BACKGROUND/AIMS: A number of studies have reported wide variability in the colonoscope insertion time among patients who had prior abdominal surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of abdominal surgery on colonoscope insertion time. METHODS: The subjects were 192 patients with prior abdominal surgery, among 3,600 patients who underwent a colonoscopy at Samsung Changwon Hospital from May 2008 to May 2010. We collected the following data: insertion time, age, gender, height, weight, BMI, waist circumference, method of abdominal surgery, and the degree of bowel cleanliness. Previous abdominal operations were divided into colectomy, non-colectomy abdominal surgery, pelvic surgery, and laparoscopic surgery groups. RESULTS: The average colonoscope insertion time in patients with prior abdominal surgery (7.73+/-5.95 min) was longer than that of the non-surgery group (6.4+/-3.88 min). Patients in the colectomy groups were older and had a shorter insertion time (5.11+/-3.32 min) than patients in the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Insertion of a colonoscope in patients with previous abdominal surgery was more difficult than that in the control group, except the colectomy group.
Colectomy ; Colonoscopes ; Colonoscopy ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUND/AIMS: As the population ages, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (ERCP) is being used increasingly as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool for elderly patients with pancreatobiliary disease. The aim of this study was to assess the outcomes, safety and complications associated with ERCP performed in the elderly patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical record of 596 patients who were 50 years of age or older and underwent ERCP from January 2005 to September 2010. The patients were classified into two groups according to the age: non-elderly, 50-74 years old and elderly, > or =75 years old. Comparisons were made between two groups. RESULTS: Five hundred and ninety-six patients (132 elderly and 464 non-elderly patients) were enrolled. The success rate of ERCP was 89.4% in the elderly and 91.9% in the non-elderly. The major complications were occurred in 11 patients of the elderly and 16 of the non-elderly, and the complication rate was significantly higher in the elderly compared to the non-elderly (8.3% vs. 3.4%, p=0.011). Pancreatitis occurred in 2 elderly patients and 10 non-elderly patients (1.5% vs. 2.1%, p=1.0). There was a higher rate of bleeding in the elderly patients (4.5% vs. 1.3%, p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: ERCP is effective and safe even in elderly patients. Outcomes of diagnostic and therapeutic ERCP in the elderly patients were similar to those in non-elderly patients. Elderly patients undergoing ERCP carried similar risk of pancreatitis but a higher risk of bleeding and perforation compared to non-elderly patients.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde/*adverse effects ; Female ; Hemorrhage/etiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pancreatitis/etiology

No abstract available.
Genes, pol* ; HIV-1 ; Humans* ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Zidovudine*

Cowden's disease, a rare autosomal dominant disorder characterized by benign hamartomatous overgrowth of various tissues, increases the risk of cancer of the thyroid, breast, endometrium, prostate, and possibly other organs. Generally, germline mutations in the coding sequence for PTEN are found in 80% of patients with Cowden's disease. Here we report a rare case of incidentally discovered gastric polyposis during esophagogastroscopy for medical screening in a patient with a history of surgery for breast and thyroid cancer. Identifyng the mutation in the PTEN gene to a diagnosis of Cowden's disease.
Breast ; Clinical Coding ; Endometrium ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Germ-Line Mutation ; Hamartoma Syndrome, Multiple ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Prostate ; Thyroid Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: An imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants leads to oxidative stress, and this has been proposed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of lung neoplasm. Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease-1/redox factor-1 (APE/ref-1) is a multifunctional protein involved in DNA base excision repair and the redox regulation of many transcription factors. However, the alteration of the expressed levels of APE/ref-1 in non-small cell lung cancer is unknown. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Forty-nine patients with surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were included in this study. Immunohistochemical staining with APE/ref-1 antibodies was performed, and their expressions were analyzed via Western blotting for specific antibodies. RESULT: APE/ref-1 was localized at the nucleus and mainly in the non-tumor region of the NSCLC tissue specimens; it was expressed in the cytoplasm and nucleus of the NSCLC. The nuclear and cytoplasmic expressions of APE/ref-1 in lung cancers were markedly up-regulated in the NSCLC, and this was correlated with the clinical stage. Catalase, as first-line antioxidant defense, was dramatically decreased in the NSCLC. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our results suggest that APE/ref-1, and especially cytoplasmic APE/ref-1, was upregulated in the lung cancer regions, and this may contribute to the compensatory defense system against oxidative stress. A low expression of catalase might have fundamental effects on the extracellular redox state of lung tumors, along with the potential consequences for the tumors.
Antibodies ; Antioxidants ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Catalase ; Cytoplasm ; DNA ; DNA Repair ; Humans* ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Oxidants ; Oxidation-Reduction ; Oxidative Stress ; Transcription Factors

Atherosclerosis is considered as a chronic inflammatory process. However, the nature of the oxidant signaling that regulates monocyte adhesion and its underlying mechanism is poorly understood. We investigated the role of reactive oxygen species on the vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and monocyte adhesion in the cultured endothelial cells. TNF-alpha at a range of 1~30 ng/ml induced VCAM-1 expression dose-dependently. BCECF-AM-labeled U937 cells firmly adhered on the surface of endothelial cells when the endothelial cells were incubated with TNF-alpha (15 ng/ml). Ten micromol/L of SB203580, an inhibitor of p38 MAPK, significantly reduced TNF-alpha-induced VCAM-1 expression, compared to the JNK inhibitor (40micromol/L of SP60015) or ERK inhibitor (40micrommol/L of U0126). Also, SB203580 significantly inhibited TNF-alpha-induced monocyte adhesion in HUVEC. Superoxide production was minimal in the basal condition, however, treatment of TNF-alpha induced superoxide production in the dihydroethidine-loaded endothelial cells. Diphenyleneiodonium (DPI, 10micromol/L), an inhibitor of NADPH oxidase, and rotenone (1micromol/L), an inhibitor of mitochondrial complex I inhibited TNF-alpha-induced superoxide production, VCAM-1 expression and monocyte adhesion in the endothelial cells. Taken together, our data suggest that NADPH oxidase and mitochondrial ROS were involved in TNF-alpha-induced VCAM-1 and monocyte adhesion in the endothelial cells.
Atherosclerosis ; Endothelial Cells* ; Monocytes* ; NADP* ; NADPH Oxidase* ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Rotenone ; Superoxides ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; U937 Cells ; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1*

Among the Shc proteins, p66shc is known to be related to oxidative stress responses and regulation of the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of p66shc on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activity in the mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). When wild type (WT) or p66shc (-/-) MEFs were transfected with full length of eNOS cDNA, the expression and activity of eNOS protein were higher in the p66shc (-/-) MEFs. These phenomena were reversed by reconstitution of p66shc cDNA transfection in the p66shc (-/-) MEFs. The basal superoxide production in the p66shc (-/-) MEFs was not significantly different from that of WT of MEFs. However, superoxide production induced by NADPH in the p66shc (-/-) MEF was lesser than that in WT MEFs. When compared with WT MEFs, cell lysate of p66shc (-/-) MEFs showed significantly increased H-ras activity without change of endogenous H-ras expression. Our findings suggest the pivotal role of p66shc adaptor protein played in inhibition of endothelial nitric oxide production via modulation of the expression and/or activity of eNOS protein.
Animals ; DNA, Complementary ; Endothelium ; Fibroblasts* ; Mice* ; NADP ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III* ; Oxidative Stress ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Superoxides ; Transfection

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Exclusion of liver disease from other causes such as autoimmune hepatitis is necessary for diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, there has been no study on the prevalence and significance of autoantibodies in the patients with clinically suspected NAFLD in Korea, where hepatitis B is endemic and autoimmune hepatitis is relatively uncommon. METHODS: We prospectively tested for anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), anti-smooth muscle antibody (ASMA), and anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA) in 135 serially enrolled patients with suspected NAFLD. We compared the clinical characteristics and biochemical indices of the ANA-positive or ASMA-positive group with those of the autoantibody-negative group. RESULTS: Sixteen patients (11.8%) had serum autoantibodies; there was ANA in 8 patients (5.9%), ASMA in 7 (5.1%), and AMA in 2 (1.5%). Both ANA and AMA were positive in one patient. The ANA-positive or ASMA-positive group showed an older age (49.5+/-13.0 vs. 42.0+/-10.9 years, respectively, P=0.018) and higher levels of serum globulin (3.1+/-0.4 vs. 2.9+/-0.4 g/dL, respectively, P=0.037), compared with the autoantibody-negative group. Two cases with positive ANA or ASMA fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for probable autoimmune hepatitis and two cases with positive AMA were suspected as primary biliary cirrhosis. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that autoantibodies could be found in some patients with suspected NAFLD in Korea, AMA-positivity or ASMA-positivity could be associated with old age and high serum globulin, and some of the autoantibody-positive cases could be diagnosed as autoimmune hepatitis or primary biliary cirrhosis. Further studies are necessary to clarify the clinical significance of autoantibody positivity in those patients.
Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies, Antinuclear/analysis ; Autoantibodies/*blood ; English Abstract ; Fatty Liver/*immunology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Smooth/immunology

In this study, we evaluated the role of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease1/redox factor-1 (Ref-1) on the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) induced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression using A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells. TNF-alpha induced the expression of COX-2 in A549 cells, but did not induce BEAS-2B expression. The expression of COX-2 in A549 cells was TNF-alpha dose-dependent (5~100 ng/ml). TNF-alpha-stimulated A549 cells evidenced increased Ref-1 expression in a dose-dependent manner. The adenoviral transfection of cells with AdRef-1 inhibited TNF-alpha-induced COX-2 expression relative to that seen in the control cells (Ad beta gal). Pretreatment with 10 micrometer of SB203580 suppressed TNF-alpha-induced COX-2 expression, thereby suggesting that p38 MAPK might be involved in COX-2 expression in A549 cells. The phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was increased significantly after 5 minutes of treatment with TNF-alpha, reaching a maximum level at 10 min which persisted for up to 60 min. However, p38MAPK phosphorylation was markedly suppressed in the Ref-1-overexpressed A549 cells. Taken together, our results appear to indicate that Ref-1 negatively regulates COX-2 expression in response to cytokine stimulation via the inhibition of p38 MAPK phosphorylation. In the lung cancer cell lines, Ref-1 may be involved as an important negative regulator of inflammatory gene expression.
Adenocarcinoma ; Cell Line ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Gene Expression ; Imidazoles ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Oxidation-Reduction ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; Phosphorylation ; Pyridines ; Transfection ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence, clinical and laboratory findings of hereditary hemolytic anemia (HHA) in Korea from 1997 to 2006 and to develop the appropriate diagnostic approach for HHA. METHODS: By the use of questionnaires, information on the clinical and laboratory findings ofHHA diagnosed from 1997 to 2006 in Korea was collected and analyzed retrospectively. A total of 431 cases were enrolled in this study from 46 departments of 35 hospitals. RESULTS: The overall frequency of HHA did not change through the 10-year period for pediatrics but did show an increasing tendency for internal medicine. The overall male to female sex ratio did not show sex predominance (1.17:1), but a significant male predominance with a ratio of 1.49:1 was seen for pediatrics while a significant female predominance with a ratio of 1:1.97 was seen forinternal medicine. Of the total cases, 74.2% (282/431) were diagnosed before the age of 15 years. The etiologies of HHA were classified as red cell membrane defects, hemoglobinopathies, red cell enzyme deficiencies and unknown causes. There were 382 cases (88.6%) of red cell membrane defects with 376 cases (87.2%) of hereditary spherocytosis and 6 cases (1.4%) of hereditary elliptocytosis, 20 cases (4.6%) of hemoglobinopathies with 18 cases (4.2%) of beta-thalassemia, a case (0.2%) of alpha-thalassemia and a case (0.2%) of Hemoglobin Madrid, 7 cases (1.6%) of red cell enzyme deficiencies with 5 cases (1.2%) of glucose-6- phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency, a case (0.2%) of pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency and a case (0.2%) of enolase deficiency, and 22 cases (5.1%) of unknown causes. The most common chief complaint in pediatric patients was pallor and that in adult patients was jaundice. In the red cell membrane defect group of patients, the level of hemoglobin was significantly higher than in adult patients. The mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, corrected reticulocyte count, total and indirect bilirubin level and lactate dehydrogenase levels in the hemoglobinopathy group of patients were significantly lower than the values in the red cell membrane defect group of patients. The mean concentration of G-6-PD was 0.8+/-0.7U/1012RBC in the G-6-PD deficient patients, PK was 1.7U/1010 RBC in the PK deficient patient, and the level of enolase was 0.04U/g of Hb in the enolase deficient patient. CONCLUSION: The most prevalent cause of HHA in Korea during 1997 to 2006 was hereditary spherocytosis, but HHA by other causes such as hemoglobinopathy and red cell enzyme deficiency gradually increased with the development of molecular diagnostic methods and increasing general interest. However, the etiologies of HHA need to be pursued further in 5.1% of the patients. An systematic standard diagnostic approach is needed in a nationwide prospective study for correct diagnoses and appropriate management of HHA.
Adult ; alpha-Thalassemia ; Anemia, Hemolytic, Congenital* ; beta-Thalassemia ; Bilirubin ; Cell Membrane ; Diagnosis ; Elliptocytosis, Hereditary ; Erythrocyte Indices ; Female ; Hemoglobinopathies ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Jaundice ; Korea* ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; Male ; Oxidoreductases ; Pallor ; Pathology, Molecular ; Pediatrics ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; Prevalence ; Pyruvate Kinase ; Reticulocyte Count ; Retrospective Studies* ; Sex Ratio ; Surveys and Questionnaires