Biomedical subjects

I M Kim

Publications and source records attributed to I M Kim.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Binary spreading process with parity conservation.

Recently there has been a debate concerning the universal properties of the phase transition in the pair contact process with diffusion (PCPD) 2A-->3A, 2A-->0. Although some of the critical exponents seem to coincide with those of the so-called parity-conserving universality class, it was suggested that the PCPD might represent an independent class of phase transitions. This point of view is motivated by the argument that the PCPD does not conserve parity of the particle number. In the present work we question what happens if the parity conservation law is restored. To this end, we consider the reaction-diffusion process 2A-->4A, 2A-->0. Surprisingly, this process displays the same type of critical behavior, leading to the conclusion that the most important characteristics of the PCPD is the use of binary reactions for spreading, regardless of whether parity is conserved or not.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2001

Vestibular schwannoma with malignant transformation: a case report.

We describe a rare case of malignant transformation in a vestibular schwannoma in a 33-yr-old woman. She presented herself with headache, tinnitus, and hearing loss and underwent posterior fossa explorations three times during the short period of 3 months. The clinicopathological features of the original tumor were typical of benign vestibular schwannoma. Despite a complete microsurgical excision, two months later, the tumor recurred locally with a rapid increase in size causing a progressive worsening of neurological symptoms. A diagnosis of malignant schwannoma was made for the recurrent tumor on the basis of the microscopic findings of high cellularity, moderate pleomorphism, and the presence of mitotic cells. Repeat magnetic resonance imaging performed a month after the second surgery unexpectedly showed definite tumor enlargement. She remained clinically stable following the third debulking of the tumor and adjuvant radiotherapy. We propose that this recurrent tumor represent malignant transformation from a benign vestibular schwannoma which was an unusual occurrence in a patient without neurofibromatosis.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Self-organized growth model for a driven interface in random media.

We introduce a simple self-organized growth model in the quenched Edwards-Wilkinson universality class. The roughness and growth exponents are obtained for the model as alpha approximately 1.15 and beta approximately 0.89, respectively. These values of exponents are in good agreement with previous results obtained from numerical integrations or discretized model simulations of the quenched Edwards-Wilkinson equation. The velocity of a driven interface is found to be independent of the slope of the tilted substrate.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1997

A new endemic focus of Heterophyes nocens, Pygidiopsis summa, and other intestinal flukes in a coastal area of Muan-gun, Chollanam-do.

A small coastal village of Muan-gun, Chollanam-do, was surveyed for intestinal fluke infections, especially heterophyids such as Heterophyes nocens and Pygidiopsis summa by fecal examination on 108 inhabitants. The egg positive rate of heterophyids was very high, 75.0%, and that of other parasites was comparatively low, 0.9-3.7% by parasite species. After treatment of 20 patients showing high E.P.G. with praziquantel and purging with MgSO4, total 3,864 specimens of H. nocens were collected from the diarrheic stools of all the patients treated (3-1,338 individually) and total 703 P. summa were harvested from 18 patients (1-170 individually), together with several other species of flukes. Other flukes included Stictodora fuscata (164 specimens from 4 patients), Heterophyopsis continua (2 from 2 patients), and Gymnophalloides seoi (4 from 3 patients). From this study, the surveyed coastal area of Muan-gun, Chollanam-do was proven to be a new endemic focus of H. nocens and P. summa. The occurrence of a few infected cases suggests that this area should also be a low-grade endemic area of S. fuscata, H. continua, and G. seoi.

Animals↗