A prospective study was initiated to compare maternal serum concentration of CA-125 during the first trimester of normal and abnormal pregnancies. Serum specimens were obtained from 87 women with a normal intrauterine pregnancy and 47 women with abnormal pregnancies which were ended in spontaneo abortion or pathologically confirmed to be missed abortion. In normal pregnancies, the mean serum CA-125 concentrations were increased significantly from amenorhea 6 weeks (139.838.7 IU/ml), and were higher statistically than the values tested in the same weeks of abnormal pregnancies. In abnormal pregnancies serum CA-125 concentations were relatively lower than those of normal pregnancies. But these differences were not statistically significant except the values tested in amenorhea 6weeks. So serum levels of CA-125 may not be proved useful in monitoring of early pregnancies outcome.
Abortion, Missed ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, First* ; Pregnancy* ; Prospective Studies

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are popular in general practice. Their adverse renal effects have been well documented. Common NSAID-related renal side effects range from dysfunctional renal hemodynamic responses, nephrotic syndrome, electrolyte disturbances, acute interstitial nephritis, chronic interstitial nephritis with papillary necrosis, and acute flank pain syndrome to acute renal failure. Decreased prostaglandin synthesis can lead to renal ischemia and hemodynamically related acute renal failure. Cases of acute renal failure syndrome accompanied by severe loin pain after anaerobic exercise (ALPE) or binge drinking have previously been reported in individuals taking NSAIDs. However, severe flank pain after high-dose NSAID treatment in the absence of other conditions (exercise or volume contraction) is rare. We report a case of a 51-year-old man who suffered from severe pain in both flanks after NSAID treatment. Computed tomography revealed hypodense lesions in both kidneys.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; Binge Drinking ; Flank Pain ; General Practice ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Infarction ; Ischemia ; Kidney ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Nephritis, Interstitial ; Nephrotic Syndrome

The purpose of this study was to describe and understand how diabetics dealt with the result of the various changes of lifestyle. The grounded theory approach of qualitative research methods was used for building a substantive theory about that. The subjects of this study were 10 clients who experienced diabetes from 4 to 30 years. The data was collected from August 1999 to November 1999 through in-depth interviews utilizing home visitation and telephone interview technique then it was and analyzed simultaneously by a constant comparative method in which the new data was continuously coded into categories and properties according to Strauss & Corbin,s methodology. One hundred six concepts were found and they were grouped into 35 categories and then into 14 categories. The results were as follows difficulty, unable to overcome the changes, disposition, disease process, tiredness, supportive environment, perception, handling, concent- ration, mastering, endurance, avoidance, giving up and tailoring. The core phenomenon was 'tiredness' and these categories were synthesized into one core concept, the process of tailoring. The process of tailoring in diabetics consisted of: 1) going through difficulty of disease management 2) experiencing tiredness from the difficulty of disease management 3) perception of disease from tiredness 4) undergoing various self-management 5) controlling the process of tailoring by one's own method. Six hypotheses were derived from the relation of these concepts and four types were from intensity of tiredness, direction of disposition, type of disease process and the level of supportive environment and perception. This study offers better understanding on diabetic experiences and may facilitate more appropriate interventive strategies to provide support, information and knowledge. The nurses should utilize the results to help diabetics enjoy their lives without any trouble and must continuously develop nursing knowledges and skills.
Disease Management ; House Calls ; Interviews as Topic ; Life Style ; Nursing ; Qualitative Research ; Self Care

With the exception of choriocarcinoma, the central nervous system (CNS) is rarely associated with metastases from gynecological malignancy. Cerebral involvement in ovarian carcinoma is generally regarded as occurring in 1% of cases. Overall incidence of cerebellar metestases is 27% of CNS metastases. However higher rates have been reported following initial platinum-based chemotherapy. We experienced a cerebellar metastatic cancer patient treated with craniectomy and radiation therapy. So we report the case with a brief review of literature.
Central Nervous System ; Choriocarcinoma ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Pregnancy

Of the various types of ectopic pregnancies that have been reported, the retroperitoneal implantation probably represents the rarest. A search of the literature reveals only three other cases that appear to be true retroperitoneal pregnancies. We have experienced a case of the true retroperitoneal ectopic pregnancy, which was seen to be adherent to the anteromedial aspect of the left kidney. We report the case with a brief review of literatures.
Female ; Kidney ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic*

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are popular in general practice. Their adverse renal effects have been well documented. Common NSAID-related renal side effects range from dysfunctional renal hemodynamic responses, nephrotic syndrome, electrolyte disturbances, acute interstitial nephritis, chronic interstitial nephritis with papillary necrosis, and acute flank pain syndrome to acute renal failure. Decreased prostaglandin synthesis can lead to renal ischemia and hemodynamically related acute renal failure. Cases of acute renal failure syndrome accompanied by severe loin pain after anaerobic exercise (ALPE) or binge drinking have previously been reported in individuals taking NSAIDs. However, severe flank pain after high-dose NSAID treatment in the absence of other conditions (exercise or volume contraction) is rare. We report a case of a 51-year-old man who suffered from severe pain in both flanks after NSAID treatment. Computed tomography revealed hypodense lesions in both kidneys.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; Binge Drinking ; Flank Pain ; General Practice ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Infarction ; Ischemia ; Kidney ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Nephritis, Interstitial ; Nephrotic Syndrome

Occipital neuralgia is a form of headache that involves the posterior occiput in the greater or lesser occipital nerve distribution. Pain can be severe and persistent with conservative treatment. We present a case of intractable occipital neuralgia that conventional therapeutic modalities failed to ameliorate. We speculate that, in this case, the cause of headache could be the greater occipital nerve entrapment by the obliquus capitis inferior muscle. After steroid and local anesthetic injection into obliquus capitis inferior muscles under fluoroscopic and sonographic guidance, the visual analogue scale was decreased from 9-10/10 to 1-2/10 for 2-3 weeks. The patient eventually got both greater occipital neurectomy and partial resection of obliquus capitis inferior muscles due to the short term effect of the injection. The successful steroid and local anesthetic injection for this occipital neuralgia shows that the refractory headache was caused by entrapment of greater occipital nerves by obliquus capitis inferior muscles.
Fluoroscopy ; Headache ; Humans ; Muscles ; Nerve Compression Syndromes ; Neuralgia

No abstract available.
Gene Ontology* ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVE: A constituent of green tea, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), has been known to possess anti-diabetes, anti-hypertension and anti-cancer properties. In this study, we investigated the anticancer effects of EGCG on human ovarian cancer cell lines. The growth inhibitory mechanism(s) and regulation of cell cycle-related proteins by EGCG were also evaluated. METHODS: To carry out cell counting assay to observe the anti-proliferative effects, we treated 25, 50, and 100 uM EGCG to both ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3, respectively. Also, we treated EGCG to PA-1 cells with 6.25, 12.5 and 25 uM, respectively. Six days later, we examined the characteristics of apoptosis and changes in cell cycle regulation by cell counting assay, Annexin V-FITC staining and DNA fragmentation assay, and FACS analysis. In addition, protein and gene expression patterns in SKOV-3 cell were investigated by using cell cycle cDNA chip, RT-PCR, and Western blot analyses. RESULTS: Inhibition of cell growth by cell counts showed in SKOV-3 cells with 48.8%, 82.5%, 99.2% after six days of the treatment with 25, 50, 100 uM of EGCG, respectively. OVCAR-3 cells showed 53.9%, 84.8%, and 97.7% growth inhibition patterns. And PA-1 cells showed 17.1%, 48.4%, and 74.1%, as compared to control. When SKOV-3 cells were tested for EGCG-induced apoptosis, apoptotic cells were observed with 8.6, 11.4, and 23.3-fold at 25, 50, 100 uM EGCG, respectively. And PA-1 cells showed 1.7, 2.4, and 4.2-fold, as compared to control. In contrast, OVCAR-3 did not show EGCG-induced apoptosis. When SKOV-3 cells were tested for their gene expression using cell cycle cDNA chip after treatment with 24.5 uM of EGCG, up-regulations of p21, Bax and cyclin G were shown, while down-regulations of CDK6, E2F-4, and cyclin A were shown. In Western blot assay, up-regulations of Bax and p21 proteins were shown, while down- regulations of cyclin D1, Bcl-XL, Rb, CDK2, E2F-1, E2F-4, PCNA proteins were shown. CONCLUSION: These data support that EGCG can inhibit ovarian cancer cell growth through induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest as well as regulation of gene and protein expressions. Thus, EGCG likely provides an additional option for a new and potential drug approach for ovarian cancer.
Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Count ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Cell Line* ; Cyclin A ; Cyclin D1 ; Cyclin G ; DNA Fragmentation ; DNA, Complementary ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; Social Control, Formal ; Tea*

Primary malignant lymphoma of the uterine cervix is very rare. Lymphomas account for 3.5% of all malignant tumors in the females. Approximately, 25% of all malignant lymphomas arise from extranodal sites, most frequently from gastrointestinal tract and skin. Although the incidence of systemic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and extranodal NHL has increased in recent decades, only 1 to 1.5% arises from female genital tract. Primary pelvic sites include ovary, which is the most common site, uterine corpus, cervix, vagina, and vulva. Primary cervical lymphomas account for 0.12~0.6% of all extranodal lymphomas. However, there is still no consensus on the management of cervical lymphomas due to low incidence of the disease and limited experience in the literature. We experienced two cases of primary malignant lymphoma of the uterine cervix. A 41-year-old woman, Ann Arbor stage IE, was treated with laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy and both salpingo-oophorectomy and 4 cycles chemotherapy. A second case was a 73-year-old postmenopausal woman, Ann Arbor stage III, received five courses chemotherapy without any surgery. In this article, two cases of uterine cervical lymphoma are presented with a review of the available literature.
Adult ; Aged ; Cervix Uteri ; Consensus ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Hysterectomy, Vaginal ; Incidence ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Ovary ; Skin ; Vagina ; Vulva