Isolated rat thoracic aorta which is pharmacologically precontracted by phenylephrine induces photorelaxation when exposed to long wave length UV-light. The aim of the present study was to characterize the mechanism of UV-light induced by photorelaxation in the rat aorta. 1. UV light relaxed both endothelium-intact and -denuded rat aortic rings contracted by phenylephrine. The magnitude of relaxation on UV light was dependent on the exposure time and slightly greatly in endothelium-denuded rings than in endothelium-intact preparations. 2. L-NAME (10 nM-100 uM) but not D-NAME completely inhibited the photorelaxation in a concentration dependent manner. 3. The UV-induced relaxation was inhibited by methylene blue (1 -100 uM), and verapamil (100 nM), and removal of extracellular Ca2+. In contrast, UV-light induced photorelaxation was potentiated by N(w)-nitro-Larginine (L-NOARG) treatment. 4. In immunocytochemical analysis of UV-light induced iNOS and eNOS expression in rat aortas, at which expression levels were increased in a time-dependent manner on UV-irradiation in aortic endothelium and smooth muscle, respectively. These results suggest that UV light-induced photorelaxation may be due to nitric oxide from exogenously administered L-arginine as well as endogenous nitric oxide donors such as amino acid and arginine derivatives. Additional suggestion is that UV light stimulates the expression of nitric oxide synthases, and its activity for nitric oxide generation is dependent on cytosolic Ca2+ originated from extracellular space.
Acetylcholine/pharmacology ; Animals ; Aorta, Thoracic/drug effects/*physiology/radiation effects ; Calcium Channel Blockers/pharmacology ; Cholinergic Agents/pharmacology ; Endothelium, Vascular/drug effects/physiology/radiation effects ; Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology ; Female ; Male ; Methylene Blue/pharmacology ; NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester/pharmacology ; Nitric Oxide Synthase/antagonists & inhibitors/metabolism ; Phenylephrine/pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; *Ultraviolet Rays ; Vasoconstrictor Agents/pharmacology ; Vasodilation/drug effects/*radiation effects ; Vasodilator Agents/pharmacology ; Verapamil/pharmacology

Purpose: Dalgona, a kind of candy made of caramelized sugar, is a popular snack for children. Given the popularity of preparing dalgona, increasingly many patients are treated for burns sustained while preparing dalgona. We report the clinical features and dangers of burns from dalgona. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 11 inpatients and outpatients who had been treated for burns they received while preparing dalgona from March 2020 to December 2020. The data reviewed were age, sex, the severity of the burn, the size and location of the burn, the type of treatment, and the place where the injury occurred. Results: The age of the patients ranged from 3 to 19 years, and the average age was 10.2 years (2 male, 9 female). Three patients had superficial second-degree burns, while eight had deep second-degree or third-degree burns. Most of the cases were treated with a local skin flap or skin graft. All the burned lesions were on the hands and feet. In all cases, the burns occurred at home due to accidental spillage. Conclusion Most of the patients were children and teenagers, and they had serious burns. Therefore, we report these findings to emphasize the need for public awareness of the potential for burn injuries to occur during dalgona preparation.

PURPOSE: To report on the clinical manifestations, species and treatments of patients with chronic canaliculitis. METHODS: From August 2003 to February 2012, 77 eyes of 77 patients who were diagnosed with chronic canaliculitis at our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The mean period from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis was 4.7 months. The most common systemic disease associated with chronic canaliculitis was diabetes (18 eyes, 23%), and 13 eyes (17%) were related to punctual plug insertion. Main symptoms consisted of epiphora with discharge and pouting punctum. In the culture results of 55 eyes, streptococci, staphylococci, and actinomyces among other bacteria were identified. Seventy-two eyes (94%) were cured with one-snip punctoplasty with curettage. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic canaliculitis is rare, and the clinical aspect can be obscured by chronic conjunctivitis, thus the diagnosis is often delayed. In patients who have systemic diseases such as diabetes or past history of punctual plug insertion, chronic canaliculitis should be differentiated by observing the punctum more closely. If the diagnosis is accurate at the time, chronic canaliculitis could be easily cured by a relatively simple procedure such as one-snip punctoplasty with curettage.
Actinomyces ; Bacteria ; Conjunctivitis ; Corneal Ulcer ; Curettage ; Dacryocystitis ; Eye ; Humans ; Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases ; Retrospective Studies ; Canaliculitis

No abstract available.
Mucous Membrane* ; Muramidase* ; Turbinates*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Herpes Simplex type 2 Defective Infectious Single Cycle virus (DISC virus) is an attenuated virus originally produced as a viral vaccine, but it also serves as an efficient gene transfer vehicle. The main goals of this study were to examine determinants of gene transfer using DISC vectors for squamous cell carcinoma and to evaluate the efficacy of vaccination with the DISC virus carrying a combination of immunomodulatory genes (IL-2, GM-CSF) as cancer therapy in a model of squamous cell cancer in the C3H/HeJ mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We determinated the gene and protein expression of DISC-IL-2 and DISC-GM-CSF transfected SCCVII cells by RT-PCR and ELISA method. Also, we evaluated the ex vivo vaccination effects of DISC-IL-2 and DISC-GMCSF on preventing the development of SCCVII tumor. RESULTS: SCCVII cells transduced by the DISC virus vector (MOI=10) carrying the IL-2, or the GM-CSF gene, produced nanogram quantities of IL-2 or GM-CSF per 10(6) cells. Of particular interest was the observation that cells irradiated at different doses (5,000 cGy, 10,000 cGy) secreted levels of GM-CSF or IL-2 that were comparable to non-irradiated cells. In vivo vaccination using tumor cells transduced ex vivo with DISC-IL-2 or DISC-GMCSF resulted in protection against subsequent tumor challenge (p<0.01). Among the multiple immunomodulatory transgenes vaccination groups, the DISC-GMCSF transfected vaccine showed the greatest suppression of tumor development and growth (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that: 1) The DISC virus vector is capable of efficient gene transfer to SCCVII cells, 2) The GM-CSF secreting, genetically modified tumor vaccine (SCCVII/GMCSF) efficiently protected against tumor cell challenge and suppressed tumor growth in our tumor model. The DISC virus-mediated, cytokine gene transfer may prove to be useful in clinical therapy for head and neck cancers.
Animals ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Genetic Therapy* ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor* ; Growth and Development ; Head* ; Herpes Simplex ; Interleukin-2* ; Mice ; Neck* ; Neoplasms, Squamous Cell* ; Transgenes ; Vaccination

No abstract available.
Animals ; Guinea Pigs* ; Guinea* ; Nasal Mucosa*

A debridement method that causes minimal damage to normal tissue during the removal of necrotic tissue is important for chronic wound healing. A new instrument based on low-frequency ultrasound, the Misonix SonicOne O.R. System ® (Bioventus, Farmingdale, NY, USA), creates 22.5 kHz ultrasound waves that cause cavitation or oscillating micro-gas bubbles to debride unhealthy tissue. The device was used for debridement on nine patients with chronic wounds of varying etiology: two patients with decubitus ulcers, one patient with a crush injury, and seven patients with burns. The eschar and unhealthy granulation tissue were removed effectively with no damage to normal skin and soft tissue. No bleeding complications occurred and postoperative analgesics were not required. Compared to surgical debridement, the low-frequency ultrasound device was effective, easy and safe to use, and caused less pain and bleeding. It can be recommended as a treatment method for chronic wounds, comparable to surgical wound debridement.

Diabetes decreases skeletal muscle mass and induces atrophy. However, the mechanisms by which hyperglycemia and insulin deficiency modify muscle mass are not well defined. In this study, we evaluated the effects of swimming exercise on muscle mass and intracellular protein degradation in diabetic rats, and proposed that autophagy inhibition induced by swimming exercise serves as a hypercatabolic mechanism in the skeletal muscles of diabetic rats, supporting a notion that swimming exercise could efficiently reverse the reduced skeletal muscle mass caused by diabetes. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were injected intraperitoneally with streptozotocin (60 mg/kg body weight) to induce diabetes and then submitted to 1 hr per day of forced swimming exercise, 5 days per week for 4 weeks. We conducted an intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test on the animals and measured body weight, skeletal muscle mass, and protein degradation and examined the level of autophagy in the isolated extensor digitorum longus, plantaris, and soleus muscles. Body weight and muscle tissue mass were higher in the exercising diabetic rats than in control diabetic rats that remained sedentary. Compared to control rats, exercising diabetic rats had lower blood glucose levels, increased intracellular contractile protein expression, and decreased autophagic protein expression. We conclude that swimming exercise improves muscle mass in diabetes-induced skeletal muscle atrophy, suggesting the activation of autophagy in diabetes contributes to muscle atrophy through hypercatabolic metabolism and that aerobic exercise, by suppressing autophagy, may modify or reverse skeletal muscle wasting in diabetic patients.
Adult ; Animals ; Atrophy ; Autophagy ; Blood Glucose ; Body Weight ; Exercise ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; Insulin ; Male ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Muscles ; Muscular Atrophy ; Proteolysis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Streptozocin ; Swimming

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We considered two possible mechanisms that might be responsible for the increased accumulation of lysozyme in retinoic acid (RA)-deficient cultures, either increased lysozyme synthesis or decreased lysozyme degradation based on our previous data. This study was to determine whether the synthesis and decay rate of intracellular lysozyme in RA-sufficient cultures are different from those in RA-deficient cultures. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Passage-2 normal human airway epithelial cells were used. For synthesis rate of lysozyme, day 10 RA-deficient and RA-sufficient cultures, incubated over 6 hour period with 35S-methionine-cysteine and cell lysates, were collected. For decay rate, day 10 cultures grown in the presence or absence of RA were labeled with 35S-methionine-cysteine for 4 hours and the labeling media were then removed. Cell extracts were collected over 8 hours. Newly synthesized or labeled lysozyme was immunoprecipitated with anti-lysozyme antibody and separated by SDS-PAGE. RESULTS: Lysozyme synthesis rate in RA-sufficient cultures was higher than in RA-deficient cultures. In the RA-deficient cultures, the levels of newly synthesized lysozyme barely changed over the 8 hour post-labeling period. In contrast, in the RA-sufficient cultures, radiolabeled lysozyme levels decreased rapidly during the 8 hour post-labeling period, with a half-life of approximately 6 hours. CONCLUSION: Discrepancy in mRNA and protein of lysozyme in RA-deficient cultures is due to the increased stability of lysozyme protein in RA-deficient cultures.
Cell Extracts ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Epithelial Cells* ; Half-Life ; Humans* ; Muramidase* ; RNA, Messenger ; Tretinoin*

No abstract available.
Keratosis*