BACKGROUND: The measurement of nonspecific bronchial hyperreactivity is valuable for diagnosis and management of bronchial asthma. Methacholine or histamine is used for the pharmacologic provocation test. Usually a methacholine bronchial provocation test is performed by a dosing technique with counted number of breaths. A dosimeter is indispensable in the dosing technique. Recently a timed tidal breathing technique which dose not need an expensive dosimeter was introduced. We measured the degree of nonspecific bronchial hyperreactivity to histamine using a simple timed tidal breathing technique. METHOD: Forty two healthy volunteers, 12 patients with bronchial asthma(BA), 10 patients with rhinitis(RH) and 10 patients with upper respiratory infection(URI) participated in the study. The subject's nose was clipped and inhalation continued during tidal breathing for 2 minutes via a face mask. FEV1 was measured at 30 seconds, 90 seconds after inhalation and inhalation of next solution was continued until there was a fall in FEV1 of 20%. Histamine PC20 was defined as the concentration at 20% fall of FEV1 and it was obtained from the log dose-response curve by linear interpolation. RESULTS: Inhalation of serial dilution of histamine could be performed in all patients without significant side of effects. The geometric mean±standard deviation of histamine PC20 in healthy volunteers is 8.27±2.22mg/ml, BA group 0.33±3.02mg/ml, RH group 0.85 ±3.24mg/ml, and URI group 1.47±1.98mg/ml. CONCLUSION: Histamine bronchial provocation test using timed tidal breath method is a simple and suitable tool for management of patients with bronchial hyperreactivity.
Asthma ; Bronchial Hyperreactivity ; Bronchial Provocation Tests* ; Diagnosis ; Healthy Volunteers ; Histamine* ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Masks ; Methacholine Chloride ; Nose ; Respiration*

No abstract available.
Hyperostosis, Cortical, Congenital*

No abstract available.
Uterine Prolapse*

No abstract available.
Leiomyoma* ; Vagina*

The taxonomy of Acanthamoeba spp., an amphizoic amoeba which causes granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and chronic amoebic keratitis, has been revised many times. The taxonomic validity of some species has yet to be assessed. In this paper, we analyzed the morphological characteristics, nuclear 18s rDNA and mitochondrial 16s rDNA sequences and the Mt DNA RFLP of the type strains of four Acanthamoeba species, which had been previously designated as A. divionensis, A. parasidionensis, A. mauritaniensis, and A. rhysodes. The four isolates revealed characteristic group II morphology. They exhibited 18S rDNA sequence differences of 0.2-1.1% with each other, but more than 2% difference from the other compared reference strains. Four isolates formed a different clade from that of A. castellanii Castellani and the other strains in morphological group II on the phylogenetic tree. In light of these results, A. paradivionensis, A. divionensis, and A. mauritaniensis should be regarded as synonyms for A. rhysodes.
Acanthamoeba/*classification/*genetics ; Animals ; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal/genetics ; Phylogeny ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; RNA, Ribosomal, 18S/genetics

Eosinophilic fasciitis is a scleroderma-like disease and it may present with paraneoplastic syndrome or as an isolated form of the disease. We report here on a case of eosinophilic fasciitis in a 20-year-old woman who presented with an abrupt onset of subcutaneous limb swelling and peripheral eosinophilia. Pathologically, the specimen was characterized by acute inflammation and thickening of the collagen bundles in the reticular dermis and superficial muscle fascia in addition to the overlying intraepidermal blisters that contained many eosinophils. Eosinophils, some lymphocytes and plasma cells were infiltrated in the superficial muscle fascia and subcutaneous fat. The diagnosis of eosinophilic fasciitis was confirmed by biopsy. It is intriguing that eosinophilic fasciitis showed the microscopic findings of intraepidermal blister with predominant inflammation, and the patient showed a good response to steroid therapy.
Biopsy ; Blister ; Collagen ; Dermis ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils ; Extremities ; Fascia ; Fasciitis ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lymphocytes ; Muscles ; Panniculitis ; Paraneoplastic Syndromes ; Plasma Cells ; Subcutaneous Fat ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Plasma* ; Renal Veins* ; Renin* ; Veins*

BACKGROUND: The cytopathic effects of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection have been well described since the virus was first reported; however, the morphology of CMV infection has not been clearly studied. We examined the difference in detailed cytologic findings in bronchial washing cytology between liquid-based and conventionally prepared smears. METHODS: Bronchial washing cytology was processed using either the conventional preparation (CP) or liquid-based preparation (LBP). Sixty-nine cells with typical cytopathic effects of CMV infection were detected on CP slides and 18 cells on LBP slides. Using the image analyzer, area, circumference, major axis, and minor axis of the cytoplasm, nucleus, and intranuclear inclusion were measured in singly scattered CMV-infected cells, and histiocytes were used as a control. RESULTS: The mean cytoplasmic area of CMV-infected cells was 1.47 times larger than that of histiocytes in CP and 2.92 times larger in LBP (p<.05). The mean nuclear area of CMV-infected cells was 2.61 times larger than that of histiocytes in CP and 4.25 times larger in LBP (p<.05). The nucleus to cytoplasm ratio and intranuclear inclusion to cytoplasm ratio of the mean area, circumference, major axis, and minor axis in CP were larger than those in LBP (p<.05). CONCLUSIONS: The sizes of cytoplasm, nucleus, and intranuclear inclusion were larger in LBP than in CP, indicating that CMV-infected cells are easily detectable in LBP. However, the nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio was larger in CP, suggesting that differentiation from malignancy or regenerative atypia requires caution in CP.
Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Cytoplasm ; Histiocytes ; Intranuclear Inclusion Bodies ; Lung

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Humans ; Lip* ; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar*

Many young women suffer from premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of isoflavone on serum sex hormone and PMS during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. We investigated the incidence of PMS in 116 Korean female college students. The incidence of PMS was 19.8%. Among them, 9 PMS and 13 control were given 90 mg isoflavone per day during 2 menstrual cycles. The changes in anthropometric measurements, dietary intakes, serum parameters including sex hormones, and PMS symptoms were observed. Isoflavone supplementation did not affect anthropometric measurements. However, SBP and DBP were significantly decreased in control. Dietary intakes were not changed after supplementation of isoflavones. Serum SHBG was lower in PMS group than in control and significantly decreased in control with isoflavone supplementation. PMS symptoms such as backache, sweet, salty, and fatty food craving, coffee/tea drinking, and anxiety were significantly lessened. Based on these results, isoflavone supplementation may benefit young women by reducing some of PMS. Further studies of soy isoflavones effect on sex hormone and PMS may help to prepare for PMS management.
Anxiety ; Back Pain ; Drinking ; Female* ; Gonadal Steroid Hormones ; Humans ; Incidence ; Isoflavones ; Luteal Phase ; Menstrual Cycle ; Premenstrual Syndrome*