The authors studied ED50 of bethanechol on the contractilities of the smooth muscles isolated from various organs of rat under the presence of atropine (a classical competitive blocker of cholinergic muscarinic receptor) or minaprine (a newly developed antidepressant drug) to investigate the peripheral anticholinergic effect of minaprine. The results were as follow: 1) There was no significant difference between ED50 of bethanechol in the control group and that under the presence of minaprine 10⁻⁸M and 10⁻⁷M in the smooth muscles isolated from the duodenum. 2) There was no significant difference between ED50 of bethanechol in the control group and that under the presence of minaprine 10⁻⁸M and 10⁻⁷M in the smooth muscles isolated from the ascending colon. 3) There was significant difference between ED50 of bethanechol in the control group and that under the presence of minaprine 10⁻⁸M and 10⁻⁷M in the smooth muscles isolated from the urinary bladder (P<0.01) 4) There was significant difference between ED50 of the atropine 10⁻⁸ and minaprine (10⁻⁸M) in the smooth muscles isolated from the urinary bladder (P<0.05).
Animals ; Atropine ; Bethanechol ; Colon, Ascending ; Duodenum ; Muscle, Smooth ; Rats ; Urinary Bladder

We studied the angiographic findings in 65 patients wtih congenital pulmonary atresia, ages 4 days to 14 years(mean 3.3 yrs), form 1981 to 1986 at Severance Hospital Yonsei University. 1. 6 had pulmonary atresia with anintact interventricular septum, 38 had it with cardiac anomaly Renodynamically simulating TOF, and 21 associatedwith more complicated cardiac anomalies. 2. In the group with an intact ventricular septum, 5 showed confluentintrapericardial pulmonary artery, all segmental pulmonary arteries connceted to intrapericardial pulmoanryartery. 3. In the group simulating TOF, aorta arose from RV with or without overriding in 35. In 27 patients withconfluent intrapericardial pulmonary artery, 23 had more than 10 segmental pulmoanry arteries connceted tointrapericardial artery and 5 had severely hypoplastic hilar pulmonary arteries. In 11 with nonconfluentintrapericardial pulmonary artery, 4 had more than 10 segmental pulmonary arteries connected to central pulmonaryartery and 9 had severely hypoplastic hilar pulmonary arteries. 4. In the group associated with more complicatedcardiac anomaly, included 8 patients with atrioventricular discordance, 7 with univentricular heart and 6 withtricuspid atresia. In 17 patients with confluent intrapericardial artery, 16 had more than 10 segmental pulmoanryarteries conncected to intrapeircardial artery, one showed severe hypoplasia of hilar pulmonary arteries. Inanother 4 with nonconfluence, no one showed more than 10 segmental arteries conncted to intraperdicardial or hilarpulmonary artery.
Aorta ; Arteries ; Heart ; Humans ; Pulmonary Artery ; Pulmonary Atresia ; Ventricular Septum

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of the elderly's health statuses, health behavior, and social relations on their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) according to their family types. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 1000 elderly persons (298 living alone, 420 living with their spouses, and 282 living with their family)living in C city in Gangwon Province. Data were collected through structured questionnaires from July 20 to September 30, 2015. The SPSS/WIN program was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The HRQoL of the elderly living alone was much lower than the other groups. The most influential factors on the HRQoL include self-rated health and depressive symptoms in all three groups. Social activities and skipping meals were associated with the HRQoL of the elderly living alone and living with their spouses, while marital status, number of chronic disease, and instrumental activities of daily living were associated with the HRQoL of the elderly living with their family. CONCLUSION: Nurses should take into account family types when designing interventions for improving the HRQoL of the elderly.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Chronic Disease ; Depression ; Gangwon-do ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Marital Status ; Meals ; Quality of Life ; Spouses ; Statistics as Topic

PURPOSE: To access the effect of phacoemulsification, using Neosonix(R) (Alcon Laboratories, TX, USA), on the cornea and lens opacity. METHODS: This study involved 42 eyes of 37 patients who underwent phacoemulsification using the Neosonix from December 2005 through March 2006. We measured the density and the thickness of lenses using a Scheimpflug camera and evaluated the correlation between the density and the phaco time. To evaluate the effects of Neosonix(R) on the corneal endothelium, we measured various corneal endothelial cell parameters, including corneal endothelial cell density, corneal thickness, and morphologic changes up to two months postoperatively. RESULTS: The preoperative mean values of lens density for the anterior cortex, nucleus, and posterior cortex were 105.86+/-34.99 CCT, 82.17+/-35.14 CCT, and 77.88+/-52.98 CCT, respectively. The mean phacoemulsification time was 48.67+/-29.79 seconds and increased significantly, according to the increase of the densities of the lens nucleus and cortex (p<0.01). Postoperative mean corneal endothelial cell density was 2741+/-474 cell/mm2 at one day, 2757+/-447 cell/mm2 at one month, and 2765+/-422 cell/mm2 at two months. Corneal endothelial cell loss was 4.39%, 3.83%, and 3.56% at one day, one month, and two months postoperatively, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative values of corneal endothelial cell density (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The phacoemulsification time using oscillation device significantly increased as the density of the lens cortex and nucleus increased, and there was no statistically significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative values of corneal endothelial cell density.
Cataract ; Cornea* ; Corneal Endothelial Cell Loss ; Endothelial Cells ; Endothelium, Corneal ; Humans ; Phacoemulsification*

BACKGROUND: Some researchers have tried to use Tc-99m MIBI (2-methoxyisobutyl isonitril) scintigraphy to evaluate breast-cancer patients. Early reports revealed that Tc-99m MIBI breast scintigraphy was useful in distinguishing malignancies from benign masses in patients for whom mammographic evaluations were difficult. Further studies suggested that functional imaging with Tc-99m MIBI in breast cancer seemed to be correlated with the levels of P-glycoprotein (Pgp) expression and angiogenesis in cancer tissues. For that reason, we evaluated whether significant relationship actually existed between the pattern of Tc-99m MIBI uptake in tumor tissue and tumoric factors including Pgp expression and angiogenesis. METHODS: Thirty-one untreated breast-cancer patients (later pathologically proved to have had invasive ductal carcinomas) were prospectively studied by using both Tc-99m MIBI scintigraphy on and immunohistochemical analyses of angiogenesis and Pgp expression in sugically removed tumor tissues. Both lateral and anterior planar images were obtained at 10 minutes and 3 hours after intravenous injection of 740 MBq Tc-99m MIBI. The tumor-to-normal breast ratio (T/N) and the washout index (WI, early T/N minus late T/N divided by early T/N) were calculated. RESULTS: A significant correlation was found between the T/N's at early and late images (r=0.54, p=0.002 on early images; r=0.47, p=0.006 on late images). The T/N's of early images were not different among the different groups of Pgp expression (p=0.3696) while those of late images were significantly different among the groups (p=0.0276). An even more significant difference was noted in the WI's among the groups (p=0.0015). A significant negative correlation was noted between the T/N of late images and Pgp expression (p=0.0276). An even stronger correlation was found between WI and Pgp expression (r=0.668, p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The tumoral uptake and washout of Tc-99m MIBI can be used as a simple functional test for angiogenesis and P-glycoprotein expression in untreated breast cancer.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Humans ; Injections, Intravenous ; P-Glycoprotein ; Population Characteristics* ; Prospective Studies ; Radionuclide Imaging*

The purpose of this study is to evaluate histologically the resorption and tissue response of various resorbable collagen membranes used for guided tissue regeneration and guided bone regeneration, using a subcutaneous model on the dorsal surface of the rat. In this study, 10 Sprague-Dawley male rats (mean BW 150gm) were used and the commercially available materials included acellular dermal matrix allograft, porcine collagen membrane, freeze-dried bovine dura mater. Animals were sacrificed at 2, 6 and 8 weeks after implantation of various resorbable collagen membranes. Specimens were prepared with Hematoxylin-Eosin stain for light microscopic evaluation. The results of this study were as follows: 1. Resorption : Inner portion of porcine collagen membrane was resorbed a lot at 6 weeks, but its function was being kept for infiltration of another tissues were not observed. Freeze-dried bovine dura mater and acellular dermal allograft were rarely resorbed and kept their structure of outer portion for 8 weeks. 2. Inflammatory reactions : Inflammatory reaction was so mild and foreign body reaction didn't happen in all of resorbable collagen membranes, which showed their biocompatibility. 3. In all of resorbable collagen membranes, multinucleated giant cells by foreign body reactions were not observed. Barrier membranes have to maintain their function for 4-6 weeks in guided tissue regeneration and at least 8 weeks in guided bone regeneration. According to present study, we can find all of the resorbable collagen membranes kept their function and structure for 8 weeks and were rarely resorbed. Foreign body reaction didn't happen and inflammatory reaction was so mild histologically. Therefore, all of collagen membranes used in this experiment were considered proper resorbable membranes for guided tissue regeneration and guided bone regeneration.
Acellular Dermis ; Allografts ; Animals ; Bone Regeneration ; Collagen ; Dura Mater ; Foreign Bodies ; Foreign-Body Reaction ; Giant Cells ; Guided Tissue Regeneration ; Humans ; Male ; Membranes* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to clarify the short-term effects of transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI) for degenerative lumbar scoliosis combined with spinal stenosis (DLSS), and to extrapolate factors relating to the prognosis of treatment. METHOD: Thirty-six patients with lumbar radicular pain from DLSS were enrolled. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups (steroid or lidocaine group). We compared the effect of pain suppression at 2, 4 and 12 weeks after the procedure between the two groups. Radiographic analysis included measurement of the Cobb's angle, the upper endplate obliquities of L3 and L4, and maximal lateral olisthy between two adjacent lumbar vertebrae. Sagittal plane measurement included lumbar lordosis, and thoracolumbar kyphosis. Statistical analysis of both radiographic and clinical parameters along with treatment outcome was performed to determine any significant correlations between the two. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the demographic data, initial visual analogue scale (VAS) or Oswestry disability index (ODI) between the steroid group (n=17) and the lidocaine group (n=19). Two, 4, and 12 weeks after injection VAS, ODI showed a significantly greater improvement in the steroid group compared to the lidocaine group (p<0.05). The radiographic and clinical parameters were not significantly correlated with treatment outcome. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that fluoroscopic transforaminal epidural steroid injections appear to be an effective non-surgical treatment option for patients with degenerative lumbar scoliosis combined with spinal stenosis (DLSS) and radicular pain.
Animals ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Humans ; Kyphosis ; Lidocaine ; Lordosis ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Prognosis ; Scoliosis ; Spinal Stenosis ; Treatment Outcome

No abstract available.
Erythema Nodosum* ; Erythema* ; Hypertrichosis* ; Skin*

The purpose of this study was to investigate the arthro-sonographic appearance of the chronic anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) injury. Twenty-nine patient, who were identified to have partial or complete ATFL tears by conventional ultrasonography were included. Intraarticular injection of 5 mL of fluid (2.5 cc lidocaine+2.5 saline) was performed under ultrasound-guidance, which was followed by arthrosonography. Among 23 patients with partial tear which was detected by the conventional ultrasonography, 11 patients were identified to have complete tear by the arthrosonography. Among 6 patients with complete tear was detected by conventional ultrasonography, all of them identified to have complete tear by the arthrosonography. Arthrosonography is helpful in evaluation the configuration of ATFL complete tear and detecting complete tear by making them appear larger and apparent after instillation of fluid.
Humans ; Injections, Intra-Articular ; Ligaments

A retroperitoneal lymphangioma is a rare tumor, most commonly affecting the neck or axillary area. We report a case of a 60-year-old man, with left flank pain, who had a retroperitoneal cavernous lymphangioma, with hemorrhagic complication. The diagnosis was made after complete excision of the tumor, followed by pathologic documentation.
Diagnosis ; Flank Pain ; Humans ; Lymphangioma* ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Retroperitoneal Space*