• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.51 no.6
• /
• pp.363-366
• /
• 2012

Objective : Meralgia paresthetica (MP) is a syndrome of pain and/or dysesthesia in the anterolateral thigh that is caused by an entrapment of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (LFCN) at its pelvic exit. Despite early accounts of MP, there is still no consensus concerning the effectiveness of neurolysis or transaction treatments in the long-term relief for medically refractory patients with MP. We retrospectively analyzed available long-term results of LFCN neurolysis for medically refractory MP in an effort to clarify this issue. Methods : During the last 7 years, 11 patients who had neurolysis for MP were enrolled in this study. Nerve entrapment was confirmed preoperatively by electrophysiological studies or a positive response to local anesthetic injection. Decompression of the LFCN was performed at the level of the iliac fascia, inguinal ligament, and fascia of the thigh distally. The outcome of surgery was assessed 8 weeks after the procedure followed at regular intervals if symptoms persisted. Results : Twelve decompression procedures were performed in 11 patients over a 7-year period. The average duration of symptoms was 8.5 months (range, 4-15 months). The average follow-up period was 33 months (range, 12-60 months). Complete and partial symptom improvement were noted in nine (81.8%) and two (18.2%) cases, respectively. No recurrence was reported. Conclusion : Neurolysis of the LFCN can provide adequate pain relief with minimal complications for medically refractory MP. To achieve a good outcome in neurolysis for MP, an accurate diagnosis with careful examination and repeated blocks of the LFCN, along with electrodiagnosis seems to be essential. Possible variation in the course of the LFCN and thorough decompression along the course of the LFCN should be kept in mind in planning decompression surgery for MP.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.343-353
• /
• 2011

Variations of load in both DOM and RDOM of inflowing rivers to lakes were in the range of 5.01-7.29(${\times}10^2$ kg/day) for AD lake and 1.23-3.75(${\times}10^3$ kg/day) for JY lake during the research period excluding the period directly affected by the strong rainy season and the monsoon and typhoon season. We observed a good relationship($R^2$ > 0.8) between SS load and DOM load (including RDOM) in both inflowing rivers to JY lake. Therefore, it was determined that SS would be an alternative parameter with a rapid and energy-efficient method for the analysis of both DOC and RDOC, which require the analytical equipment and a long time period. Both AD lake and JY lake may act as a DOM(including RDOM) source through primary production in the fall season. Because AD lake and JY lake may not act as a DOM buffer zone, both lakes couldn't control the DOM and RDOM in spring before the rainy season. Therefore to improve water quality in downstream rivers is needed to remove pollutants such as DOM and RDOM before inflowing to these lakes in upstream rivers, or to have the unique landscape of wetlands as a buffer zone.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.63-67
• /
• 2016

Severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is an often lethal complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The safety of clinical-grade mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been validated, but mixed results have been obtained due to heterogeneity of the MSCs. In this phase I study, the safety of bone marrow-derived homogeneous clonal MSCs (cMSCs) isolated by a new subfractionation culturing method was evaluated. cMSCs were produced in a GMP facility and intravenously administered to patients who had refractory GVHD to standard treatment resulting after allogeneic HSCT for hematologic malignancies. After administration of a single dose ($1{\times}10^6cells/kg$), 11 patients were evaluated for cMSC treatment safety and efficacy. During the trial, nine patients had 85 total adverse events and the rate of serious adverse events was 27.3% (3/11 patients). The only one adverse drug reaction related to cMSC administration was grade 2 myalgia in one patient. Treatment response was observed in four patients: one with acute GVHD (partial response) and three with chronic GVHD. The other chronic patients maintained stable disease during the observation period. This study demonstrates single cMSC infusion to have an acceptable safety profile and promising efficacy, suggesting that we can proceed with the next stage of the clinical trial.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2004.10a
• /
• pp.1215-1220
• /
• 2004

Cell adhesion to any material surface is considered to be fundamental and important phenomenon in the fields of tissue engineering. Cell adhesion molecules, mechanism, and attachment force have been studied and described a lot. However, the effects of mechanical stimuli on the adhesive forces still have been left much to be investigated. In this study, to investigate the changes in cell adhesive force due to resting time period during the intermittent hydrostatic pressurizing (IHP), cells were cultured under the IHP with various resting times. Then the cell adhesive forces were measured quantitatively utilizing a cell detachment test system and immunofluorescent staining was performed using fluorescent microscopy. In the results, immediately after mechanical stimuli (150 minutes after seeding) and one hour later (210 minutes after seeding), the average adhesive force of experimental group 5 (resting time: 15min) compared with that of control group at same culture time was increased significantly (p<0.05). The results indicated that IHP can contribute in improving cell adhesive force and some of time intervals were required for the expression of cell response.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.57 no.3
• /
• pp.226-233
• /
• 2004

Background : Interferon-gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) is a critical cytokine in the defense against a Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Even though IFN-${\gamma}$ has occasionally been used in the treatment of refractory multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) with some promising results, there is still some controversy regarding the therapeutic efficacy of IFN-${\gamma}$. This study was performed to examine the effect of subcutaneous IFN-${\gamma}$ in the treatment of MDR-TB patients. Methods : Six patients with refractory MDR-TB were enrolled in this study. Two million IU of IFN-${\gamma}$ was administered subcutaneously three times a week with the concomitant administration of antituberculous drugs for at least for 28 weeks. During the IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy, the sputum smear and culture, radiological and clinical evaluations were performed every 4 weeks throughout the study period. Results : The mean age of the 6 patients was 37 years (ranges, 15-61 years). The drug susceptibility test to standard antituberculous drugs revealed resistance to an average of 6.8 (${\pm}1.2$) agents including isoniazid and rifampicin. An average of 10.8 (${\pm}1.3$) antituberculous drugs were prescribed before IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy. The culture became negative in 2 patients (33%) after initiating IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy; one at 8 weeks, and the other at 24 weeks. Finally, after stopping the IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy after 28 weeks, the culture became positive again in the two patients who were culture-negative. The other 4 patients who failed in the culture conversion are still on antituberculous treatment except for one who died of tuberculosis. Conclusion : Even though 28 weeks of subcutaneous IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy in combination with antituberculous drugs was successful in inducing the culture-negative conversion in some patients with refractory MDR-TB, the culture became positive again after stopping the IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy. This suggests that subcutaneous IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy may have suppressive effect on tuberculosis only during the IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy period in some patients. Further studies will be needed to determine the optimum dose, the administration route, the duration of therapy, and the predicting factors of the response to adjuvant IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.605-610
• /
• 1992

Improving intraoperative and postoperative myocardial protection and better construction and design of valvular prosthesis has reduced the mortality of MVR. But, ventricular rupture after MVR occurred occasionally and represented a potentially lethal complication. Transverse midventricular disruption presented as refractory myocardial failure immediately on termination of bypass or later often on initial period of good hemadynamics. From Jan., 1985 through Dec., 1991 131 MVRs were performed as isolated or combined procedures. Rupture of the posterior wall of left ventricle was observed in 2 patients. There were 2 type III ruptures Prevention is of utmost importance, and by taking certain precautions, the chance of ventricular rupture can be reduced. Repair should always be done by patch technique in the aid of the use of cardiopulmonary bypass with cardioplegic arrest. When the laceration is in the middle of the posterior left ventricle, external repair with the pericardial patch can be attempted first.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
• /
• v.1998 no.11
• /
• pp.119-120
• /
• 1998

In this study, the design of the single-chamber pacemaker tester is presented. It is important to test the functions of the pacemaker before it is implanted into the patient. A pacemaker tester, that is presented in this study, is able to examine pacemaker parameters such as sensing threshold and refractory period. We need to make artificial intracardiac electrogram in order to test the pacemaker parameters. We know from the previous practical examples that a triangle pulse is similar to the physiologic intracardiac electrogram. The tester generates the simplified electrograms and PC software examines the output pulses of the pacemaker which is VVIR mode in closed-loop simulation.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
• /
• v.1995 no.05
• /
• pp.82-86
• /
• 1995

Using electrocardiography is a common method to diagnose heart disease, Modeling and simulation of activation process for the heart system is useful to understand electrocardiography. This paper proposes a two-dimensional cellular automata model for the activation process of the ventricles. The model represents the geometry of the ventricles by the ellipsoidal shape in two dimension. In the model, ventricles are divided into four layers, each of which has a set of cells with preassigned properties. The proposed model takes Into account the local orientation of the myocardial fibers and their distributed velocity, and refractory period. Simulation experiment is performed to measure activation potential for each cell in each layer within the ventricles.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.755-759
• /
• 2014

We propose an integrate-and-fire neuron circuit and synaptic devices with the floating body MOSFETs. The synaptic devices consist of a floating body MOSFET to imitate biological synaptic characteristics. The synaptic learning is performed by hole accumulation. The synaptic device has short-term and long-term memory in a single silicon device. I&F neuron circuit emulate the biological neuron characteristics such as integration, threshold triggering, output generation, and refractory period, using floating body MOSFET. The neuron circuit sends feedback signal to the synaptic transistor for long-term memory.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.310-312
• /
• 2016

An 8-month-old, intact male Collie and a 4-year-old, intact male Siberian husky presented with severe wounds on the limbs. Although the wounds were not managed adequately before presentation, there were no remarkable findings except for secondary infections. The lesions were cleaned with a disinfectant and then treated with systemic antibiotics. Additionally, a hydrophilic moisture-absorbing polyurethane dressing was applied to the limbs because a conventional bandage with silver sulfadiazine ointment was not effective. Both cases showed significant improvement in the lesions over a short period of time. These cases show that a bioactive dressing works efficiently to heal refractory wounds in dogs.