In systemic hypertension, capillary resistance is highly elevated and' contractility of vascular smooth muscle is elevated. This is due to increased calcium uptake into the sarcoplasmic reticulum of the vascular smooth muscle. Recently, nifedipine, an antihypertensive medication which inhibits calcium uptake into the vascular smooth muscle is commonly used. It decreases the contractility of the vascular smooth muscle and causes the vessels to relax, which in turn lowers the blood pressure. In 1987, according to Rodriguez-Sargent et al. the increased incidence of cataract in Dahl-salt sensitive rats(DSR) was due to increasd water and sodium contents and decreased potassium content. In this investigative study on hypertension, the water, Sodium and potassium contents in Spontaneous Hypertensive Rats(SHR) were measured. After treatment with nifedipine in SHR, we observed decreased blood pressure along with the changes in water, sodium and potassium contents of the lenses. The following results were obtained from our experiments. 1. In normal SDR, The blood pressure did not decrease with nifedipine injection. 2. After 3-7 days of nifedipine injection bidaily, the blood pressure of SHR did not decrease. 3. After 2 weeks of nifedipine injection bidaily, the blood pressure of the SHR decreased slightly and after 4 weeks of nifedipine injection bidaily, the blood pressure of SHR decreased significantly. 4. Water and sodium contents of SHR were higher than that of SDR and the potassium content was similar to that of SDR. 5. The elevated water and sodium contents of SHR decreased along with decrease of blood pressure, and after 2 weeks of nifedipine injection, showed similar level as the contents of SDR lenses. 6. Potassium contents of SHR lenses showed no change were similar to SDR lines except the 4 weeks nifedipine injection group which showed higher potasslum contents.
Animals ; Blood Pressure* ; Calcium ; Capillary Resistance ; Cataract ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; Nifedipine* ; Potassium ; Rats* ; Sarcoplasmic Reticulum ; Sodium ; Water*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of clinical practice and simulation-based practice for obstetrical nursing in terms of self-efficacy, practice satisfaction, and practice stress. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group post test design was used. The participants were 171 junior nursing students, 103 in the experimental group, and 68 in the control group. Simulation-based practice consisted of nursing assessment during labor, nursing assessment and intervention for normal and high risk mother, nursing education for mother and family during labor, and open lab. The experimental group participated in simulation-based practice for two days and the control group participated in clinical practice at delivery room for two weeks. RESULTS: The experimental group showed higher level of self-efficacy (p=.043), practice satisfaction (p<.001) and practice stress (p=.003) compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Simulation-based practice is an effective learning method for obstetrical nursing and can be used as the alternative for clinical practice. However, stress management strategies are needed for simulation-based practice.
Delivery Rooms ; Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Learning ; Mothers ; Nursing Assessment ; Obstetrical Nursing ; Personal Satisfaction ; Pyridines ; Students, Nursing ; Thiazoles

In order to maintain a uniformity and consistency in terminology for constructing and searching a literature database, controlled vocabularies should be used as key words in the journal. While most of medical academic societies have recommended MeSH be used as key words, only 23 societies published terminology or index books. We reviewed 172 journals of JKOSMI published during the period from 1995 to 2000, using MeSH brower. Only 11.72% of key words were completely consistent with MeSH terminolgy and 25.56% were partially consistent. Purposes of this study are to examine a current status of using MeSH in the Journal of Korean Society of Medical Informatics(JKOSMI) and to develop a Korean terminology book on medical informatics.
Classification ; Medical Informatics* ; Vocabulary, Controlled

During the period from July to August 1987, the Microbial flora in Conjunctival Sac of 93 new borns(186 eyes; Normal Vaginal delivery) and 19 new borns(38 eyes; Cesarean Section delivery) in Nursery of EWha Woman's University Hospital had been investigated for isolation and identification of bacteria on delivered day and two days after birth. The results of the investigation are as follows: 1. Of 186 eyes(Normal Vaginal delivery) bacterial growth of one species was showed in 40 eyes(21.5%) on delivered day and in 64 eyes(34.4%) on two days after birth. Bacterial growth of two species was showed in 10 eyes(5.4%) on delivered day and in 10 eyes(5.4%) on two days after birth. 2. Among the incidence of isolation of bacterial species(Normal Vaginal delivery), Staphylococcus epidermides(28 eyes; 15.1%), Escherichiae coli(26 eyes; 14.0%) and Staphylococcus aureus(6 eyes; 3.2%) were isolated on delivered day and Staphylococcus epidermidis(40 eyes; 21.5%), Escherichiae coli(27 eyes; 14.5%), Staphylococcus aureus(13 eyes; 7.0%) and Klebsiella Pneumoniae(4 eyes; 2.2%) were isolated on two days after birth. 3. of 38 eyes(Cesarean Section delivery), bacteral growth of one species was showed in 2 eyes(5.3%) on delivered day and in 20 eyes(52.6%) on two days after birth. Bacterial growth of two species was showed in 2 eyes(5.3%) on two days after birth. 4. Among the incidence of isolation of bacterial species(Cesarean Section delivery), Staphylococcus epidermidis(1 eyes; 2.6%) and Escherichiase coli(1 eyes; 2.6%) were isolated on delivered day and Staphylococcus epidermidis(10 eyes; 26.3%), Esche richiae coli(8 eyes; 21.8%) and Staphylococcus aureus (6 eyes; 15.8%) were isolated on two days after birth.
Bacteria ; Cesarean Section ; Escherichia ; Female ; Incidence ; Klebsiella ; Nurseries ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus aureus

During the period from July to August 1987, the microbial flora in conjunctival sac of 93 newborns (186 eyes: normal vaginal delivery) and 19 newborns (38 eyes: cesarean section delivery) in nursery of Ewha Womans University Hospital were investigated for isolation and identification of bacteria on delivery day and on two days after birth. The results of the investigation are as follows: 1. Of 186 eyes (normal vaginal delivery), bacterial growth of one species was shown in 40 eyes (21.5%) on delivery day and in 64 eyes (34.4%) on two days after birth. Bacterial growth of two species shown in 10 eyes (5.4%) on delivery day and in 10 eyes (5.4%) on two days after birth. 2. Of 38 eyes (cesarean section delivery), bacterial growth of one species was shown in 2 eyes (5.3%) on delivery day and in 20 eyes (52.6%) on two days after birth. Bacterial growth of two species was shown 2 eyes (5.3%) on two days after birth. 3. Several kinds of bacterial species were isolated in normal vaginal delivery and cesarean section delivery. Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus were isolated.
Bacteria/*isolation & purification ; Cesarean Section ; Conjunctiva/*microbiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn/*microbiology ; Pregnancy

Metastasis to the pituitary gland from systemic cancer is a rare condition. The breast and lung are the most common sites of primary tumor metastasis. Most often, they occur in the setting of widespread metastatic disease, which most frequently occurs in elderly patients. However, an increase in the incidence of solitary pituitary metastasis of breast cancer as the first recurrence has been reported. Diabetes insipidus is the most frequent symptom at presentation, and visual field defects or cranial nerve deficits are common symptoms of pituitary metastasis. Unlikely these symptoms, deficiencies of anterior pituitary hormones may only become evident in critical situation because symptoms are of an insidious onset and sometimes nonspecific. We report here on a rare case of solitary pituitary metastasis from breast cancer presenting as hyponatremia without other symptoms.
Aged ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Cranial Nerves ; Diabetes Insipidus ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Humans ; Hyponatremia ; Incidence ; Lung ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Pituitary Gland ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Recurrence ; Visual Fields

OBJECTIVE: A dichotomous Thl and Th2 cytokine profile has been associated with reproductive failure and success, respectively. The purpose of our study was to determine the levels of Thl cytokine (IFN- y ) secreted by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) form women with unexplained recurrentabortion (URA) and fertile controls in response to trophoblast antigen. METHODS: PBMCs were isolated from 30 nonpregnant women with URA and from 10 nonpregnant fertile controls. Following 4 days of culture (1 * 10(6) cells/mL) with and without a protein extract derived from a trophoblast cell line (30 ug/mL, protein). None of the women had allergies, atopy or recent infection. Cytokines were measured in supernatants with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. IFN- r kit was obtained from BOISOURCE (lower limit of sensitivity, 15.6 pg/mL for IFN- r ). All values below the lowest limit of sensitivity as determined by test kit standards were considered negative. The cytokine stimulation test is considered positive if the IFN- r concentration increases by 200% or more with the trophoblast antigen stimulation. Datas are presented as mean+ SEM. Nonparametric testing (Mann-Whitney U) was used for analysis with P<0.05 considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The Thl-type cytokine (IFN- r ) was detected in 20(67%) of 30 supernatants from women with URA. In contrast, 2 (20%) of trophoblast-activated PBMC culture supernatants from the 10 parus women with normal reproductive histories was detected IFN- r and but were significantly lower than levels in women with URA who had secreted IFN- r upon trophoblast stimulation (99.80+ 18.17 pg/mL versus 166.47 + 36.96 pg/mL, p<0.05). Spontaneous secretion of IFN- r was significantly higher in culture supernatants from women with URA than in supernatants from women with successful reproductive histories (41.36.09+6.99 pg/mL versus 25.89+9.34 pg/mL, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These data indicate that there are significant differences between women with URA and women with normal reproductive histories in their regulation of the Thl-cytokine (IFN- r) in response to trophoblast. Thl-type immunity to trophoblast is associated with URA and may play a role in reproductive failure.
Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Cell Line ; Cytokines ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Pregnancy ; Reproductive History ; Trophoblasts*

PURPOSE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a typical hypervasculized tumor is very sensitive to hypoxia and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has previously been identified to be up-regulated in response to hypoxia in several cell types. However, the molecular mechanisms by which hypoxia is sensed by the cells remain enigmatic. To investigate whether calcium and AP-1 are involved in hypoxia-sensing mechanism, we performed following experiments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hep3B cells were grown in hypoxic condition. To assess cell viability, MTT assay was performed. To investigate the effect of calcium and AP-1, northern blot analysis was performed after treatment with BAPTA/AM. RESULTS: The expression of VEGF was significantly up-regulated by hypoxia in Hep3B, hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. The increased expression of VEGF induced by hypoxia was blocked by the addition of BAPTA/AM, a cytosolic calcium chelator to the media. In addition, we found that the expression of c-jun protooncogene was also up-regulated by hypoxia. Hypoxic increase of c-jun expression was also normalized by the treatment with BAPTA/AM. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the increased expression of VEGF by hypoxia is mediated through the calcium and c-jun signalling pathway in the Hep3B human hepatoma cell lines.
Anoxia ; Blotting, Northern ; Calcium ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Cell Line ; Cell Survival ; Cytosol ; Humans* ; Transcription Factor AP-1 ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*

This study was carried out to reduce children's sugar, natrium and fat intakes and establish their healthy lifestyle. To achieve these goals, we developed an educational web site and an e-learning system. The targets of this web site are children, parents and educators. This site has various information about sugar, natrium and fat, and has special menus for each target: such as the 'Let's study' for children, 'Guides for child's eating' for parents, and 'Educational softwares, Lesson plans/materials, and Textbooks/Teaching guides' for educators. We developed three nutrient characters and applied them to the web site. We provided information in the form of texts, images, flash and sounds. This site has special boards in 'Nutrition cafe' menu to interchange information or their successful stories between the connecters. We developed an e-learning system with two courses. One is for junior elementary students and the other is for senior students. Children can study each nutrient step by step in a course according to their academic ability and concern. Also, they can evaluate their academic achievement in this system, which was uploaded into 'Let's study' in children menu in the web site. Conclusively this web site and e-learning system could contribute to reducing children's sugar, natrium and fat intakes by helping children study them systematically and effectively by on-line system. We expect this e-learning system would be a new nutrition education system to make nutrition education more active.
Achievement ; Child ; Humans ; Life Style ; Online Systems ; Parents

BACKGROUND: PCR assay has provided a mean of more rapid and sensitive detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) complex than conventional acid- fast bacilli (AFB) smears and MTB cultures. Using the recently developed AdvanSure TB/NTM kit (LG Life Science Diagnostic Division, Korea), which could differentiate nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) from MTB, this study compared clinical usefulness of real-time PCR assay and Amplicor MTB PCR assay (Roche Molecular Systems, USA) for diagnosis of tuberculosis. METHODS: A total of 213 specimens (148 respiratory and 65 nonrespiratory specimens) were tested by using real-time PCR, Amplicor MTB PCR, AFB smear, and MTB culture. The sensitivity and specificity of four methods were evaluated according to clinical diagnosis. RESULTS: Of six NTM grown in culture, four (67%) were detected by real-time PCR. The overall agreement of real-time and Amplicor MTB PCR was 92% (191/207). The overall sensitivity and specificity were 91% and 87%, respectively, for real-time PCR, and 86% and 93% for Amplicor MTB PCR. In nonrespiratory specimens, the sensitivities of real-time PCR, Amplicor MTB PCR, AFB smear, and MTB culture were 67%, 60%, 13%, and 40%, respectively, and the specificity of the four methods were all 100%. CONCLUSION: For diagnosis of tuberculosis, the sensitivity and specificity of the real-time PCR assay using AdvanSure TB/NTM kit and Amplicor MTB PCR were similar, and the former could differentiate NTM from MTB. The PCR assay can be considered as a more sensitive technique for the detection of MTB than the conventional AFB smear and culture.
Biological Science Disciplines ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tuberculosis