Nitric oxide synthases (NOSs) that catalyzed the conversion of L-arginine to nitric oxide and L-citrulline play a role in ischemic-reperfusion injury. The purpose of this study was to observe the expression patterns of nNOS, iNOS and eNOS in the rat tibialis anterior and soleus muscles after multiple cyclic episodes of ischemic preconditioning (IP). Nine weeks old male SD rats were divided into control and IP groups. The IP group was further divided into 3 groups based on cycle of IP. For IP, left commom iliac artery was occluded 3, 6 and 10 times for 5 minutes ischemia followed by 5 minutes reperfusion using rodent vascular clamps. The animals were sacrificed at 0, 3, 6, 24 and 72 hours of reperfusion and the left tibialis anterior and soleus muscles were removed. The expression of nNOS, iNOS and eNOS were examined with immunohistochemical methods and Western blot analysis. IP increased the expression of nNOS, compared with the control. In the tibialis anterior muscle, the levels of nNOS in the 3IP and 6IP were higher than that in 10IP. IP increased the expression of iNOS, compared with the control, and the levels of iNOS in tibialis anterior muscle were higher than that in soleus muscle. The level of iNOS in the 10IP was higher than those in the 3IP and 6IP. IP increased the expression of eNOS, compared with the control, and the level of eNOS in soleus muscle were higher than that in tibialis anterior muscle. At 0 and 3 hours after reperfusion, the level of eNOS in 6IP and 10IP were higer than that in 3IP. In summary, these results suggest that the ischemic preconditioning increases the expression of nNOS, iNOS and eNOS, and 10 times of ischemic preconditioning may induce ischemic injury through upregulation of iNOS. And tibialis anterior muscle is more susceptabile to ischemic injury than soleus muscle.
Animals ; Arginine ; Blotting, Western ; Humans ; Iliac Artery ; Ischemia ; Ischemic Preconditioning* ; Male ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Muscles* ; Nitric Oxide Synthase* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Rats* ; Reperfusion ; Rodentia ; Up-Regulation

A 74-year old woman presented with partial and secondarily generalized status epilepticus lasted for 11 days. Initially her seizures consisted of only unformed visual hallucination, which progressed to formed hallucinations, and then memory disturbance and GTCs. During the period of recurrent formed visual hallucinations, T2-weighted brain MRI revealed high signal intensities in the left occipital lobe. After intravenous phenytoin loading, she did not develop any further GTCs but visual hallucinations persisted. Follow-up MRI performed after complete recovery of seizures showed complete recovery of the previous focal lesions, however, 1H-MRS showed a significant decrease of NAA in the recovered area. These features suggested the neuronal loss in the area of seizure focus, despite the complete recovery of transient focal abnormalities in MRI. This case provides a supportive evidence of neuronal damage even in focal status epilepticus, which stress the importance of early treatment and EEG confirmation of the complete seizure control after the disappearance of clinically obvious seizures.
Aged ; Brain ; Electroencephalography ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Memory ; Neurons* ; Occipital Lobe* ; Phenytoin ; Seizures ; Status Epilepticus*

The World Health Organization declared that a new strain of novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus was responsible for the pandemic infection in June 2009. We report a case of encephalitis diagnosed as the H1N1 virus infection. We describe a 17-year-old patient who had a seizure attack, diagnosed with a H1N1 virus infection via real time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The H1N1 virus infection can be causative of the encephalitis, as with other influenza virus infections. Careful monitoring is essential for reducing complications.
Adolescent ; Animals ; Encephalitis, Viral/*diagnosis/*virology ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype/*pathogenicity ; Male ; Swine/*virology

The hyaline membrane disease is not a common disease in Korea. Only a few reports of small scale are avaiable in the literature. We have experienced 5 cases of HMD during approximately 1 year period. The diagnosis was made either on characteristic clinical and roentgenological features or postmortem examination. The birth weights of these cases were in the range of 1,000-1,500gm in 2 cases and 2,000-2,500gm in 3 cases. And their gestational age was 28-34 weeks in most of the cases. Three cases were delivered by C-section. There was 1 case of placenta previa. Four of these 5 cases died after average 18 hours postnatum. Postmortem findings in two cases were characterized by typical hyaline membrane lining th respiratory bronchioles and alveolar ducts. Other prominent findings were atelectasis, interstitial edema and congestion and lymphatic dilatation. One case complicated with multifocal bronchopneumonia and perinatal telencephalic leukoencephalopathy. The other case showed acute subarachnoid hemorrhage probably from germinal matrix hemorrhage.
Autopsy* ; Birth Weight ; Bronchioles ; Bronchopneumonia ; Diagnosis ; Dilatation ; Edema ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Gestational Age ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hyalin* ; Hyaline Membrane Disease* ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Leukoencephalopathies ; Membranes ; Placenta Previa ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

PURPOSE: Cancer of the uterine cervix remains the leading cause of cancer death in Korean women. Conventional examinations still have limitations with regards to sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis and to monitoring of the disease. Thus, an additional specific tumor marker is needed for early detection of recunence of uterine cervical carcinoma and for estimation of prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Monoclonal antibodies against human cervical carcinoma were generated using hybridoma technology. These tnurine monoclonal antibodies were produced by fusion of spleen cells obtained from mice immunized with CUMC-6, a human cell line of squamous cell carcinoma derived from uterine cervix, and P3-X63-Ag8 mouse myeloma cells. RESULTS: We obtained 415 hybridomas secreting specific monoclonal antibodies to cervical carcinoma antigen continuously. Among them, one hybridoma designated CCS that was highly reactive with cervical carcinoma was selected and examined on. the staining pattern and the reactivity with antigenic detenninants of cervical carcinoma. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that CCS monoclonal antibody reacted with all of the seven cervical carcinoma tissues, but also reacted with one of the ten (10%) normal cervical tissues. Westem blot analysis showed that CC5 monoclonal antibody detected single 19.5-kDa protein band in cervical cancer patient's sera. The detection rate was 88% (7/8). However, the antibody did not show any reactivity to 15 sera of normal healthy women tested. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic (SDS-PAGE) analysis of CCS monoclonal antibody immunoprecipitates of extracts of L-[S] methionine-labeled human cer vical carcinoma cells showed a major band in apparent molecular weight of 51,000 daltons. The isotype and subclass of CC5 monoclonal antibody was IgG2b in hemagglutination assay. CONCLUSIONS: We have developed a new monoclonal antibody, CC5, against squamous cell carcinoma of the human uterine cervix. Further investigation is needed to establish this monoclonal antibody as an immunodiagnostic devise for cervical cancer.
Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cell Line ; Cervix Uteri ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hemagglutination ; Humans ; Hybridomas ; Immunoglobulin G ; Mice ; Molecular Weight ; Prognosis ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate ; Spleen ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is the most common form of inherited motor and sensory neuropathy. Neurofilament light chain polypeptide (NEFL) is one of the most abundant cytoskeletal components of the neuron. The NEFL gene encoding the neurofilament light chain plays an important role in the axonal structure that includes an extensive fibrous network in the cytoplasm of the neuron. Mutations in the NEFL gene are also present in CMT2E, CMT type 1 and Dejerine-Sottas syndrome. However, there have been no reports to investigate the NEFL genes in Korean CMT patients. Therefore, we investigated to find the clinical characteristics in patients with the NEFL gene mutation. METHODS: We examined mutations of the NEFL gene in 125 Korean CMT families. Mutations were confirmed by the sequencing of both strands. Nerve conduction studies were carried out on CMT patients having each mutation. RESULTS: Three pathogenic mutations were found in 3 families, and 2 polymorphisms in 2 families. Two mutations (Leu334Pro, Pro22Arg) were determined too novel, and those were not detected in 105 healthy controls. A de novo missense mutation was found in a CMT family with the NEFL mutation. The frequency of the NEFL mutation was 2.4%, which was similar in Europeans, and lower than those found in Japanese. Pro22Arg and Glu397Lys mutations showed demyelinating neuropathy and Leu334pro mutation showed axonal neuropathy. CONCLUSIONS: We found NEFL mutations in patients with sporadic or dominantly inherited CMT. NEFL mutations should be considered in the evaluation of CMT or related neuropathies with various clinical features.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Axons ; Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease* ; Cytoplasm ; Hereditary Sensory and Motor Neuropathy ; Humans ; Mutation, Missense ; Neural Conduction ; Neurons

Melanin is a pigment produced from tyrosine in melanocytes. Although melanin has a protective role against UVB radiation-induced damage, it is also associated with the development of melanoma and darker skin tone. Tyrosinase is a key enzyme in melanin synthesis, which regulates the rate-limiting step during conversion of tyrosine into DOPA and dopaquinone. To develop effective RNA interference therapeutics, we designed a melanin siRNA pool by applying multiple prediction programs to reduce human tyrosinase levels. First, 272 siRNAs passed the target accessibility evaluation using the RNAxs program. Then we selected 34 siRNA sequences with ΔG ≥−34.6 kcal/mol, i-Score value ≥65, and siRNA scales score ≤30. siRNAs were designed as 19-bp RNA duplexes with an asymmetric 3′ overhang at the 3′ end of the antisense strand. We tested if these siRNAs effectively reduced tyrosinase gene expression using qRT-PCR and found that 17 siRNA sequences were more effective than commercially available siRNA. Three siRNAs further tested showed an effective visual color change in MNT-1 human cells without cytotoxic effects, indicating these sequences are anti-melanogenic. Our study revealed that human tyrosinase siRNAs could be efficiently designed using multiple prediction algorithms.
Dihydroxyphenylalanine ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Melanins ; Melanocytes ; Melanoma ; Monophenol Monooxygenase* ; RNA ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Small Interfering* ; Skin Pigmentation ; Tyrosine ; Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND: Cancer is the second cause of childhood death following accident, and leukemia is the most frequent childhood cancer in Korea. For the desirable control of childhood leukemia, of which the mortality is still high, the basic data for the incidence has a great importance. This is the second report from the data during 1991~1995 following the first one that analyzed the data from 328 cases of childhood leukemia during 1981~1990 in the same area, Pusan city, Korea. METHODS: The data were obtained from 138 new cases(84 males and 54 females from 0 to 15 years old) of childhood leukemia who had been living in the city of Pusan and were admitted to the 4 university hospitals and 11 general hospitals from 1991 to 1995. The cases were confirmed by CBC and bone marrow examination. RESULTS: The crude annual incidence rate per 100,000 population varied 1.50~5.30, 2.59~6.00 and 1.58~2.61 in the age group of 0~4 years, 5~9 years and 10~14 years, respectively. The standardized annual incidence rate per 100,000 population varied from 2.05 to 3.46(male 2.96~4.89, female 0.98~3.57). Sex ratio(male to female) was 1.58:1, 1.44:1, and 1.82:1 in total cases, ALL and AML, respectively, while incalculable in CML. By the major types of childhood leukemia, the cases were composed of 105 ALL (76.1%), 31 AML(22.5%), 2 CML(1.4%). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the annual incidence rate of childhood leukemia per 100,000 population in Pusan city during 1991~1995 was similar to that of previous report during 1981~1990, while the proportion of ALL had tendency to increase up to that of United States, in contrast to the low proportions of ALL in the previous reports.
Bone Marrow Examination ; Busan* ; Female ; Hospitals, General ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Korea* ; Leukemia* ; Male ; Mortality ; United States

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cases of small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been increasing with the progress of diagnostic methods . In this study the screening methods for early diagnosis of HCC were re-evaluated, and comparative therapeutic analyses were perfomed. METHODS: A total of 110 patients with small HCC (< 5 cm and < 4 nodules ) were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into four treatment groups ; unt reated group (No T x, n=12), transarterial-oily-chemoembolization group (TOCE, n=43), combined treatment group of percutaneous ethanol injection and TOCE (CEI, n=22), OP group ( OP, n=33). RESULTS: Small HCC occupied 22.6% of total HCC cases. Only one third of small HCC cases were detected during the regular screening. In this group, Alpha-fet oprotein as say provided a diagnostic clue in 50% of cases, ultras onography in 71%, and the combination of both in 88%. Five year survival rate and 5-year non-recurrence rate in small HCC was 29% and 37% respectively. Comparative therapeutic analys es showed t hat CEI and OP gave a better survival than TOCE in Child grade A. CEI prolonged survival in Child grade B wher eas TOCE did not. Only TOCE was tried and did not improve the survival in Child grade C. CONCLUSION: 1) A more strict screening is needed in high risk group of HCC. 2) As a first line of treatment in small HCC, OP or CEI can be selected in Child grade A, and CEI in Child grade B. In Child grade C, a less invasive treatment (PEIT , microwave coagulat ion therapy) should be investigated.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Child ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Ethanol ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Microwaves ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVE: Chemotherapy of ovarian cancer has a main role in the post-surgical treatment of ovarian cancer. However, relapsing patients are usually resistant to an additional chemotherapy. The development of immunotherapy is therefore needed to offer other preventive treatment modalities of ovarian cancer. MAGE encoding tumor-rejection antigens recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes are expressed at the mRNA level in various malignant tumors. We investigated the possibility of immunotherapy of ovarian cancer of MAGE expression. METHODS: To explore this possibility in ovarian tumors, we investigated the expression of MAGE 1-6 in 44 surgical samples of neoplastic and non-neoplastic tissues from ovaries using a MAGE 1-6 common primer by the nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (nested RT-PCR) and DNA sequencing after subcloning of PCR products. The material consisted of 5 cases of normal ovaries, 6 cases of non- neoplastic diseases (3 follicular cysts, 2 endometrioses, and 1 tuboovarian abscess), and 8 cases of benign serous, 4 cases of mucinous cystic tumor, 9 teratomas, and 4 cases of malignant serous tumor, 1 case of mucinous tumor, 2 cases of undifferentiated carcinoma, 2 borderline serous and 3 mucinous tumor. RESULTS: MAGE were expressed in 23% of benign ovarian tumors (5/21 cases). In contrast, no expression of these genes was observed in any of the 11 samples of normal and non-neoplastic ovarian tissues. All (92%) malignant tumors except one case of borderline malignant mucinous tumor showed MAGE 1-6 m RNA expression (P<0.05). The isotype of MAGE were confirmed in 5 cases for MAGE-3 (31.2%), 4 cases of MAGE-4 (25%), 2 cases of MAGE A1 (12.5%) and A 4b (12.5%), and one case of MAGE A2, 4a, combined A3 and A6, and A4 and 4b. CONCLUSION: We concluded that the expression of MAGE could be used as a target for tumor specific immunotherapy in ovarian cancer expressing MAGE.
Carcinoma ; Drug Therapy ; Endometriosis ; Female ; Follicular Cyst ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Mucins ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Ovary ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; Teratoma