Dose-response relationship among blood cadmium concentrations, catalase and superoxide dismutase activities were studied with acutely intoxicated rats by cadmium. The Sprague-Dawley male rats to which single dose of 1-32 mg/kg CdCl2 were administered into peritoneal cavity were sacrificed by decapitation at 3-36 hours after the administration. Cadmium concentrations in blood increased significantly with dose of CdCl2 administered and reached peak level at 3 hours later. Catalase activities in rats' tests were not correlated with exposure time elapsed after the administration in rats to which 1-2 mg/kg of CdCl2 were administered, but they showed linear relationship with time in groups to which 4-32 mg/kg of CdCl2 were administered. Cu, Zn-SOD activities in tests of acutely intoxicated rats by cadmium were not altered either by dosage or by time elapsed after the administration. Mn-SOD activities in the tests were also not influenced by dosage of 1-2 mg/kg CdCl2, but remarkably inactivated by dosage of 4-32 mg/kg CdCl2 with time elapsed after the administration. Neither catalase, Cu, Zn-SOD nor Mn-SOD activities of tests were correlated with blood cadmium concentrations in acutely intoxicated rats by cadmium.
Animals ; Cadmium Chloride ; Cadmium* ; Catalase* ; Decapitation ; Humans ; Male ; Peritoneal Cavity ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Superoxide Dismutase* ; Superoxides* ; Testis*

BACKGROUND: Many women have experienced artificial abortion, but artificial abortion itself may take a life away from a fetus and also influence serious effect on operated womens health condition. So this study was attempted to offer basic information for improving maternity health condition by knowing womens artificial abortion performance status and recognition about its complication. METHODS: The 215 married women who visited in OPD of certain hospital in Pusan from november 1994 to January 1995, answered the question about experience of artifial abortion the recognition about its complication, and artificial abortioned group answered the reason of artificial abortion and the experience of complication. RESULTS: The number of women who experienced artificial abortion was 107 persons(49.8%). More educated women have experienced less artificial abortion. The causes of artificial abortion were birth control as of 40.6%, continuation of occupation or study as of 20.6%, for preserving health condition as of 14.2%, impossible marriage as of 14.2%. 115 persons out of 215 persons (53.4% ) answered they heard about, its complicatons. In relation to health, 66 persons(30.7% ) answered that the abortion had no relation with health condition or they answered they have no idea about the issue, 68 persons(31.6%) answered that the abortion had relation with but its complication would be soon recovered. Higher understanding was obtained in higher educated group(P<0.05). If unwanted pregnancy occur to them in the future, 32 persons(27.8%) in recognized group and 38 persons(38%) in unrecognized group answered they would perform artificial abortion. So understanding about complicaton of artificial abortion has little effect on their artificial abortion rate. CONCLUSIONS: Recognition of complications of married women is low, and recognition degree doesnt affect artificial abortion. So, not only education about complications of artificial abortion and contraception but also social performance of sharing womens responsibility for birth control or bringing up infants is necessary.
Abortion, Induced ; Busan ; Contraception ; Education ; Female ; Fetus ; Humans ; Infant ; Marriage ; Occupations ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Unwanted ; Women's Health

No abstract available.
Chorion* ; Chorionic Villi Sampling* ; Chorionic Villi* ; Female ; Pregnancy

PURPOSE: Poisoning is a major health problem for the elderly, and poisoning can cause fatal side effects. However, the characteristics and clinical features of elderly patients with acute poisoning have not been well studied in the previous domestic research. So, we tried to analyze the clinical characteristics and toxic substances of the patients who were 65 years old or older and who were admitted to the regional emergency medical center due to acute poisoning. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and poisoning protocols of the patients who were 65 years of age or older and who had with acute poisoning and who visited the ED in our emergency center from January 2005 to December 2009. We collected the demographic information, the gender, the underlying diseases, the causes and toxic substances, the initial presentation, the treatment and the outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 2179 poisoned patients visited the hospital during 5 years, and among them 244 were 65 years of age or older (11.2%). The mean age was 75.6+/-6.9 years and the male:female ratio was 1:1.7. The most common cause of poisoning was suicide (73.4%) and the most common source of poisonous substances was their own drugs. Of the substances used for poisoning, benzodiazepine was the most common drug (25.8%), followed by sedatives other than benzodiazepine (25.4%), insecticide (12.7%), chemical agents (12.3%) and herbicides (8.2%). The most common initial presentation was mental change (64.8%). CONCLUSION: In this Korean study, unlike the foreign studies, the most common cause of poisoning in elderly patients was intentional poisoning. The admission rate was 68.8% and mortality rate was 10.2%.
Aged ; Benzodiazepines ; Emergencies ; Herbicides ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Suicide

The colorectal cancer frequently metastasizes to the liver, lung, peritoneum, bone, ovaries, and the adrenal glands. Metastasis to the frontal sinus from adenocarcinoma of rectum, however, is extremely rare. We recently experienced a case of metastatic paranasal sinus cancer from adenocarcinoma of rectum in a 66-year-old female patient, and present this case with a brief review of the literature.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adrenal Glands ; Aged ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Female ; Frontal Sinus* ; Humans ; Liver ; Lung ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ovary ; Paranasal Sinus Neoplasms ; Peritoneum ; Rectum

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects and complications of periocular injections of triamcinolone acetonide in patients with thyroid orbitopathy who could not tolerate systemic corticosteroid therapy. METHODS: Six patients with a mean age of 48.7 years showed symptoms of severe acute thyroid orbitopathy. They received four doses of 20 mg of triamcinolone acetonide via periocular injection into the inferotemporal orbital quadrant every 2 weeks. The response to treatment and the presence of adverse effects were evaluated retrospectively. RESULTS: Three of six patients (50%) showed significant improvement in soft tissue swelling in both eyes. Only one patient (17%) showed improvement of proptosis. No patients showed improvement in diplopia and ocular motility. The mean thickness of the extraocular muscles measured by CT scan remained unchanged. Compressive optic neuropathy developed in one patient and resolved after intravenous high-dose steroid treatment. Two patients received radiation therapy for resistant inflammatory symptoms. One patient underwent extraocular muscle surgery. In one patient, there was no adverse effect at the injection site, except for a foreign body granuloma. CONCLUSIONS: Periocular triamcinolone injection could be effective for patients with thyroid orbitopathy in the acute inflammatory phase in reducing soft tissue swelling. The procedure showed no significant effect on exophthalmos or ocular motility.
Diplopia ; Exophthalmos ; Granuloma, Foreign-Body ; Humans ; Injections, Intraocular* ; Muscles ; Optic Nerve Diseases ; Orbit ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Triamcinolone Acetonide ; Triamcinolone*

No abstract available.
Candidiasis* ; Paget Disease, Extramammary* ; Vulva

Screening test of Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV) infection was introduced on Korean Blood Donor Test Program in July 1987, and the test results between July 1987 and December 1990 were reported on the Korean Journal of Blood Transfusion on May 1992. Moreover, we assessed anti-HIV ELISA screening test result of 3,905,986 blood donors donated at Korean Red Cross Blood Centers between January 1991 and December 1993. The seropositivity of anti-HIV ELISA screening test was 0.26% in 1991, 0.30% in 1992 and 0.18% in 1993.0.15% of all donors in 1991 was reactive repeatedly, and 0.15% in 1992 and 0.08% in 1993. The prevalence of HIV infected donors confirmed by Western Blot Assay was 0.0003% in 1991, 0.0015% in 1992, and 0.0009% in 1993. The sero-positivities of anti-HIV screening tests with AIDSDIA reagent and HIVIRO reagent were 0.32% and 0.17% and the difference was significantly(p<0.05). The sero-positivities of ELISA screening and Western Blot. Assay detecting anti-HIV were lower in soldier group than in non-soldier donor group (p< 0.05).
Blood Donors* ; Blood Transfusion ; Blotting, Western ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; HIV* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Mass Screening ; Military Personnel ; Prevalence* ; Red Cross ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: Asthma causes recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and cough. These symptoms are usually associated with widespread but variable airflow limitation that is partly reversible either spontaneously or with treatment. The inflammation also causes an associated increase in airway resposiveness to a variety of stimuli. METHOD: Of the 403 adult bronchial asthma patients enrolled from March 1992 to March 1994 in Allergy Clinics of Severance Hospital in Yonsei University, this study reviewed the 97 cases to evaluate the treatment effects and to analyse prognostic factors. The patients were classified to five groups according to treatment responses ; group 1 (non control group) : patients who were not controlled during following up, group 2 (high step treatment group) : patients who were controlled longer than 3 months by step 3 or 4 treatment of 'Global initiative for asthma, Global strategy for asthma management and prevention' (NHLBI/UNO) with PFR(%) larger than 8055, group 3 (short term control group) : patients who were controlled less than 1 year by step 1 or 2 treatment of NHLBI/WHO, group 4 (intermediate term control group) : patients who were controlled for more than 1 year but less than 2 years by step 1 or 2 treatment of NHLBI/HNO, group 5 (long term control group). patients who were controlled for more than 2 years by step 1 or 2 treatment of NHHI/WHO. Especially the patients who were controlled more than 1 year with negatively converted methacholine test and no eosinophil in sputum were classified to methacholine negative conversion group. We reviewed patients' history, atopy score, total IgE, specific IgE, methacholine PC2O and Peripheral blood eosinophil counts pulmonary function test steroid doses and aggrevation numbers after treatment. RESULTS: On analysis of 98 patients, 20 cases(20.6%) were classified to group 1, 26 cases(26.8%) to group 2, 23 cases(23.7%) to group 3, 15 cases(15.5%) to group 4, and 13 cases(13.4%) to groups 5. There were no differences of sex, asthma type, family history, smoking history, allergic rhinitis and aspirin allergy among the groups. In long term control group, asthma onset age was younger, symptom duration was shorter, and Initial pulmonary function was better. The long term control group required 1ower amounts of oral steroid, had less aggrevation during first 3months after starting treatment and shorter duration from enrollment to control. Atopy, allergic skin tests sputum and blood eosinophil, total IgE, nonspecific bronchial resposiveness was not significantly different among the groups. Seven out of 28 patients who were controlled more than 1 years showed negatively converted methachloine test and no eosinophils in the sputum. The mean control duration was 20.3α9.7 months and relapse did not occur. CONCLUSION: Patients who had asthma of onset age younger, shorter symptom duration better PFT, lower treatment initial steps, lower amounts of steroid needs and less aggravation numbers after starting treatment were classified in the long term control groups compared to the others.
Adult ; Age of Onset ; Aspirin ; Asthma* ; Cough ; Eosinophils ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunoglobulin E ; Inflammation ; Methacholine Chloride ; Recurrence ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Respiratory Sounds ; Rhinitis ; Skin Tests ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Sputum ; Thorax

PURPOSE: To evaluate the various phosphorus metabolism' of breast tumors with use of in vivo phosphorus-31 (31P) M R spectroscopy (MRS) MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five patients with breast tumor (benign in two, malignant in three) and three normal healthy volunteers participated in this study. All in vivo31P MRS examinations were performed on 1.5 Twhole-body MRI/MRS system by using a Free Induction Decay (FID) pulse sequence. Tl-weighted MR images were used for localization of tumors. Peak areas for each phosphorus metabolite were measured using a Marquart algorithm. RESULTS: Breast carcinoma had a substantially larger phosphomonoester (PME) and a smaller phosphocreatine (PCr) peak intensity than normal breast tissue. This was reflected in the relatively higher PME/PCr ratio of breast carcinomas as well as phosphodiester (PDE)/PCr, inorganic phosphate (Pi)/PCr, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP)/PCr ratios, compared with normal controls. The mean pH value of breast tumor demonstrating the alkaline nature was higher than that of normal controls. Spectral patterns between benign breast disease and normal breast tissue were quite similar, and differentiation was not established. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary study suggests that in vivo 31P MRS is a noninvasive examination which may be useful in the early differentiation of malignant breast tumors from normal and benign conditions. However, normal control and benign conditions could not be characterized on the basis of the phosphorus metabolite ratios.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Breast Diseases ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy* ; Phosphocreatine ; Phosphorus ; Spectrum Analysis