Is MRI a reliable tool to locate the electrode after deep brain stimulation surgery? Comparison study of CT and MRI for the localization of electrodes after DBS.

Purpose: MRI has been utilized to localize the electrode after deep brain stimulation, but its accuracy has been questioned due to image distortion. Under the hypothesis that MRI is not adequate for evaluation of electrode position after deep brain stimulation, this study is aimed at validating the accuracy of MRI in electrode localization in comparison with CT scan.

Methods: Sixty one patients who had undergone STN DBS were enrolled for the analysis.

Blind subacromial injection from the anterolateral approach: the ballooning sign.

Purpose: Our aim was to verify the association of fullness over the skin distal to anterior acromion termed "ballooning" in relation to accuracy of subacromial injection and determine its accuracy in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value. We hypothesized that a positive ballooning was a sign of an accurately placed injection into the subacromial bursa.

Methods: Data of 136 shoulders with impingement, which received subacromial steroid injections, were evaluated for presence of ballooning signs, pain, motion, and muscle strength.

Putaminal abnormality on 3-T magnetic resonance imaging in early parkinsonism-predominant multiple system atrophy.

To evaluate the diagnostic value of putaminal abnormality on 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for differentiating early parkinsonism-predominant multiple system atrophy (MSA-p) from Parkinson disease (PD) based on long-term clinical follow-up data. Totals of 23 clinical MSA-p (6 possible and 17 suspicious) and 50 PD patients were included. Subjects submitted to 3-T MRI at baseline and were followed up to substantiate the initial diagnosis.

Bilateral subthalamic deep brain stimulation in Parkinson disease patients with severe tremor.

Background: Previous studies have shown that subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) improves tremor in Parkinson disease (PD). However, the patients included in those studies were unselected for tremor severity.

Objective: We specifically assessed the effect of STN DBS on tremor in selected PD patients with severe tremor.

Structural flexibility and the positive charges are the key factors in bacterial cell selectivity and membrane penetration of peptoid-substituted analog of Piscidin 1.

Piscidin 1 (Pis-1) is a novel cytotoxic peptide with a cationic alpha-helical structure isolated from the mast cells of hybrid striped bass. In our previous study, we showed that Pis-1[PG] with a substitution of Pro(8) for Gly(8) in Pis-1 had higher bacterial cell selectivity than Pis-1. We designed peptoid residue-substituted peptide, Pis-1[NkG], in which Gly(8) of Pis-1 was replaced with Nlys (Lys peptoid residue).

Cytotoxic flavonoids as agonists of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma on human cervical and prostate cancer cells.

We conducted in silico screening for human peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (hPPARgamma) by performing an automated docking study with 450 flavonoids. Among the eight flavonoids as possible agonists of hPPARgamma, only 3,6-dihydroxyflavone (4) increased the binding between PPARgamma and steroid receptor coactivator-1 (SRC-1), approximately 5-fold, and showed one order higher binding affinity for PPARgamma than a reference compound, indomethacin. The 6-hydroxy group of the A-ring of 3,6-dihydroxyflavone (4) participated in hydrogen-bonding interactions with the side chain of Tyr327, His449, and Tyr473.

Discovery of novel human phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (hPNMT) inhibitors using 3D pharmacophore-based in silico, biophysical screening and enzymatic activity assays.

With the aid of receptor-oriented pharmacophore-based in silico screening, we established three pharmacophore maps explaining the binding model of hPNMT and a known inhibitor, SK&F 29661 (Martin et al., 2001). The compound library was searched using these maps.

Cystic embryonal sarcoma of the kidney: report of a case with US and CT findings.

Here we report a case in a 41-year-old woman histologically proven cystic embryonal sarcoma of the kidney, with emphasis on the imaging findings and pathological features. A large lobulated solid mass in the cystically dilated pelvocalyceal region was accompanied with hydroureter as depicted on both ultrasound and contrast-enhanced CT images.

The wide clinical spectrum and nigrostriatal dopaminergic damage in spinocerebellar ataxia type 6.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) manifests a wide spectrum of non-cerebellar system involvements. The objective of this study was to examine the presence of nigrostriatal dopaminergic system derangement in SCA6. Eight patients with SCA6 who underwent a regular follow-up for at least 2 years participated in this study.

Lobular capillary hemangioma in the soft tissue of the finger: sonographic findings.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the sonographic findings of pathologically confirmed subcutaneous lobular capillary hemangioma of the finger in six patients.

Materials And Methods: The clinical records were reviewed for data, including the patients' age and gender, the clinical presentation, a history of trauma, and the tumor site. The sonographic findings were retrospectively analyzed for the specific location within the superficial tissue, the tumor's size, shape, and margin, the internal echogenicity, the internal echo texture, the presence of calcification, the presence of a hypoechoic rim, and the internal vascularity.

The quantitative analysis of back muscle degeneration after posterior lumbar fusion: comparison of minimally invasive and conventional open surgery.

Study Design: Prospective controlled study.

Purpose: The results of conventional open surgery was compared with those from minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MI-TLIF) for lumbar fusion to determine which approach resulted in less postoperative paraspinal muscle degeneration.

Overview Of Literature: MI TLIF is new surgical technique that appears to minimize iatrogenic injury.

Association between the dose of dopaminergic medication and the behavioral disturbances in Parkinson disease.

Objectives: To survey the point prevalence of impulse control and repetitive behavior disorders (ICRBs) in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and to determine the relationship between PD medication dose and the risk of ICRBs.

Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional survey was applied to consecutive patients with PD over a 3-month period. The presence of ICRBs was screened using a modified version of the Minnesota Impulsive Disorders Interview that comprised five ICRB modules: compulsive buying, gambling, sexual behavior, eating, and punding.

Three-dimensional osseous micro-architecture of the distal humerus: implications for internal fixation of osteoporotic fracture.

Background: The purpose of this study is to analyze 3-dimensional structural parameters of cortical and trabecular bone in the distal humerus using quantitative CT and to find regional variations and differences according to age.

Methods: We collected 14 cadaveric distal humeri with an average age of 58.4 years.

A novel splicing mutation (c.870+3A>G) in SPG4 in a Korean family with hereditary spastic paraplegia.

Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a group of genetically heterogenous neurodegenerative disorders characterized by progressive spasticity and weakness of both lower extremities. Herein, we report a novel splicing mutation (c.870+3A>G) in SPG4 in a Korean family with an autosomal dominant-inherited pure HSP.

Reprogramming guided by the fused images of MRI and CT in subthalamic nucleus stimulation in Parkinson disease.

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of the visual information about the location of the contacts in deep brain stimulation (DBS) programming, we compared the outcomes of subthalamic nucleus (STN) stimulation before and after reprogramming guided by the fused images of MRI and CT.

Methods: Of the 65 patients with Parkinson's disease, who underwent bilateral STN-DBS surgery between March 2005 and September 2006 and had been managed for at least 6 months with conventional programming which was only based on the physiological responses from the patients, 54 patients were reprogrammed based on the 3D anatomical location of the contacts revealed by the fused images of pre-operative MRI and post-operative CT scans taken at 6 months after surgery. A total 51 patients completed the evaluation after reprogramming.

The LRRK2 G2385R variant is a risk factor for sporadic Parkinson's disease in the Korean population.

The G2385R (SNP accession no. rs34778348) and R1628P (rs33949390) variants of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2, PARK8) are emerging as an important risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD) in the ethnic Chinese and Japanese populations. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether these variants are a genetic risk factor in sporadic PD patients in the Korean population.

Cortico-muscular coherence increases with tremor improvement after deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease.

Deep brain stimulation on the subthalamic nucleus has been used to relieve Parkinsonian motor symptoms. However, the underlying physiological mechanism has not been fully understood. Beta-band cortico-muscular coherence increases when healthy humans perform isometric contraction.

Design of potent 9-mer antimicrobial peptide analogs of protaetiamycine and investigation of mechanism of antimicrobial action.

Protaetiamycine is an insect defensin, a naturally occurring 43-amino-acid-residue antimicrobial peptide derived from the larvae of the beetle Protaetia brevitarsis. In a previous work that aimed at developing short antibiotic peptides, we designed 9-mer peptide analogs of protaetiamycine. Among them, RLWLAIGRG-NH2 showed good antifungal activity against Candida albicans.

Antimicrobial natural products as beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III inhibitors.

Beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III (KAS III) initiates bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis, making it one of the most promising condensing enzymes. In a previous study, we developed three pharmacophore maps from receptor-oriented pharmacophore-based in silico screening and proposed a potent antimicrobial inhibitor for KAS III. Using these pharmacophore maps, we examined a natural product database and chose 4 natural compounds as possible KAS III inhibitors.

Association of DRD3 and GRIN2B with impulse control and related behaviors in Parkinson's disease.

We aimed to assess whether allelic variants of dopamine receptor, glutamate receptor, and serotonin transporter genes are associated with the appearance of impulse control and related behaviors (ICRB) in Parkinson's disease (PD) with dopamine replacement therapy (DRT). We surveyed ICRB in consecutive Korean patients with PD who were treated with stable DRT using modified Minnesota Impulsive Disorders Interview over a period of 4 months. In the 404 patients who completed the interview and the 559 Korean healthy normal controls, genotyping was performed for variants of the DRD3 p.

Interaction models of substrate peptides and beta-secretase studied by NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulation.

The formation of beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta) is initiated from cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by a family of protease, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-secretase. Sub W, a substrate peptide, consists of 10 amino acids, which are adjacent to the beta-cleavage site of wild-type APP, and Sub M is Swedish mutant with double mutations on the left side of the beta-cleavage site of APP. Sub W is a normal product of the metabolism of APP in the secretary pathway.

Perverted head-shaking and positional downbeat nystagmus in patients with multiple system atrophy.

The diagnosis of multiple system atrophy (MSA) is mainly based on the clinical criteria, which are often of little assistance in the early stages of the disease. Positional downbeat nystagmus (pDBN) and perverted head-shaking nystagmus (pHSN), possible signs of cerebellar dysfunction, may be useful in differentiating MSA from other parkinsonian disorders. To investigate the occurrences of pDBN and pHSN in patients with MSA compared with those in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).