BACKGROUND: Cytokeratins were subdivided into 20 different cytokeratins. It is known that cytokeratin 19 is particularly abundant in carcinoma of the lung. METHOD: A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay called CYFRA 21-1, combining two monoclonal antibodies directed specifically aganist cytokeratin 19 was done by ES-300(Boehringer Mannheim, Germany). We investigated the diagnostic value of the new tumor marker CYFRA 21-1 in lung cancer in comparison to carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) and neuron specific enolase(NSE) in the pilot study on 39 serum samples from lung cancer (17 squamous cell cancer, 11 adenocarcinoma, 11 small cell carcinoma) and 51 benign lung diseases and 41 normal healthy persons. RESULTS: Postulating a specificity 95% versus benign lung disease and healthy group, the diagnostic sensitivity of CYFRA 21-1 in lung cnacer independent of histologic type was 43.6% whereas CEA was 48.7% and NSE was 30.8%. The diagnostic sensitivity is increased to 69.2% by combining CYFRA 21-1 with CEA. Classifying the lung carcinomas following their histologic type, squamous cell carcinomas proved to possess the highest CYFRA 21-1 sensitivity(CYFRA 21-1 47.1%, CEA 23.5%, NSE 11.8%) and the combination with CEA 52.9% could not markedly increase the number of true-positive test results. In adenocarcinoma, CEA possessed the highest sensitivity (81.8%) whereas CYFRA 21-1 was 45.5% and NSE was 9.1%. In small cell carcinoma of lung, NSE possessed the highest sensitivity(81.8%) whereas CYFRA 21-1 was 36.4% and CEA was 54.5%. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that CYFRA 21-1 has a potential as a new marker for squamous cell lung cancer. If histologic type is unknown at the time of primary diagnosis. the combined determination of CYFRA 21-1 and CEA showed the best discrimination between benign and malignant lung disease.
Adenocarcinoma ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Carcinoma, Small Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Diagnosis ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Keratin-19 ; Keratins ; Lung Diseases ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Neoplasms, Squamous Cell ; Neurons ; Pilot Projects ; Sensitivity and Specificity

PURPOSE: Plasma levels of renin, angiotensin II and aldosterone are increased during normal pregnancy. However, these values in preeclampsia are decreased to nearly that of a nonpregnant subject, and vascular sensitivity to angiotensin II is increased. In preeclampsia, aldosterone is decreased less than rennin. Therefore current studies were undertaken to determine the relationship between aldosterone to renin ratio (ARR) and uterine artery perfusion via RI value. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, the relationship between plasma aldosterone and renin concentration was determined in 27 preeclamptic women and 50 normal pregnant women, whose gestational weeks were matched. The aldosterone to renin ratio was calculated and compared between the two groups. Doppler velocimetry of the uterine artery, which was used to calculate resistance index (RI), was performed on all subjects. The relationship between ARR and RI value was reviewed. RESULTS: In the preeclampsia group, RI value of the uterine artery was significantly higher than that of normal pregnant women. Both plasma renin and aldosterone concentrations were lower in the preeclampsia group. However, the ratio of these two parameters was significantly higher (38.3 vs. 16.1, p < 0.001); the greater ARR, the higher the RI of the uterine artery (r(2)=0.053, p=0.048). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that a high aldosterone to renin ratio may have a negative effect on perfusion of the uterine artery and play an important role in the pathophysiology of preeclampsia.
Adult ; Aldosterone/*blood ; Arteries/metabolism ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Health ; Humans ; Pre-Eclampsia/*blood ; Pregnancy ; Renin/*blood ; Uterus/*blood supply/*metabolism

Type 1 endoleak of common iliac artery (type Ib endoleak) should be treated during endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). An 86-year-old female was diagnosed with abdominal aortic aneurysm measuring 6.6 cm in diameter and right internal iliac artery aneurysm measuring 4.0 cm in diameter. She underwent EVAR after right internal iliac artery embolization. There was type Ib endoleak, which was repaired by balloon-expandable stent, Palmaz XL stent (Cordis). We report successful treatment of type Ib endoleak with Palmaz XL stent, which may be considered as an alternative option for type Ib endoleak after EVAR.
Aged, 80 and over ; Aneurysm ; Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal ; Endoleak ; Endovascular Procedures ; Female ; Humans ; Iliac Artery ; Stents

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the understanding of breast-feeding in pregnant woman and the proper way of encouraging breast-feeding. METHODS: Each questionnaire included items about demographic characteristics and the understanding of breast-feeding. The questionnaires were filled up by pregnant women visiting obstetric clinics in Seoul and its vicinities, Busan, Choongjoo and Chungjoo from July 2001 to August 2001. One thousand, two hundred ninety questionnaires were analysed by Chi square tests and multiple logistic regressions. RESULTS:The majority of pregnant women(87.4%) planned breast-feeding. Forty three percent of them had plans to breast-feed for 4-6 months. There were no differences in the level of education, the family size and the source of information about breast-feeding in planning to breast-feed (P>0.05). The main reasons for not choosing to breast-feed were returns to work(41.3%), previous failures of breast-feeding(17.4%), concerns about insufficient amount of breast milk(10.9%), breast and nipple problems(10.3%) and maternal illness(9.4%). The average score on the test of the understanding about breast-feeding was 59.7/100. The average scores on the understanding about the methods and advantages of breast-feeding were 45.3/100 and 86.1/100, respectively. The maternal status of employment, previous history of breast-feeding, the time of decision to breast- feed, person advocating breast-feeding and the understanding on the advantages of breast-feeding were significant determinant factors in planning to breast-feed(P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Pediatricians should take steps to make an effort to increase the breast-feeding rate and to encourage breast-feeding by timely education. Beyond the medical field, political and social supports for breast-feeding are urgently needed.
Breast ; Busan ; Education ; Employment ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Nipples ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Seoul

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Platelet activation and aggregation, with resultant arterial thrombus formation, play pivotal roles in the pathophysiology of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The efficacy of tirofiban, a specific inhibitor of the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor, combined with heparin, or low molecular heparin (LMWH), in the management of ACS were evaluated. SUBJECTS AND MEHTODS: One hundred seventeen patients (60.8+/-10.9 years, 76 male), with unstable angina or non-ST elevation myocardial infarction, who had ST-T changes and elevated troponin, were divided into 4 groups : Group I (n=30 : heparin alone), Group II (n=28 : LMWH, dalteparin alone), Group III (n=29 : tirofiban combined with heparin) and Group IV (n=30 : tirofiban with LMWH). The major adverse cardiac events (MACE) among the 4 groups, during 6-month clinical follow-ups, were compared. RESULTS: Percutaneous coronary intervention, or a coronary artery bypass graft, was performed in 23, 19, 19 and 22 patients from Groups I, II, III and IV, respectively (p=0.87). A minor bleeding complication developed in 2 (6.7%), 1 (3.6%), 1 (3.4%) and 2 patients (6.7%) in groups I, II, III and IV, respectively (p=0.79). During the six-month follow-up MACE occurred in 7 (30.4%), 6 (31.6%), 3 (15.8%) and 4 patients (18.2%) in groups I, II, III and IV, respectively (p=0.02 : Group I and II vs. Group III and IV). CONCLUSION: Tirofiban combined with LMWH is safe and may improve the long-term prognosis of patients with ACS.
Acute Coronary Syndrome* ; Angina, Unstable ; Angioplasty ; Blood Platelets* ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Dalteparin ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glycoproteins* ; Hemorrhage ; Heparin ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight* ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Platelet Activation ; Prognosis ; Thrombosis ; Transplants ; Troponin

BACKGROUND: Retrograde amnesia (RA) refers to the failure to recall events that occurred before a brain injury. RA is known to be associated with brain lesions involving the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and the frontal lobe. Anterior thalamic lesion often causes anterograde amnesia but rarely causes RA. The aim of the present study is in two parts . First, we discuss the neuroanatomical perspectives of RA based on our case with severe RA after a right anterior thalamic infarction. Second, we introduce a test for RA termed the "Korean Public Events Recall Test (K-PERT)", which was developed based on famous Korean public events from 1966 to 1997. METHODS: A 62-year-old woman with transient RA after a left anterior thalamic infarction 4 years ago presented severe and persistent RA following a right anterior thalamic infarction. We followed up the patient with neuropsychological tests. We also performed the K-PERT on the patient as well as on 14 women of the same age and education. RESULTS: Neuropsychological tests showed severe impairment in autobiographical memory with frontal lobe dysfunction. On K-PERT, the normal controls scored 13.7 +/- 3.7 in recall and 21.2 +/- 3.1 in recognition out of a maximum score of 30, whereas the patient obtained only 3/30 and 4/30, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In our case, RA might have resulted from damage to the pathway that retrieves old memories, which are stored in the frontal lobe. Thus, anterior thalamus might be viewed as the gate of memory engram. Further studies are needed to elaborate the usefulness of K-PERT as an objective tool for investigating remote memory.
Amnesia, Anterograde ; Amnesia, Retrograde* ; Brain ; Brain Injuries ; Education ; Entorhinal Cortex ; Female ; Frontal Lobe ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Infarction* ; Memory ; Memory, Episodic ; Memory, Long-Term ; Middle Aged ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Thalamus

No abstract available.
Heart Transplantation*

Early detection of AD in its initial or preclinical stage has become increasingly important. We report a 73-year-old woman who was confirmed to have AD by a cortical biopsy performed concomitantly during a shunt operation for hydrocephalus. The triads of hydrocephalus improved after the operation, as did follow-up neuropsychological and FDG-PET findings. However, 2.5 years after the operation, the patient developed cognitive declines with abnormal behaviors, which was considered to be an evolved form of AD from the preclinical stage.
Aged* ; Alzheimer Disease ; Biopsy* ; Brain* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Hydrocephalus, Normal Pressure*

Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) has kept the largest amount of gene-expression microarray data that have grown exponentially. Microarray data in GEO have been generated in many different formats and often lack standardized annotation and documentation. It is hard to know if preprocessing has been applied to a dataset or not and in what way. Standard-based integration of heterogeneous data formats and metadata is necessary for comprehensive data query, analysis and mining. We attempted to integrate the heterogeneous microarray data in GEO based on Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME) standard. We unified the data fields of GEO Data table and mapped the attributes of GEO metadata into MIAME elements. We also discriminated non-preprocessed raw datasets from others and processed ones by using a two-step classification method. Most of the procedures were developed as semi-automated algorithms with some degree of text mining techniques. We localized 2,967 Platforms, 4,867 Series and 103,590 Samples with covering 279 organisms, integrated them into a standard-based relational schema and developed a comprehensive query interface to extract. Our tool, GEOQuest is available at http://www.snubi.org/software/GEOQuest/
Data Mining ; DNA ; Gene Expression ; Mining ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis

Aspergillus funigatus and other pathogenic fungi synthesize a toxic epidithi-odiopiperzine (ETP) metabolite, namely gliotoxin. Gliotoxin commonly react with sulfhydryl groups, and then, forms hydrogen peroxide. These fungal toxins induce apoptotic cell death in various cells. Apoptosis induced by gliotoxin need calcium. Effect of calcium preconditioning was not reported in gliotoxin-induced apoptosis. To examine the effect of protein kinase C (PKC) and calcium which was regulate caspase-3, PKC and calcium preconditioning before gliotoxin treatment, apoptotic agents such as bcl-2 family, caspase-3 and DNA fragmentation in A7r5 cell line from rat smooth muscle cell were studied. These results showed that gliotoxin induces the expression of bad of bcl-2 family, caspase-3 activation and DNA fragmentation in A7r5 cells. Gliotoxin treatment followed by calcium and PKC preconditioning suppress the Bad of bcl-2 family, and inhibited caspase-3 activation, respectively. These results suggest that PKC and calcium preconditioning protect the gliotoxin-induced apoptosis, through the protection of pro-apoptotic bcl-2 family in A7r5 cells.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Aspergillus ; Calcium ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Death ; Cell Line ; DNA Fragmentation ; Fungi ; Gliotoxin ; Humans ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Mycotoxins ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle* ; Protein Kinase C ; Rats*