PURPOSE: There is a concern on which antimicrobials are appropriate as empirical agents for community-onset acute pyelonephritis (APN) in regions where the fluoroquinolone resistance rate is high, such as in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred and two strains of E. coli in 2001-2002 and 349 strains in 2008-2009 were isolated from the urine cultures of female adult APN patients, and the antimicrobial susceptibility was compared according to each study period. All the patients were classified as uncomplicated or complicated APN, and a subgroup analysis was done thereafter. RESULTS: The E. coli strains isolated in 2008-2009 showed improved susceptibility to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole compared to those isolated in 2001-2002. However, the third generation cephalosporin and gentamicin susceptibility was worsened. Of the 232 isolates from the uncomplicated APN patients, there was no difference between the two different time periods. On the other hand, of the 419 isolates from the complicated APN patients, the susceptibility to third generation cephalosporin, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin was significantly worsened. CONCLUSION: The antimicrobial susceptibility of E. coli changed over the study period, however, this change occurred mainly in the complicated APN patients. In Korea, ciprofloxacin is still useful as an empirical agent for uncomplicated APN patients, but this is not the case for patients with complicated APN because of high resistance rate to ciprofloxacin in these patients. For the complicated APN patients, the rate of resistance to ciprofloxacin is already more than 30%.
Acute Disease ; Adult ; Aged ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/*therapeutic use ; Ciprofloxacin/*therapeutic use ; Community-Acquired Infections/*drug therapy/microbiology ; *Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Escherichia coli Infections/*drug therapy/microbiology ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/drug therapy/microbiology ; Pyelonephritis/*drug therapy/microbiology

OBJECTIVES: Vulnerability marker in biological relatives of schizophrenia may be very useful in identifying the propensity for the development of schizophrenia. This study suggests that the relatives at risk for genetically developing schizophrenia have impairments in several domains of cognition, social function and affective function as a vulnerability marker. METHODS: A neurocognitve function test, a social function test and an affective function test were administered to fifteen healthy relatives from families with two or more patients with schizophrenia (geneticallly high risk subjects). Fifteen healthy controls matched for age and gender were recruited in this study. RESULTS: Compared to the control subject, the genetic high risk subjects performed significantly more poorly in the selective attention and recall memory of neurocognitive function. The high risk subjects also had lower scores in independence-performance and independence-competence of the social function test and emotion control of the affective function test. CONCLUSION: Selective attention, recall memory, independence-performance, independence-competence and emotion control ability may be a valuable marker for genetic study of schizophrenia.
Cognition* ; Humans ; Memory ; Schizophrenia*

An important problem in radiosurgery is the utilization of the proper beam parameters, to which dose shape is sensitive. Streotactic radiosurgery techniques for a linear accelerator typically, use circular radiation fields with multiple arcs to produce an spherical radiation distribution. Target volumes are irregular in shape for a certain case, and spherical distributions can irradiate normal tissues to high dose as well as the target region. The current improvement to dose distribution utilizes treating multiple isocenters or weighting various arcs to change treatment volume shape. In this paper another premising study relies upon dynamically shaping the treatment beam to fit the beam's eye view of the target. This conformal irradiation technique was evaluated by means of visual three dimensional dose distribution, dose volume histograms to the target volume and surrounding normal brain. It is shown that using even less arcs than multiple isocenter irradiation technique, the conformal therapy yields comparable dose gradients and superior homogeneity of dose within the target volume.
Brain ; Particle Accelerators ; Radiosurgery*

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to identify the intake and following process for subjects at high risk of transition to schizophrenia and to examine the neurocognitive, social, and emotional functions of the subjects compared with healthy controls. METHODS: Symptomatic individuals judged at high risk for schizophrenia ('clinical high risk') within Youth Clinic were assessed and followed up. They performed a neurocognitive function test, a social function test and an affective function test. Twenty healthy controls were recruited in this study. RESULTS: Among eighty-two subjects contacted through the Youth clinic, sixteen subjects were judged as the clinical high risk group. Fourteen subjects among the clinical high risk group showed deficits in several domains of neurocognitive functions, such as visual recall memory, verbal short term memory and executive function. Social and affective functions are also impaired in the clinical high risk group compared with healthy controls. Two of 15 subjects (13%) developed a psychotic disorder within 6 months. CONCLUSION: This study illustrates the state of follow-up study for a clinical high risk group. Despite low numbers and short durations, some impairment of several functions in the clinical high risk group suggests possible predictors of psychosis.
Adolescent* ; Executive Function ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Memory ; Pilot Projects* ; Psychotic Disorders ; Schizophrenia*