• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.156-159
• /
• 2001

Miller Fisher syndrome(MFS) has been the focus of conflicting opinions regarding the peripheral versus the central nature of the site of major neural injury. We present our electrophysiological findings in one case of MFS to help clarify the pattern of peripheral nerve injury in this syndrome. A 45-year-old man visited our hospital due to sudden diplopia. Initial examination revealed internuclear opthalmoplegia. The next day, his symptoms rapidly aggravated to complete external ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and areflexia with hand and foot numbness. Serial electrophysiological studies were performed. The results of brainstem evoked potential(BAEP) and blink reflex were normal in the serial studies. Motor and sensory nerve conduction study(NCS) were normal findings in second hospital day, but ulnar sensory nerve shows no sensory nerve action potential(SNAP) and sural sensory conduction velocity was delayed in 7th hospital day. Our patient's clinical presentation began to improve on 15th hospital day, and his electrophysiologic study showed improvement on 29th hospital day. We believe that all the manifestations of MFS can be explained by the involvement of peripheral nerves without brainstem or cerebellar lesion with the serial electrophysiological studies.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.440-443
• /
• 2022

Spinal accessory nerve (SAN) palsy is typically a result of posterior triangle surgery and can present with partial or complete paralysis of the trapezius muscle and severe shoulder dysfunction. We share an atypical case of a patient who presented with SAN palsy following an injury sustained playing competitive volleyball. A 19-year-old right hand dominant competitive volleyball player presented with right shoulder weakness, dyskinesia, and pain. She injured the right shoulder during a volleyball game 2 years prior when diving routinely for a ball. On physical examination she had weakness of shoulder shrug and a pronounced shift of the scapula when abducting or forward flexing her shoulder greater than 90 degrees. Manual stabilization of the scapula eliminated this shift, so we performed scapulopexy to stabilize the inferior angle of the scapula. At 6 months postoperative, she had full active range of motion of the shoulder. SAN palsy can occur following what would seem to be a routine volleyball maneuver. This could be due to a combination of muscle hypertrophy from intensive volleyball training and stretch sustained while diving for a ball. Despite delayed presentation and complete atrophy of the trapezius, a satisfactory outcome was achieved with scapulopexy.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.373-377
• /
• 2022

Hypercoagulability is the most common coagulopathy seen in dogs with neoplasia, whereas a hypocoagulable state is relatively rare. A 16-year-old spayed female miniature Schnauzer presented with bilateral epistaxis, bilateral hindlimb swelling, and lameness. Previously, the dog was diagnosed with intermediate grade solid carcinoma after mastectomy, and then showed generalized ecchymoses on the abdomen and bilateral hindlimbs on presentation. Laboratory tests revealed a hypocoagulable state, including thrombocytopenia, hypofibrinogenemia, and delayed prothrombin and activated partial thromboplastin time. Thromboelastography demonstrated a prolonged K time with a decreased alpha angle and low maximal amplitude, reflecting a decrease in clot strength. The hypocoagulable state of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy was speculated based on the presence of an underlying tumor, clinical symptoms, and laboratory results of the hypocoagulable state. This case shows the incidence of hemostatic dysfunction as a paraneoplastic syndrome in a dog with mammary gland carcinoma.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.557-561
• /
• 2019

Most low-energy pelvic ring fractures in elderly patients are treated conservatively so that an initial evaluation for complications such as vascular injury is usually overlooked. An 81-year-old female, who was taking regular aspirin, visited the emergency room and was diagnosed with a simple non-displaced pubic ramus fracture from a low-energy fall from standing, which was complicated by massive hemorrhage from the overlooked injury of the corona mortis. Elderly patients with pelvic ring fractures can have a delayed presentation of vascular injuries, regardless of the degree of displacement of the fractures, which highlights the need for a careful physical examination and close monitoring.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.57 no.3
• /
• pp.140-148
• /
• 2014

Purpose: Lowe syndrome is a rare, X-linked recessive disorder caused by mutations in the OCRL gene. It involves multiple anatomic systems, particularly the eyes, central nervous system, and kidneys, and leads to profound growth failure and global developmental delay. This study evaluated the clinical and genetic characteristics of Korean patients with Lowe syndrome. Methods: The clinical findings and results of genetic studies were reviewed for 12 male patients diagnosed with Lowe syndrome at a single medical institution. Results: The mean age of the patients at presentation was 2.2 months (range, 0-4 months), although the diagnosis was delayed by a mean of 2.8 years (range, 0-9.7 years). The mean follow-up period was 9.0 years (range, 0.6-16.7 years). Nine mutations in OCRL were identified in 11 patients (92%), with three novel mutations. The main presentation was congenital cataract in both eyes necessitating early cataract removal in the 11 patients with impaired visual acuity. Profound short stature and developmental delay were observed in all patients, and seizures occurred in 50% of the patients. All patients suffered from proximal renal tubular dysfunction, and one patient developed chronic renal failure. Other manifestations included pathologic fracture (50%), cutaneous cysts (42%), and cryptorchidism (42%). However, there was no bleeding tendency, and none of the patients died during the study period. Conclusion: This study describes the clinical and genetic characteristics of Korean patients with Lowe syndrome. The observations are helpful for understanding the natural courses of Lowe syndrome and for appropriate genetic counseling.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.273-282
• /
• 1998

The purpose of this study is to compare the effect of concept formation between conflicted case and non-conflicted case as a method of learning science concepts. This study consists of 8 classes in 5th and 6th grade of elementary school children's in Kyoung-Buk, which were divided into conflicted group and non-conflicted group. The research procedure is as follows : first, two groups were asked the introducing problems-one was asked the conflicting problem, the other was asked the non-conflicting problems. Futhermore, the incorrect-answered students of conflicting problems were classified into conflict group am the correct-answered students of non-conflicting problems were classified into non-conflict group. Secondly, the demonstration and picture presentation about the introducing problems were carried out. Thirdly, the researcher introduced scientific concepts to the students. Afterwards, posttests, made up of the same items, were presented to the students-three times-posttest, delayed posttest(one week), second delayed posttest(one month). Finally, the degree of concept formation between the two groups was compared and analyzed by these results.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.3593-3601
• /
• 2013

Background: For a number of reasons from cultural compatibility, to accessibility, to cost, traditional healers are a major source of health care in developing countries. In Malaysia, it's been estimated that upwards of 80% of the population consult traditional healers even if simultaneously seeking treatment from the Western medical system. Partially as a result of the widespread practice of visiting traditional healers, cancer diagnosis and treatment in Malaysia is often delayed or interrupted resulting in late presentation, advanced stage diagnosis, and a higher mortality rate than in Western countries. However, there is very little research on the role of traditional healers in cancer treatment in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study was designed to identify the roles traditional healers play in cancer diagnosis and treatment, with an eye to alleviating the cancer burden through educational responses with four publics in mind-policy makers, Western medical personnel, traditional healers, and the general public. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 Malay traditional healers, 13 cancer survivors who had seen both traditional healers and Western doctors, and 12 cancer medical specialists. Results: Analysis of the data from these 39 participants revealed four roles traditional healers play in cancer treatment-medicinal healer, emotional comforter, spiritual guide, and palliative caregiver. Conclusions: Three roles (emotional, spiritual, palliative) can be seen as complementary to the allopathic system. Emotional and spiritual roles may augment the effectiveness of biomedical treatment. Cancer awareness and education programs need to position traditional healers as complementary, rather than an alternative to Western medical treatment; Validating the roles Traditional Healers can play in cancer treatment in MY through health promotion and education will contribute to alleviating the nation's cancer burden.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.43 no.6
• /
• pp.512-517
• /
• 2016

Background Studies of the ear-molding technique have emphasized the importance of initiating molding early to achieve the best results. In the present study, we describe the immediate effects and long-term outcomes of this technique, focusing on children who were older than the ideal age of treatment initiation. Methods Patients who visited our institution from July 2014 to November 2015 were included. Medical charts were reviewed to collect data on demographics, the duration of treatment, the types of deformities, and the manner of recognition of the deformity and referral to our institution. Parents were surveyed to assess the degree of improvement, the level of procedural discomfort at the end of treatment, any changes in the shape of the molded auricle, and overall satisfaction 12 months after their last follow-up visits. Results A review of 28 ears in 18 patients was conducted, including the following types of deformities: constricted ear (64.2%), Stahl ear (21.4%), prominent ear (7.1%), and cryptotia (7.1%). The average score for the degree of improvement, rated on a 5-point scale (1, very poor; 5, excellent), was 3.5 at the end of treatment, with a score of 2.6 for procedural discomfort (1, very mild; 5, very severe). After 12 months, the shapes of all ears were well maintained. The average overall satisfaction score was 3.6 (1, very dissatisfied; 5, very satisfied). Conclusions We had reasonable outcomes in older patients. After 1 year of follow-up, these outcomes were well maintained. Patients past the ideal age at presentation can still be candidates for the molding technique.

• Proceedings of the Korea Inteligent Information System Society Conference
• /
• 2001.01a
• /
• pp.59-64
• /
• 2001

The robot soccer simulation game is a dynamic multi-agent environment. In this paper we suggest a new reinforcement learning approach to each agent's dynamic positioning in such dynamic environment. Reinforcement learning is the machine learning in which an agent learns from indirect, delayed reward an optimal policy to chose sequences of actions that produce the greatest cumulative reward. Therefore the reinforcement learning is different from supervised learning in the sense that there is no presentation of input pairs as training examples. Furthermore, model-free reinforcement learning algorithms like Q-learning do not require defining or learning any models of the surrounding environment. Nevertheless it can learn the optimal policy if the agent can visit every state- action pair infinitely. However, the biggest problem of monolithic reinforcement learning is that its straightforward applications do not successfully scale up to more complex environments due to the intractable large space of states. In order to address this problem. we suggest Adaptive Mediation-based Modular Q-Learning (AMMQL)as an improvement of the existing Modular Q-Learning (MQL). While simple modular Q-learning combines the results from each learning module in a fixed way, AMMQL combines them in a more flexible way by assigning different weight to each module according to its contribution to rewards. Therefore in addition to resolving the problem of large state effectively, AMMQL can show higher adaptability to environmental changes than pure MQL. This paper introduces the concept of AMMQL and presents details of its application into dynamic positioning of robot soccer agents.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.120-124
• /
• 1998

The incidence of Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) in premature infants is rare, the presentation is not typical, and the diagnosis delayed due to uncertain diagnostic criteria in abdominal ultrasonography (US). We report two premature infants with HPS diagnosed by US and upper gastrointestinal (UGI) contrast study. Patient 1. A premature female infant (birth weight 1950 gm at 34 week's gestation) with the onset of intermittent vomiting at 9 days of age was evaluated. US was normal at 13 days of life, however, abnormal at 41 days of life (pyloric muscle length 16.5 mm). Patient 2. A premature male infant (birth weight 1470 gm at 29 week's gestation) with the onset of intermittent vomiting at 10 days of age was evaluated. US showed pylorospasm at 11 days of life, however, findings compatible with HPS at 57 days of life (pyloric muscle thickness 11 mm). UGI contrast study at 48 days of life showed similar findings in both cases. Both patients had undergone pyloromyotomy. In conclusion, the diagnosis of HPS in premature infants requires careful follow-up by US and UGI contrast study.