• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.436-437
• /
• 2000

A 63-year-old male who had subtotal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer three months ago underwent Tc-99m bone scintigraphy for the evaluation of skeletal metastases. He had no symptoms such as fever, tenderness, or wound discharge. On physical examination, the surgical scat along the midline of the upper abdomen had keloid formation and there was no radiographic evidence of calcification. Bone scintigraphy (Fig. 1A & 1B) demonstrated all unusual linear increased uptake along the midline of the upper abdomen that corresponded to the,skin incision for subtotal gastrectomy. Usually, an incisional scar will not be visualized in Tc-99m methylene diphosphate (MDP) scintigraphy beyond two weeks after surgery.$^{1)}$ Upon reviewing the literature, there were only a few reports where localization of Tc-99m MDP in surgical scars were found two months after surgery.$^{2)}$ It was also reported that a few cases with Tc-99m MDP uptake in the keloid scar developed after surgery. Although there are several potential mechanisms that may explain the uptake of Tc-99m MDP in scar tissue, the primary mechanism in older scars is suggested to be a result of pathological calcification.$^{2)}$ Siddiqui et al$^{3)}$ suggested it could be due to microscopic calcification in small resolving hematomas. However, the primary mechanism in keloid scar is not well-known. We should obtain oblique or lateral views to differentiate the uptake in healing surgical scars from the artifactual uptake.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.158-163
• /
• 2013

While job stress evaluations are reported in the recent surveys upon the nuclear power plants(NPPs), any significant advance in the types of questionnaires is not currently found. There are limitations to their usefulness as analytic tools for the management of safety resources in NPPs. Data mining(DM) has emerged as one of the key features for data computing and analysis to conduct a survey analysis. There are still limitations to its capability such as dimensionality associated with many survey questions and quality of information. Even though some survey methods may have significant advantages, often these methods do not provide enough evidence of causal relationships and the statistical inferences among a large number of input factors and responses. In order to address these limitations on the data computing and analysis capabilities, we propose an advanced procedure of survey analysis incorporating the DM method into a statistical analysis. The DM method can reduce dimensionality of risk factors, but DM method may not discuss the robustness of solutions, either by considering data preprocesses for outliers and missing values, or by considering uncontrollable noise factors. We propose three steps to address these limitations. The first step shows data mining with response surface method(RSM), to deal with specific situations by creating a new method called response surface data mining(RSDM). The second step follows the RSDM with detailed statistical relationships between the risk factors and the response of interest, and shows the demonstration the proposed RSDM can effectively find significant physical, psycho-social, and environmental risk factors by reducing the dimensionality with the process providing detailed statistical inferences. The final step suggest a robust stress management system which effectively manage job stress of the workers in NPPs as a part of a safety resource management using the surrogate variable concept.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.76-85
• /
• 2015

Objectives: Radix Ginseng has been traditionally used as an adaptogen that acts on the adrenal cortex and stimulates or relaxes the nervous system to restore emotional and physical balance and to improve well-being in cases of degenerative disease and/or old age. Radix Ginseng has been used for a long time, but the safety of ginseng pharmacopuncture needs testing. This study was done to analyze the single-dose toxicity of water- soluble ginseng pharmacopuncture (GP) intramuscular injections in rats. Methods: All experiments were performed at Biotoxtech, an institution authorized to perform non clinical studies under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). Each group contained 10 Sprague-Dawley rats, 5 males and 5 females. GP was prepared in a sterile room at the Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute under regulations of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). GP dosages were 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mL for the experimental groups; normal saline was administered to the control group. The animals general condition was examined daily for 14 days, and the rats were weighed on the starting day and at 3, 7 and 14 days after administration of the pharmacopuncture. Hematological and biochemistry tests and autopsies were done to test the toxicological effect of GP after 14 days. This study was performed with approval from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of Biotextech. Results: No deaths were found in this single-dose toxicity test of intramuscular injections of GP, and no significant changes in the general conditions, body weights, hematological and biochemistry tests, and autopsies were observed. The local injection site showed no changes. Based on these results, the lethal dose was assumed to be over 1.0 mL/animal in both sexes. Conclusion: These results suggest that GP is relatively safe. Further studies, including a repeated toxicity test, are needed to provide more concrete evidence for the safety of GP.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.179-186
• /
• 2004

Acute spinal cord injury can produce neurologic injury with many physical, psychological and social ramifications. It has been shown that two separate components combine to produce neurologic damage in acute spinal cord injury : the primary and secondary injuries. The primary mediators of spinal cord injury include the actual mechanical tissue disruption which is a passive process that occurs immediately following the trauma. A secondary injury cascade follows which appears mediated by cellular and molecular processes working through complex mechanisms. Both the primary and secondary injury cascades produce cell death both in neuronal and supporting cell tissues. Recovery from central nervous system(CNS) disorders is hindered by the limited ability of the vertebrate CNS to regenerate injured cells, replace damaged myelin sheath, and re-establish functional neuronal connections. Of many CNS disorders including multiple sclerosis, stroke, and other trauma, spinal cord injury is one of the important diseases because of the direct association with the functional loss of the body. Previous studies suggest that substantial recovery of function might be achieved through regeneration of lost neuronal cells and remyelination of intact axon in spinal cord injury which is occurred frequently. As a therapeutic approach in spinal cord injury, recently, cell transplantation provides a potential solution for the treatment of spinal cord injury. This review describes the characteristics of spinal cord injury and presents some evidence supporting functional recovery after cell transplantation following spinal cord injury.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.498-500
• /
• 2011

Purpose: Neurilemoma is benign tumor of the nerve sheath which arises from Schwann cells. It is usually formed along the path of a peripheral nerve but is rarely separate from normal nerve fascicles. We experienced a patient with an isolated neurilemoma localized in the palmaris longus tendon with no connection to the major nerve trunk, which was in an unusual location and has never been reported. We report our case with the review of the literature. Methods: A 23-year-old female visited our clinic with mild pain on the mass at the flexor area of the right wrist which had been present for about one year. The physical examination revealed a $1{\times}1cm$ sized subcutaneous mass at the flexor area of the right wrist. Sonography and computed tomography showed an ovoid, superficial solid mass on the palmaris longus tendon. Upon surgical excision, a $1{\times}0.5cm$ sized mass attached to the palmaris longus tendon was found. The tumor had no connection with the median nerve and was detached easily from the palmaris longus tendon. Results: Histological examination demonstrated the mass to be a neurilemoma, which consists of spindle shaped cells with oval elongated nuclei arranged fascicles. No sensory dysfunction or evidence of recurrence was found during the 12 months of postoperative follow-up. Conclusion: We experienced a rare case of neurilemoma attached to the palmaris longus tendon with no connection to the major nerve trunk. We wish to emphasize its unusual location through our case and hope to expand our spectrum in exploring the upper extremity mass.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.244-246
• /
• 2007

Clinical and histopathologic features of idopathic polymyositis in twenty-month-old Alaskan malamute dog are described. The clinical signs were progressive exercise intolerance with acute exacerbation of weakness, muscle atrophy, synchronous pelvic limb gait, short stiff steps and tip-toeing as like walking on eggshells. Physical and clinical examination revealed no evidence of neurologic, skeletal and secondary muscular disorders associated with other diseases. Therefore muscle biopsy was performed at the most severe muscle atrophy lesions to confirm by histopathology. Histopathologic findings documented mononuclear cell infiltration and necrosis of muscle fiber and it was diagnosed as idiopathic polymyositis. Initial treatment was focused on pain relief. Prednisone at immunosuppressive dose (2 mg/kg) was administered orally twice daily. After 3 weeks of starting treatment, the patient showed improvement of gait, appetite, exercise as well as gradually return to normal state of hematologic and serum chemistry profiles.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.131-134
• /
• 2016

A 4-year-old intact female Maltese was referred to the Animal Medical Center of Chonbuk National University with a history of consistent fecal incontinence over 4 months following sacculectomy surgery. We suspected that anal sacculectomy resulted in loss of the external anal sphincter. On physical examination, the external anal sphincter muscle on the left side was intact, while the external anal sphincter muscle on the right side could not be detected and exhibited severe laceration. To repair the defect, the left semitendinosus muscle was transposed around the anus. The left semitendinosus muscle was isolated and transected near the stifle, reflected dorsally and passed around the ventral rectum into the pararectal fossa. Care was taken to preserve the integrity of the vasculature and nerve supply. The muscle was secured dorsally with simple interrupted sutures to the levator ani and coccygeus muscles to simulate the external anal sphincter. Nine days after surgery, the dog was defecating normally with no evidence of incontinence. The use of semitendinosus muscle flaps is a good option for the treatment of fecal incontinence secondary to loss of sphincter muscle in dogs.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.257-263
• /
• 2014

A mammalian cell renovates itself by autophagy, a process through which cellular components are recycled to produce energy and maintain homeostasis. Recently, the abundance of gap junction proteins was shown to be regulated by autophagy during starvation conditions, suggesting that transmembrane proteins are also regulated by autophagy. Transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1), an ion channel localized to the plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum (ER), is a sensory transducer that is activated by a wide variety of exogenous and endogenous physical and chemical stimuli. Intriguingly, the abundance of cellular TRPV1 can change dynamically under pathological conditions. However, the mechanisms by which the protein levels of TRPV1 are regulated have not yet been explored. Therefore, we investigated the mechanisms of TRPV1 recycling using HeLa cells constitutively expressing TRPV1. Endogenous TRPV1 was degraded in starvation conditions; this degradation was blocked by chloroquine (CLQ), 3MA, or downregulation of Atg7. Interestingly, a glucocorticoid (cortisol) was capable of inducing autophagy in HeLa cells. Cortisol increased cellular conversion of LC3-I to LC-3II, leading autophagy and resulting in TRPV1 degradation, which was similarly inhibited by treatment with CLQ, 3MA, or downregulation of Atg7. Furthermore, cortisol treatment induced the colocalization of GFP-LC3 with endogenous TRPV1. Cumulatively, these observations provide evidence that degradation of TRPV1 is mediated by autophagy, and that this pathway can be enhanced by cortisol.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.251-264
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the factors related to quality of life in heart transplant recipients. Methods: To identify studies that suggested the factors related to the quality of life in heart transplant recipients, we searched the articles published from 1974 to November 2018 using Six databases, PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane, KMBASE and RISS. A total of 22 studies were selected out of 5,234 for the systematic review and meta-analysis on the basis of the PRISMA flow. The quality of study was assessed by assessment tool form the NIH and meta-analysis was performed using the 'R 3.5.2' version to analyze the correlated effect sizes. Results: Factors related to quality of life in heart transplant recipients were categorized into six domains based on the health-related quality of life model introduced by Ferrans: individual, environmental, biological function, symptoms, functional status, and general health perception. In the meta-analysis, 34 factors were used and 17 factors having significant effect sizes were as follows: self-efficacy, demoralization, perceived control, current occupational status, age, marital status, health promotion life style in the individual characteristics; stress in environmental characteristics; physical function status, creatinine level, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in biological function; anxiety, depression, symptom frequency and distress in symptoms domain; coping, self-care compliance in functional status. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the multi-dimensional factors influencing the quality of life in heart transplant recipients and provide the evidence for developing effective interventions for improving the quality of life of recipients.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.213-228
• /
• 2007

Purpose: This master‘s thesis to evaluate the grade of life after medication a Dangguijakyak-san(pasabu) and Gyejibongnyeong-hwan(cheongwal) with in postmenopausal women get lowering quality of life caused by vasomotor symptoms with hot flush. Methods: A subject who signing on the clinical trial written consent by self-will is registered this clinical trial after decided suitable by selection and exception standard, after take a medical experiment and checkup according to clinical trial plan. Registered subject should valuated by settled schedule after take the testing medicine 1,2 during thirty-day. In this period, a subject allocated at relatively better suited experimental group by oriental doctor after consideration of general efficacy and nature of a medicine at second visiting. Results: The result of comparison in the remedial value with sixteen patients who ended the experiment is like next list. 1. There's no regarded difference of comparison in general conditions between two patient groups. 2. There's no regarded difference during observation period before take medicine. 3. By period of measurement, there's something regarded differences most of patients of two parts after taking medicine. 4. There's no regarded difference at alteration phase of each standard according to kind of medicine. 5. There's no abnormal views reflected at allergy, Laboratory and Physical Examination during experiment. Conclusion: This experiment evidence a Dangguijakyak-san and Gyejibongnyeong-hwan can help for improvement generally life quality of postmenopausal women and certify safety of herbs.