OBJECTIVES: To examine emotional and psychological characteristics associated with suicide attempts in depressed patients. METHODS: A sample of 37 inpatients diagnosed with major depressive disorder or depressive disorder NOS was divided into two groups : lifetime suicide attempters(N=15 ; 40.54%), non-attempters(N=22 ; 59.46%). Beck Depression Scale(BDI), Beck Anxiety Scale(BAI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HDRS), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale(HARS), and MMPI-2 were used to evaluate symptoms severity and psychological characteristics. RESULTS: Suicide attempters scored higher on the BDI though there were no group differences on the HDRS and on the both anxiety scales. Also they showed higher scores on the F, Fb, Pa, RC1, DEP, HEA, PK, AAS among MMPI-2 subscales. Our findings suggest that suicide attempters among depressed patients undergo more severe subjective distress and difficulties in adjustment than non-attempters. Also they were more hostile to others and showed lower trust. Lastly, they showed more somatic complaints and substance related problems. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that suicide attempters among depressed patients have distinct emotional and psychological characteristics. MMPI-2 would be helpful to assess suicidal risk of depressed patients.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Pyrrolidines ; Suicide ; Weights and Measures

Although causative factors are not completely defined, carcinogenesis of colorectal cancer is attributed to multiple genetic alterations. The abnormal expressions of oncogenes are regarded to be responsible for the production of malignant phenotype, subsequent invasion and metastasis. From 63 surgically resectable colorectal adenocarcinoma patients, expression of oncogenes in colorectal cancer tissue was evaluated with immunohistochemical staining methods using monoclonal antibodies to products of the oncogenes. To evaluate the possibility of oncogenes as a prognostic factor, we studied the relationship between the expression of oncogenes and the clinicopathologic findings which are well known prognostic factors. Rates of expression in colorectal cancer tissue were 27% for c-myc, 74.6% for c-Ha-ras and 77.8% for c-erbB-2 oncogenes. The positive rate of c-erbB-2 oncogene was higher in the well differentiated group than in the poorly differentiated group. The rates of expression of c-myc and c-Ha-ras oncogenes were significantly correlated each other. Expression of these oncogenes in colorectal cancer were not correlated with the pathologic stage, location of cancer, DNA ploidy pattern and histologic differentiation except between c-erbB-2 and histologic differentiation. In conclusion, there seems to be a possibility that c-erbB-2 could be used as a prognostic factor of colorectal cancer. However, further and more intensive study seems to be required.
Adenocarcinoma ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Carcinogenesis ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; DNA ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Oncogenes* ; Phenotype ; Ploidies

No abstract available.
Diabetic Neuropathies*

The prognostic significance of vascular (blood and lymphatic vessels) invasion was evaluated in a retrospective review of 27 patients with upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma from January 1985 to December 1993, who underwent a nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff resection. Vascular invasion was found in 10 patients (37%). The incidence of vascular invasion was well correlated with tumor grade and stage. The incidence of postoperative metastases was significantly higher in the patients with (70%) than without (17.6%) vascular invasion (p<0.05). The survival rate of the patients with vascular invasion was significantly lower than in those without vascular invasion (p<0.01). In multivariate Cox`s regressional analysis the prognostic value of vascular invasion was independent of tumor grade and stage. These results indicate that vascular invasion should predict a more unfavorable outcome in patients with upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma as an independent morphological indicator.
Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymphatic Vessels* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Tract*

No abstract available.
Ceftizoxime* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Female ; Ovary* ; Teratoma*

No abstract available.
Trophoblasts*

Dermatomyositis is a disease of unknown etiology characterized by inflammation and degeneration of skeletal muscles and cutaneous abnormalities. Cardiac involvement in dermatomyositis-polymyositis is thought to be rare. In recent year, however, there has been an increasing number of reports on cardiac abnormalities in adult dermatomyositis and polymyositis due to development of noninvasive diagnostic techniques. Categorically, these abnormalities have included electrocardiographic changes, cardiac arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, and pericarditis. A 56-year-old woman was admittied to the Ewha womans University Hospital with dyspnea and palpitation. She was diagnosed as having dermatomyositis and followed up our department of Dermatology. Electrocardiogram showed a paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia at as rate of 195/min. The patient was treated with 240mg/day verapamil p.o, 60mg/day prednisone p.o, there was marked improvement of symptoms. Systematic study of cardiac function utilizing echocardiography, Holter monitoring, thallium-201-scan, and gated blood pool studies were conducted in five newly diagnosed patients with dematomyositis-polymyositis. A significant elevation of serum CPK-MB is indicative of cardiac involvement. Cardiac involvement is a serious prognostic sign. We report a case with the review of the literature.
Adult ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Dermatology ; Dermatomyositis* ; Dyspnea ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Electrocardiography, Ambulatory ; Female ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Pericarditis ; Polymyositis ; Prednisone ; Prognosis ; Tachycardia, Supraventricular* ; Verapamil

Benzene and toluene, which are widely used aromatic hydrocarbons in workplace, are recently proved to cause health hazards due to their toxic effects. This study investigated the influence of toluene on the urinary excretion of benzene metabolite by administering short term exposure limit(STEL) of these compounds(i.e., 13.8mg/kg of benzene and 108.8mg/kg of toluene) intraperitoneally into Sprague-Dawley rats. After administration, urinary phenol concentration of rat was measured by gas chromatography for every three hours. Data were analyzed by non-parametric statistical methods using Kruskal-Wallis multi-sample test and Mann-Whitney U test. The following results were obtained: 1. Administration of STFL-benzene increased urinary phenol concentration in rats. 2. Urinary phenol concentration was increased logarithmically according to the dosage of benzene. 3. Excretion of phenol in urine was decreased when benzene and toluene were administered simultaneously compared with administering benzene alone. In Summary, these results reveal that administration of STEL of toluene has antagonistic effect of urinary excretion of benzene metabolite in rats.
Animals ; Benzene* ; Chromatography, Gas ; Hydrocarbons, Aromatic ; Metabolism* ; Phenol ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Threshold Limit Values ; Toluene

No abstract available.
China*