OBJECTIVE: Extensive neuronal death occurring in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) may be related with the apoptosis. Recent studies have suggested that regulatory failure of cell cycle appeared to be very early event of AD pathogenesis in neuronal cells as well as in peripheral lymphocytes. We compared the change of cyclin dependent kinases (Cdks), which is related with G1/S phase transition in the cell cycle, between AD patients and normal controls using peripheral lymphocytes. METHODS: We obtained Cdks from peripheral lymphocytes of 37 AD patients and 18 age-matched normal subjects. Cells in first culture were considered to be G-zero (G0) cells. We measured Cdk2, Cdk4, and Cdk6 at baseline (T0). Thereafter, we observed Cdks 24 hours later after using PHA (phytohemaglutinin) (N24). Meanwhile, we observed Cdks 24 hours later again with rapamycin treatment (T24). RESULTS: At baseline (T0), Cdk2 and Cdk6 were increased in AD patients compared to the control group (p< 0.001, p=0.038, respectively). Cdk2 was increased in AD patients more than control group after using PHA (T24, p=0.007). After rapamycin treatment for 24 hours (N24), Cdk2, Cdk4, and Cdk6 were increased in the patients compared to the controls (p=0.002, p=0.022, p=0.011, respectively). CONCLUSION: This results showed that the cell cycle regulating proteins in AD patients, which are related with G1/S phase transition, were increased in peripheral lymphocytes compared to those in normal controls. We provide the clue which demonstrate the cell cycle dysregulation in the patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Apoptosis ; Cell Cycle* ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinases ; Humans ; Lymphocytes* ; Neurons ; Phase Transition ; Sirolimus

OBJECTIVE: The molecules related with the intracellular signal transduction system are one of the main targets for the mode of mechanisms of antidepressant treatment in depressive patients. In vivo and in vitro studies have provided the evidence that the transcription factor, CREB (c-AMP response element binding protein) is the key mediator of the therapeutic response to antidepressants. We investigated the relationship between the treatment response to fluoxetine for 6 weeks and the change of CREB immunoreactivity in peripheral T lymphocyte. METHODS: CREB-expression and phosphorylation were quantified via western blot, and binding activity between transcription factor and CRE-oligonucleotide via electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) in nuclear extracts from 14 normal controls and 31 depressed patients at 0 and 6th week during fluoxetine treatment (20 mg/day). Responder was defined as the > or =50% of reduction or < or =7 of HAM-D score. We compared the changes of CREB during 6 weeks of fluoxetine treatment between drug responders and non-responders using SPSS11.0. RESULTS: After six weeks of treatment with fluoxetine, the drug responders showed a significant increase in CREB (p=0.024 by t-test) and p-CREB (p=0.045 by Mann-Whitney U test) compared with the non-responders. The change of CREB immunoreactivity was positively correlated with the change of p-CREB (r=0.770, p=0.000 by Spearman's rho), and the change of p-CREB was also positively correlated with CRE-DNA binding (r=0.753, p=0.000 by Spearman's rho). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that CREB response in peripheral lymphocyte may reflect and mediate the response to antidepressant treatment in depressed patients.
Antidepressive Agents ; Blotting, Western ; Depression ; Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay ; Fluoxetine ; Humans ; Lymphocytes* ; Phosphorylation ; Response Elements ; Signal Transduction ; Transcription Factors

In the treatment of esthetically important areas such as maxillary anterior teeth, they should be corresponded with surrounding tissues, and shape of the smile line, soft tissue, and hard tissue, also the anatomical shape and proportion of the teeth should be considered as well. Esthetic analysis includes facial analysis which evaluates the proper parallelism between the occlusal plane and the horizontal reference line, dentolabial analysis which assesses the position of the incisal edge and the coherence between the occlusal plane and the commissural line, tooth analysis which evaluates not only esthetics but also morphology and appearance for proper function, and gingival analysis which forms ideal outline of gingival margins. A maxillary anterior diastema can be esthetically restored through the systematic diagnostic approach and treatment planning, and orthodontic, prosthetic, and conservative treatment can be applied for the treatment.
Dental Occlusion ; Diastema ; Esthetics ; Humans ; Prostheses and Implants ; Tooth

Academic Medical Centers ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Prostheses and Implants ; Survival Rate ; Titanium

Overdenture using dental implants could improve the problems of conventional complete denture function which are pain during mastication, insufficient retention and stability. Locator attachment used widely for implant-retained overdenture has advantages that it needs the smallest vertical space and also its nylon male cap allows personalized retention for each case. However its retention force decreases rapidly with function rather than the bar and ball attachment. So, implant fixture should be positioned as parallel as possible.
Dental Implants ; Denture, Complete ; Denture, Overlay* ; Humans ; Male ; Mandible* ; Mastication ; Nylons

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of donepezil treatment between patients with pure Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mixed dementia (MD) during a 12-month trial. METHODS: A total of 139 patients were recruited for this 52-week study. The effect of donepezil on cognitive function was measured using Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale-preliminary Korean version (ADAS-cog-K). Patients' activities of daily living using the Seoul-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (S-IADL) and Seoul-Activities of Daily Living (S-ADL);behavioral symptoms using the Korean version Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI) were measured at baseline, 13-weeks, 26-weeks, 39-weeks and 52-weeks. We defined the responsive patients to donepezil at those who showed a cognitive improvement or no change during the first six-month clinical trial. RESULTS: 84 pure AD patients and 34 MD patients were available for intent-to-treat (ITT) last observation carried forward (LOCF) analysis. There was no significant difference between two groups in mean change from baseline in the total ADAS-cog-k, S-ADL, S-IADL and K-NPI scores at 52-week. Based on the operational criteria, 60.7% of pure AD patients and 58.8% of MD patients were responders to donepezil. CONCLUSION: MD patients had similar levels of efficacy with pure AD patients and donepezil was well tolerated in both groups. These results suggest that donepezil is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for MD patients as well as for pure AD patients.
Activities of Daily Living ; Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia ; Humans ; Indans ; Piperidines

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of donepezil treatment between patients with pure Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mixed dementia (MD) during a 12-month trial. METHODS: A total of 139 patients were recruited for this 52-week study. The effect of donepezil on cognitive function was measured using Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale-preliminary Korean version (ADAS-cog-K). Patients' activities of daily living using the Seoul-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (S-IADL) and Seoul-Activities of Daily Living (S-ADL);behavioral symptoms using the Korean version Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI) were measured at baseline, 13-weeks, 26-weeks, 39-weeks and 52-weeks. We defined the responsive patients to donepezil at those who showed a cognitive improvement or no change during the first six-month clinical trial. RESULTS: 84 pure AD patients and 34 MD patients were available for intent-to-treat (ITT) last observation carried forward (LOCF) analysis. There was no significant difference between two groups in mean change from baseline in the total ADAS-cog-k, S-ADL, S-IADL and K-NPI scores at 52-week. Based on the operational criteria, 60.7% of pure AD patients and 58.8% of MD patients were responders to donepezil. CONCLUSION: MD patients had similar levels of efficacy with pure AD patients and donepezil was well tolerated in both groups. These results suggest that donepezil is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for MD patients as well as for pure AD patients.
Activities of Daily Living ; Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia ; Humans ; Indans ; Piperidines

Limited information from human studies indicates that dietary quercetin supplementation influences blood lipid profiles, glycemic response, and inflammatory status, collectively termed cardiometabolic risks. We tested the hypothesis that quercetin-rich supplementation, derived from onion peel extract, improves cardiometabolic risk components in healthy male smokers in a randomized, double blinded, placebo-controlled parallel design. Randomly assigned subjects were instructed to take either the placebo (n = 43) or 100 mg quercetin capsules each day (n = 49) for 10 weeks. Anthropometric parameters and blood pressure were measured, and blood lipids, glucose, interleukin-6, and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) were determined at baseline and after 10 weeks of quercetin supplementation. Quercetin-rich supplementation significantly reduced serum concentrations of total cholesterol (P < 0.05) and LDL-cholesterol (P < 0.01), whereas these effects were not shown in the placebo group. Furthermore, significant increases were observed in serum concentrations of HDL-cholesterol both in the placebo (P < 0.005) and quercetin-rich supplementation group (P < 0.001); however, changes in HDL-cholesterol were significantly greater in subjects receiving quercetin-rich supplementation than the placebo. Both systolic (P < 0.05) and diastolic blood pressure (P < 0.01) decreased significantly in the quercetin-rich supplementation group. Glucose concentrations decreased significantly after 10 weeks of quercetin-rich supplementation (P < 0.05). In contrast, no effects of quercetin-rich supplementation were observed for the inflammatory markers-IL-6 and sVCAM-1. Daily quercetin-rich supplementation from onion peel extract improved blood lipid profiles, glucose, and blood pressure, suggesting a beneficial role for quercetin as a preventive measure against cardiovascular risk.
Blood Pressure ; Capsules ; Cholesterol ; Dyslipidemias ; Glucose ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-6 ; Male ; Onions ; Quercetin ; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of galantamine treatment, especially attention ability between patients with pure Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mixed dementia (MD) during a 24-week trial. METHODS: A total of 40 patients were recruited for this 24-week study. The effect of galantamine on attention was measured using Seoul Computerized NeuroCognitive Function Test (SCNT) and frontal functions test of Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB). Patients'activities of daily living using the Seoul-Activities of Daily Living (S-ADL) and the Seoul-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (S-IADL) ; behavioral symptoms using the Korean version Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI) were measured at baseline and 24-week. RESULTS: 17 pure AD patients and 23 MD patients were analyzed in this study. Attention as measured by SCNT was not significantly different from baseline after 24 weeks of treatment in both groups. There was no significant difference between two groups in mean change from baseline in the SCNT, S-ADL, S-IADL and K-NPI scores at 24-week. CONCLUSION: Galantamine showed a therapeutic effect on cognition, activities of daily living, neuropsychiatric symptoms in pure AD and MD. Furthermore, Galantamine may specifically help to maintain attention and it may have positive effects on other cognitive and functional abilities.
Activities of Daily Living ; Alzheimer Disease ; Attention ; Behavioral Symptoms ; Cognition ; Dementia ; Galantamine ; Humans ; Mass Screening

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy between switching patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) from galantamine or rivastigmine to donepezil because they were not responding adequately, and naive patients with AD who initiated therapy with donepezil. METHODS: A total of 108 patients were recruited for this 52-week study. The effect of donepezil on cognitive function was measured using Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale-preliminary Korean version (ADAS-cog-K). Patients' activities of daily living using Seoul-Activities of Daily Living (S-ADL) and the Seoul-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (S-IADL);behavioral symptoms using the Korean version Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI) were measured at baseline, 13-weeks, 26-weeks, 39-weeks and 52-weeks. We defined the responsive patients to donepezil at those who showed a cognitive improvement or no change during the first six-month clinical trial. RESULTS: 86 naive patients and 22 switching patients were enrolled in the study. 74 patients completed the study and 34 discontinued their treatment before week 52. There was no significant difference between two patient groups in demographic data, baseline characteristics and dementia severity except duration of illness. The total ADAS-cog-K scores were not significantly different from baseline after 52 weeks of treatment in both groups. Both groups demonstrated deterioration of S-ADL and S-IADL at 52 weeks. The NPI scores did not significantly change in both groups. Based on the operational criteria, 61.6% of the naive group and 54.5% of the switching group were responders to donepezil. CONCLUSION: The switching group had similar levels of efficacy with the naive group who initiated therapy with donepezil. These results suggest that patients not responding adequately to rivastigmine or galantamine may improve or stabilize after switching to donepezil and prior medication does not effect donepezil's efficacy.