• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.124-128
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• 2005

Objective: Congenital bilateral perisylvian syndrome(CBPS) has been defined as a characteristic malformative perisylvian polymicrogyria(PMG) in patients with clinical symptoms of pseudobulbar palsy and epileptic seizures. For the present study, we investigate clinicopathologic features of CBPS associated with timing of lesion formation. Methods: Clinicopathologic features of CBPS from 6 patients with surgical resection of the cerebral lesions due to medically intractable seizures were studied. Results: Seizure onset ranged from 1 to 10years (average 6.7years) of age, and average duration of seizure was 23years. All had complex partial seizures, and two patients had additional tonic clonic seizures. Magnetic resonance (MR) images showed polymicrogyria, atropic gyri with gliosis. In the histopathologic examination, the cortical lesions revealed features of ulegyria; atrophic and sclerotic gyri, laminar loss of neurons, extensive lobular gliosis throughout the gray and white matter, neuronoglial nodule formation, and many amyloid bodies. Unlayered or four-layered PMG was not identified. Conclusion: Above data suggest that CBPS might be caused by ulegyria resulting from developmental cortical defect during early fetal stage or acquired hypoxic/ischemic injury in prenatal or postnatal life.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.93-107
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• 2009

Objective: Membranous nephropathy (MN) is one of the most common causes of nephrotic syndrome in adults. However, there is not a satisfactory treatment for MN. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Houttuyniae Herba Extract (HHE) on MN induced by cationic bovine serum albumin (cBSA). Methods: Mice were divided into 4 groups. The first group, Normal, was injected with saline. The second group, Control, was treated with cBSA (10mg/kg i.p) only. The third group, HHE-250, was treated with cBSA (10mg/kg i.p) and HHE (250mg/kg, p.o). The fourth group, HHE-500, was treated with cBSA (10mg/kg i.p) and HHE (500mg/kg, p.o). After treatment for 4 weeks, we measured change of body weight, 24 hrs proteinuria, serum albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, BUN, creatinine, IgA, IgM, IgG, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-1${\beta}$ levels and the mRNA expression of IFN-${\gamma}$, IL-6, and IL-10. The morphologic changes of renal glomeruli were also observed with a light microscope and an electron microscope. Results: The levels of 24 hrs proteinuria and serum triglyceride, BUN, IgG, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-1${\beta}$ significantly decreased in both HHE groups, while the level of serum albumin significantly increased in both HHE groups. The mRNA expression of IFN-${\gamma}$ and IL-6 in splenocytes considerably increased in both HHE groups. The mRNA expression of IL-10 in splenocytes considerably decreased in both HHE groups. In histological findings of kidney tissue, thickening of GBM decreased in both HHE groups. Conclusions: This study shows that HHE might be effective for treatment of acute stage MN. More clinical data and studies are to be done for efficient application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 1998.07a
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• pp.12-18
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• 1998

Tremendous progress has been made over the past quarter-century studying the genetics of gametogenesis and the resulting gametes and embryos. Studies merging molecular techniques and conventional cytogenetics are now beginning to bridge the gap between what we have learned about the meiotic process in males and females and what we know of the mitotic chromosomes of zygotes. Numerical abnormalities in sperm, oocytes and embryo can now diagnosed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). "At risk" couples can, therefore, have only unaffected embryos replaced in the sterus and avoid the possibility of terminating a pregnancy that might only be diagnosed as affected later gestation. Single-cell genetic analysis has also provided powerful tools for studying genetic defects arising during early human development. Recent studies of sperms, oocytes and cleavage-stage human embryos have revealed an unexpectedly high incidence. These genetic abnormalities are likely to contribute to early pregnancy loss and have important implications for improving pregnancy rates in infertile couples by assisted reproduction. The widespread use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) awaits further documentatio of safety and accuracy. Other issues also must be addressed. First, the ethical issues regarding germ cell and embryo screening must be addressed including what diseases are serious enough to warrant the procedure. Another concern is the use of this technology for non-genetic disorders such as gender selection. Finally, the experimental nature of these procedure must continually be discussed with patients, and long-term follow-up studies must be undertaken. Development of more accurate and less expensive assays coupled with improved assisted reproductive technology success rates may make PGD a more widely use clinical tool. The future awaits these development.velopment.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.58 no.11
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• pp.454-458
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• 2015

Compartment syndrome is a rare but devastating condition that can result in permanent neuromuscular or soft tissue injuries. Extravasation injuries, among the iatrogenic causes of compartment syndrome, occur under a wide variety of circumstances in the inpatient setting. Total parenteral nutrition via a peripheral route is an effective alternative for the management of critically ill children who do not obtain adequate nutrition via the oral route. However, there is an inherent risk of extravasation, which can cause compartment syndrome, especially when detected at a later stage. Herein, we report a rare case of compartment syndrome and skin necrosis due to extravasation, requiring emergency fasciotomy and skin graft in a 7-month-old boy who was treated with peripheral parenteral nutrition via a pressurized infusion pump. Although we cannot estimate the exact time at which extravasation occurred, the extent and degree of the wound suggest that the ischemic insult was prolonged, lasting for several hours. Pediatric clinicians and medical teams should carefully examine the site of insertion of the intravenous catheter, especially in patients receiving parenteral nutrition via a peripheral intravenous catheter with a pressurized infusion pump.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.103-108
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• 2015

Discrimination of Parkinson's disease (PD) from Essential tremor (ET) is often misdiagnosed in clinical practice. Since tremor is time-varying signal, and dominant and harmonic frequencies are shown in tremor only with moderate or severe symptom, there are some limitations to use frequency related features. Moreover, patients with PD or ET can suffer from both resting tremor and postural tremor. In this study, 28 patients with PD and 17 patients with ET were enrolled. Tremor was measured with accelerations on the more affected hand during resting and postural conditions. The ratio of root mean square (RMS) of resting tremor to RMS of postural tremor, the mean coefficients of autocorrelation function (ACF), and the mean of differences of two adjacent coefficients of ACF at resting and postural were calculated and compared between PD and ET. The performance showed 98% accuracy with support vector machine and leave-one-out cross validation. In addition, the method accurately differentiated the patients with tremor-dominant PD from patients with ET, with 100% accuracy. Therefore, the developed algorithm can assist clinicians in diagnosing and categorizing patients with tremor, especially, patients with mild symptom or the early stage of a disease, for proper treatment.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.195-202
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• 2020

Needle detection in ultrasound images is sometimes difficult due to obstruction of fat tissues. Accurate needle detection using continuous ultrasound (CUS) images is a vital stage of treatment planning for tissue biopsy and brachytherapy. The main goal of the study is classified into two categories. First, new detection model, i.e. D-Attention Unet, is developed by combining the context information of 3D medical data and CUS images. Second, the D-Attention Unet model was compared with other models to verify its usefulness for needle detection in continuous ultrasound images. The continuous needle images taken with ultrasonic waves were converted into still images for dataset to evaluate the performance of the D-Attention Unet. The dataset was used for training and testing. Based on the results, the proposed D-Attention Unet model showed the better performance than other 3 models (Unet, D-Unet and Attention Unet), with Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC), Recall and Precision at 71.9%, 70.6% and 73.7%, respectively. In conclusion, the D-Attention Unet model provides accurate needle detection for US-guided biopsy or brachytherapy, facilitating the clinical workflow. Especially, this kind of research is enthusiastically being performed on how to add image processing techniques to learning techniques. Thus, the proposed method is applied in this manner, it will be more effective technique than before.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2013

Background The aim of this investigation was to systematically review the current literature to provide the best data for indications, outcomes, survival, and complication rates of pedicled propeller perforator flaps for upper body defects. Methods A comprehensive literature review for articles published from January 1991 to December 2011 was performed using the PubMed, Medline, and Cochrane Databases. Articles without available full-text, single case reports or papers with excessive missing data were excluded. Papers reporting pedicle-perforator (propeller) flaps used for lower extremity reconstruction were excluded from meta-analysis. Results From the initial 1,736 studies our search yielded, 343 studies qualified for the second stage of selection. Of 117 full-text reports screened, 41 studies, met the definitive inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of the selected 41 articles, 26 were case series, original papers or retrospective reviews and were included, whereas 15 were case report papers and therefore were excluded. Two hundred ninety-five propeller flaps were reported to have been used in a total of 283 patients. Indications include repair of trauma-induced injuries, post-trauma revision surgery, cancer resection, chronic infection, pressure sores, and chronic ulcers with a major complication rate (3.3%) comparable to that of free flaps. No specific exclusion criteria for the procedure were presented in the studies reviewed. Conclusions Pedicled propeller flaps are a versatile and safe reconstructive option that are easy and quick to raise and that provide unlimited clinical solutions because of the theoretical possibility of harvesting them based on any perforator chosen among those classified in the body.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.183-194
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• 2007

The problem of calculating the sample sizes for comparing two independent binomial proportions is studied, when one of two probabilities or both are smaller than 0.05. The use of Whittemore(1981)'s corrected sample size formula for small response probability, which is derived based oB multiple logistic regression, demonstrates much larger sample sizes compared to those by the asymptotic normal method, which is derived for the comparison of response probabilities belonging to the normal range. Therefore, applied statisticians need to be careful in sample size determination with small response probability to ensure intended power during a planning stage of clinical trials. The results of this study describe that the use of the sample size formula in the textbooks might sometimes be risky.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.379-383
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• 2015

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar mainly affects children in endemic areas. This study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of VL using direct agglutination test (DAT) in children living in rural districts of Alborz Province located 30 km from Tehran capital city of Iran. Multi-stage cluster random sampling was applied. Blood samples were randomly collected from 1,007 children under 10 years of age in the clusters. A total of 37 (3.7%) of the studied population showed anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies with titers of ${\geq}1:800$. There was a significant association between positive sera and various parts of the rural areas of Alborz Province (P<0.002). Two children with anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies titers of ${\geq}1:3,200$ indicated kala-azar clinical features and treated with anti-leishmaniasis drugs in pediatric hospital. The findings of this study indicated that Leishmania infection is prevalent in rural areas of Alborz Province. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the awareness and alertness among physicians and public health managers, particularly in high-risk rural areas of the province in Iran.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2005

Objectives : To develop a tool for multidimensional measurement of the quality of life, which was psychometrically sound, short, and easy to administer for patients with hypertension. Methods : A sample of 1,115 hypertensive patients aged 20 or above in Cheong-Song County was studied from June 1997 to October 1998. In the development of the instrumental stage, the authors first conceptualized the quality of life. Item generation, item reduction, and questionnaire formatting were followed. Item-level (item descriptive, missing%, item internal consistency, item discriminant validity) analysis, scale-level (scale descriptive, floor and ceiling effect) analysis, and other tests(Cronbach's alpha, inter-dimension correlations, factor analysis, clinical validity) were performed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the new measurement scale. After 1 year, responsiveness and confirmatory factor analysis were performed. Results : The results of both item-level and scale-level analyses were acceptable. An acceptable degree of internal consistency was observed for each of the dimensions (Cronbach's alpha was 0.60 or higher). Inter-dimension correlations were below 0.50 and the factor analysis result was the same as the intended dimension structure. Correlation coefficients between perceived health status, stress and dimensions were proven to be acceptable. The result of comparing dimensional score means among ADL and MMSE-K groups above 60 years was statistically significant(p<0.05). The result of confirmatory factor analysis concluded that the dimensional structure model was well fitted. However, the result of responsiveness test using sensitivity and specificity was unsatisfactory. Conclusions : The newly developed measurement scale is psychometrically reliable and valid instrument for measuring quality of life in hypertensive patients.