No abstract available.
Cefazolin* ; Erythromycin* ; Latency Period (Psychology)* ; Membranes* ; Rupture*

The purpose of this study is to build up the foundation to prepare the effective nursing intervention devices for the seriously ill patient's families nursing through the nurse understanding of the experiences of the seriously ill patient's families in the field by setting up grounded theory. In this study, the subjects is the 6 families members of ICU patients, who were being cared in university hospital and the data were collected from 4.15 to 5, 1996 by the recordings and transcring the interview. The intervention lasted from 2 hours to 2 and a half hours. The data were analyzed in the framework of grounded theory as mapped out by Strauss & Corbin. The core category in the analysis of the experiences of the families of the seriously ill patients was the process of setting the "distress". In the process of datas analysis, the categories were 19 conceptions-'serious', 'bad', 'fear', 'press', 'hearburn', 'impatient', 'insufficient', 'change of patients' status', 'economic ability', 'family relationship', 'whilled power', 'request', 'direct caring', 'passive effort', 'control', 'receive', 'tired', 'blame'. These categories were again grouped into 12 categories, including 'exigency', 'overwhelming', 'worry', 'change of status', 'economic ability', 'relationship', 'caring will' 'active caring', 'passive response', 'accept', 'exhaustion', 'blame'. In the above mentioned categories, 'overwhelming' and 'worry' were categorized into the "distress!". On the basis of the patterns that have emerged on process of data analysis, the five below were confirmed. (1) When the patient's status is worse and economic ability is bad and the family relation to the patient is close and the distress is expressed with active caring willness is strong, the distress is expressed with active caring and brings about accept and blame. (2) When the family relation to the patient is distant and the distress decrease and the subject's caring willness is weak, the distress is expressed with passive response and brings about accept and exhaustion in spite of the patient's status is worse and bad economic ability. (3) When the patient's status is worse and economic ability is bad and the family relation to the patient is close and the distress increase, the subject's caring willness is strong, the distress is subject's caring willness is strong, the distress is expressed with passive response and brings about accept and exhaustion. (4) When the patient's status is improve and economic ability is good and the distress decrease and the subject's caring willing is strong, the distress is expressed with active caring and brings about accept and blame in spite of the family relation to the patient is close. (5) When the patient's status is improve and economic ability is bad and the family relation to the patient is close and the distress increase, the subject's caring willness is strong, the distress is expressed with active caring and brings about accept and blame.
Family Relations ; Humans ; Nursing ; Statistics as Topic

No abstract available.
alpha-Tocopherol* ; beta Carotene* ; Humans ; Retinoids*

PURPOSE: Chemokines are structurally related, small polypeptide signaling molecules that bind to and activate a family of transmembrane G proteincoupled receptors, the chemokine receptors. Recently, interaction between the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its ligand, stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1 or CXCL12), has been found to play an important role in tumorigenicity, proliferation, metastasis and angiogenesis in many cancers such as lung cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer and cholangiocarcinoma. Hence, the goal of this study is to identify the correlation of clinicopathological factors and the up-regulation of SDF-1 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied the immunohistochemical staining of SDF-1, quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) of SDF-1 gene in 20 specimens of 20 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. RESULTS: 1. In the immunohistochemical study of poor differentiated and invasive oral squamous cell carcinoma, the high level staining of SDF-1 was observed. And the correlation between immunohistochemical SDF-1 expression and tumor nodes metastases (TNM) classification of specimens was significant.(chi-square test, P < 0.05) 2. In the SDF-1 gene qRT-PCR analysis, SDF-1 expression was more in tumor tissue than in carcinoma in situ tissue. Paired-samples analysis determined the difference of SDF-1 mRNA expression level between the cancer tissue and the carcinoma in situ tissue.(Student's t-test, P < 0.05) CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that up-regulation of the SDF-1 may play a role in progression and invasion of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma in Situ ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; Chemokines ; Cholangiocarcinoma ; Glioblastoma ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Melanoma ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Receptors, Chemokine ; RNA, Messenger ; Up-Regulation

No abstract available.
Gastric Stump*

No abstract available.
Drug Therapy* ; Granulocytes* ; Humans*

BACKGROUND: Eruptive syringoma is a very rare variant of syringoma and arises most frequently on the anterior trunk of young people. Because eruptive syringoma represents clinically a very rare distinct entity, clinicopathologic studies rarely have been described in literature. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to characterize clinical and histopathologic findings of eruptive syringomas which were diagnosed by histopathologic examination for a 10 year period in Asan medical center. METHODS: The hospital records, clinical history, and biopsy slides of 13 eruptive syringoma were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: There were 5 men(38%) and 8 women (62%) with the mean age of 31 years. The mean age of onset was 23 years and 3 patients(23%) presented the lesions before puberty. The most frequently involved sites were anterior trunk, axilla, upper extremities, neck, and face in descending order. The most common initial clinical diagnosis was verruca plana(38%). Most of the lesions did not show self-limiting course and several treatment modalities including oral isotretinoin or CO2 laser were not so effective. All cases showed characteristic histopathologic features of syringoma and 76% of them revealed increased basal melanin pigment or pigmentary incontinence. CONCLUSION: Eruptive syringoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of flat papular lesions by histopathologic examination and it may help to avoid inappropriate therapeutic approach.
Adolescent ; Age of Onset ; Axilla ; Biopsy ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Hospital Records ; Humans ; Isotretinoin ; Lasers, Gas ; Melanins ; Neck ; Puberty ; Retrospective Studies ; Syringoma* ; Upper Extremity ; Warts

OBJECTIVE: To examine the first-trimester maternal serum placental growth factor (PlGF) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) levels in pregnancies associated with pre-eclampsia (PE) or small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants, and determine the predictive accuracy of PlGF and of PAPP-A for either PE or SGA infants. METHODS: This prospective, observational study included 175 pregnant women, and of these women, due to participant withdrawal or loss to follow-up, delivery data were collected from the medical records of 155 women, including 4 who had twin pregnancies. The women's maternal history was recorded, and the PlGF and PAPP-A levels at 11 to 13 gestational weeks were measured. During the second trimester, the maternal uterine artery's systolic/diastolic ratio was measured. Multiples of the median (MoM) of PlGF and PAPP-A were determined, and the associations of these values with the risk factors of SGA and PE were evaluated. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine whether PlGF and PAPP-A are useful markers for predicting SGA infants. RESULTS: The PAPP-A MoM level was significantly lower in women with advanced maternal age, multipara women, and women with gestational diabetes than in their counterparts. The PlGF and PAPP-A MoM levels were higher in women with a twin pregnancy than in those with a singleton pregnancy. There was a significant relationship between the maternal serum PAPP-A MoM level in the first trimester and the uterine artery systolic/diastolic ratio in the second trimester. Results of logistic regression analysis showed that low PlGF and PAPP-A MoM levels were predictors of SGA infants (odds ratio, 0.143; 95% confidence interval, 0.025 to 0.806; odds ratio, 0.191; 95% confidence interval, 0.051 to 0.718, respectively). CONCLUSION: PlGF and PAPP-A are potentially useful as first-trimester markers for SGA infants and some hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
Diabetes, Gestational ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infant* ; Logistic Models ; Maternal Age ; Medical Records ; Observational Study* ; Odds Ratio ; Plasma* ; Pre-Eclampsia* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, First* ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A ; Pregnant Women ; Prospective Studies* ; Risk Factors ; Staphylococcal Protein A* ; Uterine Artery

PURPOSE: We determined the clinical significance of telomerase activity and telomere length in breast cancer patients and also developed the measuring system of telomerase activity change with RNAse A pre-treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We measured the telomerase activity in 71 breast cancer tissues and paired normal tissues with TRAP (Telomeric Repeat Amplification Protocol) assay. Telomerase activity was calculated by computer-assisted densitometry compared to telomerase activity of the 293 control cell line. To develop the measuring system of telomerase activity modulation, we measured the telomerase activity after the treatment with RNAse A, 150microgram/ml, which inhibited 70% of telomerase activity compared to control in the 293 control cell line. In 59 paired tissues with telomerase activity, terminal restriction fragment (TRFs) length were measured using Southern blotting. RESULTS: Sixty-three out of 71 cancer tissues showed telomerase activity (88.7%), while no telomerase activity was detected in their paired normal tissues. Telomerase activity was correlated to the node metastasis (p=0.02) and stage (p=0.005), but not to the tumor size or the hormonal receptor status. TRFs were neither specific to tumor tissues nor related to any of the clinical parameters. However, changes of TRFs of the tumor tissues from their paired normal tissues were correlated to the telomerase activities. Also the patients with different TRFs between cancer and normal tissues were in more advanced stage. After pre-treatment with the 150microgram/ml of RNAse A, telomerase activity in the tumor tissues showed variable inhibition. Relative inhibition, the ratio of inhibited telomerase activity in each tumor tissue compared to the inhibition of 293 control cell line, was proportional to the telomerase activity. CONCLUSION: In breast cancer, telomerase activity was specific to the tumor tissues and correlated to tumor progression. A combination of telomerase activity and TRFs changes can be used as a guidline in detecting a better candidate for telomerase inhibition. Semi-quantitative assay with RI system can be used in evaluating the changes of telomerase activity after treatment with a new telomerase inhibitor with TRAP assay.
Biological Therapy* ; Blotting, Southern ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Cell Line ; Densitometry ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ribonuclease, Pancreatic ; Telomerase* ; Telomere

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although acute low-tone hearing loss has been associated with cochlear hydrops or early stage Meniere's disease, its prognosis in the short-term has been reported to be better than sudden hearing loss. However, recurrence of hearing loss and possible progression to Meniere's disease remain important concerns in the clinical setting. This study aims to investigate the long-term audiological outcomes of acute low-tone hearing loss. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of patients presenting with a first attack of acute low-tone hearing loss was performed. Of the 77 patients, 33 were followed up for more than 3 months. Progression, recovery of hearing loss and recurrence of hearing loss were examined. Also, correlation between long-term outcomes and associated clinical factors were analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients (75.7%) had complete hearing recovery, five patients (15.1%) had partial recovery, two patients (6.0%) had no recovery, and one patient (3.0%) had progression of hearing loss 1 month after initial treatment. Thirty-three patients were followed up for more than 3 months (mean 22 months, range 3-79 months). Recurrences of acute low-tone hearing loss were observed in five patients (15.2%). All of the recurrences occurred during the first 12 months of follow-up. Long-term prognosis correlated with the initial therapy results (R2=0.693). CONCLUSIONS: Recurrences of hearing loss were documented in five patients (15.2%), and all of these cases occurred within one year of the first attack. Audiological outcomes after initial therapy may predict the recurrence of acute low-tone hearing loss.
Edema ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hearing Loss* ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; Hearing* ; Humans ; Meniere Disease ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies