Purpose: The survival of organisms critically depends on avoidance responses to lifethreatening stimuli. Information about dangerous situations needs to be remembered to produce defensive behavior. To investigate underlying brain regions to process information of danger, manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) was used in olfactory fear-conditioned rats. Materials and Methods: Fear conditioning was conducted in male Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals received nasal injections of manganese chloride solution to monitor brain activation for olfactory information processing. Twenty-four hours after manganese injection, rats were exposed to electric foot shocks with odor cue for one hour. Control rats were exposed to the same odor cue without foot shocks. Fortyeight hours after the conditioning, rats were anesthetized and their brains were scanned with 9.4T MRI. Acquired images were processed and statistical analyses were performed using AFNI. Results: Manganese injection enhanced brain areas involved in olfactory information pathways in T1 weighted images. Rats that received foot shocks showed higher brain activation in the central nucleus of the amygdala, septum, primary motor cortex, and preoptic area. In contrast, control rats displayed greater signals in the orbital cortex and nucleus accumbens. Conclusion Nasal delivery of manganese solution enhanced olfactory signal pathways in rats. Odor cue paired with foot shocks activated amygdala, the central brain region in fear, and related brain circuits. Use of MEMRI in fear conditioning provides a reliable monitoring technique of brain activation for fear learning.

BACKGROUND: Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an acquired bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys platelets. There were many studies which predicted the factors associated with the prognosis of childhood ITP, but controversies remained. We analyzed the predicting factors associated with the clinical outcome and prognosis of pediatric patients with newly diagnosed ITP in a single institution.METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records of 170 patients with newly diagnosed ITP at Chungnam National University Hospital (CNUH) from January 2005 to December 2015. The demographics, complete blood count (CBC), leukocyte differential counts and treatment of patients with ITP were reviewed.RESULTS: The median age at diagnosis were 20 months old (range, 0 to 189 months) for acute ITP and 52 months old for chronic ITP. After initial diagnosis of ITP, 20 of 170 patients (11.8%) were later diagnosed as chronic ITP. Age at diagnosis and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) at diagnosis were statistically correlated with development of chronic ITP. ALC at diagnosis and at discharge were significantly higher in acute ITP patients than chronic ITP patients. We determined that ALC >4,109/μL at diagnosis and ALC >3,825/μL at discharge were associated with platelet recovery after 12 months.CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that that high ALC at admission and discharge predict a favorable outcome in children with newly diagnosed ITP. Further studies are warranted to validate these findings.
Blood Cell Count ; Blood Platelets ; Child ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Demography ; Diagnosis ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Immune System ; Leukocytes ; Lymphocyte Count ; Medical Records ; Prognosis ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; Retrospective Studies

Objective: It is well established that the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit is implicated in the pathophysiology of obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD). However, reports on corticostriatal functional connectivity (FC) in OCD have been inconsistent due to the structural and functional heterogeneity of the striatum. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated corticostriatal FC using a fine 12-seed striatal parcellation to overcome this heterogeneity and discover the neural correlates of symptoms in OCD patients. Methods: We recruited 23 OCD patients and 23 healthy controls (HCs). Whole-brain FC based on striatal seeds was examined using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data and compared across OCD patients and HCs. We conducted correlation analysis between FCs of striatal subregions with significant group differences and symptom severity scores on the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, and Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A). Results: Compared to HCs, patients demonstrated increased FC of the dorsal caudal putamen and ventral rostral putamen (VRP) with several cortical regions, such as the intracalcarine cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, supramarginal/angular gyrus (SMG/AG), and postcentral gyrus (PCG). Furthermore, FC between the VRP and SMG/AG and between the VRP and PCG was negatively correlated with scores on the Y-BOCS compulsive subscale and the HAM-A, respectively. Conclusion These findings suggest that striatal subregions have strengthened FC with extensive cortical regions, which may reflect neural correlates of compulsive and anxious symptoms in OCD patients. These results contribute to an improved understanding of OCD pathophysiology by complementing the current evidence regarding striatal FC.

PURPOSE: Infantile spasms, also known as West syndrome, is an age-specific epileptic seizure. Most patients with this condition also exhibit delayed development. This study aimed to determine the effect of long-term prenatal stress on susceptibility to infantile spasms. METHODS: We subjected pregnant rats to acute or chronic immobilization stress. Resulting offspring received N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (15 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) on postnatal day 15, and their behaviors were observed 75 minutes after injection. The expression of KCC2 and GAD67 was also determined using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Exposure to long-term prenatal stress increased the frequency of spasms and decreased the latency to onset of spasms compared with offspring exposed to short-term prenatal stress. Expression of KCC2 and GAD67 also decreased in the group exposed to long-term prenatal stress compared with the group exposed to short-term prenatal stress. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that exposure to long-term prenatal stress results in increased susceptibility to seizures.
Animals ; Epilepsy ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid ; Glutamate Decarboxylase ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Immunohistochemistry ; Infant* ; Infant, Newborn ; N-Methylaspartate ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects ; Rats* ; Seizures ; Spasm* ; Spasms, Infantile

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) are novel anti-diabetic drugs whose glucose-lowering effect and cardiovascular and renal benefits were evidenced in clinical trials. We investigated the real-world efficacy and safety of the combination of SGLT2i and GLP-1RA in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Korea. The medical records of 104 patients who maintained the combination for at least 1 year were retrospectively reviewed. The change in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) after 6 months and 1 year of treatment was evaluated. The mean age was 51 years, and 41% were female. The mean baseline HbA1c, body mass index, and duration of diabetes were 9.0%, 28.8 kg/m2, and 11.7 years, respectively. Compared with baseline, the HbA1c decreased by 1.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27 to 1.74; P<0.001) after 6 months and by 1.4% (95% CI, 1.19 to 1.70; P<0.001) after 1 year. Over 1 year, the bodyweight change was −2.8 kg (95% CI, −4.21 to −1.47; P<0.001). The combination of SGLT2i and GLP-1RA is effective and tolerable in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in real-world practice.

Operating room fires, though rare, can involve substantial morbidity and mortality. Surgical fires require an ignition source, oxidizer, and fuel. Ignition sources generally include lasers and electrocautery, oxidizer are usually oxygen, nitrous oxide, and ambient air, whereas fuels are classically surgical drapes, materials, and prepping agents. We experienced a patient who, during skin incision, sustained burns resulting from a fire in the operating room. Shortly after application of disinfectants and placement of the surgical drapes, the surgeon used the electrosurgical unit on the incision. In this case, the use of an alcohol-based disinfectant was the major contributing factor to the surgical fire. To avoid recurrence, if alcohol is used for skin prepping, it should be allowed to dry completely before draping.
Burns* ; Disinfectants* ; Electrocoagulation* ; Fires* ; Humans ; Mortality ; Nitrous Oxide ; Operating Rooms ; Oxygen ; Recurrence ; Skin ; Surgical Drapes

PURPOSE: Sacral dimples are a common cutaneous anomaly in infants. Spine ultrasonography (USG) is an effective and safe screening tool for patients with a sacral dimple. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical manifestations in patients with an isolated sacral dimple and to review the management of spinal cord abnormalities identified with USG. METHODS: We reviewed clinical records and collected data on admissions for a sacral dimple from March 2014 through February 2017 that were evaluated with spine USG by a pediatric radiologist. During the same period, patients who were admitted for other complaints, but were found to have a sacral dimple were also included. RESULTS: This study included 230 infants under 6-months-old (130 males and 100 females; mean age 52.8±42.6 days). Thirty-one infants with a sacral dimple had an echogenic filum terminale, and 57 children had a filar cyst. Twenty-seven patients had a low-lying spinal cord, and only one patient was suspected of having a tethered cord. Follow-up spine USG was performed in 28 patients, which showed normalization or insignificant change. CONCLUSION: In this study, all but one infant with a sacral dimple had benign imaging findings. USG can be recommended in infants with a sacral dimple for its convenience and safety.
Cauda Equina ; Child ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infant* ; Lumbosacral Region ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Skin Abnormalities ; Spinal Cord ; Spine ; Ultrasonography