A Case of Carotid Aneurysm in Familial Retinal Arterial Tortuosity

A 44-year-old woman who showed recurrent vitreous hemorrhages with vascular tortuosity received CT angiography which revealed an internal carotid artery aneurysm. A case of internal carotid aneurysm was associated with a pattern of retinal arteriolar tortuosity pathognomic for familial retinal arterial tortuosity (fRAT), suggesting possible involvement of the cerebral circulation. We present a case of internal carotid aneurysm associated with a pattern of retinal arteriolar tortuosity pathognomic for fRAT

A Case of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease in a Patient With Graves Disease

A case of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (VKH) that developed in a 36-year-old woman with Graves' disease was described. The patient was treated with Lugol's solution and presented with bilateral serous retinal detachment. She had also suffered from methimazole-induced hypersensitivity and steroid-induced myopathy. Fluorescein angiography showed multiple leakage points and a lumbar puncture revealed pleocytosis, which was compatible with VKH. High dose steroid pulse therapy was successful. Altered immune regulation associated with drug-induced hypersensitivity may contribute to the development of VKH in patients with Graves' disease

Early versus Late Intravitreal Triamcinolone Acetonide for Macular Edema associated with Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion

PURPOSE: To compare the effect of early versus late intravitreal injection of triamcinolone in patients with macular edema due to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). METHODS: Twenty eyes of 20 patients with macular edema from BRVO, including 10 with duration after onset of or 3 months, improvements in visual acuity and foveal thickness, though apparent at 1 month, were not maintained at 3 and 6 months post-triamcinolone. CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal triamcinolone is more effective in patients with BRVO who are treated earlier

Personality traits and emotional status affecting academic achievements of medical students: testifying mediating effect of learning strategies

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify possible causal relationships among personality traits, emotional status, learning strategies, and academic achievements of medical students and to testify mediating effect of learning strategies in these relationships. Methods The study subjects are 424 medical students in the academic year of 2020 at the Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Korea. Using the Multi-dimensional Learning Strategy Test-II, we assessed the students’ academic achievements with personality traits, emotional status, and learning strategies. This study employed Structural Equation Modelling to explore the causal relationships among the latent variables. Results In the path model, personality traits directly affected academic achievements (β=0.285, p<0.05) and indirectly affected academic achievements via emotional status (β=0.063, p<0.01) and via learning strategies (β=0.244, p<0.05), respectively. Further, personality traits indirectly affected academic achievements via emotional status first and learning strategies next (β=0.019, p<0.05). Personality traits indirectly affected academic achievements through three multiple paths in the model (β=0.326, p<0.05). Learning strategies partially mediated the relationship between personality traits and academic achievements as well as the relationship between emotional status and academic achievements of medical students. Conclusion Study findings proved constructing the causal relationships among personality traits, emotional status, learning strategies, and academic achievements of medical students, thus supporting our hypotheses. Early habits of self-regulated learning are essential for the successful academic achievements of medical students. Therefore, medical students should know how to regulate personality traits and control emotional status, significantly affecting learning strategies

Colorectal Lymphoid Polyposis in a Child

Lymphoid polyposis is a lymphoid hyperplasia of the gastrointestinal tract that usually presents as multiple small polyps in the colon during childhood. This should be differentiated from other neoplastic or familial polyposis of the intestine. We report a case of benign lymphoid polyposis of the colon in a 17-month-old boy who presented with perianal fistula and mucosal ulceration. Colon study and rectal examinations showed multiple polyps in the sigmoid colon and rectum. Segmental resection of the sigmoid colon and rectum showed over 100 smallt 3 - 7 mrn) sessile or pedunculated polyps that were diffusely scattered through out the removed segment. The polyps consisted of mature lymphoid tissue with numerous germinal centers, that was located mostly in the lamina propria and submucosa

Outcome prediction of pediatric drowning

Purpose Despite the well-known mortality of pediatric drowning, there is a paucity of evidence on the implications of an initial evaluation on the relevant outcome of drowning. This study aimed to investigate the association of initial clinical findings with outcome of children undergoing drowning. Methods This retrospective study was conducted using the medical records of 56 children undergoing drowning who visited 3 Korean academic hospitals from January 2000 through May 2020. We analyzed information regarding the prehospital resuscitation, drowning time, a 4-tiered chest radiographic grade, and the baseline characteristics. The grade was defined based on the findings of initial chest radiographs. The poor outcomes were defined as the need for intensive care unit care or death aftercare. We analyzed the association of the prehospital resuscitation, submersion time, and the radiographic grade with the poor outcomes using binary logistic regression. Results Among the 56 children, 31 (55.4%) were aged 1-4 years. Prehospital resuscitation and 1-5 minutes of submersion time were noted in the 25 (44.6%) and 30 children (53.6%), respectively. The chest radiographic grades 1 through 4 accounted for 17 (30.4%), 20 (35.7%), 12 (21.4%), and 3 children (5.4%), respectively. Poor outcomes occurred in 17 children (30.4%), including 3 deaths (5.4%). The association with the poor outcomes was noted in the submersion time of longer than 5 minutes (adjusted odds ratio, 21.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-415.73; compared with < 1 minute) while not in the submersion time and chest radiographic grade. Conclusion This study confirms that submersion time is an outcome predictor of drowning

Effect of Base Curve Radius of Therapeutic Lenses on Epithelial Healing after Laser-Assisted Subepithelial Keratectomy

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of the base curve radius (BCR) of therapeutic soft contact lens (T-lens) on epithelial healing after laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy (LASEK). METHODS: Ninety-two eyes in 47 patients with myopia were prospectively evaluated after LASEK. All the patients wore T-lenses with the BCR (R1) randomly chosen after LASEK. The T-lenses were removed after complete healing of the epithelial wounds. We calculated an estimated BCR (R2) from postoperative topography using a diopter conversion table. The patients were divided into two groups according to the differences between the BCR (R1) and the estimated BCR (R2). The flat fitting group was R1 > R2 (Group A), and the steep fitting group was R1R2) had 53 eyes, and Group B (R1<R2) had 39 eyes. Group A showed a shorter epithelial healing time than Group B (5.8+/-1.7 days vs. 6.7+/-2.1 days, p=0.04). CONCLUSIONS: The flat fitting group showed a shorter epithelial healing time than the steep fitting group after LASEK

Haloperidol regulates the phosphorylation level of the MEK-ERK-p90RSK signal pathway via protein phosphatase 2A in the rat frontal cortex

Haloperidol, a classical antipsychotic drug, affects the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway in the brain. However, findings are inconsistent and the mechanism by which haloperidol regulates ERK is poorly understood. Therefore, we examined the ERK pathway and the related protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) in detail after haloperidol administration. Haloperidol (0.5 and 1 mg/kg) induced biphasic changes in the phosphorylation level of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK), ERK, and p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (p90RSK) without changing Raf-1 phosphorylation. Fifteen minutes after haloperidol administration, MEK-ERK-p90RSK phosphorylation increased, whilst PP2A activity decreased. At 60 min, the reverse was observed and the binding of PP2A to MEK and ERK increased. Higher dosages of haloperidol (2 and 4 mg/kg), affected neither MEK-ERK-p90RSK phosphorylation nor PP2A activity. Accordingly, PP2A regulates acute dose- and time-dependent changes in MEK-ERK-p90RSK phosphorylation after haloperidol treatment. These findings suggest the involvement of a dephosphorylating mechanism in the acute action of haloperidol

Body Mass Index is Associated with USF1 Haplotype in Korean Premenopausal Women

The upstream stimulatory factor 1 (USF1) gene has been shown to play an essential role as the cause of familial combined hyperlipidemia, and there are several association studies on the relationship between USF1 and metabolic disorders. In this study, we analyzed two single nucleotide polymorphisms in USF1 rs2073653 (306A>G) and rs2516840 (1748C>T) between the case (dyslipidemia or obesity) group and the control group in premenopausal females, postmenopausal females, and males among 275 Korean subjects. We observed a statistically significant difference in the GC haplotype between body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2 and BMI <25 kg/m2 groups in premenopausal females (χ2=4.23, p=0.04). It seems that the USF1 GC haplotype is associated with BMI in premenopausal Korean females