Total release of the hamstrings of the knee from their origin was performed In nine cerebral plasied children. Eighteen procedures were performed in nine patients whose age ranged from three to sixteen years with an average of ten years. The average follow-up period was twenty one months from ten to thirty-six months. The spastic knee flexion was correction adequately; in mest instances the crouch posture was corrected, gait was improved, and a long stride was possible. The power of the hamstrings was assessed in the fourteen limbs of the children who could walk or cooperate in musicle testing. The power was graded as good in six knees and as normal in one. Seven showed improvement in gait; six patients who had never walked were able to do so after hamstring release; and one patient was able to stand up for the first time in his life after the operation. Eight out of nine cases are now able to stand up with or without support of a brace, and to walk with a brace in five cases and without support in two. However, increased lumbar lordosis and genu recurvatum has occurred in two cases each.
Animals ; Braces ; Cerebral Palsy ; Child ; Extremities ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gait ; Humans ; Knee ; Lordosis ; Muscle Spasticity ; Posture

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms*

Pilomatrix carcinoma is an extremely rare tumor of hair matrix origin and its definite biological behavior of malignancy has remained inconclusive. We report a case of a huge pilomatrix carcinoma arising in the lateral neck skin from an elderly woman, who eventually
Female ; Humans

No abstract available.

Debonding of cement-femoral stem interface has been suggested as a initial focus of loosening mechanism in many previous studies of cemented total hip replacement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of debonding of cement-femoral stem interface to the cement-bone inter- face by using three-dimensional non-linear finite element analysis. Three cases of partial debonded, full debonded, and full bonded cement-bone interface were modelled with partial bonding of distal 70mm from the tip of femoral stem. Each situation was studied under loading simulating one-leg stanced gait of 68kg patient. The results showed that under partial and full debonded cement-stem interface conditions the peak von Mises stress (3.1 MPa) were observed at the cement of cement-bone interface just under the calcar of proximal medial of femur, and sudden high peak stresses (3.5 MPa) were developed at the distal tip of femoral stem at the lateral bone-cement interface in all 3 cases of bonding. The stresses were transfered very little to the cement of upper lateral bone-cement interface in partial and full debonded cases. Once partial or full debonded cement-femoral stem interface occured, 3 times higher stress concentration were developed on the cement of proximal medial cement-bone interface than full bonded interface, and these could cause loosening of cemented total hip replacement. Clinically, preservation of more rigid cement-femoral stem interface may be important factor to prevent loosening of femoral stem.
Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Femur ; Finite Element Analysis* ; Gait ; Humans

Recently we performed arthrography in 10 cases of ankle injuries and obtained abnormal findings roentgenographically suspected to be ligamentous injury in only 8 cases. In two cases surgical exploration was done. Although two arthrographys is not completely reliable and sufficiently specific to justify the use of this technique in elucidating injuries to the lateral ligament complex, it has value in the diagnosis of diastasis (hidden sprains of the anterior or posterior tibio-fibular ligament), in distinction between old and recent lesions and in diagnosing some sprains of the deltoid and lateral ligaments of the ankle.
Ankle Injuries ; Ankle Joint ; Ankle ; Arthrography ; Collateral Ligaments ; Diagnosis ; Ligaments ; Sprains and Strains

BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of lower respiratory infection in infants and young children, but the pathogenesis of RSV-induced inflammation is not well defined. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In order to examine the potential interactions between virus-infected airway epithelial cells and neutrophils, we studied the ability of neutrophils to adhere to yirus-infected airway epithelial cell monolayers by myeloperoxidase assay. Also we measured the ability of airway epithelial cells to secrete interleukin-8(IL-8) and inter-cellular adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1) in virus-infected airway epithelial cell cultures by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). The degree of IL-8 and ICAM-1 gene expression in the RSV-infected BEAS-2B cell cultures were analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). RESULTS: The RSV-infected BEAS-2B cell resulted in significantly enhanced level of neutrophil adherence compared to the uninfected control(p (0.001). IL-8 and ICAM-1 production significantly increased by RSV infection(p<0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between neutrophil adherence and IL-8 level(r=0.73, p=0.002), and ICAM-1 level (r=0.843, p=0.001) in RSV-infected cells. The degree of both IL-8 and ICAM-1 mRNA expression increased in the RSV-infected cells compared with the uninfected ones. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that RSV infection significantly enhances the production of IL-8 and ICAM-1 in airway epithelial cells which then results in increased neutrophil adherence.
Cell Culture Techniques ; Child ; Epithelial Cells* ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Infant ; Inflammation ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; Interleukin-8 ; Neutrophils* ; Peroxidase ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses* ; RNA, Messenger

No abstract available.
Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted*

Red blood cells that agglutinate with most normal adult sera but never with own sera are termed polyagglutinable and can be separated by patterns of lectin reactivity into various types. Among these polyagglutination, activation of the T cryptantigen occurs when carbohydrate structures on glycophorins A and B lose sialic acid and express the disaccharide Gal beta-l-3 GalNac which reacts with the peanut agglutinin, a lectin from Arachis hypogaea. T activation is a temporary condition due to exposure of the membrane antigen to the action of microbial neuraminidase. In T activated red cells, the following hazards, which are theoretically possible, are spontaneous polyagglutination of red cells in vitro, in vivo and severe blood transfusion reactions. We experienced a case of T activation in 6 month old girl with bacterial meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. The reactivity to lectins indicated the patient's red cells were T activated. We report a case of T activation in an infant with the review of literature.
Adult ; Arachis ; Blood Transfusion ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Glycophorin ; Humans ; Infant ; Lectins ; Membranes ; Meningitis, Bacterial ; N-Acetylneuraminic Acid ; Neuraminidase ; Peanut Agglutinin ; Streptococcus pneumoniae