No abstract available.
Thymus Hyperplasia*

Purpose: Reversible aggravation of myelopathy symptoms was observed after the intake of taurine-rich foods in patients with venous congestive myelopathy (VCM) caused by a spinal arteriovenous shunt (SAVS), and the taurine-challenge test was applied to demonstrate an association between taurine and VCM. Materials and Methods: The current study reviewed any aggravation history of myelopathy symptoms, including walking difficulty, after consuming taurine-rich foods among 133 consecutive patients with a SAVS from a prospective institutional database from June 2013 to February 2021. The type of taurine-rich foods, demographic data, arteriovenous shunt level, and follow-up periods were obtained. For the controlled taurine challenge test, Bacchus® (Dong-A Pharmaceutical, Seoul, Korea), a taurine-rich drink, was given to patients who fulfilled test criteria of recovered VCM (pain-sensory-motor-sphincter scale ≥2, improvement of spinal cord signal intensity on magnetic resonance imaging, and follow-up >6 months after SAVS treatment) to confirm the disappearance of such aggravation. Results: Ten patients had an aggravation history related to food. Webfoot octopus, small octopus, squid, crab, scallop, and taurine-rich energy drink (Bacchus®) were related to such aggravation in patients with VCM. Aggravation appeared about 30 minutes after food intake followed by expressions such as ‘I could not walk and collapsed to the ground’ and usually lasted for about 3 hours, followed by a slow recovery after taking rest. Four patients who met the test criteria underwent the taurine challenge with Bacchus® and revealed no further symptom aggravation, suggesting that taurine did not affect patients after recovery from VCM. Conclusion The association between taurine-rich food and reversible symptom aggravation can appear in patients with VCM and disappear after VCM treatment. Aggravation of venous hypertension in the spinal cord is suggested as a mechanism but further elucidation is needed.

The purpose of this study is to develop a systematic and efficient curriculum for the rehabilitation nurse specialist program. This research was carried out as a group work of 15 experts in order to share vanous opinions about the curriculum. and also through literature review. Articles. curriculums of other Clinical Nurse Specialist Programs. medical laws guidelines. as well as Clinical Nurse Specialist Program from the Korean Nurses Association were reviewed, and the issue was discussed throughly via group meetings. The developed cunicul urn is as follows: 1. Educational philosophy lies in the fact that the rehabilitation nurses support the patients to maximize their potential and functional level. so that they could maintain healthy state and re-adapt to changed environment. Furthermore the rehabilitation nurses are disposed of arbitrary decision power under their own responsibility. thus they take charge of we]fare and healthy environment of the local society through the patients (subjects) and local resources. 2. Educational goals are to train rehabilitation nurse specialist. who correspond to the social needs. so to say. those who have the know]edge and skills for nursing practice, education and research. 3. The curriculum consists of 37 credits, of which 24 credits are based on lectures and 13 credits based on clinical practice. General courses are 3 subjects (5 credits): nursing theory, nursing research. and laws/ethics, Mandatory courses are 8 subjects with 19 credits: advanced physical assessment, pharmacology, pathophysiology, issues in rehabilitation nursing, advanced rehabilitation nursing intervention I. advanced rehabilitation nursing intervention II. sports physiology. special rehabilitation nursing intervention. As for the clinical practice courses, assesment and evaluation for rehabilitation (64 hours), community and home based rehabilitation nursing(128 hours), hospital based rehabilitation nursing(l28 hours), institution based rehabilitation nursing(96 hours) would be treated. 4. Contents of the courses were developed to correspond with the courses' objectives and specific items. 5. Evaluation would be carried out both in the lecure and in the clinical practice. The knowledge and skills of the students would be measured to ensure full validity and credibility. However this developed curriculum should be continuously modified and updated in more desirable direction.
Curriculum* ; Education ; Equidae ; Group Processes ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Lectures ; Nurse Clinicians ; Nursing ; Nursing Research ; Nursing Theory ; Pharmacology ; Philosophy ; Physiology ; Rehabilitation Nursing ; Rehabilitation* ; Specialization* ; Sports

Correlation between vaccine reactogenicity and immunogenicity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is unclear. Thus, we investigated to determine whether the reactogenicity after coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination is associated with antibody (Ab) titers and T cell responses. This study was prospective cohort study done with 131 healthcare workers at tertiary center in Seoul, South Korea. The degrees of the local reactions after the 1st and 2nd doses of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 (ChAdOx1) vaccination were significantly associated with the S1-specific IgG Ab titers (p=0.003 and 0.01, respectively) and neutralizing Ab (p=0.04 and 0.10, respectively) in age- and sex-adjusted multivariate analysis, whereas those after the BNT162b2 vaccination did not show significant associations. T cell responses did not show significant associations with the degree of reactogenicity after the ChAdOx1 vaccination or the BNT162b2 vaccination. Thus, high degree of local reactogenicity after the ChAdOx1 vaccine may be used as an indicator of strong humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV-2.

BACKGROUND: Craniopharyngioma is a suprasellar or intrasellar epithelial neoplasm that occurs in both children and adults. It accounts for 1.2 to 3 % of intracranial tumors with an incidence of 0.5 to 2 cases per one million populations each year. Recently, it has been postulated that it may have two pathogenetically separate subtypes, which are adamantinous and papillary craniopharyngioma, and that their clinical features may be different. However, there are some disagreements in this postulation. Therefore, we studied 22 consecutive patients with craniopharyngioma to evaluate the differences in clinical features and MRI findings between two subtypes. METHODS: We studied 22 patients with histologically proven craniopharyngioma after surgery at Samsung Medical center from 1995 to 1999. Thirteen patients were male, and nine patients were female. The average age was 30 years, with a range from 1 to 58 years. We divided 22 patients into two histopathologically separate subtypes; adamantinous and papillary subtypes. We compared the clinical features and MRI findings of two subtypes by reviewing medical records. RESULTS: Out of 22 patients with craniopharyngioma, 19 patients had an adamantinous subtype and 3 patients had a papillary subtype. The adamantinous subtype occurred frequently in the fifth decade and below twenty years, while the papillary subtype occurred predominantly in forth and fifth decades. The adamantinous subtype located in suprasellar or intrasellar portion as well as extrasellar portion, while the papillary subtype was restricted to the suprasellar location. The average tumor size of the adamantinous subtype was 3.7 cm, with a range from 1.4 to 6.0 cm, which was larger than that of the papillary subtype (average size 1.8 cm with a range from 1.5 to 2.3 cm, p< 0.05). The adamantinous subtype was predominantly cystic, while the papillary subtype was predominantly solid (p< 0.05). There were no significant differences in the preoperative clinical features and the postoperative complications between two subtypes. CONCLUSION: The adamantinous subtype had two peaks of occurrence in the fifth decade and below twenty years, while the papillary subtype occurred predominantly in forth and fifth decades. The adamantinous subtype was larger and had cystic portion, while the papillary subtype was smaller and had solid portion. The preoperative clinical features and the postoperative complications between two subtypes seemed not to be different.
Adult ; Child ; Craniopharyngioma* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Male ; Medical Records ; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial ; Postoperative Complications

BACKGROUND: Acromegaly occurs by excessive secretion of growth hormone and more than 99% of cases are caused by a growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma. Pituitary adenomas expressing multiple immunoreactivities are common. We assumed that the pituitary adenomas which is immunochemically detected growth hormone and prolactin are responsible for it and reviewed 28 patients with acromagaly to determine the correlation between serum hormonal level and immunocytochemical finding. METHODS: Twenty-eight patients with acromegaly who underwent surgery of pituitary adenoma in Samsung Medical Center from October 1998 to may 2001 were included. Baseline hormonal evaluations and several endocine tests were performed. Immunocytochemical stain was done. RESULTS: According to the extent of hormonal stain, the adenoma was divided into two groups. The adenoma showing immunoreactivity over 50% to growth hormone was 100%, to prolactin was 71.4% and to FSH was 25.0%. The extent of other hormonal stain was less than 20%. There were no significant differences in age, sex, the ratio of macroadenoma and microadenoma, the basal serum GH level, serum IGF-1 level, and the response to TRH, somatostatin and bromocriptine suppression test between the two groups divided by the the extent of prolactin stain. But the serum prolactin level was 55.0+/-63.4 ng/mL, and 19.9+/-12.2 ng/mL each in two groups which was siginificantly increased in the adenoma showing immunoreactivity over 50% to prolactin. CONCLUSION: Acromegaly patients with higher expression of prolactin on immunocytochemical studies showed higher serum prolactin levels and patients with hyperprolactinemia showed higher serum IGF-1.
Acromegaly* ; Adenoma ; Bromocriptine ; Growth Hormone ; Growth Hormone-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma ; Humans ; Hyperprolactinemia ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Pituitary Neoplasms* ; Prolactin* ; Somatostatin