No abstract available.
Electrocardiography* ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular* ; Hemodynamics*

No abstract available.
Paragonimiasis*

Authors report the preliminary result of 86 consecutive femoral head replacements with ceramic head performed at Chonnam University Hospital(73 hips) and Kwangju Christian Hospital(13 hips) during the period of 2 years and 6 months between January 1985 and June 1987. The results were as follows ; l. Eighty-three patients were comprised of 41 men(44 hips) and 42 women(42 hips). 2. Their average age at operation was 62.8 years, the oldest being 86 and the youngest being 24 years and 57 patients(68.7%) of them were over 60 years of age. 3. The causative diseases of the femoral head were hip fracture and its related conditions in 74 hips, and idiopathic avascular necrosis in 12 hips. 4. Associated general diseases, a total of 69 in number, could be diagnosed in 54 patients of them. These included hypertension(18 patients), cardiovascular disease(10 patients), and diabetes mellitus(8 patients). 5. The average diameters of the ceramic head were 49.8 mm in men and 45.1 mm in women. 6. The types of femoral stem were cemented stem(Xenophor 900 stem) in 45 hips and noncemented stem(Autophor 900S stem) in 41 hips. 7. The early postoperative complications, a total of 9 in number, were encountered and these included death in hospital(3 patients), trochanteric fracture(2 patients), pneumonia (1 patient), and others(3 patients). 8. The late postoperative complications, a total of 9 in number, were encountered and these included acetabular erosion(4 hips) and heterotopic ossification(5 hips). 9. Forty-nine hips could be followed more than 1 year with average follow-up of 19.9 months. The hip function of these 49 hips were excellent in 13 hips, good in 24 hips, fair in 8 hips, poor in 3 hips and bad in 1 hip. 10. In conclusion, it can be stated that the femoral head replacement with ceramic head prosthesis is very promising in reducing the incidence of acetabular erosion and maintaining the regained hip function.
Acetabulum ; Ceramics ; Female ; Femur ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gwangju ; Head ; Hemiarthroplasty ; Hip ; Humans ; Incidence ; Jeollanam-do ; Male ; Necrosis ; Pneumonia ; Postoperative Complications ; Prostheses and Implants

BACKGROUND: In infective endocarditis, the recent introduction of transesophageal echocardiography(TEE) improved diagnostic sensitivity and detection of complications. Although the detection rate of vegetations is above 90% by TEE, the prognostic significance of these lesions remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate prognostic factors for systemic embolism and death in infective emdocarditis by the analysis of transesophageal echocardiographic findings. METHODS: Transthoracic echocardiography(TTE0 and TEE were performed in 56 patients with active left-sided infective endocarditis during admission. If a vegetation was present, the size, mobility and consistency of vegetation were analyzed and paravalvular complications were assessed by TEE. Systemic emboli and in-hospital death dude to infective endocarditis were correlated to clinical and echocardiographic findings. RESULTS: 1) Echocardiographic evaluation revealed vegetations(53 patients), abscess(13 patients) and left ventricular dysfunction(13 patients). Systemic embolic events occured in twenty patients(36%) and death occured in thirteen patients(23%). 2) The size, mobility or consistency of vegetation was all foung not to be significant predictor of systemic embolism. But the incidence of embolism is significantly higher in patients who revealed increased vegetation size on follow-up echocardiogram. 3) The incidence of death was significantly higher in patients with left ventricular dysfunction or abscess on echocardiography. Although the mobility or consistency of vegetation was not related to mortality, the mortality was higher significantly in patients with larger vegetations. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that left ventricular dysfunction, abscess and large vegetation are risk factors for higher mortality and increased vegetation size on follow-up echocardiography is risk factor for systemic embolism. Because TEE is more useful than TTE in evaluating of vegetation and paravalvular complications, TEE should be performed early in all patients with active left-sided infective endocarditis.
Abscess ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal* ; Embolism ; Endocarditis* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Prognosis ; Risk Factors ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left

We have experienced a case of bilateral bacterial endophthalmitis after bilateral elevation of intraocular pressure. This patient suffered from meningitis and bacteremia. The enucleation was performed and histopathologic studies revealed severe inflammary change of the anterior segment. The present report described the relation between clinical signs and histopathologic findings of the metastatic endophthalmitis. We should keep in mind the possibility of the metastatic endophthalmitis in case of acute increase of intraocular pressure.
Bacteremia ; Endophthalmitis* ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Meningitis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the inhibition effects of hyper-reflexic detrusor activity by sacral afferent nerve stimulation in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. METHOD: The subjects were thirteen patients with SCI who had symptoms of urinary incontinence, because of hyper-reflexic bladder contractions. According to the level and severity of injury, the patients were divided into groups of tetraplegia/paraplegia and complete/incomplete. We applied dorsal penile nerve (DPN) stimulation using portable stimulator during the continuous bladder filling. Stimulation parameters were biphasic rectangular pulses of 25 Hz frequency, 250 microseconds pulse width. Stimulation intensity was twice the threshold of pudendo-anal reflex. The one minute stimulation was repeated to every reflex contraction during the cystometry. Immediate suppressive effect of DPN was analyzed. RESULTS: Of 13 patients who had a reflex bladder, hyper-reflexic detrusor contractions were suppressed effectively in 12 by DPN stimulation. The suppressive effect in groups of level and severity was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: DPN stimulation for inhibition of hyper-reflexic bladder contraction is an adjunctive method of incontinence management in SCI patients of different level and severity.
Humans ; Pudendal Nerve ; Reflex ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic ; Urinary Incontinence

PURPOSE: Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation plays an important role in the development and progression of chronic allograft vasculopathy. Mycophenolic acid (MPA) inhibits various mesenchymal cell proliferation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in the anti-pro-liferative effect of MPA. In this study, we investigated the effects of MPA on oleic acid (OA)-induced VSMC proliferation and also the role of ROS in these processes. METHODS: Primary cultured rat VSMCs from Sprague-Dawley were stimulated with OA 100micrometer. MPA 0.1~10micrometer and N-acetylcystein (NAC) 5 mM were administered 1 hour before adding the OA. Cell proliferation was measured by Methylthiazoletetrazolium (MTT) assay, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression by Western blot analysis, and dichlorofluorescein (DCF)-sensitive cellular ROS by flow cytometry. RESULTS: OA at 100micrometer significantly increased MTT level by 1.6-fold as well as PCNA expression at 48 hours in rat VSMCs. OA also induced DCF-sensitive cellular ROS by 1.6-fold at 5 minutes and the increment of cellular ROS remained for up to 1 hour. MPA at above 1micrometer inhibited OA- induced VSMC proliferation and cellular ROS in a dose-ependent manner. NAC 5 mM also inhibited OA-induced rat VSMC activation. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that MPA inhibits OA-induced VSMC proliferation partially through the inhibition of cellular ROS.
Allografts ; Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Proliferation* ; Flow Cytometry ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular* ; Mycophenolic Acid* ; Oleic Acid ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reactive Oxygen Species

The mucosal surfaces are constantly exposed to incoming pathogens which can cause infections that result in severe morbidity and/or mortality. Studies have reported that mucosal immunity is important for providing protection against these pathogens and that mucosal vaccination is effective in preventing local infections. For many years, the sublingual mucosa has been targeted to deliver immunotherapy to treat allergic hypersensitivities. However, the potential of vaccine delivery via sublingual mucosal has received little attention until recently. Recent studies exploring such potential have documented the safety and effectiveness of sublingual immunization, demonstrating the ability of sublingual immunization to induce both systemic and mucosal immune responses against a variety of antigens, including soluble proteins, inter particulate antigens, and live-attenuated viruses. This review will summarize the recent findings that address the promising potential of sublingual immunization in proving protection against various mucosal pathogens.
Hypersensitivity ; Immunity, Mucosal ; Immunization ; Immunotherapy ; Mucous Membrane ; Proteins ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

PURPOSE: Techniques designed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in tumors have become important in modern pathology. Genefishing technique(TM) using the annealing control primer (ACP) system has recently been developed to screen for DEG transcripts. We tried to identify DEGs involved in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) by using Genefishing technique(TM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We utilized a new differential display method, designated with Genefishing technique(TM), to analyze DEGs in 21 cases of PTCs. RESULTS: Comparing the gene expression profiles between PTC and normal thyroid, we detected 17 genes that were differentially expressed in PTCs and performed cloning with sequencing in 10 genes. We confirmed the expression patterns of 2 DEGs by RT-PCR assay and identified the same results in 17 out of 21 (81%) PTCs. The 2 DEGs over-expressed in PTCs were identified as DC-STAMP and type I collagen A1. They are novel genes identified first in PTCs. CONCLUSION: We confirmed 2 DEGs in PTCs as DC-STAMP and type I collagen A1 by using Genefishing technique(TM). Although the detailed functions of those 2 genes and their products remain to be determined, the genes will provide insights into mechanisms of carcinogenesis or tumor progression in PTCs.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Papillary/*genetics ; Collagen Type I/*genetics ; Female ; *Gene Expression Profiling ; *Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Male ; Membrane Proteins/*genetics ; Middle Aged ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Thyroid Neoplasms/*genetics ; Young Adult

Influenza virus is one of the major sources of respiratory tract infection. Due to antigenic drift in surface glycoproteins the virus causes annual epidemics with severe morbidity and mortality. Although hemagglutinin (HA) is one of the highly variable surface glycoproteins of the influenza virus, it remains the most attractive target for vaccine development against seasonal influenza infection because antibodies generated against HA provide virus neutralization and subsequent protection against the virus infection. Combination of recombinant adenovirus (rAd) vector-based vaccine and mucosal administration is a promising regimen for safe and effective vaccination against influenza. In this study, we constructed rAd encoding the globular head region of HA from A/Puerto Rico/8/34 virus as vaccine candidate. The rAd vaccine was engineered to express high level of the protein in secreted form. Intranasal or sublingual immunization of mice with the rAd-based vaccine candidates induced significant levels of sustained HA-specific mucosal IgA and IgG. When challenged with lethal dose of homologous virus, the vaccinated mice were completely protected from the infection. The results demonstrate that intranasal or sublingual vaccination with HA-encoding rAd elicits protective immunity against infection with homologous influenza virus. This finding underlines the potential of our recombinant adenovirus-based influenza vaccine candidate for both efficacy and rapid production.
Adenoviridae* ; Administration, Mucosal ; Animals ; Antibodies ; Head* ; Hemagglutinins* ; Immunization* ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin G ; Influenza Vaccines ; Influenza, Human* ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; Mice* ; Mortality ; Orthomyxoviridae* ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Seasons ; Vaccination ; Viruses