The purpose of this study is to investigate the morphologic changes of the sinusoidal endothelial cells and the associated structures of the cirrhotic rat liver induced by repeat intraperitoneal injections of N-diethylnitrosamine (DEN) (100 mg/kg/week). One day to 6 weeks later, rat livers were observed under the light, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, and immunostained with laminin antibody. Two weeks after DEN treatment, the fibrillar material in Disse's space was noted, and then a basement membrane-like structure was found at 4 weeks after treatment. Laminin was detected in perisinusoidal areas after 4 weeks. Laminin was strongly positive on the fibrous septum and in the sinusoidal wall of cirrhotic nodules after 6 weeks of treatment. The diameters and numbers of sinusoidal endothelial fenestrations did not change significantly until 2 weeks. They decreased within 4 weeks, and then the sinusoidal endothelium was poorly fenestrated at 6 weeks after DEN treatment. These results suggest that as fibrosis develops in cirrhosis, the deposit of extracellular matrix such as laminin within Disse's space is a major contributing factor in the structural alteration of sinusoidal endothelial cells, and the capillarization of the sinusoidal endothelial cells may be a contributor to impairment of the hepatic function in cirrhosis.
Rats ; Animals

OBJECTIVES: To elucidate an association of the fragile X syndrome with autism, Southern blot analysis was performed in 66 autistic children aged from 2 years to 11 years. METHODS: Subjects were 66 autistic children with of autistic disorder diagnosed by DSM-IV criteria and Childhood Autism Rating Scale-Korean version. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and DNA was used to detect a FMR (Fragile Mental Retardation)-1 gene. Xho/PstI probes and two restriction enzymes (EcoRI, EagI)were used for Southern blot analysis. RESULTS: There were one boy with a methylated mosaic pattern and 3 boys and 2 girls with an unmethylated premutation band. But there was no full mutation pattern. CONCLUSION: Although the possibility of the relationship between autistic disorder and FMR-1 gene has been suggested, the results from this study do not provide any definite association of FMR-1 gene with autism in autistic children.
Autistic Disorder ; Blotting, Southern ; Child* ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; DNA ; Female ; Fragile X Syndrome ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Biology*

VEPs weie recorded in 222 cases of different disease groups and in 42cases of the control group using a Nicolet CA 1000 system. The latency time of N1, P1, N2, and P2 from the prominent surface peak and the P1-N2 amplitude at full field pattern reversal VEP. The score of each disease group was compared with those of the control group. The results are as follows; 1. Functional amblyopia, optic neuritis, and optic nerve atrophy patients presented a significant derrease in amplitude in comparison to normal subiects. 2. In the P1 implicit time, optic neuritis, and optic nerve atrophy patients presented a marked delay. Functional amblyopia patients presented a moderate delay while other disease group patients presented normal to mild delays. 3. More than half of the optic neuritis and optic nerve atrophy patients presented a detraction of the P1 wave form.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Amblyopia/*diagnosis ; Brain Diseases/*diagnosis ; Child ; Diagnosis, Differential ; *Evoked Potentials, Visual ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Optic Atrophy/*diagnosis ; Optic Neuritis/*diagnosis ; Time Factors

The measurement of the rate of flow of aqueous humor is very important for the investigation of the physiology in the aqueous humor and maintenance of the intraocular pressure. Argon laser trabeculoplasty apears to be effective in lowering intraocular pressure with much advantage over standard filtering operation but despite the, widespread use of argon laser traheculoplasty in medically unresponsive open angle glaucoma, the exact mechanism by which it reduce outflow resistance remains unknown and so the study of the mechanism and the most suitable site are required due to the associated complication and less effectiveness during long term evaluation. We studied the changes in the rate of constant, the rate of flow for 2 weeks, intraocular pressure and C-value for 4 weeks, histopathologic changes for 36 days after argon laser trabeculoplasty in 25 rabbits(21 white and 4 black). The normal control group of 20 rabbits was also measured for intraocular pressure and C-value and the rate of constant, the rate of flow. In trabeculoplasty, we used the Britt 900 argon laser photocoagulator(pulse wave) with 50~60 burns at a setting of 700~800 mW, 0.2 seconds duration, 50 micro beam diameter in 360 degrees portion at the site between scleral spur and trabecularmeshwork. The results were as follows; 1) In control group of 20 rabbits. 1. The mean normal intraocular pressure was 18.5 +/- 2.0mmHg. 2. The mean normal C-value was 0.385 +/- 0.072 cumm/min/mmHg. 3. The mean normal rate of constant was 0.0114 +/- 0.0021min(-1). 4. The mean normal rate of flow was 3.980 +/- 0.735 micro l/min. 5. The relationship between rate of flow and C-value was high. 2) In rabbits after argon laser trabeculoplasty. 1. The white and black rabbits showed a statistically significant decrease of intraocular pressure for 4 weeks and elevation of rate of flow for 2 weeks after argon laser trabeculoplasty (p<0.001). 2. The changes of post-laser intraocular pressure was related with changes of C-value after argon laser trabeculoplasty for 4 weeks. 3. The changes of the mean IOP and C-value for post-laser 4 weeks showed no significant differences between white group and black group. 4. In histopathologic changes for 36 days, inflammtory change was not seen for post-laser period, fibrosis and edema in trabecular meshwork was more prominent at the 8th day, edema and fibrosis was regressed as normal at the post-laser 27th day.
Aqueous Humor* ; Argon* ; Burns ; Edema ; Fibrosis ; Glaucoma, Open-Angle ; Intraocular Pressure ; Physiology ; Rabbits* ; Trabecular Meshwork ; Trabeculectomy*

OBJECTIVES: The authors have intended to know the drug interaction of fluoxetine and haloperidol when coadministering two drugs to the chronic schizophrenics by assessing the changes of positive, negative symptoms and extrapyramidal symptoms. METHOD: We selected 38 patients, the chronic schizophrenics with no physical problems. they are randomly assigned to placebo group and drug group. And then, placebo or fluoxetine 20mg were administered to the subjects of each group during 8 week period. We have assessed their psychopathology and extrapyramidal symptoms using positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS), Clinical Global Impression(CGI), Simpson-Angus Scale at o, 2, 4, 6, 8 week during the period. RESULTS: 38 patients have completed the study during 8 week. 1) PANSS, CGI : no significant difference between groups and no significant change according to the times. 2) Simpson-Angus Scale : no significant changes. CONCLUSION: When co-administering fluoxetine and haloperidol, there were no significant changes of psychopathology and extrapyramidal symptoms. There results suggest that it is safe to coadminister fluoxetine to schizophrenic with haloperidol treatment.
Drug Interactions ; Fluoxetine* ; Haloperidol* ; Humans ; Psychopathology*

VEP(Visual Evoked Potential) is being widely used as a diagnostic method in amblyopia. In order to assess the visual improvement during occlusion therapy and VEP change between pre and post-occlusion therapy in amblyopia, 32 amblyopic chi1dren ranging from 3 to 13 years old were investigated. The results were as follows: 1. Among 21 cases of visual improvement above 2 lines with Han's visual acuity chart, occlusion therapy was effective in 73.7% of strabismic amblyopia, and 87.5% of anisometropic amblyopia. The mean period of visual improvement above 2 lines was 2.2 months. 2. As compared to non-amblyopic eye, VEP amplitude of amblyopic eye was significantly reduced. 3. There was no statistic significance of P3 latency between amblyopic and non-amblyopic eyes. 4. As compared to control group, the side difference of amblyopic group was significantly increased. 5. With visual improvement above 2 lines, increase of amplitude was revealed 87.5% and decrease of side difference was revealed 87.5% in 10 cases of investigating VEP change. 6. In 7 eyes of visual improvement above 2 lines, change of P2 latency between pre-occlusion and post-occlusion therapy revealed no significance statistically.
Adolescent ; Amblyopia* ; Humans ; Visual Acuity

PURPOSE: The purpose was to compare the frequency of metastatic and nonmetastatic lymph nodes diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy cytology (FNAC) and thyroglobulin concentration from fine needle aspiration biopsy washout fluid (FNAB-Tg) in an indeterminate range (0.2-100 ng/mL), and to evaluate the most appropriate threshold value of FNAB-Tg in an indeterminate range. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed ultrasound-guided FNAB and FNAB-Tg in suspicious metastatic cervical lymph nodes of papillary thyroid carcinoma and performed surgery. Ninety-five lymph nodes with indeterminate values of FNAB-Tg ranging from 0.2-100 ng/mL in ninety-two patients were included in this study. The diagnostic performances in multiple Tg levels (0.7, 1.0, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0, 50.0) were evaluated to compare with FNAB cytology using sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy with area under the curve (AUC) analysis. RESULTS: Forty-two were metastatic lymph nodes and fifty three were nonmetastatic lymph nodes. FNAB-Tg ranged from 0.22 to 90.9 ng/mL in metastatic lymph nodes (mean; 34.3+/-33.3 ng/mL) and 0.20 to 56.7 ng/mL in nonmetastatic lymph nodes (mean; 4.9+/-11.1 ng/mL) (p<0.001). The most excellent diagnostic performance was displayed in 5 ng/mL of FNAB-Tg with AUC of 0.76, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, 69.0, 83.0, and 76.8, respectively. However, there was no significant difference from 10 ng/mL FNAB. CONCLUSION: We ascertained that 5 ng/mL yielded the most excellent diagnostic performance among FNAB-Tg levels in the present setting with a large series with the indeterminate range (0.2-100 ng/mL) of FNAB-Tg values. These results need additional confirmation under different laboratory conditions.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle/*methods/standards/statistics & numerical data ; Body Fluids/metabolism ; Carcinoma, Papillary/*metabolism/*secondary/ultrasonography ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes/metabolism/pathology/ultrasonography ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroglobulin/*metabolism ; Thyroid Neoplasms/*metabolism/*secondary/ultrasonography ; Ultrasonography, Interventional

The automation in autopsy data recording, particularly in the reporting and encoding system using computers requires well designed databases. This system employed multimedia computer techniques to design a database system with application programs along with the standardized autopsy data management flow. The benefit of the present development was verified by practical application into the autopsies performed in the department of forensic medicine, Kyungpook National University. The standardized medical information of forensic autopsy data provides mutual exchange of information between the institutions and information to law enforcement agencies. Statistics on autopsy data could be used not only for medical education and research, but also as a template for policy determination concerning forensic medicine in Korea. It is necessary to standardize information between the institutions.
Automation ; Autopsy* ; Education, Medical ; Forensic Medicine ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Korea ; Law Enforcement ; Multimedia

BACKGROUND: IGF-I is an important mitogen in many types of malignancies. Tumors also express many IGF binding proteins, which modulate IGF action. The purpose of this study was to evaluaste the effect of IGF-I and IGFBP on cell proliferation in mouse lung cancer cells (3LL). METHODS: The cellular proliferation of 3LL with the treatment of growth factors was evaluated using MTT assay. Western ligand blot was performed in order to determine whether 3LL cells secrete IGFBPs and we evaluated the effect of IGFBP on cellular proliferation. RESULTS: The treatment of 3LL cells with IGF-I increased cellular proliferation in a serum free media. Western ligand blot of conditioned medium of 3LL with 125I-IGF-I demonstrated one single major band with an estimated molecular mass of 24 kDa. This band was identified as IGFBP-4 with immunoblot analysis using antisera. The addition of anti-IGFBP-4 antibody to abrogate the effect of IGFBP-4 resulted in increased cellular prolife ration suggesting that IGFBP-4 inhibits cell growth. CONCLUSION: IGF-I increases cellular proliferation, however the secreted IGFBP- 4 has an ingibitory function on cell growth in 3LL. These findings suggest that IGF-I and IGFBP are involved in the cell proliferation.
Animals ; Carrier Proteins* ; Cell Proliferation ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Culture Media, Serum-Free ; Immune Sera ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 4 ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Mice*

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome is a rare disease and is characterized by bilateral uveitis, exudative retinal detachment, dysacousia, alopecia, poliosis and signs of central nervous system involvement including headache and increase in pressure and cellular content of the cerebrospinal fluid. Its cause is unknown, but the findings in patients and the results of previous studies suggest that V-K-H disease is a cell-mediated autoimmune disorder in which a component of myelin acts as an inciting antigen. Recently many investigators have demonstrated the usefullness of cytotoxic metabolic inhibitors in suppressing uveal inflammation except V-K-H disease. And so this study was carried out to evaluate the effect of cyclophosphamide treatment in 4 patients who were resistance to steroids among the patients who were already diagnosed V-K-H disease. Cyclophosphamide was administrated every other day single dose which was 2 mg/kg/day. The results were as follows: 1. The results came out to be that there were loss of intraocular inflammation and increase of visual acuity after cyclophosphamide treatment from 3 months to 6 months and there was no recurrence in follow-up period during about 6 months. 2. The amplitude of scotopic b-wave in patient's electroretinogram during treatment was increased and latency of P1 wave of visual evoked potential was shortened with increase of amplitude of P1 wave, and so the results were showed recovery of retinal damage and optic nerve inflammation. 3. The total dose of cyclophosphamide treatment during treatment from 3 months to 6 months was from 5,600 mg to 12,000 mg, but there was no side effect, that is, decrease of plasma cell count and leukocyte count during treatment and follow-up period.
Alopecia ; Central Nervous System ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Cyclophosphamide ; Evoked Potentials, Visual ; Follow-Up Studies ; Headache ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Leukocyte Count ; Myelin Sheath ; Optic Nerve ; Plasma Cells ; Rare Diseases ; Recurrence ; Research Personnel ; Retinal Detachment ; Retinaldehyde ; Steroids ; Uveitis ; Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome* ; Visual Acuity