Leukocytes, when subjected to phagocytic, immunologic or chemical stimuli, are known to exhibit a sequence of morphological and biochemical events which lead to the production of H₂, O₂, O₂⁻, and even OH as well as the secretion of various lysosomal lytic enzymes into the extracellular environments. It was been proposed that some antiinflammatory drugs may exert their therapeutic effects by inhibiting the production of reactive oxygen species or by abrogating the effects of reactive oxygen species ontissue components. In the present study, effects of various quenchers and antiinflammatory drugs were observed on the changes of viscosity of hyaluronate and collagen gelation by oxygen radicals generated by xanthine and xanthine oxidase. Quenching effects of antiinflammatory drugs on reactive oxygen species were also observed with gas chromatography. 1. Decrease of viscosity of hyaluronate and inhibition of collagen gelation by xanthine and xanthine oxidase were inhibited by various quenchers. 2. Several oxygen radical quenchers and antiinflammatory drugs did not affect viscosity of hyaluronate and collagen gelation. 3. Reactive ouygen species generated by xanthine and xanthine oxidase affected both viscosity of hyaluronate and collagen gelation with similar pattem. Therefore, in this study quenching effects of antiinflammatory drugs on reactive oxygen species have been examined by observing viscosity changes of hyaluronate. Sodium salicylate, acetylsalicylic acid, indomethacin and hydrocortisone affected viscosity changes of hyalumnate by xanthine and xanthine oxidase. The pattem of inhibition of hyaluronate degradation by these drugs were comparable to the inhibition produced by OH scavengers and singlet oxygen quencher. 4. To danonstrate the generation of OH ethylene was determined from methional incubated with xanthine and xanthine oxidase according to gas chromatography method. Xanthine and xanthine oxidase produced ethylene fmm methional and the production was inhibited by antiinflammatory drugs. The result obtained in this study suggest that action of antiinflammatory drugs may, to some event, be attributed to their ability to intercept reactive oxygen species in addition to inhibition of synthesis of prostaglandin.
Aspirin ; Chromatography, Gas ; Collagen ; Hydrocortisone ; Indomethacin ; Leukocytes ; Methods ; Oxygen ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Singlet Oxygen ; Sodium Salicylate ; Therapeutic Uses ; Viscosity ; Xanthine ; Xanthine Oxidase

PURPOSE: This study was done to investigate factors affecting perceived financial burden of medical expenditures. METHOD: The participants were 2,024 inpatients who were enrolled in a survey on the benefit coverage rate of the National Health Insurance in 2006. The collected data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA-test, Mann-Whitney-test, Kruskal-Wallis-test, Chi-square test and logistic regression. RESULTS: The crucial factors for perceived financial burden were age, job, equivalence scale, ratio of annual family income vs medical expenditure, and private health insurance. Perceived financial burden was higher for people who were older, who were unemployed, whose medical expenditures were high compared to annual family income, whose index of family equalization was low and for those who had no private health insurance. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate a demand for system reform that will enable management of no-pay hospital bills in the National Health Insurance to decrease the medical expense of people in the low-income bracket.
Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Insurance, Health ; National Health Programs

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a local community based multi-factorial program for high-risk younger and older elderly people. METHODS: The quasi-experimental research design (pretest-post test) was employed. Participants were recruited in Seoul and a total of 98 elders completed an 8-week multi-factorial program for preventing frailty. Descriptive statistics, chi2-test and GLM were used in the data analysis with SPSS/WIN 15.0. RESULTS: The high-risk elderly people in the younger and older stages showed differences in IADL, TUG and BMI, and after being provided with the multi-factorial program for preventing frailty, some effects were shown on improving the total score of frailty, a physical function, TUG, BMI, depression, subjective feeling of health, and social interaction. CONCLUSION: The 8-week multi-factorial program for preventing frailty had positive effects on improving physical, emotional and social functions of the high-risk elderly people. It is necessary to evaluate the effects after individual intervention as well as group intervention and to evaluate the effects of the program by setting a control group in the future.
Aged ; Depression ; Frail Elderly ; Humans ; Research Design ; Statistics as Topic

OBJECTIVES: The authors attempted to estimate the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the differences of sociodemographical features, injury severity, depression and anxiety between PTSD and non-PTSD groups artier motor vehicle accident. METHODS: The subjects were 104 patients who had undergone motor vehicle accidents, and been hospitalized to orthopedic surgery hospitals. We administered them clinician-administered PTSD scale(CAPS) for diagnosing PTSD, injury severity scale(ISS) for identifying their physical injury, self-reported questionnaire made to identify socioepidmogrphic data, Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) for measuring depression, and State Trait Anxiety Inventory I, II(STAI- I, II)for measuring anxiety. RESULTS: The incidence of PTSD in subjects was 61.5%. Most of sociodemogrphic factors were not different between PTSD and non-PTSD groups. Only there were signigicant differences between PTSD group and non-PTSD group on the cases that observed the dead or the wounded at the scene of motor vehicle accident( chi2=8.478, p<0.05) and BDI(t=5.03, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that prevalence of PTSD is higher after motor vehicle accident and both of the two groups report much higher depression and anxiety than normal population. In addition, the results of this study show that the observation of dead or wounded at accident situation can be of risk factors to precipitatae PTSD.
Accidents, Traffic ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Humans ; Incidence ; Motor Vehicles* ; Orthopedics ; Prevalence ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Risk Factors ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* ; Wounds and Injuries

No abstract available.
Evoked Potentials ; Humans ; Neural Conduction ; Poisoning*

Korean vocabularies are composed of ideograms (Hanja) and phonograms (Hangle) just like Kanji (ideogram) and Kana (Phonogram) in Japanese. Double dissociation between the phonogram and ideogram has been reported in both languages. According to those studies, the ideograms are localized in more selective brain areas than the phonograms. We report on a case of alexia with agraphia for Hangle and intact reading for Hanja after a left parieto-occipital lobe infarction.
Agraphia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Brain ; Dissociative Disorders ; Dyslexia ; Humans ; Vocabulary

Loss of pain and temperature sensation due to lateral medullary infarction are well known and classically involve the ipsilateral side of the face and the lower part of the body on the controlateral side. This pattern of sensory loss below a certain level on the trunk, usually a sign of spinal cord disease, may also appear following a lesion in the lateral medullar, due to damage to the spinothalamic tract. A 72-year-old hypertensive man developed sudden dizziness, headache, and gait ataxia. On neurologic examination, he had left limb and gait ataxia. Five days later he noted loss of pain and temperature sensation on the right leg and trunk with a sensory level at T4 with preservation of touch, vibration, and joint position sense in all limbs. Brain MRI showed a small infarct in the left lower lateral medulla. Brain MR angiography showed stenosis of the right proximal carotid artery, left distal vertebral artery, and mid-basilar artery. We report a case of sensory defects with a sensory level on the trunk that occured as the result of lesion of the lower lateral medulla.
Aged ; Angiography ; Arteries ; Brain ; Carotid Arteries ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Dizziness ; Extremities ; Gait Ataxia ; Headache ; Humans ; Infarction ; Joints ; Leg ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Medulla Oblongata ; Neurologic Examination ; Proprioception ; Sensation ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; Spinothalamic Tracts ; Vertebral Artery ; Vibration

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is an uncommon mesenchymal solid tumor commonly documented in children and young adults. Here, we report a case of IMT in colon confirmed pathologically after laparoscopic anterior resection. A 35-year-old man presented with anal bleeding after defecation for 2 weeks. Colonoscopy demonstrated a mass with shallow ulceration in the central area and irregular margin accompanied by intact mucosa in the descending colon. Computer tomography showed a well-demarcated and homogenous solitary mass in the descending colon. We performed laparoscopic anterior resection. This case was diagnosed as IMT after microscopic examination. The tumor was composed of a proliferation of spindle-shaped cells arranged in the hyaline material with chronic inflammatory cells, composed mainly of plasma cells and lymphocytes. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were positive for smooth muscle actin, and vimentin, and negative for desmin, CD117 (c-kit), anaplastic lymphoma kinase-1.
Actins ; Adult ; Child ; Colon ; Colon, Descending ; Colonoscopy ; Defecation ; Desmin ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Lymphocytes ; Lymphoma ; Mucous Membrane ; Muscle, Smooth ; Myofibroblasts ; Plasma Cells ; Ulcer ; Vimentin ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the B-mode sonographic and sonoelastographic features of high risk lesions of the breast. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From April 2009 to February 2010, 1390 patients with breast lesions underwent US-guided core-biopsy. Among them, 13 lesions were confirmed to be pure sclerosing adenosis by subsequent surgical excision or on imaging follow-up of more than 1 year. Two radiologists retrospectively analyzed the B-mode sonography according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System classification. The sonoelastographic images were classified into 5 elasticity scores according to the Itoh classification and the strain ratio between the mass and the surrounding fat tissue was reviewed. We considered the sonoelastographic patterns to be suspicious for the case with a score of 4 and 5 and a strain ratio of more than a 2.24. RESULTS: The common B-mode sonographic features of sclerosing adenosis were an irregular shape (69.2%, 9 of 13), an indistinct margin (92.3%, 12 of 13), hypoechogenicity (76.9%, 10 of 13) and category 4A, a low suspicion of malignancy (61.5%, 8 of 13). The common sonoelastographic features were a score of 2 (42%, 6 of 13) and a strain ratio < 2.24 (69.2%, 9 of 13). CONCLUSION: Sclerosing adenosis showed suspicious B-mode sonographic findings, but it had benign sonolastographic features.
Breast ; Elasticity ; Elasticity Imaging Techniques ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Retrospective Studies ; Sprains and Strains

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is a potentially life-threatening but reversible autoimmune disorder characterized by psychiatric symptoms, cognitive dysfunction, speech dysfunction, seizures, movement disorder, decreased level of consciousness, and autonomic dysfunction or central hypoventilation. It occurs predominantly in young women and approximately half of them have underlying tumors, mainly ovarian teratoma. A 24-year old woman was admitted because of fever, headache, abnormal movement and decreased mental status. Five cycles of plasmapheresis improved her neurological and mental status. Anti-NMDAR antibodies in her CSF and serum were positive, and computed tomography revealed a 1-cm sized mass suggestive of mature cystic teratoma arising from the right ovary. We promptly performed laparoscopic right ovarian cystectomy. She was discharged after 2 weeks with mild memory deficit. Prompt removal of ovarian teratoma and multidisciplinary care are particularly important for good outcome.