No abstract available.
Animals ; Killer Cells, Natural* ; Mice*

OBJECTIVES: The dopamine-blocking effects and the associated side effects(amenorrhea, lactation, sexual dysfunct of classical antipsychotics in schizophrenic patients have been studied for a long time. The purpose of this study to find out these effects of new antipsychotics(risperidone, olanzapine) in schizophrenic patients treated with clinical relevant doses. METHOD: Plasma levels of both prolactin and testosterone were measured in 91 schizophrenic patients(28 taking haloperidol, 4-20mg/day ; 31 taking risperidone, 2-6mg/day/ 32 taking olanzapine, 5-20mg/day). RESULTS: In male schizophrenic patients, the prolactin levels of risperidone group(76.44+/-38.85ng/ml) and haloperidol group(60.26+/-20.74ng/ml) had no significant difference, but were significantly higher than that of olanzapine(26.90+/-5.36ng/ml). In female, the prolactin level of olanzapine group(36.66+/-17.55) was significantly lower than those of risperidone(121.7+/-.33) and haloperidol group(161.66+/-37.53). And prolactin level of risperdone group was lower than that of haloperidol group. While the testosterone plasma level of risperidone, haloperidol and olanzapine in both male and female schizophrenic patients had no significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: At doses known to be effective in popular clinical setting, prolactin level in patients taking risperidone we higher than that of haloperidol, while olanzapine showed no significant difference in terms of prolactin plasma level haloperidol. New antipsychotics may not influence the testosterone plasma level.
Antipsychotic Agents* ; Female ; Haloperidol ; Humans ; Lactation ; Male ; Plasma ; Prolactin* ; Risperidone ; Testosterone*

Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) that histologically resembles nasopharyngeal lymphoepithelioma has been reported in various sites including the stomach, salivary gland, lung, skin, thymus, tonsil and uterine cervix. LELC of the stomach was rarely reported after the first report by Burke et al. in 1990. More than 60% of them were associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Most commonly affecting elderly Asians with slight male predominance (M/F ; 1.2/1), it usually is located in the proximal portion of the stomach and distinguished from lymphoid-rich adenocarcinoma by the absence of definitive glandular differentiation in the LELC. We recently experienced 4 cases of LELC of the stomach associated with EBV. Patients consisted of two Korean females and two Korean males with one in 3rd decade, one in 5th decade and two in 6th decade. The tumors of all cases were located in the proximal portion of the stomach. Gross types were 1 Borrman type I, 2 Borrman type II and 1 early gastric carcinoma type IIc. The size of the tumors varied from 0.8 cm to 7 cm. Microscopic findings were similar in all 4 tumors.; The tumors were composed of syncytial nests of undifferentiated cells having vesicular nuclei with prominent nucleoli, admixed with abundant lymphoplasma cell infiltration in the stroma. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that the tumor cells were reactive for cytokeratin and the stromal lymphocytes were mostly T cells. There were dark hybridization signals in the nuclei of most of the tumor cells but no signals in the stromal lymphocytes in three cases on in situ PCR hybridization and on all cases PCR amplification for EBNA-1. It is concluded that LELCs of the stomach have distinctive histologic characteristics and the usual association with EBV. Further accumulation of these cases will define the prognosis.
Adenocarcinoma ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cervix Uteri ; Female ; Herpesvirus 4, Human* ; Humans ; Keratins ; Lung ; Lymphocytes ; Male ; Palatine Tonsil ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prognosis ; Salivary Glands ; Skin ; Stomach* ; T-Lymphocytes ; Thymus Gland

BACKGROUND: Fast eating or overeating can induce gastrointestinal diseases such as gastritis. However, the association between gastritis and speed of eating is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether eating speed is associated with increased risk of endoscopic erosive gastritis (EEG). METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional study involving 10,893 adults who underwent a general health checkup between 2007 and 2009. Two groups, EEG patients and EEG-free patients, were compared by using the t-test and the chi-square test. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between eating speed and EEG. RESULTS: The group with EEG had a higher proportion of males, average age, body mass index, and percentages of current smokers and risky drinkers than those without EEG. After adjusting for anthropometric, social, and endoscopic parameters, the group with the highest eating speed (<5 min/meal) had 1.7 times higher risk for EEG than the group with the lowest eating speed (> or =15 min/meal) (odds ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval, 1.20-2.45). CONCLUSION: High eating speed is an independent risk factor for EEG. Our results indicate the need for further studies to clarify the role of eating speed in gastritis.
Adult* ; Body Mass Index ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Eating* ; Electroencephalography ; Feeding Behavior ; Gastritis* ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Hyperphagia ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: The incidence of malignancy in kidney transplantation recipient was increased in accordance with the prolonged graft survival due to a development of new immunosuppressive agents. The malignancy is not only lethal to the patients but also imposed the major cause of morbidity and mortality. We analyzed 1) the relationship between the kidney transplanted patients who was operated in our hospital and type of malignancy of them after transplantation 2) treatment and prevention via analysis of risk factors of malignancy after transplantation. METHODS: The retrospective analysis was performed in 10 patients with malignancy among the 916 patients who underwent kidney transplantation in our hospital from 1990 to 1999 and the 3 patients with malignancy who underwent kidney transplantation in other hospital and followed up in our hospital. RESULTS: In 916 renal transplant patients, 885 patients were the CsA-based group and the other 31 patients were tacrolimus-based group. In the 13 malignancy patients, 12 were CsA-based group and the other 1 patient was tacrolimus-based group . Mean duration of tumor occurrence after transplantation was 36.2 month (5-80 month). There were 4 squamous epithelial cancer, 2 post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD), 2 Kaposi's sarcoma, 2 gastric cancer and 1 breast cancer. There was no difference of interval for tumor development among diverse malignancy. We could not find any predisposing factors for tumor occurrence in this short term observation. CONCLUSION: Even though there were some epithelial and gastrointestinal tract cancer patients after renal transplantation, there were no specific risk factors which increase the incidence of cancer in immunocompromised patient save the locally endemic occurrence such as GI malignancy.
Breast Neoplasms ; Causality ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Incidence ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Kidney* ; Mortality ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sarcoma, Kaposi ; Stomach Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Paresthesia is unpleasant for patients and more importantly, is related to neurological injury in some cases. There have been few studies comparing combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSE) techniques such as needle-through-needle technique (NTN) and double segment technique (DST) regarding the incidence of paresthesia. METHODS: Eighty-four parturients undergoing CSE for an elective cesarean section were divided into NTN and DST groups. A CSE was performed using 27 G Sprotte needle, 18 G Tuohy needle and 20 G multiport catheter in both groups. In the NTN group, at L3-4 or L4-5, a spinal anesthesia was performed and then an epidural catheter was inserted through the same Tuohy needle. In the DST group, an epidural catheter was inserted at L1-2 or L2-3 and then a spinal anesthesia was done two interspaces caudally. Incidences of paresthesia with each procedure were recorded with block characteristics and adverse effects. RESULTS: Overall frequency of paresthesia was higher in the NTN group (54.8% vs. 29.3%, P = 0.033). Incidences of intrathecal paresthesia were three times higher (21.4% vs. 7.3%, not significant) and epidural paresthesia was significantly higher (45.2% vs. 22%, P = 0.044) in the NTN group. Sensory and motor block characteristics and side effects were mostly comparable between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Double-segment technique shows less incidence of overall paresthesia compared to needle-through-needle.
Anesthesia* ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Catheters ; Cesarean Section ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Needles ; Paresthesia* ; Pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Stellate ganglion block is usually performed at the transverse process of C6, because the vertebral artery is located anterior to the transverse process of C7. The purpose of this study is to estimate the location of the transverse process of C6 using the cricoid cartilage in the performance of stellate ganglion block. METHODS: We reviewed cervical lateral neutral-flexion-extension views of 48 patients who visited our pain clinic between January and June of 2010. We drew a horizontal line at the surface of the cricoid cartilage in the neutral and extension views of cervical lateral x-rays. We then measured the change in the shortest distance from this horizontal line to the lowest point of the transverse process of C6 between the neutral and extension views. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference in the shortest distance from the horizontal line at the surface of the cricoid cartilage to the lowest point of transverse process of C6 between neutral position and neck extension position in both males and females, and between males and females in both neutral position and neck extension position. The cricoid cartilage level was 4.8 mm lower in males and 14.4 mm higher in females than the lowest point of transverse process of C6 in neck extension position. CONCLUSIONS: Practitioners should recognize that the cricoid cartilage has cephalad movement in neck extension. In this way, the cricoid cartilage can be still useful as a landmark for stellate ganglion block.
Cricoid Cartilage ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Neck ; Pain Clinics ; Stellate Ganglion ; Vertebral Artery

PURPOSE: Over the several decades, there has been a considerable improvement in the survival of patients who undergo renal transplantation due to newer immunosuppressive agents and development of surgical technique and post-operative management. However, life expectancy beyond 10 years is still considerably less than that in the general population. We studied the causes of patient death after kidney transplantation to determine the major causes of death, to decrease the mortality rate of patient and to increase the graft survival rate. METHODS: From Jan. 1990 to Dec. 2002, 1353 renal transplantation were performed at Asan Medical Center. There had been 63 cases of patient death and we reviewed the causes of death, recipient-donor relationship, immunosuppressive agents, history of rejection and the time of death after transplantation in these patients, retrospectively. RESULTS: The major causes of patient death were infection (36.5%), cardiovascular disease (14.3%), malignancy (9.5%), hepatic failure (11.1%), miscellaneous (11.1%) and unknown (22.2%). Thirty-nine (61%) of total death occurred in the first year of transplantation and major cause in first year of transplants was infection (46.2%). Of 63 deaths, 35(55.6%) were with graft function and 49 (77.8%) had history of rejection. The patients with brain- death donor had a higher death rate than that of the patients with living donors (3.7% vs 7.8%, P=0.002). The patients who had history of rejection have higher death rate than the patient with no history of rejection (22.6% vs 1.3%, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Active efforts for the prevention of rejection and infection in early phase of transplantation and close surveillance of malignancy and cardiovascular disease in long-term follow up will decrease the death of transplanted patients and increase the graft survival rate.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death* ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Kidney* ; Life Expectancy ; Liver Failure ; Living Donors ; Mortality ; Retrospective Studies ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

The authora have had contact with 951 cases of surgery of the lower extremities receiving various kinds of anesthtic methods and these cases were analyzed at the department of Anesthesiology, Ewha Womans University Hospital during the 7 year period from January 1970 to December 1982. The result are as follows: 1) There is a trend towards increasing numbers of operations annually. 2) The most common age group was 3rd decade(24%) 3) Ratio of males to females was 2:1. 4) Class I of physical status(ASA) was most common(61.2%) 5) For premedication, meperidine and atropine sulfate were commonly used(32.9%). 6) In the section of surgery, Orthopedic surgery is most common(90.4%) 7) General anesthesia was the most commonly used technique(69.8%) 8) Most cases ended within 2 hours(60.1%)
Anesthesia* ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesiology ; Atropine ; Female ; Humans ; Lower Extremity* ; Male ; Meperidine ; Orthopedics ; Premedication

The authors analyzed statistically, 2,290 cases of anesthesia for emergency Cesarean section perfomed at Ewha Womans University Hospital from January 1978 to December 1982. The results are as follows: 1) The incidence of emergency Ceaarean section was 73.8% of total Cesarean sections. 2) The most common indication was CPD(41.4%). 3) The most common gestational age group was 38-42 weeks(85.2%). 4) In NPO time, general anesthesia was twice in more than 6 hours, but spinal anesthesia was twice in less than 6 hours. 5) General anesthesia was increaaed but spinal anesthesia was decreased during the five year period. 6) In estimated blood loss, less than 1,000 ml was 80.0%. 7) Neonates with poor Apgar score (0-3 point) were 5.9% which related to prolonged induction-delivery time and general anesthesia. 8) A drop in blood pressure developed within 5 minutes in 58.3% after spinal anesthesia.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Apgar Score ; Blood Pressure ; Cesarean Section* ; Emergencies* ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Pregnancy