To evaluate the effects of early surgical intervention in infantile exotropia on the motor and sensory functions, we reviewed the records of 17 subjects diagnosed with exotropia before the age of 12 months, receiving surgery before the age of 24 months, with a follow-up period greater than one year, between 1996 and 2000. Of the 17 subjects (6 intermittent, 11 constant), 14 (82%) (6 intermittent, 8 constant) had a final horizontal deviation of <10 PD, with 3 (18%) needing a re-operation. Fusion and gross binocularity were developed in 7 (4 intermittent, 3 constant), and 11 (6 intermittent, 5 constant) subjects, respectively. Seven subjects developed stereopsis of 200 seconds or better, and 5 of the 6 with intermittent exotropia (83%) being involved. In conclusion, over 80% of the successful alignments were obtained with surgery before the age of 24 months in infantile exotropia, which was similar to previous studies. Furthermore, early surgical intervention, particularly in the intermittent phase, resulted in more effective sensory function.
Age Factors ; Exotropia/*surgery ; Female ; Human ; Infant ; Male ; Oculomotor Muscles/*surgery ; Reoperation ; Treatment Outcome ; Vision, Binocular ; Visual Acuity

PURPOSE: To evaluate the postoperative changes of stereopsis after surgical correction of adult strabismus. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated strabismus patients older than 16 years at the time of operation at our hospital between April of 1999 and December of 2006. We retrospectively examined the medical records of 53 exotropia and 11 esotropia patients. We divided the pre-operative stereopsis into three groups:above 3000 arc of sec, between 3,000 to 100 arc of sec, and below 100 arc of sec. We analyzed the correlation between the post-operative status of stereopsis and the pre-op type of strabismus, the onset and duration of strabismus, and the presence or absence of amblyopia. RESULTS: In patients who had pre-op stereopsis above 3,000 arc of sec, 31.6% showed improvement, whereas 77.8% of patients who had pre-operative stereopsis between 3,000~100 showed improvement; this value was 89.5% for patients with pre-operative stereopsis below 3000. 94.5% of patients in the intermittent exotropia group who had a good pre-operative stereopsis condition showed postoperative improvement and maintenance. For those patients with poor stereopsis at pre-operative, 32.2% of patients with exotropia and 18.1% of patients with esotropia showed improvement. Stereopsis decreased when consecutive esotropia occurred. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed deterioration of stereopsis in patients with consecutive esotropia. Post-operative stereopsis was correlated with the pre-operative stereopsis status and with the type of strabismus. No other factors that we examined were correlated with stereopsis. Post-operative stereopsis in exotropiaand intermittent exotropia were better than esotropia and constant exotropia.
Adult ; Amblyopia ; Depth Perception ; Esotropia ; Exotropia ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Strabismus

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: To document and compare the clinical results of symmetrical rectus muscle recession and asymmetrical rectus muscle recession in intermittent exotropia. METHODS: The medical records of 27 patients who had symmetric bilateral rectus recession and 24 patients who had asymmetric bilateral rectus recession for intermittent exotropia with at least six months of postoperative follow-up from March 2004 to March 2007 were reviewed retrospectively. The authors performed a recession of 2 mm or greater in the deviating eye than in the fixing eye. RESULTS: The mean age was 7.14+/-4.23 (range 3 to 15) years for symmetric bilateral rectus recession and 7.33+/-4.01 (range 3 to 14) years for asymmetric bilateral rectus recession. The mean follow-up was 11.83+/-5.74 (range 6 to 26) months in the symmetric bilateral rectus recession group and 11.14+/-5.05 (range 6 to 30) months in the asymmetric bilateral rectus recession group. The mean preoperative angle deviations were 27.5+/-4.8 prism diopter (PD) (range 30 to 40PD) and 27.3+/-4.6PD (range 20 to 40PD) in each group. The outcome of final follow-up (postoperative 24 months) was favorable in both groups, and slightly more successful in the asymmetric bilateral recession group but not a statistically significant amount (75.5% in the symmetric bilateral recession group and 81.2% in the asymmetric bilateral recession group). CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that there are no significant differences at postoperative 24 months between symmetric bilateral recession and asymmetric bilateral recession in intermittent exotropia having a fixing and a deviating eye.
Exotropia ; Eye ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Muscles ; Retrospective Studies

To assess the value of DNA ploidy, flow cytometric analysis was performed on unfixed fresh materials obtained from 86 patients with gastric cancer who underwent stomach resection. We evaluated the DNA content of gastric carcinoma cells from four different sites and compared it with Ki-67 proliferating activity, and other pathologic parameters. The incidence of aneuploid and diploid was similar (48.8% vs. 51.1%). Early gastric carcinoma showed a higher rate of the diploid pattern (75%) compared to that of advanced gastric carcinoma 7.3%). DNA diploidy was noted increasingly in diffuse-type tumors according to uren, in signet ring cell type tumor according to WHO classification and in orly differentiated tumors (p<0.05). Well and moderately differentiated rcinomas revealed the aneuploid pattern more frequently than poorly fferentiated tumors. The aneuploidy was associated with high S phase fraction d high proliferative index. Aneuploidy was noted in the mucosa adjacent to the mor (26%), in the close normal-looking mucosa (7%) and in the remote rmal-looking mucosa (3%). This result suggest the possible role of field ncerization in the development of gastric adenocarcinoma.
Adenocarcinoma/pathology* ; Adenocarcinoma/genetics* ; Adenocarcinoma/chemistry ; Aged ; Aneuploidy* ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Division ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Gastric Mucosa/pathology ; Human ; Ki-67 Antigen/analysis ; Male ; Middle Age ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology* ; Stomach Neoplasms/genetics* ; Stomach Neoplasms/chemistry

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to investigate the effects of Maté extract on body weight and fat content in obese women [25.0 kg/m² ≤body mass index (BMI) <30 kg/m²] aged 20-65 years after 6 weeks of its administration. METHODS: The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in 33 women. Participants took the supplement, either 2 Maté tablets or 2 placebo tablets, twice daily before meals for 6 weeks. Body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and various safety parameters were monitored. Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and after 6 weeks.
Abdominal Fat ; Absorptiometry, Photon ; Adipose Tissue ; Body Composition ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Female ; Humans ; Meals ; Nausea ; Reference Values ; Tablets ; Waist Circumference

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of caffeine and calcium on the activities of the osteoblastic cell from mouse calvaria. The author cultured osteoblastic cells obtained from the mouse calvaria and were divided into three groups: the caffeine-treated, the calcium-treated and the combine-treated group. In caffeine-treated group, the cell toxicity was measured by MTT assay at 1, 2 and 4 days after treatment of caffeine. In all groups, the densities of the mineralized bone nodules were measured by imaging analyzer after Von Kossa staining. The alkaline phosphotase (ALP) activities were measured at 2, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days and the interleukin-1beta activities at 48 hours after treatment of caffeine and calcium. The measurements were statistically executed with ANOVA test and the results were as follows. 1. The cellular toxicity of the caffeine increased with the concentration of caffeine during the incubation period. 2. The maximum densities of mineralization were observed at 0.2 mM caffeine-treated group, 1.2 mM calcium-treated group, 0.1 mM caffeine and 1.8 mM calcium-treated group. 3. The activities of ALP were peaked at 14 days at calcium-treated group as no-treated. But, the activities of ALP increased with concentrations of caffeine at caffeine-treated group. At combine-treated group, the act of ALP were peaked at 24 days at 1.2 mM, 1.8 mM calcium-treated group, But decreased at 2.5 mM calcium-treated group. 4. The activites of the IL-1beta were increased significantly at 0.2 mM caffeine-treated group, 1.8 mM calcium-treated group and 0.1 mM caffeine and 1.8 mM calcium-treated group. But, they were decreased at all groups of high concentration.
Animals ; Caffeine* ; Calcium* ; Interleukin-1beta ; Mice* ; Osteoblasts* ; Skull

BACKGROUND: The diagnostic accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of salivary lesions is relatively high, but cytologic interpretation might be confusing if the sample is lacking typical cytologic features. METHODS: There were 77 cases of benign salivary lesions, consisting of pleomorphic adenoma (PA) in 61 cases, Warthin's tumor (WT) in 12 cases, and other benign lesions in 4 cases. The causes of the discrepancies between the FNAC and the histologic diagnoses were evaluated. RESULTS: Major discrepancies were noted in 4 of the 61 PA cases, and in 1 of 12 WT cases. The causes of the major discrepancies were a mislabeled site in 1 PA and 1 WT case, and an interpretation error in 3 PA cases. Minor discrepancies were more common in the WT cases (7 of 12 cases) than in the PA cases (11 of 61 cases). The causes of the minor discrepancies were a mislabeled site in 1 PA and 1 WT case, an inadequate sample in 7 PA and 2 WT cases, a lack of typical cytomorphology in 2 PA and 2 WT cases, and an interpretation error in 1 PA and 2 WT cases. CONCLUSIONS: To increase the diagnostic accuracy in the benign salivary lesions, recognition of both characteristic and less typical cytomorphology is needed.
Adenoma, Pleomorphic ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Salivary Glands

Phytoestrogen is an estrogenic compound that occurs naturally in plants. The most common sources of phytoestrogen are soybean products, which contain high levels of isoflavones. This compound, which has structural similarity with estrogen, can act as an estrogen receptor agonist or antagonist. Animal studies provide evidence of the significant effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development, including altered pubertal timing, impaired estrous cycling and ovarian function, and altered hypothalamus and pituitary functions. Although human studies examining the effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development are extremely limited, the results of some studies agree with those of the animal studies. In this paper, we review the possible mechanism of phytoestrogen action and the evidence showing the effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development in animal and human studies.
Animals ; Estrogens ; Humans ; Hypothalamus ; Isoflavones ; Phytoestrogens ; Puberty ; Sexual Development ; Soybeans

BACKGROUND: It is known that cathepsin D expression in host stromal cells is associated with a more aggressive tumor behavior in breast cancers. METHODS: Cathepsin D expression was examined in 222 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma (CA) and 25 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) by the immunohistochemical staining. Cathepsin D expression was evaluated according to the expression site, either in the tumor cells (CD-T) or in the stromal cells (CD-S), and graded according to the immunopositivity. The differences of CD-T and CD-S in each case were evaluated according to the pathologic parameters and estrogen receptor (ER)/progesterone receptor (PR) status. RESULTS: The rate of CD-S was significantly higher in the CA than in the DCIS (p<0.0001). In the CA, the rate of CD-S was higher than that of CD-T, while in the DCIS, the rate of CD-T was higher than that of CD-S. In the CA, the rate of CD-S and the tumor grade showed a positive relationship (p=0.0281). There were positive correlations between the ER positivity and CD-S (p=0.0236), and between the PR positivity and CD-T (p=0.0246). For the DCIS, no significant relationships were noted between the pathologic parameters including ER/PR status and CD-T/CD-S. CONCLUSION: Cathepsin D expression in the stromal cells seems to be related to the invasiveness and aggressive biological behavior in breast cancers. In addition, there might be some relationship betweeen the ER positivity and CD-S, and between the PR positivity and CD-T.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast* ; Carcinoma, Ductal* ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating* ; Cathepsin D* ; Cathepsins* ; Estrogens ; Stromal Cells