Scute/larisa baica/ensis (SB) has been used as a folk medicine for curing ulcer, inflammation and infection. However, surprisingly little has been done to develop and exploit SB's immunomodulating, anti- inflammatory properties. Moreover, the mechanisms of SB-action on immune function had not been elucidated. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of 5B on immune functions, microbial growth and bacterial mutagenicity. Boiling water extract of SB was used in this experiment. The proliferation response to PHA-, Con A- or LPS-stimulation and the production of Con A-induced IL-2 and LPS-induced IL-6 of splenocytes from SB-pretreated mice were significantly higher than those of splenocytes from control mice. Daily single injection of 2 mg/mouse SB for 4 days resulted in enhancement of Arthus reaction and DTH to SRBC. And these enhancements were more prominent when SB was treated prior to SRBC- sensitization. SB did inhibit the growth of microorganisms such as C. albicans, C. neoformans, E. coli S. typhimurium and this inhibiting effect was gradually increased in proportion to the increment of SB. SB also remarkably reduced the mutagenicity of mutagens such as sodium azid and benzo[a]pyrene, but this was not certain, because it showed a killing effect on the cell survival test. When SB treated mice were i.p infected with C. albicans, the number of microorganisms in the peritoneal exudates were significantly reduced. Taken together, these results revealed that SB itself has not only multiple effects on events controlling immune responses but also anti-inflammatory properties, which may provide the rational basis for their therapeutic use as one of the biological response modifiers.
Animals ; Arthus Reaction ; Cell Survival ; Exudates and Transudates ; Homicide ; Immunologic Factors ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-6 ; Medicine, Traditional ; Mice ; Mutagens ; Scutellaria baicalensis* ; Scutellaria* ; Sodium ; Ulcer ; Water

No abstract available.
Doxorubicin* ; Euonymus*

No abstract available.
Skull Base* ; Skull*

BACKGROUND: Glycolic acid is currently reported to have beneficial effects on the photoaged skin. These effects may be through the modulatory action of glycolic acid in the production of dermal extracellular matrix proteins of fibroblast. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the specific effect of glycolic acid on the collagen and elastic fiber gene expression in vitro. METHODS: Human skin fibroblasts were cultured from normal skins of excised specimens and glycolic acid (75 µg/ml) was treated. After 24 hours of treatment, six each cell lines were processed for extraction of RNA and subjected to Northern analysis. RESULTS: Type I collagen mRNA expression was significantly increased in the glycolic acid-treated fibroblasts. Elastin mRNA expression did not show any significant change. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that glycolic acid induced the increase of type I collagen mRNA expression and had the specific biologic effect on fibroblast.
Cell Line ; Collagen Type I ; Collagen* ; Elastic Tissue ; Elastin ; Extracellular Matrix Proteins ; Fibroblasts* ; Gene Expression* ; Humans* ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger ; Skin*

No abstract available.
Urinary Retention*

A 70-year-old woman with Parkinson disease was admitted to the emergency department with altered consciousness, fever and convulsive movements without experiencing withdrawal from antiparkinsonian medication. Six hours after the emergency department visit, the patient had a hyperpyrexia (>40℃) and a systolic blood pressure of 40 mmHg. There was no evidence of bacterial infection based on extensive workups. The patient was discharged without aggravation of Parkinson disease symptoms after treatment that included administration of dantrolene sodium, enforcement of continuous renal replacement therapy and cooling blankets. Malignant syndrome should be suspected if high fever occurs in Parkinson disease patients without evidence of a definitive infection.
Aged ; Bacterial Infections ; Blood Pressure ; Consciousness ; Dantrolene ; Dehydration ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Parkinson Disease* ; Renal Replacement Therapy

No abstract available.
Child* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental illness that can lead to deterioration in the social and occupational functioning of affected individuals with a major cost to society. A wide range of studies suggest a genetic component to the inheritance of schizophrenia. The molecular genetic studies on schizophrenia have been actively performed since late 1980s. In linkage studies, no loci were replicated across studies and there were no loci surpassing genome-wide significance. Candidate gene association studies showed generally inconsistent results and there were no enrichment of smaller P-values. In the GWAS era, the community has coalesced into large international consortia. The largest schizophrenia GWAS to date is 50,000 samples and efforts are ongoing to accumulate 50,000 cases and 50,000 controls as part of 'PGC2' collaboration. With the limitation of GWAS results, several alternatives are being explored. In genotyping, the concepts of allelic spectrum including from common polygenic to rare penetrant variation are emerging. Phenotypes include all phenomena beyond DNA. The developments in transcriptomic & proteomic approach and intensive research on endophenotype will bring crucial insights into the nature of schizophrenia in the future. But there still remains our task about research on many factors including environment that influence gene expression (epigenetics), age, and gender.
Cooperative Behavior ; DNA ; Endophenotypes ; Epigenomics ; Gene Expression ; Genetic Association Studies ; Molecular Biology ; Phenotype ; Schizophrenia ; Wills

Over the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the incidence of multifetal pregna-ncies, primarily because of the introduction of ovarian stimulants for ovulation induction and assisted reproductive technology ( ART ) in infertile patients. It is well established that multifetal pregnancies are associated with an increased frequency of the maternal complications and gre-ater perinatal morbidity and mortyality. The adverse outcome of multifetal pregnancies is dire-ctly proportional to the number of fetuses, primarily as an consequence of prterm delivery. Re-duction in the number of fetuses in multifetal pregnancies has been proposed as a way to impr-ove the perinatal outcome in this situation. Therefore, selective fetal reduction ( SFR ) is sugges-ted as a therapeutic option for continuation of pregnancy with fetuses mature enough to survi-ve. In this paper, we report our infertility clinic experiences with 6 patients who carried mult- ifetal pregnancies including 1 quintuplet, 1 quadruplet, and 4 triplets. from January, 1991 to May, 1996, transabdominal SFR was accomplished by fetal intrathoracic KCl injection at 9~10 weeks of gestation. After the prcedure, 4 patients remained as twin pregnancies, and 2 patients as single pregnancy. There have been 3 sets of twin deliveries and the 2 sets of single delivery. One case was aborted. Two patients were delivered after 37 weeks of gestation, 2 patients were at 35 weeks, and 1 patient at 24 weeks. All babies have been healthy after birth in patients after 35 weeks gestation. There was no fetal anomaly related to the procedure in the 6 cases. We concluded that transabdominal SFR is a rather safe and useful procedure that may improve the outcome of multifetal pregnancies.
Fetus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infertility ; Ovulation Induction ; Parturition ; Pregnancy Reduction, Multifetal* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Quadruplets ; Quintuplets ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Triplets ; Twins

The Her-2/neu protooncogene encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase that is structurally homologous to the receptor for epidermal growth factor. Its amplification and overexpression are associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Neu differentiation factor is a ligand for Her-2/neu protooncogene and was detected in ras-transformed rat fibroblasts. Heregulin (human homologue of neu differentiation factor) is a 44-kilodalton glycoprotein that stimulates tyrosine phosphorylation and induces growth arrest or stimulation and differentiation in human breast cancer cell lines. In this study we examined the expression of heregulin mRNA by nested reverse transcription (RT) PCR with fresh tissue, Her-2/neu protein, ICAM-1 and steroid receptors by immunohistochemistry, and DNA ploidy pattern by flow cytometry with paraffin-embedded tissue in invasive breast carcinoma. We compared the data with nodal status, lymphovascular invasion, steroid receptor status and DNA ploidy pattern. For RT-PCR to heregulin mRNA, 38 cases of fresh breast cancer tissue were obtained. Total 68 cases of invasive breast carcinoma tissue were fixed in formalin, which were used for routine histology, immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. The results are as follows; 1) Heregulin mRNA was expressed in 86.1% of patients with invasive breast carcinoma and 100% of patients with benign breast lesion using nested RT-PCR analysis. 2) Her-2/neu protein was overexpressed in 50.0% of tumors using immunohistochemistry. The expression of Her-2/neu protein was significantly correlated with high counts of lymph nodes with metastasis (p<0.05), and high nuclear grade (p<0.05). 3) Her-2/neu protein overexpression was significantly correlated with a high DNA index(p<0.05). All of the tumors showing Her-2/neu protein overexpression and no heregulin mRNA expression revealed near tetraploid DNA content. However, both Her-2/neu overexpression and heregulin mRNA expressing tumors revealed near tetraploidy in 38.9% and diploidy in 50.0%. Based on these results, heregulin mRNA expression rate was 86.1% in human invasive breast carcinoma. Her-2/neu protein overexpression is associated with high positive lymph node number and DNA index. Statistically significant reverse correlation with lymph node metastasis is not present.
Animals ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Cell Line ; Diploidy ; DNA* ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Fibroblasts ; Flow Cytometry ; Formaldehyde ; Glycoproteins ; Humans* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Neuregulin-1* ; Phosphorylation ; Ploidies* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prognosis ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Rats ; Receptors, Steroid ; Reverse Transcription ; RNA, Messenger* ; Tetraploidy ; Tyrosine