No abstract available.
Basement Membrane* ; Epithelium*

BACKGROUND: Clinical trials have shown that b-adrenergic blocking drugs are effective and well tolerated in patients with mild to moderate congestive heart failure. Carvedilol is a mild b1-selective adrenergic blocking agent with vasodilating properties due to a blocker and antioxidant and anti-proliferative properties. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of carvedilol in patients with moderate to severe congestive heart failure caused by idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. METHODS: We enrolled 27 patients with moderate to severe congestive heart failure with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 35% by MUGA scan. Each patient was randomly assigned to either control (n-9) or carvedilol (n-18, target dose 25 mg bid) for 6 months while background therapy with digoxin, diuretics, and ACE inhibitor remained constant. RESULTS: Compared to the control group, patients in the carvedilol group showed significant increase of left ventricular ejection fraction (p<0.05). In addition, patients in the carvedilol group had a tendency to show a decrease in left ventricular end-diastolic dimension and heart rate. Also, the carvedilol group had a greater frequency of symptomatic improvement than the control group. There was neither serious side effects nor hospitalization. CONCLUSION: These finding indicate that carvedilol produces important clinical benefits in patients with moderate to severe heart failure treated with digoxin, diuretics, and ACE inhibitor without serious side effects.
Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Digoxin ; Diuretics ; Heart Failure* ; Heart Rate ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Stroke Volume

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and progression rate to CKD in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: We investigated the medical records of 190 elderly patients (65 years or older) with T2DM from 2005 to 2011 in 6-month increments. Mean follow-up duration was 64.5 months. CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min/1.73 m² and/or the presence of albuminuria. RESULTS: The mean age was 70.4 years and mean diabetes duration was 10.6 years. Among all the participants, 113 patients (59.5%) had CKD. The eGFR was significantly decreased between baseline (65.7±15.0 mL/min/1.73 m²) and the end of follow-up (52.7±17.5 mL/min/1.73 m², P < 0.001). At the end of follow-up, the prevalence of eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m² had increased by 61.6% (at baseline, 44.2%). Furthermore, in patients with eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m², the progression rate to more than CKD stage 3 was 39.6% at the end of follow-up; 30.2% of elderly diabetic patients had progressed to albuminuria from normoalbuminuria. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the time interval to worsening nephropathy was significantly shorter in elderly patients with diabetes duration ≥10 years than in those with diabetes duration < 5 years (P=0.018). CONCLUSION: CKD was commonly observed in older patients with T2DM, and the progression rate to CKD is also high. Consequently, it is important to identify and manage CKD as early as possible in elderly patients with T2DM, especially in those with diabetes duration ≥10 years.
Aged* ; Albuminuria ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Medical Records ; Prevalence* ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic*

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) at mid-pregnancy and postpartum glucose intolerance in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: We enrolled 348 pregnant women diagnosed with GDM from August 2012 to October 2016. We measured serum 25(OH)D levels at mid-pregnancy and carried out a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test at 6 to 12 weeks after delivery. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as serum 25(OH)D <20 ng/mL. RESULTS: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 76.7% (n=267). Women with vitamin D deficiency had a higher prevalence of postpartum glucose intolerance than did those without vitamin D deficiency (48.7% vs. 32.1%, P=0.011). Serum 25(OH)D level was negatively correlated with hemoglobin A1c at antepartum and postpartum period (antepartum: r=−0.186, P=0.001; postpartum: r=−0.129, P=0.047). Homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function was positively correlated with serum 25(OH)D level only postpartum (r=0.138, P=0.035). The risk of postpartum glucose intolerance was 2.00 times (95% confidence interval, 1.13 to 3.55) higher in women with vitamin D deficiency than in those without vitamin D deficiency (P=0.018). CONCLUSION In women with GDM, vitamin D deficiency at mid-pregnancy is associated with an elevated risk of postpartum glucose intolerance.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Child* ; Gastritis* ; Humans

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify influence of emotional awareness, ambivalence over emotional expressiveness and emotional regulation style on nursing student adjustment. METHOD: One hundred and sixty nine nursing students completed the questionnaires from May to June, 2013. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression with SAS v 9.3. RESULTS: Ambivalence over positive emotional expressiveness, motivation of application for nursing-aptitude, emotional awareness-mood labeling, avoidant/distractive style of emotion regulation, and parents-both alive were identified as factors influencing nursing student adjustment. The model explained 37% of variance in nursing student adjustment. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that programs for promoting mood labeling and reducing ambivalence over positive emotional expressiveness and avoidant/distractive style of emotion regulation are important for college adjustment in nursing students. In addition, aptitude test for nursing applicants can be considered.
Aptitude Tests ; Humans ; Motivation ; Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Social Adjustment ; Statistics as Topic ; Students, Nursing*

To investigate the nature of artifacts caused by air and chemical shift by fat, a test tube phantom study was performed in 2.0T and 0.5T superconducting magnetic resonance imaging systems in various imaging sequences. Spatial mismapping and signal change made image distortion in spin echo images of the air-column and severe signal voids in gradient echo images. Chemical shift artifacts appeared in the planes of frequency-encoding axis as crescent-shaped signal voids and summated bright signals, Both artifacts were more prominent in high field strength, Images at 0.5T showed more severe artifacts in the T2-weighted images than those in the other sequences. As the acquisition matrix increased, truncation artifacts decreased and susceptibility artifacts in gradient echo images diminished. Familiarity with causes, appearances and mechanisms of various artifacts will help radiologists for interpretation of MRI.
Artifacts* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Recognition (Psychology)

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

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to evaluate how well anorectal manometry diagnose anal sphincter injury, especially with regard to the parameter of radial asymmetry. METHODS: Anorectal manometry were performed in 27 male patients with anal fistula of transsphincteric type. The postoperative values of each manometric parameter including radial asymmetry (RA) were compared with preoperative ones. And also, the association between the sites of functional defect assessed by cross-sectional pressure data under station pull-through (SPT) technique and those of anatomical defect made by fistulotomy operation were determined. RESULTS: Under rapid pull-through (RPT) technique, maximum resting pressure (MRP); 113.1 21.3 mmHg (preoperative value) vs 68.0 18.5 mmHg (p=.000) (postoperative value), RA of MRP; 16.7 3.7% vs 24.1 7.5% (p=.002), Maximum squeeze pressures (MSP); 199.0 35.2 mmHg, 169.6 48.7 mmHg (p=.006), RA of MSP; 15.5 3.7%, 22.8 3.5% (p=.000). Under SPT technique, MRP; 100.4 39.5 mmHg vs 71.2 34.6 mmHg (p=.000), RA of MRP; 16.3 7.9% vs 24.2 10.8% (p=.026), MSP; 299.1 71.6 mmHg vs 231.4 90.3 mmHg (p=.004), RA of MSP; 13.0 6.1% vs 22.0 8.4% (p=.001). Sites of functional defects interpreted upon SPT data were coincidental with sites of anatomical defects made by fistulotomy in 88.9% (MRP) and 92.6% (MSP) of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Manometric radial asymmetry could be a useful parameter in diagnosing anal sphincter injury and locating the site of defect.
Anal Canal* ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Male ; Manometry ; Rectal Fistula