It has been well known that ischemia reperfusion injury to skeletal muscle following an acute arterial occulusion causes significant morbidity and mortality. The skeletal muscle, which contains high energy phosphate compounds, has ischemic tolerance. During the ischemia, the ATP is catalyzed to hypoxanthine anaerobically and hypoxanthine dehydrogenase is converted to xanthine oxidase. During reperfusion, the hypoxanthine is catalyzed to xanthine by xanthine oxidase under O2 presence and that results in production of cytotoxic oxygen free radicals. The authors perform the present study to investigate the effects of allopurinol, the inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, on reperfused ischemic skeletal muscles by measuring of the immunoreactivities and exzyme activities of superoxide dismutase(SOD) and the formation of malondialdehyde(MDA). A total of 104 healthy Sprague-Dawley rats weighting from 200 gm to 250 gm were used as experimental animals. Under urethane(3.0mg/kg., IP) anesthesia with 3.0mg/kg of urethane, lower abdominal incision was made and the right and left common iliac artery were ligated by using vascular clamp for 2 hours. Both the quandriceps femoris muscles were obtained at 0 hour, half hour, 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours and 12 hours after the removal of vascular clamp. In the allopurinol pretreated group, 50mg/kg of allopurinol was administered once a day for 2 days and before 2 hours of ischemia. The specimens were sectioned in 14µm thickness with cryostat and homogenated ischemia. The specimens were sectioned in 14 µm thickness with cryostat and homegenated in the phosphate buffer. The immunoreactivities and enzyme activities of SOD were observed. The results were as follows: 1. The immunoreactivitiy and enzyme activity of SOD are decreased and the MDA level is increased in the 2 hours inchemic quadriceps femoris muscle of rats. 2. During the reperfusion of ischemic quadriceps femoris muscle of rats, the immunoreactivities of SOD in the half hour reperfused ischemic group and the enzyme activities of SOD in the 1 hour reperfused group are the highest and the immunoreactivities and enzyme activities of 6 hours reperfused ischemic group are the lowest. 3. Pertreatment of allopurionl decreased the immunoreactivities and enzyme activities of SOD during the ischemia and reperfusion of the quadriceps femoris muscles of rat. This results suggest that the allopurinol decreases the damages of skeletal muscles of rate during ischemia and reperfusion.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Allopurinol ; Anesthesia ; Animals ; Free Radicals ; Hindlimb ; Hypoxanthine ; Iliac Artery ; Ischemia ; Mortality ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Muscles ; Oxygen ; Quadriceps Muscle ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion ; Reperfusion Injury ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Superoxides ; Urethane ; Xanthine ; Xanthine Oxidase

In situ hybridization using biotinylated HPV(Human papillomaviruses) probes was performed to detect HPV DNA in 24 patients with genital wart-like lesions. The lesions were divided into two groups, with or without dysplastic changes histologically. We could detect HPV6/11 in 13 of 17 lesions(76.5%) without dysplastic changes. HPU16/18 was detected in a case with dysplastic changes. HPV6/ll was also detected in a case considered to be misdiagnosed as bowenoid papulosis. Oncogenic HPV such as HPV16/18 was found in one of histologically splastic lesions(14.3%).
Condylomata Acuminata* ; DNA* ; Humans* ; In Situ Hybridization

No abstract available.
Seoul*

BACKGROUND: Chronic widespread pain (CWP) is known as a common symptom of several organic and psychological disorders. Although medically unexplained CWP (MUE) has lots of clinical distress symptoms, there were no distinct symptoms or signs. Therefore, we conducted this study to investigate clinical distress symptoms of MUE distinct from those of medically explained CWP (ME). METHODS: One hundred nine patients with CWP were enrolled in the study. We classified the study subjects into three groups depending on their medical problems associated with CWP: organic group (ORG), psychological group (PSY), and MUE. All subjects were asked to fill out self-report questionnaires consisting of clinical distress scales including the Korean version of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ-K), fatigue scale, depression scale, and stress scale. And physicians examined 18 tender points over their entire body of the subjects. RESULTS: MUE patients had higher FIQ-K and fatigue severity scores than ORG patients (all P < 0.05). The average number of tender points were 11.33 in MUE patients, 6.48 in ORG patients and 5.02 in PSY patients and statistically significant (P < 0.0001). There were no statistically different factors between MUE and PSY patients with exception for the number of tender points. Depressive symptom was the highest in PSY patients but not statistically different from MUE patients. CONCLUSION: MUE patients had higher physical impairments, fatigue severity and more number of tender points than ORG patients, but had no different clinical characteristics from PSY patients except for the number of tender points.
Chronic Pain ; Depression ; Fatigue ; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic ; Fibromyalgia ; Humans ; Primary Health Care ; Weights and Measures

No abstract available.
Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous* ; Lung*

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia due to antibody formation against the A or B antigen in renal transplant recipients has been reported on rare occasions. We experienced a case of autoimmune hemolytic anemia which developed 11 days after renal transplantation during CsA and prednisolone administration as immunosuppressive agents. The patient was a 46 year old male, blood group was Rh(+) A, who had received a kidney from his Rh(+) O, HLA haploty'pe identical elder brother. He was transfused with three units of Rh(+) A RBCs preoperatively and his hemoglobin level was 9.2g/dl 1 day after transplantation. After 11 to 12 days posttransplantation, the hemoglobin level dropped to 3.8g/dl. A peripheral blood smear showed marked spherocytosis and polychromatophilia. The reticulocyte count was increased to 4.2%, and total bilirubin was increased to 2.91mg/dl. The LDH was raised to 561 IU/L and the plasma Hb level was 6.Smg/dl. Blood bank tests confirmed that the autoantibody cause hemolytic anemia was anti-A. If transplant recipients of blood groups A, B, or AB, who recieve organs from blood group 0 donors, have hemolytic anemia and ABO discrepancy, the possibility of AIHA due to anti-A or anti-B should be considered.
Anemia, Hemolytic ; Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune* ; Antibody Formation ; Bilirubin ; Blood Banks ; Blood Group Antigens ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Kidney ; Kidney Transplantation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Plasma ; Prednisolone ; Reticulocyte Count ; Siblings ; Tissue Donors* ; Transplantation*

BACKGROUND: It is well-known that patients with chronic fatigue or frequent pain seek complementary and alternative medicine therapies (CAT) in Western countries. We conducted this study to determine the pattern of CAT use and the factors related to CAT use in patients with chronic fatigue or pain in Korea. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. The participants (n = 143) with chronic fatigue or pain completed a self-reported questionnaire including demographic characteristics and lifestyle as well as disease-related and CAT-related items. RESULTS: The frequency of CAT use was 51.0& and 39.2& over the past 10 years and 1 year, respectively. The most common type of CAT used was herbal medicine. The therapeutic effects of the CAT were similar to physicians' prescriptions. CAT were most often used in combination with conventional medicine rather than alone. More than 70.0& of subjects did not consult their physicians for the use of CAT. The duration of illness, severity of fatigue and pain was signifi cantly related to the use of CAT. CONCLUSION: Many patients with chronic fatigue or pain use CAT. Most of these patients do not consult their physicians regarding CAT use.
Animals ; Cats ; Complementary Therapies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Fatigue ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Korea ; Life Style ; Prescriptions

Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy(HOA) is a systemic disorder primary affecting the bones, joints, and soft tissues and characterized by several(or all) of the followings ; 1) Clubbing of digits, 2) Persistent new bone formation particulary involving long bones of the distal extremites, 3) Symmetric arthritis-like changes in the joints and periarticular tissue, most commonly the ankles, knees, wrist, and elbows, 4) Increased thickness of the subcutaneous soft tissues in the distal one-third of the arms and legs, and 5) Neurovascular changes of the hands and feet, including chronic erythema, paresthesis, and increase sweating. Most of cases of HOA are secondary to intrathoracic neoplasms, while the remaining few cases are secondary to other disease in the chest or elsewhere. We experienced a case of HOA in association with lung abscess in 26-yr-old male and reported with a review of literatures.
Ankle ; Arm ; Elbow ; Erythema ; Foot ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints ; Knee ; Leg ; Lung Abscess* ; Lung* ; Male ; Osteoarthropathy, Primary Hypertrophic ; Osteoarthropathy, Secondary Hypertrophic* ; Osteogenesis ; Sweat ; Sweating ; Thorax ; Wrist

Central venous catheterization is used to provide a large amount of fluid, total parenteral nutrition and to administer antitumor agents with few complications reported. We report an uncommon case of pleural effusion that occurred after central venous catheterization. In many cases, the mechanism for the pleural effusion after central venous catheterization occurs through an injury to the superior vena cava by the continuous mechanical force of the catheter tip, the flow of large amount of fluid and an osmotic injury to the wall of the vein. This case is somewhat different in that the central catheter was placed in an aberrant vessel resulting in the pleural effusion. A post-placement chest roentgenogram and the correct approach of catheterization are important for preventing this complication.
Antineoplastic Agents ; Catheterization ; Catheterization, Central Venous ; Catheters ; Central Venous Catheters* ; Parenteral Nutrition, Total ; Pleural Effusion* ; Thorax ; Veins ; Vena Cava, Superior

BACKGROUND: Although the gold standard method for research trials on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations has been direct sequencing, this approach has the limitations of low sensitivity and of being time-consuming. Peptide nucleic acid (PNA)-mediated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) clamping is known to be a more sensitive detection tool. The aim of this study was to compare the detection rate of EGFR mutation and EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) responsiveness according to EGFR mutation status using both methodologies. METHODS: Clinical specimens from 112 NSCLC patients were analyzed for EGFR mutations in exons 18, 19, 20, and 21. All clinical data and tumor specimens were obtained from 3 university hospitals in Korea. After genomic DNA was extracted from paraffin-embedded tissue specimens, both PNA-mediated PCR clamping and direct-sequencing were performed. The results and clinical response to EGFR-TKIs were compared. RESULTS: Sequencing revealed a total of 35 (22.9%) mutations: 8 missense mutations in exon 21 and 26 deletion mutations in exon 19. PNA-mediated PCR clamping showed the presence of genomic alterations in 45 (28.3%) samples, including the 32 identified by sequencing plus 13 additional samples (6 in exon 19 and 7 in exon 21). CONCLUSION: PNA-mediated PCR clamping is simple and rapid, as well as a more sensitive method for screening of genomic alterations in EGFR gene compared to direct sequencing. This data suggests that PNA-mediated PCR clamping should be implemented as a useful screening tool for detection of EGFR mutations in clinical setting.
Constriction ; DNA ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Exons ; Genes, erbB-1 ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation, Missense ; Peptide Nucleic Acids ; Phosphotransferases ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; Sequence Deletion