To evaluate the ultrastructural changes and the mechanism causing liver injury by lead, light and electron microscopic(LM and EM) examination using Timm sulphide silver method(TSM) was done. Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into a control and 3 experimental groups. The experimental groups were orally administered 0.5% lead acetate(LA). Group 1 received a one time dose of 10 ml of LA by gastric intubation. Groups 2 and 3 continuously received LA instead of drinking water. The control group was composed of 3 rats in each group which did not receive any treatment. Rats of group 1, 2 and 3 and control were sacrificed at 1/2, 1, 1 1/2 hours, 2 days, and at 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks later, except group 3. Before sacrifice, they were perfused with 0.1% sodium sulphide and 2.5% glutaraldehyde through the abdominal aorta for TSM. The liver was taken for LM and EM examinations. Blood lead concentration began to increase from the 2nd day up to 3.29 microgram/ml at 2nd week, and the urinary delta-ALA level showed a steady increase from the 2nd day. LM and EM examination of liver revealed that absorbed lead granules in group 1 were transported into sinusoidal spaces, Kupffer cells, and the hepatocytes within 1 hour and then disappeared 1/2 hour thereafter. In group 2 deposited lead was found in the hepatocytic cytosol bound to mitochondria. That in turn inhibited mitochondrial respiration with resultant mitochondrial swelling at the 1st week and thereafter at 6th week myelin figure formation and condensation of mitochondria, and peroxisomes were increased at 8th week. Based on these results it can be concluded that a transient intake of subletal dose of LA is biotransformed completely by periportal hepatocytes within 1 1/2 hours, but excessively accumulated lead can induce liver cell injury due to lipid peroxidation of membrane by direct toxic effect of lead and by products of lipid peroxidation. We postulate that lead acetate triggers presumably primarily mitochondrial membrane injury and then other organellar changes may play a role in disturbance of a network of interacting of key events capable of causing cell death.
Rats ; Animals

No abstract available.

The p53 gene is believed to play an important role through the mutation and overexpression in the progression of various human malignant tumors. The type IV collagenase (matrix metalloproteinase: MMP-2) initiates the degradation of the extracellular matrix, and consequently may play a role in the tumor invasion and metastasis. To investigate the correlation between clinicopathologic features of the colorectal adenocarcinomas and benign tumors and expression of p53 and MMP-2 proteins, we performed an immunohistochemical study on 40 colorectal adenocarcinomas, 20 adenomas and 20 hyperplastic polyps by using the antibodies to p53 and MMP-2 proteins. The positive expression rate of the p53 protein in adenocarcinomas was 62.5% and significantly higher than in benign tumors. The positive expression rate of the MMP-2 protein was 47.5% in adenocarcinomas, but there was no expression of MMP-2 protein in benign tumors. The difference in p53 and MMP-2 expression rates between malignant and non-malignant tumors was statistically significant. The positive expression rate of p53 protein in the non-metastatic and metastatic adenocarcinomas was 59.1 and 66.7%, respectively. The positive expression rate of MMP-2 protein in the non-metastatic and metastatic adencarcinomas was 45.5 and 50.0%, respectively. The correlation between several clinicopathologic features and expression of p53 and MMP-2 protein was not statistically significant, but the rate of positive MMP-2 immunoreactivity showed a statistically significant difference between Astler-Coller stage B1 C1 group and B2 C2 group of adenocarcinoma (p=0.0431). We concluded that the expression of p53 and MMP-2 protein contributes to the cancer development and MMP-2 may play a certain role in the invasiveness of the colorectal tumor. p53 and MMP-2 protein expression is not correlated with lymph node metastasis.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Adenoma ; Antibodies ; Collagenases ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Extracellular Matrix ; Genes, p53 ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Polyps

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship of cold pressor, hyperventilation and exercise test responses to circadian patterns and types of angina in vasospastic angina have still not been known. The aim of this study was to identify subgoups of patients who have similar clinical features and provocation test response. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one consecutive patients with pure vasospastic angina were studied. Six exercise tests were performed in the early morning, late morning, and late afternoon in consecutive days, and 2 hyperventilation tests and 2 cold pressor tests in the early morning. Circadian distribution and types of angina(at rest, on physical activity or both) were evaluated by clinical history, clinical records and ambulatory ECG recordings during admission and follow-up periods(mean 19+/-9 months). RESULTS: Three patterns of circadian distribution of anginal attacks were identified during all observation periods together(morning and night: MN n=, morning and afternoon or evening: M+/E n=, morning, night and afternoon and/or evening: MN+/E n=1). Exercise test was positive in 36%(40/111) without circadian variation, hyperventilation test in 66%(23/35) and cold pressor test in 6%(2/33). Neither hyperventilation test nor cold pressor test was related to circadian patterns, types or activity of angina, or numbers of spastic artery. But positive exercise test increased significantly in patients with angina on physical activity(43% vs 21%, p<0.05), high activity(57% vs 18%, p<0.01), multivessel spasm(50% vs 27%, p<0.05 ) and circadian patterns of M+/E and MN+/E(29%, 55% vs 4%, p<0.05, p<0.01). All patients with MN had rest angina and single vessel spasm. All 6 patients with M+/E had angina both at rest and on physical activity and 5 single vessel spasm. Eight of 11 patients with MN+/E had angina both at rest and on physical activity and 8 multivessel spasm. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that hyperventilation test is highly sensitive in vasospastic angina without any relationship to clinical features, but exercise test response is related well to circadian patterns of angina attacks which are associated with characteristic clinical features.
Arteries ; Electrocardiography ; Exercise Test ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hyperventilation ; Motor Activity ; Muscle Spasticity ; Spasm

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Electrodes* ; Humans ; Neural Conduction*

No abstract available.
Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic* ; Incidence*

BACKGROUND: Aging is associated with increased cardiovascular risk and firmly established as a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. However the exact mechanism of age-related damage to the arterial wall and its relation to the atherosclerotic process are not well known.The endothelium plays an important role for the regulation of vascular tone and the endothelial function is impaired in the presence of risk factors early in the process of atherosclerosis. Assessment of endothelial function appears to be a valuable tool for the diagnosing and therapeutic monitoring of coronary artery disease. Anti-oxidants are known to improve endothelial dysfunction in atherosclerosis patients. The aim of this study was, (1) to evaluate the endothelial function in elderly, (2) to investigate whether vitamin C administration has benefit on the endothelial function in elderly. METHODS: The endothelial function was estimated using venous occlusion plethysmography(VOP) in 7 elderly and 7 young healthy volunteers. The strain guage was connected to plethysmograph to record the forearm volume change. A rapid cuff inflator was used to inflate the arm cuff to 40 mmHg instantaneuosly thus occluding venous return from the forearm. The measurement of forearm volume change was repeated for 7 times each stage. The change of the forearm blood flow(FBF) was measured with the acetylcholine infusion through brachial artery and also with intra-arterial vitamin C. RESULTS: Endothelium-dependent vasodilatation was significantly impaired in the elderly group compared to the young group(321 +/-17% in elderly group vs 509 +/-81%, mean+/-SEM) Forearm blood flow response to acetylcholine was significantly enhanced with inraarterial infusion of vitamin C in elderly group(321+/-17% in elderly group vs 78% in vitamin C) Coinfusion of L-NMMA, an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, blunted forearm blood flow response to acetylcholine. CONCLUSIONS: Even though the mechanisms leading to drpressed endothelial function in elderly remains to be elucidated, our study shows that vitamin C result in demonstrable improvement by a mechanism that is probably related to antioxidant activity.
Acetylcholine ; Aged* ; Aging ; Arm ; Ascorbic Acid* ; Atherosclerosis ; Brachial Artery ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Endothelium ; Forearm ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; omega-N-Methylarginine ; Risk Factors ; Vasodilation* ; Vitamins*

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the humeral tunnel characters and clinical relevance according to entry point of the humeral tunnel in the baseball players. It was hypothesized that the medial collateral ligament (MCL) reconstruction with nonanatomical starting location of the humeral tunnel (inferior edge of the medial epicondyle: group NA) provided less favorable radiological and clinical outcomes compared to that with anatomical starting location (original footprint of the MCL: group A). The retrospective case review yielded 19 consecutive athletes who underwent isolated MCL reconstruction using the docking technique. Three dimensional-computed tomography scan was performed at 3 months, and the iso-surfacing by marching cubes algorithm were applied to evaluate the length and angle of humeral tunnel. Three outcome measures were used in this study: the visual analog scale for pain, range of motion and the Conway scale. The angle of the humeral tunnel was measured 12.2° (range, 7.9°–25.2°) in the group NA and 15.5° (range, 9.8°–30.4°) in the group A (p<0.05). The mean length of humeral tunnel is measured 16.3 mm (range, 11.7–20.1 mm) in the group NA and 15.2 mm (range, 10.3–19.1 mm) in the group A (p<0.05). MCL reconstruction brought substantial improvement in pain and function. However, between-group comparison revealed no statistical differences in all outcome measurements. The MCL reconstruction using the docking technique provided favorable clinical outcomes in baseball players. Although the humeral tunnel angle and length were different depending on the humeral entry points, clinical differences between the two entry points were not found.
Athletes ; Baseball* ; Collateral Ligaments* ; Humans ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Retrospective Studies ; Visual Analog Scale

To investigate the relationship between the watching television and myopia, 301 middle school students of different school grade and sex were given questionnaires of the average television watching period per a day and examined the degree of myopia by the manifest refraction. The results showed that no statistically significant correlation existed between the degree of myopia and the television watching period, however the degree of myopia progresses with advancing school grade. From this results, we concluded that the usual television watching is not related to the degree of myopic refractive changes.
Humans ; Myopia* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Television*

Raynaud's phenomenon manifests as triphasic color change episodes of blanching, cyanosis, and reddening of the digits, induced by exposure to low temperature or emotional stress. It is a relatively common disorder, estimated to affect 5-10% of the general population and 20-30% of otherwise healthy women. Most cases of primary Raynaud's phenomenon also called Raynaud's disease, are mild and self-limited. Secondary Raynaud's phenomenon presents as a secondary manifestation of an underlying disease and are complicated by ulcerations and tissue necrosis. From March 1996 to August 1998, we experienced 4 patients with Raynaud's phenomenon. Two patients were diagnosed Raynaud's disease and the other two were secondary. Raynaud's disease responded to drug therapy and sympatetic ganglion block. Secondary Raynaud's syndrome was treated with vein graft and free tissue transfer. During postoperative follow-up of 33-49 months, both severity and symptomatic intervals were improved.
Cyanosis ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Ganglion Cysts ; Humans ; Necrosis ; Raynaud Disease ; Stress, Psychological ; Transplants ; Ulcer ; Veins