One of the important activities nursing is the alleviating of discomfort including pain as providing comfort to patient. Postoperativediscom has been underestimated because it is only a part of postoperative physiological process and disappear in time. The study was designed to investigate the effect of relaxation technique on postoperative discomfort of patients with lumbosacral back pain. A total of 40 patients were selected as a subject from August 12th to October 10th 1995 who had been hospitalized at NS and OS nursing units in K medical center. Of them twenty were in the experimental group and the remaining twenty were in the control group in convenience sampling. The tools for study were Relaxation technique, designed to use postoperative setting adequately by Park, and Postoperative Discomfort Scale. The data were analyzed by use of t-test an x2 test. The study was concluded as follows : The main hypothesis, that "the experimental group who used relaxation technique will express a lesser score of postoperative discomfort than the control group who did not use relaxation technique" is divided into seven sub-hypotheses. Hypothesis 1, that "the experimental group will express less postoperative pain than the control group"was supported(t=-7.52, p=0.000). Hypothesis 2, that "the experimental group will express less postoperative feeling of unpleasantness than the control group"was supported(t=-7.04, p=0.000). Hypothesis 3, that "the experimental group will express less postoperative immobilization discomfort than the control group"was supported(t=-6.66, p=0.000). Hypothesis 4, that "the experimental group will show fewer nonverbal expressions of postoperative distress than the control group"was supported(t=-3.75, p=0.01). Hypothesis 5, that "the experimental group will use analgesic medication less frequently than the control group" was supported(t=-4.15, p=0.000). Hypothesis 6, that "the experimental group will have less change in vital sings between the pre and postoperative periods than control group"was supported only for respiratory rate(t=-4.06, p=0.000). Hypothesis 7. that "the experimental group will express less postoperative voiding difficulty than the control group"was not supported(t=0.06, p=0.951). As a result, this study showed that relaxation technique has the effect to postoperative discomfort of the patients with lumbosacral back pain, so the researcher thought it is enable for nurses to help patients undergoing postoperative discomfort.
Back Pain* ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Nursing ; Pain, Postoperative ; Physiological Processes ; Postoperative Period ; Relaxation*

BACKGROUND: Proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMC) is a critical event in the development of atherosclerosis. Endothelin-1(ET-1), a vasoconstrictor peptide produced by endothelial cells and VSMC, might play a role in vascular remodeling. To investigate the proposed 'mitogenic' potential of ET-1, we examined the effects of ET-1 on the proliferation if cultured porcine aortic VSMC and on the potential synergism with platelet-derived growth factor(PDGF). MATERIALS AND METHODS: VSMC were obtained from porcine aorta and cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium supplmented with 10% fetal bovine serum(FBS). VSMC grown subconfluently in 12-well plate were stimulated by ET-1, PDGF, and ET-1 & PDGF and DNA synthesis was determined as the uptake of 3H-thymidine into cell cultures. We also examined the effects of BQ123, a selective ETA receptor antagonist, and NG-methyl-L-arginine(NMLA), a nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor. RESULTS: ET-1 elicited a 2.5-fold increase of cultured VSMC DNA synthesis, comparing with basal medium, and PDGF elicited a 4.8-fold increase, whereas ET-1 and PDGF elicited a 8.8-fold increase, showing synergistic effect. Proliferative activity of ET-1 on VSMC was blocked(39%) by BQ123, however, the synergistic effect of ET-1 and PDGF was not blocked by BQ123. The synergistic effect of ET-1 and PDGF was increased when co-stimulated with NMLA. CONCLUSION: ET-1 is a co-mitogen for VSMC from porcine aorta, whose proliferative activity requires serum or other growth factors such as PDGF for its maximal activity. The proliferative activity of ET-1 is considered to be transduced partly by selective activation of the ETA receptor, however, the synergistic effect of of ET-1 and PDGF is to be stimulated by non-ETA receptor.
Aorta ; Atherosclerosis ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Proliferation* ; DNA ; Eagles ; Endothelial Cells ; Endothelin-1* ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular* ; Nitric Oxide Synthase

BACKGROUND: Many studies reported that endothelium-dependent vasodilator response is impaired in patients with congestive heart failure. But the opposite results also were reported. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of endothelial dysfunction and its characteristics. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Forearm blood flow was measured in 12 patients with congestvie heart failure (7 males and 5 females, mean age 53+/-11 years old) and 10 normal control subjects (5 males and 5 females, mean age 41+/-10 years old) using strain-gauge plethysmography. The endothelium-dependent vasodilators were acetylcholine (7.5, 15, and 30 microgram/min), which uses a pertussis toxin-sensitive signal transduction pathway, and bradykinin (100, 200, and 400 ng/min), which uses a pertussis toxin-insensitive signal transduction pathway to activate nitric oxide production. Sodium nitroprusside (0.8, 1.6, and 3.2 microgram/min) was used as an endothelium-independent vasodilator. All drugs were infused into the brachial artery with random order. RESULTS: The basal forearm blood flow was similar between both groups. The maximum flow in response to acetylcholine, bradykinin, and sodium nitroprusside was also similar in two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with congestive heart failure showed normal endothelium-dependent vasodilator responses to both acetylcholine and to bradykinin. This finding indicates that the endothelial vasodilator function is normal in the patients with heart failure.
Acetylcholine ; Brachial Artery ; Bradykinin ; Endothelium ; Endothelium-Dependent Relaxing Factors ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP)* ; Female ; Forearm ; Heart Failure* ; Humans ; Male ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitroprusside ; Plethysmography ; Signal Transduction ; Vasodilation* ; Whooping Cough

BACKGROUND: Isolated lung perfusion (ILP) was developed as a new treatment approach to non-resectable primary or metastatic lung cancer, because of its ability to reduce systemic toxicity while delivering high-dose chemotherapeutic agents to the target organs. This research was planned to evaluate the direct toxic effect of high-dose cisplatin to the lung tissue during isolated lung perfusion. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fifteen mongrel dogs were divided in the perfusate for 40 minutes. The second group was composed of 5 mongrel dogs which underwent ILP with cisplatin 2.5 mg/Kg added to the perfusate for 30 minutes and 10 minutes with washing solution without cisplatin. The third group underwent the same procedure as the second group except cisplatin 5.0 mg/Kg in the perfusate. Activities of serum angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and concentration of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and blood urea nitrogen/creatinine (BUN/Cr) were analyzed in each groups at the time of pre-perfusion, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, and 2 weeks after ILP. RESULT: Serum ACE activities before and 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, and 2 weeks after ILP in control group were 45.1+/-6.3, 44.6+/-9.3, 46.7+/-9.5, 50.8+/-9.1, 46.1+/-4.3 U/L. Those in cisplatin 2.5 and 5.0 mg/Kg groups were 49.4+/-12.6, 39.0+/-8.6, 42.3+/-15.9, 50.0+/-2.6, 53.8+/-8.3 and 55.5+/-12.3, 47.0+/-6.3, 45.1+/-6.9, 74.8+/-19.5, 60.2+/-12.0 U/L, respectively. Serum TNF-alpha activities in each group before and after ILP were 5.0+/-1.5 / 7.7+/-2.2 / 6.6+/-2.5 / 4.3+/-1.3 / 5.2+/-1.1 (control), 8.7+/-1.6 / 9.9+/-2.2 / 7.9+/-1.5 / 6.3+/-2.2 / 7.4+/-2.4 (cisplatin 2.5 mg/Kg), and 6.9+/-0.7 / 8.9+/-3.4 / 7.9+/-4.0 / 3.3+/-0.9 / 5.8+/-1.3 pg/ml (cisplatin 5.0 mg/Kg). Mean LDH levels of each group were 225.7 / 271.3 / 328.9 / 350.8 / 255.7(control), 235.7 / 265.7 / 336.0 / 379.5 / 299.2 (cisplatin 2.5 mg/Kg), and 259.6 / 285.2 / 340.6 / 433.4 / 292.4 IU/L (cisplatin 5.0 mg/Kg). So there was no significant difference in serum ACE, TNF-alpha, and LDH activity changes after ILP between the 3 groups. And, there was no significant changes in BUN/Cr in each groups, which was independent of ILP and perfused concentration of cisplatin. In addition, all dogs survived the ILP and there was no significant evidence of pulmonary vascular injury after 2 weeks of ILP with cisplatin. CONCLUSION: There was no harmful effect of cisplatin to the lund tissue of the mongrel dog up to 5.0 mg/Kg in perfusate. Therefore, it is perceived to be safe and effective to deliver high-dose cisplatin to the lung without pulmonary toxicity and renal damage with ILP.
Animals ; Cisplatin* ; Dogs* ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung* ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; Perfusion* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Urea ; Vascular System Injuries

No abstract available.
Animals ; Electroshock* ; Glutamate Decarboxylase* ; Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase* ; Glutamic Acid* ; Glutamine* ; Hippocampus* ; Rats*

The authors compared the changes of morphology, blood brain barrier alteration, pathology, arterial blood lactate content and cerebrospinal fluid lactate content between an intermittent brain retraction group and a continuous brain retraction group in 56 mongrel cats. The results were as follows ; 1) Microscopically, hemorrhages were punctate in 15 cases among 25 cases in the intermittent retraction group. However, there were multiple or large hemorrhages in 13 cases among the 25 cases in the continuous brain retraction group. 2) All cases of the intermittent retraction group showed 0~25% Evans blue staining of the coronal section crossing the retraction site. However, 8 cases among the 25 cases of the continuous retraction group showed 51~75% Evans blue staining and 4 cases of this group showed 76~100% staining. 3) With photomicroscopy, the authors noted small hemorrhage and cellular swelling in the intermittent retraction group instead of pyknosis, hemorrhagic necrosis, vacuolation in the continuous retraction group. 4) The change of arterial blood lactate content was from 1.22+/-0.24mmol/L at preretraction time to 1.42+/-0.26mmol/L at 90 minutes after release of retractor in the intermittent retraction group(p<0.01). In the continuous retraction group, the authors noted a change in the lactate content from 1.20+/-0.38mmol/L to 3.15+/-0.97mmol/L for the same time as above(p<0.001). 5) The change of CSF lactate content in the intermittent retraction group was from 1.39+/-0.29mmol/L at preretraction time to 1.43+/-0.23mmol/L at 90 minutes after release of retractor(p>0.05). In the continuous retraction group, this author noted change in the lactate content from 1.37+/-0.28mmol/L to 2.11+/-0.52mmol/L for the same time as described above(p<0.01). From the above results, the superiority of the intermittent brain retraction was demonstrated as compared with the continuous brain retraction. Also the possible utilization of this experimental method was discussed for other wxperimental studies on ischemia.
Animals ; Blood-Brain Barrier ; Brain* ; Cats* ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Evans Blue ; Hemorrhage ; Ischemia ; Lactic Acid ; Necrosis ; Pathology

We aimed to study the clinicopathologic features of inflammatory fibroid polyp by histological and immunohistochemical methods. The materials used in this study consisted of 9 cases of inflammatory fibroid polyp: 4 in the stomach, 4 in the small intestine and 1 in the cecum. The results were as follows: Females were affected more frequently than males and the average age was 45 years(range:27-61). In cases of gastric lesion, the size tended to be smaller, the mass was mainly located along the greater curvature side of antrum, and confined to the submucosa. However inflammatory fibroid polyp of the small intestine was over 2.5 cm in size, located along the antemesenteric border, and involved the proper muscle layer. In addition, intussusception was accompanied by polyp in 2 cases of small intestinal lesions. Histologically inflammatory fibroid polyps of the stomach were characterized by prominent lymphocytic infiltration and occasional onion-skinning of stromal cells, whereas plasmocytic infiltration was prominent in those of the small intestine. Main component cells comprising this lesion were confirmed to be fibroblasts by immunohistochemistry which revealed strong reactivity to vimentin in the cytoplasm of slindle cells.
Female ; Male ; Humans

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant* ; Infant, Newborn* ; Reference Values*

A 10 month-old female visited our out-patient clinic, whose chief complaint was an enlargement of right eyeball since 5 month ago. Her physical examination disclosed Cafe-au-lait spots on abdomen and back and a tumor-like mass was seen on right vitreous cavity by slit lamp biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy, and orbit CT. The working diagnosis was either neurofibromatosis or retinoblastoma, but choroidal hemangioma was also another possibility tomographically. However, MRI suggested the possibility of choroidal malignant melanoma unexpectedly. Subsequently the eye was enucleated and the tumor was confirmed to be a choroidal malignant melanoma. We report this interesting case and the other case of choroidal malignant melanoma diagnosed by MRI in 57 year-old male.
Female ; Humans ; Hemangioma

No abstract available.
Humans ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms* ; Prostate* ; Urethral Obstruction*