No abstract available.
Lymphangioma, Cystic* ; Turner Syndrome* ; Ultrasonography*

No abstract available.
Membranes* ; Pregnancy* ; Rupture*

OBJECTIVE: Symptomatic disc degeneration develops from inflammatory reactions in the annulus fibrosus (AF). Although inflammatory mediators during annular inflammation have been studied, the roles of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we evaluated the production of MMPs and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMPs) during annular inflammation using an in vitro co-culture system. We also examined the effect of notochordal cells on annular inflammation. METHODS: Human AF (hAF) pellet was co-cultured for 48 hours with phorbol myristate acetate-stimulated macrophage-like THP-1 cells. hAF pellet and conditioned media (CM) from co-cultured cells were assayed for MMPs, TIMPs, and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 levels using real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and enzyem-linked immunosorbent assay. To evaluate whether notochordal cells affected MMPs or TIMPs production on annular inflammation, hAF co-cultured with notochordal cells from adult New Zealand White rabbits, were assayed. RESULTS: MMP-1, -3, -9; and TIMP-1 levels were significantly increased in CM of hAF co-cultured with macrophage-like cells compared with hAF alone, whereas TIMP-2 and IGF-1 levels were significantly decreased (p<0.05). After macrophage exposure, hAF produced significantly more MMP-1 and -3 and less TIMP-1 and -2. Interleukin-1beta stimulation enhanced MMP-1 and -3 levels, and significantly diminished TIMP-2 levels. Co-culturing with rabbit notochordal cells did not significantly influence MMPs and TIMPs production or COL1A2 gene expression. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that macrophage-like cells evoke annular degeneration through the regulation of major degradative enzymes and their inhibitors, produced by hAF, suggesting that the selective regulation of these enzymes provides future targets for symptomatic disc degeneration therapy.
Adult ; Coculture Techniques ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Inflammation* ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Interleukin-1beta ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration* ; Macrophages ; Matrix Metalloproteinases ; Myristic Acid ; Notochord ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rabbits ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-2

Pulmonary function tests were conducted in 60 male adults and 60 female adults at 20~79 years of age. They showed noevidenee of pulmonary disease on clinical symptoms, X-ray finidngs and past history. We wanted to evaluate the deterioration of pulmonary functional reserve in the aged. The results were as follows: 1) In males, FVC decreased significantly (p <0.01) from 4440+/-271.38 ml in 20~29 year-old subjects to 3090+/-445.75 ml 70~79 year-old subjects. The correlation coefficient with age was-0.6846. 2) In females, FVC decreased significantly (p<0.01) from 2097+/-479.42ml in 20~29 year-old subjects to 2142+/-233.13ml in 70~79 year-old subjects The correlation coefficient woth age was 0.6454. 3) In males, FEV, decreased significantly (p<0.01) from 4005+/-268.26 ml in 20~29 year-old subjects to 2373+/-326.36ml in 10~79 year-old subjects. The correlation coefficient with age was-0.8229. 4) In females, FEV1 decreased significantly (p<0.01) from 2586+/-519.00 ml in 20~29 yrar-old subjects to 1645+/-330.36ml in 70~79 year old subjects The correlation coefficient with age was 0.7013. 5) In males, FEV1/FVC decreased significantly (p<0.01) from 90.17+/-4.90% in 20~29 year-old subjects to 76.72+/-8.13% in 70~79 year-old subjects. The correlation coefficient with age was-0.5595. 6) In females, FEV1/FVC decreased significantly (p<0.01) from 88.66+/-6.58% in 20-29 year-old subjects to 76.80+/-9.32% in 70~79 year-old subjects. The correlation coefficient with age wae-0.4489.
Adult* ; Aging* ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Diseases ; Male ; Respiratory Function Tests

BACKGROUND: The tumor suppressor gene p53 is one of the most frequently altered genes in human tumors, including those of the lung. There is now a compelling evidence that wild-type p53 can negatively influence cell growth by causing G1 arrest or by inducing apoptosis. The possibilities of using p53 for gene therapy are also gathering much interest. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Our approach towards understanding p53 function would be to study the biological consequences of overexpression of wild-type p53 in normal and tumor cells by using adenovirus vectors capable of giving high levels of the p53 gene product in cells. We have used this vector containing wild-type p53 to infect tumor cells with different p53 status (null, mutant, or wild-type) to confirm that expression of p53 in null or mutant cell lines becomes possible by Adenovirus-p53 transduction, to examine the effects of high levels of p53 expression on the growth properties of tumor cells, to evaluate the role of apoptosis in p53-mediated biological effects, and to examine the effect of Adenovirus-p53 on the tumorigenicities of the lung cancer cell lines in vitro. RESULT: The results of our study showed that cells expressing endogenous mutant p53 and those devoid of p53 expression altogether were significantly more sensitive to Adenovirus-p53-mediated cytotoxicity compared to tumor cells expressing endogenous wild-type p53 and that overexpression of wild-type p53 induced programmed cell death. Also we knew that Adenovirus-p53 significantly reduced tumor colony formation of human non-small cell lung cancer cell lines, and decreased the growth of preformed colonies in vitro. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that adenovirus is an efficient vector for mediating transfer and expression of tumor suppressor genes in human non-small cell lung cancer cells and that the tumor cells null for p53 or expressing mutant p53 readily undergo apoptosis by Adenovirus-p53.
Adenoviridae ; Apoptosis ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Cell Death ; Cell Line* ; Genes, p53 ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Genetic Therapy ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Negotiating

Macrodactyly is one of the most difficult congenital anomalies to treat. Treatment of macrodactyly requires surgical intervention because it gives rise to esthetic, social, and functional disability including difficulty in wearing shoes. A myriad of surgical techniques has been introduced to reduce the size of macrodactyly. However, treatment of toe macrodactyly has not been spotlighted due to less significant functional and social issues compared with finger macrodactyly. We treated two patients with toe macrodactyly by single stage reduction operation.
Fingers ; Humans ; Shoes ; Toes*

OBJECTIVE: Notochordal cells in the intervertebral disc interact with nucleus pulposus (NP) cells and support the maintenance of disc homeostasis by regulation of matrix production. However, the influence of notochordal cells has not been evaluated in the annulus fibrosus (AF), which is the primary pain generator in the disc. We hypothesized that the notochordal cell has the capacity to modulate inflammatory mediators secreted by AF cells secondary to stimulation. METHODS: Notochordal and AF cells were isolated from adult New Zealand white rabbits. AF pellets were cultured with notochordal cell clusters or in notochordal cell-conditioned media (NCCM) for 24 or 48 hours with proinflammatory cytokines at varying concentrations. Gene expression in AF pellets were assayed for nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclo-oxygenase (COX)-2, and interleukin (IL)-6 by real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: AF pellet in NCCM significantly decreased the iNOS and COX-2 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels compared to AF pellets alone and AF pellets with notochordal cells (p < 0.05). AF pellet resulted in dose-dependent iNOS and COX-2 expression in response to IL-1beta, stimulation, demonstrating that 1 ng/ml for 24 hours yielded a maximal response. AF pellet in NCCM significantly decreased the expression of iNOS and COX-2 in response to 1ng/ml IL-1beta, stimulation at 24 hours (p < 0.05). There was no difference in IL-6 expression compared to AF pellets alone or AF pellets with notochordal cell clusters. CONCLUSION: We conclude that soluble factors from notochordal cells mitigate the gene expression of inflammatory mediators in stimulated AF, as expected after annular injury, suggesting that notochordal cells could serve as a novel therapeutic approach in symptomatic disc development.
Adult ; Cytokines ; Gene Expression ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; Interleukins ; Intervertebral Disc ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; Notochord ; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases ; Rabbits ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA

OBJECTIVE: Hemangiopericytoma is known as a malignant tumor originating from pericytes and rarely occurs in the central nervous system. We present 6 cases of pathologically confirmed meningeal hemangiopericytoma. METHODS: Retrospective study was done based on patient's recordings including radiological studies. Each case of tumors was treated surgically and postoperative radiotherapy was done. RESULTS: There were 5 cases of intracranial and 1 case of spinal hemangiopericytomas. Three of 5 intracranial hemangiopericytomas were located at tentorial region. Total tumor removal was done in 4 cases and postoperative local recurrence (or regrowth) was noted in 3 cases despite of postoperative external radiation therapy, 2 of which had died. CONCLUSION: Our cases show more frequent tentorial locations and poor clinical outcomes of hemangiopericytomas compared with meningiomas.
Central Nervous System ; Hemangiopericytoma* ; Meningioma ; Pericytes ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: Conventional visual assessment of coronary arteriogram is fraught with large interobserver variance and disagreement with pathologic findings. Thus quantitative coronary angiography had been recently developed to meet the requirement of more reproducible measurement of severity of coronary artery disease. This study was designed to evaluate the interobserver variability of quantitative coronary angiography and its usefulness in clinical application. METHODS: Three independent observers analysed coronary angiogram of 31 consecutive patients by visual assessment and quantitative measurement using computer based algorithm. RESULTS: 1) There was considerable disagreement between 3 observers in the identification of significant coronary stenosis. Complete agreement was achieved in only 29/61 (47%) coronary lesion and agreement of more than 2 observers in 41/61(67%) lesion. 2) In visual assessment, the largest interobserver variance was found in acute marginal artery and distal circumflex artery, whereas the least variance was observed in proximal right coronary artery. 3) The average interobserver variance was 13.1% in visual assessment, 14.9% in geometric analysis, and 10.5% in video densitometric analysis. There was no significant difference between these values. 4) Visual assessment was noted to overestimate the severity of stenotic lesion, by 5.6% compared to geometric analysis and by 11.8% compared to video-densitometric analysis. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that identifying significant lesion is major source of interobserve variability in both visual and quantitative analysis of coronary arteriogram. In addition, suboptimal image quality was responsible for the inability of quantitative analysis to reduce the variance. These factors seem to be major limitation of quantitative coronary arterirogam.
Arteries ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Stenosis ; Coronary Vessels ; Humans ; Observer Variation*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate analgesic benefit, patient satisfaction, range of motion and grip power of the patients after partial wrist denervation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 12 patients with chronic wrist pain treated with partial denervation. Mean age of the patients was 65 years. The leading cause of the pain was Kienbock's disease (7 cases). Berger's partial denervation technique was used, in which distal branches of the anterior and posterior interosseous nerve were resected through dorsal longitudinal incision. We recorded visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, and range of motion and grip power for functional evaluation. RESULTS: Preoperative VAS for pain decreased from a mean of 6.1 to 1.5 during early postoperative period and 2.3 at the final follow-up (p<0.01). Flexion-extension and grip power improved significantly after surgery. All the patients could return to their daily activity. Ten patients (83%) showed satisfaction. CONCLUSION: It seems that partial denervation for chronic pain of the wrist is an easy technique that can provide satisfactory pain relief with preserving the wrist motion.
Chronic Pain ; Denervation ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Osteonecrosis ; Patient Satisfaction ; Postoperative Period ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Retrospective Studies ; Wrist