BACKGROUND: The regurgitative valvular heart diseases are important underlying diseases that result in congestive heart failure, and the prevalence increase with the increasing age. Early detection and management of the regurgitative valvular heart disease could decrease the morbidity and mortality rate of the elderly. METHODS: We reviewed medical records of 425 patients who visited KonKuk University Medical Center ChungJu Hospital for the echocardiography between April 1994 to September 2000. 281 out of 425 patients were diagnosed with regurgitative valvular heart disease, and they were analyzed according to their age, sex, underlying disease, and accompaniment of congestive heart failure. Also the relationships between the regurgitative valvular heart disease and fractional shortening(FS), and also with ejection fraction(EP) were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 281 patients diagnosed with regurgitative valvular heart disease. Greatest number of patients was diagnosed with MR, followed by AR, TR and PR, accordingly. The prevalence of regurgitative valvular heart disease increased as the age increased. The prevalence of regurgitative valvular heart disease in male patients were 74% and for female patients, 62%. For patients with hypertension, it was 59%, and for DM patients it was 60%. For patients with past history of ischemic heart disease, or congestive heart failure, the prevalences of regurgitative valvular heart disease were high. FS for the patients with regurgitative valvular heart disease was 28.91% compared 32.69% for the patients without regurgitative valvular heart disease. EF for the patients with regurgitative valvular heart disease was 54% compared to the 60% for without regurgitative valvular heart disease. The FS for patients with symptomatic regurgitative valvular heart disease was 23.86% compared to 27.7% for asymptomatic group. The EF for symptomatic regurgitative valvular heart disease was 46.2% compared to 52.3% for asymptomatic group. CONCLUSION: When 2D-echocardiography was performed on elderly patients who were older than 65 years of age, most of them featured degenerative structural changes in valves and deterioration of valvular functions resulting in regurgitative valvular heart disease. When patients had any symptoms or underlying diseases, the decrease in cardiac function and high prevalence of regurgitative valvular heart disease were apparent. Therefore in elderly patients, even if they are asymptomatic or without any underlying diseases, aggressive diagnostic approaches and early intervention may delay the progress of valvular heart disease.
Academic Medical Centers ; Aged* ; Chungcheongbuk-do ; Early Intervention (Education) ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Heart Failure ; Heart Valve Diseases* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Male ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Prevalence

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: GJB2 (Connexin 26), the gene of the gap-junction proteins, was found to be the main causative gene of autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss (DFNB1). Whereas 35delG was known as the major type mutation in the western countries, 235delC was reported as the specific form of mutation in Asian population. The objective of this study is to identify how two mutations (235 delC, E114G) found in the Korean population affect the function of GJB2 using the molecular biology techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 235delC and E114G types of mutations were cloned in the pcDNA3 vector. HeLa cells were transfected with these cloned vectors by the liposome complex method. 1) The expression and subcellular localization of Cx26 were determined using antibodies against amino acid sequences in the intracellular loop (IL) and N-terminal (NT) portions of Cx26. 2) To analyze functions of the GJB2, we examined the lucifer yellow dye transfer between cells with scrape-loaded technique. We used the wild-type (WT) Cx26 of normal hearing as a positive control, and mock cells as a negative control. RESULTS: The immunocytochemical analysis showed that cells transfected with E114G and WT gave characteristic punctuated patterns of reaction in the cell membrane with both antibodies. However, 235delC cells were not stained with the anti-IL antibody but only with the anti-NT antibody slightly around the nucleus regions. In the functional study of GJB2, transfer of lucifer yellow dye into contiguous cells was detected in E114G but not in 235delC. CONCLUSION: The 235delC type of mutation showed loss of their targeting activity on the cell membrane. As a result, the function of gap junction channels were severely deteriorated. With the E114G type mutation, we didn't find any difference when compared with the WT transfected cells. Above data indicate that types of GJB2 mutation are closely related to the status of hearing loss due to altered function of gap junction protein.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Antibodies ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cell Membrane ; Clone Cells ; Connexins ; Gap Junctions* ; Hearing Loss* ; Hearing* ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Liposomes ; Molecular Biology

A 9-year-old boy showed orofacial dyskinesia and psychic symptoms shortly after open heart surgery with deep hypothemia and cardiopulmonary bypass for congenital cyanotic heart disease. The choreothetosis progressed to be generalized and accompanied by mental deterioration. This involuntary movement partially responded only to repetitive administration of sedatives. After 3 month the patient expired with sudden development of ventricular tachycardia and cardiogenic shock.
Cardiopulmonary Bypass* ; Child ; Dyskinesias ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Hypothermia* ; Male ; Movement Disorders ; Shock, Cardiogenic ; Tachycardia, Ventricular ; Thoracic Surgery

BACKGROUND: In several studies, failure of some of the previously developed anti-HIV-1/HIV-2 ELISA tests to detect HIV-1 group O infected blood had been reported. All of the anti-HIV-1/HIV-2 ELISA tests made by Korean manufactures have limitation in detecting HIV-1 group O infected blood. Newly developed LG Anti-HIV 1/2 Plus is the first Korean made product to overcome this limitation. METHODS: Sensitivity and specificity of LG Anti-HIV 1/2 Plus (LG Life Science, Seoul, Korea) and Enzygnost Anti-HIV 1/2 Plus (Dade Behring, Marburg, Germany) were evaluated using 82 Anti-HIV 1 positive samples, 2 Anti-HIV 1 group O positive samples, 25 Anti-HIV 2 positive samples and commercial BBI (Boston Biomedica, Inc., MA, USA)) Anti-HIV panels and 382 Anti HIV negative samples (300 healthy donors, 13 alcoholics sera, 20 end-stage renal disease sera, 20 HBsAg positive sera, 22 anti-HBs antibody positive sera, 7 anti-HCV positive sera) respectively. Seroconversion window was evaluated using 2 BBI(R) seroconversion panel. Intrapersonal and interpersonal reproducibility of the test were evaluated also. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity of both tests were 100%. Analysis of window period using commercial seroconversion panel showed no difference between both tests. CONCLUSION: LG Anti-HIV 1/2 Plus LISA showed excellent sensitivity and specificity in tested samples including HIV-1 group O infected sera. It can be concluded that LG Anti-HIV 1/2 Plus ELISA is capable of detecting most of the HIV-1, HIV-2 type and it could be used in screening donated blood.
Alcoholics ; Biological Science Disciplines ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay* ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; HIV ; HIV-1 ; HIV-2 ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Mass Screening ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Seoul ; Tissue Donors

PURPOSE: This study was done to determine the usefulness of serum pepsinogen (PG) levels as a screening method for gastric cancer, and to assess the relationships between serum PG and clinicopathologic factors of gastric adenocarcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serum PG concentrations were measured in 94 subjects who were classified into (a) a control group (50 subjects) without abnormal endoscopic finding on a health checkup, or (b) a gastric cancer group (44 subjects) who had surgery at Daegu Catholic University Hospital between Nov. 2008 and May 2009. Receiver operator characteristic curves were utilized to select the most suitable test. Using different cutoff points, sensitivity and specificity were calculated. We compared preoperative serum PG levels with several clinicopathologic findings for patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: The Serum PG I:II ratio was the most useful as a screening test. The sensitivity and specificity of PG screening for gastric cancer were, respectively, 81.8% and 82%. The cut off point correlated with the type of intestinal cancer (Lauren classification; P=0.003), tumor stage (P=0.001), and gastric adenocarcinoma with peritumoral chronic atrophic gastritis (P=0.036). CONCLUSION: Serum PG levels were found to be a potentially useful screening test and to correlate with clinicopathologic factors in gastric cancer patients. But, in order to use serum PG found in a health checkup for gastric cancer as a clinical application a large scale study is recommended.
Adenocarcinoma ; Gastritis, Atrophic ; Humans ; Intestinal Neoplasms ; Mass Screening ; Pepsinogen A ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stomach Neoplasms

Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis is a disease involving the proliferation of atypical smooth muscle cells trom the perilymphatics, peribronchial and perivascular region of the lung and the retroperitneum. The disease usually affects women of child-bearing age. We recently experienced a case of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis in a 31-year-old women who had suffered from a chylous pleural effusion. Histologic confirmation of lymphangioleiomyomatosis was made upon a video-associated thoracoscopic lung biopsy. Here we report this case with a brief review of the literature.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Female ; Humans ; Lung ; Lymphangioleiomyomatosis* ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Pleural Effusion*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to examine whether conventional primary closure of the bile duct without routinely inserting a T-tube could be performed after all the surgeries used to treat choldocholithiasis. METHODS: From April 2002 to July 2005, we retrospectively analyzed 125 bile duct stone disease patients who underwent primary closure of the bile duct. RESULTS: Wound infection was the most frequent surgical complications, and it showed a higher trend in the patients who had a history of previous biliary operation, and it showed a trend to be slightly higher in the recurrent biliary stone cases than that in the de novo cases. However, these findings were not statistically significant. In addition, surgical complications developed in 16 of 100 patients who were older that 60 years, whereas there was only 1 of 25 patients who developed complications for the patients younger than 60 years. The development of complications has a tendency to be higher for the older patients, yet the level was not statistically significant. In regard to postsurgical hyperamylasemia, although a statistically significant difference could not be detected, this malady developed in 3 of 12 cases in whom endoscopic nasobiliary drainage (ENBD) tubes were inserted. This showed a trend to be higher than that for 13 cases of 113 patients for whom endoscopic nasobiliary drainage tubes were not inserted. Concerning the postsurgical hospitalization period, it was significantly longer in the cases who developed complications (p=0.018), and there was a tendency for a prolonged hospitalization period for the patients who were older than 60 years, for women, recurrent cases and the cases with a history of the bile duct surgery. Yet these had no statistical significance CONCLUSION: It appears that the primary closure of bile duct is a technique that could be performed safely for all choledocolithotomy patients , and this is regardless of the size of bile duct diameter, history of surgery on the bile duct system, gender, emergency operation, age, recurrent biliary stones, the presence of presurgical nasobiliary drainage tube and the presence of concomitant diseases.
Bile Ducts* ; Bile* ; Choledocholithiasis ; Drainage ; Emergencies ; Female ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hyperamylasemia ; Length of Stay ; Retrospective Studies ; Wound Infection

No abstract available.
Adenoma* ; Hyperaldosteronism*

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the role and effects of prolotherapy in patients presenting with lower back pain and detected sacral asymlocation, by retrospectively analyzing the results of prolotherapy performed at our institute. METHODS: Twenty-three patients with referred pain in the lower back rather than distinct radiculopathy, were detected to have sacral asymlocation by simple X-ray from May 2004 through July 2005. The patients were treated with prolotherapy and manipulation by the Ongley's method around the lumbosacral junction, iliolumbar ligament, and sacroiliac joint. They were treated for approximately one to two week intervals, and during this period were rechecked by X-ray and evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS). RESULTS: A total of 23 patients were included in the study (10 male and 13 female), and the average age was 41 years. The average VAS at the time of visit was 8.5, the average treatment time was 4.7 days, and the average VAS after treatment was 2.1. CONCLUSIONS: Back pain, and associated leg and buttock pain, originate from several causes. In these case analyses, instability around the lumbosacral area and sacral asymlocation might have been important causes of patient back pain and associated buttock and leg pain. We therefore applied prolotherapy as well as manipulation techniques devised by Ongley to these patients, and obtained good results.
Back Pain* ; Buttocks ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Leg ; Ligaments ; Low Back Pain ; Male ; Pain, Referred ; Radiculopathy ; Retrospective Studies ; Sacroiliac Joint