MDCT differentiation between bicuspid and tricuspid aortic valves in patients with aortic valvular disease: correlation with surgical findings.

To identify multi-detector computed tomographic (MDCT) features discriminating bicuspid aortic valves (BAVs) from tricuspid aortic valves (TAVs) in patients with aortic valvular disease using surgical findings as reference. Forty-five patients underwent ECG-gated cardiac MDCT scans prior to aortic valve replacement. Morphologic patterns of aortic valves on MDCT were classified into: bicuspid without raphe (A), fused valve with a fish-mouth opening (B), fused valve without a fish-mouth opening (C), and tricuspid without fusion (D).

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease: an additional contributing factor of cognitive impairment.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether chronic cerebral hypoperfusion would affect cognitive status in an Alzheimer mouse model. Behavioral tests and histological evaluations were performed using female Tg2576 mice eight weeks after right common carotid artery occlusion (rCCAO), which is known to induce a type of vascular dementia without neuronal necrosis in nontransgenic mice. Positron emission tomography with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET) was utilized to evaluate metabolic status in the rCCAO-operated brain of nontransgenic mice.

The missing button sign as a tool for detecting proximal internal carotid artery occlusion.

The aim of this study was to develop a simple and reliable sign for detecting proximal internal carotid artery occlusion (ICAO) using conventional CT scanning. The missing button sign (MBS) is defined as the absence of the ICA at the level of the foramen magnum on contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) scans. Two raters independently reviewed random CECT samples from consecutive patients with acute ischaemic stroke.

The influence of Sam-Chil-Geun (Panax notoginseng) on the serum lipid levels and inflammations of rats with hyperlipidemia induced by poloxamer-407.

Purpose: Atherosclerosis is characterized by the progressive deposition of lipids and inflammatory process. We attempted to develop a chemically-induced hyperlipidemic mice model, using poloxamer-407 and evaluated the lipid lowering and anti-inflammatory effect of P. notoginseng compared with that of atorvastatin, an antihyperlipidemic drug.

A comparison of seminal vesicle size on CT between autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) patients and normal subjects.

Background: Extrarenal manifestations are common in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Although seminal vesicles can also be involved in patients with ADPKD, little is known about the size differences of the seminal vesicles between ADPKD patients and normal subjects.

Purpose: To determine whether the size of seminal vesicles in ADPKD patients is larger than that in normal subjects with the use of three-dimensional (3D) CT.

Influence of recanalization on uric acid patterns in acute ischemic stroke.

Background: Most epidemiological studies have reported a significant association between elevated serum levels of uric acid (UA) and increased cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, UA is the most abundant antioxidant in the human body. We hypothesized that UA levels would change noticeably in association with the degree of oxidative stress in acute ischemic stroke.

Stress (tako-tsubo) cardiomyopathy following radiofrequency ablation of a liver tumor: a case report.

Stress cardiomyopathy is characterized by transient left ventricular dysfunction occurring in the absence of obstructive coronary disease. It is precipitated by acute emotional or physical stress. We present a case of stress cardiomyopathy which developed during hepatic radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Impact of posterior communicating artery on basilar artery steno-occlusive disease.

Background: Acute brainstem infarction with basilar artery (BA) occlusive disease is the most fatal type of all ischaemic strokes. This report investigates the prognostic impact of the posterior communicating artery (PcoA) and whether its anatomy is a safeguard or not.

Methods: Consecutive patients who had acute brainstem infarction with at least 50% stenosis of BA upon CT angiography (CTA) were studied.

Transplantation of human neural stem cells transduced with Olig2 transcription factor improves locomotor recovery and enhances myelination in the white matter of rat spinal cord following contusive injury.

Background: Contusive spinal cord injury is complicated by a delayed loss of oligodendrocytes, resulting in chronic progressive demyelination. Therefore, transplantation strategies to provide oligodendrocyte lineage cells and to enhance the extent of myelination appear to be justified for spinal cord repair. The present study investigated whether transplantation of human neural stem cells (NSCs) genetically modified to express Olig2 transcription factor, an essential regulator of oligodendrocyte development, can improve locomotor recovery and enhance myelination in a rat contusive spinal cord injury model.

Risk factors for rebleeding after angiographically negative acute gastrointestinal bleeding.

Aim: To identify possible predictive factors for rebleeding after angiographically negative findings in patients with acute non-variceal gastrointestinal bleeding.

Methods: From January 2000 to July 2007, 128 patients with acute non-variceal gastrointestinal bleeding had negative findings after initial angiography. Clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed retrospectively.

Clinical and laboratory characteristics of atopic myelitis: Korean experience.

HyperIgEemia and atopy have recently been reported to be related to various neurological diseases such as Hirayama disease and idiopathic myelitis. The aims of this study are to determine frequency of atopy or hyperIgEemia in idiopathic myelitis and to characterize the clinical and laboratory profiles of atopic myelitis (AM). From January 2006 to August 2008, 29 consecutive patients with idiopathic myelitis were recruited.

Intrathecal transplantation of human neural stem cells overexpressing VEGF provide behavioral improvement, disease onset delay and survival extension in transgenic ALS mice.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common adult onset motoneuron disease. The etiology and precise pathogenic mechanisms of the disease remain unknown, and there is no effective treatment. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has recently been shown to exert direct neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects in animal models of ALS.

Vertebral artery dominance contributes to basilar artery curvature and peri-vertebrobasilar junctional infarcts.

Objectives: The diameters of the vertebral arteries (VAs) are very often unequal. Therefore, this study investigated if unequal VA flow contributes to the development of basilar artery (BA) curvature and if it is a link to the laterality of pontine or cerebellar infarcts occurring around the vertebrobasilar junction.

Methods: Radiological factors were analysed (infarct laterality, VA dominance, BA curvature and their directional relationships) in 91 patients with acute unilateral pontine or posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) territory infarcts.

Simultaneous vasomotor reactivity testing in the middle cerebral and basilar artery with suboccipital probe fixation device.

Background: We assess the feasibility of using the newly designed suboccipital probe fixation device (SPFD) as a convenient and reliable tool for simultaneous measurement of vasomotor reactivity (VMR) in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and basilar artery (BA).

Methods: We analyzed 30 healthy volunteers' VMR values by using both SPFD and conventional handheld method. The VMR values were measured as percentage increase of the mean flow velocity on transcranial Doppler (TCD) in response to hypercapnia induced by the rebreathing method.

Widely varying TNF-alpha levels in patients with myasthenia gravis.

Animal studies have indicated an important role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG), and trials of monoclonal antibodies that block TNF-alpha have shown clinical improvement. However, before a TNF-alpha blocking agent is proposed for treatment of MG, whether serum TNF-alpha level correlates with the patient's condition should be confirmed. Therefore, we evaluated the relationship between the serum TNF-alpha level and clinical factors, including the quantitative MG score and the anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody level, in 33 MG patients.

Fibroblastic type osteosarcoma of the ulna: a case report of a tumor in a rare location with atypical imaging findings.

The ulna is a rare site of origin for osteosarcoma, and purely osteolytic osteosarcomas are uncommonly noted on conventional radiographs. We present a patient with a lytic lesion of the distal ulna for which imaging findings suggested an aneurysmal bone cyst. The lesion was histologically confirmed to be a fibroblastic osteosarcoma.

Rescue ERCP and insertion of a small-caliber pancreatic stent to prevent the evolution of severe post-ERCP pancreatitis: a case-controlled series.

Introduction: Recently prophylactic placement of a trans-sphincteric pancreatic stent has successfully been applied to prevent post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis. Rescue ERCP and emergency application of small-caliber pancreatic stents during the early course of post-ERCP pancreatitis as a possible endoscopic therapy has not been reported yet.

Methods: All patients who underwent ERCP were hospitalized for at least 24 h, with routine laboratory testing of amylase levels.

Frequency and clinical significance of acute bilateral cerebellar infarcts.

Background: Unlike acute unilateral cerebellar infarct (UCI), acute bilateral cerebellar infarcts (BCI) have attracted little attention. To evaluate the clinical significance of BCI, we compared UCI and BCI and analyzed potentially prognostic factors.

Methods: Patients who were consecutively admitted at a university hospital over a 4-year period with acute cerebellar infarcts, proven by diffusion-weighted imaging, were studied.

Somatosensory hypersensitivity in the referred pain area in patients with chronic biliary pain and a sphincter of Oddi dysfunction: new aspects of an almost forgotten pathogenetic mechanism.

Background And Aims: Somatosensory hyperalgesia in the referred pain area (RPA) in patients with acute or chronic abdominal pain syndromes may result from the convergence of nerve fibers from visceral and somatic tissues at the spinal and supraspinal levels. Chronic biliary pain in patients with the postcholecystectomy syndrome (i.e.

Prognosis of ocular myasthenia in Korea: a retrospective multicenter analysis of 202 patients.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to obtain data on the frequency with which Korean patients with autoimmune myasthenia gravis (MG) present solely with ocular disturbances and progress to develop generalized disease and to identify the prognostic factors associated with secondary generalization.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective multicenter survey in which a total of 376 adult patients who were newly diagnosed with MG from 2000 through 2005 were reviewed for analysis. Patients with ocular MG at the time of symptom presentation (n=202, 53.

Oral administration of memantine prolongs survival in a transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background And Purpose: N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-mediated neurotoxicity and oxidative stress have been implicated in the etiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Memantine is a low-affinity, noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist that may protect against motor neuron degeneration.

Methods: Thirty transgenic mice expressing the G93A SOD1 mutation were randomly divided into control, low-dose memantine (30 mg/kg/day), and high-dose memantine (90 mg/kg/day) groups, with memantine supplied daily with drinking water beginning at 75 days of age.

Can aspirin resistance be clinically predicted in stroke patients?

Objectives: Aspirin resistance is one of several possible explanations for limited efficacy or treatment failure of aspirin. However, the predictors of aspirin resistance are not well known. We therefore conducted a study of laboratory-defined aspirin resistance in Korean patients with ischemic stroke and considered a wide range of factors as possible predictors.

Autologous mesenchymal stem cell therapy delays the progression of neurological deficits in patients with multiple system atrophy.

We evaluated the feasibility and safety of therapy with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) through consecutively intra-arterial and three repeated intravenous injections and compared the long-term prognosis between MSC-treated (n=11) and control multiple system atrophy (MSA) patients (n=18). The MSC-treated patients showed significantly greater improvement on the unified MSA rating scale (UMSARS) than the control patients at all visits throughout the 12-month study period. Orthostasis in UMSARS I items and cerebellar dysfunction-related items of UMSARS II items were significantly different in favor of MSC treatment compared to controls.

Characterization of functional biliary pain and dyspeptic symptoms in patients with sphincter of Oddi dysfunction: effect of papillotomy.

Aim: To characterize functional biliary pain and other gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in postcholecystectomy syndrome (PCS) patients with and without sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD) proved by endoscopic sphincter of Oddi manometry (ESOM), and to assess the post-endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) outcome.

Methods: We prospectively investigated 85 cholecystectomized patients referred for ERCP because of PCS and suspected SOD. On admission, all patients completed our questionnaire.