No abstract available.
Education, Medical* ; Family Practice* ; Humans

Prematurity is the main cause for respiratory disorders in neonates. The goal in respiratory management is to maintain respiration with adequate oxygenation. Chest vibration(CV) prior to endotracheal suctioning(ETS) has been arbitrarily applied to ventilated premature infants without the scientific evaluation of its safety and efficacy. A repeated measure within subjects experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of CV prior to ETS on oxygenation and lung secretions in twenty-one ventilated premature infants. The independent variable was the type of research protocol, the control type(ETS without CV) and the intervention(ETS with CV). The dependent variables were oxygen saturation(SpO2), heart rate (HR), measured by pulse oximeter, and the amount of lung secretions measured in gram, the results showed there was no difference in SpO2 responses regardless CV employed before ETS. But there was a significant difference in HR responses between the control and the intervention, even without clinical significance. There was a significant difference in the amount of lung secretions retrieved during ETS with CV, compared to ETS without CV. This study suggested the safety of CV by demonstrating no clinically significant changes in SoO2 and HR in premature infants. The efficacy of CV could be supported by the increases in the amount of sputum during ETS with CV compared to ETS without CV in premature infants.
Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature* ; Lung* ; Oxygen* ; Respiration ; Sputum ; Suction* ; Thorax* ; Vibration* ; Child Health

No abstract available.
Diabetic Neuropathies* ; Neural Conduction*

Newborn period is a transitional stage for independent adaptation from intrauterine to extrauterine life by maintaining respiration, temperature and nutrition. In general, the adaptability of the newborn is proportional to the gestational age(GA), so knowing the accurate GA is critical to develop nursing process in the newborn nursery. A newborn maturity rating, a Ballard examination, has been used to measure GA by assessing the maturity of newborn. It consists a total of 12 items, which is the 6 items for the neuromuscular maturity and the 6 items for the physical maturity. A total of 75 newborn were assessed for the maturity and GA using the Ballard examination. The results are follows: 1) The score of each item of Ballard examination is proportional to GA using the Ballard examination as well as LMP. 2) There was a greater positive relationship between neuromuscular, physical and total maturity, and the GA measured by Ballard examination, than the GA measured by LMP. 3) Any stressful environment to the newborn could influence to the maturity of newborn. In summary, the study showed the Ballard examination is more reliable and clinically feasible method to measure the accurate GA, compared to the GA by LMP. Therefore, it suggests the application of Ballard examination to measure the newborn maturity and GA is beneficial in developing nursing process. The expansion of the study with the variety of the subject characteristics will enhance the clinical applicability of the examination.
Gestational Age* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Nurseries ; Nursing Process ; Respiration ; Child Health

Differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia(VaD) has an important bearing on the diagnosis and management of patients with dementia. This article provides a guideline for the differential diagnosis through 1) history taking, 2) neurological examination, 3) neuropsychological tests, and 4) neuroimaging studies. VaD consists of etiologically and clinically heterogeneous subtypes that include multi-infarct dementia (MID), single strategic infarct dementia, and subcortical vascular dementia. Patients with MID and single infarct dementia con be easily differentiated from patients with AD. However, clinical manifestations of subcortical vascular dementia can mimic those of AD, which may lead primary physicians to misdiagnose subcortical vascular dementia as AD. The issue of differential diagnosis is further complicated by the fact that many patients may have AD with concomitant VaD (mixed dementia).
Alzheimer Disease* ; Dementia ; Dementia, Multi-Infarct ; Dementia, Vascular* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential* ; Humans ; Neuroimaging ; Neurologic Examination ; Neuropsychological Tests

Pulmonary blastoma is a rare lung tumor composed of epithelial and mesenchymal element : the latter element may show various pattern of differentiation toward mature tissue, such as cartilage, smooth muscle, and bone. Rhabdomyoblastic differentiation in pulmonary blastoma is quire rare. In th literature, only seven cases have been reported. We report a case of pulmonary blastoma with rhabdomyoblastic differentiation which occured in a 3 year old girl. Microscopically, cytoplasmic cross-striation was present. Immunohistochemically, strong positivity for vimentin and desmin was observed. Electron microscopy demonstrated A and I bands which documented rhabdomyoblastic differentiation.

OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to investigate the effect of coculture system on in vitro fertilization and development of mice embryos. METHODS: F1 hybrid mice were superovulated with PMSG/hCG. Recruited oocytes were divided into three subgroups which are control(subgroup a), Vero cell coculture(subgroup b) and human amniocyte coculture subgroup (subgroup c) respectively. For 3 subgroups, we observed fertilization after 24 hours of incubation. In vitro fertilized early 2-cell stage embryos were allocated to Group I and in vivo fertilized early 2-cell stage embryos were allocated to Group II. Also, each group was divided into control (subgroup a), Vero cell coculture(subgroup b) and human amniocyte coculture subgroup(subgroup c) respectively. For 6 subgroups, we observed in vitro development to blastocyst and that to hatching blastocyst after 120 hours of incubation. RESULTS: As to recruited oocytes, the in vitro fatilization rate of subgroup a was significantly higher than that of subgroup b and subgroup c (P<0.05). In Group I, the developmental rates were not significantly different between the three subgroups. But in Group II, the developmental rates to hatching blastocysts of subgroup b and c were significantly higher than that of subgroup a (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The development of the in vitro fertilized mouse embryos seemed to be independent of physiologic condition which we think coculture system may give to the embryos. The independent developmental capability of the in vitro fertilized embryos might be obtained through a certain intracellular mechanism for which there should be the need of many more investigations to be verified.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Coculture Techniques* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro* ; Humans ; Mice* ; Oocytes* ; Vero Cells

Tumor angiogenesis has been shown to be associated with metastatic potentials in breast, lung and prostatic carcinomas. The relation between tumor angiogenesis and metastatic potentials in colorectal cancer has not been established to date. We analysed 66 selected patients with colorectal carcinomas (37 with and 29 without nodal metastases) for the microvessel density, tumor proliferation activity, and the clinicopathologic parameters including size, stage, histologic grade, growth pattern, presence of angioinvasion, perineural invasion and lymph node metastasis. For evaluation of microvessel density and tumor proliferative activity, the primary tumors were immunohistochemically stained for CD31 and PCNA. The mean microvessel counts (MVC) per 200X field were 99.27+/-23.28 and 131.35+/-31.48 in node-negative and node-positive patients, respectively. The PCNA index was 39.41+/-5.63% and 56.60+/-7.09% in node-negative and node-positive patients, respectively. MVC and PCNA index were higher in tumors with nodal metastasis (p=0.002, p<0.001), and also correlated each other (sr=0.33, p=0.007). Higher microvessel counts were seen in tumors with advanced stage (p=0.016). Tumor proliferation activity assessed by PCNA immunostaining was significantly higher in tumors with advanced stage, perineural invasion, angioinvasion, poor differentiation and larger size. From these results, MVC and PCNA index in colorectal carcinomas are assumed to be valuable prognostic parameters. Thus assessment of tumor angiogenesis and tumor cell proliferation in colorectal carcinomas may be helpful for the patients in need of aggressive therapy.
Breast ; Cell Proliferation* ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Humans ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Microvessels ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen

No abstract available.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Carotid Body*

No abstract available.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Neuroblastoma*