Increased formation and activation of osteoclast lead to unwanted bone resorption. Several natural products which have inhibitory effects on osteoclast differentiation and function are under investigation to prevent and treat the osteoporotic bone disease. Liriopis tuber has been used in Oriental medicine for the suppression of cough, expectoration, thirst, and has been used for sthenia, diuresis, blood glucose regulation, treatment of xerostomia, and constipation. Also, recently it has been reported that Liriopsis tuber has anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombic, anti-adhesive activities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of Liriopis tuber on osteoclast differentiation and was to evaluate of its mechanism. Water extract of Liriopis tuber significantly inhibited receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclast differentiation in bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) in a dose dependent manner. However, water extract of Liriopis tuber did not affect cytotoxicity when compared with control. The mRNA expression of c-Fos, NFATc1, tartrate resistant-acid phosphatase (TRAP), and cathepsin K induced by RANKL was inhibited by water extract of Liriopis tuber treatment. Also, water extract of Liriopis tuber inhibited the protein expression of c-Fos and NFATc1 expression in BMMs treated with RANKL. Among the signal pathways, water extract of Liriopis tuber suppressed the phosphorylation of p38 induced by RANKL. In summary, Liriopis tuber exerted inhibitory effects on osteoclast diffentiation via suppression of c-Fos and NFATc1 which are essential gene to osteoclastogenesis. Taken together, these results suggest that Liriopis tuber may be a useful candidate in the treatment of osteoporosis without special toxicity.
Biological Agents ; Blood Glucose ; Bone Diseases ; Bone Marrow ; Bone Resorption ; Cathepsin K ; Constipation ; Cough ; Diuresis ; Genes, Essential ; Macrophages ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Osteoclasts ; Osteoporosis ; Phosphorylation ; RANK Ligand ; RNA, Messenger ; Signal Transduction ; Tartrates ; Thirst ; Water ; Xerostomia

Background: Preauricular sinus (PAS) is a common congenital anomaly, and complete excision is recommended to prevent recurrence. However, PAS has a high recurrence rate as a result of incomplete removal due to the high variability of the sinus ramifications, making its treatment challenging. In this study, we standardized the surgical procedure to reduce the complications and recurrence rate and compared the postoperative results between the non-standardized and the standardized groups. Methods: This retrospective study included 97 patients (120 ears) who had undergone PAS excision by a single surgeon between October 2014 and September 2022 and underwent at least 6 months of follow-up. After October 2018, all patients were treated using the standardized method, which comprised the use of magnifying glasses, exploration with a lacrimal probe, the use of methylene blue staining, and excision of a piece of surrounding normal tissue and related cartilage in continuity with the specimen. There were 38 patients (45 ears) in the non-standardized group and 59 patients (75 ears) in the standardized group. Results: Recurrence was observed in six of 120 ears, indicating an overall recurrence rate of 5.0%. Recurrence occurred in five ears (11.1%) in the non-standardized group and one ear (1.3%) in the standardized group. The standardized group had a significantly lower recurrence rate (p= 0.027) than the non-standardized group. Conclusion We defined a standardized sinectomy protocol and used it for the surgical treatment of PAS. With this standardized method, we were able to reduce the rates of complications and recurrence without the use of a long incision.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have produced conflicting results on the influence of hemodilution on the coagulation system. Furthermore, only a few clinical studies have been conducted regarding actual blood loss and associated hemodilution. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in thromboelastograph (TEG) findings after moderate bleeding-induced hemodilution in patients undergoing radical hysterectomy. METHODS: 23 patients scheduled for radical hysterectomy were included. No patient had a preoperative coagulation abnormality or was receiving anticoagulant or antiplatelet medication. TEG findings 15 min after induction of anesthesia and after an estimated blood loss equaling 15% of the estimated blood volume were compared. Only crystalloid solution was administered until the second blood sampling for TEG analysis in order to produce a hemodilution state. RESULTS: After hemodilution R time, K time and coagulation time (r + k) showed significant reductions, and alpha angle and TEG index showed significant increases (P < 0.01), and increased coagulability. MA increased after hemodilution, but this was not statistically significant. A60 and CL60 also increased, showing decreased fibrinolysis (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Moderate bleeding-induced hemodilution increased coagulability according to TEG compared to pre-hemodilution findings. We recommend that the decision to replace coagulation factors and/or platelets should not be based on empirically derived, arbitrary standards.
Anesthesia ; Blood Coagulation Factors ; Blood Volume ; Fibrinolysis ; Hemodilution* ; Humans ; Hysterectomy*

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic surgery may affect the coagulation system in several ways. The purpose of this study was to compare the hemostatic changes between open and laparoscopic colorectal surgery by using thromboelastography. METHODS: Forty patients who were undergoing open (n = 15) or laparoscopic (n = 25) colorectal cancer surgery were included in this prospective study. Blood samples were drawn from a forearm vein by fresh venipunctures for determining the thromboelastography (TEG) parameters at after induction of anesthesia T0, 2 hours after the beginning of surgery T1, and immediately before discharge from the recovery room T2. RESULTS: The PT-INR and aPTT did not show significant differences between laparoscopic and open colorectal surgery. There were no significant differences of the TEG parameters (R, K, MA, alpha angle, CI, LY30 and CL30) between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The overall coagulation and fibrinolysis detected by TEG were not different between laparoscopic and open colorectal surgery
Anesthesia ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Colorectal Surgery ; Fibrinolysis ; Forearm ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Phlebotomy ; Prospective Studies ; Recovery Room ; Thrombelastography ; Veins

BACKGROUND: There is a well recognized interlaboratory variation in the results using the polymerase chain reaction(PCR) to detect the IS6110 sequence. The clinical utility of a commercially developed PCR test(Amplicor) in bronchial washings for detecting pulmonary tuberculosis in smear negative patients was evaluated. The sensitivity and specificity of Amplicor was compared with that of an in-house PCR test used for detecting the IS6110 sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis(M.tbc) in the bronchial washing fluid. METHODS: 66 patients whose sputum smear for M.tbc were negative or who could not produce any sputum were recruited from January 1999 to July 1999. They all had a bronchoscopy performed to determine if there were signs of hemoptysis, patients who could not cough up sputum, lung lesion that exclude pulmonary tuberculosis. Pulmonary tuberculosis was diagnosed on the basis of a positive culture or a response to anti-tuberculosis therapy. RESULTS: 19 patients with tuberculosis were identified and samples from 16 patients were later confirmed by culture. Bronchial washing for Amplicor PCR revealed a sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of 94.7%, 97.9%, 94.7%, 97.9%, respectively. Using IS6110 based PCR, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were of 73.7%, 87.2%, 70%, 89.1% respectively. CONCLUSION: Bronchial washing for Amplicor PCR proved to be more useful than IS6110 based PCR in rapidly diagnosing smear negative pulmonary pulmoary tuberculosis in patients where tuberculosis was likely to be differential and rapid diagnosis was essential for optimal treatment.
Bronchoscopy ; Cough ; Diagnosis* ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Lung ; Mycobacterium ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sputum ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary*

BACKGROUND: There is a high incidence of thromboembolism after major orthopedic surgery. However, more perioperative thromboembolic complications are expected after orthopedic surgery in geriatric patients due to the more offensive therapeutic measures and the increasing number of such patients with multimorbidity. Therefore it is important to investigate the perioperative blood coagulation status in detail. METHODS: Forty-five patients who were over 65 years old and scheduled for major orthopedic surgery were enrolled in this study. Patients with preoperative coagulation abnormalities, or receiving anticoagulants or antiplatelet medications were excluded. Preoperative thromboelastography (TEG), intraoperative TEG after blood loss equaling approximately 10% of the estimated blood volume, and postoperative TEG at the recovery room were measured and compared. RESULTS: During the operation, the R time and coagulation time (r + k) showed significant decreases, whereas the alpha angle, maximum amplitude (MA) and TEG index increased significantly (P < 0.05), indicating increased coagulability. The A60, CL30 and CL60 also increased, indicating decreased fibrinolysis (P < 0.05). These hypercoagulable findings were relieved after surgery to levels similar to those observed preoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: The intraoperative coagulability increased compared with the preoperative and postoperative period according to the TEG. This means that the intraoperative period is the period of most susceptibility to thromboembolic complications.
Aged* ; Anticoagulants ; Blood Coagulation ; Blood Volume ; Fibrinolysis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intraoperative Period ; Orthopedics* ; Postoperative Period ; Recovery Room ; Thrombelastography ; Thromboembolism

There are reports showing considerable morphological abnormalities in the lumbosacral region, which are usually caused by certain diseases or simply by anatomical variations. It is possible that if a caudal block is performed in patients with these anatomical abnormalities it will either fail or another unexpected difficult situation will result. However, there is no case report regarding such issues. We experienced two cases of an unexpected dural puncture during a trial of caudal block, and one case in whom the dural puncture would most likely have been caused by a trial of caudal block. The dural punture was caused by morphological abnormalities in the lumbosacral region i.e., diffuse ectasia of the lumbosacral dura and a posterior sacral meningocele with an enlargement of the lumbosacral canal. The dural termination was located more distally in the potential dural puncture case than in the normal cases.
Dilatation, Pathologic ; Humans ; Lumbosacral Region ; Meningocele ; Punctures*

BACKGROUND: Various plasma substitutes are used for the correction of hypovolemia caused by blood loss. It is known that plasma substitutes themselves have some adverse effects on blood coagulation. We performed this study to show the actual effect of plasma substitutes on blood coagulation in clinical hypovolemic situation caused by blood loss. METHODS: 60 patients scheduled for radical hysterectomy were grouped by the plasma substitutes infused; group C, S, V and P correspondingly infused with Hartman's solution, Salinhes(R), Voluven(R) and Pentaspan(R). Thromboelastograms (TEG) at 15 minutes after induction of anesthesia (T(0)), after 15% blood loss of the estimated blood volume (T(1)) and just after infusion of the plasma substitutes (T(2)) were compared among the groups and changes with the time course within each group were investigated. RESULTS: Compared to group C, MA, A60, coagulation index, CL60 (parameters of TEG) were decreased and LY60 increased in group S and P while group V presented no significant changes. Hypercoagulability and reduced fibrinolysis were observed for T(1); for T(2), group C showed decrease in k-time, LY60 and increase in alpha angle, CL60. Group S presented decrease in MA, A60 compared to T0 and decrease in CL60 and increase in LY60. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery and blood loss accelerated coagulation and reduced fibrinolysis. These were aggravated after crystalloid infusion. In contrast, coagulability was reduced and fibrinolysis augmented after infusion of HES except HES 130/0.4/6.
Anesthesia ; Blood Coagulation ; Blood Volume ; Fibrinolysis ; Humans ; Hypovolemia ; Hysterectomy* ; Plasma Substitutes* ; Plasma* ; Thrombophilia

General treatment of short bowel syndrome is long-term total parenteral nutrition (TPN). But long-term TPN therapy produces thrombus, infection and obstruction of central veins and results in the life-threatening complications. Recently we experienced first case of small bowel transplantation in a 57-year old female with only 30 cm jejunum and distal part of colon to the splenic flexure who was suffering short bowel syndrome due to previous wide resection of small bowel. We report successful anesthetic management of small bowel transplantation in the patient with short bowel syndrome who has been suffered from life threatening complications due to long-term TPN therapy.
Colon ; Colon, Transverse ; Female ; Humans ; Jejunum ; Middle Aged ; Parenteral Nutrition, Total ; Short Bowel Syndrome* ; Thrombosis ; Veins

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cancer is known to be a disease by many factors. However, specific results of reprogramming by pluripotency-related transcription factors remain to be scarcely reported. Here, we verified potential effects of pluripotent-related genes in hepatocellular carcinoma cancer cells. METHODS: To better understand reprogramming of cancer cells in different genetic backgrounds, we used four liver cancer cell lines representing different states of p53 (HepG2, Hep3B, Huh7 and PLC). Retroviral-mediated introduction of reprogramming related genes (KLF4, Oct4, Sox2, and Myc) was used to induce the expression of proteins related to a pluripotent status in liver cancer cells. RESULTS: Hep3B cells (null p53) exhibited a higher efficiency of reprogramming in comparison to the other liver cancer cell lines. The reprogrammed Hep3B cells acquired similar characteristics to pluripotent stem cells. However, loss of stemness in Hep3B-iPCs was detected during continual passage. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that reprogramming was achieved in tumor cells through retroviral induction of genes associated with reprogramming. Interestingly, the reprogrammed pluripotent cancer cells (iPCs) were very different from original cancer cells in terms of colony shape and expressed markers. The induction of pluripotency of liver cancer cells correlated with the status of p53, suggesting that different expression level of p53 in cancer cells may affect their reprogramming.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cell Line ; Genetic Background ; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells* ; Liver Neoplasms* ; Pluripotent Stem Cells ; Transcription Factors ; Zidovudine