No abstract available.

Shoulder pain is a common problem in the elderly, which can frequently lead to disabilities. Adhesive capsulitis, rotator cuff disease, and osteoarthritis are main causes of shoulder pain in the elderly. Because the use of the upper extremity is especially pertinent to maintain independence in the elderly, proper management of shoulder pain is crucial to preserve or restore functional independence by reducing the degree of pain as much as possible. Successful treatment of shoulder pain in the elderly depends on not only an accurate diagnosis of etiologies and appropriate treatments according to clinical characteristics, but also understanding that the mechanisms of developing those diseases were closely related to the degenerative changes with age.
Aged ; Bursitis ; Geriatrics ; Humans ; Osteoarthritis ; Rotator Cuff ; Shoulder ; Shoulder Pain ; Upper Extremity

When sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors were first introduced a decade ago, no one expected them to have substantial effects beyond their known glucose-lowering effects, until the emergence of evidence of their robust renal and cardiovascular benefits showing that they could attenuate progression of kidney disease, irrespective of diabetes, as well as prevent the development of acute kidney injury. Still, the precise and elaborate mechanisms underlying the major organ protection of SGLT2 inhibitors remain unclear. SGLT2 inhibitors inhibit the reabsorption of sodium and glucose in the proximal tubule of the kidney and then recovers tubuloglomerular feedback, whereby SGLT2 inhibitors reduce glomerular hyperfiltration. This simple demonstration of their beneficial effects has perplexed experts in seeking more plausible and as yet undisclosed explanations for the whole effects of SGLT2 inhibitors, including metabolism reprogramming and the modulation of hypoxia, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Given that the renal benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in patients with kidney disease but without diabetes were comparable to those seen in patients with diabetes, it may be reasonable to keep the emphasis on their hemodynamic actions. In this context, the aim of the present review is to provide a comprehensive overview of renal hemodynamics in individuals with diabetes who are treated with SGLT2 inhibitors, with a focus on natriuresis associated with the regulation of tubuloglomerular feedback and potential aquaresis. Throughout the discussion of alterations in renal sodium and water transports, particular attention will be given to the potential enhancement of adenosine and its receptors following SGLT2 inhibition.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of body composition and muscle strength of North Korean refugees (NKRs) according to their duration of stay in South Korea. METHODS: NKRs who volunteered and were living in South Korea, aged 20 to 75 years were recruited. Body compositions were analyzed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Muscle strength was measured with the hand grip test. Demographic and migration information was obtained with a questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 158 volunteers were recruited at a mean age of 48.3+/-11.4 years. The mean time from when they escaped from North Korea and arrived in South Korea was 5.8+/-4.3 years. Height, weight, and body surface area were significantly smaller in all NKRs compared to South Korean controls, except for women aged over 50 years. In females of younger ages (<50 years), NKRs with more than a 4-year stay in South Korea had a higher weight and fat mass than that of those who had a shorter stay (less than 4 years) in South Korea. All NKRs had a weaker grip strength than that of the age-matched controls from South Korea. CONCLUSION: The NKRs showed relatively smaller physiques and weaker muscle strength than that of the South Korean controls. In younger female NKRs, shorter South Korean stay group showed small body weight and fat mass than that of longer South Korean stay group. Specific health support programs might be needed.
Body Composition* ; Body Surface Area ; Body Weight ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea ; Electric Impedance ; Female ; Hand ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Korea ; Muscle Strength* ; Refugees* ; United Nations ; Volunteers

No abstract available.
Anemia ; Down Syndrome* ; Hematuria

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: CD34+ cells from umbilical cord blood (UCB) were cultured with stromal cells and growth factors, and cell proliferation and megakaryocytic differentiation were observed. The purposes of this study are to find out the optimal culture condition for the megakaryocytic differentiation of CD34+ cells from UCB. METHODS: CD34+ cells of mobilized peripheral blood (PB) and UCB were cultured in IMDM at a concentration of 1x105 cells/mL for 11 days. Thrombopoietin (TPO) 5 ng/mL and 50 ng/mL, flt-3 ligand (FL) 50 ng/mL and stem cell factor (SCF) 50 ng/mL were used as growth factors. Stromal cells cultured from bone marrow (BM) mononuclear cells appeared as a single layer of fusiform adherent cells with expression of SH-2 and ASMA. RESULTS: When PB CD34+ cells were cultured with growth factors only, the cell number increased in TPO 5 ng/mL and 50 ng/mL, TPO and FL, TPO, FL and SCF group increased upto mean 2.0 (in TPO 5 ng/mL), 2.9 (in TPO 50 ng/mL), 2.4 (TPO and FL), 2.8 (TPO, FL and SCF) fold, and the expression of CD61a were mean 11.5%, 12.5%, 13.2% and 17.0%, respectively. When the stromal cells were added to the growth factors, the cell number increased upto mean 4.6, 4.9, 9.2 and 68.5 fold and CD61a were expressed in mean 43.1%, 48.4%, 35.6%, and 6.2% of cultured cells. For UCB CD34+ cells, the cell number were increased upto 7.5, 7.6, 8.2 and 23.6 fold with growth factors and stromal cells. Expression of CD61a were mean 26.0%, 34.3%, 31.5% and 23.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Stromal cell enhanced the cellular proliferation and megakaryocytic differentiation of UCB CD34+ cells. The combination of TPO, FL and SCF increased total cell number upto the highest value but the proportion of the CD61a+ cells were relatively low. The combination of TPO and FL induced both cellular proliferation and megakaryocytic differentiation in a large amount.
Bone Marrow ; Cell Count ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Fetal Blood* ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins* ; Stem Cell Factor ; Stromal Cells* ; Thrombopoietin ; Umbilical Cord*

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of antenatal ambroxol administration to the mothers who were imminent preterm delivery on preventing the neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. Forty-two preterm newborn infants who were delivered at Yeungnam University Hospital from January 1996 to December 1997 were divided into two groups, twenty-one ambroxol-treated group and twenty-one control group. Six cases of respiratory distress syndromes developed from 21 ambroxol-treated infants. but thirteen cases of RDS developed from 21 control infants. It indicated significant reduction of occurrence of RDS by antenatal administration of ambroxol (p<0.05). There were no differences in the occurrence of adverse effects of ambroxol in mothers between two groups, ambroxol-treated and control groups. There was also no difference between pre- and post-treatment hematologic and biochemical parameters in ambroxol-treated group. In conclusion, when premature delivery is expected, administration of ambroxol before delivery enhances lung maturation in premature newborn infants and prevents the occurrence of respiratory distress syndromes without significant adverse effects.
Ambroxol* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Lung ; Mothers ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn*

Peripheral neuropathy is rarely caused by antiepileptic drugs andmost cases were reported about phenytoin. Here we report carbamazepine- induced peripheral neuropathy, which is a very rare condition and the pathogenesis is not well understood. A 19-year-old man presented with a several-year history of bilateral foot pain and pes planus. He had craniopharyngioma and underwent neurosurgery in 1997 and 2007. He had been prescribed by the general dose (600 mg/day) of carbamazepine since 1998 for the treatment of postoperative epilepsy. His muscle power was normal in all limbs and there were no abnormal sensory symptom and sign. Findings of electrodiagnostic studies were compatible with sensorimotor polyneuropathy with mixed axonotmesis and demyelination. His family history and genetic diagnosis excluded the possibility of hereditary neuropathy. After dose reduction of carbamazepine, his bilateral foot pain has been improved slowly. We report a case of carbamazepine-induced peripheral neuropathy.
Anticonvulsants ; Carbamazepine ; Craniopharyngioma ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Epilepsy ; Extremities ; Flatfoot ; Foot ; Humans ; Muscles ; Neurosurgery ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Phenytoin ; Polyneuropathies ; Young Adult

Introduction: Lung Injury Score (LIS) provides a quantitative method for scoring acute lung injury that usually occurs after sepsis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the LIS in prediction the patients outcome and determine the relationship between the LIS and mortality rate, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score and multiple organ failure (MOF) score. METHODS: Patients admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Severance Hospital Yonsei University College of Medicine from November 1995 to March 1996 were included. LIS at admission and discharge, APACHE II score with MOF score and duration of ICU stay between survivors and nonsurvivors were compared. Relationship of LIS between mortality rate and APACHE II score and MOF score were evaluated. RESULTS: LIS is higher in nonsurvivors than survivors at admission and discharge with statistical significance. LIS of survivors and nonsurvivors at discharge was lower and higher than those at admission (p<0.05) respectively. Correlation coeffcient of LIS with mortality rate, MOF score and APACHE II score were 0.60 (p<0.05), 0.23 and 0.17. CONCLUSIONS: LIS score was highly correlated with mortality rate. Therefore LIS is a good predictor of outcome in the intensive care unit.
Acute Lung Injury ; APACHE ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Lung Injury* ; Lung* ; Mortality ; Multiple Organ Failure ; Sepsis ; Survivors