BACKGROUND: The addition of clonidine to local anesthetics for regional block has been shown to increase the duration of anesthesia and analgesia. This study was designed to determine whether the addition of clonidine to bupivacaine would produce an extension of the analgesic effect after intercostal nerve block (ICNB). METHODS: After informed consent, 30 ASA 1 or 2 patients undergoing appendectomy under general anesthesia were randomly divided into two groups. Before induction of anesthesia, ICNB using a posterior approach was performed with 15 ml of 0.25% bupivacaine plus epinephrine 1:200,000 with (Group BEC; n = 15) or without (Group BE; n = 15) clonidine 75 microgram. Analgesia was assessed by cold testing at 1/min intervals until cold sensation decreased. The duration of analgesia (time between injection and onset of pain) was recorded. We also recorded the visual analogue scale (VAS) of pain, the number of supplemental analgesics, heart rate and blood pressure, and side effects over 24 hours postoperatively. RESULTS: The onset time, duration of analgesia, number of analgesics, and heart rate and blood pressure were comparable in both groups. VAS scores were significantly lower in Group BEC than in Group BE at 12, 16, and 20 hours postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of clonidine to bupivacaine with epinephrine may be a useful adjunct and can prolong the duration of analgesia after ICNB without significant side effects.
Analgesia ; Analgesics ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia and Analgesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthetics, Local ; Appendectomy ; Blood Pressure ; Bupivacaine* ; Clonidine* ; Epinephrine ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Intercostal Nerves* ; Pain, Postoperative* ; Sensation

No abstract available.
Nevus, Pigmented*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Parents* ; Siblings*

No abstract available.
Calcium* ; Fetal Blood* ; Phosphorus*

No abstract available.
Dexamethasone* ; Humans ; Membranes* ; Rupture*

Acute renal failure is a rare complication of acute pyelonephritis. Therefore, acute pyelonephritis is not usually considered in the differential diagnosis of acute renal failure. However, it is important to consider this entity because of potential for recovery of renal function if appropriate early antibiotics are instituted. We report a case of biopsy proven acute pyelonephritis which was manifested as acute renal failure. A 38 year old women was admitted to this hospital owing to abdominal distension and generalized edema. On admission she was started on hemodialysis because of severe hyperkalemia and marked uremic sypmtoms. She had pyuria and hematuria, but no organism was isolated at urine. We initially don't know the cause of renal failure. She was improved with antimicrobial therapy and hemodialysis. A kidney biopsy was performed on the 26th hospital day because of persistent proteinuria. Microscopic examination revealed focal tubular atrophy, necrosis or loss with heavy infilteration of leukocytes and histocytes in interstitium. Atrophic tubules contain pus casts. The patient was treated with ciprofloxacin for 4 weeks. At about 2 month follow up, proteinuria completely disappeared and serum creatinine level decreased to 1.0 mg/dL.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Atrophy ; Biopsy ; Ciprofloxacin ; Creatinine ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Edema ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Hyperkalemia ; Kidney ; Leukocytes ; Necrosis ; Proteinuria ; Pyelonephritis* ; Pyuria ; Renal Dialysis ; Renal Insufficiency ; Suppuration

Multiplex Ligation dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) to detect large deletions or duplications has been widely used as a diagnostic tool for various disease clinically. As this method requires only a small amount of template DNA and is very simple and high throughput, it has numerous advantages for the analysis of the human specimen obtained from archaeological sites. In this study we therefore tried to perform MLPA analysis for detecting any of duplications or deletions in mummy samples (n=4) from medieval Joseon tombs of Korea. Of them, we could not get any authentic data from 3 samples by MLPA method while only one case (HD2) showed the possible presence of duplications or deletions during her lifetime. Although the current report reveal that MLPA is a promising tool for anthropological study in South Korea, more studies are still needed to make up for the validity problem of commercial MLPA kit used in this study.
DNA ; Humans ; Korea* ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Mummies

No abstract available.
Hysterectomy*

No abstract available.
Female ; Humans ; Marriage*

Total knee arthroplasty of Sledge type is difficult to perform successfully in severely damaged knee that has poor bone-stock and ligament instability. High rate of loosening has be.en found in total hinge type and kinematic rotating hinge type, so we considered use of tibia rotating prosthe,,is that allows motion with stability would be a good option. The indications of this type are severe varus deformity, bone loss, incompetent ligament, or revision. We studied 67 cases of total knee arthroplasty using Endo Model rotating total knee arthroplasty (WALDEMAR LINK GmbH & Co. Germany), which had been performed from January, 1991 to June, 1994. Thirty knees out of 67 cases were degenerative osteoarthritis, 15 posttraumatic arthritis, 11 rheumatoid arthritis, 5 revision arthroplasty, 2 sequelae of pyogenic arthritis, etc. Thirteen knees out of 67 cases had patellar resurfacement. Twenty-six out of 67 cases had bone graft. Using the Knee Rating Score of Hospital for Special Surgery, 3S were excellent and 2 l good.
Arthritis ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Arthroplasty* ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Knee* ; Ligaments ; Osteoarthritis ; Tibia ; Transplants