No abstract available.
Animals ; Dogs* ; Neurons*

No abstract available.
DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded/radiation effects ; Humans ; Radiation Injuries/*etiology ; Radiation Protection/instrumentation ; Radiation, Ionizing ; Radiotherapy Dosage ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND: In recent years, estrogen has also been shown to modulate the development and function of the brain, bur not exclusively in areas involved with sexual behavior. Among the most novel and fascinating effects of estrogen are those on cognitive function and memory process and their alterations during aging and neurodegenarative disease like Alzheimer. Estrogen receptors distributed not only in the hypothalamus but many different areas, like cerebral cortex, hippocampus, basal forebrain, midbrain, spinal cord, and the diverse action of estrogen is supported by this fact. Numerous studies suggest thai estrogen may be beneficial in preserving cognitive function, but it is not clear yet. PURPOSE: In this study, we perform the immunohistochemical staining in the hippocampus of normal aged rat, and show the distribution of estrogen receptor compared with the neonatal rat. METHODS: we have used antibodies against a estrogen receptor(ER)-alpha to determine their distribution in neonatal and aged SD rat hippocampus. RESULTS: In neonatal rat hippocampus, ER-alpha immunoreactivity was observed in the nucleus of Purkinje cells, whereas in aged rat hippocampus, ER-a immunoreactivity was found mainly in the cytoplasm of Purkinje cells. CONCLUSION: We showed the age related intracellular differential distribution of ER-alpha immunoreactivity in the rat hippocampus. But, further investigations are required to establish whether functional relations like cognitive ability exist with this different intracellular expression of ER-alpha immunoreactivity.
Aging ; Animals ; Antibodies ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Brain ; Cerebral Cortex ; Cytoplasm ; Estrogens* ; Hippocampus* ; Humans ; Hypothalamus ; Memory ; Mesencephalon ; Prosencephalon ; Purkinje Cells ; Rats* ; Receptors, Estrogen ; Sexual Behavior ; Spinal Cord

No abstract available.
Clone Cells* ; Humans* ; Lymphocytes*

BACKGROUND: Dyskinesia is a common side effect complicating long-term levodopa therapy for Parkinson's disease. However, the pathogenesis of dyskinesia has not been completely understood. In recent animal studies, it has been reported that a NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) antagonist reduced levodopa-induced dyskinesia. These findings suggest that the hyperfunction of NMDA receptors on striatal efferent neurons contributed to the pathogenesis of dyskinesia. Amantadine has also been recently shown to antagonize central NMDA receptors. In the present study, we observed amantadine efficacy in levodopa-induced dyskinesia in parkinsonian patients. METHODS:Twenty-two parkinsonian patients with levodopa-induced dyskinesia participated in a placebo-controlled, cross-over study. We prescribed 100 mg amantadine daily as a starting dose, which was built up every four days and titrated up to 400 mg a day. After two weeks of a wash-out period, a placebo was given with the same schedule. The doses of levodopa and other antiparkinsonian drugs were unchanged during this period. We assessed the duration and disability of dyskinesia (UPDRS part IV, item 32 and 33) based on diary and interview. RESULTS: Amantadine was superior to placebo in reducing the duration of dyskinesia in 9 patients (42.9%) and the disability of dyskinesia in 11 patients (52.4%). The reduction of the duration and disability of dyskinesia was correlated with the dose of amantadine. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that amantadine can improve levodopa induced dyskinesia and supports the view that the hyperfunction of NMDA receptors contributes to the pathogenesis of levodopa induced dyskinesia.
Amantadine* ; Animals ; Appointments and Schedules ; Cross-Over Studies ; Dyskinesias* ; Humans ; Levodopa ; N-Methylaspartate ; Neurons, Efferent ; Parkinson Disease ; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is rare in children, mainly affecting male adolescents. It usually occurs secondary to alveloar rupture in the pulmonary interstitium, followed by dissection of gas towards the hilum and mediastinum. Many pathological and physiological events can lead to alveolar rupture, but the most common cause in children is asthma. The most frequent triggers in the pediatric age group are asthma, vomiting of any cause, situations reproducing the Valsalva maneuver (e.g., shouting, coughing), and intense sport activities. We report two cases of pneumomediastinum, occuring in a patient with vigorous coughing and pneumonia and in a patient with dyspnea and pneumonia. We describe the clinical and radiologic findings of two cases. In addition, we have made a comprehensive review of the literature on spontaneous pneumomediastinum in children.
Adolescent ; Asthma ; Child ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Mediastinal Emphysema* ; Mediastinum ; Pneumonia ; Rupture ; Sports ; Subcutaneous Emphysema ; Valsalva Maneuver ; Vomiting

BACKGROUND: The effective treatment of hematologic malignancies depends upon application of different therapeutic strategies by selecting patients known as the high risk group and the detection of malignant cells that can not be distinguished during following-up. We compared the results of G-banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), which are used most frequently in detecting genetic changes, with the respect to investigating the discrepancies between these methods. METHODS: G-banding and FISH were performed on 919 consecutive specimens from 304 patients with hematologic malignancies. As for FISH, we covered most of the more frequent gene-tic changes, using 18 types of FISH probe. RESULTS: The average discrepancy between G-banding and FISH was 8.6% with a discrepancy at initial diagnosis of 6.0% and at follow-up of 11.9%, indicating greater discrepancy at follow-up after treatment. The chromosomal changes with especially large discrepancies were TEL/AML1, BCR/ABL & del(5q) (22.4%, 18.1%, and 16.2%, respectively). According to each disease, the discrepancies in acute biphenotypic leukemia (33.3%), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (14.7%), and chronic myelogenous leukemia (9.6%) were larger than average discrepancy. CONCLUSTIONS: We concluded that application of FISH is effective for detecting genetic changes in hematologic malignancies. Once genetic changes are detected, follow-up with FISH would be especially effective for making an accurate assessment of the likelihood of complete remission and recurrence.
Diagnosis ; Fluorescence ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization ; Leukemia, Biphenotypic, Acute ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; Recurrence

No abstract available.
Blood Platelets* ; Platelet Factor 4*

BACKGROUND: Human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) may have multiple therapeutic applications for cell based therapy including the treatment of pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). As low survival rates and potential tumorigenicity of implanted cells could undermine the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) cell-based therapy, we chose to investigate the use of conditioned medium (CM) from a culture of MSC cells as a feasible alternative. METHODS: CM was prepared by culturing hUCB-MSCs in three-dimensional spheroids. In a rat model of PAH induced by monocrotaline, we infused CM or the control unconditioned culture media via the tail-vein of 6-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. RESULTS: Compared with the control unconditioned media, CM infusion reduced the ventricular pressure, the right ventricle/(left ventricle+interventricular septum) ratio, and maintained respiratory function in the treated animals. Also, the number of interleukin 1alpha (IL-1alpha), chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 5 (CCL5), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1)-positive cells increased in lung samples and the number of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling technique (TUNEL)-positive cells decreased significantly in the CM treated animals. CONCLUSIONS: From our in vivo data in the rat model, the observed decreases in the TUNEL staining suggest a potential therapeutic benefit of the CM in ameliorating PAH-mediated lung tissue damage. Increased IL-1alpha, CCL5, and TIMP-1 levels may play important roles in this regard.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Culture Media ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Deoxyuridine ; Fetal Blood* ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Interleukin-1alpha ; Lung ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Models, Animal ; Monocrotaline ; Pulmonary Artery ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Survival Rate ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 ; Umbilical Cord* ; Ventricular Pressure

BACKGROUND: Philadelphia(Ph) chromosome is found in about 95 percent of chronic myelogenous leukemia(CML) patients. Ph chromosome results from a reciprocal translocation between the long arms of chromosomes 9 and 22, and the fusion gene, BCR-ABL contribute to oncogenesis. Three to five years after first diagnosis, CML progresses to the blast crisis, and is accompanied by secondary cytogenetic changes in about 85% of cases. In this study, we investigated the incidence of ABL deletion of derivative 9 chromosome in CML and evaluated the association between this deletion and progression to the blast crisis by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH). METHOD: The subjects included in this study were a consecutive series of 58 patients who were diagnosed as CML at Seoul National University Hospital between January 1997 and April 2000. On 90 archival bone marrow aspirate samples from these 58 CML patients, interphase FISH was performed with a commercially available probe. RESULTS: The ABL deletion of derivative 9 chromosome was detected in 17(29.3%) of 58 patients with CML. Eighteen of 58 patients progressed to blast crisis in this period. ABL deletion was found in 7 of 18 patients with blast crisis, and not in 11 remainders. The mean duration from the diagnosis to blast crisis was 37.1 months in 7 patients with the ABL deletion, while the mean duration was 74.2 months in 11 patients without the ABL deletion. The mean duration from the diagnosis to blast crisis in patients with ABL deletion was significantly shorter than in patients without ABL deletion(P=0.043). CONCLUSIONS: We found that 29.3% of patients with CML had the ABL deletion on derivative 9 chromosome. In these patients, the time taken for evolution to blast crisis was significantly shorter than that of the patients without ABL deletion.
Arm ; Blast Crisis* ; Bone Marrow ; Carcinogenesis ; Cytogenetics ; Diagnosis ; Fluorescence* ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; In Situ Hybridization* ; Incidence* ; Interphase* ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive* ; Philadelphia Chromosome ; Seoul