No abstract available.
Animals ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; CHO Cells ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus* ; Female ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens* ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; Humans ; Ovary*

No abstract available.
Chronic Disease ; Glycemic Index

PURPOSE: To evaluate the utility of ultrasonograpy(US) as a guide in deciding drainage methods and as a prognostic factor in the prediction of pleural fibrosis, and to compare the effects of drainage methods in patients with tuberculous pleural effusions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 51 patients with tuberculous pleural effusion, US patterns of pleural effusion were classified according to degree of septa into three groups, into three groups, as follows: anechoic (n=5), linear septa (n=15), and honeycombing septa (n=31). US-guided drainage methods, including thoracentesis (n=17), percutaneous catheter insertion (n=12), catheter insertion with urokinase instillation (n=22) were employed. Therapeutic effects were evaluated with follow-up chest radiographs after 3 and 6 months. RESULTS: Three months after the procedure, 43 of 51 effusions had drained effectively. US guided drainage failed in eight patients including two of six with linear septated effusion treated with thoracentesis, four of seven with honeycomb septated effusion treated with thoracentesis, and two of six with honeycombing septated effusion treated with catheter drainage. There was no drainage failure in patients with anechoic effusions and in patients with urokinase instillation. Late effects were assessed in 39 patients after 6 months. Follow-up radiographs available in 39 patients demonstrated pleural fibrosis with intercostal space narrowing in 7 patients with honeycomb septated effusion, 3 patients with linear septated effusion, and none of the patients with anechoic effusions. CONCLUSION: The pattern of septa seen on US could be a useful factor for determining drainage methods and predicting late results in tuberculous pleural effusion. Percutaneous catheter drainage with urokinase instillation was a good drainage modality for patients with septated pleural effusions. Pleural fibrosis is more frequently induced by septated pleural effusion than by anechoic pleural effusion.
Catheters ; Drainage* ; Fibrosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Pleural Effusion* ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Ultrasonography* ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator

The present study was attempted to investigate and compare the antioxidant potency of several well-know flavonoids, antioxidant vitamin and commercially available popular beverages. The antioxidant potency was assessed by the effect on reducing oxidative DNA damage of human lymphocytes. Cellular oxidative DNA damage was measured by SCGE (single-cell gel electrophoresis), also known as comet assay. Lymphocytes were pre-treated for 30 minutes with wide ranges of doses of apigenin, kaempferol, luteolin, myricetin, rutin, quercetin, alpha-tocopherol (10,25,50,100,200,500,1000 micrometer) ,green tea extract or grape juice (10,50,100,250,500,1000 microgram/mL) followed by a H2O2(100 micrometer) treatment for 5 min as an oxidative stimulus. The physiological function of each antioxidant substance on oxidative DNA damage was analyzed as tail moment (tail length X percentage migrated DNA in tail) and expressed as relative DNA damage score after adjusting by the level of control treatment. Cells treated with H2O2 alone (positive control) had an extensive DNA damage compared with cells treated with phosphate buffered saline (PBS, negative control) or pre-treated with all the tested samples. Of all the six flavonoids, quercetin was the most potent antioxidant showing the lowest ED50 of 8.5 microgram/mL (concentration to produce 50% protection of relative DNA damage). The antoxidant potency of individual flavonoids were ranked as follows in a decreasing order; luteolin (18.4 microgram/mL), myricetin (19.0 microgram/mL) , rutin (22.2 microgram/mL) , apigenin (24,3 microgram/mL) , kaempferol (25.5 microgram/mL). The protective effect of alpha-tocopherol was substantially lower (highest ED50 value of 55.0 microgram/mL) than all the other flavonoids, while the protective effect was highest in green tea and grape juice with low ED5O value of 7.6 and 5.3, respectively. These results suggest that flavonoids, especially quercetin, and natural compounds from food product, green tea and grape juice, produced powerful anti-oxidative activities, even stronger than alpha-tocopherol. Taken together, supplementation of antioxidants to lymphocytes followed by oxidative stimulus inhibited damage to cellular DNA, supporting a protective effect against oxidative damage induced by reactive oxygen species.
alpha-Tocopherol ; Antioxidants ; Apigenin ; Beverages ; Comet Assay* ; DNA Damage* ; DNA* ; Flavonoids* ; Humans ; Luteolin ; Lymphocytes* ; Quercetin ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Rutin ; Tea ; Vitamins ; Vitis

No abstract available.
Porokeratosis

No abstract available.