BACKGROUND: Induction of anesthesia with a high dose of fentanyl and vecuronium decreases the heart rate and blood pressure. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of preinduction atropine on these hemodynamic changes in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). METHODS: Forty-one patients who underwent CABG were randomly divided into two groups. After insertion of a radial artery cannula and a Swan-Ganz catheter, normal saline 1 ml (control group, n = 20) or atropine 0.5 mg (atropine group, n = 21) was injected intravenously 1 min before the induction of anesthesia. Anesthesia was induced with a first dose of fentanyl (5-8 microgram/kg) and vecuronium (0.12 mg/kg) and a second dose of fentanyl (5-10 microgram/kg). The patient was then intubated. Hemodynamic variables were measured before the induction of anesthesia, 1 min after the administration of each drug during the induction of anesthesia and 5, 10, and 30 min after the intubation. RESULTS: There was no significant differences between the two groups in terms of demographic data except that the number of patients with diabetes mellitus was greater in the control group than in the atropine group. The number of patients treated for hypotension or bradycardia during the induction of anesthesia was greater in the control group than in the atropine group, but this was not statistically significant. Heart rates significantly decreased in the control group but were maintained in the atropine group without any significant tachycardia. Blood pressure significantly decreased in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Intravenous injection of atropine before anesthetic induction in patients undergoing CABG attenuates the decrease in heart rate resulting from anesthetic induction with high dose fentanyl and vecuronium. However, it didn't prevent the decrease in blood pressure nor did it reduce the incidence of treatment for hypotension.
Anesthesia ; Atropine* ; Blood Pressure ; Bradycardia ; Catheters ; Coronary Artery Bypass* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Fentanyl* ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics* ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Incidence ; Injections, Intravenous ; Intubation ; Radial Artery ; Tachycardia ; Transplants ; Vecuronium Bromide*

Orchids live with mycorrhizal fungi in mutualism. This symbiotic relationship plays an essential role in the overall life cycle of orchids from germination, growth, settlement, and reproduction. Among the 1000 species of the orchid, the Korean lady’s slipper, Cypripedium japonicum, is known as an endangered species. Currently, only five natural habitats of the Korean lady’s slipper remain in South Korea, and the population of Korean lady’s slipper in their natural habitat is not increasing. To prevent extinction, this study was designed to understand the fungal community interacting in the rhizosphere of the Korean lady’s slipper living in the native and artificial habitats. In-depth analyses were performed to discover the vital mycorrhizal fungi contributing to habitat expansion and cultivation of the endangered orchid species. Our results suggested that Lycoperdon nigrescens contributed most to the increase in natural habitats and Russula violeipes as a characteristic of successful cultivation. And the fungi that helped L. nigrescens and R. violeipes to fit into the rhizosphere community in Korean lady’s slipper native place were Paraboeremia selaginellae and Metarhizium anisopliae, respectively. The findings will contribute to restoring and maintaining the endangered orchid population in natural habitats.

BACKGROUND: Ambulatory surgery has become popular because patients believe it allows them greater control over their business and personal lives and because third party payers find it reduces cost. This study was designed to compare the characteristics of induction and recovery as well as the safety of propofol with those of midazolam used for intravenous anesthesia in outpatient cystoscopy. METHODS: 56 healthy consenting outpatients were randomly assigned to receive either bolus of propofol (2 mg/kg, n=29) or midazolam (0.1 mg/kg, n=27) for anesthesia in outpatients cystoscopic procedure. All patients also received bolus of fentanyl 1ug/kg before induction and N-M blocking agent was not injected for maintenance of spontaneous respiration. Mean arterial pressure, HR and SpO2 were recorded and induction time (time to spontaneous eye closure), recovery time (time to response, time to orientation, time to ambulation) and adverse effects were evaluated. RESULTS: The results were as follows; 1) Both propofol and midazolam produced smooth induction, but caused significant respiratory depression. 2) The time of induction and postoperative recovery (time to ambulation) was faster in propofol than in midazolam. 3) There were less postoperative side effects (nausea, vomiting, dizziness) in propofol than in midazolam. 4) There were more cardiovascular depression in propofol than in midazolam. CONCLUSION: These results suggest 1) that propofol has significant advantage over midazolam in outpatient surgery, where early ambulation and discharge is desirable and 2) that both propofol and midazolam should be administered by expert anesthesiologist only when ventilatory assistant device with oxygen is immediately available.
Ambulatory Surgical Procedures ; Anesthesia* ; Anesthesia, Intravenous ; Arterial Pressure ; Commerce ; Cystoscopy* ; Depression ; Early Ambulation ; Fentanyl ; Humans ; Insurance, Health, Reimbursement ; Midazolam* ; Outpatients* ; Oxygen ; Propofol* ; Respiration ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Vomiting

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

We described a 22-month-old girl, who suffered from a gereralized edema and intermittent diarrhea for 1 month. Intestinal lymphangiectasia was confirmed by endoscopic biopsy. Endoscopic examination revealed showed the characteristic appearance of tiny white flakes scattered in the duodenum, which a histological examination confirmed to be dilated lymph vessels. The other findings from laboratory examinations included lymphopenia, hypoproteinemia, hypogammaglobulinemia and increased fecal a1-antitrypsin clearance. Treatment consisting of a low-fat diet and MCT supplementation was successful. The therapy has resulted in the disappearance of duodenal lesions previously observed endoscopically.
Agammaglobulinemia ; Biopsy ; Diarrhea ; Diet, Fat-Restricted ; Duodenum ; Edema ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoproteinemia ; Infant ; Lymphopenia

Laser Surgery is widely employed because it has many advantages over the conventional surgery. Laser surgery involving airway tract shows excellent results for its minimnal postoperative tissue edema, good hemostasis and operation fields. But some of complications, although it is not frequent with precaution, can develop fatal outcome to patient. We experienced a case of fire ignited by the CO2 laser during laryngeal microscopic surgery.
Edema ; Fatal Outcome ; Fires* ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Laser Therapy ; Lasers, Gas*

Epilepsy affects more than 0.5% of the world population and is known to be associated with a large genetic component eliciting an electrical hyperexcitability in the central nervous system. However, its pathogenic mechanisms remain poorly understood. In order to gain greater molecular incite in the pathogenesis in epilepsy, we analyzed proteomes of human cerebral cortices. Quantitative proteome analysis was used to compare signals corresponding to individual proteins between epileptic cerebral cortices from patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and age-matched non-epileptic subjects. To minimize individual variations, gender and age of the patients were matched. Changes of several spots were consistent among 6 pairs of epileptic patients and nonepileptic subjects. One of the spots was identified as the mitochondrial type Mn-superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) confirmed by Western blot analysis with Mn-SOD antibody and enzyme activity assay. Such results were agreeable with chemical and physical parameters given by the 2-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) gel. Mn-SOD was consistently down-regulated in epileptic cerebral cortices compared with those of nonepileptic subjects. Our results demonstrate a clear link between pathogenesis of epilepsy and SOD. Additionally, we identified four proteins that were consistently over-expressed in all epileptic temporal neocortices specimens and the other four proteins that were found to be expressed less than non-epileptic control subjects. These proteomic data provide cellular markers in the understanding mechanism of the epilepsy pathogenesis.
Adult ; Biological Markers/analysis ; Brain Chemistry ; Case-Control Studies ; Cerebral Cortex/chemistry/*metabolism ; Down-Regulation ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ; Epilepsy/genetics/*metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mitochondria/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism ; Nerve Tissue Proteins/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism ; Proteomics ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Superoxide Dismutase/analysis/genetics/*metabolism ; Up-Regulation

OBJECTIVE: The etiology and pathogenesis of moyamoya disease remain unclear. Furthermore, the definitive diagnostic protein-biomarkers for moyamoya disease are still unknown. The present study analyzed serum proteomes from normal controls and moyamoya patients to identify novel serological biomarkers for diagnosing moyamoya disease. METHODS: We compared the two-dimensional electrophoresis patterns of sera from moyamoya disease patients and normal controls and identified the differentially-expressed spots by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of flight mass spectrometry and electrospray ionization quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry. RESULTS: We found and analyzed 22 differently-expressed proteomes. Two proteins were up-regulated. Twenty proteins were down-regulated. Complement C1 inhibitor protein and apolipoprotein C-III showed predominantly changed expressions (complement C1 inhibitor protein averaged a 7.23-fold expression in moyamoya patients as compared to controls, while apolipoprotein C-III averaged a 0.066-fold expression). CONCLUSION: Although our study had a small sample size, our proteomic data provide serologic clue proteins for understanding moyamoya disease.
Apolipoprotein C-III ; Biomarkers ; Complement C1 Inhibitor Protein ; Electrophoresis ; Humans ; Mass Spectrometry ; Moyamoya Disease ; Proteins ; Proteome ; Sample Size

Background: The impact of persistent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms on quality of life remains unclear. This study aimed to describe such persistent symptoms and their relationships with quality of life, including clinical frailty and subjective health status. Methods: A prospective longitudinal 3-month follow-up survey monitored symptoms, health quality, support needs, frailty, and employment. Results: A total of 82 patients with a mean age of 52 years (ranging from 23–84 years) were enrolled, including 48 (58.6%) men, and 34 (41.5%) women. The fully active status decreased from 87.8% before admission to 78.1% post discharge. Two patients (2.4%) were ambulatory and capable of all self-care but unable to carry out any work-related activities 12 weeks after discharge. Clinical frailty scale (CFS) levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 changed drastically between admission and 12 weeks later after discharge. Just after admission, the median EuroQol visual analogue scales (EQ-VAS) was 82.23 (± 14.38), and it decreased to 78.10 (± 16.02) 12 weeks after discharge; 62 (75.6%) of patients reported at least one symptom 12 weeks after discharge. The most frequent symptom was fatigue followed by smell disorder, anxiety, sleep disorder, headache, depressive mood, dyspnea, and taste disorder. CFS was definitively associated with fatigue. Decreased EQ-VAS was associated with fatigue and palpitation, cough, taste disorder, and chest pain. EQ-VAS was worse in women (28%) than in men. Compared with regular outpatient clinic visits before admission, 21 patients (25.6%) reported increased outpatient clinic visits, one (1.4%) reported readmission, and one (1.4%) reported emergency room visits. Six of the 54 (77.1%) patients who were employed before admission lost their jobs. And most vulnerable type was self-employed, because three selfemployed job workers were not working at 12 weeks after discharge. Conclusion COVID-19 sequelae should not be underestimated. We find a decrease in health quality and increase in psychological problems in discharged COVID-19 patients, and some patients experience unemployment. The number of patients suffering from COVID-19 sequelae would not be negligible considering there are more than one million COVID-19 infection cases in Korea. Hence, the government should start a systematic monitoring system for discharged patients and prepare timely medical and social interventions accordingly.

Extraintestinal manifestation (EIM) of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is approximately 36%. Of genitourinary complications as an EIM of Crohn’s disease (CD), nephrolithiasis is the most common urinary complication in patients with CD. CD patients have been shown to have decreased urinary volume, pH, magnesium, and excretion of citrate, all of which are significant risk factors for nephrolithiasis. Genitourinary complications often occur in case of a severe longstanding disease and are associated with, the activity of bowel disease, especially in those who have undergone bowel surgery. As uncontrolled nephrolithiasis could impair renal function as well as adversely affect quality of life, proper monitoring, early detection, and prevention of the occurrence of urologic complications in CD is crucial. Few data are available about urolithiasis in patients with CD. Herein we report a case of a successful removal of a 2.7 cm calcium oxalate stone using percutaneous nephrolithotomy from a patient with long-standing CD with a previous surgery for small intestinal and colonic stricture.