 practising physicians and 388 pharmacists in Taegu city selected by systematic sampling to examine utilization states and opinion of pharmacy under medical care insurance programme and the attitude to the functional division between physicians and pharmacists from April to May 1992. Regarding the opinion on the outcome of drug-store under medical insurance, 71.2 percent of practicing physician answered failure but 13.4 percent of practicing pharmacists answered failure in contrast. Fifty percent of practicing physician asserted introducing functional division between physician and pharmacist while 66.9 percent of practicing pharmacist answered drug-store under medical insurance itself is successful programme. Average daily numbers of preparation of medicine was 32.2 case. Percentage of utilization of drug-store under medical insurance to average daily cases of preparing of medicine was 20 percent, percentage of utilization with physician's prescription was 0.7 percent. And 58.7 percent of practicing physician experienced outside the institute prescription. Regarding the opinion on the pros and cons of enforcing functional division between physician and pharmacist, 59.2 percent of practicing physician preferred pros and 17.7 percent cons ,but 38 percent of practicing pharmacist preferred pros and 45.5 percent cons. And pharmacist know better the content of functional division between physician and pharmacist, practicing emphasized to prevent misuse or abuse of medicine but practicing pharmacist emphasized to display physician and pharmacist's professional ability. And as an opinion on implementation style of functional division between physician and pharmacist in pros respondents, practicing physician favored mandatory enforcement (52.3%), while practicing pharmacist favored partial incomplete functional division (81.7%). As the method of prescription if functional division between physician and pharmacist will be enforced, both practicing physician and pharmacist preferred generic name (44.0%, 89%) mostly, but physician preferred brand name (35.3%) secondly. Regarding the reason for not implementing functional division between physician and pharmacist up to date, both physician and pharmacist answered problem of business right between physician and pharmacist, followed by lack of recognition, and interest of people and lack of the governmental willness. Regarding the opinion on prior decision of condition for enforcing functional division between physician and pharmacist, practicing physician and pharmacist named uneven distribution of medical facilities and drug-store between rural and urban, inequality of physician and pharmacist manpower and the problem of manpower demand and supply mostly, and practicing physician pointed out establishing attitude of acceptance on the part of pharmacist and practicing pharmacist favored establishing attitude of acceptance on the part of physician, which was different attitudes between physician and pharmacist. Following conclusion was reached; 1. Current drug-store under medical insurance program yield insufficient outcome, so we should consider program conversion from drug-store under medical insurance program to functional division between physician and pharmacist. 2. There were problem of business right and conflicts between physician and pharmacist at enforcing functional division between physician and pharmacist, so the government should search for formulating plan to resolve the problem and have neutral willness for the protection of the national health.
Commerce ; Daegu* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Humans ; Insurance ; Pharmacists* ; Pharmacy ; Postal Service ; Prescriptions ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Socioeconomic Factors

No abstract available.
Tibia*

Pain, premature degenerative arthritis, stiffness and persisting subluxation are common sequalae of fracture dislocations of the proximal interphalangeal joints of the fingers. With disruption of greater than 40% of the volar articular surface of the middle phalanx, it is un- likely that congrous stable reduction can be achieved. And the most severe injuries are caused by longitudinal compression force, which drives the middle phalanx where the middle phalanx eventually comes to rest. Many authors had reported a variety of method for the treatment of the unstable fracture dislocation with no satisfactory results except Eaton(1980). In his ten years experience the volar plate arthroplasty for acute and chronic fracture dislocations got a good results with satisfactory range of motion and no pain on motion. Authors had been treated two cases of chronic fracture dislocations of the proximal interphalangeal joint with Eatons volar plate arthroplasty followed by good results in one year followed-up study.
Arthroplasty ; Dislocations ; Finger Joint ; Fingers ; Joints ; Methods ; Osteoarthritis ; Range of Motion, Articular

BACKGROUND: Nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation is common in elderly and associated with an increased risk for thromboembolism. Left atrial spontaneous echo contrast(SEC) and thrombus. which are easily detected by transesophageal echocardiography(TEE) in patients with rheumatic mitral valve disease and atrial fibrillation, have been known as markers of thromboembolism. However, most of the previous studies on left atrial SEC and thrombus were performed in rheumatic mitral valve disease or various conditions including rheumatic mitral valve disease. Therefore this study was underaken in order to investigatd 1) the prevalence of left atrial SEC and thrombus, and 2) clinical and echocardiographic variables related to left atrial SEC and thrombus in nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation. METHODS: In patients with estabished atrial fibrillation over 7 days, we examined the clinical gistory and performed transthoracic echocardiography(TTE) and TEE simultaneously. Enlisted patients were those without rheumatic mitral valve disease, prosthetic valves, previous thromboembolism, and recent anticoagulant therapy. RESULTS: 1) Left atrial SEC was detected in 32(62.7%) of 51 patients and left atrial thrombus in 10(19.6%). All thrombi were located in the left atrial appendage. 2) In univariate analysis, SEC positive group showed higher prevalence of congestive heart failure(CHF)(56.3% vs 0%, p<0.001), lower ejection fraction(42.2+/-14.1% vs 50.8+/-9.7%, p<0.05), lower left atrial appendage blood flow velocity(peak positive flow velocity ; 18.7+/-11.1cm/sec vs 32+/-12.4cm/sec, p<0.01, and peak negative flow velocity ; 21.4+/-12.4cm/sec vs 31.9+/-12.8cm/sec, p<0.01) than SEC negative group. Multivariate analysis identifed CHF as an independent variable related to left atrial SEC(p=0.02, Odds ratio ; 2.38, 95% CI ; 1.18-4.82). 3) In univariate analysis. left atrial thrombus positive group showed higher prevalence of CHF(70% vs 26.8%, p<0.05), larger left atrial demension(34+/-3.4mm/m2 vs 30.6+/-4.6mm/m2, p<0.05) than thrombus negative group. Multivariate analysis identifed CHF as an independent variable related to left atrial thrombus(p=0.04, Odds ratio ; 4.30, 95% CI ; 1.11-16.68). 4) Left atrial thrombus is more frequent in SEC positive group than in SEC negative group(28.1% vs 5.3%), however, there was no statistical significance(p=0.07). CONCLUSION: 1) Left atrial SEC is common in nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation and significantly related to CHF. 2) Left atrial thrombus is frequently detected in SEC positive patients, however, it is more realted to CHF than left atrial SEC itself.
Aged ; Atrial Appendage ; Atrial Fibrillation* ; Echocardiography ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Heart ; Humans ; Mitral Valve ; Multivariate Analysis ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Thromboembolism ; Thrombosis*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Mesenteric Veins* ; Nephrotic Syndrome* ; Thrombosis*

There have been many reports to date regarding the role of GnRH as a local regulatory factor of ovarian function as studies of human and rat ovaries revealed GnRH and its receptor. In recent studies it has been shown that GnRH directly causes apoptosis in the granulosa cells of the rat ovary, and such results leads to the suggestion that the use of GnRH agonist for more stable long term ovarian hyperstimulation in human IVF-ET programs causes granulosa cell apoptosis which may lead to follicular atresia. Therefore this study attempts to determine if granulosa-luteal cell apoptosis occurs in patients during IVF-ET programs in which GnRH agonist is employed for ovarian hyperstimulation. The quality of oocyte-cumulus complexes obtained during ovum pickup procedures were assessed morphologically and then the fertilization rate and developmental rate was determined. Apoptotic cells among the granulosa-luteal cells obtained during the same procedure were observed after staining with Hematoxylin-rosin. The fragmentation degree of DNA extracted from granulosa-luteal cells was determined and comparatively analyzed. There was no difference in the average age of the patients, the number of oocytes retrieved, and fertilization and developmental rates between the FSH/hMG group and GnRH-long group. There was also no difference in the apoptosis rate and pyknosis rate in the granulosa-luteal cells between the two groups. However, when the oocyte-cumulus complexes were morphoogically divided into the healthy group and atretic group without regard for the method of hyperstimulation, the results showed that the number of oocytes obtained averaged 11.09+/-8.75 and 10.33+/-4.53 per cycle, respectively, showing no significant difference, but the fertilization rate (77.05%, 56.99%, respectively, p<0.01) and developmental ,ate (65.96%, 41.51%, respectively, p<0.01) was significantly increased in the healthy group when compared to the atretic group. The degree of apoptosis in the granulosa-luteal cells showed that in the healthy group it was 2.25% which was not significantly different from the atretic group (2.77%), but the pyknosis rate in the atretic group (27.81%) was significantly higher compared to the healthy group (11.35%, p<0.01). The quantity of DNA fragmentation in the FSH/hMG group was 32.22%, while in the GnRH-long group it was 34.27%, showing no significant difference. On the other hand the degree of DNA fragmentation was 39.05% and 11.83% in the healthy group and atretic group, respectively, showing significantly higher increase in the atretic group (p<0.01). The above results suggest that death of granulosa-luteal cells according to the state of the oocyte-cumulus complex is more related to pyknosis rather than apoptosis. Also, the GnRH agonist used in ovarian hyperstimulation does not seem to directly affect the apoptosis of retrieved oocytes and granulosa-luteal cells, and which is thought to be due to the suppression of the apoptogenic effect of GnRH agonist as a result of the high doses of FSH administered.
Animals ; Apoptosis* ; DNA ; DNA Fragmentation ; Female ; Fertilization ; Follicular Atresia ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone* ; Granulosa Cells ; Hand ; Humans* ; Luteal Cells ; Oocytes ; Ovary ; Ovum ; Rats

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the changes in heart rate variability (HRV) in elderly patients with or without hypertension before and after combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSE). METHODS: Elderly hypertensive (group H, n = 28) and non-hypertensive patients (group C, n = 32) were recruited. We analyzed the spectral components of HRV, total power (< or = 0.4 Hz), low and high frequency power expressed as natural logarithm (LnTP, LnLF, and LnHF), normalized HF (HFnorm), normalized LF (LFnorm), and LF/HF ratio, from 5-minute electrocardiography recordings. We also measured blood pressures (systolic; SBP, diastolic; DBP, mean; MAP), heart rate (HR) and analgesia level before and after CSE. Each group was divided into two subgroups (< or = T7 [L] or > or = T6 [H]) according to fixed analgesia level. RESULTS: Before CSE, group H showed significantly lower LnLF than that of group C (P < 0.05). Fifteen and 10 min after CSE, decrease of SBP and increase of HR in group HH were significantly greater compared with group CL and lesser with group CH, respectively. LnTP, LnLF and LnHF in both control groups (CL and CH) were significantly decreased 15-20 min after CSE compared with pre-CSE values. LnLF and LnHF in group HH were significantly lower than those in group HL 10-15 min after CSE. But there were no significant changes of LFnorm, HFnorm and LF/HF in all four groups. CONCLUSIONS: The group H showed significantly lower LnLF than that of group C before CSE. In group HH, LnLF and LnHF were significantly lower than those in group HL 10-15 min after CSE, but the balance of the autonomic nervous system was not changed significantly.
Aged* ; Analgesia ; Anesthesia* ; Autonomic Nervous System ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Hypertension