The GATS is the first and only set of multilateral rules and commitment covering Government measures which affect trade in services. It has two parts-the framework agreement containing the rules, and the national schedules of commitments through which each Member specifies the degree of access and is prepared for foreign service suppliers. The GATS covers all services with two exceptions, i.e., services provided in the exercise of governmental authority and , in the air transport sector, air traffic rights and all services directly related to the exercise of traffic rights. Notwithstanding this very broad scope, the agreement and the negotiations taking place under it are one of the least controversial areas of the current work in the WTO. This is because of its remarkable flexibility, which allows Governments, to a very great extent, to determine the level of obligations they will assume. There are four main elements of flexibility: Member Governments choose those service sectors or subsectors on which they will make commitments guaranteeing the right of foreign suppliers to provide the service. Each Member must have a schedule of commitments, but there is no minimum requirement as to its coverage and some cover only a small part of one sector; For those services that are committed, Governments may set limitations specifying the level of market access and the degree of national treatment they are prepared to guarantee; Governments were able to limit commitments to one or more of the four re cognized "modes of supply" through which services are traded. They may also withdraw and renegotiate commitments ; In order to provide more favorable treatment to certain trading partners, Governments may take exemption, in principle limited to a 10 years’ duration, from the MFN principle, which is otherwise applicable to all services, whether scheduled or not. The agreement contains a number of general obligations applicable to all services, the most important of which is the MFN rule. But apart from these, each Member defines its own obligations through the commitments undertaken in its schedule. Because it is a basic principle of the agreement that developing countries are expected to liberalize fewer sectors and types of transactions, in line with their development situation, the commitments of developing countries are in general less extensive than those of more industrialized countries. It was this flexibility in the scheduling of commitments which put an end to the north-south controversy over services which marked the early years of th e Uruguay Round. So far, South Korea has been asked by 14 economies, including the U.S., EU, and China, to open its services market wider. According to the initial requests submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO), these countries urged Seoul to grant greater access to the domestic medical treatment, legal services, education, finance, and distribution markets. The ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) plans to hold a related ministerial meeting today and roll out countermeasures by next March for follow-up negotiations with the nations concerned. In the initial requests, Korean newspapers reported that the U.S has demanded Seoul guarantee full access to the medical service markets and provide the same business conditions for American companies as local ones. This was, however, denied by the Korean government, while it accepted that fact that the China also called for the removal of barriers in the herbal medicine market as well as in the education. The WTO member economies have submitted initial requests for follow-up negotiations by sector to the new round of WTO talks in November last year. Thereafter, South Korea is required to come up with a response by next March to resolve the issues by the end of 2004. An agreement with the 14 countries should take effect from January 2005.
Appointments and Schedules ; China ; Commerce ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Developed Countries ; Developing Countries ; Education ; Financing, Organized ; Follow-Up Studies ; Herbal Medicine ; Korea ; Legal Services ; Negotiating ; Periodicals ; Pliability ; Seoul ; Uruguay

The response of plasma renin activity and Na, K content to physiological stimuli; supine, standing after liberal salt intake and salt loading, was observed in the normal human and patients with essential hypertension. The results are as follow: 1) The substance obtained from sample that exert contractile activity to rat colon, had blood pressure raising activity. Method in this experiment was able to detect angiotensin-II for concentration of 1 ng. 2) In normal, plasma Na content of supine state with liberal salt intake showed 142.2+/-1.8 mEq/L, but it was increased to 151.0+/-5.9 mEq/L after salt loading. In standing, plasma Na content showed 141.5+/-2.5 mEq/L with liberal salt intake. 3) In normal, plasma Na content of liberal salt intake showed 142.2+/-1.8 mEq/L in supine and 141.5+/-2.5 mEq/L in standing. The pasma Na content in supine after salt loading was significantly reduced by standing (143.7+/-1.5 mEq/L). 4) In normal, plasam renin activity of supine showed 7.3+/-1.6 mg/ml with liberal salt intake and 4.8+/-1.1 ng/ml with salt loading. The plasma renin activity in standing showed 12.8+/-3.1 ng/ml witn liberal salt intake and 7.3+/-1.1 ng/ml with salt loading. In both cases the salt loading decreased the plasma renin activity significantly. 5) In normal, the plasma renin activity of liberal salt intake or salt loading was significantly increased by standing compared with that of supine state. 6) In hypertensive patients with subnormal plasma renin activity, the plasma Na content in supine state showed 144.5+/-0.7 mEq/L with diuretics and 145.5+/-3.3 mEq/L with salt loading. In hypertensive patients with normal or high plasma renin activity, the plasma Na content in supine state showed 129.5+/-7.3 mEq/L with diuretics and 136.5+/-3.0 mEq/L with salt loading. In standing, plasma Na content was 132.5+/-3.1 mEq/L with diuretics and 135.7+/-2.5 mEq/L with salt loading. In hypertensive patients, the lower renin activity cases showed higher plasam Na content. 7) In hypertensive patients with subnormal renin activity, the plasma Na content tend to decrease by standing compared with that of supine state. 8) In hypertensive cases of low renin activity, the plasma renin activity in supine was 3.6+/-1.5 ng/ml with diuretics and 2.4+/-1.1 ng/ml with salt loading, and in standing, it was 6.0+/-2.1 ng/ml. with diuretics and 3.7+/-1.9 ng/ml with salt loading. In cases of high renin activity, the plasma renin activity in supine was 9.3+/-2.3 ng/ml with diruetics and 6.0+/-1.2 ng/ml with salt loading and in standing, it was 18.0+/-3.5 ng/ml with diuretics and 9.7+/-0.5 ng/ml with salt loading. 9) In patients with essential hypertension, we found that the plasma renin activity was incrased or not. It is suggest that the increased renin activity is not the cause of essential hypertension but is caused by essential hypertension.
Animals ; Blood Pressure ; Colon ; Diuretics ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Plasma* ; Rats ; Renin* ; Sodium*

Between Jan. 1971 and Dec. 1985, 102 consecutive patients underwent total cystectomy and urinary diversion for primary carcinoma of the bladder. Among the patients, planned radiation therapy (2,000 rad. for 5 days) followed by operation was done in 18 patients, therapeutic dose of radiation was given postoperatively in 8 patients and 76 patients underwent operation only The postoperative mortality rate was 3.9%. Early complications occurred in 30% of the 102 patients and included wound infection, urine leak, bowel obstruction and medical complication. An increased late complication incidence was noted among 26 patients receiving pre- or postoperative radiation (50%) compared with those not receiving radiation (32%). Staging errors by CT scanning occurred in 37% of patients, overstaging in 8 (33%) and understaging in 1 (4%). Survival was evaluated in 45 patients and the overall 5-yesr survival rate for patients with transitional cell carcinoma was 38%.
Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ; Cystectomy* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Survival Rate ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder* ; Urinary Diversion ; Wound Infection

Recent studies clearly demonstrated that the novel expression of LH gene in the rat testis, and suggested the local action of the LH-like molecule. The present study was performed to analyze the expression of the LH genes in the rat accessory reproductive organs. Expression of LH subunit genes in the rat uterus and epididymis was demonstrated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and specific LH radioimmunoassay (RIA). The LHbeta transcripts in these organs contained the published cDNA structure, the pituitary type exons 1-3, which encoded the entire LHbeta/ polypeptide. Presence of the transcripts for the alpha-subunit in the rat reproductive tissues were also confirmed by RT-PCR. In the LH RIA, significant levels of LH were detected in crude extracts from the rat ovary, uterus and epididymis. The competition cuties with increasing amount of tissue extracts were parallel with those of standard peptide, indicating that the immunoreactive LH-like materials in these tissues are similar to authentic pituitary LH molecule. In rat epididymis, the highest amount of immunoreactive LH was detected in corpus area. Our findings demonstrated that the genes for LH subunits are expressed in the rat accessory reproductive organs, and suggested that these extrapituitary LH may act as a local regulator with auto and/or paracrine manner.
Animals ; Complex Mixtures ; DNA, Complementary ; Epididymis* ; Exons ; Female ; Lutein* ; Luteinizing Hormone* ; Male ; Ovary ; Radioimmunoassay ; Rats* ; Testis ; Tissue Extracts ; Uterus*

It is still not well documented what the basic roles for the regulation of renin secretion from the kidney take place. Since the early study on the renal ischemia for the production of hypertension was introduced, the renin-angiotensin system has been regarded as the possible pathogenetic mechanism for the renovascular hypertension. The renin-angiotensin system, however, could be activated by various stimuli, such as, the changes of intrarenal perfusion pressure, the load or concentriation of sodium at the sites of macular densa, the changes of the sympathetic nervous activity and the changes of potassium balance. To investigate the renin-angiotensin system and the influence of sympathetic nervous system on the regulation of renin secretion, the renovascular hypertension was induced in the dogs by constriction of unilateral renal artery, and the plasma renin activity was measured. The sodium load at the sites of macula densa was attained by furosemide, and then the activity of sympathetic nervous system was depressed by reserpine. The plasma renin activity was assayed by the method of Helmer and Cohn. By this bio-assay method, the plasma renin activity equivalent to 1 nanogram angiotensin-II can be measurable and the prepared plasma was found to have still vasopressor activity. The results observed in this experimental work are summarized as follows. 1. The blood pressure reached maximum on the 3rd postoperative day, and declined gradually to the level of preoperative day on the day of from the 6th to 12th day following constriction of renal artery. 3. The plasma renin activity was found to be well correlated with the increase of blood pressure, and then declined to its preoperative level with the reduction of blood pressure. It appears, therefore, that the renin-angiotensin system plays an important role in the pathogenesis of renovascular hypertension. 4. The urine flow rate in normal and reserpinized dogs was the same before administration of furosemide, but its rate was significantly increased in both groups after furosemide. The urine flow rate of reserpinized dogs, however, was significantly lower than that of the normal dogs during the first 5 minutes. 5. The urinary sodium excretion in normal and reserpinized dogs was significantly increased in both groups after administration of furosemide and there were no difference between the two groups. 6. The plasma renin activity of renal venous blood was significantly higher than that of femoral arterial blood in both groups before and after administration of furosemide. 7. The plasma renin activity of reserpinized dogs was significantly lower than that of normal dogs before administration of furosemide. After furosemide, however, the plasma renin activity was significantly increased in 30 minutes in both groups. This increase of plasma renin activity was less prominent in resepinized dogs than in normal. This results would suggest that the intrarenal mechanism regulating renin secretion also requires an intact sympathetic nervous system.
Animals ; Blood Pressure ; Constriction ; Dogs ; Furosemide ; Hypertension ; Hypertension, Renovascular ; Ischemia ; Kidney ; Perfusion ; Plasma ; Potassium ; Renal Artery ; Renin* ; Renin-Angiotensin System ; Reserpine ; Sodium ; Sympathetic Nervous System

SUMMARY: The present study was performed to analyze the expression of LH genes in the rat ovary. Expression of LH subunit genes in the rat ovary was demonstrated by amplification of ovarian RNA by RT-PCR. The ovarian LHbeta transcripts contained at least two parts of the published cDNA structure, the pituitary exons 1, 2 and 3 and the part of testicular exon 1 in the major trancripts form in rat testis. Using RIA, significant amount of LH-like molecules were detected in crude ovarian extracts, and the competition curves with increasing amount of tissue extracts were parallel with those of standard peptide, indicating that the ovarian immunoreactive LH-like material is similar to authentic pituitary LH molecule. The administration of PMSG to immature rats resulted in a sharp decrease of the ovarian LH contents after 24 h post-injection. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that genes for LH subunits are expressed in the rat ovary, and suggest that LH can play a central role in regulation of female reproduction with both endocrine (by pituitary LH) and auto- and/or para-crime (by ovarian LH) manner.
Animals ; DNA, Complementary ; Exons ; Female ; Humans ; Lutein* ; Luteinizing Hormone* ; Ovary* ; Rats* ; Reproduction ; RNA ; Testis ; Tissue Extracts

No abstract available.
Tissue Banks*

No abstract available.
Schools, Medical*

No abstract available.
Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder*

No abstract available.
Herpes Zoster