BACKGROUND: It had been well known that breast feeding to infants has many advantages and benefits comparing to formula feeding. So, We performed this study to clarify the relationship between immunoglobulin (Ig) levels and diet during newborn period. METHODS: We measured the levels of IgG, IgA and IgM by Array 360 System (Beckman Instruments, CA, U.S.A). Subjects were 29 breast-fed and 13 formula-fed newborns. We evaluated the results and analyzed the change of concentrations of IgG, IgA and IgM according to diet, sex and postnatal period. RESULTS: The levels of IgG, IgA and IgM in breast-fed newborns at postnatal 1-day were higher than formula-fed newborns, but the levels of Ig G and Ig A in formula-fed newborns at postnatal 30-day were higher than breast-fed newborns. CONCLUSIONS: There was no clinical signficance in the difference of IgG, IgA and IgM levels according to diet, sex and postnatal period, respectively.
Breast Feeding ; Diet ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Immunoglobulins* ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn*

PURPOSE: After discharge from the hospital, very low birth weight infants require care consultation, information, and interaction and so forth, due to sequelae, different growth and developmental pattern; which increase the burdens and the worries of patients in nurturing them. With the counseling of experts in the related fields, the authors and the Food for the Hungry have run a department of childcare for a year, emphasizing on more family support than extreme early detection of disabilities. This study reports on relieving child care anxiety, promoting growth and development, educating parents on home treatment of sequelae, finding and coping with minor disabilities. METHODS: The subjects were chosen among infants under 1,500 g of birth weight and younger than a corrected age of 6 months. Meetings were held once in a month for a year. Infant care support classes were taught by experts in their fields including a music therapist (with play program), neonatologist, a children's nurse, a child-care director, a clinical psychologist, a rehabilitation therapist, a social worker and, a nutritionist. Within the self-dependent groups, the families were able to share their concerns and experiences on child-caring. Second home visits were carried out to monitor home oxygen therapy, tube feeding, cerebral palsy signs, and to find neglect or abuse in suspected cases. RESULTS: Fifty-one infants participated; the average weight was 1,060 g, the average gestational age was 27 weeks and 2 days. Eighteen were boys and 23 girls. The average age of the mothers was 33.4, and there were 26 appropriate for gestational age, 8 small for gestational age, and, 5 large for gestational age. Twenty three were first-born, 13 were second-born, 1 was third-born, and twins were 4 pairs. Home visits were done in 33 families, and secondary visits were done in 6 families. The depression score of mothers in the attendant group decreased from 10.47+/-5.18 to 8.18+/-5.87 (P=0.080). CONCLUSION: The depression score of mothers in the attendant group decreased after infant care support classes.
Anxiety ; Birth Weight ; Cerebral Palsy ; Child ; Child Care ; Counseling ; Depression ; Enteral Nutrition ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Gestational Age ; Growth and Development ; House Calls ; Humans ; Infant Care ; Infant* ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight* ; Mothers ; Music ; Nutritionists ; Oxygen ; Parents ; Psychology ; Rehabilitation ; Social Workers ; Twins

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Compared to other target cells examined for gene therapy, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) have the unique advantages including proximity to blood stream and relative abundance in vasculature. With an ultimate goal of developing VSMC-based therapies for cardiovascular disorders, we explored the utility of VSMC as a target cell for ex vivo gene therapy using a set of retroviral vectors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cultured VSMCs were transduced with replication-defective recombinant retroviruses harboring LacZ, nlsLacZ, mVEGF, mGM-CSF or bacterial CAT reporter. The VSMCs were examined for G418-selection, transduction efficiency, the level of transgene expression, and longevity of gene expression. ResultsVSMCs were readily transduced with different kinds of retroviral vectors. The bacterial neo r gene-transduced VSMCs were successfully selected with G418. The G418-selected VSMCs could express the transduced genes at a level comparable to NIH3T3. The level of transgene expression did not appear to be affected by the increasing number of passages. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate an efficient transduction of VSMCs by retroviral vectors in vitro and an sustained expression of retrovirally transduced genes in VSMCs. VSMCs could be one of the ideal target cells for ex vivo cardiovascular gene therapy employing retroviral vector.
Animals ; Cats ; Gene Expression ; Genetic Therapy* ; Longevity ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular* ; Retroviridae ; Rivers ; Transgenes ; Zidovudine

PURPOSE: This study reviewed articles related to breast cancer, cognitive function and chemotherapy available in 4 databases. METHODS: The researcher reviewed 32 pieces of literature that were published between January 2001 and November 2011. RESULTS: Within the last decade, several studies have investigated whether adjuvant treatment of breast cancer affects cognitive function. A number of prospective studies have reported inconsistent results regarding whether chemotherapy affects cognitive function. Approximately half of the studies reported subtle cognitive decline in a wide range of domains among some breast cancer patients following chemotherapy, and others did not. CONCLUSION: Breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy showed the most deterioration and the most persistent decline in cognitive function. Since cognitive impairment is subtle, if evident at all, discrepant findings are due to hormonal, physiological, psychological or temporal confounding variables and differences in study design. Especially, that chemotherapy may impair memory, executive function, attention and visuospatial function in women with breast cancer.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cognition ; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology) ; Executive Function ; Female ; Humans ; Memory

PURPOSE: Patients with osteoarthritis of knee joint often concomitantly suffer from degenerative disease of the spine. Furthermore, resulting spinal problems could influence function and pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), and hence, cause the results of TKA to be misinterpreted. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the effect of spinal disorders, as assessed by Swiss Spinal Stenosis score (SSS scores), on knee function as assessed by knee scores, the Hospital for Special Surgery scale (HSS scale) and Western Ontario & McMaster Osteoarthritis Index scores (WOMAC scores) in patients that after TKA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and forty nine osteoarthritic knees of 87 patients were enrolled in this study. All patients received TKA by single surgeon (W-S Cho) from August 2009 to May 2010. Preoperative and postoperative 1- and 2-years HSS scale, Knee, WOMAC, and SSS scores were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: Postoperative HSS scale, Knee, and WOMAC scores showed marked improvements versus preoperative scores, and scores at 2 years postoperatively were better than at 1 year postoperatively. No significant correlation was found between postoperative Knee scores and SSS scores. On the other hand, statistically significant correlations were found between HSS and SSS scores and between WOMAC and SSS scores. Interestingly, differences between Knee scores and HSS scores were found to be significantly correlated with SSS scores. CONCLUSION: When evaluating outcome after TKA, spinal problems should be investigated concomitantly. SSS scores appear to provide a suitable means of assessing spinal problems.
Arthroplasty ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints ; Knee ; Ontario ; Osteoarthritis ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; Prospective Studies ; Spinal Stenosis ; Spine

Cystathionine is well-known intermediate in the metabolism of methionine. It is cleaved to cysteine and homoserine by gamma-cystathionase. This enzyme utilize pyridoxal 5'-phosphate as coenzyme. gamma-cystathionase deficiency leads to persistent excretion of large amount of cystathionine in urine, as well as to accumulation of cystathionine in body tissues and fluids. It is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait and shows wide variety of clinical manifestations. No clinical abnormality seems to be specifically associated with gamma-cystathionase deficiency. The majority of patients responded to high dose administration of pyridoxine. We report the first case of cystathioninuric patient in Korea, 19 months of female with developmental delay. In brain MRI, there was generalized mild brain atrophy. There were several times of brief paroxysmal generalized polyspike and wave discharges in electroencephalography(EEG). In amino acid analysis of urine, there was elevated level of cystathionine. She was treated with high dose of pyridoxine. In follow up analysis of urinary amino acid, the cystathionine level was markedly decreased to normal range, and EEG was normalized. Her development shows improvement.
Atrophy ; Brain ; Cystathionine ; Cystathionine gamma-Lyase ; Cysteine ; Electroencephalography ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Homoserine ; Humans ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Metabolism ; Methionine ; Pyridoxal ; Pyridoxine ; Reference Values

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the trend of cognitive developmental interventions on patients with breast cancer who underwent chemotherapy. METHODS: The researcher searched databases and selected 17 literatures using chemotherapy, breast cancer, cognitive function and intervention as searching key words. Searched databases included Ovid, Pubmed, Proquest and Medline and data collection period was from January 2000 to May 2010. RESULTS: Interventions for patients with breast cancer have been continuously developed and frequent research topics included breast cancer, chemotherapy, quality of life, and cognitive function. In terms of study design, four research articles were pre-experimental study designs, one was case study, and the rest of studies were nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design. Effects of intervention were examined in only 5 studies among 17. The interventions were not found to have direct effects in cognitive improvement. CONCLUSION: It is needed to figure out the mechanism of cognitive deterioration of the patients with breast cancer who underwent chemotherapy. And nursing interventions needs to be developed in order to hold up the cognitive downhill and help their cognitive rehabilitation.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Cognition ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Clinical Trial ; Quality of Life

We studied the best parameter to differentiate preoperatively between malignant ovarian tumors and benign ovarian tumors. From January 1988 to December 1992, 244 patients of ovarian tumor were treated with surgery at Chonnarn University Hospital. Patients diagnosed as malignancy by histopathology were 26.2%(64 patients), As the diagnostic pararnetar, we used age, ultrasonography, tumor markers, CT or MRI. The results were obtained as follows: 1. The predictive value of ultrasonographic examination for ovarian cancer was 73.1%. 2. The predictive value of seren CA-125 level for ovarian cancer was 69.1%. 3. The predictive value of combination af ultrasonographic examination and serum CA 125 level for ovarian cancer was 90%. 4. The predictive value of combination of the age older than 40 years, ultrasonographic examination and serum CA-125 level for warian canrer was 92.3%. 5. The predictive value of comhination of three tumor markers(CA-125, CEA and CA 72-4), ultrasonographic examination, CT and MRI for ovarian cancer was 94.6%. Finally, we could preaperatively most exactly differentiate between malignant ovarian tumors and benign ovarian tumors by use of age, three tumor markers(CA-125, CEA and CA 72-4) and ultrsonography, CT or MRI.
Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Ultrasonography

PURPOSE: This study analyzed recent trends of instrument usage assessing cognitive function of breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS: The researcher collected 64 studies outside the country that were published between January 1996 and August 2010. RESULTS: There was no study on the instrument assessing all domains of cognitive function in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Most instruments assessing cognitive function of breast cancer patients have been used for patients with dementia, depression, and/or organic brain damage. Also the objective neuropsychological tests such as the grooved pegboard for the psychomotor area, RCFT copy in visuospatial skill area and the WAIS-III block design have low sensitivity for measuring cognitive function in breast cancer patients, thus they are not good for applying to breast cancer patients. CONCLUSION: There is a need to develop an instrument which has good sensitivity and specificity for measuring the cognitive function of the breast cancer patients who experienced cognitive impairment after chemotherapy treatment. In addition, the developed instrument needs to be accessible and feasible in any nursing clinical setting for the purpose of accurate assessment and evaluation of the cognitive function among breast cancer patients.
Brain ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Coat Protein Complex I ; Cognition ; Dementia ; Depression ; Humans ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is known to be associated with obesity and insulin resistance. The exact mechanism of insulin resistance in PCOS is not completely understood, but there are several pieces of evidence suggesting humoral mediator involvement. Adiponectin, an adipocyte-secreted protein, could be a possible link between adiposity and insulin resistance. This study was performed to see whether the serum adiponectin levels are suppressed in woman with PCOS and if this is associated with the characteristic hormonal and metabolic features of PCOS. METHODS: 20 women with PCOS and 8 normal controls with regular cycles were recruited. The serum adiponectin levels were measured by RIA, and the fasting glucose to insulin ratio (GIR) used as an insulin sensitivity index. RESULTS: The patients with PCOS were classified as lean (BMI < 23 kg/m2, n=9) and obese groups (BMI 25 kg/m2, n=11) based on the WPRO criteria. The GIR was significantly lower in the obese compared to the control group. The adiponectin level was lower in women with PCOS than the controls, but without statistical significance. In 5 of the 20 patients, the GIR was higher than 0.30, which was the lowest limit in the controls, and the adiponectin level was significantly higher than in those patients with a lower GIR. The adiponectin level was significantly correlated with the BMI, subcutaneous and visceral fat areas, post challenge 2 hr glucose, fasting insulin, GIR and SHBG. After adjustment for BMI, adiponectin was significantly correlated with the GIR in all subjects, including the controls. CONCLUSION: The serum adiponectin level was associated with and related to adiposity in women with PCOS; however, adiponectin might be associated with insulin resistance independently from adiposity
Adiponectin* ; Adiposity ; Fasting ; Female ; Glucose ; Humans ; Insulin Resistance* ; Insulin* ; Intra-Abdominal Fat ; Obesity ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome*