Korean student nurses may be exposed to stress caused by their future employment (employment stress). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a Laughter Program on psychological stress, by assessing salivary cortisol and the subjective happiness of student nurses in order to relieve employment stress.

Mutation of the p53 gene frequently results in overexpression of the p53 protein and loss of its tumor-suppressing properties. The overexpression of the p53 gene could be an indicator of rapid proliferation, poor differentiation, advanced stages, or poor prognosis. The prognostic value of the overexpression of the p53 gene in colorectal carcinoma is equivocal. The presence of DNA aneuploidy has been described as a powerful adverse prognostic indicator in relation to survival. To investigate the prognostic significance of p53 expression, and the relationship with DNA ploidy, 92 cases of colorectal carcinomas were analyzed. The overexpression of p53 gene product was present in 50(54.4%) of 92 cases. p53 expression only correlated with recurrence or metastasis during the follow-up periods (p=0.045). DNA aneuploidy was observed in 32(39.1%) of 82 cases. DNA ploidy was strongly associated with lymph node invasion(p=0.005), Dukes' stage(p=0.003), TNM classification (p=0.003), and recurrence or metastasis during the follow-up periods (p=0.045). The frequency of DNA aneuploidy was higher in the p53-positive colorectal carcinomas(58.3%) than in the p53-negative colorectal carcinomas (21.6%) (p=0.003). p53-positive colorectal carcinomas had a higher rate of cell proliferation than p53-negative cases(p<0.001). These results suggest that checking the p53 expression and DNA ploidy could be useful prognostic indicators of colorectal carcinoma.
Neoplasm Metastasis ; Genes, p53

The third complementarity determining region (CDR3) of the immunoglobulin (Ig) kappa () chain is known to be located at the center of antigen binding groove and critical for antibody specificity. Ig chain has been characterized by limited junctional diversity due to the absence of N-region addition resulting in relative conservation of CDR3 lengths with 9 or 10 amino acids. CDR3 region of 11 amino acids is only possible with N-region addition. Recently, x transcripts with 11 amino acids CDR3 was found to be expressed in normal individuals, and in autoimrnune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, the fraction of 11 amino acids CDR3 of humkv325-derived chains was overexpressed compared to conventional adult peripheral B cells. However, the significance of this bias is difficult to interpret without a clear understanding of normal repertoire of CDR3 length during development. The purpose of this study is to determine whether developmental regulation of CDR3 amino acids codon lengths exists in chains expressed in the fetal liver, cord blood, and adult peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). Lymphocytes were seperated from fetal liver, cord blood and adult PBL and cDNA was generated from extracted mRNA. PCR-based CDR3 finger- printing assay was performed with VI-IV family specific primers. CDR3 length diversity of Ig x chain increases as the development proceeds. The length diversity most frequently occured in Vlll family derived transcripts including 11 amino acids CDR3. transcripts with 11 amino acids CDR3 were consitently expressed in both fetal and adult Ig repertoire. These results support the hypothesis that v chain CDR3 length is developmentally regulated and implicates the diversity of antigen-antibody specificity generation.
Adult ; Amino Acids ; Antibody Specificity ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; B-Lymphocytes ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Codon ; Complementarity Determining Regions ; DNA, Complementary ; Fetal Blood ; Humans* ; Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains* ; Immunoglobulins* ; Liver ; Lymphocytes ; RNA, Messenger ; Sensitivity and Specificity

A 68-year-old man was refered for evaluation and treatment of advanced esophageal cancer. He complained of substernal dysphagia for solid and liquid foods. He did not remember episodes about ingesting something that correlated with symptoms. The single-contrast esophagogram revealed subtotal obstruction of the cervical esophagus with barium outlining the polypoid-filling defect irregularly. After 18 hours later, the patient underwent endoscopic examination and at the direct esophagoscopic finding, the food materials mainly consisted of packed rice was filled in the cervical esophagus. After saline irrigation, a fish bone, which was about 50X9 mm, and looked like a knife was lodged just distal to the impacted food materials. The fish bone was removed successfully from the esophagus. The patient experienced dramatic relief of symptoms shortly after procedure.
Aged ; Barium ; Deglutition Disorders ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagus ; Humans

Developmental venous anomalies are congenital anomalies of the intracranial venous drainage and clinically asymptomatic. Cavernous hemangiomas are vascular malformations composed of dilated vascular channels lined with a single layer of endothelial cells without any intervening normal neural tissue. Although, cavernous hemangioma may be clinically silent, but frequently cause variable neurologic manifestations; intracranial hemorrhage, seizures, and focal neurologic deficits. Frequent association of these two diseases has already been reported and it has been suggested that cavernous hemangiomas not the developmental venous anomalies that cause the acute clinical symptoms. A 4 year old girl with sudden onset of headache, vomiting, gait disturbance and signs of unilateral cerebellar dysfunction 2 days before admission showed a 2.5x2.5cm sized hematoma with heterogenous signal intensity both in CT and MRI in the left cerebellar hemisphere. Four-vessel cerebral angiography revealed characteristic findings of developmental venous anomalies. Pathologic findings of the surgically removed hematoma disclosed typical feature of cavernous hemangioma. Based on the findings in this case and review of the literatures, we concluded that the possibility of other diseases such as cavernous hemangiomas must be considered in patients who has intracranial hemorrhage due to the developmental venous anomalies.
Cerebellar Diseases ; Cerebral Angiography ; Child, Preschool ; Drainage ; Endothelial Cells ; Female ; Gait ; Headache ; Hemangioma, Cavernous* ; Hematoma ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Seizures ; Vascular Malformations ; Vomiting

No abstract available.
Asthma* ; Child* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Acute Kidney Injury*

Angiogenesis is essential for the growth of solid tumors. Microvessel counts, which represent a measure of tumor angiogenesis, have been correlated with the overall survival of patients with a variety of malignancies. However, the significance of angiogenesis in renal cell carcinoma remains controversial. To determine whether angiogenesis correlates with prognosis of patients with renal cell carcinoma, we counted the microvessels within the primary tumors and compared their numbers with patients' prognosis. Tumor specimens from 42 patients were investigated. Microvessels were stained with anti-CD34 and anti-factor VIII-related antigen monoclonal antibodies. Significant correlation between microvessel counts for two antibodies was observed (r=0.875, p<0.01), although microvessel counts for CD34 were approximately two times higher. Microvessel counts were higher in clear cell than in non-clear cell carcinoma (p<0.05). These results suggest that immunostaining with anti-CD34 antibody may provide a more sensitive and accurate measure of tumor angiogenesis. There was no correlation between microvessel counts and nuclear grade, or TNM stage. In univariate analyses, nuclear grade and TNM stage were significantly associated with patient survival (p<0.01). But further studies on tumor angiogenesis of renal cell carcinoma are needed before it can be adopted as a prognostic marker.
Antibodies ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Humans ; Microvessels ; Prognosis ; von Willebrand Factor

Angiogenesis is essential for the growth of solid tumors. Microvessel counts, which represent a measure of tumor angiogenesis, have been correlated with the overall survival of patients with a variety of malignancies. However, the significance of angiogenesis in renal cell carcinoma remains controversial. To determine whether angiogenesis correlates with prognosis of patients with renal cell carcinoma, we counted the microvessels within the primary tumors and compared their numbers with patients' prognosis. Tumor specimens from 42 patients were investigated. Microvessels were stained with anti-CD34 and anti-factor VIII-related antigen monoclonal antibodies. Significant correlation between microvessel counts for two antibodies was observed (r=0.875, p<0.01), although microvessel counts for CD34 were approximately two times higher. Microvessel counts were higher in clear cell than in non-clear cell carcinoma (p<0.05). These results suggest that immunostaining with anti-CD34 antibody may provide a more sensitive and accurate measure of tumor angiogenesis. There was no correlation between microvessel counts and nuclear grade, or TNM stage. In univariate analyses, nuclear grade and TNM stage were significantly associated with patient survival (p<0.01). But further studies on tumor angiogenesis of renal cell carcinoma are needed before it can be adopted as a prognostic marker.
Antibodies ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Humans ; Microvessels ; Prognosis ; von Willebrand Factor

The dysfunction of either or both noradrenaline and serotonin system are important in the pathophysiology of depression. Previous reports have suggested that there may be an important interaction between these two systems. Recently, some investigators have suggested that the combination of tricyclic antidepressants(TCAs and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SSRIs would produce a rapid synergistic effect on down-regulation of either or both of these two systems and that this combination may produce a more rapid and absolute antidepressant effect. We compared the treatment efficacy, treatment associated side effects, treatment satisfaction, and the quality of life between the combination therapy of dothiepin-sertraline as well as the therapy of dothiepin alone in the treatment of major depressive disorder and dysthymic disorder. In our study, the combination therapy of dothiepin and sertraline produced a more rapid and absolute antidepressant effect than dothiepin alone. And the patients with combination therapy experienced relatively high treatment satisfaction than the patients with dothiepin therapy. The patients quality of life improved more rapidly in the combination therapy, especially, in the health perception, social behavior, and life satisfaction, that dothiepin alone. These results support the hypothesis that the combination of TCA an SSRI may produce a rapid synergistic effect on either or both norepinephrine and serotonin system, and more rapid antidepressant effect and high treatment satisfaction.
Depression ; Depressive Disorder* ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Dothiepin* ; Down-Regulation ; Dysthymic Disorder ; Humans ; Norepinephrine ; Quality of Life ; Research Personnel ; Serotonin ; Sertraline ; Social Perception ; Treatment Outcome