No abstract available.
Zygoma*

No abstract available.
Zygoma*

PURPOSE: When Managing metastatic bladder tumors, to overcome the resistance mechanism of cisplatin is a main problem to be solved. The objective is to confirm the changes of general and ultrastructural morph ology with the induction of cisplatin resistance from the bladder cell line. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The samples of this investigation are 2ng/ml-cisplatin resistant human bladder cell lines T24R2 established by SNUH Urology and the drug resistant bladder cell lines T24 was obtained from ATCC, as a control group. We cultured the resistant cell line on the slide and observed it using light microscopy to see the general morphology. For the ultrastructural morphology, we fixed cultured cells, made an epon block, sliced an ultrathin section and observed it using H-71000 EM. RESULTS: Under light microscopy, the cytoplasm of the resistant cell line shows a plumper pattern than that of the parent cell. Under electronmicroscopy, the chromatin of the resistant cell line has a relatively finely dispersed chromatin pattern when compared to the parent cell line, which shows a coarse and aggregated chromatin pattern. Within the cytoplasm, the mitochondrial volume, dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum, polyribosomes and ribosomes are moderately increased in the resistant cell line when compared to the parent cell line. In particular, we found a great amount of double membrane vesicle near the cell surface and pinocytic vesicles on the surface, which are seldom observed within the parent cells. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the cisplatin resistant human bladder cell lines (T24R2) underwent a morphological change with the induction of cisplatin resistance, and we hypothesize that the resistant cell's ultrastructure, which shows morphological change, will be involved in the drug resistance mechanism. Regarding this matter, further research will be needed.
Cell Line* ; Cells, Cultured ; Chromatin ; Cisplatin* ; Cytoplasm ; Drug Resistance ; Endoplasmic Reticulum, Rough ; Humans ; Membranes ; Microscopy ; Mitochondrial Size ; Parents ; Polyribosomes ; Ribosomes ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder* ; Urology

No abstract available.
Hearing Loss, Sensorineural* ; Stellate Ganglion*

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to examine the prevalence of neuroleptic-induced irregular menstruation and its related factors as well as the possible relationship of irregular menstruation with psychopathology and extrapyramidal symptoms in schizophrenic patients. METHODS: Thirty five schizophrenic inpatients at Naju National Mental Hospital who satisfied the diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV were selected. They had drug-free periods for more than 1 month before admission and had been taking neuroleptics for more than 3 months after admission. From all patients, reliable information regarding the sociodemographic characteristics, the menstrual histories before and after admission and clinical characteristics, including previous and current medications were investigated. The following were also evaluated: Serum prolactin level(by radioimmunoassay), psychopathology(by positive and negative syndrome scale: PANSS), and extrapyramidal symptoms(by extrapyramidal symptom rating scale: ESRS). RESULTS: Twelve patients(34%) showed regular menstruation and 23 patients(66%) were suffering from irregular menstruation. Of those with irregular menstruation, 13 patients(37%) had oligomenorrhea and 10 patients(29%) had amenorrhea. There were no differences in sociodemographic characteristics and menstrual histories before admission between the regular and irregular menstruation groups. But, the significant differences between the two were found in the following variables: The irregular menstruation group had shorter durations of illness, higher daily doses of current neuroleptics, higher serum prolactin levels, higher scores on the general psychopathology scale of PANSS, and higher scores on the parkinsonian symptom scale, hypokinetic symptom factor and clinical global impression of ESRS. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of the irregular menstruation in schizophrenic patients reflects a state of hyperprolactinemia due to the interference of dopamine activity by high doses of neuroleptics.
Amenorrhea ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Dopamine ; Female ; Hospitals, Psychiatric ; Humans ; Hyperprolactinemia ; Inpatients ; Jeollanam-do ; Menstruation* ; Oligomenorrhea ; Prevalence ; Prolactin ; Psychopathology ; Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate attention, memory and executive function in patients with narcolepsy. METHODS: This study included 23 narcoleptic patients whose diagnosis were confirmed by the International Classification of Sleep Disorders(ICSD) at Chonnam National University Hospital Sleep Disorders Clinic or an other hospital in Korea, from 2005 to 2008, as well as 23 normal controls. All participants were given an IQ test for Korean-Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and several neuropsychological function tests (the d2 test for attention function, the Rey Complex Figure Test for nonverbal memory, the Korean-California Verbal Learning Test [K-CVLT] for verbal memory, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test for executive function). Clinical features of narcoleptic patients, including the frequency of excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucination, were investigated by a structured clinical interview administered by a neuropsychiatist. Excessive daytime sleepiness was evaluated by the Epworth sleepiness scale. RESULTS: Characteristic symptoms of narcolepsy observed in this study included excessive daytime sleepiness (n=23, 100.0%), cataplexy (n=19, 82.6%), hypnagogic hallucination (n=5, 21.7%) and sleep paralysis (n=12, 52.2%). In nocturnal polysomnographic findings, stage 2 sleep and REM latency were found to be significantly decreased in narcoleptic patients compared with the control group, and were accompanied by significant increases in stage 1 sleep. Narcoleptic patients had lower scores than the control group on total number, Total Number-Total Error, Concentration Performance and Fluctuation Rate on the d2 test, which measures attention. Also, there were significant differences between the performance of patient and control groups on the B list of the K-CVLT, which measures verbal memory. CONCLUSION: Narcoleptic patients showed decreased attention and verbal memory performance compared to the control group; however, in many areas, narcoleptic patients still demonstrated normal cognitive function.
Adult ; Cataplexy ; Executive Function ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Korea ; Memory ; Narcolepsy ; Sleep Paralysis ; Sleep Wake Disorders ; Verbal Learning ; Wisconsin

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with skipping breakfast of Korean children by analyzing the 24-hour recall intake data from the 2001 National Health and Nutrition Survey. The sample of this study consisted of 1,600 children aged 7 to 18 years. About 17% of the children skipped breakfast, consuming no food or beverage at all. About 30% of children reporting breakfast skipping in a self-administered survey were shown to have eaten some foods as a result of analysis of the 24-hour recall data. Students having eaten breakfast consumed 21% of Estimated Energy Requirement at breakfast. The multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that age was associated with skipping breakfast both in elementary and middle/high school students; older students were more likely to skip breakfast. Elementary school students from low-income families were more likely to skip breakfast than those from upper-high income families. Intervention programs are needed to prevent children from skipping breakfast by targeting older students. For elementary school students, such programs should be first developed for those from lowincome families.
Aged ; Beverages ; Breakfast ; Child ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Nutrition Surveys

Carcinosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor composed of a mixture of neoplastic epithelial and mesenchymal elements, which has been reported in many organ systems, but its occurrence is very rare in the skin. An 81-year-old female patient presented with aml-year-history of a painful exophytic mass on the tip of the middle finger of the right hand involving the distal part of the nail bed. The mass was 1 × 1 × 0.6 cm in size, hard, flesh colored, ulcerated and easily bleeding. Microscopically, the epidermis at the margin of the tumor showed the characteristic findings of squamous cell carcinoma and the carcinomatous component was mixed with malignant mesenchymal components focally differentiating into chondrosarcoma. This combination of squamous cell carcinoma and chondrosarcoma has not been reported yet in the skin. She had a distal interphalanx amputation and no recurrence appeared for 1 year on follow-up.
Aged, 80 and over ; Amputation ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Carcinosarcoma ; Chondrosarcoma* ; Epidermis ; Epithelial Cells* ; Female ; Fingers ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Recurrence ; Skin* ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND: When used to reverse the anticoagulant effect of heparin, protamine administration after cardiovascular bypass often can lead to systemic hypotension. During the reversal of heparin-induced anticoagulation, the effects of protamine on both a heparin-protamine complex and free protamine on the cardiovascular system should be considered. METHOD: To determine whether the hypotensive effect of heparin-protamine and/or protamine could be caused by endothelium-dependent and-independent component, we studied rings of the arotic arteries in rats suspended in organ chambers containing Tris Tyrode solution at 37oC and 100% O2. Arterial rings with or without endothelium were contracted with 40 mM KCl or 3 +/- 10-6M phenylephrine and then exposed to increasing concentrations of protamine (final organ bath concentration, 40~400 g/ml) both in the absence and presence of heparin (200 U/ml). RESULTS: Protamine induced concentration-dependent relaxation in arterial rings with endothelium, which were significantly greater than in rings without endothelium. The endothelium-dependent relaxation induced by protamine was inhibited by NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) (10-5M) pretreatment, but was not inhibited by indomethacin (3x10-6M) pretreatment on rings with endothelium. Furthermore, the contractile inhibition was enhanced by superoxide dismutase (100 U/ml). Also, such vasodilating actions were not influenced in the presence of heparin (200 U/ml). In endothelium-denuded strips, protamine (400ug/ml) inhibited Ca++ induced contraction, which was evoked in Ca++-free solution containing 40 mM K+, and also inhibited the norepinephrine (NE)-induced contraction. Protamine inhibited on the NE-induced contraction, but not the caffein-induced contration in Ca++ free, 2 mM EGTA solution. Also, such inhibition of contracions were not inluenced in the presence of heparin (40 U/ml). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that protamine (in the presence or absence of heparin) acts on endothelial cell receptors to stimulate the production of nitric oxide and inhibits both Ca++-influx and the NE-induced Ca++ release from intracellular stores.
Animals ; Arteries* ; Baths ; Cardiovascular System ; Egtazic Acid ; Endothelial Cells ; Endothelium ; Heparin* ; Hypotension ; Indomethacin ; Nitric Oxide ; Norepinephrine ; omega-N-Methylarginine ; Phenylephrine ; Rats* ; Relaxation ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Vasodilation*

OBJECTIVES: Cord blood stem cells have been widely used as donor cells for bone marrow transplantation recently. These cells can give rise to a variety of hematopoietic lineages to repopulate the blood. Recent observations reveal that some bone marrow cells and bone marrow stromal cells(MSCs) can grow to become either neurons or glial cells. It is, however, unclear whether or not there exists stems cells which can differentiate into neurons in the blood during the early stages of postnatal life. METHODS: Human cord blood stem cells were prepared from human placenta after full term delivery. To induce neuronal differentiation of stem cells, beta-mercaptoethanol was treated. To confirm the neuro-glial characteristics of differentiated stem cells, immunocytochemical stain for NeuN, neurofilament, glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP), microtubule associated protein2(MAP2) was performed. RT-PCR was performed for detecting nestin mRNA and MAP2 mRNA. RESULTS: We showed in this experiment that neuro-glial markers(NeuN, neurofilament, MAP2, GFAP) were expressed and axon-like cytoplasmic processes are elaborated in the cultured human cord blood stem cells prepared from new born placenta after full term delivery. Nestin mRNA was also detected in fresh cord blood monocytes. Conclusions: These results suggest that human cord blood derived stem cells may be potential sources of neurons in early postnatal life.
Bone Marrow ; Bone Marrow Cells ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Cytoplasm ; Fetal Blood* ; Humans* ; Microtubules ; Monocytes ; Nestin ; Neural Stem Cells ; Neuroglia ; Neurons ; Placenta ; RNA, Messenger ; Stem Cells ; Tissue Donors ; Umbilical Cord*