BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Magnetic resonance angiography is helpful noninvasive evaluation of intracranial arteries and, in some patients, may spare invasive angiography which has potentially serious complication. However, it's diagnostic value in vertebrobasilar artery disease has not yet been evaluated. METHODS: MRA and axial brain MRI of 47 patients with acute cerebellar and/or brainstem ischemia, 26 patients with middle cerebral artery territory infarction, and 40 age matched normal controls were reviewed. Patients wit potential risks of cardiac embolization were excluded. MR Angiography was performed by three dimensional time-of-flight gradient-echo technique. Th diagnosis of vessel stenosis was made only when the lumen diameter was reduced by less than 50% on 3-D images to avoid overestimation of MR angiography. RESULTS: Forty-seven patients had cerebellar and/or brainstem infarction: with signal hyperintensities in T2-weighted MRI sequences. Pons was the most common infarcted site(28/47), followed by medulla (17/47), and cerebellum (11/47). The sensitivity of MR angiography in detecting vascular occlusive lesions of vertebrobasilar artery was 57.5% (28/47) in cerebellar and/or brainstem infarction patients, while 7 of 26 (26.9%) in middle cerebral artery territory infarction, and 2 of 40 (5%) in age matched control subjects showed occlusion or stenosis. MR angiography detected vascular occlusive lesions more frequently on vertebral arteries (25/47, 53.2%) than basilar artery (13/47, 27.7%). And occlusive or stenotic lesions of vertebral arteries were ipsilateral to ischemic lesion sites in 12 of 17 patients(70.6%), There was no difference between deep small lacunar stroke and perforator occlusion in pons. Absence of flow void on axial T2W imaging was seen only in 9 of 47 patients (19.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The results in this present study suggest that MR angiography is moderately sensitive diagnostic tool in vertebrobasilar occlusive disease although it has limitation in detection of smaller branches occlusion. Except vertebral arteries occlusion, absence of flow void in axial MR imaging is not a reliable findings.
Angiography ; Arteries ; Basilar Artery ; Brain ; Brain Stem Infarctions* ; Brain Stem* ; Cerebellum ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Infarction ; Ischemia ; Magnetic Resonance Angiography* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Cerebral Artery ; Pons ; Stroke, Lacunar ; Vertebral Artery

No abstract available.
Atrial Natriuretic Factor* ; Humans* ; Lymph Nodes* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction*

An age-dependent cellular change of DNA contents in the testis of Sprague-Dawley rats was investigated by flow-cytometric method. Testicular cell suspensions at the age of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 26 weeks were prepared and stained with propidium iodide. The relative proportions in the number of mature and immature haploid (1n), diploid (2n), S-phase and tetraploid (4n) cells were calculated. The proportion in the number of mature haploid cells was sharply increased to the age of 10 weeks (about 38%), thereafter increased slightly to the level of 42% at the age of 26 weeks. The proportion of immature haploid cells was dramatically increased to the age of 6 weeks, then maintained at the level of 20 to 30% thereafter. The proportion of diploid cells was 64% at the age of 4 weeks, then decreased gradually through the age of 26 weeks. The proportion of S-phase cells was increased to the age of 4 weeks, then maintained at a plateau level to the age of 26 weeks. The proportion of tetraploid cells were about 26% at the age of 4 weeks, then decreased gradually to the age of 26 weeks. These results suggest that the proportions of testicular cells may depend on the age of the rat and that the flow cytometric method may be useful in the evaluation of the spermatogenic status with regard to accuracy and sensitivity.
Animals ; DNA/*analysis/genetics ; Diploidy ; Flow Cytometry/methods/veterinary ; Haploidy ; Male ; Rats ; Spermatogenesis ; Testis/chemistry/*growth & development

OBJECTIVES: This study uses meta-analysis methodology to examine the statistical consistency and importance of random variation among results of epidemiologic studies of occupational electromagnetic field exposure and leukemia. METHODS: Studies for this meta-analysis were identified from previous reviews and by asking researcher active in this field for recommendations. Overall, 27 studies of occupational electromagnetic field exposures and leukemia were reviewed. A variety of meta-analysis statistical methods have been used to assess combined effects, to identify heterogeneity, and to provide a single summary risk estimate based on a set of simiar epidemiologic studies. In this study, classification of exposure metircs on occupational epidemiologic studies are reported for (1) job classification (20 individual studies); (2) leukemia subtypes (13 individual studies); and (3) country (27 individual studies). RESULTS: Results of this study, an inverse-variance weighted pooling of all the data leads to a small but significant elevation in risk of 11% (OR=1.11, 95% CI : 1.06~1.16) among 27 occupational epidemiologic studies. Publication bias was assessed by the 'fail-safe n' that may be not influence for all combined results exception a few categories, ie, "power station operators" and "electric utility workers" by job classification on occupational study. And all combined odds ratio results were similar for fixed-effects models and random-effects models, with slightly higher risk estimates for the random-effects model in situations where there was significant heterogeneity, ie, Q-statistic significant (p<.05). CONCLUSIONS: We found a small elevation in risk of leukemia, but the ubiquitous nature of exposure to electromagnetic fields from workplace makes even a weak association a public health issue of substantial power to influence the present overall conclusion about relationship between electromagnetic fields exposure and leukemia.
Classification ; Electromagnetic Fields* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Leukemia* ; Magnets* ; Odds Ratio ; Population Characteristics ; Public Health ; Publication Bias

No abstract available.
Colon* ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage* ; Varicose Veins*

No abstract available.
Lymphoma, Large-Cell, Anaplastic*

OBJECTIVES: In HFRS, there is a varying degree of disseminated intravascular coagulation which was evident in the early phase of the illness. It is believed also that DIC would be the consequence, at least in part, of functional changes of endothelium resulting in kinin activation and clinical syndrome. This study investigated the role of adhesion molecule in the pathogenesis of Hantaan virus-related disease. METHODS: The expression of ICAM-1 antigen on the cell membrane of human umbilical vein endothelial cells was assessed by immunohistochemistry, and ICAM-1 mRNA in the endothelial cells was assessed by in situ hybridization after Hantaan virus infection (2.6 x 10(4) PFU/mL) with the time course. RESULTS: In immunohistochemistry, the number of ICAM-1 positive cells increased with time during the 12 or 24 hours after infection. 5 to 10% of HUVECs had been positive after 12-24 hours and the number of positive cells decreased abruptly after 24 hours. Hantaan antigen had been noticed after 12 hours focally on the HUVECs but continued to proliferate into day 7 post-infection when most of HUVECs were infected by Hantaan virus. In situ hybridization showed identical patterns of ICAM-1 mRNA expression after Hantaan virus infection. CONCLUSION: It implies that the Hantaan virus infection on HUVECs would express more ICAM-1 on their surface and implicated in the pathogenesis of early clinical syndrome of HFRS.
Cell Line ; Endothelium, Vascular/virology ; Endothelium, Vascular/immunology ; Gene Expression ; Hantaan Virus/pathogenicity* ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome/immunology* ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome/genetics ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome/etiology ; Human ; Immunohistochemistry ; In Situ Hybridization ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1/metabolism* ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1/genetics* ; RNA, Messenger/metabolism ; RNA, Messenger/genetics

No abstract available.
Cytogenetics* ; Gestational Age*

No abstract available.
Antibodies* ; Rheumatic Diseases*

Background: Contact between the human pulmonary system and bacteria, viruses, or other pathogens can induce airway diseases. Although pathogen-induced mucus oversecretion and hyperproduction are frequently observed in the human respiratory tract, the molecular mechanisms of pathogen-induced mucus hypersecretion and overproduction remain unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the physiological signaling mechanism of ATP-induced MUC8 gene expression in human airway epithelial cells. Methods: Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, a cytokine array, and a Ca2+ concentration assay were performed to investigate the ATP/P2Y2-induced MUC8 gene expression levels in human airway epithelial cells. Results: The ATP/P2Y2 complex robustly secreted interleukin (IL)-6 in a time-dependent manner, whereas siRNA-P2Y2 did not. Moreover, ATP/P2Y2 induced MUC8 gene expression. IL-6 secreted by ATP strongly elevated ATP/P2Y2-induced MUC8 gene expression compared to ATP/P2Y2. Interestingly, a specific STAT3 inhibitor, 5,15-DPP, dramatically inhibited ATP/P2Y2/IL-6-induced STAT3 phosphorylation and resulted in an approximately 5-fold decrease in MUC8 gene expression. Conclusions We showed that IL-6-activated STAT6 is essential for ATP/P2Y2-induced MUC8 gene expression as part of inflammatory signaling by cytokines during airway inflammation. Our results provide a new molecular understanding of the signaling mechanism of MUC8 gene expression during airway inflammation.