OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of smoking in schizophrenic patients (74-92%) is higher than that of all psychiatric patients (34-54%) or general population (30-35%). This higher smoking Prevalence is demonstrated even after controlling for known confounders, such as marital status, alcohol use, and socioeconomic status. This study was conducted to determine whether there would be any difference in nicotine intake and metabolism between schizophrenics and normal controls. METHODS: Sixteen schizophrenic patients and sixteen normal controls were collected. All subjects were supplied with a pack of cigarette a day. Urinary cotinine excretion was measured by using gas chromatographic mass spectrometric method. RESULTS: Cotinine excretion was significantly increased in schizophrenic patients compared to normal controls (p<0.05). None of variables such as age at initial smoking, the average number of cigarettes at initial smoking, pack year (packs daily smoked x smoking year), abstinence history were found to influence cotinine levels when examined via the ANOVA, even when the interaction with diagnosis was considered. CONCLUSION: This result suggests that nicotine intake and consumption are increased in schizophrenic patients compared to normal controls, which can be an attempt to improve sensory inhibition and counteract neuronal effect of antipsychotic medications.
Cotinine* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Marital Status ; Metabolism ; Neurons ; Nicotine ; Prevalence ; Schizophrenia ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Social Class ; Tobacco Products

May-Thurner syndrome is a condition in which the venous outflow tract of the left lower extremity is compressed, causing swelling, pain, or thrombus. The authors experienced a case of combined May-Thurner syndrome in an 82-year-old female patient who underwent left hemiarthroplasty for a femoral neck fracture. The authors’ case is thought to be an informative case that should be considered to prevent thrombosis, which can cause fatal consequences, in patients who have undergone trauma and surgical treatment to the lower extremity and have recurrent lower extremity edema that does not improve in a short period of time, and reported along with a literature review.

A variety of clinical conditions are known to result in a giant T wave and a marked QT prolongation. We report a case of a giant T wave and a QT prolongation after the resolution of an acute cardiogenic but nonischemic pulmonary edema.
Heart Failure ; Pulmonary Edema*

In order to investigate the role of adenovirus in diarrheal children, we evaluated 907 children with diarrhea and 193 children without diarrhea for a 22-month. Stools were tested for group A rotavirus antigen and for adenovirus types 40/41 (Ad 40/41) by using ELISA, cell technique and indirect immunofluorescent method. Adenovirus was detected in 10.1% of the diarrheal children and 3.1% of the non-diarrheal children. Ad40/41 was detected in 4.85% of the diarrheal children. Other nonenteric adenovirus was detected in 5.29% of the diarrheal children. In addition, 24% of the adenovirusinfected children excreted rotavirus simultaneously. Rotavirus was found in 57.1% of the diarrheal patients. Among the diarrheal children. 88% of those with adenovirus were younger than 24 months. Although peaks of adenovirus infection were detected in July and Autumn in the study, there is no apparent seasonal trend with adenovirus. The average duration of admission caused by adenoviral infection was 4.9 days and 88% of the cases accompanied by fever. Stool occult blood test revealed positive reaction in 66.3% of the cases and serum aminotransferase activities transiently elevated in 5.4% of the cases. Diarrhea with more than 10 stools per day, vomiting, or fever in adenovirusinfected children were similar with ratavirus, where as the first two manifestions were associated with confection of rotavirus and adenovirus. Nine out of 92 cases(9.8%) of the gastroenteritis caused by adenovirus revealed intussusception. We conclude that Ad40/41 is an important cause of diarrhea among infants and children, and non-enteric adenovirus is considered to be a cause of diarrhea, but their role in diarrheal children should be further studied.
Adenoviridae Infections ; Adenoviridae* ; Candy ; Child* ; Diarrhea ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fever ; Gastroenteritis ; Humans ; Infant ; Intussusception ; Occult Blood ; Rotavirus ; Seasons ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: Previous abdominal surgery has been one of the relative contraindications of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Recently, the accumulation of experience and the development of skill have widened the indications of LC. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effectiveness and safety of LC in patients with a history of previous abdominal surgery. METHODS: The medical records of patients treated with LC at Ewha Womans University, Mokdong Hospital from March 1997 to December 2000 were reviewed. Operative results were compared between the previous abdominal-surgery group (Group A) and the non-operative history group (Group B). Group A consisted of 99 cases: 91 cases with one operation history, 7 with two, and 1 with three. Group B consisted of 99 cases randomly selected out of 437 cases without a history of previous abdominal surgery in the same period. We compared the mean operative time, conversion rate, rate of drain insertion, starting day of postoperative diet and hospital stay. RESULTS: In groups A and B, the mean ages were 52 and 51.4 years olds, the male to female ratios 1 : 2.7 and 1 : 1.08, and the mean operative times 88.8 and 91.1minutes (P=0.740), respectively. The conversion rates were 3% and the time of postoperative diet was 2.3 days in both groups. The rates of drain insertion were 21% and 15% (P=0.372), the hospital stay was 5.4 days and 5.6 days (P=0.769), the morbidity was 4% and 1% (P=0.371), respectively. There were no cases of mortality in either group. CONCLUSION: The operative results of the patients with a history of previous abdominal surgery were similar to those of the patients without an operative history. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was an effective and safe method in the patients with a history of previous abdominal surgery.
Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic* ; Diet ; Female ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Operative Time

Acute viral meningitis and myositis are rare complications of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) reactivation. A 71-years-old immunocompetent man, who presented with lower back pain radiating to the left lower extremities, developed vesicles on the L5 dermatomal area. The next day, he had complained of aberrant vesicles on the trunk, face and scalp, with generalized myalgia, headache and dizziness. He was confirmed with VZV meningitis and myositis, as demonstrated by the presence of VZV DNA in the blood and cerebral spinal fluid using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. PCR has been used in patients with a VZV infection associated neurological symptoms, and provides a useful tool for the early diagnosis of VZV-associated neurological disease. The patient was treated with bed rest, with intravenous acyclovir for the VZV infection, and intravenous Patient-controlled Analgesia for pain management and the prevention of postherpetic neuralgia. When he visited the outpatient department 3 months later, the skin lesion, leg pain, headache and myalgia had all improved, without sequelae. Here, this case is reported, with a discussion of the relevant literature on its diagnosis and management.
Acyclovir ; Analgesia, Patient-Controlled ; Bed Rest ; Diagnosis ; Dizziness ; DNA* ; Early Diagnosis ; Headache ; Herpes Zoster* ; Herpesvirus 3, Human* ; Humans ; Leg ; Low Back Pain ; Lower Extremity ; Meningitis* ; Meningitis, Viral ; Myalgia ; Myositis ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; Outpatients ; Pain Management ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Scalp ; Skin

Methods: Radiograms of the 11 study subjects (six men and five women), aged 22–90 years who visited the outpatients’ clinic for various neck complaints without trauma history were examined. C4–5 synostosis was an incidental finding in all the subjects. Results: All the fused bodies were inwaisted and had anterior caudal breaking but no interior corporal flaring. Adjacent segment disease was not found in eight patients aged <40 years. Disk degeneration was found at C3–4 and C5–6 in three patients each and at C6–7 in two patients. Disk degeneration was limited to the adjacent segments. Conclusions Degenerative disk changes are associated with the natural aging process, and the corporal morphology of the fused vertebral becomes inwaisted similar to that in the single vertebrae.

Methods: Radiograms of the 11 study subjects (six men and five women), aged 22–90 years who visited the outpatients’ clinic for various neck complaints without trauma history were examined. C4–5 synostosis was an incidental finding in all the subjects. Results: All the fused bodies were inwaisted and had anterior caudal breaking but no interior corporal flaring. Adjacent segment disease was not found in eight patients aged <40 years. Disk degeneration was found at C3–4 and C5–6 in three patients each and at C6–7 in two patients. Disk degeneration was limited to the adjacent segments. Conclusions Degenerative disk changes are associated with the natural aging process, and the corporal morphology of the fused vertebral becomes inwaisted similar to that in the single vertebrae.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the lumbar vertebral bone marrow fat-signal fractions obtained from six-echo modified Dixon sequence (6-echo m-Dixon) with those from single-voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in patients with low back pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Vertebral bone marrow fat-signal fractions were quantified by 6-echo m-Dixon (repetition time [TR] = 7.2 ms, echo time (TE) = 1.21 ms, echo spacing = 1.1 ms, total imaging time = 50 seconds) and single-voxel MRS measurements in 25 targets (23 normal bone marrows, two focal lesions) from 24 patients. The point-resolved spectroscopy sequence was used for localized single-voxel MRS (TR = 3000 ms, TE = 35 ms, total scan time = 1 minute 42 seconds). A 2 × 2 × 1.5 cm³ voxel was placed within the normal L2 or L3 vertebral body, or other lesions including a compression fracture or metastasis. The bone marrow fat spectrum was characterized on the basis of the magnitude of measurable fat peaks and a priori knowledge of the chemical structure of triglycerides. The imaging-based fat-signal fraction results were then compared to the MRS-based results. RESULTS: There was a strong correlation between m-Dixon and MRS-based fat-signal fractions (slope = 0.86, R² = 0.88, p < 0.001). In Bland-Altman analysis, 92.0% (23/25) of the data points were within the limits of agreement. Bland-Altman plots revealed a slight but systematic error in the m-Dixon based fat-signal fraction, which showed a prevailing overestimation of small fat-signal fractions (< 20%) and underestimation of high fat-signal fractions (> 20%). CONCLUSION: Given its excellent agreement with single-voxel-MRS, 6-echo m-Dixon can be used for visual and quantitative evaluation of vertebral bone marrow fat in daily practice.
Bone Marrow ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Fractures, Compression ; Humans ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Spectrum Analysis ; Spine ; Triglycerides

Abstract: Diarrhea is the most common cause of death in calves, and remains a major health challenge. Although there are many studies on the related pathogens, the understanding of the clinicopathological changes is limited. This study aimed to identify the pathogens and observe the clinicopathological changes in electrolytes and acute phase proteins (APPs) associated with diarrhea.Blood samples and fecal samples were collected from 141 calves for the determination of APPs, electrolyte and acid-base status and identification of enteropathogens, respectively. Single or co-infections with enteropathogens, including virus (bovine viral diarrhea virus, coronavirus, and rotavirus), Eimeria, Cryptosporidium, and Escherichia coliK99 were detected in both non-diarrheic and diarrheic calves. Levels of APPs such as serum amyloid A, haptoglobin and fibrinogen were comparable between diarrheic and nondiarrheic calves. Hypoglycemia, high blood urea, electrolytes and acid-base imbalance (hyponatremia, hypochloremia, and decreased bicarbonate), and strong ion difference (SID) acidosis showed a significant association in diarrheic calves (p < 0.01). Particularly, significant hyponatremia, bicarbonate loss, SID acidosis, hypoglycemia, and elevated blood urea nitrogen were found in rotavirusinfected calves. Monitoring the clinicopathological parameters of APPs and electrolyte levels could be vital in the clinical management of diarrheic calves.