There are numerous drug interactions related to many psychotropic and cardiovascular medications. Firstly, the principles in predicting drug interactions are discussed. Cytochrome P (CYP) 450 plays a significant role in the metabolism of these drugs that are substrates, inhibitors, or inducers of CYP450 enzymes. The two most significant enzymes are CYP2D6 and CYP3A4. The ability of psychotropic drugs to act as inhibitors for the enzymes may lead to altered efficacy or toxicity of co-administered cardiovascular agents as a substrate for the enzymes. The following is also a review of the known interactions between many commonly prescribed cardiovascular agents and psychotropic drugs. Most beta blockers are metabolized by CYP2D6, which may lead to drug toxicity when they use in combination with potent CYP2D6 inhibitors including bupropion, chlorpromazine, haloperidol, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and quinidine. Concomitant administration of lithium with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and diuretics may increase serum lithium concentrations and toxicity. Calcium channel blockers and cholesterol lowering agents are subject to interactions with potent inhibitors of CYP3A4, such as amiodarone, diltiazem, fluvoxamine, nefazodone, and verapamil. Prescribing antiarrhythmic drugs in conjunction with medications are known to prolong QT interval and/or inhibitors on a relevant CYP450 enzyme is generally not recommended, or needs watchful monitoring. Digoxin and warfarin also have warrant careful monitoring if co-administered with psychotropic drugs.
Amiodarone ; Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists ; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors ; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents ; Bupropion ; Calcium Channel Blockers ; Cardiovascular Agents ; Chlorpromazine ; Cholesterol ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2D6 ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System ; Cytochromes ; Digoxin ; Diltiazem ; Diuretics ; Drug Interactions ; Drug Toxicity ; Fluvoxamine ; Haloperidol ; Lithium ; Psychotropic Drugs ; Quinidine ; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors ; Triazoles ; Verapamil ; Warfarin

The thickness of the glomerular basement membrane may vary not only in glomerular disease, but also in normal persons according to age and sex. But there has been no data on the normal thickness of the basement membrane in Korea. This study was designed to determine the glomerular basement membrane thickness as a reference value according to age and sex, in 50 cases of minimal change disease obtained from patients aged 2~67 years. Measurement of glomerular basement membrane was made on electron micrograph using an image analyzer. The thickness of each case was estimated by the arithmetic and harmonic mean methods. The mean thickness of the glomerular basement membrane was 291.9 47.9 nm by harmonic mean method and 284.2 43.7 nm by arithmetic mean method. And the harmonic mean thickness of the glomerular basement membrane according to age was 249.1 32.5 nm (1~5 years), 256.6 45.3 nm (6~10 years), 279.2 57.9 nm (11~15 years), 303.2 43.8 nm (16~20 years), 335.3 37.5 nm (21~30 years), and 291.1 22.5 nm (over 30 years), respectively. There was a trend that the thickness of glomerular basement membranes increased with the age till 30 years of age. There was no significant sex-related difference. In conclusion, the mean glomerular basement membrane thickness is comparable to the data from western people and shows a trend of increasing thickness according to the age.
Basement Membrane ; Glomerular Basement Membrane* ; Humans ; Kidney ; Korea ; Nephrosis, Lipoid* ; Reference Values

A 58-year-old female with an episode of gross hematuria two months before and fever and chill for the past three days presented oliguric acute renal failure. She has taken NSAID intermittently for 18 years due to rheumatoid arthritis, and herb medicine for one week two months ago when gross hematuria developed. Physical examination revealed mild tenderness on costovertebral angles. Her blood pressure was 170/100 mmHg, the urinalysis showed >300 mg protein with many RBCs and 10-20 WBCs and the serum creatinine was 5.8 mg/dl. A renal biopsy performed on the 4th hospital day showed that it was overwhelmed by severe tubular lesions which reveal intratubular obstruction by massive erythrocyte casts and tubular necrosis. The glomeruli showed focal minimal crescents with many red blood cells entrapped in the crescents and in the capillaries. Immune deposits were not present. A renal failure resolved spontaneously and the patient was discharged three weeks later with creatinine of 2.4 mg/dl. In this patient, acute renal failure was considered to be due to a tubular lesion related to the glomerular bleeding from focal glomerulonephritis revealing minimal crescents.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Biopsy ; Blood Pressure ; Capillaries ; Creatinine ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Fever ; Glomerulonephritis* ; Hematuria* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Physical Examination ; Renal Insufficiency ; Urinalysis

No abstract available.
Adolescent* ; Humans ; Parents* ; Smoking* ; Tobacco Products*

At first, we review a sample size estimation method for log-rank test in survival analysis. Although it is widely used these days, it has a weakness for practical use. We propose a modification method to avoid the weakness.
Sample Size*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Gene Expression* ; Genes, Immediate-Early* ; Rats*

The present study is aimed to investigate the clinical and pathologic features of GI lymphomas and the immunocytochemical characteristics, using 71 cases of primary GI lymphomas examined at the Department of Pathology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Youngdong Serverance Hospital and Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine from January, 1976 to December, 1985. Results obtained were as follows: 1) Sixty eight cases were Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma. Surgical resection was done in 58 patients and surgical biopsy in 13. 2) The primary sites of the tumors were stomach, small intestine, ileocecal area and large intestine in a descending order of frequency. 3) The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 45 years. The tumor of the small intestine was generally detected in the younger age and that of the large intestine in the older age. The overall male to female ratio was 1.9 : 1. 4) Abdominal pain was the most common presenting symptom irrespective of the sites of the tumor. Duration of the symptoms were evenly distributed from hours to 12 monthes. 5) The size of the tumors was less than 10 cm in the largest dimension in most of the cases (79.3%). The gross types of the GI lymphomas were ulcerative (27.6%), polypoid (20.7%), multinodulated (17.2%) and diffuse thickening. The rate of lymph node involvement was 44.4% in tumors confined to the serosa, while 82.6% in tumors with serosal penetrations. 6) Classification of 68 cases of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma according to Working Formulation revealed 50 cases of intermediate grade, 13 cases of high grade and 5 cases of low grade. According to Rappaport classification, all were diffuse types, among which diffuse histiocytic type was the most common. According to Lukes-Collins classification, 60 cases were B cell types, 4 cases genuine histiocytes types and 3 cases T cell types. Most of the gastric and intestinal lymphomas belonged to the follicular center cell (small and large cleaved, large cleaved) types. 7) Immunoperoxidase stains were done in 55 cases of malignant lymphomas. Thirty (65.9%) of 47 B cell lymphomas revealed a positivity for B cell markers. Twenty three (48.9%) of them showed a monoclonality, in which kappa/IgG pattern was most frequently demonstrated. Four cases of true histiocytic lymphomas were positive for alpha-1-antichymotrypsin and lysozyme, the former of which was seemed to be a more sensitive marker for histiocytic differentiation. An attempt was made to evaluate the significance of the degree of reactive histiocytic infiltrates within the lymphoma in relation to the progosis, but correlation could not be made because of the limited cases.
Female ; Male ; Humans ; Biopsy

Status of margins and the size of the lesion are independent prognostic factors of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Histologic grading of DCIS and expression of biologic marker also appear to act as prognostic factors. However, DNA ploidy analysis using flow cytometry in the DCIS and atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) has been rarely reported, and the biologic behavior of ADH is unknown. We performed immunohistochemical staining and DNA ploidy analysis using flow cytometry on 45 cases of pure DCIS without microinvasion and 34 cases of ADH to compare the expression of biologic markers and DNA ploidy patterns according to the histologic grade of DCIS, to evaluate the usefulness of the Van Nuys classification, and to investigate the biologic behavior of ADH and low grade DCIS. A total of 41.9% of DCIS and 32.1% of ADH were detected mammographically in asymptomatic patients. The most common subtype of the high grade DCIS was comedo type (56.3%), while the low and intermediate grade DCIS were cribriform type. Expression of ER, c-erbB-2 and Ki-67 proliferative index (PI) was significantly associated with nuclear grade and histologic grade of DCIS. Expression of c-erbB-2 was also significantly correlated with presence of necrosis. In low grade DCIS, Ki-67 PI was significantly higher than ADH. A total of 63.6% of DCIS and 70% of ADH were diploidy and 15.9% of DCIS was aneuploidy. There was no aneuploidy in ADH. No significant association was noted between DNA ploidy and histologic grade or nuclear grade. However, in high grade DCIS, the frequency of aneuploidy was high. In conclusion, histologic grading of DCIS employing nuclear grade and necrosis is a useful tool accounting for biologic behavior. High grade DCIS and comedo DCIS impart aggressive biologic behavior and suggest a higher possibility of local recurrence or progression to invasive carcinoma. In the differential diagnosis of ADH and low grade DCIS, the use of Ki-67 PI and DNA ploidy analysis by flow cytometry will be helpful for accurate diagnosis and prediction of biologic behavior.
Aneuploidy ; Biomarkers* ; Breast* ; Carcinoma, Ductal* ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating* ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diploidy ; DNA* ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Hyperplasia* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Necrosis ; Ploidies* ; Recurrence

Status of margins and the size of the lesion are independent prognostic factors of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Histologic grading of DCIS and expression of biologic marker also appear to act as prognostic factors. However, DNA ploidy analysis using flow cytometry in the DCIS and atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) has been rarely reported, and the biologic behavior of ADH is unknown. We performed immunohistochemical staining and DNA ploidy analysis using flow cytometry on 45 cases of pure DCIS without microinvasion and 34 cases of ADH to compare the expression of biologic markers and DNA ploidy patterns according to the histologic grade of DCIS, to evaluate the usefulness of the Van Nuys classification, and to investigate the biologic behavior of ADH and low grade DCIS. A total of 41.9% of DCIS and 32.1% of ADH were detected mammographically in asymptomatic patients. The most common subtype of the high grade DCIS was comedo type (56.3%), while the low and intermediate grade DCIS were cribriform type. Expression of ER, c-erbB-2 and Ki-67 proliferative index (PI) was significantly associated with nuclear grade and histologic grade of DCIS. Expression of c-erbB-2 was also significantly correlated with presence of necrosis. In low grade DCIS, Ki-67 PI was significantly higher than ADH. A total of 63.6% of DCIS and 70% of ADH were diploidy and 15.9% of DCIS was aneuploidy. There was no aneuploidy in ADH. No significant association was noted between DNA ploidy and histologic grade or nuclear grade. However, in high grade DCIS, the frequency of aneuploidy was high. In conclusion, histologic grading of DCIS employing nuclear grade and necrosis is a useful tool accounting for biologic behavior. High grade DCIS and comedo DCIS impart aggressive biologic behavior and suggest a higher possibility of local recurrence or progression to invasive carcinoma. In the differential diagnosis of ADH and low grade DCIS, the use of Ki-67 PI and DNA ploidy analysis by flow cytometry will be helpful for accurate diagnosis and prediction of biologic behavior.
Aneuploidy ; Biomarkers* ; Breast* ; Carcinoma, Ductal* ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating* ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diploidy ; DNA* ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Hyperplasia* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Necrosis ; Ploidies* ; Recurrence

Thirty cases of rhabdomyosarcoma in patients under the age of 15 years were reviewed retrospectively to find out characteristics of histologic subtypes related to prognosis. Histologic diagnosis were embryonal in 21(70%), alveolar in 7(23%) and mixed type in 2(7%). Cellular anaplasia was noted in 6 cases. Round to polygonal cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasmic rim or globules were most characteristic cytologic feature or rhabdomyosarcomas, being followed by myofibrils. Myxoid and edematous stroma in embryonal type and alveolar pattern in alveolar type wee nost characteristic growth pattern. Immunohistochemically, tumors were positive for desmin, actin and myoglobin in 97%, 27%, and 40%, respectively. Consequently, characteristic cytologic features are important to differentiate rhabdomyosarcomas form other kinds of small round cell tumor and growth pattern is more critical in categorizing histologic subtypes. Desmin is far more useful than actin or myoglobin in the diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma.
Child ; Male ; Female ; Humans