In order to clarify the cause of intracellular ATP dependency on Zn2+ blockade of KATP channels in pancreatic beta cells, we investigated the KATP channel activity during external Zn2+ application using voltage clamp technique. Cultured beta cells were used for patch-clamp experiment. When 3 mM glucose was applied in bath, KATP channel activity was increased transiently by externally applied Zn2+ in the cell-attached mode and was recoverable. The KATP channel activity was, however, consistently increased by Zn2+ application during the 0 mM glucose in bath. Inside-out mode, internally applied Zn2+ elicited no response on the KATP channels. Another divalent cation, Mn2+, didn't have any effect on the KATP channels. Therefore, This effect, so-called external glucose-dependency on Zn2+ blockade of the KATP channels, might be due to intracellular Zn2+ metabolism which induces ATP consumption. This appears to be a mechanism that the Zn2+ blockade of the KATP channels in the pancreatic beta cells depends on the intracellular ATP concentration.
Adenosine Triphosphate* ; Baths ; Glucose ; Insulin-Secreting Cells* ; KATP Channels* ; Metabolism

Acute appendicitis is the most common reason for non-obstetric abdominal surgery during pregnancy. The diagnosis of appendicitis in pregnancy is difficult due to the blunting of signs and symptoms during pregnancy along with a migration of appendiceal location. When appendicitis in pregnancy is suspected, the physician must balance the risk of delaying surgery and incurring the morbidity of delay against acting hastily and performing unnecessary surgery. Eleven patients who underwent appendectomy during pregnancy from April 1995 through February 1997 were reviewed. Seven patients were proven to be acute appendicitis at laparotomy and by subsequent histopathology. There were no significant differences between patients with positive and negative laparotomies regarding frequency of presenting symptoms and signs or laboratory results. Two cases of preform(25 and 31 weeks) deliveries occurred, one with a perforated appendicitis and the other with negative laparotomy.
Appendectomy ; Appendicitis* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Pregnancy* ; Unnecessary Procedures

Partial knee ankylosis is a recognized complication following open operative procedure, trauma and disease processes about the knee. It can result from the formation of intraarticular adhesion and contracture of the capsule as well as the shortening or adhesion of the quadriceps mechanism. Physical therspy and occasionally manipulation under the anesthesia may improve the results, but performed late, these methods will be useless. This is a review of 30 patients who had severe limitation of motion in the knee joint following open operative procedures or trauma about the knee and who were treated by the percutaneous release of adhesions under the arthroscopic control. The following results were obtained; There were 17 males and 13 females, and the age of release ranged from 23 to 69 years old (av. 42.8years old). The interval between arthroscopic adhesiolysis and the last follow-up evaluation ranged from 6 months to 5 years and 7 months(av. 23 months). The interval between the last open operative procedure or trauma and arthroscopic adhesiolysis ranged from 3 months to 4 years(av. 15 months). The average preoperative knee ROM was 38.8°the postoperative ROM was 121.1°and the average final knee ROM at follow-up was 102.6°So the average loss of ROM was 18.5°The arthroscopic adhesiolysis seems to be applied to the various conditions of the partial knee ankylosis and the results are better than the other surgical procedures when it was performed early enough.
Anesthesia ; Ankylosis ; Contracture ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; Knee ; Male ; Surgical Procedures, Operative

In the treatment of Tb.knee, the preservation of mobility is an important issue, there are many difficulties due to pain and swelling in the trial of early ROM exercise, and various problems such as the recurrence of Tb. lesions, delayed wound healing and draining sinus formation. We analysed 30 cases of Tb. knee treated with synovectomy during 10 years since March, 1979. In Group I (25 cases), early ROM exercise were started about 4 weeks after synovectomy. And in Group II (5 csses), arthroscopic adhesiolysis was performed after minimum 6 month immobilization and chemotherapy following synovectomy. We compared the two Groups and the results were as followings: 1. Male was 15 patients and female was 15 patients, the average age was 28.1 years. 2. The average follow-up period was 18.3 months. 3. In Group I, the ROM exercise was performed before 4 weeks in 9 cases and after 4 weeks in 16 cases postoperatively. The average final ROM was 68.9° 4. Draining sinus formation was in 4 cases in Group I. 5. In Group II, arthroscopic adhesiolysis was performed in 5 cases after synovectomy and chemotherapy for average 8.8 months ranging from 6 to 14 months. 6. The average final ROM at follow-up was 111° in Group II. 7. In a case with the severe involvement of bone and cartilage in Tb. lesion at the synovectomy, ROM was reduced gradually to 50° after arthroscopic adhesiolysis. We could gain ROM of 120° by TKR. 8. Draining sinus formation was not found in Group II.
Cartilage ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Joints ; Knee ; Male ; Methods ; Recurrence ; Wound Healing

No abstract available.

Cyclins are proteins that activate different cyclin-dependent kinases(CDKs) and promote the cell cycles. Their correlations with several human cancers have been identified. Cyclin E, as one of G1 cylins, produces DNA replication through the progression of cell cycle G1 --> S phase. In contrast, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors(CDKI) bound with cyclin E-cdk2 complex control the cell cycle and inhibit the cell proliferation. P21(WAF1) proteins, which are CDKIs, are transcripted by a p53 gene and participate in the cell cycle inhibition. Variant p53 proteins produced by a mutated p53 gene lose the ability to control of the cell cycle resulting in cell proliferation. This study is aimed to reveal the expressions of cyclin E, p21(WAF1) protein, p53 variant protein in colorectal adenomas and carcinomas, and also reveal their correlations in the process of carcinogenesis. Twenty-one colorectal adenomas or adenomatous polyps, and thirty colorectal carcinoma tissues were obtained by operative resections or endoscopic polypectomies. Immuno histochemical stains of the above-mentioned three proteins and a statistical analysis of their correlations were made. The results were as follows: 1. P21 proteins were expressed in the upper-one third layer of all normal colonic mucosa, but cyclin E and variant p53 protein were not identified. 2. Cyclin E was expressed in 23.8% of adenomas and 76.7% of carcinomas. Variant p53 protein was expressed in 71.4% of adenomas and 83.3% in carcinomas. The degree of positivity of variant p53 expression was correlated with cancer staging. P21 protein was expressed in all adenomas, similar to normal mucosa, but was not expressed in 43.3% of carcinomas. 3. Expression of cyclin E was increased as to the positivity of variant p53 proteins but the correlations of p21 proteins and cyclin E, and p21 proteins and variant p53 proteins were not identified. Cancer staging was not correlated with the expressions of the three proteins. In conclusion, it can be thought that the overexpression of cyclin E and variant p53 proteins, and the loss of p21 proteins are related with the colorectal carcinogenesis. We can also identify the relationship of cyclin E and variant p53 proteins.
Adenoma* ; Adenomatous Polyps ; Carcinogenesis ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Proliferation ; Colon ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Coloring Agents ; Cyclin E* ; Cyclins* ; DNA Replication ; Genes, p53 ; Humans ; Mucous Membrane ; Neoplasm Staging ; Phosphotransferases ; S Phase

The antigenic domain of the major surface protein (Nc-p43) of Neospora caninum was examined by polymerase chain reaction of its gene fragments and recombinant expression as GST fusion proteins. The fragments of Nc-p43 were as follow: a total open reading frame (OFR), T; OFR without signal sequence and C-terminal hydrophobic sequence, S; N-terminal 2/3 parts of S, A; C-terminal 2/3 parts, P; N-terminal 1/3 part, X; middle 1/3 part, Y; and C-terminal 1/3 part, Z, respectively. The DNA fragments were cloned into pGEX-4T vector. Recombinant plasmids transformed into Escherichia coli of BL21 pLysS (DE3) strain were induced to express GST or GST fused fragments of Nc-p43 such as 69 kDa protein for T, 66 kDa for S, 52 kDa for A, 53 kDa for P, and 40 kDa proteins for X, Y, and Z, respectively in SDS-PAGE. The Nc-p43 fragments of T, S, and P reacted with a bovine serum of neosporosis while those of A, X, Y, and Z together with GST did not in the western blot. These findings suggest that the antigenic domain of Nc-p43 of N. caninum may be localized in the C-terminal 2/3 parts. Together with A19 clone in SAG1 of Toxoplasma gondii (Nam et al., 1996), the P fragment of Nc-p43 could be used as efficient antigens to diagnose and differentiate those infections with both species.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Biological Markers/analysis ; Blotting, Western ; Cells, Cultured ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Coccidiosis/diagnosis ; Neospora/*immunology ; Protozoan Proteins/*analysis/genetics/immunology ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Vero Cells/parasitology

An ELISA was established to measure bovine IgG directed against the recombinant antigenic determinant of Nc-p43, a major surface antigen of Neospora caninum. In a previous study, two thirds of the Cterminal of the molecule was expressed as a 6 x His tagged protein (Ncp43P) for ELISA using 2/3 of the N-terminal of SAG1 from Toxoplasma gondii as a control (TgSAG1A). Among 852 cattle sera collected from stock farms scattered nation-wide, 103 sera (12.1%) were found to react with Ncp43P positively, but no positive reaction was observed with TgSAG1A. This study shows that Ncp43P could be available as an efficient antigen for the diagnosis of neosporosis in cattle. Furthermore, it together with TgSAG1A, could be useful for the differential diagnosis of N. caninum and T. gondii infections in other mammals.
Animals ; Antibodies, Protozoan ; Cattle ; Cattle Diseases/diagnosis/epidemiology ; Coccidiosis/diagnosis/epidemiology/veterinary ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods/*veterinary ; Immunoglobulin G/*analysis ; Neospora/*immunology ; Protozoan Proteins/*immunology ; Seroepidemiologic Studies

PURPOSE: This study is for the evaluation of low tesla(0.064T) MR imaging diagnostic accuracy in the internal derangement of the knee. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analysed the MR images of 36 injured knees of 35 patients. The presence of tear was determined by arthroscopy or surgery in all cases. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, negative predictive value of low tesla MRI for the diagnosis of anterior cruciate ligament injury were 83%, 88%, 86%, 77%, 91%, for the posterior cruciate ligament 75%, 95%, 86%, 92%, 83%, for the medial collateral ligament 83%, 96%, 92%, 91%, 92%, for the lateral collateral ligament 67%, 97%, 94%, 67%, 97%, for the menisci 75%, 93%, 89%, 75%, 93%. CONCLUSION: The low tesla MRI is an accurate method in detection and evaluation of the internal derangement of the knee.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament ; Arthroscopy ; Collateral Ligaments ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Knee* ; Lateral Ligament, Ankle ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Posterior Cruciate Ligament ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

No abstract available.
Colorectal Neoplasms*