The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of hardness and optical properties of dental zirconia in accordance to sintering condition and aging. 10.0 mm×10.0 mm×1.5 mm zirconia specimens were prepared using Luxen Enamel E2.According to aging, zirconia specimens were sintered under fifteen different conditions. Specimens were divided into six subgroup and sintered with various durations (4 h, 5 h, 6 h, 7 h, and 12 h) at the various maximum temperature (1,500℃, 1,530℃, and 1,560℃). The hardness was measured four times per specimen using a Micro Vickers hardness tester, CIE L * , a * , b * values of each specimen were measured using a spectrophotometer and the TP values were calculated for translucency comparison.In the specimen with aging, there was a difference in hardness according to the sintering temperature, but there was no difference in hardness according to the sintering time. In the specimen with aging, as sintering temperature increased, CIE L * , a * , b * values decreased, resulting in a decrease in brightness and tendency of green and blue trends. In the specimen with aging, there was no change in L * value with decreasing sintering time and as sintering time decreased, CIE a * , b * values decreased, resulting in tendency of green and blue. In the specimen with aging, even if the sintering time decreases from 12 hours to 5 hours, there was no reduce in TP values.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of hardness and optical properties of dental zirconia in accordance to sintering condition and aging. 10.0 mm×10.0 mm×1.5 mm zirconia specimens were prepared using Luxen Enamel E2.According to aging, zirconia specimens were sintered under fifteen different conditions. Specimens were divided into six subgroup and sintered with various durations (4 h, 5 h, 6 h, 7 h, and 12 h) at the various maximum temperature (1,500℃, 1,530℃, and 1,560℃). The hardness was measured four times per specimen using a Micro Vickers hardness tester, CIE L * , a * , b * values of each specimen were measured using a spectrophotometer and the TP values were calculated for translucency comparison.In the specimen with aging, there was a difference in hardness according to the sintering temperature, but there was no difference in hardness according to the sintering time. In the specimen with aging, as sintering temperature increased, CIE L * , a * , b * values decreased, resulting in a decrease in brightness and tendency of green and blue trends. In the specimen with aging, there was no change in L * value with decreasing sintering time and as sintering time decreased, CIE a * , b * values decreased, resulting in tendency of green and blue. In the specimen with aging, even if the sintering time decreases from 12 hours to 5 hours, there was no reduce in TP values.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the results of femoral artery stenting as a treatment of femoral artery occlusive disease, and to compare the primary patency and target lesion revascularization (TLR). METHODS: A retrospective review identified 38 patients who underwent femoral artery stenting from November 2008 to December 2010 in Inha University Hospital. Each lesion was classified according to the Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus II. Demographic, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables were collected. RESULTS: Forty cases of femoral artery stenting were done for 38 patients. The indications were claudication (47.4%), rest pain (13.2%), unhealed ulcer (13.2%), and toe gangrene (26.3%). The mean age and mean body mass index (BMI) were 72.50+/-8.19 years, and 23.0+/-0.05 kg/m2. There were 57.9% diabetes mellitus, 65.8% hypertension, 44.7% ischemic heart disease, 39.5% current smoker, 71.1% hyperlipidemia, 28.9% chronic renal failure (creatinine>1.5), 23.7% obesity (BMI>25), and 10.5% stroke. The mean follow-up was 12.1+/-0.03 months. There were no in-hospital mortality and 3 complications: 1 femoral artery dissection and 2 branch perforations. Six patients died and two symptomatic stent fractures were noted during the follow-up. One years' primary patency rate and TLR rate were 81.1% and 5.5%. CONCLUSION: Femoral artery stenting showed good results and can be a reasonable option. TLR can be considered as a new standard to evaluate the endovascular treatment.
Angioplasty ; Atherosclerosis ; Body Mass Index ; Consensus ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Femoral Artery ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gangrene ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Obesity ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents ; Stroke ; Toes ; Ulcer

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme that synthesizes telomeric DNA onto the ends of chromosomes. thereby preventing the replication-dependent shortening of these ends. Telomerase activity is detected in a wide range of cancers of various tissues, and its expression may be a critical step in tumor progression. Our objective was to determine if detection of telomerase activity may be an indicator for diagnosis of breast cancer and any association between telomerase activity and prognostic factors of breast cancer. Using a polymerase chain reaction-based telomerase activity assay, we examined telomerase activity in 30 breast cancer specimens (2 ductal carcinoma in situ, 28 invasive ductal carcinoma), 25 benign lesions (14 fibroadenomas, 11 fibrocystic diseases) and 24 normal breast tissues (13 adjacent to malignancy, 11 adjacent to benign lesion). Among surgically resected samples, telomerase activity was detected in 23 (77%) of 30 breast cancers. While telomerase activity was not detected in any of 11 specimens of fibrocystic disease and 11 adjacent normal tissues to benign lesion, surprisingly low levels of telomerase activity were detected in 5 (36%) of 14 fiboadenomas and 1 (7%) of 13 adjacent normal tissues to malignancy. There was no significant difference in expression of telomerase among prognostic factors of breast cancer. In summary, telomerase activity in breast cancer may be useful in diagnosis of breast cancer. We found no correlation between telomerase activity and stage, tumor size or LN status. Mechanisms of telomerase expression are still under investigation; therefore, the significance of telomerase expression in malignant tumors and their progression remains to be determined.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating ; Diagnosis ; DNA ; Fibroadenoma ; Humans* ; Ribonucleoproteins ; Telomerase*

Kainic acid (KA) is a structural analogue of glutamate that interacts with specific presynaptic and postsynaptic receptors to potentiate the release and excitatory actions of glutamate. Systemic or intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of KA to experimental animals elicits multifocal seizures with a predominantly limbic localization, and results in neuronal death of cornu ammonia 1 (CA1), reactive gliosis and biochemical changes in the hippocampus and other limbic structures. Several lines of evidence suggest that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of excitotoxic death by KA. Curcumin has been known to possess anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, the effects of curcumin on KA induced hippocampal cell death, reactive gliosis and biochemical changes in reactive glia were investigated by immunohistochemical methods. Our data demonstrated that curcumin attenuated KA-induced astroglial and microglial activation although it did not protect KA-induced hippocampal cell death.
Ammonia ; Animals ; Astrocytes ; Cell Death* ; Curcumin* ; Gliosis ; Glutamic Acid ; Hippocampus ; Kainic Acid ; Microglia ; Neuroglia* ; Neurons* ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Seizures

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of transradial percutaneous coronary intervention (TRI) compared with transfemoral percutaneous coronary intervention (TFI) in patients with ischemic heart disease. METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records including imaging data of the patients with ischemic heart disease who underwent TRI or TFI from January 2007 to December 2009 in Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital. We compared major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) including death, myocardial infarction, revascularization, stent thrombosis, and cerebrovascular accident during follow-up period. We also compared procedure related vascular complications including hematoma, arteriovenous fistula, pseudoaneurysm, and infection. RESULTS: Total number of patients was 347 (256 patients of TRI and 91 patients of TFI). There were no significant differences in the rate of MACCEs between two groups. There were significantly less procedure-related vascular complications in TRI group (3.1% vs. 11.0%, P=0.010). CONCLUSION: TRI is as effective as TFI with no difference in the rate of MACCEs in patients with ischemic heart disease. TRI is superior to TFI in safety with reduction of vascular complications.
Aneurysm, False ; Arteriovenous Fistula ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Femoral Artery ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Radial Artery ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents ; Stroke ; Thrombosis

BACKGROUND: Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme that synthesizes telomeric DNA onto the ends of chromosomes, thereby preventing the replication-dependent shortening of those ends. Telomerase activity is detected in a wide range of cancers of various tissues, and its expression may be a critical step in tumor progression. Our objective was to determine if detection of telomerase activity may be an indicator for diagnosis of breast cancer and if any association exists between telomerase activity and prognostic factors of breast cancer. METHODS: Using a polymerase chain reaction-based telomerase activity assay, we examined telomerase activity in 30 breast cancer specimens (2 ductal carcinoma in situ, 28 invasive ductal carcinoma), 25 benign lesions (14 fibroadenomas, 11 fibrocystic diseases), and 24 normal breast tissues (13 adjacent to malignancy, 11 adjacent to benign lesion). RESULTS: Among surgically resected samples, telomerase activity was detected in 23 (77%) of 30 breast cancers. While telomerase activity was not detected in any of the 11 specimens of fibrocystic disease and the 11 normal tissues adjacent to benign lesion, surprisingly low levels of telomerase activity were detected in 5 (36%) of the 14 fibroadenomas and 1 (7%) of the 13 normal tissues adjacent to malignancy. There was no significant difference in expression of telomerase among prognostic factors of breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, telomerase activity may be useful in the diagnosis of breast cancer. We found no correlation between telomerase activity and stage, tumor size, or LN status. Mechanisms of telomerase expression are still under investigation; therefore, the significance of telomerase expression in malignant tumors and their progression remains to be determined.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating ; Diagnosis ; DNA ; Fibroadenoma ; Humans* ; Ribonucleoproteins ; Telomerase*