Premature rupture of membrane is the most frequent cause of low birth weight infant delivery which increase the maternal and fetal morbidity and perinatal mortality. A retrospective case-control study was performed on 315 mothers who delivered low birth weight infants(< or = 2.5kg) with premature rupture of membrane and as control group 546 mothers who delivered normal birth weight infants(2.9-3.7kg) without premature rupture of membrane were chosen. The results obtained from this study were as follows: 1. The proportion of low birth weight infants due to premature rupture of membrane among all low birth weight infant deliveries was 14.5%, and this is equivalent to 1.1% among all deliveries. 2. The most significant maternal risk factor of low birth weight infant deliveries with premature rupture of membrane was infections on vagina, cervix and uterus during pregnancy. Compared with control, adjusted odds ratio was 7.61(95% confidence interval(CI) 1.88-30.88, p=0.004). Other significant maternal risk factors were the history of induced abortion, spontaneous abortion, and the experience of premature delivery. The risk ratios were 1.82, 2.07, 4.42, respectively. 3. Breech presentation did increase the risk of low birth weight infant delivery with infant delivery with premature rupture of membrane against control(Adjusted odds ratio=2.66, 95% CI 1.35-5.26, p=0.005). 4. Mothers who had not taken antenatal care were having higher risk of low birth weight infant delivery with premature rupture of membrane against control(Adjusted odds ratio=1.73, 95% CI 1.35-5.26, p=0.004). These study results show that maternal factors such as the infection of genital organs during pregnancy, the history of induced abortion and breech presentation are significantly associated with the premature rupture of membrane in the low birth weight deliveries, and that most of these risk factors are controllable ones through proper antenatal cares.
Abortion, Induced ; Abortion, Spontaneous ; Birth Weight ; Breech Presentation ; Case-Control Studies ; Cervix Uteri ; Female ; Genitalia ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Low Birth Weight* ; Infant, Newborn ; Membranes* ; Mothers ; Odds Ratio ; Perinatal Mortality ; Pregnancy ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Rupture* ; Uterus ; Vagina

Demyelinating syndrome can rarely occur in Sjogren's syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis. We describe a patient of Sjogren's syndrome with multiple sclerosis-like features whose rheumatoid arthritis has been managed for 3 years. The patient presented paraparesis and urinary retention, and improved with high-dose corticosteroid therapy.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Humans ; Multiple Sclerosis* ; Paraparesis ; Sjogren's Syndrome* ; Urinary Retention

BACKGROUND: Early esophageal cancer has a good prognosis compared with advanced esophageal cancer, so early detection of the cancer is emphasized. Early esophageal cancer is considered as esophageal cancer located within the submucosal layer and without metastasis in the operative specimen. Despite this criterion, evidence has accumulated suggesting that submucosal tumors have a very different prognosis from intra-epithelial and intramucosal lesions. The purpose of this study is to define the characteristics of and the appropriate operative method for esophageal cancer. METHODS: Medical records of 19 patients who had received an esophagectomy and who had been diagnosed as having early esophageal cancer between 1981 and 1996 at this hospital were reviewed. RESULTS: There was 17 cases of submucosal lesions and 2 cases of mucosal lesions. 74% of the patients had alcohol or smoking history. When endoscopic findings were classified according to the endoscopic classification of JSED, there were 5 cases of type 0-I, 4 cases of type 0-III, 4 cases of type 1, and others. Type 0-I and 0-III were common. The accuracy of the endoscopic ultrasonographic finding was 39% compared with the postoperative pathologic finding. The mean duration of follow-up was 21 months, and there were 2 recurrences during follow-up. One recurred 13 months after the operation and the other 23 months after the operation. Both of them were submucosal lesions and received a transhiatal esophagectomy. CONCLUSIONS: Annual endoscopic examination with lugol staining may be needed for early detection of esophageal cancer. Submucosal lesions of early esophageal cancer should be managed with an esophagectomy and lymph node dissection. Also, expertness of the endoscopist is very important in deciding on an of operative method.
Classification ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Esophagectomy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Medical Records ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Smoke ; Smoking

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Drainage ; Fever ; Humans ; Orthognathic Surgery ; Wound Infection ; Wounds and Injuries

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Humans ; Mandible ; Maxilla ; Orthognathic Surgery

PURPOSE: This study examined the efficacy of the postoperative prophylactic antibiotics used in orthognathic surgery. The prevalence of surgical site infections (SSIs) was determined according to the use of postoperative prophylactic antibiotics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-six patients were divided into 2 groups. Each patient intravenously received 1.0 g of a third-generation cephalosporin (Cefpiramide) 30 minutes before surgery. Among them, 28 patients in the control group received 1.0 g Cefpiramide twice daily until the third day after surgery. The postoperative wounds were examined regularly for the presence of infectious signs. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative wound infections between patients who had received postoperative prophylactic antibiotic administration and those who had not (p = 0.639). CONCLUSION: Prolonged prophylactic antibiotic use after orthognathic surgery may not be necessary, provided that there are no other significant factors for wound infections.
Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/*administration & dosage ; Cephalosporins/*administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Injections, Intravenous ; Male ; Mandible/surgery ; Maxilla/surgery ; *Oral Surgical Procedures ; *Osteotomy, Le Fort ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Surgical Wound Infection/*drug therapy/epidemiology/*prevention & control ; Young Adult

This study analyzed the incidence of wound infection after the operation of mandibular third molar extraction in relation with antibiotic prophylaxis with the object of young and healthy patients. The study object was 1,177 mandibular third molars of 850 men of 20 to 25 years old without any specific systemic disease. Three methods of preventive antibiotic medication were selected according to the preventive antibiotic medication previously reported; three experimental groups were selected based on them, and the antibiotic used was amoxicillin((R)Kymoxin, Yuhanyanghaeng, Seoul). The group 1 includes the patients that took the antibiotic orally before the operation(one hour earlier, 500mg) and for three days after the operation(250mg per time, three times/day), the group 2 is the ones that took the same antibiotic orally only once about one hour before the operation(500mg), and the group 3 did not take any antibiotics before and after the operation. And to compare the difficulties and the degrees of extraction during operations which can be possibly related to the wound infection after the operations, the mandibular third molars' impacted depths and extraction methods were investigated as well. To check if the wound was infected, observations with an internal of one week were performed twice after the operation, and the meaningfulness of the infection incidence was verified through Chi-square test using SPSS program(SPSS Inc., IL, USA). There was no statistically significant difference between the antibiotic medication methods and the wound infection incidence after the operation among the experimental groups. As examining the relations between the mandibular third molar operation methods and the wound infection incidence after the operation, there existed a statistically meaningful difference in the infection incidence according to the operation methods(p=0.020). And there was no statistically significant difference in the wound infection incidence according to the impacted depth of the mandibular third molar. Therefore, it is thought that there exists little necessity of prophylatic antibiotics medication when extracting the mandibular third molar of young and healthy men without any systemic disease in general; however, in case when it is expected that the possibility of infection will be high or the wound on the tissue will be severe, it is sure that the prophylactic antibiotics medication will be necessary.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Antibiotic Prophylaxis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Molar, Third ; Wound Infection

PURPOSE: Estrogens control the development and cell proliferation of various tissues including the normal mammary epithelial cells, where they induce the expression of the immediate and delayed hormone-responsive genes. The proliferative effects of estrogen have been attributed to its ability to increase the expression of the key cell cycle regulatory genes responsible for cell cycle progression. However, the regulation of cell proliferation is only one aspect of estrogen function. It has also been well documented that estrogen plays a critical role in the etiology and progression of human breast and gynecological cancers. This tumorigenic effect of estrogen might be associated with its anti- apoptotic activities such as of Bcl-2 induction. The aim of this study was to clarify the role of E2IG5, which is an estrogen-induced downstream effector molecule, in breast cancer cell lines. RESULTS: This study shows that E2IG5 is a pro-apoptotic protein that is localized to the mitochondrial membrane via two distinct transmembrane domains. When over-expressed, it induces a mitochondrial permeability transition with the resultant of release cytochrome c and caspase activation. However, three out of four breast cancer cell lines lost their estrogen dependence of E2IG5 expression, which suggests the possible involvement of E2IG5 in the development of breast cancer. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that breast cancer cells may loose their pro-apoptotic signals and selectively use the proliferative mechanism of estrogen, which drives the normal mammary epithelial cells to transform into cancer cells. Further studies using breast cancer tissues will be needed.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Line* ; Cell Proliferation ; Cytochromes c ; Epithelial Cells ; Estradiol ; Estrogens ; Genes, Regulator ; Humans ; Mitochondrial Membranes ; Permeability

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of local anesthesia compared to spinal anesthesia and the usefulness of pentothal induction before infiltration of a local anesthetic agent. METHODS: A concurrent non-randomized prospective study was conducted on 52 patients who underwent a hemorrhoidectomy. For the spinal anesthesia (SA) group (n=29), 0.5% heavy bupivacaine (Marcaine(R)), 5 mg (1 ml), was used, and for the local anesthesia (LA) group (n=23), pentothal, 3.3 mg/kg, was administrated intravenously prior to infiltration of a mixture of local anesthetics (2% lidocaine, 14 ml, with 0.5% bupivacaine, 7 ml). RESULTS: There were no differences between the two groups in terms of operating time, postoperative pain, headache, urinary difficulty, nausea or vomiting, pain-free interval after operation, analgesic requirements, and patient's or surgeon's satisfaction. Postoperative ambulation was earlier in the LA group than in the SA group. CONCLUSIONS: Local anesthesia after pentothal induction can be used effectively for a hemorrhoidectomy and may be a safe alternative to spinal anesthesia.
Anesthesia, Local* ; Anesthesia, Spinal* ; Anesthetics, Local ; Bupivacaine ; Headache ; Hemorrhoidectomy* ; Humans ; Lidocaine ; Nausea ; Pain, Postoperative ; Prospective Studies* ; Thiopental* ; Vomiting ; Walking

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to compare maximum relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) with histologic grade of cerebral gliomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: First-pass perfusion MR imaging was performed preoperatively in 16 patients with pathologically proven cerebral gliomas (7 glioblastoma, 2 anaplastic astrocytoma, 1 anaplastic oligo-dendroglioma, 5 low-grade astrocytoma, and 1 low-grade oligodendroglioma). Maximum rCBV was com-pared with histologic diagnosis and grade of the tumor. RESULTS: Maximum rCBVs of glioblastomas were in the range of 433%-1330% (average, 790%), as compared with those of contra-lateral normal white matters. Maximum rCBVs of two non-enhancing anaplastic astrocytomas were 66% and 284%, respectively. Maximum rCBV of one well-enhancing anaplastic oligodendroglioma was 502%. Maximum rCBVs of low-grade astrocytomas were in the range of 80%-369% (average, 202%). Maximum rCBV of one low-grade oligodendroglioma was 1450%, even higher than those of glioblastomas. CONCLUSION: Maximum rCBV was higher in glioblastoma than in low-grade astrocytoma without overlap-ping. However, there was no difference of maximum rCBV between non-enhancing anaplastic astrocytoma and low-grade astrocftoma.
Astrocytoma ; Blood Volume ; Diagnosis ; Glioblastoma ; Glioma* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Oligodendroglioma ; Perfusion*