Purpose: A hyperextended knee is described as knee pain associated with an impaired knee extensor mechanism. Additionally, a hyperextended knee may involve reduced position sense of the knee joint that decreases the individual’s ability to control end-range knee extension movement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of visual biofeedback information for plantar pressure distribution on knee joint angle and lower extremity muscle activities in participants with hyperextended knees. Methods: Twenty-three participants with hyperextended knees were recruited for the study. Surface electromyography signals were recorded for the biceps femoris, rectus femoris, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior muscle activities. The plantar pressure distribution was displayed and measured using a pressure distribution measuring plate. Knee joint angle kinematic parameters were recorded using a motion analysis system. The visual biofeedback condition was the point at which the difference between the forefoot and backfoot plantar foot pressure on the monitor was minimized. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine the significance between the visual biofeedback condition and the preferred condition. Results: The knee joint angle was significantly decreased in the visual biofeedback condition compared to that in the preferred condition (p<0.05). The rectus femoris and gastrocnemius muscle activities were significantly different between the visual biofeedback and preferred conditions (p<0.05). Conclusion The results of this study showed that visual biofeedback of information about plantar pressure distribution is effective for correcting hyperextended knees.

Purpose: A hyperextended knee is described as knee pain associated with an impaired knee extensor mechanism. Additionally, a hyperextended knee may involve reduced position sense of the knee joint that decreases the individual’s ability to control end-range knee extension movement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of visual biofeedback information for plantar pressure distribution on knee joint angle and lower extremity muscle activities in participants with hyperextended knees. Methods: Twenty-three participants with hyperextended knees were recruited for the study. Surface electromyography signals were recorded for the biceps femoris, rectus femoris, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior muscle activities. The plantar pressure distribution was displayed and measured using a pressure distribution measuring plate. Knee joint angle kinematic parameters were recorded using a motion analysis system. The visual biofeedback condition was the point at which the difference between the forefoot and backfoot plantar foot pressure on the monitor was minimized. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine the significance between the visual biofeedback condition and the preferred condition. Results: The knee joint angle was significantly decreased in the visual biofeedback condition compared to that in the preferred condition (p<0.05). The rectus femoris and gastrocnemius muscle activities were significantly different between the visual biofeedback and preferred conditions (p<0.05). Conclusion The results of this study showed that visual biofeedback of information about plantar pressure distribution is effective for correcting hyperextended knees.

We were experienced a case of sclerema neonatorum which was developed in a 13 days old newborn, and we report it with a brief review.
Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Sclerema Neonatorum*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability and validity of pelvic tilting angle measurements using a smart phone-based inclinometer (Clino) compared to a palpation meter (PALM) in the standing and sitting position. This study used an interchangeable method with Clino to measure the pelvic tilting angle in the standing and sitting positions. METHODS: Twenty healthy subjects were recruited. Measurements of the pelvic tilting angle in the standing and sitting positions were obtained by two examiners using the Clino and PALM. A resting session was conducted 10 minutes later to assess the intra and inter rater reliability. To assess validity of the measurement using Clino, a PALM was used as the gold standard. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to determine the intra and inter rater reliability of Clino and a PALM. To assess the validity, the Pearson correlation coefficients were used for two measurement techniques to measure the pelvic tilting angle in the standing and sitting positions. The statistical significance was set to α=0.05. RESULTS: Measurements of the pelvic tilt had high inter-rater reliability in the standing (ICC=0.82) and sitting (ICC=0.88) positions using Clino and intra-rater reliability in the standing (ICC=0.87) and sitting (ICC=0.91) positions using Clino. Measurements of the pelvic tilt had high validity by a comparison of PALM and Clino in the standing (r=0.83) and sitting (r=0.89) positions (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The use of Clino can be recommended as a tool to replace the PALM and measure the pelvic tilt angle in the standing and sitting positions while maintaining the clinical reliability and validity.
Healthy Volunteers ; Methods ; Palpation ; Reproducibility of Results

BACKGROUND: Currently establishment of public pharmaceutical companies became an issue for securing stable supply of national essential drugs in order to respond appropriately to national public health crisis. Pharmacy students as future pharmacists need to be interested in drug related issues under the discussion in our society. This study aimed to investigate perceptions of pharmacy students on the national drug supply strategy through public pharmaceutical companies. METHODS: A 20-items questionnaire designed for this study was used. Pharmacy students nationwide were enrolled in July 2017. They responded to questions through on-line survey program. Data were analyzed descriptively. RESULTS: 160 students from 26 pharmacy schools participated. 5th and 6th grade students accounted for two-thirds, and one third aspired future jobs in pharmaceutical industry. Among responders, 71.3% was unaware of current national essential drugs, 52.5% did not know the Rare and Essential Drug Center, and 91.9% was unaware of the legislation on the supply and management of essential drugs. 82.5% favored the establishment of public pharmaceutical companies. 80.6% agreed that government should intervene in pharmaceutical market for ensuring drug accessibilities, 73.8% agreed that public pharmaceutical companies make possible to reach a goal of stable supply of pharmaceuticals, and 85.1% agreed that active compulsory license by public pharmaceutical companies is necessary. CONCLUSION: We found that pharmacy students recognized the need for governmental control to achieve social values of pharmaceuticals. More attention and participation of the pharmacy students as well as pharmacists in the process of national debate on public pharmaceutical companies are expected.

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) has become established as the most useful serological marker for monitoring patients with prostate cancer. However, the benefits of serum PSA values are controversial in screening procedures for prostate cancer due to the rather low specificity of PSA test. To determine if different assays yield comparable results, we compared the IMx PSA enzyme immunoassay and the ELSA PSA monoclonal immunoradiometric assay. We analyzed 72 serum specimens from 68 patients with prostatic disease (12 patients with cancer, 47 benign hyperplasia and 9 prostatitis) and 13 from normal controls by both assays. Results from the assays revealed close linear correlation but the ELSA PSA assay yielded values 1.5 times those of the IMx PSA assay In 13 patients with histologically diagnosed benign prostatic hyperplasia, number of patient with PSA value over l0 ng/ml measured by IMx and ELSA assay were 2(15% ) and 4(31%), respectively. We conclude that the proportional bias between assays demonstrates a need for improved standardization of PSA assays.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Immunoenzyme Techniques* ; Immunoradiometric Assay* ; Mass Screening ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Diseases ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Metabolic encephalopathy is a critical condition that can be challenging to diagnose. Imaging provides early clues to confirm clinical suspicions and plays an important role in the diagnosis, assessment of the response to therapy, and prognosis prediction. Diffusion-weighted imaging is a sensitive technique used to evaluate metabolic encephalopathy at an early stage.Metabolic encephalopathies often involve the deep regions of the gray matter because they have high energy requirements and are susceptible to metabolic disturbances. Understanding the imaging patterns of various metabolic encephalopathies can help narrow the differential diagnosis and improve the prognosis of patients by initiating proper treatment regimen early.

In general, femur fractures in the younger patient population are the result of high energy trauma, such as motorcycle accidents or traffic accidents. A 43-year-old healthy man presented with painful swelling of his right thigh. Plane radiographs showed short oblique fracture of the femur shaft with comminution. He had no medical history such as osteoporosis or any metabolic bone disorder. He was a healthy man with no smoking and no alcohol drinking, enjoying sports activity such as baseball and football. He was injured during defense time of a baseball game by rapid turning motion to catch a ball. We performed intramedullary interlocking nailing for the femur shaft fracture and the fracture was uneventually healed with no complication. To our knowledge, femur shaft fracture which occurred during playing baseball in a healthy middle-aged man has not been reported in our country. So we report this case with a review of the literature.
Accidents, Traffic ; Adult* ; Alcohol Drinking ; Baseball* ; Femur ; Football ; Humans ; Male* ; Motorcycles ; Osteoporosis ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Sports ; Thigh