No abstract available.
Gamma Cameras* ; Head*

No Abstract Available.

The incidence of acute deep vein thrombosis after multiple trauma has been reported to range from 1.7 to 10%. In general, a thrombus of the calf vein migrates to the proximal vein. An isolated inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis without a peripheral venous thrombosis is rare. A 35-year-old woman was admitted as a result of a large subcapsular hematoma in the right hepatic lobe after a blunt injury caused by an automobile accident. The thrombus in the IVC was detected incidentally during a follow up CT scan three weeks after the trauma. A compression of the IVC by the displaced hepatic parenchyme as a result of a large subcapsular hematoma is a possible mechanism for the IVC thrombosis because there was no distal venous thrombosis and no evidence of hypercoagulability. A retrievable caval filter (Gunther-Tulip(TM), Cook Inc. Bloominton, USA) was placed in the suprarenal vena cava via the right internal jugular venous approach. After placing the retrieval caval filter, aspiration thrombectomy was attempted through the right femoral vein. The luminal patency of the IVC was restored immediately after retrieving the thrombus. The subcapsular hematoma in the right hepatic lobe disappeared two months later and there was no evidence of a residual thrombus in the inferior vena cava.
Adult ; Automobiles ; Female ; Femoral Vein ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Incidence ; Multiple Trauma ; Phenobarbital ; Thrombectomy ; Thrombophilia ; Thrombosis* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Veins ; Vena Cava, Inferior* ; Venous Thrombosis ; Wounds, Nonpenetrating

No abstract available.
Brain* ; Evaluation Studies as Topic* ; Photic Stimulation* ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the worldwide public health problem affecting about 300 million people. The envelope protein of HBV consists of three components known as preS1, preS2, and S antigen. According to the recent study, anti-HBs Ab showed effective neutralization ability against HBV from chronic hepatitis B and liver transplant patients, suggesting the possible development of therapeutic antibody. METHODS: Spleen cells immunized with S antigen of HBV were fused with myeloma cell line to obtain HBsAg specific monoclonal antibodies. High affinity antibodies against HBsAg (adr, ad and ay type) were selected by competitive ELISA method. Nucleotide sequence of the variable regions of monoclonal antibodies was analyzed by RT-PCR followed by conventional sequencing method. RESULTS: We produced 14 murine monoclonal antibodies which recognize S antigen of HBV. Two of them, A9-11 and C6-9 showed the highest affinity. The sequence analysis of A9-11 revealed that variable regions of the heavy chain and light chains are members of mouse heavy chain I (B) and light chain lambda 1, respectively. Likewise, the sequence analysis of C6-9 revealed that variable regions of the heavy chain and light chains are members of mouse heavy chain II (B) and light chain kappa 1, respectively. Neutralization assay showed that A9-11 and C6-9 effectively neutralize the HBV infection. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that A9-11 and C6-9 mouse monoclonal antibodies can be used for the development of therapeutic antibody for HBV infection.
Animals ; Antibodies ; Antibodies, Monoclonal* ; Base Sequence ; Cell Line ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Liver ; Mice ; Public Health ; Sequence Analysis ; Spleen

We report a case of perforated jejunal diverticulitis in a 68-year-old man with iatrogenic Cushing's syndrome. The patient presented with right upper abdominal pain. Ultrasonography showed a hypoechoic structure connected to a small bowel loop, and subsequent CT examination showed multiple diverticula in proximal jejunal loops with free air trapped within the mesenteric leaf. Segmental resection of the jejunal loop confirmed jejunal diverticulitis with perforation.
Abdominal Pain ; Aged ; Cushing Syndrome ; Diverticulitis* ; Diverticulum ; Humans ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to develop efficient and practical health promotion strategies in the workplace by investigating both the present status of health promotion and the barriers to its practice. METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to 20% of industrial workers in the workplaces which receives the health care agency enterprise or are supported by a grant from the national treasury, K University Hospital in Gyeong-Gi province, and C University Hospital in Seoul. RESULTS: According to the questionnaire survey, 51.3% workers were practicing health promotion activities and smoking cessation was the most common method among them. Regarding the factors that prompt workers to commence health promotion activities, TV or the mass media had a 33.4% effect, followed by a 22.1% effect for an abnormal finding at regular health screening. The most necessary health promotion activity in the workplace was exercise (41.9%), followed by stress management. When asked about their expectations of the health promotion program, 84.8% of the respondents answered that they expected it to be significantly or somewhat effective. Factors affecting the health promotion activities of workers were worker's health status and job control. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that workers evaluate health promotion activities positively and that some workers are unable to participate in these activities despite their willingness to do so due to the barrier of circumstances. To encourage worker's participation, the government and employers should remove barriers.
Community-Institutional Relations ; Data Collection ; Delivery of Health Care ; Financing, Organized ; Health Promotion* ; Mass Media ; Mass Screening ; Occupational Health ; Questionnaires ; Seoul ; Smoking Cessation

OBJECTIVE: A common cause of failure in laminectomy surgery is when epidural, peridural, or perineural adhesion occurs postoperatively. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of a temperature-sensitive, anti-adhesive agent (TSAA agent), Guardix-SG®, as a mechanical barrier for the prevention or reduction of peridural scar adhesion in a rabbit laminectomy model. METHODS: Twenty-six mature rabbits were used for this study. Each rabbit underwent two separate laminectomies at lumbar vertebrae L3 and L6, left empty (the control group) and applied 2 mL of the TSAA agent (the experimental group), respectively. Invasive scar formation or inflammation after laminectomy was quantitatively evaluated by measuring the thickness of the dura, the distance from the surface of dura to the scar tissues, the number of inflammatory cells in the scar tissues at the laminectomy site, and the concentration of collagen in histological sections. RESULTS: At 6 weeks postsurgery, the dura was significantly thinner and the distance from the surface of dura to the scar tissues was greater in the experimental group than in the control group (p=0.04 and p=0.01). The number of inflammatory cells was not significantly different in the two groups (p=0.08), although the mean number of inflammatory cells was relatively lower in the experimental group than in the control group. CONCLUSION: The current study suggests that the TSAA agent, Guardix-SG®, could be useful as an interpositional physical barrier after laminectomy for the prevention or reduction of adhesion.
Cicatrix ; Collagen ; Inflammation ; Laminectomy* ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Rabbits

PURPOSE: In this study, we developed a new software tool for the analysis of renal scintigraphy which can be modified more easily by a user who needs to study new clinical applications, and the appropriateness of the results from our program was studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The analysis tool was programmed with IDL5.2 and designed for use on a personal computer running Windows. For testing the developed tool and studying the appropriateness of the calculated glomerular filtration rate (GFR), 99mTc-DTPA was administered to 10 adults in normal condition. In order to study the appropriateness of the calculated mean transit time (MTT), 99mTc-DTPA and 99mTc-MAG3 were administered to 11 adults in normal condition and 22 kidneys were analyzed. All the images were acquired with ORBITOR, the Siemens gamma camera. RESULTS: With the developed tool, we could show dynamic renal images and time activity curve (TAC) in each ROI and calculate clinical parameters of renal function. The results calculated by the developed tool were not different statistically from the results obtained by the Siemens application program (Tmax: p=0.68, Relative Renal Function: p=1.0, GFR: p=0.25) and the developed program proved reasonable. The MTT calculation tool proved to be reasonable by the evaluation of the influence of hydration status on MTT. CONCLUSION: We have obtained reasonable clinical parameters for the evaluation of renal function with the software tool developed in this study. The developed tool could prove more practical than conventional, commercial programs.
Adult ; Gamma Cameras ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Kidney ; Microcomputers ; Nuclear Medicine* ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Running ; Technetium Tc 99m Mertiatide

Physical evaluations provide the basis for an objective and quantitative analysis of the image quality. Nonetheless, there are limitations in using physical evaluations to judge the utility of the image quality if the observer's subjectivity plays a key role despite its imprecise and variable nature. This study proposes a new method for objective and quantitative evaluation of image quality to compensate for the demerits of both physical and subjective image quality and combine the merits of them. The images of chest phantom were acquired from four digital radiography systems on clinic sites. The physical image quality was derived from an image analysis algorithm in terms of the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the low-contrast objects in three regions (lung, heart, and diaphragm) of a digital chest phantom radiograph. For image analysis, various image processing techniques were used such as segmentation, and registration, etc. The subjective image quality was assessed by the ability of the human observer to detect low-contrast objects. Fuzzy integral was used to integrate them. The findings of this study showed that the physical evaluation did not agree with the subjective evaluation. The system with the better performance in physical measurement showed the worse result in subjective evaluation compared to the other system. The proposed protocol is an integral evaluation method of image quality, which includes the properties of both physical and subjective measurement. It may be used as a useful tool in image evaluation of various modalities.
Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Heart ; Humans ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; Thorax