OBJECTIVES: To determine the level of mRNA expression of various members of the matrix metalloproteinase and tissue inhibitors in uterine leiomyoma compared with unaffected myometrium. Materials & Method: 30 cases of portions of leiomyoma and myometrium were collected immediately followimg hysterectomy. Thirteen cases were from proliferative phase and seventeen were from secretory phase of menstrual cycle. The mean age was 43.7years old. The level of expression of mRNAs of interstitial collagenase, gelatinase, stromelysin, TIMP-1,-2,-3 was determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) and normalized to GAPDH(glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) mRNA. RESULTS: Myometrium and leiomyoma expressed all the members of above mentioned matrix metalloproteinase family and tissue inhibitors. Leiomyoma expressed a significantly higher level of stromelysin-3 during secretory phase, an extremely lower level of 92kDa gelatinase and a significantly lower level of TIMP-3. The immunohistochemical localization of TIMP-3 was smooth muscle cell and arteriole wall of myometrium and leiomyoma. CONCLUSIONS: The increased expression of stromelysin-3 in uterine leiomyoma compared with myometrium suggests that this MMP may be involved in the formation of a more fibrous extracellular matrix in leiomyoma. The extremely lower expression of 92kDa gelatinase of leiomyoma means that leiomyoma do not invade myometrium and forms a separated mass. Decreased expression of TIMP-3 of leiomyoma suggests that TIMP-3 is required for differentiation and homeostasis of extracellular matrix of normal myometrium and function as a suppressive role of tumor development
Animals ; Arterioles ; Extracellular Matrix ; Female ; Gelatinases ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Leiomyoma* ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 1 ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 ; Menstrual Cycle ; Mice ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Myometrium* ; RNA, Messenger ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-3

No abstract available.
Atrophy* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Myelitis, Transverse* ; Spinal Cord*

No abstract available.
Spinal Cord Compression* ; Spinal Cord* ; Thymoma*

The clinical use of topical antimicrobial substances is common in clean wounds as well as contaminated and chronic wounds. This use is based on the observation that the reduction of superficial bacterial contamination promotes wound healing. While the antibacterial efficacy of topical antimicrobials has been well documented, their effects on living tissue and the process of wound healing remain controversial. Recently, there have been several trials to detect the toxicity of various antimicrobial materials by using cultured fibroblasts and keratinocytes. In this study the cytotoxicity of several commonly used antimicrobials and the cytotoxic concentrations of antimicrobials on cultured human keratinocytes and fibroblasts were compared using 3 different METHODS: 1) the MTT method showing the ability of the cells to clear the cytotoxic agents, 2) LDH release indicating damage of cell membrane, and 3) tritiated thymidine incorporation measuring DNA synthesis. In the MTT method all topical antimicrobials in their usual clinical concentration showed cytotoxicity on both keratinocytes and fibroblasts by suppressing cell proliferation. Keratinocytes were more sensitive to certain antibiotics. When the 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) of topical antimicrobials were compared, the cytotoxicity to keratinocyte was, in the decreasing order, chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide, povidone iodine, sulfadiazine, fusidic acid, ethanol. Gentamicin and bacitracin. The cytotoxicity to fibroblasts was, in decreasing order, chiorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide, povidone iodine, fusidic acid, ethanol, sulfadiazine, bacitracin, and gentamicin. Most of the antimicrobials tested increased LDH release by keratinocyte in IC50.Chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide and povidone iodine showed statistically significant increase in LDH release. The tritiated thymidine incorporation study showed the order of cytotoxicity to keratinocyte in IC50 of each antimicrobials was similar to that of the MTT method. Tritiated thymidined incorporation, however, appeared to be a more sensitive method in detecting cytotoxicity than MTT because the IC50 was lower in the former. In conclusion, all topical antimicrobials are cytotoxic to keratinocytes and fibroblast in their usual concentration. Because of their cytotoxicity it is suggested that one should use topical antimicrobials in a dilution of up to 1 : 1,000 of commonly used concentration for a short period only especially when applied directly on a skin graft or wounds without a protective barrier. Bacitracin or gentamicin appear to be less cytotoxic among all the antimicrobials tested.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacitracin ; Cell Membrane ; Cell Proliferation ; Chlorhexidine ; Cytotoxins ; DNA ; Ethanol ; Fibroblasts* ; Fusidic Acid ; Gentamicins ; Humans* ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Keratinocytes* ; Povidone-Iodine ; Skin ; Sulfadiazine ; Thymidine ; Transplants ; Wound Healing ; Wounds and Injuries

No abstract available.
Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Cell Adhesion* ; Female ; Leiomyoma* ; Mice ; Myometrium* ; Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules*

OBJECTIVE: Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus, causing diverse progressive diseases such as infertility, pelvic pain, and dysmenorrhea. Although the mechanisms responsible for its pathogenesis and progression remain poorly understood, it is well established that endometriosis grows and regresses in an estrogen-dependent fashion and that administration of progestin can relieve the symptoms caused by endometriosis. Some genetic studies have demonstrated the association between the estrogen or progesterone receptor gene polymorphism and the susceptibility to endometriosis. This study was designed to investigate the associations of the polymorphism of the progesterone receptor gene (PROGINS), PvuII and XbaI polymorphism of estrogen alpha receptor gene with endometriosis in the Korean population. METHODS: A total of 100 women with surgically diagnosed and histologically confirmed endometriosis of stage III-IV were enrolled as a patient population and a total of 110 female control subjects undergoing health examination were enrolled as control population. Following isolation of genomic DNA from peripheral blood, polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer assays were performed for analyzing progesterone receptor gene polymorphism (PROGINS) and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assays were performed for analyzing estrogen alpha receptor gene PvuII and XbaI polymorphism. The chi-square-test was used to compare genotype distributions between endometriosis and controls. RESULTS: Only one patient in each group was found to be T1/T2 heterozygote, and the rest of the subjects were all T1/T1 homozygotes. Analysis of PvuII has shown that the significantly lower number of patients had (pp) genotypes and (p) alleles in the endometriosis group compared with the control group (32 (32%) vs. 50 (45.5%), P<0.05; 109 (54.5%) vs. 142 (64.5%), P<0.05, respectively). There was no difference in the genotype distribution or allele frequency in XbaI polymorphism between the endometriosis group and the control group. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the PvuII polymorphism of the estrogen receptor-alpha gene is associated with the risk for endometriosis in the Korean population.
Alleles ; DNA ; Dysmenorrhea ; Endometriosis* ; Estrogens* ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Heterozygote ; Homozygote ; Humans ; Infertility ; Pelvic Pain ; Progesterone* ; Receptors, Progesterone* ; Uterus

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to construct traffic-accident-related injury pyramid based on the New Injury Severity Score (NISS). METHODS: We constructed injury episodes to use the Traffic Accident Insurance database (1997~2001) and calculated the NISS by Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS). All episodes were classified into three groups by using the NISS: minor group (1~10), moderate group (11~25), and severe group (25~75). Seventy-five points were assigned to all death episodes. We constructed a traffic-accident-related injury pyramid by using an NISS criterion. We compared frequencies and percentiles of episodes in the NISS-based injury pyramid. RESULTS: The number of episodes was 2,012,135. Of these, 1,331,599 episodes involved males, and the other 680,536 episodes involved females. The number of death episodes was 2,091 in 1997, 1,971 in 1998, 2,430 in 1999, 2,546 in 2000 and 141 in 2002. The mean NISS was 6.89+/-6.31, and the percents for the minor group, the moderate group, and the severe group were 85.58%, 13.39%, and 1.03%, respectively. The percent of males in the severe group was higher than that of females by 2.43 times. The percent of older persons (>46 yrs) in the severe and moderate groups was higher than that of young adults (16-45 yrs) The percents of belt-unattached episodes, pedestrian episodes, and separated-car accident episodes in the severe group were higher than those of bet-attached episodes, passenger or driver episodes, and car-to-car accident episodes. The mean out-patient-department follow-up period and the mean loss rate of labor ability increased from the minor group through the moderate group to the severe group. CONCLUSION: We confirmed the characteristics of the traffic-accident-related injury pyramid.
Abbreviated Injury Scale ; Accidents, Traffic* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score* ; Insurance ; Male ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Cushing Syndrome* ; Empty Sella Syndrome* ; Hyperplasia*

The fluoroscopy-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy has been gaining widespread acceptance as a rapid and effective method to make a pre-operative diagnosis of mediastinal tumors including thymoma, malignant lymphoma, and metastatic carcinoma. Although thymoma is a most common tumor of the superior mediastinum, most cytopathologists are not experted in cytologic diagnosis of this tumor because of limited experience. In order to define the diagnostic cytologic features of thymoma, we have retrospectively reviewed imprinting smears and corresponding tissue sections from four cases of this tumor. All cases revealed an apparent biphasic pattern of epithelial cell clusters and lymphocytes with occasional branching capillary fronds extending from three dimensional epithelial cell clusters. Epithelial cell clusters predominated in one case and lymphocytes in two cases. Mixed epithelial cell and lymphocyte type represented in one of four cases. In the lymphocyte predominant type, the presence of epithelial cell clusters and small mature lymphocytes are helpful features to differentiate from a malignant lymphoma.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Capillaries ; Diagnosis ; Epithelial Cells ; Lymphocytes ; Lymphoma ; Mediastinum ; Retrospective Studies ; Succimer* ; Thymoma ; Urinary Tract Infections* ; Urinary Tract*