No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: Naringin, one of the flavonoids in citrus fruit peels, is known to have antioxidant and hepatotonic effects in animal studies. We evaluated the effect of naringin on 1) blood lipid profiles, 2) regression of fatty streak of aorta, and 3) liver toxicity in diet-induced hypercholesterolemic rabbits. METHODS: New Zealand White Rabbits (2.0 - 2.5 Kg) were divided to three groups; group without treatment, group treated with 100 mg/kg/d or 500 mg/kg/d naringin, and group treated with 1 mg/kg/d or 20 mg/kg/d lovastatin. They were fed on 0.25% or 1.0% cholesterol-containing diet for 8 weeks and then sacrificed. Blood samples were collected for measurement of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, serum GOT and GPT. Aortas and livers were harvested for evaluation of fatty streak and pathologic examination. RESULTS: 1)Feeding of 1% cholesterol diet for eight weeks significantly increased the cholesterol level upto 20 folds. Neither lovastatin nor naringin did lower these marked hypercholesterolemia. But both naringin (500 mg/kg/d) and lovastatin (1 mg/kg/d) significantly reduced the area of fatty streak by 75% and 58%, respectively. Naringin was more effective in inhibition of fat infiltration into liver than lovastatin which showed hepatotoxicity as increase of serum GPT level (p=0.01). 2)Feeding of 0.25% cholesterol diet for eight weeks significantly increased the cholesterol level upto 17 folds. Total cholesterol and triglyceride levels tended to decrease by treatment with naringin (500 mg/kg/d) and lovastatin (20 mg/kg/d), but this decreases were not statistically significant. However, areas of fatty streak significantly decreased by treatment with naringin and lovastatin by 64 and 82%, respectively (p<0.05). Microscopic analysis revealed that foam cell infiltration into intima was significantly reduced by naringin and lovastatin. In contrast to lovastatin, naringin significantly reduced the level of serum GPT (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Like lovastatin, naringin has strong antiatherogenic action which may not be associated with its very mild lipid lowering action. In contrast to lovastatin, naringin does have hepatoprotective effect.
Animals ; Aorta ; Cholesterol ; Citrus ; Diet ; Flavonoids ; Foam Cells ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Liver ; Lovastatin ; Rabbits* ; Triglycerides

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of obesity is increasing year after year in Korean; and gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD) is increasing in this population as well. The aim of this study is to assess the association between age, body mass index(BMI) and GERD in healthy Korean adults. METHODS: Analysis was done on 1,016 subjects who had not had malignancy, uncontrolled metabolic disease, enteric surgery and organic esophageal disease. They completed a questionnaire that included past history and reflux symptoms. Endoscopy was performed by two gastroenterologists who were not given any patient information. Existence of GERD was determined by the esophageal syndrome criteria of the Montreal guidelines. Subjects were categorized by BMI, initially as: underweight, normal(18.5< or =BMI<25), overweight(25< or =BMI<30) and obese by the WHO criteria, and then as: underweight, normal(18.5< or =BMI<23), overweight(23< or =BMI<25) and obese by the Asian-Pacific criteria. RESULTS: The overall[is this correct] prevalence of GERD in our subjects was 15.5%. Age and sex were not correlated factors for GERD. By the WHO and the Asian-Pacific criteria, GERD was present in underweight(10.0%, 12.1%), normal(13.9%, 14.4%), overweight(18.6%, 13.0%) and obese groups(21.0%, 18.8%). No meaningful association was seen between BMI and GERD in either of the classified groups. Erosive GERD was seen in 83 subjects (8.2%) on endoscopy. The obese(BMI> or =25) group(12.1%) showed a meaningful increment in the prevalence of erosive GERD compared to the non-obese(BMI<25) group(6.2%)(p value 0.002). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of GERD in healthy Korean adult subjects was not closely associated with obesity and age[according to BMI]; however, erosive GERD was found to have a strong association with obesity.
Adult ; Body Mass Index ; Endoscopy ; Esophageal Diseases ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Humans ; Metabolic Diseases ; Obesity ; Prevalence ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Thinness

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to develop an educational program reflecting the educational needs of Hospice Smart Patient service providers. METHOD: The description, goal, curriculum, method, and process evaluation of the educational program were constructed based on Modified Tyler-type Ends-Means Model followed by the analysis of current curriculum and needs of service providers. RESULTS: The curriculum was constructed based on hospice volunteer program currently offered in Korea and the recommendations of hospice service volunteers and experts. A total of 90 hr was required to complete the curriculum that was composed of 'Introduction to cancer', 'Treatment and treatment complications of cancer', 'Post-treatment nutritional care', 'Helpful information', 'Introduction to hospice and palliative care', 'Comprehension of life and death', 'Holistic hospice and palliative care', 'How to communicate as a smart patient', 'Hospice and ethics', 'Pediatric hospice', 'Bereavement management', and 'Clinical practicum'. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to implement the developed educational program and evaluate its effectiveness, as well as making the service available to a greater number of cancer patients.
Curriculum ; Health Personnel ; Hospices ; Humans ; Korea ; Palliative Care

PURPOSE: Proper education of hospice professionals is essential for ensuring quality of end-of-life care. In 2005, 'End-of-life Care Task Force Team' by Ministry of Health and Welfare established '60 hours of hospice education' as basic requirement for hospice professionals. This study is aimed to determine how many of the hospice professionals meet with the criteria and whether there are significant regional variations. METHODS: We analyzed the data from 46 hospice organizations, which submitted the application to the 2008 designation program of Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs. Data included details of the educational records of each hospice professionals. RESULTS: Total 673 hospice professionals were included in the analysis. Overall, only 41.5% (279/673) met the requirement. Nurses (46.8%; 177/378) were more likely to meet the requirement than doctors (35.8%; 38/106), social workers (32.0%; 24/75) and clergies (35.1%; 40/114). Hospice professionals of the organizations in metropolitan area received more education than those in small cities or rural area (52.4% vs. 25.0% for doctors, 50.6% vs. 43.9% for nurses, 42.9% vs. 25.5% for social workers). By geographic areas, hospice professionals in southeast regions received less education than other part of Korea (28.1% vs. 43.0~48.8%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Less than half of the Korean hospice professionals has received proper amount of hospice education, and significant regional variations existed. National programs to promote the education of hospice professionals and eliminate its disparities are greatly warranted. Implementation of the 60-hour currirulum for hospice professionals, based on the train-the-trainer model, would be regarded as one potential solution.
Advisory Committees ; Clergy ; Hospices ; Humans ; Korea ; Palliative Care ; Social Workers

Toremifene is an anti-estrogen which has been shown to be effective in the treatment of breast cancer, and is thought to be a less uterotrophic agent than tamoxifen. The risk assessment concerning endometrial cancer has been inconclusive because of its rare use up to the mid-1990s. We report a case of an adenosarcoma, which is a very rare type of uterine malignancy, after toremifene treatment for 5 years in a breast cancer patient. After 1 year of toremifene use, the patient had a benign Mullerian adenofibroma. After an additional 4 years of toremifene treatment, the endometrial polypoid lesion was transformed into a Mullerian adenosarcoma. Although toremifene is a promising anti-estrogenic agent in the treatment of breast cancer patients, clinicians should not neglect the possibility of a uterine malignancy.
Adenofibroma ; Adenosarcoma ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Endometrial Neoplasms ; Female ; Humans ; Risk Assessment ; Tamoxifen ; Toremifene

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the head and neck (H & N) accounts for 10-20% of all cases of NHL. Despite their frequency, the cause of these lymphomas is still poorly understood. Recently, the role of viral origin in NHLs, including Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), as the main cause of sinonasal lymphomas of T/NK cell phenotype and HTLV-1 as a cause of acute T-cell lymphoma/leukemia has been well documented. We investigated the clinicopathologic findings, immunophenotypic profile, and status of EBV and HTLV-1 DNA of patients with H & N lymphoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with NHL of H & N region were studied. There were 15 males and 12 females with the median age of 50 years. All patients were reclassified according to the Working formulation (WF) and REAL classificaton. EBV genome DNA and HTLV-1 RNA were surveyed by PCR assay using formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue blocks. RESULTS: The tonsil was the most commonly involved site (44.4%), followed by nasal cavity (18.5%), nasopharynx (18.5%) and orbit (7.4%). Immunophenotyping revealed 19 cases of B cell lineage, 7 cases of T cell lineage and one case of null cell type. Most of B-cell lymphomas were diffuse large cell lymphomas (58%). Tonsillar lymphomas were all B-cell origin. Four of the five nasal cavity lymphomas and one nasopharyngeal lymphoma showed an angiocentric T/NK cell phenotype with strong association with EBV. EBV genome was detected in 15 of 26 H & N NHLs (57.7%). Seven of 19 B-cell lymphomas (36.8%) and all T/NK or null cell type lymphomas were positive for FBV DNA. However, there was no HTLV-1 positive cases found. CONCLUSIONS: It could be concluded that the high incidence of EBV of angiocentric T/NK-cell lymphomas of the nasal cavity may indicate a probable role of EBV in the development of these lymphomas.
B-Lymphocytes ; Cell Lineage ; DNA ; Female ; Genome ; Head* ; Herpesvirus 4, Human* ; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1* ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Incidence ; Lymphocytes, Null ; Lymphoma* ; Lymphoma, B-Cell ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Male ; Nasal Cavity ; Nasopharynx ; Neck* ; Orbit ; Palatine Tonsil ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA ; T-Lymphocytes

PURPOSE: Many gene polymorphisms are associated with coronary artery abnormalities in Kawasaki disease. Catechol-O-methyltransfe rase (COMT) plays an important role in the metabolism of catecholamines, catechol estrogen, and catechol drugs. Polymorphisms of the COMT gene are reported to be associated with myocardial infarction and coronary artery abnormalities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between COMT gene polymorphisms and coronary artery abnormalities in Kawasaki disease patients. METHODS: One hundred and one Korean children with Kawasaki disease and 306 healthy Korean control subjects were enrolled in this study. The polymorphisms of the COMT gene were analyzed by direct sequencing. RESULTS: There were no differences in the genotype and allelic frequency of the rs4680 and rs769224 polymorphic sites between Kawasaki disease and control subjects. Further, no significant difference was found in the rs4680 polymorphism between patients with coronary artery abnormalities and patients without coronary artery abnormalities (codominant P=0.32, dominant P=0.74, recessive P=0.13). However, the distribution of the rs769224 polymorphism was significantly different between patie nts with coronary artery abnormalities and patients without coronary artery abnormalities (codominant P=0.0077, dominant P=0.0021, recessive P=0.16). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the polymorphisms of the rs769224 gene might be related to the development of coronary artery abnormalities in Kawasaki disease.
Catechol O-Methyltransferase ; Catecholamines ; Catechols ; Child ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Estrogens ; Genotype ; Humans ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Myocardial Infarction ; Polymorphism, Genetic

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Antibiotic resistance and compliance are regarded to be important which affect the eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). However, it is not easy to apply the antibiotic resistance test in clinical field. We investigated other clinical factors predicting the successful eradication of H. pylori. METHODS: From January 2004 to March 2005, 195 patients with documented H. pylori infection received proton pump inhibitor (PPI)-based triple therapy for one week and were assessed for the underlying chronic illnesses, smoking, alcohol habit, therapeutic indication and compliance. RESULTS: The intention-to-treat (ITT) eradication rates were 69.2%, while per protocol (PP) analysis with 169 patients showed an initial eradication rate of 79.9%. The eradication rates of H. pylori according to the underlying disease were 73.9% (17/23) in diabetes, 66.7% (18/27) in hypertension, 66.7% (2/3) in renal disease, 100% (9/9) in liver disease, 63.7% (7/11) in cardiovascular disease and 64.3% (9/14) in chronic NSAIDs user. There was no statistical difference in the eradication rates according to the therapeutic indication, underlying disease, sex, age, smoking, alcohol, and PPI. However, the eradication rate was statistically lower in patients with multiple underlying diseases. Eradication rate was significantly higher in patients with good compliance than in those with poor compliance in taking medications (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Underlying chronic disease does not affect the H. pylori eradication rate significantly. In clinical practice, apart from antibiotic resistance test, drug compliance is the most important factor affecting the H. pylori eradication rate.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Helicobacter Infections/diagnosis/*drug therapy/microbiology ; *Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proton Pump Inhibitors/*therapeutic use ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of short-term use of selective progesterone receptor modulator (SPRM) or gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist on uterine fibroid shrinkage among Korean women. METHODS: This retrospective study involved 101 women with symptomatic uterine fibroids who received ulipristal acetate (SPRM, n=51) and leuprolide acetate (GnRH agonist, n=50) for 3 months between November 2013 and February 2015. The fibroid volume was measured both before and after treatment using ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging. The outcomes were compared between the SPRM and GnRH agonist groups. RESULTS: The median rate of fibroid volume reduction after SPRM treatment was 12.4% (IQR −14.5% to 40.5%) which was significantly lower than the reduction rate observed after GnRH agonist treatment (median 34.9%, IQR 14.7% to 48.6%, P=0.004). 19 of 51 (37.3%) patients with SPRM treatment did not show any response of volume shrinkage, while 7 of 50 (14.0%) women with GnRH agonist showed no response (P=0.007). CONCLUSION: Short-term SPRM treatment yields lower volume reduction than GnRH agonist treatment in Korean women with symptomatic fibroids. Further large-scale randomized trials are needed to confirm our findings.
Female ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone* ; Humans ; Leiomyoma* ; Leuprolide ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Progesterone* ; Receptors, Progesterone* ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography