No abstract available.
Amino Acid Sequence* ; HIV* ; Phenotype*

We studied clinicopathologic features of 44 cases of PM (proper muscle) gastric cancer, correlated the lymph node metastasis and found the result of immunohistochemical staining for tumor angiogenesis using antibodies to Factor VIII-related antigen and nm23-H1, known as meatastasis inhibitory substance. The results were as follows: 1) The average age of these 44 cases of PM gastric cancer was 55.1 years old (range 35-81). The ratio of male to female was 2.2 : 1. The tumor was located at the antrum of stomach in 72.7% of the cases. The average size of the tumor was 4.1 cm (range 0.6-9). The gross features were comprised of Borrmann type I (6.8%), II (29.6%), III (56.8%), IV (6.8%), respectively. The microscopic type was a diffuse type in 70.5% and an intestinal type in 29.5%. There were lymph node metastasis in 25 of the 44 cases (56.8%). 2) The microvessel count was higher in the lymph node positive group (average 69.3) than in the lymph node negative group (average 45.6) (P=0.004). There was a higher microvessel density in diffuse type, over 4 cm of tumor size, proximally located tumor, older than 50 years, Borrmann type II and IV, but there was no statistically significant correlation. 3) The more decreased expression of nm23-H1 was found in the lymph node positive group (56.0%) than in the lymph node negative group (31.6%), but showed no statistical significance (P=0.0142). There was no significant correlation between the expression of nm23-H1 and the other clinicopathologic factors. We suggest that the microvessel count of the tumor angiogenesis may be a prognostic factor for predicting lymph node metastasis and also help to determine the therapeutic modalities of PM gastric cancer.
Antibodies ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes* ; Male ; Microvessels ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; von Willebrand Factor

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to evaluate the role of KATP channel activation and change of monophasic action potential duration on cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning in cat. METHODS: 34 cats were divided into 4 groups: control (n=10), ischemic preconditioning(n=8), glibenclamide pre-treated(n=8) and nicorandil pre-treated group(n=8). Ischemic preconditioning was done in ischemic preconditioning and glibenclamide pre-treated groups by 3 episodes of 5 min ischemia and 10 min reperfusion. All subjects underwent 40 min of ischemia and 40 min reperfusion. The KATP channel antagonist glibenclamide was given as intravenous bolus (0.5mg/kg) 10 min before ischemic precondtioning and infused (5 microgram/min) during ischemic preconditioning. Nicorandil, a KATP channel opener was injected as intravenous bolus (0.5mg/kg) before 40 min ischemic procedure. Monophasic action potential duration at 50% repolarization(MAP50) was measured in the ischemic and non-ischemic area respectively by epicardial probe throughout the experiment. The effects of ischemic preconditioning were determined by infarct size (% area at risk). RESULTS: Ischemic preconditioning or pretreatment with nicorandil prior to 40 min ischemia demonstrated a significant reduction in infarct size(26.6+/-7%, 33+/-8% infarction of the risk zone, respectively, p<0.01, p<0.05 vs. control) with respect to control(42+/-7% infarction of the risk zone). Pretreatment with glibenclamide abolished the effect of ischemic preconditioning(40+/-8% infarction of the risk zone, p=NS vs. control) Ischemic preconditioning group exhibited a significant reduction of ischemic area MAP50 duration in the ischemic area during preconditioning; at first preconditioning 123+/-9msec vs. 137+/-19msec control(p=NS), at second preconditioning 105+/-16msec vs. 140+/-19msec control(p<0.01), at third preconditioning 109+/-15msec vs. 138+/-19msec control(p<0.05). Pretreatment with glibenclamide prevented the reduction of MAP50 in the ischemic area during ischemic preconditioning. During 40 minutes ischemia, MAP50 shortening was more pronounced in the preconditioned group than in control group; at 10 min 85+/-22 msec vs. 131+/-31msec control(p<0.05), at 20 min 88+/-21msec vs. 130+/-32msec control(p<0.05), and at 30 min 103+/-24msec vs. 136+/-30msec control(p<0.05). This shortening effect was prevented by glibenclamide pretreatment. Nicorandil pretreatment pronounced the ischemic shortening of MAP50 in ischemic area and the nicorandil effect was most significant during early ischemic period; at 10 min 97+/-21msec(p<0.05 vs. control), at 20 min 104+/-32msec (p=NS vs. control), and at 30 min 134+/-28msec(p=NS vs. control). MAP50 measured in non-ischemic area was not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSION: We conclude that KATP channel activation and monophasic action potential duration shortening play a important role in myocardial protection during ischemic injury.
Action Potentials* ; Animals ; Cats* ; Glyburide ; Infarction ; Ischemia ; Ischemic Preconditioning* ; Nicorandil ; Reperfusion

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There have been a few national population-based epidemiological studies of myasthenia gravis (MG) with wide variation of incidence and prevalence rates worldwide. Herein we report the first nationwide population-based epidemiological study of MG in Korea. METHODS: We attempted to estimate the incidence and prevalence rates of MG using the Korean National Health Insurance claims database for 2010 to 2013. Cases with MG were defined as those having claim records with a principal diagnosis of MG and the prescription of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or immunosuppressive agents including corticosteroids and azathioprine within 2 years after the diagnosis. The year 2010 was set as a washout period, such that patients were defined as incident cases if their first records of MG were observed in 2011. RESULTS: In 2011 there were 1,236 incident cases, and the standardized incidence rate was 2.44 per 100,000 person-years. The standardized prevalence rates were 9.67 and 10.66 per 100,000 persons in 2010 and 2011, respectively. The incidence and prevalence rates peaked in the elderly population aged 60 to 69 years for both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the largest national population-based epidemiological studies of MG, and it has confirmed the high incidence and prevalence rates of MG in the elderly population of South Korea.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Aged ; Azathioprine ; Cholinesterase Inhibitors ; Diagnosis ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Incidence* ; Korea* ; Myasthenia Gravis* ; National Health Programs* ; Prescriptions ; Prevalence*

BACKGROUND: High-resolution carotid ultrasonography is considered a fundamental technique for the investigation of the vascular system. However, it is still very unclear whether ultrasonographic studies of carotid arteries are useful for the prediction of cardiovascular events in patients with coronary heart disease. We have tried to assess the usefulness of carotid ultrasonography to predict the severity of coronary artery stenosis in the patients with ischemic heart disease. METHODS: We studied in 80 patients(53 men, 27 women) with acute chest pain, mean ages 63.1 10.8 yr(35 to 84 yrs), who underwent both coronary angiography and carotid ultrasonography with 10 MHz transducer. The patients who had received revascularization procedure were excluded. We classified the patients into two groups, the control group without significant coronary stenosis(23 patients) and the coronary artery disease(CAD) group(57 patients) with significant stenosis(>50%). The intima-media thickness (IMT) was measured in the far wall of CCA at 10 mm proximal to carotid bulb and the abnormal IMT was defined when the measurement was greater than mean IMT+2 SD of control group(>0.99 mm). Serum total cholesterolQlC), low density lipoprotein(LDL), high density lipoprotein(HDL), triglyceride(TG) and lipoprotein (a) (LP(a)) were measured and history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking were investigated. RESULTS: A significant difference in IMT of the CCA was found between control and CAD group(0.75+/-0.12mm vs. 1.02+/-0.34 mm; p<0.001). Also a significant difference in the existence of plaque(control; 26.1% vs. CAD; 73.7%, p<0.00l) and the number of plaque(control; 0.39+/-0.94 vs. CAD; 2.20+/-1.87 p<0.001) was found. The existence and number of carotid plaque were more conelated with coronary artery stenosis severity than carotid IMT. The sensitivity of IMT for prediction of significant CAD was 42.1%, the specificity 95.7%, the positive predictive value 96%, and the negative predictive value 40%. The sensitivity of plaque presence on the carotid artery for prediction of CAD was 73.7%, the specificity 73.9%, the positive predictive value 87.5% and the negative predictive value 53.1%. Among the risk factors, age and LP(a) were correlated with IMT of CCA, and diabetes, hypertension, age were correlated with the presence of plaque. Smoking and hypertension were correlated with coronary artery disease. CONCLUSION: Carotid atherosclerosis was significantly correlated with severity of coronary atherosclerosis. We therefore suggest that carotid ultrasonography is useful to predict the severity of coronary artery stenosis and that the best index of coronary artery stenosis severity may be carotid plaque rather than carotid intima-media thickness.
Carotid Arteries ; Carotid Artery Diseases ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Disease ; Coronary Stenosis* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Lipoprotein(a) ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Transducers ; Ultrasonography*

To examine AZT resistance of HIV-1 isolates from AZT treated or untreated Korean, several biological characteristics such as syncytium formation, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activity and the p24 antigen production in MT-2 cells infected with 4 HRT_1 isolates were determined. As controls, we tested HIV-1 HTLV-IIIB and pre-drug isolate as AZT susceptible strains, in addition to HIV-1 RTMC/MT-2 and post-drug isolate as AZT resistant strains. When the inoculum size of HIV-1 was 300 TCID50well and 100 TCID50/well, the AZT susceptibility of AZT untreated HIV-1 isolates 8806 and 9571 were similar to that of HIV-1 HTLV-IIIB and AZT-susceptible HIV-1 strains. When we evaluated AZT resistance of isolates HRs-1 8812 and 9113 treated with AZT for 36 months by observation of syncytium formation, HIV-1 8812 showed resistance simillar to that of HIV-1 RTMC/MT-2 strain forming syncytium up to AZT 1microgram/ml, and HIV-1 9113 showed resistance identical with that of AZT-resistant HIV-1 strain which formed syncytium up to AZT 10 microgram/ml. Especially, when we evaluated AZT resistance by HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activty and the p24 antigen production, HIV-1 isolates 8812 and 9113 showed much higher resistance (>10 - 200 fold) compared with HN-1 RTMC/MT-2 and AZT-resistant HIV-1 strain.
Giant Cells ; HIV-1* ; Korea* ; Population Characteristics ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Zidovudine*

Transitional cell carcinoma(TCC) of the urinary bladder shows marked heterogeneity in biological behaviors. Evidence has accumulated that biological markers may provide significant information to predict the potential aggressiveness of TCC. We have assessed the expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins in 56 cases of TCC to investigate the prognostic significance of differential expression of these oncoproteins using an immunohistochemical method. We analysed the expression patterns of these oncoproteins according to tumor stage and grade. And we assessed the probability of progression-free survival in stage T1 tumors according to their expressions. Positive rates of EGF-R (>+3 staining intensity), c-erbB-2 (intense membrane staining) and p53 proteins (>20% positive cells) were 73.2%, 37.5% and 42.9%, respectively. Invasive tumors had significantly higher positive rates of all three factors than did superficial tumors (p<0.005 for EGF-R and c-erbB-2, p<0.05 for p53). High grade tumors had significantly higher positive rates of c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins (p<0.005). In superficial tumors, T1 tumors had higher positive rate of p53 protein compared with Ta tumors (p<0.05). Twelve cases of superficial tumors (34.3%) were positive for EGF-R and negative for c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins. Nine cases of superficial tumors(25.7%) were negative for all three factors. In invasive tumors, however, 42.5% of the cases were positive for all three factors. The overexpression of p53 protein was the only useful marker to predict the rapid progression in stage T1 tumors (p<0.05, log-rank test). These results suggest that the differential overexpression of EGF-R, c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins could be useful to depict tumor aggressiveness of TCC of the urinary bladder. And, the overexpression of a p53 protein may be a useful marker to predict the possibility of rapid progression in stage T1 tumors.
Biomarkers ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Membranes ; Oncogene Proteins ; Population Characteristics ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Staphylococcal Protein A* ; Urinary Bladder*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of half-dose chest CT using an iterative reconstruction technique in patients with lung malignancies. METHODS: The Dual-source CT scans were obtained and half-dose datasets were reconstructed with 5 different strengths in 38 adults with lung malignancies. Two radiologists graded subjective image quality; noise, contrast and sharpness at the central/peripheral lung, mediastinum and chest wall of the reconstructed half-dose images, compared with those of standard-dose images, using a three-point scale. A lesion assessment; lesion conspicuity and diagnostic confidence, was also performed. The quantitative image noises; contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were measured and compared with those of standard-dose images. RESULTS: The subjective image noise in the half-dose images was less than that of the standard-dose images. The contrast in strengths 2 to 5 was superior, the sharpness of the lung parenchyma in strengths 3 to 5 was inferior, and the CNR/SNR in all strengths were higher than those of standard-dose images (P < 0.05). The improvement of subjective image noise and contrast, the decrease in sharpness, were correlated with strength level (P < 0.05). The lesion conspicuity in half-dose images of strengths 4 and 5 was decreased. The diagnostic confidence of the half-dose images of all strengths was comparable to that of the standard-dose images (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Half-dose chest CT images using an iterative reconstruction technique show decreased image noise, increased contrast, and diagnostic confidence comparable to standard-dose images. Images reconstructed with strength 2 and 3 appear to be the optimal choice in clinical practice.
Adult ; Dataset ; Humans ; Lung* ; Mediastinum ; Noise ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Thoracic Wall ; Thorax* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: This study was a within subject repeated pretest-posttest design done to compare the effect of disinfection and the degree of MRSA(Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) isolation from hand disinfectant in ICU nurses. METHOD: Out of the total internal medicine/surgery ICU nurses at a university hospital in Seoul, 29 female nurses who were participating in direct patient care were participants in this study. After collection of samples, Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA were isolated from the palms, nails and nasal cavities of the nurses according to disinfectants (soap and beta-scrub). RESULTS: The effect of disinfection was greater in the beta-scrub group than in the soap group, and the effect of disinfection on palms was higher in the beta-scrub group than in the soap group. As for the degree of MRSA isolation, there was more isolation in palms in the soap group than in the beta-scrub group but there was no difference in the degree of MRSA isolation from the hand disinfectant in nails and nasal cavities. CONCLUSION: Beta-scrub showed a superior prolonged effect against transient bacteria compared with soap. Further, to reduce MRSA infection, we recommend interventions focused on these aspects.
Bacteria ; Disinfectants ; Disinfection* ; Female ; Hand* ; Humans ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Nasal Cavity ; Patient Care ; Seoul ; Soaps ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus aureus

Objective: To investigate the suitability of citrus-press cakes, by-products of the juice industry as a source for the whitening agents for cosmetic industry.
Methods:Ethylacetate extracts of citrus-press cakes (CCE) were examined for their anti-melanogenic potentials in terms of the inhibition of melanin production and mechanisim of melanogenesis by using Western Blot analysis with tyrosinese, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), TRP2, and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) proteins. To apply the topical agents, citrus-press cakes was investigated the safety in human skin cell line. Finally flavonoid analysis of CCE was also determined by HPLC analysis.
Results: Results indicated that CCE were shown to down-regulate melanin content in a dose-dependent pattern. The CCE inhibited tyrosinase, TRP-2, and MITF expressions in a dose-dependent manner. To test the applicability of CCE to human skin, we used MTT assay to assess the cytotoxic effects of CCE on human keratinocyte HaCaT cells. The CCE exhibited low cytotoxicity at 50 μg/mL. Characterization of the citrus-press cakes for flavonoid contents using HPLC showed varied quantity of rutin, narirutin, and hesperidin.
Conclusions:Considering the anti-melanogenic activity and human safety, CCE is considered as a potential anti-melanogenic agent and may be effective for topical application for treating hyperpigmentation disorders.