No abstract available.
Clostridium difficile* ; Clostridium* ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel*

No abstract available.
Clostridium difficile* ; Clostridium* ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel*

No abstract available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis*

Peripheral longitudinal tears of the menisci in nine patients(eight men and one woman) were repaired by arthroscopic techniques from December 1985 to November 1986. Six lateral and three medial menisci were repaired. The results of the repairs were classified by Tapper and Hoover scale as excellent 2, good 4, fair 2 and poor 1. The aversge durstion of follow up was 17.6 months(range : twelve to twenty-four months). One patient had a rerupture and two patients had hemarthrosis. The repairs of peripheral meniscal tears hsve been shown to be an effective and successful procedure. Arthroscopic instruments and techniques have been improved to allow for the repair of some of these tears.
Arthroscopes ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemarthrosis ; Humans ; Knee ; Male ; Menisci, Tibial ; Tears

No abstract available.
Case-Control Studies* ; Placenta Previa* ; Placenta* ; Risk Factors*

No abstract available.
Pneumonia, Aspiration*

Sclerosing stromal tumor of the avary(SST) is a rare benign tumor first described as a distinct neoplasm by Chalvardjian and Scully(1973) and confirmed as such by Scully(1977) and Gee and Russell(1979). This tumor was separated from the thecoma fibroma group on the basis of characteristic histolog ic features. We present two caaes of postmenopausal women in seuentieth decades with SST, other reported cases of SSTs are discused.
Female ; Fibroma ; Humans ; Ovary* ; Thecoma

No abstract available.
Dermatitis* ; Tacrolimus ; Tetracycline*

This study was performed to determine the effects of nitric oxide on human sperm cell function. Semen samples were obtained from normal healthy volunteers. Motile spermatozoas collected by swim-up method were incubated up to 24 hours in Ham's F-10 medium supplemented with a various concentration of sodium nitroprusside (nitric oxide releasing agent). Sperm motility, hyperactivation, acrosome reaction rate, and acrosin activity were determined. The results are as follows; 1. 1mM of SNP resulted in a significant decrease in sperm motility (44.8%+/- 8.9%:78.1%+/-6.3%, and hyperactivation (10.4%+/-6.4%:477%+/-9.5%) after incubation for 3 hours compared with the control group (Ham's F-10 alone), but had no effect on acrosome reaction. 2. At 100muM SNP, sperm motility was reduced after incubation for 6 hours (54.8%+/- 3.2%) compared with that of the control group (82.7% +/- 8.9%), but hyperactivation and acrosome reaction were not affected. 3. However, a lower concentration (less than 101M) of SNP had no effect on sperm motility and hyperactivation for 8 hours of incubation but significantly decreased them when incubation periods were increased up to 24 hours compared with the control group. On the other hand, 1muM and l0muM SNP significantly increased the acrosome reaction rate in both acrosomal status (17.3%+/-5.2%,23.5%+/-4.7%, respectively) and acrosin activity (34.3muIU+/- 10.5muIU, 45.6muIU+/-5.6muIU, respectively) as compared with the control group (7.0%+/-4.0%, 9.5muIU+/-3.4muIU). These results indicate that SNP, NO releasing agent, has a dose-dependent effects on the sperm cell function. Therefore it may positively affect the fertilization by promoting acrosomal reaction at a lower concentration (less than 101M).
Acrosin ; Acrosome Reaction ; Fertilization ; Hand ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Nitroprusside ; Semen ; Sperm Motility ; Spermatozoa*

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the urinary concentrations of hydroxyridinium crosslinks of collagen in patients with osteoarthritis(OA) or rheumatoid arthritis(RA), and to compare its clinical correlation with the classic indices of the disease activity of RA. METHODS: Concentrations of urinary pyridinoline (Pyd) and deoxypyridinoline(Dpd) were measured in urinary samples collected from 18 control patients, 35 patients with OA, 45 patients with RA by competitive enzyme immunoassay using microplate coated with monoclonal antibody. RESULTS: 1) Mean urinary concentrations of Pyd in OA patients were 33.5nmol/mmol creatinine, in RA patients were 50.0nmol/mmol creatinine which were higher than the values in controls (25.1 nmol/mmol creatinine). Also, mean concentrations of Dpd in OA patients were 9.2nmol/mmol creatinine, in RA patients were 10.1nmol/mmol creatinine which were higher than the values in controls(5.6nmol/mmol creatinine)(p<0.01). 2) Mean urinary concentration of Pyd was 50.0 nmol/mmol creatinine in RA patients, which was significantly higher than the values in OA(33.5 nnmol/mmol creatinine)(p<0.05), but the mean Dpd concentratians were not significantly different between the two groups. 3) The concentrations of urinary Pyd in RA patients was significantly correlated with the biologic markers indicating inflammatory activity such as ESR(r=0.68, p<0.001), CRP(r=0.72, p<0.001) and the number of tender joint(r=0.66, p<0.01) CONCLUSION: Urinary concentrations of Pyd and Dpd were significantly higher in OA and RA patients than in controls, Especially urinary Pyd concentrations were significantly increased in RA patients than in OA patients, and strongly correlated with disease activity index of rheumatoid arthritis. The mean Dpd concentration, bone specific analogue, in RA patients was not significantly different from that of OA patients and it was not correlated with disease activity index Thus measurement of urinary Pyd might provide a sensitive, noninvasive biochemical marker for studying activity of RA.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Biomarkers ; Collagen ; Creatinine ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Osteoarthritis