OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the correlation of nitric oxide (NO) concentrations in follicular fluid (FF) with the ovarian response as well as the age in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). METHODS: This study was performed in 72 cycles of whom underwent COH for in vitro fertilization at infertility clinic of Changwon Hanmaeum Hospital and Pusan National University Hospital from Aug., 2003 to Dec., 2003. Each FF was collected at the oocyte retrieval and NO concentrations in FF were assessed. We analyzed the correlation of NO concentrations in FF with the ovarian response as well as the age in women undergoing COH. RESULTS: Among 72 cycles, the clinical pregnancy rate was 37.5% (27cycles). There were no significant differences in patient's age, ampules of gonadotropins used, estradiol level on the day of hCG administration, the number of oocytes retrieved, and fertilization rate between pregnant and nonpregnant groups. However, negative correlation was found between the follicular size and NO concentrations in FF. No significant correlation was found between age and NO concentrations in FF. Comparing NO concentrations in FF between pregnant and nonpregnant women by age, NO concentrations in FF were higher at nonpregnant women, significantly those of them more than 40 years old. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that NO concentrations in FF cannot be a marker for the ovarian response, and have no correlation with all parameters of COH including patients' age with exception for the follicular size.
Adult ; Busan ; Estradiol ; Female ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Follicular Fluid* ; Gonadotropins ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Humans ; Infertility ; Nitric Oxide* ; Oocyte Retrieval ; Oocytes ; Pregnancy Rate

A 19-year-old man had a good neurologic recovery from a severe hypothermia(19 degrees C) and a prolonged coma following active infernal rewarming. From inhaling hydrocarbons, he was left unconscious on the cold floor for 24 hours. As soon as the patient was brought into the emergency medical center, he was early evaluated arid treated aggressively. ECG showed Osborn(J) wave on all leads. The temperature o( patient was increased by 2-3 degrees C per hour through active external rewarming (by heating blankets and warm bag) and active infernal rewarming (by airway rewarming, warmed IV fluids, gastrointestinal tract irrigation, and bladder irrigation). The temperature reached 36 degrees C after 6 hours. Active infernal rewarming provides rapid core rewarming with the additional benefit of circulatory support during the period of cardiac instability.
Coma ; Electrocardiography ; Emergencies ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Heating ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Hydrocarbons* ; Hypothermia* ; Inhalation ; Rewarming ; Unconsciousness* ; Urinary Bladder ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of interferential current therapy (IFT) of swing pattern frequency alteration on the RIII nociceptive reflex. METHOD: Ten healthy volunteers received IFT of both constant (100 Hz) and swing (20~100 Hz) pattern frequency. Before and after the IFT application RIII nociceptive reflex was evoked by stimulation of sural nerve and recording at biceps femoris muscle. Twenty nine patients with low back pain were treated with IFT of constant or swing pattern frequency and degrees of pain relief were evaluated by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Present Pain Intensity (PPI). RESULTS: The threshold of RIII reflex was increased immediately after both constant and swing frequency, but the increased threshold was lasted for 15 minutes only after swing pattern frequency alteration. Pain relieving effect of IFT evaluated by PPI was also lasted for 15 minutes only after swing frequency alteration. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that IFT of swing pattern frequency alteration had longer lasting effect on the inhibition of RIII nociceptive reflex and the relief of pain than that of constant frequency.
Electric Stimulation Therapy ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Low Back Pain ; Reflex* ; Sural Nerve

BACKGROUND: Interleukin-4(IL-4) is a 20 kDa glycoprotein and is now known to possess fibrogenic activities. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of IL4 on the extracellular matrix gene expression. METHODS: Quantitation of collagenous protein synthesis, Northern and dot-blot hybridization, transfection experiments and CAT assay in normal human skin fibroblasts were done. RESULTS: Maximal elevation of collagen synthesis was presented at the concentration of IL-4 being S.Ong/ml. In Northern and dot-blot analysis, each level of type I collagens and fibronectin mRNA increased 3.0, and 2.8-fold, respectively in IL4 treated fibroblasts. In CAT to c assay, the percentage of acetylation was 8.3% in the untreated control group and 23.1% in 5.Ong/ml of the IL-4 treated group in normal fibroblasts. The promoter activity was in creased 2.8-fold in II.4(5.Ong/ml) treated fibroblasts compared to the control groups. CONCLUSION: IL4 might be a fibrogenic cytokine that could be important in promoting the biogenesis of collagen proteins. This could be due to increased transcription.
Acetylation ; Animals ; Cats ; Collagen ; Collagen Type I ; Extracellular Matrix* ; Fibroblasts* ; Fibronectins ; Gene Expression* ; Glycoproteins ; Humans ; Interleukin-4* ; RNA, Messenger ; Skin* ; Transfection

A survey was conducted by the staff of the College of Medicine and School of Public Health, Seoul National University in cooperation with Seoul Special City from 1 December 1967 through 28 February 1968, on such events as delivery, death, abortion and pregnancy. The survey directed to a total population of 47,811 residing in 9,157 households led us to the following findings: 1. Two year averages of crude birth rate, crude death rate and natural increase rate were 30.1, 5.6 and 24.5, respectively. 2. Of all deliveries, home and hospital deliveries constituted 61.1 per cent and 35.5 per cent, respectively. 3. Deliveries other than hospital deliveries were found to be attended more often by mother-in-laws(26.5 per cent) than by doctors or midwives(23.4 per cent). 4. About 52 per cent of all women having experiences in pregnancy during the last two years had an experience of consulting a doctor at least one time throughout whole period of pregnancy. 5. In most cases scissors were used to cut umbilical cords, of which 71.0 per cent were not sterilized and only 28.3 per cent sterilized. 6. In many cases placenta was incinerated(48,2 per cent) and on many other occasions it was thrown away into water(28.3 per cent). 7. Cement page(37.4 per cent), gauze and absorbent cotton(29.8 per cent)were found to be most frequently used to receive new-born babies. 8. In 1966 8.8 per cent of the women had at least one abortion induced and in 1967 the percentage was 9.2 per cent. 9. Nearly all(95.8 per cent) of the induced abortions reportedly were done at doctor's clinics. 10. Of all the abortions induced 65.3 per cent were done by specialists in obstetrics, 30.3 per cent by general practitioners and 2.7 per cent by midwives. 11. Those who experienced spontaneous abortions were 1.9 per cent of all women both in 1966 and 1967. 12. About 9.2 per cent of women investigated were found to be currently pregnant. 13. Age specific death rate turned out to be highest among those under 1 year of age. 14. Ten major causes of death in their order of frequency were: 15. Places of death can be classified into homes(75.3 per cent) and hospitals(13.2 per cent). 16. Method of disposing of corpses comprised burials(54.2 per cent) and cremations(44.6 per cent). 17. Infant, neonatal and hebdomadal mortality rates have been computed at 32.2, 18.9 and 13.7, respectively. 18. Infants were found to have died either at homes(81.5 per cent) or at hospitals(18.5 per cent). 19. Birth registrations had been done for about 18.5 per cent of the dead infants.
Abortion, Induced ; Abortion, Spontaneous ; Birth Rate ; Cadaver ; Cause of Death ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; General Practitioners ; Humans ; Infant ; Midwifery ; Mortality ; Obstetrics ; Parturition* ; Placenta ; Population Growth ; Pregnancy ; Public Health ; Seoul* ; Specialization ; Umbilical Cord

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate the correlation of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) on brain MRI and Denver II and Capute developmental test. METHOD: Thirty children with PVL on brain MRI showing delayed development were included. The severity of PVL was graded as localized/generalized lesion in three fields; periventricular hyperintensity in T2 weighted image (PVHI in T2WI), reduced volume of cerebral white matter (RV of CWM), ventriculomegaly with periventricular wall irregula rity (VM with PVWI). Development quotients were obtained by Denver II and Capute test, and assessed according to the severity of PVL. RESULTS: Although language, fine motor-adaptive, personal- social scale of Denver II and cognitive-adaptive and clinical linguistic and auditory milestone of Capute test had little correlation with severity of PVL, gross motor developmental scale assessed by Denver II had a certain degree of correlation with severity of PVL which was not significant statistically. The gross motor developmental scale of the nineteen preterm births had a significant correlation with VM with PVWI, but the other developmental scales still had no significant correlation with PVL. CONCLUSION: As for the children with delayed development the degree of motor development was a significant predictor of the PVL on brain MRI, but those of language and cognitive development were not.
Brain* ; Child ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Leukomalacia, Periventricular* ; Linguistics ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Premature Birth ; Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Rhinovirus (RV) enters into the airway epithelial cells via the membrane bound receptor ICAM-1. The epithelial cells produce chemotactic cytokines after RV infection. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of ethanol on promoting RV infection in airway epithelial cells by increasing the ICAM-1 level and causing a reversible damage in epithelial barrier function. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We pretreated various concentrations of low non-cytotoxic ethanol to A549 cells before RV infection and investigated the effect of ethanol on RV infection. The changed in epithelial barrier function was assessed by transepithelial electrical resistance as measured by voltmeter. Effect of ethanol on ICAM-1 expression was assessed by flow cytometry. Epithelial cytokine response was evaluated using ELISA technique. The level of viral replication was expressed as viral titer, which was determined through viral culture on MRC-5 cells. RESULTS: Ethanol increased ICAM-1 mean fluorescence intensity and the viral titer according to the pretreated ethanol concentrations. But increment of ICAM-1 was inconsistent with increase of viral titer and vise versa. In ethanol treated cells, the production of cytokines was increased and it was consistent with increase of viral titer. Ethanol treatment had no effect on transepithelial resistance. CONCLUSION: Ethanol pretreatment enhanced the ICAM-1 expression, viral replication and RV induced cytokine secretion in A549 cells. But we could not prove the association of RV infection with ICAM-1 expression induced by ethanol. Transepithelial resistance was not changed after ethanol treatment.
Chemokines ; Cytokines ; Electric Impedance ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epithelial Cells ; Ethanol* ; Flow Cytometry ; Fluorescence ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; Membranes ; Rhinovirus

BACKGROUND: The etiologies of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases are various-thrombosis or artery to artery embolism, cardiogenic embolism and lipohyalinosis. In the past embolic cerebral infarct was thought to occur uncommonly. But these days substantial portion of patients have been found to have potential embolic sources by transesophageal echo cardiography and carotid duplex doppler. As transesophageal echocardiography has a high yield for identification of potential sources of cardiac embolism in patients with ischemic cerbrovascular diseases, its use has been increasing. In Korea an increasing number of patients with ischemic cerebrovascular diseases have been examined by transesophageal echocardiography since 1990. But in all the previous studies transesophageal echocardiographic evaluation has been confined to the patients with high probability of embolic cerebral infarct. All kinds of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases patients have never been examined by transesophageal echocardiography and carotid duplex doppler and the prevalence of potential embolic sources in Korean ischemic cerebrovascular disease patients is not known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of potential cardiovascular embolic sources by transesophageal echocardiography and carotid duplex doppler in unselected patients with ischemic cerebrovascular diseases. METHODS: We evaluated all kinds of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases patients admitted from 1994. 9. 1. until 1995 9. 31. to the Departments of Neurology and Internal Medicine of Kangnam General Hospital. We evaluated them by transesophageal echocardiography, carotid doppler, brain CT(or brain MRI). A significant carotid stenosis was defined as a duplex scandetected lesion producing at least 50% vessel narrowing. The following echocardiographic findings were defined prospectively as potential cardiac sources of embolism : atrial appendage or left atrial cavity thrombus, spontaneous echocardiographic contrast, atrial septal aneurysm, interatrial shunt, ventricular aneurysm, ventricular thrombus, myxomatous mitral valve and protruding atherosclerotic plaque in the ascending aorta or transverse aortic arch. RESULTS: Of 64 patients admitted during the study period, 30 were excluded(Three patients were critically ill, and twenty seven patients refused diagnostic work-up.). Thorough diagnostic work-up was performed in 34 patients. Transesophageal echocardiographic positive findings were present in six patients(17.6%). Of them four(4/34, 11.7%) had spontaneous echo contrast, two(2/34, 5.8%) had left atrial thrombi, one(1/34, 2.9%) had ascending aorta atheroma. Eleven patients(11/34, 32.3%) had abnormalities in carotid doppler study. Five patients(5/34, 14.7%) had abnormalities both in transesophageal echocardiography and carotid doppler study. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that among ischemic cerebrovascular diseases patients substantial portion of patients have potential embolic sources. The prevalence of potential embolic sources in Korea may be higher than previously expected. Because the relative small number of the patients studied make it difficult to generalize the results, further studies with a large number of patients are needed.
Aneurysm ; Aorta ; Aorta, Thoracic ; Arteries ; Atrial Appendage ; Brain ; Carotid Stenosis ; Critical Illness ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Embolism ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Korea ; Mitral Valve ; Neurology ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Thrombosis

In amebic liver abscess, communication between liver abscess and intrahepatic bile ducts is an uncommon cause of bile leak. This condition can be treated surgically or endoscopically. However, these treatment modalities are related with high morbidity and mortality. A 49-year-old man was diagnosed with amebic liver abscess. Percutaneous drainage was performed due to poor medical response and for the purpose of preventing abscess rupture. Liver abscess-biliary communication was found at follow-up imaging study. He was treated successfully with medical therapy and supportive care without further interventions.
Abscess ; Bile ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic ; Biliary Fistula* ; Drainage ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Liver ; Liver Abscess ; Liver Abscess, Amebic* ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Rupture

Toothpicks are not uncommonly swallowed, and subsequently, may be impacted into gastrointestinal wall and cause morbidities, and even mortality. Therefore, the early diagnosis and immediate retrieval of an ingested toothpick is important. In many cases, endoscopic removal is attempted initially, but if this fails or a complication is encountered, surgery should be considered. The authors experienced a case of ingested toothpick penetrating the gastric wall. A 51-year-old woman visited our hospital with epigastric pain of one-week duration. Upper endoscopy revealed that the sharp end of a toothpick had been impacted into the distal antrum. Endoscopic removal using an alligator jaw forceps failed because the toothpick broke during removal and our continued attempts to extract the remnant resulted in it becoming more embedded in the stomach wall. In such circumstances, surgical treatment should be considered. However, we incised the mucosa to expose the remnant toothpick, and fortunately, we were then able to grasp and remove the toothpick using an alligator jaw forceps. We report this unusual case of a toothpick impacted in the gastric wall that was resolved endoscopically by mucosal incision.
Alligators and Crocodiles ; Early Diagnosis ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Foreign Bodies ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Jaw ; Middle Aged ; Mucous Membrane ; Stomach ; Surgical Instruments