No abstract available.
Ureteral Obstruction* ; Uterine Prolapse*

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to clarify the anatomy of the male rat urethra, and to establish a more accurate and consistent method for analyzing external urethral sphincter (EUS) contractility based on this clarified anatomy by comparing different muscle strip orientations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The whole urethra in male rats was investigated histologically using H/E and immunohistochemical staining. The contractility of the spiral (S) orientation of the entire proximal urethral (EUS) was then compared with the transverse (T) and the ring (R) orientations of the optimal portion, via electrical stimulation in an organ bath. RESULTS: In male rats, the urethral tract consisted of following parts: proximal urethra, transient urethra, urethral diverticula, and penile urethra. Throughout the proximal urethra, a layer of striated muscle fibers encircled the smooth muscle layers. The EUS contraction of the S, TM (Transverse, Middle of proximal urethra) and RM (Ring, Middle of proximal urethra) groups were 4.66+/-0.33mN, 2.92+/-0.33mN and 2.47+/-0.38mN, respectively. The strength of the EUS contraction of the S group was significantly higher than that of the TM. Group, but after adjusting the length, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike previous studies, showing striated muscle fibers limited to the lower half of the proximal urethra, we noted them throughout the whole proximal urethra. From our results, the spiral orientation of the entire urethra was found to be the optimal configuration for evaluating the contractility of the EUS using fast twitch muscle contractile testing.
Animals ; Baths ; Diverticulum ; Electric Stimulation ; Humans ; Male* ; Muscle, Smooth ; Muscle, Striated ; Rats* ; Urethra*

Gastric neurofibroma is rare and its exact incidence is unknown. We experienced a case of solitary gastric neurofibroma. A 49-year-old woman was admitted because of hematemesis and melena. Neither cafe-au-lait spots in skin nor superficial tumor were found. Gastrofibroscopic examination and UGI series showed a 3 * 4 cm sized luminal protruding mass with adjacent bridging mucosal fold and cental ulceration on the anterior wall of lower body. Mass excision was performed. Grossly, the mass was 4.5 * 3.0 * 2.0 cm sized, well circumscribed submucosal tumor with homogenous cut surface, Microscopically, each of the tumor cells had oval shaped nucleus and spindle shaped cytoplasm. Nuclear atypism and frequent mitosis were not observed. We report a rare case of solitary gastric neurofibroma with review of the literatures.
Cafe-au-Lait Spots ; Cytoplasm ; Female ; Hematemesis* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Melena* ; Middle Aged ; Mitosis ; Neurofibroma* ; Phenobarbital ; Skin ; Stomach ; Ulcer

Actinobacillus (A.) pleuropneumoniae is the causative agent of pleuropneumonia which is one of the most important respiratory diseases in pigs worldwide. A total of 32 A. pleuropneumoniae isolates from diseased pigs during 2008 to 2010 were serotyped by polymerase chain reaction method. The susceptibility of the isolates to 13 antimicrobial agents were determined by disk diffusion test. In all the 32 isolates examined in this study, serotype 5 (16 isolates: 50%), 1 (7 isolates: 21.9%), 2 (5 isolates: 15.6%) and 12 (1 isolate: 3.1%) were found. Of all tested antimicrobial agents, resistance to oxytetracycline was found in 96.9% of isolates, followed by resistance to amikacin (81.2%), neomycin (68.7%), kanamycin (53.1%), penicillin (50.0%), gentamicin (43.7%), florfenicol (25.0%), ampicillin (18.7%), colistin (9.4%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, ceftiofur (8.3%), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (3.1%) and enrofloxacin (0%). Oxytetracycline or florfenicol-resistant isolates were examined for the presence of resistance gene. Among the 31 oxytetracycline-resistant isolates, tetB, tetH and tetO genes were detected in 22 (71%), 8 (26%) and 1 (3%) isolates, respectively. The floR genes were detected in 8 (100%) of the 8 florfenicol-resistant A. pleuropneumoniae isolates.
Actinobacillus ; Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae ; Amikacin ; Ampicillin ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Cephalosporins ; Colistin ; Diffusion ; Fluoroquinolones ; Gentamicins ; Kanamycin ; Korea ; Neomycin ; Oxytetracycline ; Penicillins ; Pleuropneumonia ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Swine ; Thiamphenicol

PURPOSE: The incidence of overactive bladder (OAB) and the efficacy of alpha blocker and tolterodine combination therapy were examined in patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between March 2001 and December 2001, 144 BPH patients were subdivided into those with BPH, or BPH with OAB, based on urodynamic studies. All patients were treated with alpha blockers for 3 months. Patients with no symptomatic improvement were treated with alpha blockers and tolterodine for 2 months. An increase in the International prostate symptom scores (IPSS) of more than 3 points after medication was considered an improvement, but if not, as a failure. RESULTS: Of the 144 patients, 76 (53%) had BPH and 68 (47%) had BPH with OAB. The patients with BPH and OAB were older (p<0.05), but no differences were observed in the serum creatinine, IPSS, prostate volume, maximum flow rate or post-void residual urine (PVR) between the 2 groups. After 3 months treatment with alpha blockers, 79% (60/76) of the BPH and 35% (24/68) of the BPH with OAB patients had improved (p<0.05). Of the patients showing no improvement, 38% (6/16) with BPH and 73% (32/44) with BPH and OAB showed improvement after the addition of tolterodine. CONCLUSIONS: The combination therapy was more effective than alpha blockers alone in the treatment of patients with coexisting BPH and OAB. We recommend identifying these patients with an initial urodynamic study, which allows for the appropriate management and identification of those patients that may benefit from a more invasive treatment.
Creatinine ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Prostate ; Prostatic Hyperplasia* ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder, Overactive* ; Urodynamics ; Tolterodine Tartrate

Herein, a new left renal vein stenting procedure (expandable metallic stent placement), which provided relief for an 18-year-old man incapacitated by an intermittent gross hematuria, is reported. The placement of an expandable metallic stent is a minimally invasive therapy, and a simpler and more physiological therapy than previous approaches to Nutcracker syndrome.
Adolescent ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Renal Veins ; Stents*

We describe four cases of feline progressive histiocytosis (FPH) including three females (one intact, two spayed) and one castrated male cat, with a mean age of 5.95 years at diagnosis. Masses were found under the skin of head, lip, neck, and vulva. Histologically, proliferative round cells had ovoid nuclei, foamy eosinophilic cytoplasm, distinct cytoplasmic processes, and mitotic figures. Immunohistochemically, all cases were positive for Iba1 and MHC II (Dako). One case showed cytoplasmic positive staining for E-cadherin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documented report of FPH in Korea.

This study describes pathological, immunohistochemical, and bacteriological findings in adult dogs and fetuses naturally infected with Brucella (B) canis. A total of 42 dogs including 40 dogs and 2 aborted fetuses were examined. The most common gross lesions in infected dogs were swelling of lymph nodes and spleen. The testes showed marked swelling with multifocal to diffuse reddish discoloration. The most significant histopathological lesions were observed in the placenta. Placental trophoblasts were markedly hypertrophied due to the accumulation of intra-cellular gram-negative bacteria. Lymphocytic inflammation of varying severity was observed in the reproductive organs such as male testis, epididymis, and prostate gland and female uterus. Strong immunolabelling was observed in the cytoplasm of most trophoblasts in the placental tissues using immunohistochemistry. However, immunohistochemical staining did not demonstrate any organisms in other organs of dogs and fetuses. B. canis isolates were most frequently obtained from the whole blood (82.5%) and superficial inguinal lymph node (77.5%) in both sexes. In addition, the isolation rate was higher in male genital organs than in those of females. Hence, management of male dogs is most important because infected dogs can play a role as carriers.

Purpose: Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) frequently occurs in the patients with an indwelling Foley catheter, and it can cause serious morbidity or mortality. However, there have been no reports about quorum sensing mechanisms in indwelling Foley catheter. It's our purpose to find out the quorum sensing mechanisms of isolated bacteria from biofilm in Foley catheters. Materials and Methods: Silicone Foley catheters were placed in 90 patients with neurogenic bladders. At the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 14th and 30th day after the catheters were placed, the catheters were removed and the biofilm formations were evaluated by routine culture and microscopy. The ygaG gene, which was reported to be an autoinducer synthase gene was carried out cloning in E. coli. The quantity of the mRNA expression of the ygaG gene was analyzed according to the time by competitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: 289 different types of bacteria were isolated by cultivation. The most common species were Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Serratia, Proteus and Escherichia species. The autoinducer synthase gene, such as the ygaG gene for Escherichia coli, was detected by RT-PCR. On competitive RT-PCR of the ygaG gene, the mRNA expression was 3.77x10(9)copies/microliter at the 3rd day, 5.94x10(7)copies/microliter at the 5th day, 8.07x10(7)copies/microliter at the 7th day, 2.51x10(6)copies/microliter at the 14th day and 6.81x10(8)copies/microliter at the 30th day. Therefore, the expression of the autoinducer synthase gene was observed at the early insertion period and it was then maintained. Conclusions: This is the first study to document the autoinducer synthase gene expression associated quorum sensing mechanism in CAUTI. The quorum sensing mechanism may be a new target for the management of CAUTI.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteria ; Biofilms ; Catheters* ; Clone Cells ; Cloning, Organism ; Escherichia ; Escherichia coli ; Gene Expression* ; Humans ; Klebsiella ; Microscopy ; Mortality ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Proteus ; Pseudomonas ; Quorum Sensing* ; Reverse Transcription ; RNA, Messenger ; Serratia ; Silicones ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Tract Infections* ; Urinary Tract*

PURPOSE: To observe the hemodynamic change in brain tumors and peritumoral edemas after steroid treat-ment, and then nvestigate the clinical usefulness of perfusion MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We acquired conventional and perfusion MR images in 15 patients with various in-tracranial tumors (4 glioblastoma multiformes, 4 meningiomas, 3 metastatic tumors, 1 anaplastic ependymo-ma, 1 anaplastic astrocytoma, 1 hemangioblastoma, and 1 pilocytic astrocytoma). For perfusion MR imaging, a 1.5T unit employing the gradient-echo EPI technique was used, and further perfusion MR images were ob-tained 2-10 days after intravenous steroid therapy. After processing of the raw data, regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) maps were reconstructed. The maps were visually evaluated by comparing relative perfusion in brain tumors and peritumoral edemas with that in contralateral white matter. Objective evaluations were performed by comparing the perfusion ratios of brain tumors and peritumoral edemas. RESULTS: Visual evaluations of rCBV maps, showed that in most brain tumors (67%, 10/15), perfusion was high before steroid treatment and showed in (80%, 12/15) decreased afferwards. Objective evaluation, showed that in all brain tumors, perfusion decreased. Visual evaluation of perfusion change in peritumoral edemas revealed change in only one case, but objective evaluation indicated that perfusion decreased signifi-cantly in all seven cases. CONCLUSIONS: rCBV maps acquired by perfusion MR imaging can provide hemodynamic information about brain tumors and peritumoral edemas. Such maps could prove helpful in the preoperative planning of brain tumor surgery and the monitoring of steroid effects during conservative treatment.
Astrocytoma ; Blood Volume* ; Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Edema* ; Glioblastoma ; Hemangioblastoma ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Meningioma ; Perfusion* ; Steroids