Silicone gel breast implants may induce local(fibrous capsular contracture) or systemic(rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, etc) complications. The exact mechanism of fibrous capsular contracture has not been fully understood. In the present study, we tried to find out the effect of silicone gel on the fibroblast proliferation which has been known as a major contributing factor in fibrous capsular contracture formation. In vitro, activated macrophages are known to secrete monokines which affect fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis. And tumour necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6(IL-6), which were released by macrophages, were reported as potent stimulator of fibroblast proliferation. The goal of this study is to investigate the role of macrophages and tumour necrosis factor-alphaor interleukin-6 in the interaction of fibroblasts and silicone gel. We designed four groups, two experimental and two control, using Institute for Cancer Research(ICR) mouse peritioneal macrophage and silicone gel. For the preparation of the conditioned medium of macrophages, peritoneal macrophages were prepared and cultured for 24 hours on the silicone gel-coated and naked (not coated) surface [silicone gel-macrophage conditioned medium(SCM; experimental group) and normal polystyrene-macrophage conditioned medium(NCM; control group) respectively]. To correct the effect of 10% fetal bovine serum which was included in Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute (RPMI) 1640 medium and draw the effect only by macrophages, the RPMI 1640 medium with 10% fetal bovine serum was cultured by the same method on the silicone gel-coated and naked surface (silicone gel-macrophage free conditioned medium; SFM and normal polystyrene-macrophage free conditioned medium; NFM respectively). Each conditioned medium was added onto NIH 3T3 fibroblasts culture at a final 25% concentration of total culture medium and followed by the cultivation for 24 hours. For antibody neutralizing experiments, each conditioned medium was preincubated with polyclonal rabbit anti-mouse TNF-alpha antibody or polyclonal rat anti-mouse IL-6 antibody for 1 hour and then, conditioned medium with antibody was added to the culture medium of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts by the same method. After 24 hours cultivation, total number of viable fibroblast(cell growth), DNA synthesis and collagen synthesis of fibroblasts with each medium were measured by sulforhodamine B(SRB) assay, 3H-thymidine and 3H-proline incorporation respectively. The results were as follows: 1. In the experiment about the effect of the conditioned medium on the fibroblast activity, the experimental group(SCM), compared with the control group(NCM), showed a significant increase of the cell growth (p<0.01), a significant decrease of DNA synthesis(p<0.001), but no significant difference in the collagen synthesis. 2. In the experiment about the effect of polyclonal rabbit anti-mouse TNF-alpha antibody on the fibroblast activity, after the addition of antibody the experimental group, compared with the control group, showed a significant decrease of the cell growth(p<0.001), a significant increase of DNA synthesis(p<0.01), but no significant difference in the collagen syn thesis. 3. In the experiment about the effect of polyclonal rat anti-mouse IL-6 antibody on the fibroblast activity, after the addition of antibody the experimental group, compared with the control group, showed a significant decrease of the cell growth(p<0.001), a significant increase of DNA synthesis(p<0.0001), but no significant difference in the collagen synthesis. In conclusion, culture supernatants (conditioned medium) of peritoneal macrophages, activated by silicone gel, stimulate the NIH 3T3 fibroblast proliferation. TNF-alpha and IL-6, products of macrophage, are involved in the stimulation of NIH 3T3 fibroblast proliferation in an in vitro condition.
Animals ; Arthritis ; Breast Implants ; Collagen ; Contracture ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; DNA ; Fibroblasts* ; Interleukin-6* ; Macrophages ; Macrophages, Peritoneal* ; Mice ; Monokines ; Necrosis ; Rats ; Scleroderma, Systemic ; Silicone Gels* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha*

No abstract available.
Aneurysm* ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus*

No abstract available.

The antihypertensive effects of single daily dose of long-acting propranolol(Inderal LA(R)) were observed in 29 cases of essential hypertension, and the results were as follows; 1) Age distribution of the cases was from 39 years to 72 years with the mean age of 51.3. And there were 13 female and 16 male patients. 2) Mean value of the hypotensive effects in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were 22.9 mmHg, and 11.5 mmHg, respectively. 3) The results of the antihypertensive effects were as follows; good 31.0%, fair 34.5%, poor 20.7%, and failure 13.8%. 4) The decrement of heart rate with long-acting propranolol was 9.3 per minute in average. 5) 1 case of nausea and 2 cases of lassitude were noted, but these symptoms were subsided spontaneously with continous medication.
Age Distribution ; Blood Pressure ; Fatigue ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Male ; Nausea ; Propranolol

PURPOSE: Kimura's disease is a relatively rare head and neck tumor that frequently occurs in young orientals accompanied by eosinophila. We shared our experience of two cases of Kimura's disease, treated by radical resection and post operative steroid therapy, so we report the correlation of eosinophil counts and disease progression. METHODS: A 25 years old male came to the clinic with a mass localized to the right cheek inferior to the right auricle. We could not resect the mass totally. During the follow up period, we checked the eosinophil counts, and steroid therapy was started 7 months after the surgery. A 34 year old female came to the clinic with a mass localized inferior to the left auricle reaching from the posterior portion of the auricle to the left temporal portion. We tried to remove as much tumor as possible, save the temporal region, in regard to the impairment of blood supply to the auricle. After the operation, steroid therapy was started. RESULTS: In the first case, the tumor was easily approachable, and radical resection of the tumor with post operative steroid therapy was an effective treatment. In tumors located at difficult regions to remove, as in the second case, optimal debulking and post operative steroid therapy was also effective in treating Kimura's. There were no recurrences in both cases. Eosinophil counts were always reduced after surgery and steroid therapy, and during the period with low eosinophil counts, there was no recurrence of Kimura's disease. CONCLUSION: Surgery and post operative steroid therapy were effective in treatment of Kimura's disease, and we could assume eosinophil counts as a good indicator for evaluation of the prognosis of Kimura's disease during the follow up period
Cheek ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head ; Humans ; Male ; Neck ; Porphyrins ; Prognosis ; Recurrence

PURPOSE: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a relatively uncommon type of stress-induced cardiomyopathy characterized by transient left ventricular regional wall motion abnormalities. Emotional and physical stresses play a key role in this type of cardiomyopathy in postmenopausal women. The current hypothesis is that the syndrome represents a form of catecholamine surge due to stress or epinephrine-mediated acute myocardial stunning. METHODS: A 44-year-old woman had suffered premature ventricular contraction following a cardiogenic shock during a breast augmentation surgery under enflurane anesthesia and tumescent solution infiltration. She was treated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation at a local clinic. Then she was brought to the Emergency Department of the authors' hospital. RESULTS: The woman's echocardiogram showed an ejection fraction of 20~25% with associated basal hyperkinesis and left ventricular apical ballooning. The patient was admitted to the ICU and required inotropic support for two weeks. The patient's condition dramatically improved, and her ejection fraction returned to 70%. CONCLUSION: It is believed that there were multiple triggering factors of the onset of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy in the woman's social and family history, including infiltration of a large volume of the tumescent solution and VPCs induced by enflurane anesthesia without premedication. The importance of careful history-taking, careful pre-operative consultation on psychological suffering especially for breast surgery, premedication before surgery, patient reassurance, and post-operative psychosocial and emotional assistance was again seen in this case.
Adult ; Anesthesia ; Breast ; Cardiomyopathies ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Emergencies ; Enflurane ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperkinesis ; Premedication ; Shock, Cardiogenic ; Stress, Psychological ; Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy ; Ventricular Premature Complexes

The high prevalence of migraine. Raynaud's phenomenon, visual field defect and Crohn's disease in variant angina raises the possibility that a common underlying defect of mechanism may partially account for all conditions. These are generalized vascular smooth muscle hypercontractility syndromes. Recently high prevalence of esophageal motility disorders has been noted in patients with coronary artery spasm or microvascular angina, leading to the hypothesis of a generalized abnormality in smooth muscle function1,4,5). We expirienced a case of 55-year-old man with angiographically proven variant angina. Who showed reflux esophagitis, classic migraine and Raynaud's disease.
Coronary Vessels ; Crohn Disease ; Esophageal Motility Disorders ; Esophagitis, Peptic* ; Humans ; Microvascular Angina ; Middle Aged ; Migraine Disorders ; Migraine with Aura* ; Muscle, Smooth ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; Prevalence ; Raynaud Disease* ; Spasm ; Visual Fields

Sarcoidosis is an idiopathic multisystem disorder that usually develops in the respiratory system, but rarely in spinal cord. A 54-year-old female patient was presented with progressive right side weakness and paresthesia below C4 level dermatome which began 3 months ago. Cervical MRI findings showed T2 weighted high signal nodular lesion with surrounding edema at the C4 and C5 vertebra level, suggestive of intramedullary spinal cord tumor. She went through the resection of the part of the mass. The result of biopsy revelaed chronic granulomatous inflammation without caseous necrosis. Despite of tuberculosis medication and proper rehabilitation program for 2 weeks, there was no improvement of symptoms with exacerbated findings on cervical MRI and increased serum angiotensin converting enzyme level. We concerned about the cervical intramedullary sarcoidosis at this point, we treated her with steroid. After 3 months, her MRI findings were improved without improvement in her symptoms.
Biopsy ; Edema ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Paresis ; Paresthesia ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; Respiratory System ; Sarcoidosis ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Neoplasms ; Spine ; Tuberculosis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the optimal number of repetition trials and to evaluate the test-retest reliability of passive knee joint position sense test. METHOD: Thirty healthy subjects were tested with isokinetic machine. The knee joints were placed in starting angle of 0degrees for flexion test and 90degrees for extension test. To memorize the target angle, the knees were passively positioned to the target angle (30degrees in flexion test and 60degrees in extension test) and left hold for 10 seconds, and returned to starting position. After these processes, knee joints were passively moved toward target angles. The subjects were instructed to press button when the memorized angles were estimated to be reproduced. The tests were performed 6 times for each test angle. After 48 hours, the tests were repeated. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated with the values of test and retest. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in absolute angular errors (AAE) between dominant and non-dominant side. The ICC value of above five repetitions of test showed excellent reliability (0.807) whereas three and four repetitions showed moderate reliabilities (0.536~0.709). CONCLUSION: From the results of this study, we suggest that five repetitions of test could be appropriate for the passive joint position sense test.
Joints ; Knee ; Knee Joint ; Proprioception

Motor paralysis is a less common neurologic complication of herpes zoster. Until now, a few cases have been reported, and most of these cases showed brachial plexopathy involving one or two segments. We report a patient with pain and weakness on upper extremity diagnosed as brachial plexopathy after herpes zoster infection. An 88-year-old female patient complained not only tingling sense, pain, and swelling on right whole arm, but also weakness on this right upper extremity. On physical examination, weakness is seen in right shoulder abductionㆍshoulder flexionㆍelbow flexionㆍelbow extensionㆍ wrist extension (grade 4), finger flexionㆍfinger abductionㆍfinger extensionㆍfinger DIP flexion (grade 3). In electrodiagnostic study and magnetic resonance imaging study, she was diagnosed as the brachial plexopathy, whole branch involved. This is the only case of post-herpetic brachial plexopathy involving whole branch in domestic.