No abstract available.
Bronchopulmonary Sequestration* ; Esophageal Fistula* ; Hernia, Diaphragmatic* ; Pyloric Stenosis*

OBJECTIVES: Over the last 30 years, despite the increasing sophistication in medical care, the mortality of acute renal failure(ARF) has remained virtually unchanged at 40-50%, but the reasons remain unknown. This study intend to identify prognostic risk factors influencing survival and predict the mortality in ARF patients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 152 patients with ARF who required renal replacement therapy, or whose serum creatinine level above 5 mg/dl, from Jan. 1988 to May. 1995. Multiple factors which may influence mortality were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: 1) Of the 152 patients, 97 were male and 55 were female. The mean age was 47 years and the overall mortality was 36.8%. 2) Based on the univariate analysis, age>60 years, cause of ARF, APACHE II score, number of failing organs, peak serum creatinine level, PaO2, coma, hypotension, ARDS, GI bleeding, ventilatory support, need for antiarrhythmics, DIC, cardiovascular failure, pulmonary failure, neurological failure, and gastrointestinal failure were all significant factors discriminating between survivors and nonsurvivors(p<0.05) 3) By multivariate analysis, hypotension, coma, ventilatory support, and age over 60 years were significant independent predictors influencing survival in ARF patients and logistic equation and logit score were as follows : z=-2.04+1.32(age over 60)+2.18(hypotension)+2.88 (ventilatory support) + 3.28(coma) P=ez/(1+ ez) 4) In ROC(receiver-operating characteristic)curve, when the cutoff point was 0.2, maximum sensitivity was 75% and maximum specificity was 82%. CONCLUSION: In ARF, prognostic risk factors for mortality were age over 60 years, hypotension, assisted ventilation and coma. The logit score by multiple analysis is a reliable predictor of mortality in ARF patients, however the further studies are required to confirm these results.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; APACHE ; Coma ; Creatinine ; Dacarbazine ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Male ; Mortality* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Renal Replacement Therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Survivors ; Ventilation

In order to investigate the anti-proliferative effect of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme. A reductase inhibitor, we evaluated the effects of lovastatin on DNA replication and the proliferation of rat mesangial and aortic smooth muscle cells, both of which were mesenchymal origin cells. Proliferations were determined by measuring [3H]thymidine uptake, and counting the number of cells. Growth-arrested mesangial and aortic smooth muscle cells were exposed to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), endothelin (ET) and angiotensin II (Ang II) to stimulate mitogenesis. All agents exhibited dose-dependent stimulation of [3H] thymidine uptake. PDGF was more potent than the others. Ang II increased [3H] thymidine uptake without demonstrable mitogenic activity. Lovastatin inhibited PDGF (10 ng/ml in mesangial cell, 25 ng/ml in smooth muscle cell)-, ET (10(-7)M)- and Ang II (10(-7)M)-induced [3H] thymidine uptake significantly in a dose-dependent manner in both cells. The increase of cell number in response to PDGF and ET treatment were also inhibited at 10 microM of lovastatin. The inhibitory effect of lovastatin was largely overcome in the presence of exogenous mevalonate at 200 microM, with 75.5% restoration from lovastatin-induced inhibition on PDGF-induced [3H] thymidine uptake in mesangial cells (77.8% in aortic smooth muscle cells). However, the addition of cholesterol did not prevent inhibition by lovastatin. In conclusion, lovastatin had an inhibitory effect on mesangial and aortic smooth muscle cell proliferation, and mevalonate was essential for DNA replication in both types of cells. Lovastatin may reduce glomerular and atherosclerotic injury through an anti-proliferative effect on mesangial and vascular smooth muscle cells, in addition to lowering circulating lipids.
Angiotensin II/pharmacology ; Animal ; Aorta/cytology/drug effects ; Cell Division/drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Endothelins/pharmacology ; Glomerular Mesangium/cytology/*drug effects ; Lovastatin/*pharmacology ; Male ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/cytology/*drug effects ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor/pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Thymidine/metabolism

BK virus nephropathy has emerged as an important cause of renal allograft dysfunction. Reduction in immunosuppression is the mainstay of BK virus nephropathy treatment. However, decreasing immunosuppressive medications is not sufficient for treatment of BK virus nephropathy. Therefore, there is a need for other treatment strategies such as cidofovir, leflunomide, and intravenous immunoglobulin in combination with immunosuppression reduction. Ciprofloxacin has recently been reported to have antiviral activity and decrease BK viral load in kidney transplant recipients. These findings suggest that the use of ciprofloxacin represents a valuable treatment strategy in patients with BK virus nephropathy. Here, we report on our experience with three patients who developed presumptive BK virus nephropathy after kidney transplantation, who, after 2 months of ciprofloxacin treatment, showed disappearance of BK viremia and improvement in the estimated glomerular filtration rate. Ciprofloxacin may be considered an effective treatment option for BK viremia in kidney transplant recipients.
Allografts ; BK Virus ; Ciprofloxacin ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; Immunosuppression ; Kidney Transplantation ; Kidney* ; Transplantation* ; Viral Load ; Viremia

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma is a pleomorphic sarcoma in adults, which occurs principally as a mass on an extremity or in the abdominal cavity or retroperitoneum. It typically involved deep fascia or skeletal muscle and only rarely was confined to the subcutis without fascial involvement. Malignant fibrous histiocytomas developed in the intraabdominal organs are very rare and only few cases have been reported until now. Here, we report a case of malignant fibrous histiocytomar developed in the stomach of a 46-year old male who showed clinical and histologic features of malignant fibrous histiocytoma without any identified etiologic factors. The patient was treated successfully with surgery, and has had no recurrence since, during the ensuring one and a half yars.
Abdominal Cavity ; Adult ; Extremities ; Fascia ; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous* ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Recurrence ; Sarcoma ; Stomach*

PURPOSE: The change of quality of life following a tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) and transobturator vaginal tape (TVT-O) procedure was investigated in patients with stress urinary incontinence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 86 women with stress urinary incontinence who underwent the TVT or TVT-O procedure and followed up for at least 1 year. Preoperatively, the patients were evaluated with history taking, physical examination, urodynamics to determine abdominal leak point pressure (ALPP) and pre- and postoperative quality of life was evaluated by incontinence quality of life questionnaire (I-QoL). The success after operation was defined as the absence of any subjective complaint of leakage. RESULTS: The rate of cure of TVT and TVT-O procedure were 84%, 92% and the rate of improvement of them were 16%, 8%, respectively. Preoperative patient characteristics including uroflowmetric parameters and ALPP were comparable in the two groups. The I-QoL parameters one year after surgery were statistically significant increase in I-QoL scores in each groups. There were no serious or long-term complications related to both procedures. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the TVT and TVT-O procedure are effective for treating female stress incontinence and also in the aspect of improving quality.
Female ; Humans ; Physical Examination ; Quality of Life* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Suburethral Slings* ; Surgical Mesh ; Urinary Incontinence* ; Urinary Incontinence, Stress ; Urodynamics

Although the prognosis of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is extremely good, locoregional recurrences after initial treatment occur. Thyroglobulin (Tg) is a reliable tumor marker to detect recurrence or persistence of PTC. However, occasionally serum Tg may miss the detection of a recurrence. We report a 54-year-old female presented with hoarseness due to cervical recurrence without concomitant elevation of serum Tg and anti-Tg antibody, in contrast to extremely increased needle-washout Tg, who had undergone a total thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablation as initial therapies for PTC. Several factors causing such discrepancy between needle-washout Tg and serum Tg can be suggested including site of recurrence, volume of tumor, interference by some kind of plasma antibodies other than anti-Tg antibody, and any conformational defect of Tg protein. Among them, the most convincing explanation is that any conformational defect of Tg may lead to impaired secretion of Tg to blood. We suggest that more studies are needed to find the cause for potential mechanisms involved in PTC recurrences without increased serum Tg.
Antibodies ; Female ; Hoarseness ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Plasma ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Thyroglobulin* ; Thyroid Neoplasms* ; Thyroidectomy