Human ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Graves Disease ; Graves Ophthalmopathy ; Skin Diseases ; Methimazole ; Thyrotoxicosis

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that is widely used as a natural sugar substitute. Thus, the safety of its usage is very important. In the present study, short-term genotoxicity assays were conducted to evaluate the potential genotoxic effects of erythritol. According to the OECD test guidelines, the maximum test dose was 5,000 microg/plate in bacterial reverse mutation tests, 5,000 microg/ml in cell-based assays, and 5,000 mg/kg for in vivo testing. An Ames test did not reveal any positive results. No clastogenicity was observed in a chromosomal aberration test with CHL cells or an in vitro micronucleus test with L5178Y tk +/- cells. Erythritol induced a marginal increase of DNA damage at two high doses by 24 hr of exposure in a comet assay using L5178Y tk +/- cells. Additionally, in vivo micronucleus tests clearly demonstrated that oral administration of erythritol did not induce micronuclei formation of the bone marrow cells of male ICR mice. Taken together, our results indicate that erythritol is not mutagenic to bacterial cells and does not cause chromosomal damage in mammalian cells either in vitro or in vivo.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Bone Marrow Cells ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Comet Assay ; DNA Damage ; Erythritol* ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Micronucleus Tests ; Sweetening Agents

No abstract available.
Dyspepsia/physiopathology/*radionuclide imaging ; Fundoplication ; Human ; Obesity/physiopathology/*radionuclide imaging ; Observer Variation ; Postprandial Period/*physiology ; Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m/diagnostic use ; Stomach/physiopathology/*radionuclide imaging/surgery ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon/*methods

A 74-year-old male developed cervical carotid artery psuedoaneurysm 8 months after carotid endarterectomy. The patient was successfully managed with dual implantation of flow-diverter and conventional carotid stent. Flow-diverter was placed across the neck of pseudoaneurysm to provide flow diversion while carotid stent was implanted within the lumen of the expanded flow-diverter to approximate and hold the flow diverter proximal and distal to the pseudoaneurysm. Follow-up ultrasonography revealed complete resolution of the pseudoaneurysm.
Aged ; Aneurysm, False* ; Carotid Arteries ; Carotid Artery, Common* ; Endarterectomy* ; Endarterectomy, Carotid ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Neck ; Stents* ; Ultrasonography

We performed a prospective study to evaluate the effect of ocular digital massage (ODM) on intraocular pressure (IOP) in eyes that underwent implantation of Ahmed Glaucoma Valve (AGV) for refractory glaucoma. Echographic study(B scan) was also used to visualize the formation of bleb around the implant and change of its size following ODM. There were 14 eyes(13 patients) in which pre-massage IOP was 17.79 +/- 6.19 mmHg and the immediate post-massage lOP showed 11.00 +/- 6.11 mmHg . IOP in 6 hours after ODM was 15.43 +/- 7.32 mmHg . These reductions in lOP were statistically significant (paired t-test, p=0.005). When classified into two groups based on the type of glaucoma and IOP reduction after ODM was compared, there was no statistically significant difference between the group with neovascular glaucoma (NVG) and that with chronic angle closure glaucoma (t-test, p=0.328). The ultrasound study showed well formed bleb around the implant in those eyes with good IOP control. Increase in the size of bleb was shown even in those with marginal/poor IOP control following ODM. There was no significant complication associated with ODM except in one eye with persistent hypotony. In conclusion, ODM showed a significant IOP reduction in short term in eyes with AGV and its relationship with bleb size was well documented with the use of echograph.
Blister ; Glaucoma* ; Glaucoma, Angle-Closure ; Glaucoma, Neovascular ; Intraocular Pressure ; Massage* ; Prospective Studies ; Ultrasonography

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study is to identify the factors that predict mortality in elderly trauma patients. METHOD: We reviewed retrospectively the medical record of 144 cases of geriatric trauma admitted to Kyungpook National University Hospital firm January 1998 to December 1998. We evaluated the general characteristics, mechanisms of injury, Revised Trauma Score(RTS), Injury Severity Score(ISS), Probability of survival(Ps) by TRISS(Trauma and Injury Severity Score) method, amount of blood transfused, preexisting disease, complications, length of stay, and mortality. RESULTS: 1. The mean age was 75.39+/-7.89 years old, and male to female ratio was 0.89 : 1. 2. The mechanisms of injury were primarily frills(56.3%) followed by bicycle or motorcycle(13.9%), and pedestrian injuries(13.2%) and motor vehicle accidents(6.9%). 3. The mean Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS), RTS and ISS ate 13.3+/-3.5, 7.2+/-1.4 and 14.2 +/-11.6 respectively. 4. The actual mortality rate was 18.1% (26/144). But by TRISS method, predicted mortality rate was 9.3%(12.5/144), excess mortality rate was 108% and Z score was 3.99 indicating that actual number of death exceed predicted number of death. 5. Between the survivors and nonsurvivors, the insults were significantly different as follows ; systolic blood pressure(141.9+/-28.3 vs. 116.8+/-48.7 mmHg), GCS(14.3+/-2.0 vs. 9.0 +/-5.1), RTS(7.8+/-0.7 vs 5.4+/-2.3), ISS(11.3+/-5.6 vs 27.2+/-20.2), Ps by TRISS(0.97+/-0.06 vs 0.65+/-0.37), preexisting diseases(50.8 vs 69.8%). CONCLUSION: Geriatric patients are more likely to die after trauma than other age groups. The cause of higher actual mortality rate compared to predicted mortality rate was considered as the higher incidence of delayed death due to sepsis or multiple organ failure. In order to reduce the mortality, even with relatively stable initial vile sign, invasive hemodynamic monitoring and intensive treatment are recommended and also, prevention and treatment of nosocomial infection are very important.
Aged ; Coma ; Cross Infection ; Female ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Incidence ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Medical Records ; Mortality* ; Motor Vehicles ; Multiple Organ Failure ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Retrospective Studies ; Sepsis ; Survivors

Seven transmembrane receptors (7TMRs), also known as G protein-coupled receptors, are popular targets of drug development, particularly 7TMR systems that are activated by peptide ligands. Although many pharmaceutical drugs have been discovered via conventional bulk analysis techniques the increasing availability of structural and evolutionary data are facilitating change to rational, targeted drug design. This article discusses the appeal of neuropeptide-7TMR systems as drug targets and provides an overview of concepts in the evolution of vertebrate genomes and gene families. Subsequently, methods that use evolutionary concepts and comparative analysis techniques to aid in gene discovery, gene function identification, and novel drug design are provided along with case study examples.
Drug Design* ; Gene Duplication ; Genetic Association Studies ; Genome ; Genomics* ; Humans ; Ligands ; Neuropeptides* ; Vertebrates

We investigated the ability of the GDx-Nerve Fiber Analyzer (NFA) to discriminate between normal and early glaucomatous eyes among Korean individuals by reviewing the medical records of 217 consecutive subjects: 61 early glaucoma patients, 68 ocular hypertensive patients, and 88 normal subjects. GDx parameters were compared using ANOVA. The Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve for each GDx-NFA variable was used to diagnose each parameter, and Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the association between GDx-NFA parameters and visual field indices in early glaucoma. The best GDx parameters to discriminate between early glaucomatous and normal subjects were the number, maximum modulation, ellipse modulation and inferior ratio (i.e. area under the ROC curve > 0.8). A value for the Number of equal to or greater than 27 was optimal for detecting early glaucoma, with a sensitivity of 80.3% and specificity of 80.7%. In addition, symmetry was positively correlated with the corrected pattern standard deviation (CPSD) among visual field indices in early glaucoma.
*Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological ; Female ; Glaucoma, Open-Angle/*diagnosis/ethnology ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nerve Fibers/*pathology ; Ocular Hypertension/diagnosis/ethnology ; Optic Nerve Diseases/*diagnosis/ethnology ; ROC Curve ; Retinal Ganglion Cells/*pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Visual Fields

Iatrogenic vessel perforation from endovascular intervention is a devastating complication that commonly is treated with vessel sacrifice. We present a unique case of an iatrogenic proximal basilar artery perforation after submaximal angioplasty in a 67-year-old male presenting with an acute basilar artery occlusion with underlying intracranial atherosclerotic disease. Telescoping flow-diverting stents were then deployed to reconstruct the vessel wall with resulting active hemorrhage resolution. Our case documents a successful deployment of flow-diverting stents with resolution of active hemorrhage after an iatrogenic basilar artery perforation.

Iatrogenic vessel perforation from endovascular intervention is a devastating complication that commonly is treated with vessel sacrifice. We present a unique case of an iatrogenic proximal basilar artery perforation after submaximal angioplasty in a 67-year-old male presenting with an acute basilar artery occlusion with underlying intracranial atherosclerotic disease. Telescoping flow-diverting stents were then deployed to reconstruct the vessel wall with resulting active hemorrhage resolution. Our case documents a successful deployment of flow-diverting stents with resolution of active hemorrhage after an iatrogenic basilar artery perforation.