In this article, the statement of ethical statement about animal experiment was omitted.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the combination of green tea extract (GTE) and L-theanine has an anxiolytic effect by oral administration through behavioral tests and neurtransmitters (or hormone) anaylses. Four week oral administration of GTE (24 mg/kg), L-theanine (4 mg/kg) or their combination showed anxiety-reducing effects determined by increasing numbers of head-dips in a hole board test and reducing retention time in a rota-rod test without changing spontaneous locomotor activity. Biochemical analyses indicated that the test materials decreased dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), corticosterone (CS) and increased serotonin (5-HT) levels in brain cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, which suggests a possible mechanism of previous behavioral tests. Although the synergistic effects of GTE and L-theanine combination were not observed on the behavioral test, its effects on neurotransmitters (NA, CS) were synergistic and comparable to diazepam (2 mg/kg i.p.) with much less muscle relaxation side effect. Therefore, a combination of GTE and L-theanine may be useful as a functional food ingredient having an anxiolytic effect.
Administration, Oral ; Anti-Anxiety Agents ; Brain ; Corticosterone ; Diazepam ; Dopamine ; Functional Food ; Hippocampus ; Motor Activity ; Muscle Relaxation ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Norepinephrine ; Retention (Psychology) ; Serotonin ; Tea

PURPOSE: IL-10, one of the potent Th2 cytokine, has strong anti-inflammatory reaction and immunosuppression action by stabilization of polarized Th2 cell gene expression and blocking of function of antigen presenting cells. The aims of this study were to investigate the immunosuppressive effect of recombinant adenovirus mediated rat IL-10 (Ad:ratIL-10) in mouse to rat skin graft. METHODS: The transgene expression of the recombinant adenovirus was confirmed by X-gal staining of Ad:LacZ infected skin graft. The skin graft was done between mouse and rat after 1 hour infection of donated skin with Ad:ratIL-10, which was already been produced in our Institute for Medical Science. Checked gene expression in grafted skin by in situ RT-PCR and systemic blood by ELISA on day 1, 3, 5 and 7. Immunosuppressive effect of the Ad:ratIL-10 was evaluated by graft survival and compared with control group which was infected by saline. RESULTS: Transgene expression of recombinant adenovirus was peak on third day of skin graft and became disappeared on day 5 and 7. The same expression was confirmed by in situ RT-PCR of Ad:ratIL-10 infected skin graft. The systemic blood level of infected Ad:ratIL-10 checked by ELISA was undetectable but their expression checked in culture cell line of HeLa cell was 275 ng/mL on day 5. Mean grafted skin survival was 6.0 +/- 0.7 days in Ad:ratIL-10 group but statistically indistinguishable to control group of infection with saline (5.6 +/- 0.6 days, p>0.05). CONCLUSION: In summary, the Ad:ratIL-10 alone, infected in grafted skin, was peak on day 3 after graft but showed no immunosuppressive effect on mouse-to-rat skin graft.
Adenoviridae* ; Animals ; Antigen-Presenting Cells ; Cell Line ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Gene Expression ; Graft Survival ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Interleukin-10* ; Mice ; Rats* ; Skin* ; Th2 Cells ; Transgenes ; Transplants*

This prospective study was performed to determine the effective antibiotics for use in treating acute appendicitis patients during the perioperative period. To identify the sensitive antibiotics, the peritoneal fluid was cultured during operation. Also, wound infection was defined as pus or serous discharge in the wound or when we opened the wound under suspicious of a wound problem. The results were obtained as follows: 1) A total of 138 cases treated during the two years from January 1995 to December 1996 were examined; 84 of them (60.87%) were found to have positive peritoneal fluid cultures, of which 29 (34.52%) were monomicrobial and 55 (65.48%) were polymicrobial. 2) The most common species were Escherichia coli (73.81%), Bacteroides (32.14%), Klebsiella (16.67%), Pseudomonas (9.52%), and Streptococcus (9.52%). 3) In the sensitivity test, the most sensitive drugs were aminoglycosides and cefotaxime. 4) Infectious complications, which developed in 27 (19.6%) patients, were wound infection and intraabdominal abscess. 5) The average length of stay for all patients 9.9 days (range: 3 to 32 days). 6) The common organisms curtured from the complication cases were E. coli and Bacteroides.
Abscess ; Aminoglycosides ; Anti-Bacterial Agents* ; Appendicitis* ; Ascitic Fluid ; Bacteroides ; Cefotaxime ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Klebsiella ; Length of Stay ; Perioperative Period ; Prospective Studies ; Pseudomonas ; Streptococcus ; Suppuration ; Wound Infection ; Wounds and Injuries

The isolated idiopathic finger flexor tenosynovitis is a rare condition, related to diversed etiologies. The traditional treatment of flexor tenosynovitis includes medications and injection of steroids. If the conservative treatment is not effective, surgical management is usually recommended. And alcohol installations have been rarely performed. We are reporting an extremely rare case of a 56-year-old man who had chronic idiopathic isolated finger flexor tenosynovitis which was treated through alcohol injections. The patient had not yet been treated despite of medication and serial injections of steroid. We performed 1 mL of 50% ethanol injection for the initial treatment and the second injection was done in the same way 10 months later due to the improvements of the patient's clinical symptoms and images of the follow-up ultrasonography. As a result, the authors suggest alcohol installation as an alternative non-surgical treatment for flexor tenosynovitis when other conservative managements are not effective enough.
Alcohols ; Ethanol ; Fingers ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Steroids ; Tenosynovitis

Overweight and obesity are usually related with high fat and calorie intake, and seriously causative of lifestyle-related diseases such as cardiovascular disorders, arteriosclerosis, and colon cancer. In this study, we propose a novel dietary therapy against overweight and obesity using mixtures of protamine and chitooligosaccharide (COS), which are known to interrupt the lipid metabolism in the body. Protamine is a dietary protein originated from salmon reproductive organ, and COS is an oligosaccharide made from chitin or chitosan by chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis. In the enzyme activity analysis in vitro, protamine and COS strongly suppressed the activity of pancreatic lipase, which is the primary enzyme for the digestion and absorption of lipids in the intestine. In in vivo animal test, the mixtures of protamine and COS significantly reduced the serum levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (T-CHO), and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDLC) and inhibited the accumulation of lipids in liver tissue of Sprague Dawley (SD) rats fed high fat diets. On the other hand, they increased fecal TG and T-CHO contents. From these alterations in lipid metabolism, we verified that protamine and COS mixtures could effectively interrupt the digestion and absorption of dietary lipids in the body by inhibiting pancreatic lipase activity. In addition, protamine and COS mixtures increased the serum level of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDLC), responsible for removing cholesterol from cells and protecting atherosclerosis, and therefore decreased the potential risks of cardiovascular diseases by lowering values of the atherogenic index (AI) and cardiac risk factor (CRF). Taken together, we suggest protamine and COS mixtures as a prominent dietary therapy for the prevention of overweight, obesity, and further cardiovascular diseases related with hyperlipidemia.
Absorption ; Animals ; Arteriosclerosis ; Atherosclerosis ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Chitin ; Chitosan ; Cholesterol ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Diet, High-Fat ; Dietary Proteins ; Digestion ; Hand ; Hydrolysis ; Hyperlipidemias ; Intestines ; Lipase ; Lipid Metabolism ; Liver ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Rats ; Risk Factors ; Salmon

In this study, the effects of a mixture consisting of vitamin E, vitamin C, pycnogenol and evening primrose oil (mixture LGNC-5) on ultraviolet light (UV) induced pigmentation and wrinkle reductions of normal healthy volunteers were studied. In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, each of 54 subjects took daily either 4 capsules of the mixture LGNC-5 (Group ABC; 282.5 mg/capsule) or placebo (Group Ganada). We irradiated 2.5 MED UV on the upper arms and measured the whitening effect by colorimeter-based L value. The level of wrinkle reduction was determined by image analysis using skin replica around the crow' feet, and the level of serum vitamin E was determined at baseline and 12 weeks. After 12-week oral administration, the treated group showed a significant reduction in skin pigmentation and wrinkles compared with the placebo group (p = 0.011 and p = 0.000005 , respectively). Also, the level of serum vitamin E was significantly increased in the treated group after 12-week oral adminstration of the mixture compared with that in the placebo group (p = 0.0001). In conclusion, 12-week oral administration of LGNC-5 as a dietary supplement could be effective to reduce both UV induced pigmentation and skin wrinkle without side effects.
Administration, Oral ; Arm ; Ascorbic Acid ; Capsules ; Dietary Supplements ; Flavonoids ; Foot ; gamma-Linolenic Acid ; Humans ; Linoleic Acids ; Oenothera biennis ; Pigmentation ; Plant Oils ; Skin ; Skin Pigmentation ; Ultraviolet Rays ; Vitamin E ; Vitamins

Coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG) without cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB) is now an accepted technique of myocardial revascularization in selective cases of coronary arterial occlusive disease. The lesion was total(100%) occlusion of proximal right coronary artery (RCA) without any evidence of disease in the rest of coronary arteries. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty(PTCA) was tried but unsuccessful. We herein report a case of successful CABG to right coronary artery without CPB on a patient with complete occlusion of RCA and symptomatic with minimal activity.
Arterial Occlusive Diseases ; Coronary Artery Bypass* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Humans ; Myocardial Revascularization ; Surgical Procedures, Minimally Invasive

Neural progenitor cells (NPs) have shown several promising benefits for the treatment of neurological disorders. To evaluate the therapeutic potential of human neural progenitor cells (hNPs) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we transplanted hNPs or growth factor (GF)-expressing hNPs into the central nervous system (CNS) of mutant Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD(1G93A)) transgenic mice. The hNPs were engineered to express brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), VEGF, neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), or glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), respectively, by adenoviral vector and GDNF by lentiviral vector before transplantation. Donor-derived cells engrafted and migrated into the spinal cord or brain of ALS mice and differentiated into neurons, oligodendrocytes, or glutamate transporter-1 (GLT1)-expressing astrocytes while some cells retained immature markers. Transplantation of GDNF- or IGF-1-expressing hNPs attenuated the loss of motor neurons and induced trophic changes in motor neurons of the spinal cord. However, improvement in motor performance and extension of lifespan were not observed in all hNP transplantation groups compared to vehicle-injected controls. Moreover, the lifespan of GDNF-expressing hNP recipient mice by lentiviral vector was shortened compared to controls, which was largely due to the decreased survival times of female animals. These results imply that although implanted hNPs differentiate into GLT1-expressing astrocytes and secrete GFs, which maintain dying motor neurons, inadequate trophic support could be harmful and there is sexual dimorphism in response to GDNF delivery in ALS mice. Therefore, additional therapeutic approaches may be required for full functional recovery.
Adenoviridae/genetics ; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/metabolism/mortality/*therapy ; Animals ; Astrocytes/metabolism ; Brain/*embryology ; Cell Differentiation ; Disease Models, Animal ; Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 2/metabolism ; Female ; Fetal Stem Cells/*metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic ; Motor Neurons/*physiology ; Nerve Growth Factors/*metabolism ; *Stem Cell Transplantation ; Superoxide Dismutase/genetics ; Transfection ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/genetics/metabolism

BACKGROUND: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is not eradicated from a host after a primary infection and persists in a latent form. When the immunological condition of the host is compromised, the virus can be reactivated and cause serious disease. Given that the prevalence of anti-HCMV IgG antibody positivity is over 95% in Korean adult population, the transplant recipients in Korea are likely to be a high risk of developing HCMV infection and diseases. METHODS: Fourteen bone marrow recipients, 44 kidney transplant recipients and 4 liver transplant recipients were evaluated for excretion of HCMV. Urine and blood were cultured by conventional method at the time of transplantation and at regular intervals thereafter. To evaluate sensitivity and specificity of shell vial assay for detecting HCMV, the specimens from 41 transplant recipients were cultured by using both shell vial assay and conventional virus culture. RESULTS: The frequency of HCMV infection was 50%(7/14) in allogeneic bone marrow (BM) recipients, 36%(16/44) in kidney recipients and 25%(1/4) in liver transplant recipients. HCMV diseases were observed in only 3 cases; 3 BM recipients developed interstitial pneumonitis. Sensitivity and specificity of shell vial assay for the detection of HCMV was 50%(3/6) and 91%(32/35), respectively. CONCLUSION: HCMV infections in organ transplant recipients were relatively common in Korea. HCMV started to be excreted in urine about 1 month after transplantation and were found in 33-50% of all recipients later on. Sensitivity of shell vial assay was so low that it needs to be complemented with other diagnostic methods.
Adult ; Bone Marrow ; Complement System Proteins ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Humans* ; Immunoglobulin G ; Kidney ; Korea ; Liver ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial ; Prevalence ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Transplantation ; Transplants*