ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors in patients with brain abscesses treated in a single institute during a recent 10-year period.MethodsFifty-one patients with brain abscesses who underwent navigation-assisted abscess aspiration with antibiotic treatment were included in this study. Variable parameters were collected from the patients' medical records and radiological data. A comparison was made between patients with favorable [Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) ≥4] and unfavorable (GOS <4) outcomes at discharge. Additionally, we investigated the factors influencing the duration of antibiotic administration.ResultsThe study included 41 male and 10 female patients with a mean age of 53 years. At admission, 42 patients (82%) showed either clear or mildly disturbed consciousness (GCS ≥13) and 24 patients (47%) had predisposing factors. The offending microorganisms were identified in 25 patients (49%), and Streptococcus species were the most commonly isolated bacteria (27%). The mean duration of antibiotic administration was 42 days. At discharge, 41 patients had a favorable outcome and 10 had an unfavorable outcome including 8 deaths. The decreased level of consciousness (GCS <13) on admission was likely associated with an unfavorable outcome (p=0.052), and initial hyperglycemia (≥140 mg/dL) was an independent risk factor for prolonged antibiotic therapy (p=0.032).ConclusionWe found that the level of consciousness at admission was associated with treatment outcomes in patients with brain abscesses. Furthermore, initial hyperglycemia was closely related to the long-term use of antibiotic agents.
Foreign market entry mode research has been a popular area of study. However, a clear agreement between the usage of conventional constructs and their impact on a firm’s entry mode choice has not yet been found. This paper focuses on how, depending on the type of subsidiary that is established, multinational corporations (MNCs) in the manufacturing industry use different foreign market entry strategies. Previous research either treated types of subsidiaries synonymously or investigated them separately. However, due to the changing competitive landscape and disaggregation of value chain activities into separate subsidiaries, I find it necessary to compare how these entry mode choices differ depending on the activity each subsidiary is responsible for. My analysis finds that MNCs in the manufacturing industry are more likely to use joint ventures rather than wholly owned modes of entry for their production subsidiaries in comparison to their sales subsidiaries. I further explore how the international experience of the MNC strengthens this effect. This research utilizes a sample of 201 listed Korean manufacturing firms and 833 foreign market entry mode choices into 49 countries.
Background and ObjectivesWe investigated the effects of different concentrations of serum, 5-azacytidine, and culture time on the cardiomyogenic differentiation of P19 embryonal carcinoma stem cells in the course of developing an efficient protocol for generating the cardiomyogenic lineage.Materials and MethodsP19 cells were plated at a density of 1×106 cells on 10-cm bacterial dishes for 96 hours in the presence of 1% dimethyl sulfoxide to form embryoid bodies. The embryoid bodies were cultured in medium with 2% or 10% fetal bovine serum for an additional 10 or 15 consecutive days in the presence of 0, 1, or 3 µM 5-azacytidine.ResultsQuantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis showed that the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression of cardiac muscle-specific genes, such as GATA4, α-actin, α-myosin heavy chain, and cardiac troponin T, were significantly higher in the 15-day culture groups than in the 10-day culture groups. Furthermore, the cardiac muscle-specific genes were expressed more in the high-serum groups compared to the low-serum groups regardless of the culture time. Cardiomyogenic differentiation of the P19 cells was most effective in 1 µM 5-azacytidine regardless of the serum concentrations. In addition, the stimulation effects of 5-azacytidine on cardiomyogenic differentiation were more significant under low-serum culture conditions compared to high-serum culture conditions. Cardiomyogenic differentiation of P19 cells was further confirmed by immunostaining with cardiac muscle-specific antibodies.ConclusionTaken together, these results demonstrated that cardiomyogenic differentiation of P19 cells was enhanced by a combination of different experimental factors.
Objective: Patients with lumbar spinal stenosis experience a variety of symptoms, including back pain, and neurogenic claudication. However, these symptoms appear only after walking for a certain distance. Therefore, it is difficult to make an accurate diagnosis using conventional methods, which involve tests performed under resting conditions. Therefore, infrared thermography could be a helpful diagnostic tool. Methods: Eight patients, who had neurogenic claudication after walking a certain distance, were enrolled in this study. These patients underwent infrared thermography at least twice after they walked a certain distance (about 50 meters after walking for 10 minutes). Four other patients, who only had back pain but no claudication, were enrolled as the comparison groups. Results: Seven patients in the patient group showed a decrease of 0.6 to 2.3 degrees in body temperature, depending on the body regions evaluated, after walking a certain distance. However, in the comparison groups, only 1 patient had decreased body temperature after walking. Conclusion: Neurogenic claudication symptoms are present in spinal stenosis patients because of venous congestion, which causes neurogenic claudication and decreases surface temperature. Therefore, infrared thermography can be performed in patients not only in resting conditions but also in symptom-expression conditions. Hence, infrared thermography can help in the accurate diagnosis of lumbar spinal stenosis.
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