No abstract available.
Humans ; KB Cells* ; NADP* ; NADPH Oxidase ; Oxidoreductases* ; Porphyromonas gingivalis* ; Porphyromonas*

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of some commercial calamansicontaining beverages on the sound surface of bovine teeth as well as the dental erosion inhibitory effects of calcium. METHODS: The pH and titratable acidity of six kinds of commercially available calamansi beverages were determined. Further, 3% calcium was added to the calamansi beverage Oranssi in the experimental group to confirm its dental erosion inhibitory effect. Jeju Samdasoo was used in the negative control group and Coca-Cola in the positive control group. After immersing the sound teeth specimens for 10 min, surface microhardness was measured using the Vickers hardness number (VHN), and surface changes in specimens were observed under a scanning electron microscope. RESULTS: The average pH of the commercial calamansi beverages was 2.54±0.22. After 10 min of treatment with each experimental beverage, the surface hardness difference (ΔVHN) was highest in the Coca-Cola group (−49.05±12.59), followed by the Oranssi calamansi group (−43.77±13.70), 3% calcium-added Oranssi calamansi group (−2.71±12.58), and Samdasoo group (14.03±20.79). There was no significant difference between the bottled water and calcium-added Oranssi calamansi groups or between the Coca-Cola and Oranssi calamansi groups (P>0.05). However, there was a significant difference in the surface hardness between the bottled water and CocaCola groups (P<0.05). On scanning electron microscopy, the Samdasoo group showed a smooth surface without any loss, but Coca-Cola and Oranssi calamansi groups showed a rough surface due to erosion. However, although fine cracks and porosities were seen in the calcium-added Oranssi calamansi group, surfaces in the group were much smoother than those in the Oranssi calamansi group. CONCLUSIONS Calamansi beverages of low pH may cause corrosion of the tooth surface, and the addition of calcium to the calamansi beverages inhibits demineralization of the tooth surface. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the risk of dental erosion when drinking calamansi beverages of low pH.

Patterns of brain-stem compression and secondary brain-stem evoked postentials were investigated to correlate with expanding mass volume and location in mass-induced supratentorial brain compression in cats in which the subjects were divided into four experimental group i.e., frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital brain-compressed groups. Postmortem insepection of the brain-stem showed either unilateral or bilateral dorsal herniation of the brain in frontal and temporal brain-compressed groups and dorsolateral herniation in parietal and occipital brain-compressed groups, respectively. Microscopic examination revealed that the secondary brain-stem hemorrhages were mostly caused by venous bleeding secondary to venous congestion, the bleeding being more severe in occipital brain-compressed group. As the intracranial pressure was raised by expansion of a supratentorial balloon, the late components of the BSEP were suppressed first, followed by the suppression of the early components. In BSEP recording a significant change was observed in Vth wave with prolongation of latency and decrease in amplitude. This finding suggests that the midbrain is the most vulnerable to compression ischemia. In parietal group, the Vth wave started to be prolonged at 0.4ml of balloon expansion and totally disappeared at 1.8ml of expansion.
Animals ; Brain Stem* ; Brain* ; Cats ; Hemorrhage ; Hyperemia ; Intracranial Hypertension ; Intracranial Pressure ; Ischemia ; Mesencephalon ; Rabeprazole

Among the exotoxins produced by V. vulnificus, hemolysin (HS) has been reported to be the most potent one. To investigate the factors up- or down-regulating HS production in the context of pathogenesis, we observed the effects of salinity or/and temperature shifting, glucose, and acidic pH on the production of HS by V. vulnificus C7184 strain in vitro. Significantly more HS was produced when V. vulnificus was cultured in 0.9% salinity and 37 degrees C than in 2.5% and 25 degrees C. When the culture condition reflecting natural habitat of V. vulnificus (2.5% salinity and 25degrees C) was changed into that reflecting human body (0.9% salinity and 37 degrees C), 2.5 fold or more HS was produced than in the V. vulnificus being cultured continuously in 0.9% NaCl at 37 degrees C. This result suggests that V. vulnificus somehow recognizes the shifting in salinity and temperature and stimulate HS production. Glucose addition in the culture medium resulted in a dose- dependent decrease in the HS production. Glucose itself and acidic pH resulting from its metabolism both appeared to inhibit the HS production. Glucose in itself had more dominant role in suppressing the HS production than the lowered pH accompanying the metabolism of glucose. This result suggests that HS production is down-regulated in the presence of glucose and under environmental acidic pH.
Ecosystem ; Exotoxins ; Glucose* ; Human Body ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Metabolism ; Salinity* ; Vibrio vulnificus* ; Vibrio* ; Virulence

Barrett's esophagus is defined as the replacement of normal squamous epithelium of distal esophagus with metaplastic columnar epithelium. It is a well known risk factor of esophageal adenocarcinoma. If high grade dysplasia or early stage esophageal cancer develops in a patient with Barrett's esophagus, esophagectomy shoud be performed. However, operative procedures have various complications and the patients may suffer resulting in poor quality of life. Therefore, if the cancer is detected at an early stage such as superficial mucosal lesion, it is possible to resect the tumor with the use of endoscopic technique. Furthermore, endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) also can be performed for the patients with mucosal or submucosal cancer who can not receive esophagectomy due to old age or poor general condition. We experienced a case of esophageal adenocarcinoma from Barrett's esophagus which had been successfully resected endoscopically.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Barrett Esophagus* ; Epithelium ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagectomy ; Esophagus ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Risk Factors ; Surgical Procedures, Operative

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is common in developing countries, including Korea. It can be accompanied by extrahepatic complications such as renal failure, arthritis, and vasculitis. Pleural effusion is a very rare complication of HAV infection, which has been reported usually in children, and has benign clinical courses. Here we report a case of pleural effusion with ascites which occurred in an adult hepatitis A patient. A 26-year-old-woman presented generalized myalgia and fever and was diagnosed as acute hepatitis A. Despite of the improvement of laboratory findings, fever and cough persisted. Pleural effusion newly appeared on the serial chest radiologic images. After the fever settled down, the pleural effusion resolved spontaneously at 13th day of admission.
Acute Disease ; Adult ; Female ; Hepatitis A/complications/*diagnosis ; Humans ; Pleural Effusion/complications/*diagnosis/radiography ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: Due to the availability of serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing, the detection rate of insignificant prostate cancer (IPC) is increasing. To ensure better treatment decisions, we developed a nomogram to predict the probability of IPC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population consisted of 1,471 patients who were treated at multiple institutions by radical prostatectomy without neoadjuvant therapy from 1995 to 2008. We obtained nonrandom samples of n = 1,031 for nomogram development, leaving n = 440 for nomogram validation. IPC was defined as pathologic organ-confined disease and a tumor volume of 0.5 cc or less without Gleason grade 4 or 5. Multivariate logistic regression model (MLRM) coefficients were used to construct a nomogram to predict IPC from five variables, including serum prostate specific antigen, clinical stage, biopsy Gleason score, positive cores ratio and maximum % of tumor in any core. The performance characteristics were internally validated from 200 bootstrap resamples to reduce overfit bias. External validation was also performed in another cohort. RESULTS: Overall, 67 (6.5%) patients had a so-called "insignificant" tumor in nomogram development cohort. PSA, clinical stage, biopsy Gleason score, positive core ratio and maximum % of biopsy tumor represented significant predictors of the presence of IPC. The resulting nomogram had excellent discrimination accuracy, with a bootstrapped concordance index of 0.827. CONCLUSION: Our current nomogram provides sufficiently accurate information in clinical practice that may be useful to patients and clinicians when various treatment options for screen-detected prostate cancer are considered.
Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Nomograms ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*diagnosis/surgery

We developed a nomogram to predict the probability of extracapsular extension (ECE) in localized prostate cancer and to determine when the neurovascular bundle (NVB) may be spared. Total 1,471 Korean men who underwent radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer between 1995 and 2008 were included. We drew nonrandom samples of 1,031 for nomogram development, leaving 440 samples for nomogram validation. With multivariate logistic regression analyses, we made a nomogram to predicts the ECE probability at radical prostatectomy. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were also performed to assess the predictive value of each variable alone and in combination. The internal validation was performed from 200 bootstrap re-samples and the external validation was also performed from the another cohort. Overall, 314 patients (30.5%) had ECE. Age, Prostate specific antigen (PSA), biopsy Gleason score, positive core ratio, and maximum percentage of biopsy tumor were independent predictors of the presence of ECE (all P values <0.05). The nomogram predicted ECE with good discrimination (an area under the ROC curve of 0.777). Our nomogram allows for the preoperative identification of patients with an ECE and may prove useful in selecting patients to receive nerve sparing radical prostatectomy.
Aged ; Area Under Curve ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nomograms ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Preoperative Period ; Prostate-Specific Antigen/blood ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*pathology/surgery ; Republic of Korea

Chios gum mastic (CGM) is obtained from the stem and leaves of Pistacia lentiscus trees and has been extensively used for centuries in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries, both as a dietary supplement and herbal remedy. This study was undertaken to examine in vitro effects of cytotoxicity and growth inhibition, and the molecular mechanism underlying modulation of cell cycle and induction of apoptosis in YD9 human oral squamous carcinoma cell line treated with CGM. The viability of YD9 cells and human normal keratinocyes (HaCaT cells), and the growth inhibition of YD9 cells were assessed by the MTT assay and clonogenic assay respectively. The hoechst staining and DNA electrophoresis were conducted to observe the YD9 cells undergoing apoptosis. YD9 cells were treated with CGM, and Western blotting, immunocytochemistry, confocal microscopy and FACScan flow cytometry were conducted. Mitochondrial membrane potential change and proteasome activity were measured. CGM treatment on YD9 cells resulted in a does-dependent inhibition of cell growth and induced apoptotic cell death. And tested YD9 cells showed several lines of apoptotic manifestation. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that CGM resulted in G1 arrest in cell cycle progression which was associated with decrease in the protein expression of cyclin D1, cyclin D3, Cdk2 and Cdk4, and increase in the protein expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) and p53. These results demonstrate that CGM induces G1 the cell cycle arrest via the modulation of cell cycle-related proteins, and apoptosis via mitochondria and caspase pathway in YD9 cells, suggesting that CGM can be considered as a novel therapeutic strategy for human oral squamous cell carcinoma from its strong cell cycle arrest and apoptosis-inducing activity.
Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Cell Death ; Cell Line ; Cyclin D1 ; Cyclin D3 ; Dietary Supplements ; DNA ; Electrophoresis ; Flow Cytometry ; Gingiva ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Mitochondria ; Pistacia ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex ; Proteins ; Resins, Plant ; Trees

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFPS) is a locally aggressive skin tumor with a very low incidence in the general population. This tumor has a remarkable tendency to recur, However, a metastasis is rare. We report a case of DFPS with a pulmonary metastasis in 28-year-old man. The pulmonary metastasis developed 5 years after a complete resection of the primary skin tumor. We reviewed the clinical manifestations and treatment of DFPS, and highlight the need for a long-term follow-up examination for metastases after a wide excision of these lesions.
Adult ; Dermatofibrosarcoma* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Isoflurophate ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Skin