Most instances of choriocarcinoma of the ovary are gestational in origin. In contrast, nongestational choriocarcinoma of the ovary is an exceedingly rare primary germ cell neoplasm that has worse prognosis than gestational neoplasm. We report a case of pure nongestational choriocarcinoma of the ovary in view of the rarity of its kind. The patient was a 35-year-old Korean unmarried woman who had suffered from vaginal bleeding and feeling of abdominal inflation for two months. The X-ray studies and CT scanning revealed a child head sized cystic mass on the right pelvic cavity and multiple nodular densities in both lung fields and the liver. The mass in pelvic cavity was excised and histologically confirmed to be a nongestational pure choriocarcinoma, arising from the right side ovary.
Child ; Male ; Female ; Humans

This study examined the structure and contents of the information provided by the web sites, in terms of clarity, business goal, authority, sustainment of operation and responsibility of customer care, as well as menus. The findings from the analysis of 217 web sites selected from 5 major portal sites, are 1) most of catering business over internet are located around Seoul area, 2) almost 80% of the selected sites are administered by professional agents or firms while the remnants by individuals, 3) except menu and price, any additional information is hardly shown, 4) about three quarter of the sites opened after 2001, that is coherent with the trend of the growth of internet users and eating-out, 5) it is strongly required to create healthful cyber space for the customers, 6) a small number of the sites(12.4%) try to manage access from customers, 7) many sites(73.7%) open the channels for feedback from the customers 8) among the types of catering services offered by the sites, home party is the most popular and the kinds of cuisine, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, are divided into almost same proportion of the sites, 9) the average number of dishes is 33.5, 10) they offer 7 to 8 different dishes of grain, 4 to 6 of meat, 4 to 10 of fishes, 5 to 13 of vegetables, 1 of fruits, and 1 to 3 of dairy products, 11) The majority of price level is 15,001won ~ 20,000won.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Edible Grain ; Commerce ; Dairy Products ; Fishes ; Fruit ; Humans ; Internet ; Meat ; Seoul ; Vegetables

232 internet sites in Yahoo and Empas were monitored to analyze what good contents of nutrition information on line have for the internet searchers. As the sites on line were disappeared frequently, all the monitored sites were selected on April 25, 2003. 3 disciplined personnels analyzed the contents of the selected sites by using self-developed monitoring format. The results are as follows. Most of sites were administered by the marketing companies and only 8% by public institutions, associations and school. Especially, most of the contents of the sites by marketing companies were advertisement about their goods instead of nutrition information. Only 42.6% of sites indicated the sources of nutrition information. Only 10.3% of site administrators responded about on-line questions quickly within 1 day. Moreover, 46% of sites were not conformed their answering periods. On the other hand, 94.8% of sites offered more than 1 feedback methods. Monitors checked purposes offering on-line informations plurally. Leading purpose was for advertising and marketing their goods(59.5%) and 47% of them were opened for offering food and nutrition information. They offered various informations at the same time. More than half of the sites had the menus for food and nutrition information and connected sites, but the other half of them only advertised their own goods. Positive sides from monitored informations were as follows : 'communicating informations easily' (8.7%) / 'definite informations for daily living' (7.2%) / 'beneficial informations for nutritional management' (4.6%) / 'new informations' (2.1%). Negative sides of offered information were 'not enough to give scientific basis and/or to simplify special evidences too much'(60.8%) / 'to exaggerate the contents' (41.4%) / 'not to indicate the notice of side effect and/or to advertise that there are not side effect from using their goods' (34.1%).
Administrative Personnel ; Hand ; Humans ; Internet* ; Marketing

232 internet sites in Yahoo and Empas were monitored to analyze what good contents of nutrition information on line have for the internet searchers. As the sites on line were disappeared frequently, all the monitored sites were selected on April 25, 2003. 3 disciplined personnels analyzed the contents of the selected sites by using self-developed monitoring format. The results are as follows. Most of sites were administered by the marketing companies and only 8% by public institutions, associations and school. Especially, most of the contents of the sites by marketing companies were advertisement about their goods instead of nutrition information. Only 42.6% of sites indicated the sources of nutrition information. Only 10.3% of site administrators responded about on-line questions quickly within 1 day. Moreover, 46% of sites were not conformed their answering periods. On the other hand, 94.8% of sites offered more than 1 feedback methods. Monitors checked purposes offering on-line informations plurally. Leading purpose was for advertising and marketing their goods(59.5%) and 47% of them were opened for offering food and nutrition information. They offered various informations at the same time. More than half of the sites had the menus for food and nutrition information and connected sites, but the other half of them only advertised their own goods. Positive sides from monitored informations were as follows : 'communicating informations easily' (8.7%) / 'definite informations for daily living' (7.2%) / 'beneficial informations for nutritional management' (4.6%) / 'new informations' (2.1%). Negative sides of offered information were 'not enough to give scientific basis and/or to simplify special evidences too much'(60.8%) / 'to exaggerate the contents' (41.4%) / 'not to indicate the notice of side effect and/or to advertise that there are not side effect from using their goods' (34.1%).
Administrative Personnel ; Hand ; Humans ; Internet* ; Marketing

This study was conducted to analyze how appropriate the on-line nutrition information was externally as a web information. Four-hundred-ninety-seven web sites from 5 internet search engines (Yahoo, Empas, Nate, Hanmir, Naver) were selected on the basis of April 25th, 2004. The skillful personnels monitored them about 8 evaluating categories: clarity, purpose, authority, durability, advertisement, privacy and/or security, responsibility, and contents. Forty percent of the selected web sites were operated by the companies which had commercial purpose like internet shopping malls and 5.6% by academies, societies, research institutions, schools/colleges and public institutions. Most of web sites (76.1%) were managed for advertisements and sales of companies' commodities, and 32.6% had the food and nutrition information as first purpose. Ninety-three percent of web sites were targeted to healthy individuals through whole life cycle. Specifically, there were lots of web sites for the obesity which were offered by diet related companies. Of the 497 web sites, 193 mentioned the name providing the nutrition information, but only 1/3 had reliability on their specialty. As a source of nutrition information, 52.7% of web sites were using 'books of the major field' and 42.0% 'newspapers' and 23.7% 'broadcasting', respectively. Most web sites mentioned 'setting-up date' but not 'renewal date'. Thirty-six percent of web sites took '2 - 3 days' for the operators to answer the questions through the bulletin. Forty-seven percent of web sites answered '1 - 10 questions' per 1 week, but 40.1% of them didn't answer for a week at all. There were 118 web sites (23.7%) to record the connected frequencies and 36.0% of them put the advertisements. Around 96% of web sites mentioned feedback addresses. Among the menus of web sites, 68.0% were about self-advertisement and 64.0% about nutrition information. Each web site was scored to judge its external quality according to the operators by selecting 13 items. Web sites managed by public institution had highest scores (9.5), and lowest in private vendors', food companies' and individual web pages. Among search engines, Naver got the highest score of 7.0 and Nate the lowest one of 6.1. As it was only the pilot study, there were several limits in evaluating tools, time and monitored quantity. To make monitoring of on-line nutrition informations actively, standardized monitoring forms might be developed under the integrated studies.
Academies and Institutes ; Commerce ; Diet ; Internet ; Life Cycle Stages ; Obesity ; Pilot Projects ; Privacy ; Search Engine

BACKGROUND: Microdeletion syndromes not detectable by conventional cytogenetic analysis have been reported to occur in approximately 5% of patients with unexplained mental retardation (MR). Therefore, it is essential to ensure that patients with MR are screened for these microdeletion syndromes. Mental retardation syndrome multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MRS-MLPA) is a new technique for measuring sequence dosages that allows for the detection of copy number changes of several microdeletion syndromes (1p36 deletion syndrome, Williams syndrome, Smith-Magenis syndrome, Miller-Dieker syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome, Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome, Alagille syndrome, Saethre-Chotzen syndrome, and Sotos syndrome) to be processed simultaneously, thus significantly reducing the amount of laboratory work. METHODS: We assessed the performance of MLPA (MRC-Holland, The Netherlands) for the detection of microdeletion syndromes by comparing the results with those generated using FISH assays. MLPA analysis was carried out on 12 patients with microdeletion confirmed by FISH (three DiGeorge syndrome, four Williams syndrome, four Prader-Willi syndrome, and one Miller-Dieker syndrome). RESULTS: The results of MLPA analysis showed a complete concordance with FISH in 12 patients with microdeletion syndromes. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of these results, we conclude that MLPA is an accurate, reliable, and cost-effective alternative to FISH in the screening for microdeletion syndromes.
*Chromosome Deletion ; Classical Lissencephalies and Subcortical Band Heterotopias/genetics ; DiGeorge Syndrome/genetics ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence/*methods ; Laboratories, Hospital ; Mental Retardation/*diagnosis/genetics ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques/*methods ; Prader-Willi Syndrome/genetics ; Williams Syndrome/genetics

The need for a short-acting non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent to replace succinylcholine chloride(succinylcholine) is recognized widely and attempts to find such a drug have been numerous. Atracurium besylate(atracurium) is one of the new series of neuromuscular blocking agents with little cardiovascular effect and is not dependent on hepatic and renal function for terminating its action because of its self-destroying mechanism. Because succinylchline may occasionally be contraindieated for intubation in parturients we studied the use of atracurium in 23 patients having cesarean section. All patients received 0. 5 mg/kg atracurium for intubation and neuromuscular relaxation. Hemodynamic changes, the time from the injection of atracurium to maximal twitch suppression, the time between atracurium administration and the return to 10% of control twitch height were recorded and observed the degree of vocal cord relaxation and conditions of intubation and evaluated the Apgar scores. 1) Mean arterial pressure and heart rate increased significantly after intubation compared with that of control and just before intubation but there were no significant changes in 5 minutes after intubation. 2) The 90% twitch suppression following atracurium administration was 75.6+/-20.9 seconds. 3) The return of 10% of control twitch height was 2449.3+/-1114.0 seconds. 4) Intubation conditions were excellent for 19 patients. 5) The Apgar scores of 20 neonates were high. These data suggest that the use of atracurium may be a useful alternative for induction for Cesarean section when succinylcholine is contraindicated.
Arterial Pressure ; Atracurium* ; Cesarean Section* ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal* ; Neuromuscular Blockade ; Neuromuscular Blocking Agents ; Pregnancy ; Relaxation ; Succinylcholine ; Vocal Cords

BACKGROUND: We previously demonstrated remarkable differences in the expression of IL-8/CXCL8 in aortic tissues and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) compared to VSMC from normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). In the present study, we investigated the direct effect of IL-8/CXCL8 on expression of 12-lipoxygenase (LO), a hypertensive modulator, in SHR VSMC. METHODS: Cultured aortic VSMC from SHR and WKY were used. Expression of 12-LO mRNA was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Phosphorlyation of ERK1/2 and production of 12-LO and angiotensin II subtype 1 (AT1) receptor were assessed by Western blots. IL-8/CXCL8-stimulated DNA synthesis was determined by measuring incorporation of [3H]-thymidine. And effect of IL-8/CXCL8 on vascular tone was determined by phenylephrine-induced contraction of thoracic aortic rings. RESULTS: Treatment with IL-8/CXCL8 greatly increased 12-LO mRNA expression and protein production compared to treatment with angiotensin II. IL-8/CXCL8 also increased the expression of the AT1 receptor. The increase in 12-LO induced by IL-8/CXCL8 was inhibited by treatment with an AT1 receptor antagonist. The induction of 12-LO mRNA production and the proliferation of SHR VSMC by IL-8/CXCL8 was mediated by the ERK pathway. The proliferation of SHR VSMC and the vascular contraction in the thoracic aortic ring, both of which were induced by IL-8/CXCL8, were inhibited by baicalein, a 12-LO inhibitor. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the potential role of IL-8/CXCL8 in hypertensive processes is likely mediated through the 12-LO pathway.
Angiotensin II ; Animals ; Arachidonate 12-Lipoxygenase ; Blotting, Western ; Contracts ; DNA ; Flavanones ; MAP Kinase Signaling System ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred SHR ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger

For the purpose of developing 'Web-Based Nutritional Education Program', this study analyzed nutritional problems of junior/senior high school students and set appropriate instructional goals for nutritional education program. Survey questionnaires were distributed from October 21,2002 to October 26, 2002 to a total of 564 students at three junior high schools and five senior high schools located in Seoul. The total number of questionnaires collected and used in our study was 479, which is 84.9% of the total questionnaires distributed. According to the survey results, three student groups (male and female students at junior high schools and female students at senior high schools) had lower than an ideal body weight. In case of their Basal Metabolic Indices (BMI), the female students and junior high school students showed a tendency to be underweight, while the other three student groups were within the normal range. The result of the survey showed that all four groups of students showed a deficiency in nutrient intake of calories, calcium and thiamin when compared with Korean RDA. Particularly, in the case of the female students at senior high schools, the deficiency of iron intake was a problem. The survey about food attitudes and food habits of the students showed that the senior high school students had more problems when compared with their junior high school counterparts (p < .001). Therefore, the instructional goals of nutritional education program were set as follows: 1) To improve the level of understanding and the perception of junior and senior high school students about the importance of a dietary lifestyle. 2) To change food attitudes and nutritional knowledge related to individual dietary 1ifestyle, so as to maintain good health through the enhancement of the students' physical activities. We found out that it is critically important to factor in the existing problems of food attitudes and food habits, as well as nutrient intake among junior and senor high school students when setting objectives for nutritional education programs.
Calcium ; Education* ; Female ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Ideal Body Weight ; Iron ; Life Style ; Motor Activity ; Reference Values ; Seoul ; Thinness

The purposes of this study were to: a) develop the quality assessment tool of Web-based Instruction (WBI) for nutrition education, b) evaluate the operated WBI (NutriZone) by this tool, and c) do the feasibility study about quality assessment tool for WBI by establishing the instruction and operating strategies. The developed quality assessment tool of WBI for nutrition education was divided into three categories of instructional design, contents and support & operation. And a total of forty items were measured by Likert 5 point scale, computed as one point per item, and amounted to forty points in all. As a result of evaluation, NutriZone got 21.79 out of 40 points and fulfillment rate of 54.5%. The IPA (Importance-Performance Analysis) was applied to establish the instruction and operating strategies, and nine items characterized as attractiveness, multimedia, and learner-initiative were in 'Doing Great, Keep It Up', and so it was regarded as program designed with concern in WBI's characteristics unlike the conventional face-to-face education. But twelve items such as 'Errors on switch to other screens are few.', 'Ready correction leads to be out of systemic error.', 'Highlight marks and moving pictures were used in sign of importance.' and etc. that got high importance and low performance needed to be focused in instructional strategy.
Education* ; Feasibility Studies ; Multimedia