No abstract available.
Blood Platelets* ; Leukocytes* ; Plateletpheresis*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical and polysomnographic characteristics of Korean patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), especially in relation to differences due to age and gender. METHODS: All subjects were consecutive patients who were proven to have OSAS with nocturnal polysomnography. They were interviewed with a structured interview format including sociodemographic information, past medical history, medication, and sleep-related history. Simultaneously, they were also given Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) to answer in order to check subjective sleep quality and subjective sleepiness. RESULTS: Mean age of the 308 subjects was 49.5+/-13.3 years, with 77.6% of the subjects being males and 22.4% of the subjects being females. The aging effects on the sleep architecture in Korean OSAS corresponded with normal aging, but with the effect of OSAS itself superimposed, the extent of aging effects was more marked than that of normal aging. The severity of Korean patients of OSAS was not correlated with age. When divided into age subgroups, significant correlation was found between RDI and BMI in patients of each subgroup of those in the 4th to 7th decades. The oldest subgroup (>70 years) described their subjective sleep quality as poorer than any other age subgroups, despite of less subjective drowsiness. The severity of OSAS and the change of sleep architecture of male subjects turned out to be severer than those of female ones. The female/male ratio of the subjects tended to increase with aging. CONCLUSIONS: The aging effect on the sleep architecture in Korean OSAS seems to be a mixture of the changes by normal aging and sleep disorder per se. The severity of OSAS was not correlated with age, but highly correlated with BMI. The severity of OSAS and the change of sleep architecture of male patients were severer than those of female ones.
Aging ; Body Mass Index ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Polysomnography ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Sleep Stages

Voglibose, an α-glucosidase inhibitor, inhibits breakdown of complex carbohydrates into simple sugar units in intestine. Studies showed that voglibose metabolism in the liver might be negligible due to its poor intestinal absorption. Numerous microorganisms live in intestine and have several roles in metabolism and detoxification of various xenobiotics. Due to the limited information, the possible metabolism of voglibose by intestinal microbiota was investigated in vitro and in vivo.

PURPOSE: Atopy is a state of allergic response, mediated by IgE, to common environmental allergens. In recent decades, there has been an increase in prevalence of atopic disorders in children in developed countries. The factor associated with the rise of atopy incidence may be declining exposure to some infection opportunities. The aim of this study is to determine if the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis can suppress atopy by investigating the association between tuberculin responses and serum IgE. METHODS: We divided the patients into two groups according to tuberculin skin test. Group A showed positive response (induration diameter > or =10mm), while Group B showed negative response (induration diameter< l0mm). A comparison was made between the two groups in terms of age, sex, serum total IgE and allergen-specific IgE. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients comprised Group A and 72 comprised Group B. The mean serum total IgE concentration and the number of patients showing positive MAST in Group B was significantly higher than that of Group A (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: In our study, there was an inverse association between delayed hypersensitivity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and atopy.
Allergens ; Child ; Developed Countries ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity, Delayed ; Immunoglobulin E* ; Incidence ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Prevalence ; Skin Tests ; Tuberculin*

Heterotopic pregnancy occurs when an intrauterine pregnancy co-exists with an ectopic pregnancy. It is a potentially fatal condition, rarely occuring in natural conception cycle. But its incidence is increased since the rise in PID, pelvic surgery, IUD, and advent of assisted reproductive technology involving use of superovulatory drugs and/or in vitro-fertilization. We present a case of intrauterine twin pregnancy and right tubal pregnancy following treatment with in vitro-fertilization. The right tubal pregnancy was diagnosed after rupturing at 6th gestational weeks, and resected via laparoscopy. And healthy twin babies were delivered without complication at 38th gestational week. So we report this case with a brief review of the literatures.
Female ; Fertilization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Laparoscopy ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic ; Pregnancy, Heterotopic* ; Pregnancy, Tubal ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted

The relationship between respiratory infections and exacerbations of wheezing in patients with wheezy bronchitis or asthma has been described. Most respiratory infections were viral or Mycoplasma pneumoniae. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection on bronchial reactivity and atopic background. 106 patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia who were admitted to the department of pediatrics, Fatima Hospital, Taegu during the period of two years from January 1989 to December 1990 were involved in this study. The results were as follows 1) Out of 106 cases, 69 were male,37 were female and 34.9% of the cases were between 5~6 years of age. 35 cases(33.0%) had wheezing and the incidence of wheezing were higher in male than in female. 2) The incidence of wheezing was high in the patients with serum IgE level higher than 200IU/ml, patients with past and family history of allergy and the patients fed with formula feeding in infancy. 3) Eosinophils and the associated maxillary sinusitis had no effect on the incidence of wheezing. 4) The recurrence of wheezing was higher in Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia with wheezing(26.8%) than in patients without wheezing(3.8%).
Asthma ; Bronchitis ; Child* ; Daegu ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunoglobulin E ; Incidence ; Male ; Maxillary Sinus ; Maxillary Sinusitis ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae* ; Mycoplasma* ; Pediatrics ; Pneumonia* ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma* ; Recurrence ; Respiratory Sounds* ; Respiratory Tract Infections

No abstract available.
Breast* ; Female* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Acute Coronary Syndrome* ; Blood Platelets* ; Glycoproteins*

Capsaicin, the pungent principle of hot peppers, is a neurotoxin that depletes unmyelinated primary sensory neurons (polymodal nociceptors) of neuropeptides like tachykinins. However, the role of capsaicin-sensitive sensory nerve in the production of cytokines, penicillin V (PEV)-induced active fatal anaphylaxis and other immune responses is not yet fully established. Neonatal mice were pretreated s.c. with a single injection of 10 ug of capsaicin per mouse in volume of 20 ul within 5 days of age. Using 5-8 week old mice pretreated as neonates with capsaicin, the capsaicin- pretreated and vehicle-treated control mice were examined for various parameters of immune responses described above. For the induction of active fatal anaphylaxis with PEV, 8 week old mice pretreated as neonates and age-matched capsaicin- untreated control mice were sensitized i.p. with 500 ug of PEV-ovalbumin conjugate plus 2*10(9) B. pertussis and 1.0 mg alum and challenged i.v. with PEV-bovine serum albumin conjugate 14 days later. It was found that neonatal capsaicin-pretreatment significantly enhanced contact hypersensitivity to TNCB and hemagglutination response to SRBC, but significantly inhibited the proliferation response of rnurine splenocyte to Con A and LPS. Interestingly, neonatal capsaicin pretreatment significantly inhibited the intensity of PEV-induced active fatal anaphylaxis and decreased the mortality due to anaphylactic shock. It also significantly inhibited LPS- induced production of cytokines such as TNF-a, IL-1B, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-12. The capsaicin-pretreatment also resulted in an inhibition of the activation of NF-kB. Taken together, these data showed for the first time that neonatal capsaicin-pretreatment significantly inhibited an antibiotic (PEV)-induced anaphylaxis and production of various cytokines, and suggest that capsaicin-sensitive primary sensory nerve may play an important regulatory role in active fatal anaphylaxis and cytokine production, thus potentially presenting tools for immune intervention. In particular, the data presented also indicated the possibility to selectively down-modulate cytokine production and NF-kB activation may offer a broad application for therapeutic intervention in neuroimmunological diseases and other pathological situations.
Anaphylaxis ; Animals ; Capsaicin* ; Cytokines ; Denervation* ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Hemagglutination ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-12 ; Interleukin-6 ; Mice ; Mortality ; Neuropeptides ; NF-kappa B ; Penicillin V ; Sensory Receptor Cells ; Serum Albumin ; Tachykinins ; Whooping Cough

The goal of fracture treatment is to restore the patient to pre-injury function level. But the outcome assessment after orthopedic interventions has usually focused on physician-defined parameters of technical success, such as fracture union, alignment and range of motion rather than patient function and quality of life. However, the correlation among improvements in these parameters and functional status, psychosocial well being is inconsistent and weak in the elderly. Therefore authors assessed the functional status after surgical intervention of hip fractures in the elderly with functional recovery score(FRS). Independence in basic activities of daily living, in instrumental activities of daily living, in mobility, freedom from pain and intact memory were assessed in 133 hip fractures in the elderly. The hip fractures in the elderly resulted in 24.8% loss of function after the first year. The older the age, the more the loss of function after surgery of hip fractures. The more functional loss was observed in female patients and in patients with poor postoperative radiological results, but statistically insignificant (P>0.05). The more functional loss was observed in patients with underlying medical disease preoperatively and it was statistically significant (P<0.05). We recommend the evaluation of functional status in the elderly after hip fractures.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged* ; Female ; Freedom ; Hip Fractures* ; Hip* ; Humans ; Memory ; Orthopedics ; Quality of Life ; Range of Motion, Articular