A recent study has proposed that dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) increases the number of HL-60 cells in high cell density conditions by inhibiting cell density-dependent apoptosis. We observed that dimethylformamide (DMF), a DMSO-related polar compound, also increased the concentration of HL-60 cells. The effective dose range of DMSO and DMF was 0.5-1% and 0.2-0.6% respectively. DMF, like DMSO, inhibited density-dependent apoptosis of HL-60 cells. The flow cytometric PKH26 cell proliferation assay showed DMSO and DMF actively increased cell division. However, the difference in the distribution of cell cycle phase was not noted between the control and the DMSO- or DMF-treated HL-60 cultures. Finally, DMSO and DMF stimulated HL-60 growth even in low density conditions. These results suggest that DMSO and OMF at appropriate concentrations increase the number of HL-60 cells by both apoptosis inhibition and cell division augmentation.
Apoptosis ; Cell Count ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Division ; Cell Proliferation ; Dimethyl Sulfoxide* ; Dimethylformamide* ; HL-60 Cells* ; Humans*

PURPOSES: This study examined the relationship between risk behaviors and sexual knowledge, sexual attitudes, and sexual experiences of male high school students. METHOD: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted. Data were collected from 2 male high schools in metropolitan Gwangju. Five hundred forty-eight boys were enrolled in this study. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, t-test or ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The mean sexual knowledge and sexual experience scores were relatively low, 0.60 out of 1 point, and 0.75 out of 4 points, respectively. Three attitude types of the students were identified: permissible, conservative and pleasure seeking attitude. The score of the permissible type was affected by the subjects' exposure to pornographic material. The score of the conservative type was affected by alcohol consumption and acquaintances with a heterosexual friend. The score of the pleasure seeking type was affected by their exposure to pornographic material, alcohol consumption, smoking, going to a video-room, and acquaintances with a heterosexual friend. There was a negative correlation between the permissible type and sexual knowledge, and a positive correlation between the conservative and pleasure seeking types and sexual experience. CONCLUSION: Male high school students who have been exposed to risk behaviors have a higher likelihood of indulging in sexual activity, and the pleasure seeking type appears to be related to sexual experience. An educational program may be needed to prevent risky behaviors and sexual experiences in male high school students considering their sexual attitude type.
Alcohol Drinking ; Friends ; Gwangju ; Heterosexuality ; Humans ; Male* ; Pleasure ; Risk-Taking* ; Sexual Behavior ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Statistics as Topic

After advent of lymphangiographic technique, the causes of chyluria can be evaluated by lymphangiography. Themost common etiology known until today is parasitic origin, expecially filariasis. In Korea, established organismof filariasis is Brugia malayi. And other nonparasitic etiologies such as retroperitoneal malignancy, chronicinflammatory diseases, trauma, pregnancy, aneurysm are very rare. The authors experienced two cases oflymphatico-calyceal fistulas causing chyluria demostrated by lymphangiography. The etiology of these two caseswere unknown exactly, but the clinical diagnosis were filariasis. These cases are reported with emphasis on thelymphangiographic findings of chyluria.
Aneurysm ; Brugia malayi ; Diagnosis ; Filariasis ; Fistula ; Korea ; Lymphography ; Pregnancy

PURPOSE: To describe the two-phase spiral CT findings of acute cholecystitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CTscans of nine patients with surgically-proven acute cholecystitis were retrospectively reviewed for wallthickening, enhancement pattern of the wall, attenuation of the liver adjacent to the gallbladder, gallstones,gallbladder distention, gas collection within the gallbladder, pericholecystic fluid and infiltration ofpericholecystic fat. RESULT: In all cases, wall thickening of the gallbladder was seen, though this was moredistinct on delayed images, Using high-low-high attenuation, one layer was seen in five cases, nd three layers infour. On arterial images, eight cases showed transient focal increased attenuation of the liver adjacent to thegall bladder;four of these showed curvilinear attenuation and four showed subsegmental attenuation. One caseshowed curvilinear decreased attenuation between increased attenuation of the liver and the gallbladder, andduring surgery, severe adhesion between the liver and gallbladder was confirmed. Additional CT findings wereinfiltration of pericholecystic fat (n=9), gallstones (n=7), gallbladder distension (n=6), pericholecystic fluid(n=3), and gas collection within the gallbladder (n=2). CONCLUSION: In patients with acute cholecystisis,two-phase spiral CT revealed wall thickening in one or three layers ; on delayed images this was more distint. Inmany cases, arterial images showed transient focal increased attenuation of the liver adjacent to the gallbladder.
Cholecystitis, Acute* ; Gallbladder ; Gallstones ; Humans ; Liver ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Spiral Computed*

OBJECTIVE: To translate the MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) which is a self-administered questionnaire that assesses effect of dysphagia on the quality of life for patients with head and neck cancer, into Korean and to verify the validity and reliability of the Korean version of MDADI. METHODS: We performed 6 steps for the cross-cultural adaptation which consisted of translation, synthesis, back translation, review by an expert committee, cognitive debriefing, and final proof reading. A total of 34 dysphagia patients with head and neck cancers from Seoul National University Hospital answered the translated version of the questionnaire for the pre-testing. The patients answered the same questionnaire 2 weeks later to verify the test-retest reliability. RESULTS: One patient was excluded at second survey because he changed his feeding strategy. Overall, 33 patients completed the study. Linguistic validations were achieved by each step of cross-cultural adaptation. We gathered statistically strong construct validity (Spearman rho for subdomain scores to total score correlation range from 0.852 to 0.927), internal consistency for subdomains (Cronbach's alpha coefficients range from 0.785 to 0.889) and test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient range from 0.820 to 0.955) CONCLUSION: The Korean version of the MDADI achieved linguistic validations and demonstrated good construct validity and reliability. It can be a useful tool for screening and treatment planning for the dysphagia of patients with head and neck cancers.
Deglutition Disorders ; Head ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Humans ; Linguistics ; Mass Screening ; Neck ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Hypertension, Renovascular*

PURPOSE: To investigate the growth inhibitory effects, and the underlying mechanism of human colon cancer cell (HT-29) death, induced by a new synthetic bile acid derivative (HS-1200). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human colon cancer cells (HT-29), in exponential growth phase, were treated with various concentrations of a new synthetic bile acid derivative (HS-1200). The growth inhibitory effects on HT-29 cells were examined using a trypan blue exclusion assay. The extent of apoptosis was determined using agarose gel electrophoresis, TUNEL assays and Hoechst staining. The apoptotic cell death was also confirmed by Western blotting of PARP, caspase-3 and DNA fragmentation factor (DFF) analysis. To investigate the involvement of mitochondria, we employed immunofluorescent staining of cytochrome c and mitochondrial membrane potential analyses. RESULTS: The dose required for the half maximal inhibition (IC50) of the HT-29 cell growth was 100~150 micro M of HS-1200. Several changes, associated with the apoptosis of the HT-29 cells, were reveal by the agarose gel eletrophoresis, TUNEL assays and Hoechst staining, following their treatment with 100 micro M of HS-1200. HS-1200 treatment also induced caspase-3, PARP and DFF degradations, and the western blotting showed the processed caspase-3 p20, PARP p85 and DFF p30 and p11 cleaved products. Mitochondrial events were also demonstrated. The cytochrome c staining indicated that cytochrome c had been released from the mitochondria in the HS-1200 treated cells. The mitochondrial membrane potential (deltaxm) was also prominently decreased in the HS-1200 treated cells. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the HS-1200 - induced apoptosis of human colon cancer cells (HT-29) is mediated via caspase and mitochondrial pathways.
Apoptosis* ; Bile ; Bile Acids and Salts ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Death ; Colon* ; Colonic Neoplasms* ; Cytochromes c ; DNA Fragmentation ; Electrophoresis, Agar Gel ; HT29 Cells ; Humans* ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Mitochondria ; Sepharose ; Trypan Blue

BACKGROUND: Reperfusion of ischemic myocardium has been postulated to result in a specific oxygen radical mediated tissue injury. Iron may liberate during ischemia and we hypothesized that administration of the iron chelator, deferoxamine during ischemia would result in improved recovery after postischemic reperfusion. PURPOSE: To test whether iron-catalyzed processes contribute to myocardial necrosis during ischemia and reperfusion, deferoxamine was administered to block iron catalyzed hydroxyl radical formation in rabbits. METHODS: Eleven rabbits were divided into two groups: control group (n=5) and deferoxamine pretreatment group (n=6). the left circumflex coronay artery was ligated for 30 minutes and reperfused for 180 minutes. Area at risk (AR) was measured by non-stained area with ethylene blue injection into left atrium after left circumflex coronary artery ligation. Infarct size was measured by weighing after tripheyltetrazolium chloride staining. Heart rate was measured using electrocardiographic recording and systemic blood pressure was monitored by pressure transducer connected to the catheter in the left ventricle. RESULTS: 1. There was no significant difference of heart rate and blood pressure in deferoxamine pretreatment group compared with control group. 2. There was significant decrease of serum iron concentration after continuous infusion of deferoxamine compared with serum iron concentration before ligation of coronary artery (P<0.05). 3. There was no significant difference of area at risk between control and deferoxamine pretreatment group. 4. Area at necrosis to area at risk was significantly reduced in deferoxamine pretreatment group compared with control group (P<0.05) The results suggest that deferoxamine infusion prior to coronary artery occlusion has a significant benefit in reducing infarct size in this model.
Arteries ; Blood Pressure ; Catheters ; Coronary Vessels ; Deferoxamine* ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Atria ; Heart Rate ; Heart Ventricles ; Hydroxyl Radical ; Iron ; Ischemia ; Ligation ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Myocardium ; Necrosis ; Oxygen ; Rabbits ; Reperfusion ; Transducers, Pressure

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Endoscopic sclerotherapy is an accepted treatment for the patients with esogeal variceal bleeding, but endoscopic varicea1 band ligation, introduced by Stiegmann et al in 1986, is a new form of endoscopic treatment method, and may be safer. This study is performed to compare the effectiveness and safety of the two techniques. METHODS: We compared endoscopic sclerotherapy and endoscopic ligation in 10~8 patients who had recently bled from esophageal varices. We assessed the hemostatic efficacy for bleeding varices, the number of sessions of treatments needed to eradicate varices, the incidence of complications, rebleeding rate and survival rate of the patients by two techniques. RESULTS: Active bleeding was well controlled by sclerotherapy in all of six patients, and ligation in all of five patients by the initial treatment. The mean number of treatment sessions required to achieve eradication did not significantly differ between sclerotherapy and ligation(2.4+0.8 vs 1.8+ 1.0 sessions). Complications were less comman in ligation than sclerotherapy; chest discomfort(5.6% vs 29.6%), fever(3,7% vs 16.7%), esophageal ulcer(0% vs 5.6%), esophageal stricture(0% vs 3.7%). The rate of recurrent bleeding was significantly lower in the patients treated with ligation(p<0.05). The overall rate of survival was significantly higher in the patients treated with ligation(p<0.05), The days of hospitalization was significantly shorter in the patients treated with ligation than sclerotherapy(14.8+-7.0 vs 21.0+-9.7 days). CONCLUSIONS: The patients with esophageal variceal bleeding treated with endoscopic ligation have fewer treatment-related complications, lower rates of rebleeding and better survival rates.
Esophageal and Gastric Varices* ; Esophagus* ; Hemorrhage ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intestines* ; Ligation* ; Sclerotherapy* ; Stomach* ; Survival Rate ; Thorax ; Varicose Veins

Purpose: Although both chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are considered factors increasing the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), their impact on CRC is not fully understood. This study was aimed to investigate the impact of CKD, DM, or both diseases on the risk of CRC and to evaluate sex differences therein. Materials and Methods: Using data from the National Health Insurance Service–Health Examination Cohort in Korea, we conducted a 1:2 matched case-control study. The disease groups consisted of CKD-/DM+ (n=17700), CKD+/DM- (n=22643), and CKD+/DM+ groups (n=8506). After 1:2 matching by age, sex, and health examination year and month, the healthy control group consisted of 97698 individuals. Results: Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the CKD-/DM+, CKD+/DM-, and CKD+/DM+ groups were independently associated with an increased incidence of CRC, compared with controls [hazard ratio (HR), 1.34, 1.31, and 1.63, respectively; all p<0.001]. Compared to the controls, adjusted HRs for the cumulative incidence of CRC in the CKD-/DM+, CKD+/DM-, and CKD+/DM+ groups were, respectively, 1.32, 1.26, and 1.43 in male and 1.38, 1.39, and 2.00 in female. The HR for CRC incidence was significantly higher for the CKD+/DM+ group than for the CKD-/DM+ or CKD+/DM- group in female; however, this significant difference was not observed in male. Conclusion In female, having both CKD and DM significantly increases the risk of CRC, compared with having CKD or DM alone. This study suggests a significant difference in the effect of CKD or DM on the risk of CRC according to sex.