We studied the effect of prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor on the ocular hypotensive action of apraclonidine in a prospective, double-masked study. Twenty normal volunteers were studied. Suprofen, cyclooxygenase;nhibitor and apraclonidine were applied to one eye, and normal saline and apraclonidine to the other eye. Intraocular pressure(IOP) was then measured hourly in both eyes for 7 hours. The results showed significant reduction in mean IOP of both eyes one hour after apraclonidine application. The differences of IOP between the suprofen-treated eyes and control eyes were significant at 2 hours following treatment(p<0.05), reached maximum at 3 to 4 hours(p<0.01) and lasted until 7 hours(p<0.05). In suprofentreated eyes, there was less reduction of mean IOP than in control eyes. These results suggest that this reduction of IOP is at least in part mediated by prostaglandins or other cyclooxygenase products, since suprofen inhibits the ocular hypotensive effect of topically applied apraclonidine.
Double-Blind Method ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans* ; Intraocular Pressure ; Prospective Studies ; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases ; Prostaglandins ; Suprofen*

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to develop a computerized reminder system and evaluate it's effect in terms of percent age change of screening, and satisfaction. METHOD: It was conducted through 6 phases : Analyzing the job and defining the basic input data, developing the information system, collecting and inputting data, testing the system, working with the system, and evaluating it's effect. Participants were 787 people (female 30-69 years, and males 40-49 years) in 2 dong of Suyoung gu, Busan, who haven't had cancer screening for the stomach, breast, or cervix since Dec. 2000. There were three experimental groups: a letter; calling and calling after the letter reminder, and a non-equivalent control group. To determine whether services were obtained, a telephone survey was done after two months of follow-up. RESULT: A cancer screening information system with five DB modules was develped. Overall compliance with screening was not statistically significantly changedbefore and after applying computerized reminders for all three screening sites. Only 16% were satisfied with the reminder. CONCLUSION: This data didn't show that a reminder effort was effective of screening. However, because the evaluation interval was too short to find a difference in screening rate, we recommend additional longer prospective follow up studies.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Patient Compliance ; *Reminder Systems ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: I adopted two genomics technology, high-density microarray and DNA pooling for identification of knee osteoarthritis susceptibility loci in human genome. MATERIAL AND METHODS: DNA was purified from periphral blood from 26 cases of female osteoarthritis patients and 26 normal female controls. DNAs are pooled and used in microarray analysis. Results from qualitative analysis of microarray showed that 708 SNPs differ between case and control. RESULTS: Of 708 SNPs, 167 SNPs were clustered. These SNPs constitute 23 'Clustered SNPs' and 64 genes were marked. 20 Clustered SNPs were marked at the same gene. So total 67 loci were identified. Among them ST6GALIII and CHST9 were genes coding structural proteins of cartilage. FATJ and CDH12 were genes coding cadherins related with cell-cell interaction. GRM7 codes metabotropic glutamate receptor 7 which is related with pain perception in arthritis. PLA2G4A codes phospholipase 2 which is related with production of inflammatory molecules. CONCLUSION: These gene loci are candidates for further genomic and functional analysis to clarify the genetic predisposition in knee osteoarthritis.
Arthritis ; Cadherins ; Cartilage ; Clinical Coding ; DNA* ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genome, Human ; Genomics ; Humans ; Knee* ; Microarray Analysis ; Osteoarthritis ; Osteoarthritis, Knee* ; Pain Perception ; Phospholipases ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate

PURPOSE: To investigate the prevalence and risk factors of atherosclerotic disease of the extracranial carotid artery in healthy Korean population. METHODS: Eight hundred twenty-five patients without previous history of transient ischemic attack, amaurosis fugax, and/or any neurologic deficit who underwent carotid artery ultrasonography were evaluated retrospectively. The patients were divided into five groups according to the degree of carotid artery stenosis using real-time B-mode high resolution ultrasonography; Group A-normal carotid artery, Group B-below 30% of carotid artery stenosis, Group C-from 31% to 50% of carotid artery stenosis, Group D-from 51% to 70% of carotid artery stenosis, Group E-above 71% of carotid artery stenosis. Medical Records of all patients were investigated for following factors; sex, age, family history, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, total cholesterol, HDL- cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, TG (triglyceride), HbA-1c (hemoglobin A-1c), and folate. RESULTS: 12.5% of asymptomatic patients have carotid stenosis due to atherosclerosis of extracranial carotid artery. The prevalence of extracranial carotid artery stenosis was as follows; Group B: 2.2%, Group C: 7.0%, Group D: 3.0%. The age, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HbA-1c were significantly higher in Group B, C, D than Group A (P=0.001, 0.016, 0.011, 0.001). The prevalence of diabetes and hypertension were significantly higher in Group B, C, D than Group A. Other factors, however, were not different among the groups. CONCLUSION: Asymptomatic carotid artherosclerosis is not uncommon in Korea. Carotid ultrasonography would be necessary for patients with hypertension, diabetes, and high serum cholesterol level.
Amaurosis Fugax ; Atherosclerosis ; Carotid Arteries ; Carotid Artery Diseases* ; Carotid Stenosis ; Cholesterol ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Endarterectomy ; Folic Acid ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Ischemic Attack, Transient ; Korea* ; Medical Records ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Prevalence* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stroke ; Ultrasonography

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of lecithin, mono-glyceride and mono-diglyceride on apparent total tract and ileal nutrient digestibilities in nursery pigs. Twenty [(Landrace x Yorkshire) x Duroc] barrows were surgically fitted with simple T-cannulas. Dietary treatments included 1) CON (basal diet: soy oil), 2) LO (lecithin 0.5%), 3) MO (mono-glyceride 0.5%), 4) MG (mono-glyceride 1.0%) and 5) MDG (mono-diglyceride 1.0%). In apparent total tract nutrient digestibility, dry matter (DM) and gross energy (GE) digestibilities of MDG treatments were higher than LO and MG treatments (p<0.05). In nitrogen (N) digestibility, LO treatment showed the lowest compared to others (p<0.05). The digestibility of crude fat was higher in MDG treatment than CON and LO treatments (p<0.05). In apparent ileal nutrient digestibility, DM digestibility was higher in MDG treatment than LO and MG treatments (p<0.05). GE digestibility was higher in MDG treatment than LO, MO and MG treatments (p<0.05). N digestibility of MDG treatment was greater than LO treatment (p<0.05). Also, the digestibility of crude fat was higher in MDG treatment than CON and LO treatments (p<0.05). In conclusion, mono-diglyceride can increase apparent total tract nutrient and apparent ileal nutrient digestibilities of DM, GE, N and crude fat.
Lecithins ; Nitrogen ; Nurseries ; Swine

Glycogenic acanthosis(GA) of the esophagus,is often found in routine endoscopic examination of the upper GI tract but has not drawn much attention. However, there is controversy concerning the nature, clinical significance and prevalence of this candition. An endoscopic study, performed in 1041 patients, showed that the incidence of GA was 32,9%. Its incidence was found to be significantly higher in male than in female(40.0% vs. 22.1%; p<0.0001) and frequency of high grade(II+III) GA was higher in male than in female(58.1% vs. 45.3~%; p<0.0D01). An increasing tendency was observed with respect to age(X 36~343, p~<0,0001). The frequency of GA was higher in smoker than in non-smoker(49.2% vs. 20.8%; p<0.0001). GA did not have a clear relationship with alcohol intake, dietary habit, condiments, and diet temperature. The frequency of GA was higher in the patient with reflux esophagitis than without reflux esophagitis(3.8% vs. 1.7%; p~<0.05). Therefore, age, sex and smoking appear to be risk factors of GA, as in esophageal carcinoma.
Condiments ; Diet ; Esophagitis, Peptic ; Esophagus ; Food Habits ; Glycogen* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Upper Gastrointestinal Tract

BACKGROUND: Elevated plasma homocysteine is a recently-recognized independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), plasma homocysteine concentration was reported to be elevated in association with nephropathy. However, inconsistent results were reported about the association with other microvascular complications. METHODS: To determine the relationship between plasma homocysteine and the development of chronic diabetic microvascular complications, fasting plasma homocysteine, glycemic control, lipid and lipoprotein levels, vitamin status, renal function test, and chronic diabetic microvascular complications were assessed in 101 patients with NIDDM in the present study. RESULTS: There was no difference in the plasma levels of homocysteine by sex, age, status of sugar control, duration of diabetes, other cardiovascular risk factors. Patients with diabetic microangiopathy had higher plasma homocysteine concentrations than those without diabetic microangiopathy. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between amount of urinary albumin excretion and plasma homocysteine level (p=0.004, r=0.357). However, multivariate analysis showed that only serum creatinine (beta=0.635) was independently associated with plasma homocysteine level in NIDDM patients. The increase in plasma homocysteine was not shown to increase the risk of diabetic microvascular complications independently on multiple logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, decrease of renal function is an independent determinant of plasma homocysteine level and higher plasma homocysteine is associated to diabetic microangiopathy. But an increase in plasma homocysteine in patients with NIDDM is not independently associated with diabetic microvascular complications considering renal function. Therefore, the renal function should be considered in study about relationship between plasma homocysteine level and the development and/or progression of chronic diabetic microvascular complications in diabetic patients.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Creatinine ; Diabetes Complications* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* ; Diabetic Angiopathies ; Fasting ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Hypercalcemia ; Lipoproteins ; Logistic Models ; Multivariate Analysis ; Plasma* ; Risk Factors ; Sclerosis ; Vitamins

BACKGROUNDWater dropwort (Oenanthe javanica) as a popular traditional medicine in Asia shows various biological properties including antioxidant activity. In this study, we firstly examined the neuroprotective effect of Oenanthe javanica extract (OJE) in the hippocampal cornus ammonis 1 region (CA1 region) of the gerbil subjected to transient cerebral ischemia.

METHODSGerbils were established by the occlusion of common carotid arteries for 5 min. The neuroprotective effect of OJE was estimated by cresyl violet staining. In addition, 4 antioxidants (copper, zinc superoxide dismutase [SOD], manganese SOD, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) immunoreactivities were investigated by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSPyramidal neurons in the CA1 region showed neuronal death at 5 days postischemia; at this point in time, all antioxidants immunoreactivities disappeared in CA1 pyramidal neurons and showed in many nonpyramidal cells. Treatment with 200 mg/kg, not 100 mg/kg, OJE protected CA1 pyramidal neurons from ischemic damage. In addition, 200 mg/kg OJE treatment increased or maintained antioxidants immunoreactivities. Especially, among the antioxidants, glutathione peroxidase immunoreactivity was effectively increased in the CA1 pyramidal neurons of the OJE-treated sham-operated and ischemia-operated groups.

CONCLUSIONOur present results indicate that treatment with OJE can protect neurons from transient ischemic damage and that the neuroprotective effect may be closely associated with increased or maintained intracellular antioxidant enzymes by OJE.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; therapeutic use ; Gerbillinae ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Hippocampus ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Ischemic Attack, Transient ; prevention & control ; Male ; Oenanthe ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use

BACKGROUNDOenanthe javanica (O. javanica) has been known to have high antioxidant properties via scavenging reactive oxygen species. We examined the effect of O. javanica extract (OJE) on antioxidant enzymes in the rat liver.

METHODSWe examined the effect of the OJE on copper, zinc-superoxide dismutase (SOD1), manganese superoxide dismutase (SOD2), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in the rat liver using immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three groups; (1) normal diet fed group (normal-group), (2) diet containing ascorbic acid (AA)-fed group (AA-group) as a positive control, (3) diet containing OJE-fed group (OJE-group).

RESULTSIn this study, no histopathological finding in the rat liver was found in all the experimental groups. Numbers of SOD1, SOD2, CAT, and GPx immunoreactive cells and their protein levels were significantly increased in the AA-fed group compared with those in the normal-group. On the other hand, in the OJE-group, numbers of SOD1, SOD2, CAT, and GPx immunoreactive cells in the liver were significantly increased by about 190%, 478%, 685%, and 346%, respectively, compared with those in the AA-group. In addition, protein levels of SOD1, SOD2, CAT, and GPx in the OJE-group were also significantly much higher than those in the AA-group.

CONCLUSIONOJE significantly increased expressions of SOD1 and SOD2, CAT, and GPx in the liver cells of the rat, and these suggests that significant enhancements of endogenous enzymatic antioxidants by OJE might be a legitimate strategy for decreasing oxidative stresses in the liver.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Ascorbic Acid ; pharmacology ; Catalase ; metabolism ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Liver ; drug effects ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Male ; Oenanthe ; chemistry ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

Background: Aging is one of major causes triggering neurophysiological changes in many brain substructures, including the hippocampus, which has a major role in learning and memory. Thioredoxin (Trx) is a class of small redox proteins. Among the Trx family, Trx2 plays an important role in the regulation of mitochondrial membrane potential and is controlled by TrxR2. Hitherto, age-dependent alterations in Trx2 and TrxR2 in aged hippocampi have been poorly investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine changes in Trx2 and TrxR2 in mouse and rat hippocampi by age and to compare their differences between mice and rats. Results: Trx2 and TrxR2 levels using Western blots in mice were the highest at young age and gradually reduced with time, showing that no significant differences in the levels were found between the two subfields. In rats, however, their expression levels were the lowest at young age and gradually increased with time. Nevertheless, there were no differences in cellular distribution and morphology in their hippocampi when it was observed by cresyl violet staining. In addition, both Trx2 and TrxR2 immunoreactivities in the CA1-3 fields were mainly shown in pyramidal cells (principal cells), showing that their immunoreactivities were altered like changes in their protein levels. Conclusions Our current findings suggest that Trx2 and TrxR2 expressions in the brain may be different according to brain regions, age and species. Therefore, further studies are needed to examine the reasons of the differences of Trx2 and TrxR2 expressions in the hippocampus between mice and rats.