For parthenogenetic activation as a model system of nuclear transfer, microinjection and electroporation as activation treatments in bovine metaphase II oocytes were administered to each of three groups as follows: control group (treatments with Ca2+, Mg2+ -free PBS+100 micro M EGTA), IP3 group (control+25 micro M IP3) and IP3+ ryanodine group (control+25 micro M IP3+10 mM ryanodine). In experiments using microinjection, no significant differences were observed between any of the developmental stages of the electroporation experiment. For electroporation, cleavage rates were significantly higher in the IP3+ryanodine group than in the IP3 or control group (85.6% vs 73.7% or 67.6%, respectively). In the subsequent stages of embryonic development, such as morula and blastocyst formation, the IP3 and ryanodine group exhibited significantly higher rates of morula fomation than the IP3 or control groups (40.6% vs 24.2% or 16.7%, respectively). Similarly, the rate of blastocyst formation in the IP3+ryanodine group was significantly higher than the control group (16.3% vs 6.9%) but did not differ significantly from the IP3 group (16.3% vs 9.5%). In nuclear transfer, activation was performed at 30 hpm by microinjection and elecroporation with 25 micro M IP3+ 10 mM ryanodine followed by 6-DMAP treatment. No significant differences were observed at any stage of embryonic development and none of the embryos activated by electroporation reached either the morula or blastocyst stage. However, 3.8% and 1.9% of embryos activated by microinjection sucessfully developed to the morula and blastocyst stages, respectively. In conclusion, activation treatments using IP3 and ryanodine are able to support the development of bovine parthenogenetic and reconstructed embryos.
Adenine/administration & dosage/*analogs & derivatives/pharmacology ; Animals ; Cattle/*embryology/physiology ; Cell Fusion ; Electroporation/veterinary ; Embryonic and Fetal Development/*drug effects ; Enzyme Inhibitors/administration & dosage/pharmacology ; Female ; Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate/administration & dosage/*pharmacology ; Microinjections/veterinary ; Nuclear Transfer Techniques ; Oocytes/drug effects/growth & development ; Parthenogenesis/*drug effects ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; Ryanodine/administration & dosage/*pharmacology ; Skin/cytology

The present work was to observe the wormicidal effects of the external mucous substance of Carassius carassius and Pseudorasbora parva on cercaria, metacercaria (liberating) and adult of Clonorchis sinensis. The mucous substance which was extracted by ether was separated into various spots on the silica gel thin layer chromatography and separated into various fractions in the silica gel column chromatography, using petroleum ether(30 percent) and chloroform(70 percent) as solvent. R(f) 0.952 value of the silica gel thin layer chromatography and the first fraction (reddish yellow) frorn the silica gel column chromatography of the ether extracts from C. carassius had the wormicidal effect on all of the developing stages of C. sinensis. Cercaria was killed within 14 minutes, metacercaria within 27 minutes and adult 2.5 hours by the first fraction. But in the normal saline solution (control) and in the other fraction, cercaria and metacercaria were alive more than 24 hours and adult more than 72 hours. The extracts from the mucous substance of P. parva that is well penetrated by cercaria had no wormicidal effect on them.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; clonorchiasis-Clnorchis sinensis ; metacercaria ; Carassius carassius ; Pseudorasbora parva ; mucous substance ; chromatography

Low back pain and sciatica is a common cause of physical disability and reduces the activity of the patient, which have a negative effect to a society and enigmatic to the concerned physician. Concerning to thecauses of low back pain and sciatica, direct mechanical compression exerted by protruded disc material on nerve roots has been widely accepted as a main factor. There is, however, a good deal of indirect evidence, which suggests that inflammatory changes, present in and around affected nerve roots, may also be of importance in the production of the pain. One hundred and twelve patients suffering from low back pain and/or sciatica.have been treated by epidural injection of methyl-prednisolone acetate 80mg and l% lidocaine 4cc, at Wonju Christian Hospital, Yonsei University Wonju Medical College from June, 1979 to April, 1983. Present study was done to analyse the effect of epidural steroid injection on low back pain and sciatica. The success of the injection was assessed strictly according to the subjective response of the patient. The results of this study are as follow: The overall effect of the epidural steroid injection; 26 patients(23%) were completely relieved of symptoms, 33 patients(29%) were markedly improved, 23 patients(21%,) were moderately improved, 30 patients(27%) stated that they had no relief from the injection. 2. As for a major causative disease of low back pain and sciatica, herniated lumbar disc, 65 patients(58%), was found. Secondly, 12 patients(11%) was degenerative spondylitis and 11 patients (10%) was lumbar sprain. 3. The patients who had only low back pain or sciatica without neurologic deficit showed much better improvement as 91 and 88. 4. A better result noted in the patients had symptoms for three months or less comparing with the patients having symptoms longer than three months. 5. The patients wiho had not been treated or concervatively treated prior to the injection represented better improvement comparing with the patients previously by surgical method. 6. Thirty eight(68%) of 56 patients who had history of trauma, and 44 patients(79%) of 56 patients who had no previous trauma history showed a moderate or better improvement. 7. No significant difference was found in the effect of injection according to ficdings of the routine roentgenography and myelography. 8. The patients who were responsible for the expenses of the treatment showed better improvement. 9. The symptoms were recurred in 19 patients(17%) within two months, and five of whom experienced marked and moderate pain improvement with second injection. The results suggest that the epidural steroid injection is relatively simple method with rere complication and more effective for treatment of low back pain and sciatica which may prevent the chronic pain when it is performed in the early stage with other conservative treatment.
Chronic Pain ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Injections, Epidural ; Lidocaine ; Low Back Pain ; Methods ; Myelography ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Radiography ; Sciatica ; Spondylitis ; Sprains and Strains

BACKGROUND: Mushroom poisonings are infrequent but potentially fatal. Most fatalities are due to the amatoxin containing species, particularly Amanita phalloides, Amanita virosa, Amanita verna which cause fulminant hepatic failure often with encephalopathy. METHODS: We experienced twenty two patients with acute mushroom poisoning admitted to Dong San hospital, Keimyung University through emergency department between January 1990 and September 1997. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 40.0 years and the ratio of male to female was 1 : 0.83. Seasonal distribution is 10 patients in July, 3 in August and 9 in September. The mean interval between ingestion and early symptom onset was 9.7 hours. Most of the patients had early gastrointestinal symptoms; abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. except for a patient with associated mental change. The subsequent symptoms and signs follow up admission were fulminant hepatic failure(72.7%), renal failure(31.8%), mental change(27.3%), acute pancreatitis(9.1%), pericardial effusion(4.5%) and erythematous rash(4.5%). The outcomes of the patients were recovery(72.7%), death(18.2%) and hopeless discharge(9.1%). CONCLUSION: The patients who have mushroom poisoning are misdiagnosed as having viral gastroenteritis and are discharged frequently. The doctors and people should be educated not to overlook the severity of mushroom poisoning.
Abdominal Pain ; Agaricales* ; Amanita ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastroenteritis ; Humans ; Liver Failure, Acute ; Male ; Mushroom Poisoning* ; Nausea ; Seasons ; Vomiting

Achromobacter xylosoxidans is a non-fermentative, aerobic, oxidase, and catalase-positive Gram-negative rod similar to Pseudomonas species. This organism colonizes aquatic environments and can cause nosocomial infections, especially in patients with immune deficiency such as human immunodeficiency virus infection, cancer, cystic fibrosis, neutropenia, and immunoglobulin M deficiency. Infections are found as bacteremia, pneumonia, meningitis, urinary tract infection, abscess formation, and osteomyelitis. It is known that most effective antibiotics are piperacillin/tazobactam, meropenem, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazol. But there is no optimal antibiotic therapy so far. We present a case of Achromobacter xylosoxidans bacteremia in a 13-month-old Korean girl who had past history of neutropenia.
Abscess ; Achromobacter denitrificans* ; Achromobacter* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteremia* ; Child* ; Colon ; Cross Infection ; Cystic Fibrosis ; Female ; HIV ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin M ; Infant ; Meningitis ; Neutropenia* ; Osteomyelitis ; Oxidoreductases ; Pneumonia ; Pseudomonas ; Urinary Tract Infections

BACKGROUND: Quantitative myocardial perfusion scintigraphy with thallium-201 has provided an increase in accuracy of coronary artery disease detection. Myocardial uptake and clearance data based on thallium-201 kinetics in normal subjects is using in quantitative interpretation of myocardial perfusion scan. Exercise and pharmacologic stress make different hemodynamic effects and different myocardial uptake and clearance of thallium-201. Effect of background subtraction on thallium-201 myocardial perfusion scintigraphy may also be different due to different thallium-201 biokinetics in each type of stress used. This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of the background subtraction on myocardial thallium-201 biokinetics according to the type of stress used. METHODS: Fifteen healthy volunteers underwent planar thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging with peak treadmill exercise and intravenous infusion of dipyridamole, adenosine, or dobutamine. Each subject underwent another planar thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging at 4 hour later, as a redistribution imaging. Count densities from ROIs(regions of interest) drawn over left ventricle, lung, and liver were compared between before- and after background subtraction. RESULTS: Before background subtraction, absolute myocardial thallium-201 uptake was greater after pharmacologic testing than exercise testing in both stress and redistribution imaging. Myocardial thallium-201 clearance was lower during pharmacologic stress than exercise. After background subtraction, myocardial thallium-201 uptake was higher during exercise than pharmacologic testing. The percentage change in clearance was higher with exercise testing, while the percentage change in uptake was higher with pharmacologic testing. CONCLUSION: Thallium-201 uptake and clearance in heart and adjacent structure were different between adenosine, dipyridamole, dobutamine, and exercise testing. Background subtraction results in different myocardial uptake and clearance data due to different extracardiac uptake subtracted in each stress method. The diagnostic criteria for quantitative analysis of myocardial perfusion imaging must be specified for types of myocardial stress and processes used for background subtraction.
Adenosine* ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Dipyridamole* ; Dobutamine* ; Exercise Test ; Healthy Volunteers ; Heart ; Heart Ventricles ; Hemodynamics ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Kinetics* ; Liver ; Lung ; Myocardial Perfusion Imaging ; Myocardium* ; Perfusion ; Perfusion Imaging

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that the direction of the J-tip of the guidewire during insertion into the internal jugular vein (IJV) might determine its ultimate location. METHODS: In this study, 300 patients between the ages of 18 and 99 years who required central venous catheterization via IJV in the emergency department enrolled for randomization. IVJ catheterization was successful in 285 of 300 patients. An independent operator randomly prefixed the direction of the J-tip of the guidewire to one of three directions. Based on the direction of the J-tip, patients were allocated into three groups: the J-tip medial-directed group (Group A), the lateral-directed group (Group B), or the downward-directed group (Group C). Postoperative chest radiography was performed on all patients in order to visualize the location of the catheter tip. A catheter is considered malpositioned if it is not located in the superior vena cava or right atrium. RESULTS: Of the total malpositioned catheter tips (8 of 285; 2.8%), the majority (5 of 8; 62.5%) entered the contralateral subclavian vein, 2 (25.0%) were complicated by looping, and 1 (12.5%) entered the ipsilateral subclavian vein. According to the direction of the J-tip of the guidewire, the incidence of malpositioning of the catheter tip was 4 of 92 in Group A (4.3%), 4 of 96 in Group B (4.2%), and there were no malpositions in Group C. There were no significant differences among the three groups (p = 0.114). CONCLUSIONS: The direction of the J-tip of the guidewire had no statistically significant effect on incidence of malpositioned tips.
Catheterization ; Catheterization, Central Venous ; Catheters* ; Central Venous Catheters ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Heart Atria ; Humans ; Incidence ; Jugular Veins* ; Radiography ; Random Allocation ; Subclavian Vein ; Thorax ; Vena Cava, Superior

The epidermal mucous substances of C. carassius which were extracted by ether were separated into various spots on the silica gel thin layer chromatography and separated into various fractions in the silica gel column chromatography, using petroleum ether (30 percent) and chloroform(70 percent) as a solvent. The wormicidal effects of the spots and the fractions on the cercaria, the liberating metacercaria and the adult of C. sinensis, were observed by month giving attention to ambient water temperature. Among the four spots of the thin 1ayer chromatography of the ether extracts from C. carassius, the uppermost first spots (Rf. 0.924-0965) had a strong wormicidal effect on the cercaria in May, June, July, August and September, and the cercaria which came in contact with the materials was killed in 29-49 min., but in other months (Rf. 0.612-0.752) it was killed only after 50-115 min. In column chromatography of ether extracts from C. carassius, the first fractions which had a wormicidal effect killed the metacercariae within 38-163 min. in May, June, July, August, and September, but it took about 120-458 min. to kill them in other months, meanwhile the wormicidal time of the fractions on the adults was 445-835 min. in May, June, July, August and September, but was 878-2,130 min. in other months. The Rf. value of the uppermost first spot of the thin layer chromatography of ether extrart from the mucous substance of C. carassius which was reared in the aquarium controlled at 23 C was 0.79, and its first fraction of column chromatography killed the metacercaria and the adult of C. sinensis within 315, and 1,850 min. respectively. As summarized above, the wormicidal materials of the epidermal mucous substances of C. carassius had no relation to ambient water temperature, but the secretion period of this wormicidal materials was the same as the liberating period of the cercariae from Parafossarulus manchouricus.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Clonorchis sinensis ; Carassius carassius ; Parafossarulus manchouricus ; chromatography ; mucous substance

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes for surgical treatment with those for medical treatment of GB dyskinesia. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of medical records and telephone interviews of 67 patients diagnosed with GB dyskinesia was done at Pohang St. Mary's Hospital between January 2004 and December 2009. Group 1 (n=18) patients received laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Group 2 (n=49) patients received medical treatment. GB dyskinesia was the diagnosis if the patient had typical biliary colic symptoms without GB stones or other GI disease, and if the ejection fraction was less than 35% on Tc-99m-DISIDA scans. RESULTS: The average age of patients diagnosed with GB dyskinesia was 45.8 years old. The sex ratio was 15:52 (male:female). The average symptom duration was 25.4 days. All had RUQ and, or epigastric pain. There were no significant between group differences in age, sex ratio, symptom duration, symptoms, follow up period, and ejection fraction. In group 1, patient symptoms improved after treatment in 16 cases (88.9%); in group 2, patient symptoms improved in 19 cases (38.8%). Surgical treatment was significantly more effective than medical treatment. The reasons for choosing medical treatment were predominantly the preference of the doctors. CONCLUSION: Surgical treatment is a more effective treatment for GB dyskinesia than medical treatment. Therefore, laparoscopic cholecystectomy should be considered as the 1st line treatment of choice for GB dyskinesia.
Biliary Dyskinesia ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic ; Colic ; Dyskinesias ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gallbladder ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Ratio

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a small-bodied, popular New World monkey and is used widely in reproductive biology, neuroscience, and drug development, due to its comparative ease of handling, high reproductive efficiency, and its unique behavioral characters. In this review, we discuss the marmoset models in Parkinson's disease (PD), which is a neurological movement disorder primarily resulting from a degeneration of dopaminergic neurons with clinical features of tremor, rigidity, postural instability, and akinesia. The most common PD models involve the administration of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) or 6-hydroxydopamine to study the pathogenesis and to evaluate novel therapies. Following the systemic or local administration of these neurotoxins, the marmosets with very severe Parkinson's symptoms are recommended to be placed in an intensive care unit with artificial feeding to increase survival rate. All procedures with MPTP should be conducted in a special room with enclosed cages under negative-pressure by trained researchers with personal protection. Behavioral tests are conducted to provide an external measure of the brain pathology. Along with several biomarkers, including alpha-synuclein and DJ-1, non-invasive neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are used to evaluate the functional changes associated with PD. With the recent growing interest in potential and novel therapies such as stem cell and gene therapy for PD in Korea, the marmoset can be considered as a suitable non-human primate model in PD research to bridge the gap between rodent studies and clinical applications.
1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine ; alpha-Synuclein ; Animals* ; Biomarkers ; Biology ; Brain Diseases ; Callithrix* ; Dopaminergic Neurons ; Genetic Therapy ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Methods* ; Models, Animal ; Movement Disorders ; Neuroimaging ; Neurosciences ; Neurotoxins ; Nutritional Support ; Oxidopamine ; Parkinson Disease* ; Platyrrhini ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Primates ; Rodentia ; Stem Cells ; Survival Rate ; Tremor