No abstract available.
Fetal Blood* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Plasma* ; Sodium*

Male urethral diverticulum is uncommon lesion, furthermore calculus formation within the male urethral diverticulum is very rare. Generally, urethral diverticula are classified as congenital and acquired. The majority of male urethral diverticula are acquired and approximately 10 to 20 per cent are congenital. Acquired urethral diverticula in the male may arise from many sources, including infection (prostatic abscess, infection of periurethral glands, hematoma or schistosomiasis), obstruction (stricture, impacted stone, Cunningham clamp or condom catheter) and trauma (instrumentation, external injury and pelvic fracture). Calculi formation is more common in the acquired diverticulum owing to stagnation of urine and infection. These calculi in the diverticulum usually are solitary and may attain considerable size with predisposing factors, 1) a ureteral or bladder calculus that is lodged in the urethra 2) urethral trauma or stricture, 3) calcification around a foreign body or hair. The treatment of urethral diverticulum combined with stone is excision of the diverticula with removal of stone. We treated two cases of urethral diverticulum combined with stone in the male, and report with review of literature.
Abscess ; Calculi ; Causality ; Condoms ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diverticulum* ; Foreign Bodies ; Hair ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Male* ; Ureter ; Urethra ; Urinary Bladder Calculi

Herniated intervertebral disc(HIVD) of the lumbar spine has been known to be relatively uncommon in the teenager and frequently be associated with trauma. However, with the changing life style and increasing sports activities, and most of all, with the advent of new imaging modalities, the incidence seems to be increasing gradually. In order to define the characteristic pattern of HIVD of teenager in the era of MRI, and to clarify the associated lesions, such as apophyseal ring fractures, authors performed this retrospective study in 55 teenager patients with HIVD(77 discs), in which MRI was used as main diagnostic modality. The following results were obtained 1) The incidence of the HIVD in teenager was 9.6%(55 patients) of total HIVD patients(575 patients) for 4 years from December 1989 to December 1993. 2) According to MRI findings, HIVD of the teenager could be classified into 3 distinct patterns; simple HIVD, lumbar apophyseal ring fracture(LARF), and vertebral rim lesion. 3) In simple HIVD, as for the MRI classification, protruded type was most frequent type and there was no sequestered type 4) In LARF, the incidence was 14.4% of teenager's HIVD and posterocephalad margin of L5 was the most common site of involvement. 5) Exophytic bony protrusion from the posterior margin of vertebral body, which we called vertebral rim lesion, could be defined on MR sagittal view in 6 cases.
Adolescent ; Classification ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intervertebral Disc ; Life Style ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine ; Sports

Nine patients of clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS) were examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 1.0T. The MS plaques were seen in the brain and spinal cord in eight and three patients. respectively. The frequent sites of MS plaques were periventricular white matter, brain stem, and cervical cord. The shape of most brain MS plaques was round or finger-like configuration. The MS plaques showed high signal intensity on R2 weighted images and low or iso signal intensity on T1 weighted images in all nine cases. Contrast enhancement was seen in 4 cases. Mild brain atrophy was noted in 2 cases and mass effect in 1 case. The sites of cord MS plaques in three patients were C2-C4, C2-C5, and C4-C6 levels respectively. The cord MS plaques showed high signal intensity on T2 weighted image and contrast enhancement on Gd-DTPA enhanced T1 weighted images in all 3cases with mild cord expansion in 2 cases. In conclusion, MRI is a useful diagnostic tool in evaluationg the MS plaques involving central nervous system.
Atrophy ; Brain ; Brain Stem ; Central Nervous System ; Cervical Cord ; Gadolinium DTPA ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Multiple Sclerosis* ; Spinal Cord ; White Matter

Endoscopic injection sclerotherapy(EIS) has been widely used in treating and eradicating acutely bleeding esophageal varies, but may be associated with some undesirable local and systemic complications. Endoscopic variceal ligation(EVL), which consists of mechanicai ligation and thrombosis of varices using elastic o-band, has been recently developed as a non operative alternative to EIS. We performed EVL in 65 patients who had bled from esophageal varices between November 1991 and September 1993. Total 274 sessions were performed and 774 o-bands were used. Six patients were actively bleeding and all of them were successfully controlled by emergency EVL. During the follow-up period, five patients who had combined hepatoma died. Varices were eradicated or reduced grade I in 43(71.6%) of the 60 survivals by 8-36 ligations(mean 15.6 ligation) in 2-13 EVL sessions(mean 5.6 sessions). During follow up period, five patients had recurred from grade 0 to grade 2 or 3 in 106-260 days(mean 182.6 days), and then eradicated by repeated EVL. During or after EVL, there were no complications, except mild substernal distress and mild dysphagia in 17 and 7 patients respectively. These results showed that EVL is a safe and effective method for eradication of bleeding esophageal varices.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Deglutition Disorders ; Emergencies ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Ligation* ; Thrombosis ; Varicose Veins

No abstract available.
Child* ; Glomerulonephritis* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome*

Glanzmann's thrombasthenia is a rare autosomal recessive hemorrhagic disorder characterized by prolonged bleeding time, ad deficient or absent clot retraction in the presence of normal platelet count. The major underlying abnormality in this disease is grossly defective first-phase aggregation of platelet, which are unresponsive to ADP or other platelet agonists such as epinephrine, collagen, thrombin in any concentration. This disability is caused by a decrease or absence of the platelet membrans glycoprotein IIb-IIIa complex, a member of the integrin family of adhesive receptors involved in cell-cell and cell-matrix fibronectin, and vitronectin On the development of surface labeling technique, a variety of biochemical techniques such as radioimmunoassay, crossed immunoelectrophoresis and SDS-PAGE have been used to study the structure and the function of platelet membrane glycoproteins, and to detect the platelet functional defect. But all of these techniques demand a relatively large amount of homogeneous paletelet population that requires manipulation through isolation and washing procedures before analysis. In order to eliminaste such an intricate procedure, we have applied method for analyzing platelet surface components in whole blood using monoclonal antibody and flow cytometry to recognize the absence of severe reduction of platelet membrane glycoprotien llb-llla complex. Platelet analysis by flow cytometry is a successful alternative rapid diagnostic technique for Glanzmann's thrombasthenia patients as well as well as for carriers of this disease. Fow cytometry technique provides a sensitive tool for investigating platelet functional defects caused by altered expression or deficiency of platelet surface proteins.
Adenosine Diphosphate ; Adhesives ; Bleeding Time ; Blood Platelets* ; Clot Retraction ; Collagen ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Epinephrine ; Fibronectins ; Flow Cytometry* ; Glycoproteins ; Hemorrhagic Disorders ; Humans ; Immunoelectrophoresis, Two-Dimensional ; Membrane Glycoproteins* ; Membrane Proteins ; Membranes* ; Platelet Count ; Platelet Membrane Glycoproteins ; Radioimmunoassay ; Thrombasthenia* ; Thrombin ; Vitronectin

BACKGROUND: Naringin, one of the flavonoids in citrus fruit peels, is known to have antioxidant and hepatotonic effects in animal studies. We evaluated the effect of naringin on 1) blood lipid profiles, 2) regression of fatty streak of aorta, and 3) liver toxicity in diet-induced hypercholesterolemic rabbits. METHODS: New Zealand White Rabbits (2.0 - 2.5 Kg) were divided to three groups; group without treatment, group treated with 100 mg/kg/d or 500 mg/kg/d naringin, and group treated with 1 mg/kg/d or 20 mg/kg/d lovastatin. They were fed on 0.25% or 1.0% cholesterol-containing diet for 8 weeks and then sacrificed. Blood samples were collected for measurement of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, serum GOT and GPT. Aortas and livers were harvested for evaluation of fatty streak and pathologic examination. RESULTS: 1)Feeding of 1% cholesterol diet for eight weeks significantly increased the cholesterol level upto 20 folds. Neither lovastatin nor naringin did lower these marked hypercholesterolemia. But both naringin (500 mg/kg/d) and lovastatin (1 mg/kg/d) significantly reduced the area of fatty streak by 75% and 58%, respectively. Naringin was more effective in inhibition of fat infiltration into liver than lovastatin which showed hepatotoxicity as increase of serum GPT level (p=0.01). 2)Feeding of 0.25% cholesterol diet for eight weeks significantly increased the cholesterol level upto 17 folds. Total cholesterol and triglyceride levels tended to decrease by treatment with naringin (500 mg/kg/d) and lovastatin (20 mg/kg/d), but this decreases were not statistically significant. However, areas of fatty streak significantly decreased by treatment with naringin and lovastatin by 64 and 82%, respectively (p<0.05). Microscopic analysis revealed that foam cell infiltration into intima was significantly reduced by naringin and lovastatin. In contrast to lovastatin, naringin significantly reduced the level of serum GPT (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Like lovastatin, naringin has strong antiatherogenic action which may not be associated with its very mild lipid lowering action. In contrast to lovastatin, naringin does have hepatoprotective effect.
Animals ; Aorta ; Cholesterol ; Citrus ; Diet ; Flavonoids ; Foam Cells ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Liver ; Lovastatin ; Rabbits* ; Triglycerides

It is well known that HL-60 cell, a human promyelocytic line, is differentiated into eosinophil-like cells in the presence of butyric acid, and thus the differentiated HL-60 cells have been used as a model system to study irnmunological properties of peripheral eosinophils which are thought to be terminally differentiated. To study whether HL-60 cells alter their capability of expressing cytokines during differentiation to eosinophil-like cells, we examined TNF mRNA levels in HL-60 cells treated with butyric acid by Ribonuclease Protection Assay (RPA). HL-60 cells were incubated for 3 days in the presence of butyric acid (0.5 mM), and stimulated with PMA and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The levels of TNF mRNA decreased by 50 % and 95 % upon one and two days of post-treatment of butyric acid, respectively. The decreased pattern in TNF mRNA levels was also observed in HL-60 cells that have been treated with retinoic acid known as an inducer for differentiation of them. In accordance with these results, prominent azurophilic granules typical in eosinophils appeared in the cytoplasm of the differentiated HL-60 cells. The decreased expression of TNF mRNA was not attributable to the presence of serum, since increasing concentrations of serum had no effect. Furthermore, interleukin-5 (IL-5), which is known to be involved in activation and trafficking of eosinophils in vivo and in vitro, failed to affect TNF mRNA production when it was used in place of butyric acid. These data suggest that the differentiated HL-60 cells may have immunological resemblance to eosinophils in that they weakly produce the cytokine mRNA.
Butyric Acid ; Cytokines ; Cytoplasm ; Eosinophils ; HL-60 Cells* ; Humans ; Interleukin-5 ; Ribonucleases ; RNA, Messenger* ; Tretinoin