No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Concanavalin A* ; Polyethylene Glycols* ; Polyethylene*

INTRODUCTION There are three factors for successful implantation. These are embryo quality, uterine receptivity, and synchronization between embryonic and endometrial development. Despite remarkable progress in investigating embryos in human IVF, there has been slow progress in exploring the implantation process. It may be due to two reasons as follow. First, it is difficult to directly investigate the mechanism of implantation in the human, because of ethical considerations. Second, there is no sensitive and widely accepted marker for assessing endometrial development. Since the finding of a novel standard for dating endometrial biopsy by Noyes et. al.,. in 1950, there have been many attempts to identify suitable markers for uterine receptivity. Those include ultrasonographic changes (Ueno et.al., 1991; Grunfeld et al.,1991), three dimensional morphological changes of the endometrium such as pinopode formation (Market or alphaf., 1987; Mantel or alphaf., 1991; Nikas et al., 1995; Psychoyos & Nikas, 1994), integrin expression (Ilesanmi et al., 1993; Lessey et.al., 1992; Lessey, 1994), and measurement of endometrial proteins (Hell, 1986;Fay & Crudzinskas, 1991). Investigations in the rat (cartel et al., 1991)and human (cartel et al., 1987; Nikas et al., 1995; Psychoyos & Nikas, 1994) suggested the presence of pinopodes as a marker for the receptive phase.4 chronological barrier in uterine receptivity could be one of the major factors limiting IVF pregnancy rates. If we were able to manage the 'implantation window' we may be able to improve implantation and pregnancy rates in the human IVF program. In 1987, Martel et al., found early appearance of pinopodes in stimulated cycles for IVF compared to natural cycles in humans (Marcel et al., 1987). This effect was found in patients stimulated with clomephene citrate/hMG/hCG. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the endometrial development in IVF patients stimulated with either by FSH/hMG/hCG or with GnRH agonist down regulation.
Animals ; Biopsy ; Down-Regulation ; Embryonic Structures ; Endometrium ; Female ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Humans* ; Oocyte Retrieval* ; Oocytes* ; Pregnancy Rate ; Rats

Gaucher's disease is an uncommon metabolic disorder, which was first described by Gaucher in 1882, characterized by accumulation of distinctive Gaucher's cells in the reticuloendothelial system such as spleen, liver, and bone marrow. The great majority of cases have been reported in Jews, and others in negros and orientals. We are presenting two cases in homozygous twins in Korea, whose clinical manifestations are hepatosplenomegaly and bone lesions due to expansion of involved bones.
African Continental Ancestry Group ; Bone Marrow ; Gaucher Disease ; Humans ; Jews ; Korea ; Liver ; Mononuclear Phagocyte System ; Spleen ; Twins

Polycystic ovary disease is a heterogenous endocrinopathy with many interacting causal factors. One potential such factor is chronic hyperinsulinemia. multiple, independent lines of evidence suppart the contention that chronic hyperinsulinemia causes ovarian hyperandragenism. This evidence includes: (1) mutations in the insulin receptor gene that cause severe hyperinsulinemia appear to be associated with ovarian hyperandrogenism, (2) insulin stimulates ovarian thecal and sttomal androgen seaetion in vitro, and (3) in some experimental models, manipulation of circulating insulin concentrations results in changes in circulating androgens. Although the association between hyperinsulinemia and hyperandrogenism remains to be fully explained at the molecular level, chronic hyperinsulinemia appears to be an important cause of hyperandrogenism. We have experienced a case of HAIR AN syndrome showing hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance and acanthosis nigricans in infertile patient. So we report this case with a brief review of literatures.
Acanthosis Nigricans ; Androgens ; Female ; Fibrinogen ; Hair* ; Humans ; Hyperandrogenism ; Hyperinsulinism ; Insulin ; Insulin Resistance ; Models, Theoretical ; Ovary ; Receptor, Insulin

Prenature ovarian failure is a condition causing amenarrhea, hypoestrogenism, and elevated genadotropins in women younger than 40 years. A karyotype should be performed as part of basic laboratory evaluation for all patients with premature ovarian failure and prodromal premature ovarian failure. Development of a malignancy in a dysgenetic gonad is of major concern. The presence of a fragment of the Y chromosome is thought to be a key to the oncogenic potential of these gonads. The search for the testicular determining factor(TDF) has engendered much confusion about which part of the Y chromosome plays a role in malignancy. This was initially postulated to be the H- Y antigen. More recent data, however, localize the area near the centromere of the Y Chromosome, on the long arm(Yq). Malignant potential is clearly not linked to the testicular determining factor itself(SRY). This is a critical point in clinical medicine. Feilure to display SRY or a closely related sequence does not rule out the presence of the segment of the Y chromosome postulated to be associated with the development of malignancies. We have experienced a case of premature ovarian failure with chtomosomal abnormality involving Y chromosome fragment. So we report this case with a brief review of literatures.
Centromere ; Clinical Medicine ; Female ; Gonadal Dysgenesis* ; Gonads* ; Humans ; Karyotype ; Primary Ovarian Insufficiency* ; Y Chromosome

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma is the second most common cause of death among cancers in Korea. Epidemiological studies have revealed the carrier state of the hepatitis B virus and the dietary intake of aflatoxin B1 as possible causative agents of this neoplasm, but the precise molecular bases are still unknown. METHODS: We examined 24 cases of human hepatocellular carcinomas in Koreans for the presence of p53 aberrations in exons 4 to 9 of the gene by using single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products. RESULTS: Four (17%) of the tumors demonstrated a SSCP band shift, 1 in exon 6 and 3 in exon 7. All of the abnormal DNA fragments were further characterized by direct DNA sequencing. All the mutations were missense mutations. One was an A to G transition at the second nucleotide of codon 214; 2 were G to T transversions at the second nucleotide of codon 245; and one was a G to T transversion at the third nucleotide of codon 249, a mutational 'hot spot' at which mutations have been frequently found, especially when aflatoxin B1 plays an important role in the hepatocarcinogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the possibility of aflatoxin B1 being a causative agent of hepatocarcinogenesis in Korea can not be excluded.
Aflatoxin B1 ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Carrier State ; Cause of Death ; Codon ; DNA ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Exons ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor* ; Hepatitis B virus ; Humans ; Korea ; Mutation, Missense ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

OBJECTIVE: To report the efficacy of vaginally administered bromocriptine. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Case report. RESULTS: The prolactin level was significantly decreased after the administration of bromocriptine vaginally. CONCLUSIONS: The vaginal administration of bromocriptine can be an alternative to oral administration in patients with hyperprolactinemia who show severe side effects.
Administration, Intravaginal ; Administration, Oral ; Bromocriptine* ; Humans ; Hyperprolactinemia* ; Prolactin

OBJECTIVE: Recently, microdissection of tissue sections has been used increasingly for the isolation of morphologically identified homogeneous cell populations, thus overcoming the obstacle of tissue complexity for the analysis cell-specific expression of macromolecules. The aim of the present study was to establish the minimal conditions required for the RNA extraction and amplification from the cells captured by the laser captured microdissection. METHODS: Mouse ovaries were fixed and cut into serial sections (7 micrometer thickness). Oocytes were captured by laser captured microdissection (LCM) method by using PixCell IITM system. The frozen sections were fixed in 70% ethanol and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, while the paraffin sections were stained with Multiple stain. Sections were dehydrated in graded alcohols followed by xylene and air-dried for 20 min prior to LCM. All reactions were performed in ribonuclease free solutions to prevent RNA degradation. After LCM, total RNA extraction from the captured oocytes was performed using the guanidinium isothiocyanate (GITC) solution, and subsequently evaluated by reverse transcriptase -polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase (GAPDH). RESULTS: With the frozen sections, detection of the GAPDH mRNA expression in the number of captured 25 oocytes were not repeatable, but the expression was always detectable from 50 oocytes. With 25 oocytes, at least 27 PCR cycles were required, whereas with 50 oocytes, 21 cycles were enough to detect GAPDH expression. Amount of the primary cDNA required for RT-PCR was reduced down to at least 0.25 microl with 50 oocytes, thus the resting 19.75 microl cDNA can be used for the testing other interested gene expression. Tissue-to-slide, tissue-to-tissue forces were very high in the paraffin sections, thus the greater number of cell procurement was required than the frozen sections. CONCLUSION: We have described a method for analyzing gene expression at the RNA level with the homogeneously microdissected cells from the small amount of tissues with complexity. We found that LCM coupled with RT-PCR could detect housekeeping gene expression in 50 oocytes captured. This technique can be easily applied for the study of gene expression with the small amount of tissues.
Alcohols ; Animals ; DNA, Complementary ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Ethanol ; Female ; Frozen Sections ; Gene Expression* ; Genes, Essential ; Guanidine ; Hematoxylin ; Mice ; Microdissection* ; Oocytes* ; Ovary ; Paraffin ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Ribonucleases ; RNA Stability ; RNA* ; RNA, Messenger ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Xylenes

No abstract available.
Behcet Syndrome* ; Colchicine*