No abstract available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Korea* ; Prevalence*

The taxonomy of Acanthamoeba spp., an amphizoic amoeba which causes granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and chronic amoebic keratitis, has been revised many times. The taxonomic validity of some species has yet to be assessed. In this paper, we analyzed the morphological characteristics, nuclear 18s rDNA and mitochondrial 16s rDNA sequences and the Mt DNA RFLP of the type strains of four Acanthamoeba species, which had been previously designated as A. divionensis, A. parasidionensis, A. mauritaniensis, and A. rhysodes. The four isolates revealed characteristic group II morphology. They exhibited 18S rDNA sequence differences of 0.2-1.1% with each other, but more than 2% difference from the other compared reference strains. Four isolates formed a different clade from that of A. castellanii Castellani and the other strains in morphological group II on the phylogenetic tree. In light of these results, A. paradivionensis, A. divionensis, and A. mauritaniensis should be regarded as synonyms for A. rhysodes.
Acanthamoeba/*classification/*genetics ; Animals ; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal/genetics ; Phylogeny ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; RNA, Ribosomal, 18S/genetics

Metastatic involvement of the central nervous system during the course of leukemia is an increasingly frequent occurrence because of the longer survival time brought about by the efficacious cytotoxic therapy available today. The onset of acute leukemia may be abrupt with a great variety of clinical manifestations. Most commonly, such as vomiting, headache, papilledema, lethargy and vertigo, are referable to increased intracranial pressure caused by infiltration of the cortex and meninges. The acute paraplegia as the initial symptom of acute leukemia is very rare. A case in which acute paraplegia occurred as the initial symptom of acute leukemia in a 15-year-old boy is reported.
Adolescent ; Central Nervous System ; Headache ; Humans ; Intracranial Pressure ; Lethargy ; Leukemia* ; Male ; Meninges ; Papilledema ; Paraplegia* ; Vertigo ; Vomiting

Metastatic involvement of the central nervous system during the course of leukemia is an increasingly frequent occurrence because of the longer survival time brought about by the efficacious cytotoxic therapy available today. The onset of acute leukemia may be abrupt with a great variety of clinical manifestations. Most commonly, such as vomiting, headache, papilledema, lethargy and vertigo, are referable to increased intracranial pressure caused by infiltration of the cortex and meninges. The acute paraplegia as the initial symptom of acute leukemia is very rare. A case in which acute paraplegia occurred as the initial symptom of acute leukemia in a 15-year-old boy is reported.
Adolescent ; Central Nervous System ; Headache ; Humans ; Intracranial Pressure ; Lethargy ; Leukemia* ; Male ; Meninges ; Papilledema ; Paraplegia* ; Vertigo ; Vomiting

Growth factor is a polypeptide regulating cell proliferation, maturation, activity, and apoptosis. Despite its small molecular weight, it exerts diverse and potent biologic effects on cellular function. With recent development of molecular biology and vector technology, it is now possible to administer recombinant growth factors in clinical dose and modify somatic cell with growth factor encoding gene. Research fields in spinal surgery can be divided into spinal fusion, disc regeneration and spinal cord regeneration. In this review, we discuss the action mechanism of growth factors and their possible clinical applications especially in the field of spinal fusion and disc regeneration.
Apoptosis ; Cell Proliferation ; Fibrinogen ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins* ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration ; Molecular Biology ; Molecular Weight ; Regeneration ; Spinal Cord Regeneration ; Spinal Fusion

Acute epidural hematoma is the one which neurosurgeons encounter commonly in severe head injuries and needs emergency operation. But the fact that the mortality of it is still very high(20-50%), is disheartening to all neurosurgeons. In my country, the acute epidural hematoma has been recognized and treated since the 1950th by neurosurgeons. Nevertheless, the report of the collected acute epidural hematoma is rarely seen. The reason is felt that the illness is quite common around us but the mortality is so high to make the report be delayed. The authors have treated 60 cases of surgically confirmed acute epidural hematoma during 24 months from April 1969 to March 1971 and have observed clinically. Following are the results: 1) Sex incidence showed male(50), female(10), and age incidence ranged 2 years of age to 60 yrs. But it was most common in 2nd decade to 4th decade. 2) Most common mode of injury was traffic accident(33 cases) and there were 15 cases of falling down accident and 12 cases of direct batting over the head by blunt materials. 3) There were lucid interval in 13 cases. Most common papillary change was ipsilateral mydriasis(23 cases). Bilateral mydriasis were in 4 cases & other showed miotic or normal pupils. Bilateral positive Babinski's sign were noted in 22 cases and there were 14 cases of unilateral Babinski's sign. 4) Site of hematoma;Most common site of the hematoma was temporoparietal region but there were 8 cases of confined frontal pole and 3 cases of posterior fossa region. In 42 cases of 60, the site of hematoma was confirmed by carotid angiography & on the rest, direct surgery was performed without carotid angiography. 5) Mortality; 47 cases of 60, have survived. The age, level of consciousness, other intracranial associated injuries, time of operation, bilateral positive Babinski's sign, volume of hematoma were felt to be the influencing factors to mortality. In 5 cases of 13 which expired, have died 4 weeks after surgery and the causes of death were pulmonary edema, pneumonia, septicemia, tracheal bleeding & renal shut down. In survivals, hemiplegia, hydrocephalus, oculomotor nerve palsy and mental confusion were observed which improved gradually except 4 cases, & 43 cases of 60 which have survived could remain to return to his usual daily activity.
Angiography ; Cause of Death ; Consciousness ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Emergencies ; Head ; Hematoma* ; Hemiplegia ; Hemorrhage ; Hydrocephalus ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Mydriasis ; Oculomotor Nerve Diseases ; Pneumonia ; Pulmonary Edema ; Pupil ; Reflex, Babinski ; Sepsis

PURPOSE: Synovial sarcoma is an uncommon malignant soft tissue tumor mostly prevalent in young adults. Previous studies analyzing the prognostic factors have been limited due to the inclusion of heterogenous cohorts of patients with nonextremity and recurrent tumors. The purpose of this study was to determine the independent prognostic factors for the treatment methods associated with local recurrence and metastasis of primary synovial sarcoma localized to the extremities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between April 1999 and June 2014, a total of 79 patients were diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, of which 73 underwent wide excision at Kosin University Gospel Hospital and were followed-up for 60 months (24-72 months). The analyzed prognostic factors were treatment methods for local recurrence and metastasis during the postoperative follow-up period. The Cox regression model was used for multivariate analysis. RESULTS: For local recurrence according to the treatment methods, 9 recurrences occurred in 9 surgical treatments, 8 in 20 chemotherapy added surgical treatments, 13 in 20 radiotherapy added surgical treatments, and 4 in 24 chemotherapy with radiotherapy added surgical treatments. For metastasis according to the treatment methods, 9, 5, 12, and 2 metastases occurred respectively. Chemotherapy had statistical significance in multivariate analysis (p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Adjuvant chemotherapy can be useful for the treatment of synovial sarcoma.
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cohort Studies ; Drug Therapy ; Extremities* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence ; Sarcoma, Synovial* ; Survival Rate ; Young Adult

Patients with lumbar spinal stenosis may exhibit symptoms such as back pain, radiating pain, and neurogenic claudication. Although long-term outcome of treatments manifests similar results for both nonsurgical and surgical treatments, positive effects such as short-term improvement in symptoms and decreased fall risk may be expected with surgery. Surgical treatment is basically decompression, and a combination of treatments can be added depending on the degree of decompression and the accompanying instability. Recently, minimally invasive surgery has been found to result in excellent outcomes in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis. Therefore, better treatment effects can be anticipated with an approach aimed at understanding the overall pathophysiology and treatment methods of lumbar spinal stenosis.

STUDY DESIGN: A prospective study. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether phospholipase A2(PLA2) activity in herniated lumbar disc is correlated with clinical, radiographic and anatomic signs of the patients with herniated nucleus pulposus. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: Several studies have suggested inflammation around nerve root as a mechanism of sciatica and PLA2 emerges as a key enzyme of the inflammation. However, consensus about association between PLA2 and sciatica has been lacking. In addition, there has been no report that investigated the relationship between cytosolic and membrane PLA2 in herniated disc and patient's symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human intervertebral disc materials were obtained from 33 patients who underwent discectomy for HNP. The information was noted about smoking history, medication of NSAID, symptom duration, pain score on a visual analog scale(VAS), positive angle of straight leg raising test (SLR), neurologic deficits, Thompson grade of herniated disc, volume of herniation shown by the MRI and type of herniation based on the operative record. These data were matched to the PLA2 a ctivity in herniated disc measured using Western blotting analysis. PLA2 activity was expressed as the relative percentage compared to that of a 33-year-old female disc obtained during an operation for spinal fracture. The analysis was carried out using Mann-Whitney test, Pearson correlation analysis, simple linear regression analysis. A value of p<0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Cytosolic and membrane PLA2 activity showed no statistical relationship to clinical, radiographic and anatomic characteristics of herniated disc. However, membrane PLA2(active form) activity was correlated with the pain score on VAS(p=0.013, r=0.481), while cytosolic PLA2(latent form) showed no statistically significant correlation with the pain score. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that membrane PLA2 activity is correlated with the pain score. It also suggests that selective PLA2 inhibitors could be used for the alternative treatment modality of HNP.
Adult ; Blotting, Western ; Consensus ; Cytosol ; Diskectomy ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Intervertebral Disc ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; Leg ; Linear Models ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Membranes ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Phospholipases A2* ; Phospholipases* ; Prospective Studies ; Sciatica ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Spinal Fractures

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes(PMN) are the predominant inflammatory cells recruited in acute lung injury such as adult respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia and also chronic lung disease such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary emphysema. Interleukin -8(IL-8) is an 8,000 D protein produced by many cells and has potent neutrophil chemoattractant and activating properties. The GRO, also called melanoma growth-stimulatory activity(MGSA), referring to a peptide of 73 amino acids, was reported to be mitogenic for cultured human melanoma cells. Mature GRO/MGSA has marked sequence similarity to IL-8. In view of the structural similarities to IL-8, it was of particular interest to test GRO for neutrophil activating and chemotactic properties. We found a significant release of IL-8 and GRO/MGSA from the cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cell(HUVEC) which was stimulated either with TNFalpha or IL-1beta and also found the expression of IL-8 and GRO/MGSA mRNA. Neutrophil chemotactic activity was enhanced in accordance with the increased IL-8 and GRO/MGSA. Our study also suggest that the IL-8 is more important in the increased neutrophil chemotactic activity than GRO/MGSA when endothelial cell is stimulated with TNFalpha or IL-1beta in vitro.
Acute Lung Injury ; Amino Acids ; Endothelial Cells ; Humans ; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis ; Interleukin-1* ; Interleukin-8* ; Interleukins ; Lung Diseases ; Melanoma ; Neutrophils ; Pneumonia ; Pulmonary Emphysema ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; RNA, Messenger ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha* ; Umbilical Veins