A Case of Sterile Peripheral Corneal Infiltrative Event after LASIK

Purpose@#To report a rare, sterile, peripheral, corneal infiltrative event after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK).Case summary: A 29-year-old male presented with left-eye conjunctival injection and peripheral corneal infiltration 3 days after LASIK. A whitish, oval, peripheral infiltration around the corneal flap was apparent from 6-to-10 o’clock in the limbus. Slit lamp examination revealed conjunctival injection and mild corneal edema but neither a corneal epithelial defect nor an inflammatory reaction of the anterior chamber. Intensive cycloplegic, steroid ointment, steroid drops, antibiotic drops, and artificial tear therapies were prescribed under the impression of a sterile, peripheral, corneal infiltrative event. After 1 month, the symptoms and corneal opacity resolved without any complications. @*Conclusions@#A sterile, peripheral, corneal infiltrative event, namely, an oval infiltration of the periphery of the cornea without pain or epithelial damage can develop after LASIK but responds well to steroid eye drops.

Time-dependent proteomic and genomic alterations in Toll-like receptor-4-activated human chondrocytes: increased expression of lamin A/C and annexins

Activation of Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) in articular chondrocytes increases the catabolic compartment and leads to matrix degradation during the development of osteoarthritis. In this study, we determined the proteomic and genomic alterations in human chondrocytes during lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and consequences of TLR-4 activation. Human chondrocytes were cultured with LPS for 12, 24, and 36 h to induce TLR-4 activation. The TLR-4-induced inflammatory response was confirmed by real-time PCR analysis of increased interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) expression levels. In TLR-4-activated chondrocytes, proteomic changes were determined by two-dimensional electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectroscopy analysis, and genomic changes were determined by microarray and gene ontology analyses. Proteomics analysis identified 26 proteins with significantly altered expression levels; these proteins were related to the cytoskeleton and oxidative stress responses. Gene ontology analysis indicated that LPS treatment altered specific functional pathways including ‘chemotaxis’, ‘hematopoietic organ development’, ‘positive regulation of cell proliferation’, and ‘regulation of cytokine biosynthetic process’. Nine of the 26 identified proteins displayed the same increased expression patterns in both proteomics and genomics analyses. Western blot analysis confirmed the LPS-induced increases in expression levels of lamin A/C and annexins 4/5/6. In conclusion, this study identified the time-dependent genomic, proteomic, and functional pathway alterations that occur in chondrocytes during LPS-induced TLR-4 activation. These results provide valuable new insights into the underlying mechanisms that control the development and progression of osteoarthritis.

Post-operative Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Therapy in Velopharyngeal Insufficiency Patient

PURPOSE: There are several surgical methods for correcting a velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) but in some cases, it is not possible to achieve complete recovery of the velopharyngeal function. This paper introduces a new therapy for treating hypernasality without further surgery using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). METHODS: CPAP therapy was applied to seven VPI patients for eight weeks from April of 2007 to September of 2009. All patients underwent palatoplasty for the cleft palate and six patients underwent palatal lengthening for VPI before CPAP therapy. A speech pathologist performed an auditory perceptual evaluation to evaluate the improvement in hypernasality after 8-week CPAP therapy. RESULTS: Six patients showed an improvement in hypernasality after CPAP therapy according to the auditory perceptual evaluation. One patient with severe hypernasality responded to the early part of therapy but the hypernasality did not improve after therapy. CONCLUSION: CPAP therapy might be effective in reducing the hypernasality in patients with VPI by providing resistance training to strengthen the velopharyngeal closure muscles. In particular, CPAP therapy could be more effective for patients who show mild to moderate hypernasality after surgery.

Antimicrobial Susceptibilites of Glycopeptides, Arbekacin and Quinupristin/Dalfopristin against Staphylococcal aureus isolates / 감염

No abstract available.

Clinical Effects of Newfactan in the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Respiratory Distress Syndrome

PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate the clinical effects of Newfactan in the treatment of moderate to severe respiratory distress syndrome. METHODS: There were enrolled 20 preterm infants who were diagnosed as grade III or grade IV respiratory distress syndrome at Kosin University Gospel Hospital from July 1997 to May 2000. All of these preterm infants were treated for rescue. To investigate the improvement of respiratory parameters we used FiO2, MAP, a/APO2 ratio, OI. RESULTS: Newfactan was administered to the patients at 7.2+/-7.4 hours (range 1.5- 32) after birth and 7 cases (35%) were administered one dose, 8 (40%) were administered two doses and 5 (25%) were administered three doses. The dose interval from first to second dose was 9.2+/-12.3 hours (range 5-46). The dose interval from second to third dose was 27.6+/-5.4 hours (range 21-35). The need of FiO2 showed decreased tendency especially between 4 to 6 hour after administration (P0.05). There were 41 complications and outcomes including PDA, sepsis, pneumothorax, intraventricular hemorrhage, BPD, ROP, and necrotizing enterocolitis. CONCLUSION: The clinical effects of Newfactan in the treatment of grade III or grade IV respiratory distress syndrome were significant in improving FiO2, PaCO2, a/APO2 ratio and OI.