Validity of Radiograph-Based Infrapatellar Fat Pad Opacity Grading for Assessing Knee Synovitis: Correlation With Contrast-Enhanced MRI.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) opacity grading based on lateral knee radiography for assessing knee synovitis using correlation with contrast-enhanced (CE) MRI.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective reviews of radiographs and CE knee MR images from 79 patients were independently performed by two radiologists. They evaluated IPFP opacity alteration (IPFP) and joint effusion grades on lateral knee conventional radiographs, IPFP signal intensity alteration (IPFP) and joint effusion grades on CE MR images, and synovitis (SYN) grade in nine divided regions, three compartments (parapatellar, periligamentous, perimeniscal), and the whole knee on CE MR images.

Topographical and sex variations in the T2 relaxation times of articular cartilage in the ankle joints of healthy young adults using 3.0T MRI.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate topographical and sex variations in the T2 relaxation values of tibiotalar cartilage (TTC) of healthy young adults.

Materials And Methods: Sagittal 8-echo multiecho spin-echo T2 maps of TTC were acquired using a 3.0T MR in 25 male and 25 female healthy young adult participants.

Henoch-Schonlein purpura: ultrasonography of scrotal and penile involvement.

Testicular or scrotal involvement has been reported in children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP), but there are very few reports on penile involvement. We report the initial and follow-up ultrasonographic findings of scrotal and penile involvement of HSP in a 5-year-old boy. On ultrasonography, scrotal soft tissue thickening and epididymal swelling with increased vascularity were noted, and on the penis, a focal mass-like lesion appeared on the dorsal surface of the distal penis, having a hypoechoic mass-like appearance without visible vascular flow on a Doppler study.

A functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) study of cue-induced smoking craving in virtual environments.

Smokers who are exposed to smoking-related cues show cardiovascular reactivity and smoking craving compared with their responses to neutral cues, and increased cue reactivity predicts decreased likelihood of successful cessation. Several brain imaging studies suggested four candidate brain regions that might differ in gray matter volumes and densities between smokers and nonsmokers. However, in these studies, smokers were only exposed to smoking-related objects.

Plasmid-mediated, inducible AmpC beta-lactamase (DHA-1)-producing Enterobacteriaceae at a Korean hospital: wide dissemination in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca and emergence in Proteus mirabilis.

The aim of the study was to investigate the phenotypic and genetic characteristics of recently emerging cefoxitin-resistant and induction-positive isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, and Proteus mirabilis. Strains of Enterobacteriaceae were isolated at a Korean tertiary care hospital between June and December 2002. Induction was tested using cefoxitin and aztreonam disks, the blaDHA allele was detected by PCR, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns were also analyzed.

Experimental application of virtual reality for nicotine craving through cue exposure.

Research has shown that many smokers experience an increase in the desire to smoke when exposed to smoking-related cues. Cue exposure treatment (CET) refers to the manualized, repeated exposure to smoking-related cues, aimed at the reducing cue reactivity by extinction. In this study, we constructed a virtual reality system for evoking a desire of nicotine, which was based on the results of a Questionnaire of Nicotine-craving.

High prevalence of PER-1 extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Acinetobacter spp. in Korea.

PER-1, an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase, has been reported only in Europe. We detected PER-1 in 53 of 97 acinetobacters in Korea, mainly in the sputum of intensive care unit patients. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis suggested that clonal spread had occurred.