No abstract available.
Dialysis* ; Peritonitis* ; Salmonella*

No abstract available.
Dialysis* ; Peritonitis* ; Salmonella*

BACKGROUND: There were many studies about the changes of cognitive or non-cognitive domain and behavioral and psychological symptoms with the progression of Alzheimer's disease. But they assessed the changes individually so could not explain comprehensively the global change of disease progression. Also they studied by clinical dementia rating scale(CDR) which could not successfully explain the latest stage. So we have evaluated the cognitive, non-cognitive domain and behavioral and psychological symptoms at the same time and evaluated the changes with the expanded clinical dementia rating scale. Also we evaluated the relationship of each scale and assessed sensitivity change at the different stage of disease. METHODS: Twenty-three mild cognitive impairment(MCI) subjects and eighty-seven patients with Alzheimer's disease were recruited. The Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination(K-MMSE), the Korean version of the neuropsychiatric inventory(NPI), the Extended version of the Korean Clinical Dementia Rating Scale(CDR), the Activity of Daily Living(ADL), the Severe Dementia Scale(SDS) and the Short form of Samsung Dementia Questionnaire(S-SDQ) were performed. RESULTS: It was found that all of them were well correlated each other(r>-0.73 and p<0.05) except NPI. Physical activity of daily living(P-ADL) was most related to Korean version of instrumental activity of daily living(K-IADL) (r=0.86 and p<0.01), SDS to K-MMSE(r=0.93 and p<0.01) and S-SDQ to K-IADL(r=0.86 and p<0.01). P-ADL and S-SDQ revealed the ceiling effect at CDR 4 and K-IADL at CDR 3. CONCLUSION: The cognitive and non-cognitive function were declined according to disease progression. The changes of behavioral and psychological symptoms were relatively independent of cognitive function. SDS, P-ADL and CDR were proved to be more sensitive in advanced stage of dementia and K-IADL, S-SDQ were more adequate in milder stage of dementia or MCI.
Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Motor Activity

No abstract available.
Blood Donors* ; Humans ; Phenotype*

PURPOSE: Survival outcome of locally advanced pancreatic cancer has been poor and little is known about prognostic factors of the disease, especially in locally advanced cases treated with concurrent chemoradiation. This study was to analyze overall survival and prognostic factors of patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in locally advanced pancreatic cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of 34 patients diagnosed with unresectable pancreatic cancer and treated with definitive CCRT, from December 2003 to December 2012, were reviewed. Median prescribed radiation dose was 50.4 Gy (range, 41.4 to 55.8 Gy), once daily, five times per week, 1.8 to 3 Gy per fraction. RESULTS: With a mean follow-up of 10 months (range, 0 to 49 months), median overall survival was 9 months. The 1- and 2-year survival rates were 40% and 10%, respectively. Median and mean time to progression were 5 and 7 months, respectively. Prognostic parameters related to overall survival were post-CCRT CA19-9 (p = 0.02), the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status (p < 0.01), and radiation dose (p = 0.04) according to univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, post-CCRT CA19-9 value below 180 U/mL and ECOG status 0 or 1 were statistically significant independent prognostic factors associated with improved overall survival (p < 0.01 and p = 0.02, respectively). CONCLUSION: Overall treatment results in locally advanced pancreatic cancer are relatively poor and few improvements have been accomplished in the past decades. Post-treatment CA19-9 below 180 U/mL and ECOG performance status 0 and 1 were significantly associated with an improved overall survival.
Chemoradiotherapy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Multivariate Analysis ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of our antivenin treatment protocol for patients with Korean Viperidae envenomation. METHODS: We developed an antivenin treatment protocol for Korean Viperidae envenomation, based on previous data, and applied this treatment to the enrolled patients. In brief, antivenin was not used for patients with grade 0. Patients with grade I and II received one vial of antivenin. Those with grade III and IV received two and three vials of antivenin, respectively. Adult patients who visited the emergency department (ED) after receiving a snakebite between July 2008 to August 2010 were included. Follow ups were performed at 24 hours, 7 days, and 28 days after the snakebite. RESULTS: A total of 62 patients were enrolled. At the initial evaluation, 6 patients (9.7%) were grade 0, 47 patients (75.8%) were grade I, and 9 patients (14.5%) were grade II. Upon the follow-up evaluation, 14 patients (29.8%) progressed from grade I to grade II and 2 patients (22.2%) progressed from grade II to III. Coagulopathy developed in 5 patients (8.0%) and rhabdomyolysis in 5 patients (8.0%). Urticaria developed in 2 patients (3.2%) and cellulitis in 3 patients (4.8%) as delayed complications. As an antivenin-related complication, serum sickness developed in only 1 patient (1.6%). There were no severe complications and all clinical and laboratory abnormalities disappeared within 28 days. CONCLUSION: Our antivenin treatment protocol was feasible and safe. To confirm our data, multicenter validation studies are needed.
Adult ; Antivenins ; Cellulitis ; Clinical Protocols ; Emergencies ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Rhabdomyolysis ; Serum Sickness ; Snake Bites ; Snake Venoms ; Urticaria ; Viperidae

BACKGROUND: The evaluation of behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) is important for the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previous studies have reported the prevalence and severity of BPSD changes. However, these studies have mainly focused on the AD patients with mild to moderate severity. Our study investigated the BPSD in AD patients with more advanced stages and looked at the prevalence and severity of BPSD with the progression of disease. METHODS: One hundred thirty six patients with probable AD received the Korean version of the neuropsychiatric inventory along with the expanded version of the Korean Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) and the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE). RESULTS: The mean K-MMSE, CDR and NPI scores were 10.1 (SD=7.1), 2.0 (SD=1.5) and 32.7 (SD=26.2), respectively. CDR and K-MMSE scores did not correlate with the total NPI score but did correlate with some of the subscale NPI scores. Apathy had the highest relationship to CDR (r=0.39, p<0.01). Aberrant motor was most correlated with the total score of NPI (r=0.65, p<0.01). The mean number of positive NPI items was 4.3, which ranged from 2.1 (CDR 5 group) to 5.4 (CDR 2 group). The most frequent symptom was apathy and the least was euphoria. The severity of BPSD increased as the dementia severity increased to CDR 2 except apathy. Night-time behavior and anxiety were frequent in the early stages whereas apathy and aberrant motor were frequent symptoms in later stages. CONCLUSIONS: These observations suggest that BPSD is relatively independent of cognitive functions. The prevalence and severity of BPSD with the exclusion of apathy, increased as the dementia severity increased from CDR 0.5 to CDR 2 and then declined declined except apathy.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Anxiety ; Apathy ; Dementia ; Diagnosis ; Euphoria ; Humans ; Prevalence

No abstract available.
Parotid Gland* ; Salivary Ducts*

BACKGROUND: The C-reactive protein(CRP) is one of the "acute phase" proteins and it is known to be the most sensitive indicator of the inflammatory and/or necrotic process. Traditional methods for measuring CRP are capillary precipitation assay and latex agglutination assay. However, these methods have low sensitivity and provide only qualitative results. Recently the development of specific and very sensitive assays for CRP using highly specific monoclonal antibodies for CRP have done, including radioimmunoassay, nephelometric assay(NA), and turbidimetric immunoassay(TIA). We evaluated the Hitachi 7600-110(R)(Hitachi Co., Japan) using TIA in the measurement of CRP and compared its results to those of the the LX-M(R)(Eiken Chemical Co., Japan) using NA in order to replace the Hitachi 7600-110(R) for quantitative analysis of CRP. METHODS: CRP were measured by the Hitachi 7600-110(R) using TIA and the LX-M(R) using NA in the sera from 106 patients. The relationship between results of Hitachi 7600-110(R) and LX-M(R). By performing 20 repetitive assays at three levels of CRP control serum and pooled sera, within-run, within-day, and between-day precision of the Hitachi 7600-110(R) were established. RESULTS: When the CRP value of 4.60 +/- 5.65 mg/dL by the Hitachi 7600-110(R) was compared with that of 3.71 +/- 4.32 mg/dL by the LX-M(R), coefficients of correlation of 0.994 was obtained. The regression equation was Y(Hitachi 7600-110(R)) = 1.298 X(LX-M(R)) - 0.211(r=0.994, n=106). CVs of CRP measured by Hitachi 7600-110(R) were 5.45% at 0.82 mg/dL, 1.32% at 2.39 mg/dL, and 2.37% at 4.62 mg/dL. The precision was excellent in each group. The linearity was acceptable, and sample to sample carry-over was 0.8%. CONCLUSIONS: The Hitachi 7600-110(R) using TIA, compared with the LX-M(R) using NA, showed good coefficient of correlation and excellent precision. Therefore the Hitachi 7600-110(R) can replace the LX-M for quantitative analysis of CRP.
Agglutination ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; C-Reactive Protein* ; Capillaries ; Humans ; Latex ; Radioimmunoassay

PURPOSE: This study is designed to ascertain the most effective quantity and injection route of hepatocytes in an acute liver failure model induced by massive liver resection in rats. METHODS: Rats weighing 450 to 650 gm underwent partial hepatectomy that was 80% of their liver weight, resulting in acute liver failure. Hepatocytes were obtained by perfusing collagenase (Wako, Japan) solution through portal vein into liver of the allogenic rat. These hepatocytes were injected into different places with different dosage. The experimental groups were divided into the Control group, Splenic group I (2x10(6) cells into splenic capsule), Splenic group II (2x10(7) cells into splenic capsule), Portal vein group (2x10(7) cells into portal vein), Subperitoneal group (2x10(7) cells into subperitoneum). The experimental animals were observed carefully for 5 days for assessment of survival and regeneration of liver. Liver function tests including serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin, gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma-GTP) on postoperative 1, 2, 3, 5th days and histologic examinations of specimens obtained from each respective groups on postoperative 5th day were performed. RESULTS: Serum ALT level on postoperative day 1 peaked and then gradually normalized showing statistical significance (p=0.035). Study groups showing statistically significant difference under repeated anova analysis were between the Splenic group II and Control (p=0.035), and between the Splenic group II and Portal vein group (p=0.001) with respect to serum ALT levels. Also, progression of each study group showed statistical significance. (p=0.02). Serum total bilirubin and r-GTP did not show any significant difference. CONCLUSION: Hepatocyte transplantation of 2x10(7) cells into spleen showed the best results in the acute hepatic failure rat.
Alanine Transaminase ; Animals ; Bilirubin ; Cell Transplantation ; Collagenases ; Hepatectomy ; Hepatocytes ; Liver ; Liver Failure, Acute ; Liver Function Tests ; Portal Vein ; Rats ; Regeneration ; Spleen ; Transferases ; Transplants