No abstract available.
Antibodies* ; Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Prevalence* ; Renal Dialysis*

No abstract available.
Thorax*

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of seminal vesicle fluid (SVF) on the acrosome reaction (AR) occurred spontaneously or induced by Ca2+ ionophore A23187, follicular fluid, and progesterone in mouse epididymal sperm. SVF was divided into high (MW>10 kM)) and low (MW<10 kD) fractions by ultrafiltration. The low MW fraction of SVF decreased the rate of spontaneous AR, however the high MW fraction did not. It suggested that the low MW fraction of SVF might have contained decapacitation factor(s) responsible for prolonging of time need for capacitation. When sperm preincubated for 60 min in the presence of SVF, the rate of AR induced by A23187 was decreased, but prolongation of preincubation time for 120 min significantly potentiated the AR by A23187. It suggested that addition of SVF into sperm preincubation medium imposed the epididymal sperm a condition similar to ejaculation. AR induced by human follicular fluid or progesterone was also inhibited by SVF. It suggested that substance in SVF might have affected AR of mouse sperm by inhibiting the interaction between AR inducing ligands and sperm surface receptors involved in acrosomal exocytosis.
Acrosome Reaction* ; Acrosome* ; Animals ; Calcimycin ; Ejaculation ; Exocytosis ; Female ; Follicular Fluid ; Humans ; Ligands ; Male ; Mice* ; Progesterone ; Seminal Vesicles* ; Spermatozoa* ; Ultrafiltration

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to exam the effect of a biomedical ethics education program on the consciousness of biomedical ethics, moral sensitivity and critical thinking disposition in nursing students. METHOD: A quasi-experimental research design and repeated measured ANOVA were used. The participants were divided into an experimental group (n=148) and a control group (n=169). Each group underwent freshman university nursing training in two major cities. The mean age was 21.3 years and the time of providing the biomedical ethics education program was 15 hours for 15 weeks. The experimental group was provided biomedical ethics education during the semester; the control group was not provided any biomedical ethics education. RESULTS: The consciousness of biomedical ethics was increased significantly in the experimental group (t=-4.724, p<.001). Moral sensitivity was increased significantly in the experimental group (t=-2.021, p<.004). Critical thinking disposition was increased significantly in the experimental group (t=-5.775, p×.001). CONCLUSION: The results of the study show that providing biomedical ethics education to nursing students is an effective method to increase the consciousness of biomedical ethics, moral sensitivity and critical thinking disposition.
Bioethics* ; Consciousness ; Education* ; Humans ; Methods ; Nursing* ; Research Design ; Students, Nursing* ; Thinking

M-mode, pulsed Doppler and Doppler color flow mapping, in addition to two-dimensional echocardiography, have greatly improved imaging of the fetal heart through identification of abnormal cardiac anatomy and rhythm in utero. The early detection of cardiac disturbance in utero permits alteration in obstetric management such as delivery in a high-risk center for optimal neonatal care and/or decision in optimal delivery time. We report two cases of the neonatal arrhy-thmia which were observed by fetal echocardiography. In the first case, female baby showed neonatal arrhythmias including tachycardia and brady-cardia until 3 days after birth, and then turned to bradyarrhythmia due to non-conducted atrial bigeminy. These events lead us to review the fetal echocardiographs of the patient carefully. Premature atrial contractions were observed in her fetal echocardiography. At 2 months after birth, the patient's electrocardiogram showed normal sinus rhythm. Severe neonatal bradycardia of the second case was due to congenital complete heart block, identified clearly by electrocardiogram after birth. This case also showed complete heart block in her fetal echocardiography. After insertion of the temporary pacemaker, cardiomegaly was improved. Both the neonate and the mother had positive anti-SSA/Ro autoantibody. But any other symptoms and signs of neonatal lupus did not appear in the neonate. Patient's mother also did not show any symptoms and signs of systemic lupus erythematosus. Since the prognosis depends upon the cause of bradyarrhythmia in fetus and neonates, differential diagnosis is important in obstetric management and optimal neonatal treatment.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac* ; Atrial Premature Complexes ; Bradycardia ; Cardiomegaly ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Echocardiography* ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Fetal Heart ; Fetus ; Heart Block ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Mothers ; Parturition ; Prognosis ; Tachycardia

The human chromosome analysis is widely used to diagnose genetic disease and various congenital anomalies. Many researches on automated chromosome karyotype analysis has been carried out, some of which produced commercial systems. However, there still remains much room for improving the accuracy of chromosome classification. In this paper, We propose an optimal pattern classifier by neural network to improve the accuracy of chromosome classification. The proposed pattern classifier was built up of multi-step multi-layer neural network(MMANN). We reconstructed chromosome image to improve the chromosome classification accuracy and extracted three morphological features parameters such as centromeric index(C.1.), relative length ratio(R.L.), and relative area ratio(R.A.). This Parameters employed as input in neural network by preprocessing twenty human chromosome images. The experiment results show that the chromosome classification error is reduced much more than that of the other classification methods.
Chromosomes, Human ; Classification* ; Humans ; Karyotype*

A dead dove was found on the road and submitted for diagnosis. The bird was severely emaciated, with deformation in its facial area. Grossly, white coalescing nodules were seen on the cut surface of the nasal cavity. Histopathologically, epithelial cells of the upper respiratory tract were markedly proliferated, with ballooning degeneration, down growth of the rete ridge, and large eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies. Parakeratotic hyperkeratosis and focal necrotic focus was present in the proliferative area. The facial bones showed partial bone resorption. Transmission electron microscopy revealed numerous viral particles in epithelial cells with dumbbell-shaped bodies, consistent with poxvirus.
Birds ; Bone Resorption ; Columbidae* ; Diagnosis ; Eosinophils ; Epithelial Cells ; Facial Bones ; Inclusion Bodies ; Microscopy, Electron ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Nasal Cavity ; Respiratory System ; Turtles* ; Virion

The present study was designed to define the role of prostaglandin in the development and hatching of mouse embryo. The effects of indomethacin, an inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis, on the development and hatching of morula and blastocyst were examined. In early morula stage, embryos were degenerated significantly at 100 muM and 200 muM indomethacin. However, :he viability of embryos was not influenced by concentration in any other embryonic stages. In all embryonic stages, the hatching was suppressed with concentration dependent manner, but expansion was not suppressed. Particularly, in 84h embryos post hCG injection, the hatching was suppressed significantly compared with post hCG 72h or 96h embryos. When embryos were treated with 100 muM indomethacin for a specific time (12h) in according to the development stage, the hatching was suppressed all groups. These suppressional effect was decreased as embryonic development stage was progressed. However, the expansion was not affected in all treatment group. This study suggests that hatching-related metabolic substances are synthesized from morula stage and intraembryonic signaling mediated prostaglandin was important for development and hatching of mouse embryo.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Embryonic Development ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Indomethacin* ; Mice* ; Morula ; Pregnancy

No abstract available.
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome*

A 13-year-old girl developed rice to nut-sized, bluish to slate-gray colored, depressed patches in a zosteriform distribution along the right side of her upper back and arm without any symptoms. Microscopically, the lesions showed a normal-appearing epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous fat tissue except for a thinning of collagen fibers and widening of intervals between them in the lower dermis. There have been no changes to the skin lesions during the last 2 years.
Adolescent ; Arm ; Collagen ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Female ; Humans ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Fat