Treatment of oral cancers with chemotherapeutic agents are evaluated as an effective method for remission to reduce cancer proliferation nowadays. But, minimization of side-effects such as bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal toxicity and renal damage is another problem to be solved. Thus, a possible approach to develop a clinically applicable chemotherapeutic agents is to screen anticancer activity among traditional medicinal plants which have been used for thousands of years with very low side-effects in orient. In this study we focused on anti-oral cancer activities of momordin, which was medicinal plant extracts that was revealed anticancer activities, on KB cell(oral cancer cell). The results were as follow : 1. Momordin showed the excellent anti-oral cancer activity against KB cells. Obtained IC50 value of Momordin was 10.4 microgram/ml. 2. When KB cells were treated with Momordin, dose and time dependent DNA fragmentation of KB cells were observed. DNA fragmentation was initiated on three days at the concentration of 20 microgram/ml Momordin. 3. Flow cytometry showed dose-dependent apoptotic cell increase of KB cells on Momordin. 18.55% apoptotic cell were observed up to 72 hours at the concentration of 20 microgram/ml of Momordin 4. Momordin induced nonspecific apoptosis without specific cell cycle arrest. 5. Through MTT assay, DNA fragmentation assay and flow cytometric analysis. anticancer effect of Momordin against KB cell was induce of apoptotic cell death.
Apoptosis ; Bone Marrow ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Cell Death ; DNA Fragmentation ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; KB Cells ; Mouth Neoplasms ; Plants, Medicinal

BACKGROUND: One of the problem in emergency room(ER) of university hospital is over-crowdedness that causes exhaustion of medical resources (personnel, device, space) and disturbes optimal treatment. METHODS: This is an evaluative research for the purpose of promoting efficient operation system in ER of university hospital. RESULTS: 1) In 387 visitors, mean age was 47.5 years, and male to female ratio 1.21:1. As the specialty in charge, 28.9%f them were internal medicine, 26.6%mergency medicine, 9.9%eurology, and 8.5%eurosurgery. 24%f visitors have come by ambulances. The patients stayed for average 16.1 hours. The admission rate of ER visitors was 33.4 %60.3 %returned home after some management. 2) The visitors had various causes without correlation between the severity of conditions and the choice of high level hospital ER. They perceived their situations emergent in 78.4% but after triage only 25.6%were classified emergent. 48.6%of the visitors were the patients of out-patient department of this hospital due to chronic diseases. 3) The patients were assessed within 9.5 minutes after arrival at ER by nurse and within 34 minutes by doctor. If they were in need of consultation to second/third department, they waited for 141.5/460 minutes respectively to see the doctor. They waited for 59.9/52.7 minutes to get routine laboratory sampling/radiologic examination respectively. 4) Every 2.3 new patients visited this ER per hour. Average 63.2 patients were taken over to next shirt of nurse duty, and 60%of them had chronic degenerative diseases. CONCLUSION: The causes of overcrowding in ER of the university hospital were (1) huge number of patients at out-patient department of the hospital, (2) shortage of beds compared to the number of patients waiting admission, (3) too many kinds of procedures performed in ER, (4) cooperation failure among doctors of different specialty, and (5) no definite criteria of admission/discharge into/from ER. To solve these problems, conversion of ER management policy from complete examination and treatment to more simple and rapid one is necessary.
Ambulances ; Chronic Disease ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Female ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Male ; Outpatients ; Triage

Ameloblastoma is a rare epithelial tumor of the jaw, comprising approximately 1% of all tumors and cysts of odontogenic origin. The tumor has been the subject of much controversy and discussion. Ameloblastoma is slow growing, locally invasive, and has a high rate of local recurrence, but rarely metastasizes. The neoplasm has been considered radioresistant, so it has been treated with surgery primarily except some cases. Recently it is suggested that ameloblastoma is radiosensitive, so radiation therapy (RT) would be used in addition to or, in certain cases, in place of surgery. We report these two cases which were referred to the Department of Therapeutic Radiology for deciding the need of postoperative RT, because ameloblastoma is rare and has been known to be radioresistant. Postoperative RT was given to one of these two patients.
Ameloblastoma* ; Humans ; Jaw* ; Radiation Oncology ; Recurrence

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma(MFH) of the maxilla is a rare malignant bone tumor. Seven percents of all MFH occur in the head and neck. Approximately 12% of these tumors occur in the maxilla. Local recurrence or distant metastasis was reported in 55% of cases of maxillary MFH. The mean survival time of 30 months was reported from a review of 14 MFHs in he masxilla, mandible and oral soft tissues. MFH of the maxilla is best treated surgically but radical neck dissection dose not appear to be indicated unless there is clinical evidence of lymph node metastases. Although the use of radiation therapy for head and neck MFH has not been studied for a series of cases, individual cases of regression or histological change have been reported. Other authors have reported numbers of cases who received radiation therapy without benefit. Response to combination chemotherapy has been reported in 33% of 23 patients with recurrent or metastatic MFH. We report here a case of MFH occurring in the maxilla with a review of literature about the clinical behavior and treatment of these lesions.
Drug Therapy, Combination ; Head ; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous* ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Mandible ; Maxilla* ; Neck ; Neck Dissection ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a scale to assess the transition shock experienced by newly graduated nurses, and test the validity and reliability of the scale. METHODS: The initial items were identified through a review of literature and in-depth interviews with nine newly graduated nurses. Content validation of the items was evaluated by five nurse professors and three nurses. Participants were 269 newly graduated nurses who worked at six acute care hospitals in Busan, Ulsan, and Yangsan, South Korea. Data were analyzed using item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, criterion related validity, and internal consistency. RESULTS: The final scale consisted of 18 items and six factors (conflict between theory and practice, overwhelming workload, loss of social support, shrinking relationship with co-workers, confusion in professional nursing values, and incongruity in work and personal life), which explained 71.3% of the total variance. The six subscale model was validated by confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha for the total items was. 89. Convergent validity was evaluated by analyzing total correlation with burnout (r=.71, p<.001) and turnover intention (t=5.84, p<.001). CONCLUSION: This scale can be used in the development of nursing interventions to reduce the transition shock experienced by newly graduated nurses.
Busan ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Humans ; Intention ; Korea ; Nursing ; Psychometrics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Shock* ; Ulsan

Primary amenorrhea due to intrasella arachnoid cyst is a very rare disease and require careful and frequent evaluation because may produce intracranial hemorrhage, elevated intracranial pressure and rapid expansion. Surgical intervention is needed only when visual disturbance, hypopituitarism or enlarging lesion is shown. Thus, we present a case of primary amenorrhea due to intrasella arachnoid cyst which was resected through the transsphenoidal approach.
Amenorrhea ; Arachnoid* ; Female ; Hypogonadism* ; Hypopituitarism ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Intracranial Hypertension ; Rare Diseases

PURPOSE: Either gated myocardial perfusion SPECT or attenuation corrected SPECT can be used to improve specificity in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. We investigated in this study whether gating or attenuation correction improved diagnostic performance of rest/stress perfusion SPECT in patients having intermediate pre-test likelihood of coronary artery disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-eight patients underwent rest attenuation-corrected T1-20l/dipyridamole stress gated attenuation-corrected Tc-99m-MIBI SPECT using an ADAC vertex camera (M:F=29:39, aged 59+/-12 years, coronary artery stenosis> or =70%. one vessel: 13, two vessel: 18, three vessel: 8, normal: 29). Using a five-point scale, three physicians graded the post-test likelihood of coronary artery disease for each arterial territory (1 normal, 2: possibly normal 3:equivocal, 4: possibly abnormal, 5: abnormal). Sensitivity, specificity and area under receiver-operating-characteristic curves were compared for each operator between three METHODS: (A) non-attenuation-corrected SPECT; (B) gated SPECT added to (A); and (C) attenuation-corrected SPECT added to (B). RESULTS: When grade 3 was used as the criteria for coronary artery disease, no differences in sensitivity and specificity were found between the three methods for each operator Areas under receiver- operating-characteristic curves for diagnosis of coronary artery disease revealed no differences between each modality (p>005). CONCLUSION: In patients at intermediate risk of coronary artery disease, gated SPECT and attenuation-corrected SPECT did not improve diagnostic performance.
Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Perfusion* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

Background: Renal fibrosis is characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins and interstitial fibrosis. Alantolactone is known to exert anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antifungal effects; however, its effects on renal fibrosis remains unknown. Here, we investigated whether alantolactone attenuates renal fibrosis in mice unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and evaluated the effect of alantolactone on transforming growth factor (TGF) signaling pathway in renal cells Methods: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of alantolactone, cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, histological staining, Western blot analysis, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction were performed in UUO kidneys in vivo and in TGF-β-treated renal cells in vitro. Results: Alantolactone (0.25 to 4 µM) did not affect the viability of renal cells. Mice orally administered 5 mg/kg of alantolactone daily for 15 days did not show mortality or liver toxicity. Alantolactone decreased UUO-induced blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels. In addition, it significantly alleviated renal tubulointerstitial damage and fibrosis and decreased collagen type I, fibronectin, and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression in UUO kidneys. In NRK-49F cells, alantolactone inhibited TGF-βstimulated expression of fibronectin, collagen type I, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and α-SMA. In HK-2 cells, alantolactone inhibited TGF-β-stimulated expression of collagen type I and PAI-1. Alantolactone inhibited UUO-induced phosphorylation of Smad3 in UUO kidneys. In addition, it not only decreased TGF-β secretion but also Smad3 phosphorylation and translocation to nucleus in both kidney cell lines. Conclusion Alantolactone improves renal fibrosis by inhibiting the TGF-β/Smad3 signaling pathway in obstructive nephropathy. Thus, alantolactone is a potential therapeutic agent for chronic kidney disease.

OBJECTIVE: Sensory symptoms are common in patients with Parkinson disease (PD), although its exact prevalence and causes are not well known. We aimed to investigate whether peripheral pathology contribute to chronic sensory symptoms in patients with PD by nerve conduction test. METHODS: We recruited consecutively 34 patients with clinically probable PD (Hoehn-Yahr stage, 1–3) who developed persistent sensory symptoms in their lower extremities during optimal dopamine replacement therapy. Twenty-five patients who are above age of 70 or have other possible causes of neuropathy as determined by laboratory testing or medical record were excluded. Age- and gender-matched PD patients with same disease severity who have never developed sensory symptom during the same period were allocated to paired controls. Total 18 subjects participated in this study. Nerve conduction tests on peroneal motor nerve and sural sensory nerve were performed in all subjects. Amplitude and conduction velocity were compared between the paired subjects using Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS: Subjective sensory symptoms of the 9 patients were variable: pain (4/9), chilling (3/9), burning (1/9), and tingling sense (1/9). There were no significant difference of mean values of compound muscle action potential/sensory nerve action potential amplitude and conduction velocity between patients and their paired controls. CONCLUSION: This study supports the hypothesis that the origin of chronic sensory symptoms in PD patients is more central than peripheral.
Action Potentials ; Burns ; Dopamine ; Humans ; Levodopa* ; Lower Extremity ; Medical Records ; Neural Conduction* ; Parkinson Disease* ; Pathology ; Prevalence

PURPOSE: For quantitative estimation of cerebrovascular reserve (CVR), we estimated the cerebral blood flow (CBF) using Lassen's nonlinearity correction algorithm and Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT images acquired with consecutive acquisition protocol. Using the values of CBF in basal and acetazolamide (ACZ) stress states, CBF increase was calculated. MATERALS AND METHODS: In 9 normal subjects (age: 72+/-4 years), brain SPECT was performed at basal and ACZ stress states consecutively after injection of 555 MBq and 1,110 MBq of Tc-99m HMPAO, respectively. Cerebellum was automatically extracted as reference region on basal SPECT image using threshold method. Assuming basal CBF of cerebellum as 55 ml/100 g/min, CBF was calculated for every pixel at basal states using Lassen's algorithm. Cerebellar blood flow at stress was estimated comparing counts of cerebellum at rest and ACZ stress and Lassen's algorithm. CBF of every pixel at ACZ stress state was calculated using Lassen's algorithm and ACZ cerebellar count. CVR was calculated by subtracting basal CBF from ACZ stress CBF for every pixel. The percent CVR was calculated by dividing CVR by basal CBF. The CBF and percentage CVR parametric images were generated. RESULTS: The CBF and percentage CVR parametric images were obtained successfully in all the subjects. Global mean CBF were 49.6+/-5.5 ml/100g/min and 64.4+/-10.2 ml/100g/min at basal and ACZ stress states, respectively. The increase of CBF at ACZ stress state was 14.7+/-9.6 ml/100g/min. The global mean percent CVR was 30.7% and was higher than the 13.8% calculated using count images. CONCLUSION: The blood flow at basal and ACZ stress states and cerebrovascular reserve were estimated using basal/ACZ Tc-99m-HMPAO SPECT images and Lassen's algorithm. Using these values, parametric images for blood flow and cerebrovascular reserve were generated.
Acetazolamide ; Brain* ; Cerebellum ; Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime* ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*