OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the rate of early mouse embryonal development could be enhanced by cumulus cell coculture in vitro. METHODS: Ham's F-10 culture media supplemented with 0.4% bovine serum albumin were used. Two-cell F1 mouse embryos were cultured in media with or without cumulus cells of female ICR mouse embryo for 96 hours, and the rates of embryonal development were observed and compared. RESULTS: The percentage of hatched blastocyst in the coculture group was significantly higher than that in the control group by 87.3% vs 64.8% respectively (p< 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study provides confirmative information that cumulus cell coculture will be useful in enhancing early mouse embryonal development.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Coculture Techniques* ; Culture Media ; Cumulus Cells* ; Embryonic Structures ; Female ; Humans ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Serum Albumin, Bovine

We report a case of polycythemia vera combined with coagulation disorder. The patient was 54 years old man who complained of continuous bleeding after incision of skin abscess 20days ago. Laboratory tests were revealed prolonged aPTT and slightly prolonged PT. Coagulation factor, I, VIII, IX, XI and fibrinogen decreased, however FDP did not increased. It appears that patient with polycythemia vera have chronic activation of coagulation system, probably initiated by activation of factor XII. Platelet aggregation test to ADP, collagen, epinephrine was also revealed poor response.
Abscess ; Adenosine Diphosphate ; Blood Coagulation Factors ; Collagen ; Epinephrine ; Factor XII ; Fibrinogen ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Platelet Aggregation ; Polycythemia Vera* ; Polycythemia* ; Skin

No Abstract Available.

Acute gastric dilatation without obstructive or organic disease is rare, but is possible after a gastric or an abdominal operation in cases of trauma, retroperitoneal hematoma, diabetic gastroparesis, hypoxemia, electrolyte imbalance, etc. However ischemic necrosis due to acute gastric dilatation is very rare and has been reported only in patients who has anorexia nervosa or overeat suddenly. If the distended stomach is not decompressed successfully by using a conservative method or if the process proceeds to ischemic necrosis, operative treatment is necessary. We experienced a case in which the stomach was acutely distended, and mutiple ischemic necroses had developed. The patient was a 27-year-old woman and had no specific underlying disease in her medical history. After overeating, the stomach was distended acutely. During the operation, mutiple ischemic necroses were found in the stomach. A total gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y esophagojejunostomy were performed.
Adult ; Anorexia Nervosa ; Anoxia ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; Gastric Dilatation* ; Gastroparesis ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Hyperphagia ; Necrosis* ; Stomach

No abstract available.
Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic* ; Sterilization, Tubal*

Different types of aphasia resulting from stroke, as well as their anatomical correlates, are well characterized. In contrast, the literature on ictal aphasia is relatively scant. A 58-year-old woman had 4 times of transient motor aphasia. No other behavioral abnormalities and focal sensorimotor neurological deficits were revealed. Brain MRI showed a small meningioma at the left sphenoid ridge. Electroencephalogram showed occasional sharp waves on the left inferior frontal area. We report a rare case of ictal aphasia associated with meningioma.
Aphasia ; Aphasia, Broca ; Brain ; Electroencephalography ; Female ; Humans ; Meningioma ; Middle Aged ; Stroke

BACKGROUND: The autonomic nervous control of the cardiovascular system has been thought to have a diurnal variation in its activity. This variation could be an important underlying mechanism for the circardian distribution of cardiac events such as angina pectoris attack, transient myocardial ischemia, and some arrhythmia. The vagal cardiac function is commonly impaired in patients with coronary artery disease. Recently, an assessment of parasympathetic and sympathetic activities is now possible using neart rate spectral analysis. The spectral density of R-R interval variability contains two major components, high frequency (HF) power spectral density (<0.25Hz) and low frequency (LF) power spectral density (<0.15Hz), which have magnitudes that are quantitative markers of cardiac vagal activity and sympathetic activity with vagal modulation, respectively. METHODS: We analyzed the spectral components of R-R interval variability from 24 hour ambulatory holter monitoring in 20 controls and 20 patients with angina pectoris. The patients had no clinical evidence of hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, arrhythmia or diabetes mellitus. Recording continued for 24 hours while the subject undertook his normal work and leisure activities. For power spectral analysis, 1024 hours beats was sampled at early morning, afternoon, evening and during sleeping. RESULTS: The spectral component of R-R interval variability was unaffected by the time of day during the waking period, althought a significant decrease in LFCCV and HFCCV was observed during sleeping in controls(p<0.001). In comparison of two groups, patients with angina pectoris showed markedly diminished HFCCV values during waking period except during sleeping period. The R-R interval and LF/HFCCV and LF/HFCCV ratio at transient ischemic attack in patients with angina pectoris. CONCLUSION: Autonomic cardiac control during the waking period shows little variation with the time of day in both groups. We observed that vagal cardiac function was reduced in patients with coronary artery disease by heart rate spectral analysis. It is suggested that ischemic changes in patients with coronary artery disease underlying reduced vagal cardiac function is associated with increased sympathetic activity.
Angina Pectoris* ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Cardiovascular System ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Electrocardiography, Ambulatory ; Heart Failure ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Ischemic Attack, Transient ; Leisure Activities ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia

Background: The Forgotten Joint Score (FJS) is a newly developed patient-reported outcome measure designed to evaluate clinical outcome after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The FJS is known as a sensitive test with a low ceiling effect. It has been recently translated into many languages. However, no study has reported the validity or reliability of a Korean version of the FJS (K-FJS). Thus, the purpose of this study was to address this issue. Methods: According to guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation, translation of the English version of the FJS was performed. After obtaining a license from the original developer, 150 patients who had undergone TKA at more than 1 year to less than 5 years ago completed the K-FJS, visual analog scale, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis index (WOMAC), and the 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) health survey. To measure test-retest reliability, the K-FJS was completed twice by telephone survey for 100 patients. Responsiveness was retrospectively calculated based on a survey of 50 patients at 3 months and 1 year after surgery. Results: The K-FJS exhibited an excellent reliability (Cronbach's α, 0.967; intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.958; 95% confidence interval, 0.930–0.974). The ceiling effect of the K-FJS was 8.7% (n = 13), which was lower than the WOMAC's ceiling effect (10%).There was no floor effect. The correlation coefficients with WOMAC and SF-36 (physical function) were 0.708 and 0.682, respectively, indicating good construct validity. However, its correlation with mental health subscale of SF-36 was low (r = 0.143). At 3 to 12 months after TKA, the standardized response mean (SRM) was 0.67, which was lower than the SRM of WOMAC (1.03) obtained in the same period. The K-FJS demonstrated strong measurement properties in terms of good construct validity and reliability. Conclusions This study suggests that the K-FJS is an excellent instrument that can be used to monitor clinical outcomes after TKA. Using this standardized K-FJS, it would be possible for medical institutions to share more accurate clinical results.

We report a monozygotic twins with temporal lobe epilepsy, almost concordant in the onset time of firt seizure, lateralization and localization of epileptiform discharges. Partial seizures with secondarily generalized seizure occurred 15 days apart. EEG showed frequent spike-slow wave complexes on the right temporal area but the findings of brain MRI were normal in both. Past medical, delivery, developmental and family history were unremarkable. They had no physical and mental handicaps, and any other underlying causes of epilepsy. They have been on monotherapy with seizure free, although follow up EEG showed frequent spike-slow wave complexes after medication. As seizures developed simultaneously, the localization and lateralization of epileptiform discharges were concordant in our monozygotic twins, we suggest that genetic factor might be the most probable etiology of epilepsy in our cases but needs to be elucidated.
Brain ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsy ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Seizures ; Temporal Lobe ; Twins, Monozygotic

PURPOSE: This study was performed to identify the effects of selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI, venlafaxine) on the urethral perfusion pressure (UPP) and also to assess its therapeutic potentials for stress urinary incontinence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Smooth muscle strips of bladder and proximal urethra were prepared using female New Zealand white rabbits. Each strip was electrically stimulated and the degree of strip contraction was recorded by polygraph. After administration of venlafaxine (10(-6)M), responses of strips to electrical stimulation were measured. In separate experiments of eighty adult female Sprague Dawley rats, intravesical pressure and UPP was measured separately via double lumen catheter. Changes of intravesical pressure and UPP to intra-arterial (i.a.) and intra-urethral (i.u.) administra tion of phenylephrine, phentolamine, nitroprusside, fluoxetine (SSRIs), and venlafaxine were monitored, respectively. RESULTS: In strip study, pretreatment of venlafaxine significantly decreased the contrac tion of bladder strips (p=0.01) and significantly increased the contraction of urethral strips (p=0.008). In separate experiment of in vivo animal study, phenylephrine signifi cantly increased the UPP. Phentolamine (i.a.) significantly decreased the UPP (p= 0.001). UPP was also significantly decreased by intra urethral infusion of nitroprusside (p=0.003), but not significantly decreased by intra-arterial nitroprusside (p=0.23). Fluoxetine (i.a.) did not increase UPP significantly (p=0.15). Venlafaxine (i.a. and i.u.) significantly increased UPP (p=0.0002, 0.0001), respectively. In each case, intravesical pressure was not changed significantly. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that SNRI increases UPP in vitro and in vivo animal study. These results imply that venlafaxine may be useful for treatment of stress urinary incontinence by increasing UPP.
Adult ; Animals ; Catheters ; Electric Stimulation ; Female ; Fluoxetine ; Humans ; Muscle, Smooth ; Nitroprusside ; Norepinephrine* ; Perfusion ; Phentolamine ; Phenylephrine ; Rabbits ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Urethra ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Incontinence ; Venlafaxine Hydrochloride