After the intraperitoneal injections of alloxan, carbon tetrachloride, cortisone acetate, adrenocorticotrophic hormone, morphine hydrochloride, toluidin blue, physiological saline solution, distilled water, and direct stimulation with electronic current, the peritoneal mast cells of the rat were observed in order to document and study the cytomorphic changes. Adult Sprague-Dawley strain albion rats were used. The substances tested were dissolved in physiological saline solution and injected into the abdominal cavity. Three to twenty four hours later the rats were sacrificed and the morphological changes of the peritoneal mast cells were observed by means of phase contrast microscopy and ordinary light microscopy. Cytomorphic effects of alloxan on the mast cells were comparatively marked and those effects of CC14, cortisone, ACTH, morphine-HCI, and physiological saline solution were slight and similar to each other. But the distructive effects of toluidin blue, distilled water, and electronic stimulation on the mast cells were severe and noticeable in this study. These results indicate that the intraperitmeal mast cells of rats show more sensitive reactions to a metabolic poisn alloxan, a low osmotic pressured-material distilled water, and a histamine liberator toluidin blue, and a physical stimulus electronic stimulation than the other similar chemical agents.
Animal ; Electric Stimulation* ; Hormones/pharmacology* ; Mast Cells/cytology* ; Mast Cells/drug effects* ; Rats

OBJECTIVE: Previous classification systems for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) were based on the number of joints involved and did not categorize homogenous disease entities. Therefore, JIA patients were reclassified retrospectively by applying rheumatoid factor (RF) and antinuclear antibody (ANA), which have been proven to constitute a homogenous disease entity. METHODS: The medical records of JIA patients were investigated retrospectively and reclassified into six categories using the new provisional classification. The nomenclature was based on Dr. Martini's proposal in the 23rd European Paediatric Rheumatology Congress (2016) at Genoa, Italy. New categories included systemic JIA (sJIA), RF-positive JIA (RF-JIA), early-onset ANA-positive JIA (eoANA-JIA), enthesitis/spondylitis-related JIA (ESR-JIA), “other JIA”, and “unclassified JIA”. RESULTS: Of a total of 262 JIA patients, 71 (27.1%) were reclassified as sJIA, 31 (11.8%) as RF-JIA, 22 (8.4%) as eoANA-JIA, 63 (24.0%) as ESR-JIA, 65 (24.8%) as “other JIA”, and 10 (3.8%) as “unclassified JIA”. A comparison of RF-JIA, eoANA-JIA, and ESR-JIA revealed significant differences in the gender ratio, age of disease onset, and the cumulative number and type of joints involved among the three groups. “Other JIA” comprised a significant proportion (24.8%) and warrants the need for further classification. The characteristics of the RF-positive patients were comparable to those of the anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody-positive patients. The ANA positivity was lower (28.2%) than that in Western studies but showed similar clinical features. CONCLUSION: This is the first study applying RF and ANA to classify JIA without considering the joint counts. The six new categories include sJIA, RF-JIA, eoANA-JIA, ESR-JIA, “other JIA,” and “unclassified JIA”.
Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Arthritis, Juvenile ; Classification ; Humans ; Italy ; Joints ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Rheumatology

No abstract available.
Antiemetics* ; Drug Therapy, Combination* ; Humans ; Ondansetron*

BACKGROUND: Continuous arterial blood pressure monitoring is a highly effective method in an operation and the intensive care unit. However, the accuracy of the monitoring system could be influenced by the radius and longitude of the catheter. This study was executed to examine the effects of the radius and longitude of a catheter. METHODS: Forty-two pediatric patients scheduled to undergo open heart surgery were selected. After induction of anesthesia, the radial artery pressure was measured by a 22-gauge (1 inch) catheter and the femoral artery pressure was measured by a 20-gauge (1.16 inch) catheter, 22-gauge catheter and 20-gauge (12 cm) catheter in succession. Influences of the radius and longitude were analysed respectively. All values are expressed as mean +/- SD and analysed using the paired t-test; P < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The systolic pressure of the 20-gauge (1.16 inch) catheter was higher than that of the 22- gauge (1 inch) catheter. The systolic pressure of the 20-gauge (1.16 inch) catheter was higher than that of the 20-gauge (12 cm) catheter. Mean and diastolic pressures were low in the 20-gauge (1.16 inch) catheter, compared with the 20-gauge (12 cm) catheter. CONCLUSIONS: Shorter and/or larger radius catheters could increase the pulse pressure in pediatric patients.
Anesthesia ; Arterial Pressure* ; Blood Pressure ; Catheters* ; Femoral Artery ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Radial Artery ; Radius* ; Thoracic Surgery

OBJECTIVES: Titanium dioxide (TiO2), a common nanoparticle widely used in industrial production, is one of nano-sized materials. The purpose of this study was to determine the acute and chronic toxicity of TiO2 using different size and various concentrations on Daphnia magna. METHODS: In the acute toxicity test, four concentrations (0, 0.5, 4, and 8 mM) for TiO2 with 250 or 500 nm and five concentrations (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 mM) for TiO2 with 21 nm were selected to analyze the toxic effect to three groups of ten daphnia neonates over 96 hours. In addition, to better understand their toxicity, chronic toxicity was examined over 21 days using 0, 1, and 10 mM for each type of TiO2. RESULTS: Our results showed that all organisms died before the reproduction time at a concentration of 10 mM of TiO2. In addition, the exposure of anatase (21 nm) particles were more toxic to D. magna, comparing with that of anatase (250 nm) and rutile (500 nm) particles. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that TiO2 had adverse impacts on the survival, growth and reproduction of D. magna after the 21days exposure. In addition, the number of test organisms that were able to reproduce neonates gradually were reduced as the size of TiO2 tested was decreased.
Daphnia ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Nanoparticles ; Reproduction ; Titanium ; Toxicity Tests, Acute

OBJECTIVE: To compare COH characteristics and IVF outcomes among IVF-ET patients who were treated with various therapeutic modalities for ovarian endometriomas and to propose effective pre-cyclic therapeutic modalities to improve IVF-ET outcomes in the patients with ovarian endometriomas. METHODS: All cases that had undergone IVF-ET after laparoscopy between January 1997 to August 2003 were reviewed. Forty-eight patients with tubal factor were assigned to Group I. Twenty seven, 22 and 38 patients diagnosed as severe pelvic adhesion with ovarian endometriomas by laparoscopy received only medical therapy (Group II), cyst aspiration (Group III), and sclerotherapy (Group IV), respectively. Laparoscopic cystectomy was performed in 20 patients (Group V). Resistance index was measured on day administering hCG. RESULTS: As compared with Group I, in Group II resistance index increased (p<0.05) but number of oocytes, good-quality oocyte ratio (mature and intermediate oocytes/total retrieval oocytes), fertilization rate, and embryo development rate decreased (p<0.05). In Group III fertilization rate and embryo development rate decreased (p<0.05). There was no difference between Group IV and Group I in all parameters except basal FSH which increased (p<0.05). In Group V basal FSH, and resistance increased (p<0.05) and number of oocytes and good-quality oocytes ratio decreased (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Sclerotherapy is an effective therapeutic option which can be done prior to IVF-ET cycles in the patients with ovarian endometriomas. Further studies on a large scale are necessary to confirm these data.
Cystectomy ; Embryonic Development ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Fertilization ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Oocytes ; Pregnancy ; Sclerotherapy

OBJECTIVES: There have been developed to use targeting ability for antimicrobial, anticancerous, gene therapy and cosmetics through analysis of various membrane proteins isolated from cell organelles. METHODS: It was examined about the lysosomal membrane protein extracted from lysosome isolated from HeLa cell treated by 100 ppm melanin for 24 hours in order to find associated with targeting ability to melanin using by 2-dimensional electrophoresis. RESULTS: The result showed 14 up-regulated (1.5-fold) and 13 down-regulated (2.0-fold) spots in relation to melanin exposure. CONCLUSIONS: It has been found that lysosomal membrane proteins are associated with melanin to decolorize and quantity through cellular activation of lysosome.
Electrophoresis ; Genetic Therapy ; HeLa Cells* ; Humans ; Lysosome-Associated Membrane Glycoproteins* ; Lysosomes ; Melanins* ; Membrane Proteins ; Organelles

PURPOSE: The cytotoxicity by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is mediated by inhibition of thymi- dylate synthase (TS), which is a rate-limiting enzyme for DNA synthesis. To test whether the resistance to 5-FU would be associated with cellular TS activity, we analyzed TS gene expression from human gastrointestinal cancer cell lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We established the experimental conditions for quantitating TS mRNA expression by competitive RT-PCR using mimic DNA. Based on this method, we compared TS mRNA expression between 5-FU resistant cell line and parent cell line and investigated the expression of TS mRNA following 5-FU administration in 6 human gas- trointestinal cancer cell lines. RESULTS: Competitive RT-PCR using mimic DNA seemed to be more effective than Northern blot analysis for quantitation of TS gene expression. The quantity of TS mRNA and IC50 value of 5-FU in 5-FU resistant H630 was found to be 2.5 and 10 times higher than in parent cell line, respectively. And also, we observed linear relationship between TS mRNA level and IC50 value of 5-FU (r 0.76) in 6 gastrointestinal cancer cell lines. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that overexpression of TS mRNA may play a role in the development of 5-FU resistance in human gastrointestinal malignancies
Blotting, Northern ; Cell Line ; DNA ; Drug Resistance* ; Fluorouracil* ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; Gene Expression ; Humans* ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Parents ; RNA, Messenger* ; Thymidylate Synthase*

No abstract available.
Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Fluorouracil* ; Leucovorin*

OBJECTIVES: Lysosome is the cell-organelle which is commonly used as biomonitoring tool in environmental pollution. In this study, the lysosomal proteomic of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was analyzed for utilization in the detection of toxic substances in mine water samples. METHODS: This work informs the expression of lysosomal proteomic in yeast in response with toxic chemicals, such as sodium meta-arsenite and tetracycline, for screening specific biomarkers. After that, a recombinant yeast contained this biomarker were constructed for toxic detection in pure toxic chemicals and mine water samples. RESULTS: Each chemical had an optimal dose at which the fluorescent protein intensity reached the peak. In the case of water samples, the yeast showed the response with sample 1, 3, 4, and 5; whereas there is no response with sample 2, 6, and 7. CONCLUSIONS: The recombinant yeast showed a high ability of toxic detection in response with several chemicals such as heavy metals and pharmaceuticals. In the case of mine water samples, the response varied depending on the sample content.
Environmental Monitoring ; Environmental Pollution ; Lysosomes ; Mass Screening ; Metals, Heavy ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae* ; Sodium ; Tetracycline ; Water* ; Yeasts ; Biomarkers