Local anesthetics produce pain during infiltration into skin. The relationship between local anesthetic-induced pain and pH of the local anesthetic solution has not been fully investigated. Commercial preparation of local anesthetics are prepared as acidic solutions of the salts to promote solubility and stability. And the acidity of local anesthetic solition may be related with the pain during infiltration of the solutione. So, we tried to neutralize the lidocaine hydrochloride solution which is one of the most frequently used local anesthetic agent. Sodium bicarbonate was used for neutralization. Sodium bicarbonate was mixed with lidocaine hydrochloride until the resulting pH of the solution become 7.4 which is identical to the acidity of body fluid. To identify the effect of neutralized lidocaine solution, we had a course of double blind test to 6 volunteers. Both forearm of each volunteer were injected with neutralized lidocaine and plain one and the degree of pain was estimated by each volunteers. According to subjective description by the volinteers, everyone felt neutralized lidocaine injection site was less painful than plain lidocaine. We concluded that we could reduce pain from infiltration of lidocaine hydrochloride by neutralization of the anesthetic solution with sodium bicarbonate.
Anesthetics, Local ; Body Fluids ; Forearm ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Lidocaine* ; Salts ; Skin ; Sodium Bicarbonate ; Solubility ; Volunteers

PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for field modification during radiotherapy in esophageal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study on 33 patients that underwent chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Pathologic findings were squamous cell carcinoma in 32 patients and adenocarcinoma in 1 patient. All patients underwent PET/CT scans before and during CRT (after receiving 40 Gy and before a 20 Gy boost dose). Response evaluation was determined by PET/CT using metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total glycolytic activity (TGA), MTV ratio (rMTV) and TGA ratio (rTGA), or determined by CT. rMTV and rTGA were reduction ratio of MTV and TGA between before and during CRT, respectively. RESULTS: Significant decreases in MTV (MTV2.5: mean 70.09%, p < 0.001) and TGA (TGA2.5: mean 79.08%, p<0.001) were found between before and during CRT. Median rMTV2.5 was 0.299 (range, 0 to 0.98) and median rTGA2.5 was 0.209 (range, 0 to 0.92). During CRT, PET/CT detected newly developed distant metastasis in 1 patient, and this resulted in a treatment strategy change. At a median 4 months (range, 0 to 12 months) after completion of CRT, 8 patients (24.2%) achieved clinically complete response, 11 (33.3%) partial response, 5 (15.2%) stable disease, and 9 (27.3%) disease progression. SUVmax (p = 0.029), rMTV50% (p = 0.016), rMTV75% (p = 0.023) on intra-treatment PET were found to correlate with complete clinical response. CONCLUSION: PET/CT during CRT can provide additional information useful for radiotherapy planning and offer the potential for tumor response evaluation during CRT. rMTV50% during CRT was found to be a useful predictor of clinical response.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chemoradiotherapy* ; Disease Progression ; Electrons ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography* ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Tumor Burden

Scute/larisa baica/ensis (SB) has been used as a folk medicine for curing ulcer, inflammation and infection. However, surprisingly little has been done to develop and exploit SB's immunomodulating, anti- inflammatory properties. Moreover, the mechanisms of SB-action on immune function had not been elucidated. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of 5B on immune functions, microbial growth and bacterial mutagenicity. Boiling water extract of SB was used in this experiment. The proliferation response to PHA-, Con A- or LPS-stimulation and the production of Con A-induced IL-2 and LPS-induced IL-6 of splenocytes from SB-pretreated mice were significantly higher than those of splenocytes from control mice. Daily single injection of 2 mg/mouse SB for 4 days resulted in enhancement of Arthus reaction and DTH to SRBC. And these enhancements were more prominent when SB was treated prior to SRBC- sensitization. SB did inhibit the growth of microorganisms such as C. albicans, C. neoformans, E. coli S. typhimurium and this inhibiting effect was gradually increased in proportion to the increment of SB. SB also remarkably reduced the mutagenicity of mutagens such as sodium azid and benzo[a]pyrene, but this was not certain, because it showed a killing effect on the cell survival test. When SB treated mice were i.p infected with C. albicans, the number of microorganisms in the peritoneal exudates were significantly reduced. Taken together, these results revealed that SB itself has not only multiple effects on events controlling immune responses but also anti-inflammatory properties, which may provide the rational basis for their therapeutic use as one of the biological response modifiers.
Animals ; Arthus Reaction ; Cell Survival ; Exudates and Transudates ; Homicide ; Immunologic Factors ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-6 ; Medicine, Traditional ; Mice ; Mutagens ; Scutellaria baicalensis* ; Scutellaria* ; Sodium ; Ulcer ; Water

A clinical study was performed on 940 cases of essential hypertension observed at Dept. of Internal Medicine of Seoul National University Hospital during a period of last seven years from 1971 to 1977. The followings were the results: 1. The incidence of hypertensive patients was 13.8% among all medical in-patients and 68.2% among all cardiac in-patients. 2. The highest occurence was observed in sixth decade and accounted for 34.2% of all cases and least occurence was in second decade of life which accounted for 0.6% of all cases. No difference was found in age distribution between both sexes. The male to female ratio was 1.2:1. 3. The mean value of blood pressure was 178.1+/-21.8/107.4+/-12.3 mmHg and tended to increase with age at least over the decades from second to seventh and there was tendency to decrease after the eighth decade. No paticular difference in blood pressure levels was found in both sexes. 4. The most outstanding symptom was headache which was found in 51.5% of all cases. Dizziness, dyspnea and palpitation were the next orders in frequency. There was a general trend of the the subjective symptoms which were more pronounced in younger than older patients. 5. Hypertensive retinopathy was found in 83.3% of all cases. Hypertensive retinopathy of K-W grade II was found in 36.1% of all cases and was the most frequent finding among the Keith-Wagener grades. Malignant hypertension of K-W grade IV was found in 4.2% of all cases and the largest numbers were between the fourth and fifth decade of life. 6. The abnormal retinal finding was found to be rather proportional to the blood pressure levels. 7. Albuminuria was detected in 56.2% of all cases and it was more frequent in male than in female patients. 8. The appearance of albuminuria seemed to have a close correlation with hypertensive retinal change and blood pressure levels. 9. Electrocardiographic abnormalities were associated in 71.9% of all cases. The most frequent association among electrocardiographic abnormalities was left ventricular hypertrophy which accounted for 45.2% of all cases. There was the reverse correlation between the normal electrocardiogram and degree of blood pressures. The finding of left ventricular hypertrophy and degree of blood pressures were closely correlated. 10. Cerebrovascular accident, renal failure, congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation were four major complications. It was recorded in 26.5%, 10.4%, 5.4% and 2.0% of all cases respectively. The complications were common in men than in women. 11. Renal failure, congestive heart failure and myocardial infarction were closely corelated with hypertensive retinopathy.
Age Distribution ; Albuminuria ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Blood Pressure ; Dizziness ; Dyspnea ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Headache ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Hypertension, Malignant ; Hypertensive Retinopathy ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Incidence ; Internal Medicine ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; Renal Insufficiency ; Retinaldehyde ; Seoul ; Stroke

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Doxorubicin* ; Euonymus*

PURPOSE: It is not clear that the development of glomerular injury and aggravation by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is related to intrarenal or serum concentration of TNF-alpha. So, we studied the relationship between the concentration of TNF-alpha and aggravation of glomerular damage in the Henoch-Schonlein nephritis(HSN) and idiopathic nephrotic syndrome(INS). METHODS: We collected the sera and urines of 21 patients with Henoch-Schonlein purpura(HSP) and 22 patients with INS visited Chungbuk National University hospital from March 1998 to March 2001. The concentration of TNF-alpha in the sera and urines were measured by sandwich ELISA. RESULTS: Serum TNF-alpha levels in the HSP patients with renal involvement were significantly higher than those without renal involvement(P=0.009). But urine TNF-alpha levels have no correlation with renal involvement(P=0.088). In the HSN patients, proteinuria have a significant correlation with serum TNF-alpha levels(P=0.004) but less correlation with urine TNF-alpha levels(P=0.053). Otherwise, proteinuria have no correlation with serum TNF-alpha levels(P=0.763) but have a significant correlation with urine TNF-alpha levels(P=0.007) in INS. CONCLUSION: These result suggest that the serum concentration of TNF-alpha would be important to glomerular involvement in HSP. And, it is interesting that proteinuria shows a significant relation with serum TNF-alpha levels in the HSN, but with urine TNF-alpha levels in the INS. This means the major production of TNF-alpha may be originated by extrarenal inflammation in the HSN and by intrarenal tubulo-interstitial damage due to proteinuria in the INS.
Chungcheongbuk-do ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Nephritis* ; Nephrotic Syndrome* ; Proteinuria* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha*

No abstract available.
Carcinogenesis* ; Oenothera biennis*

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic approaches to the anterior abdominal wall are difficult because of the inherent limitations of laparoscopic surgery. METHODS: A 25-year-old young female visited to our hospital with an incidentally-found palpable abdominal mass. Computed tomography revealed a 7-cm round enhancing mass arising from the left posterior rectus sheath. The patient underwent laparoscopic excision of the inner mass arising from the anterior abdominal wall. RESULTS: The operation lasted for 45 minutes and there was no measurable bleeding during the procedure. Pathological assessment revealed that the tumor was a DTF 7.0 cm in size. The patient was discharged on the second postoperative day in good condition, and is currently being followed on a routine basis for surveillance without adjuvant therapy. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic approach for the anterior abdominal wall tumor could be feasible in select patients. This minimally-invasive approach helps to ensure good cosmetic outcomes and quality of life.
Abdominal Wall* ; Adult ; Female ; Fibroma* ; Fibromatosis, Abdominal ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Quality of Life

No abstract available.
Humans ; Male ; Military Personnel*