This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of lead on the incidence of anemia and to find cases with lead poisoning early among female workers who have been exposed to lead occupationally, for one year from August, 1985. The level of blood lead and hemoglobin concentration were observed for 284 female lead workers and 123 female non-lead workers of industries in the Gumi industrial complex in Kyungpook Province. The average age was 20.3±2.9 years and 21.1±3.5 years in lead workers and non-lead workers, respectively. The average working duration was 26.46±19.26 months in lead workers. The mean value of blood lead was 30.11±6.61 µg/100 ml and 21.86±3.75 µg/100 ml in lead workers and non-lead workers, respectively. There were significant differences between two groups. The mean value of hemoglobin concentration was 14.00±0.57 g/100 ml and 14.03±0.64 g/100 ml in lead workers and non-lead workers, respectively. Anemia cases were not observed at Hb concentration below 12g/100 ml. The percentages of lead workers at Hb concentration ranged 12.0~13.0 g/100 ml were 4.5%. There was no dose-response relationship between blood lead level and the incidence of anemia. There were no remarkable differences between age and blood lead level as well as Hb concentration, and between working duration and the level of blood lead and hemoglobin.
Anemia ; Female* ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lead Poisoning ; Occupational Exposure* ; Occupations

The authors experienced a case of Marfan's syndrome in whom the right sided lens was dislocated into the anterior chamber and the left side inferio-temporally into vitreous. In addition, the lens of the right eye was complicated by cataract, and a favorable outcome was obtained by intracapsular lens extraction.
Anterior Chamber* ; Cataract ; Lens Subluxation* ; Marfan Syndrome*

The author reported a case of maligmamt melanoma of the choroid. The patient, 23-year-old male, visited our hospital in sep. 1974, with blurring vidon (O.D) since 40 days ago. The tumor suspected to malignant melanoma was visible through clear media. Enucleation was performed and the histopathological examination revealed choroidal malignant malanoma composed of spindle A and spindle B type cells. No evidence of invasion into the optic nerve was noted.
Choroid* ; Humans ; Male ; Melanoma* ; Optic Nerve ; Young Adult

Dermatofibroma, a benigh tumor, invading eyelid is seldom reported. The authors experienced a case of tumor invading medial part of the left lower eyelid in a patient of eight day of age. The tumor was resected under general anesthesia and histopathological study revealed it to be dermatofibroma.
Anesthesia, General ; Eyelids ; Histiocytoma, Benign Fibrous* ; Humans

The authors analyzed the disposal of the color-defective person in the enterance examination of 24 colleges of natural science among 31 colleges that replied the questionaire sent by us to 70 Universities and colleges in Korea. The results revealed that there was no standard for permission or limitation of the color-defeetive person.
Humans ; Korea ; Natural Science Disciplines

Extracellular ATP elicits various biological responses and plays a significant role in physiological regulation. Recently, ATP-induced growth inhibitions were reported in some tumor cell lines, but these effects and mechanisms are not well known. This study was conducted to investigate ATP-induced growth inhibition in mouse leukemic (P388D,) cells. ATP inhibited cell growth in a dose-dependent manner as analyzed by MTS assay (IC50: 33.1 muM). Nucleotides other than ATP, such as ADP (37.5 muM) and AMP (33.2 muM) had the same effects as ATP, but adenosine (57.8 muM) showed less effect than ATP. ATP attenuated the cells in G0/G1 and G2/M phases, but increased those in S phase in flow cytometric analysis. Hypodiploid cells (A0), the presumptive findings of apoptosis, were found among the ATP-treated cells. ATP induced DNA fragmentation into 180 ~ 200 bps as measured by electrophoresis. Some apoptotic cells were stained by TUNEL method. ATP increased the intracellular free Ca++ concentration ((Ca++)i) and the increment of (Ca++)i was caused by influx from the extracellular space. These results suggest that extracellular ATP induces growth inhibition through apoptosis.
Adenosine Diphosphate ; Adenosine Triphosphate ; Adenosine* ; Animals ; Apoptosis* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA Fragmentation ; Electrophoresis ; Extracellular Space ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Mice* ; Nucleotides ; S Phase

BACKGROUND: Although diabetes is a well-known risk factor for death, its impact on cancer death is not clearly understood. Furthermore, it remains controversial whether impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and/or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) are associated with increased risk of mortality. We investigated the impact of diabetes or glucose tolerance categories on all cause and cause-specific mortality. METHODS: Mortality analysis was conducted in three population-based cohort studies of 3,801 participants, divided according to fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (normal; stage 1 IFG [5.6< or =FPG<6.1 mmol/L]; stage 2 IFG [6.1< or =FPG<7.0 mmol/L]; diabetes mellitus [DM]-FPG); or 2-hour glucose after 75 g glucose loading (2hPG) (normal; IGT; DM-2hPG), or a combination of FPG and 2hPG criteria. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 11.0 years, 474 subjects died from all causes. Hazard ratios (HRs) for all cause death were higher in those with diabetes as defined by either FPG or 2hPG criteria than their normal counterparts (HR, 2.2, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.6 to 2.9 for DM-FPG; HR, 2.0, 95% CI, 1.5 to 2.7 for DM-2hPG). Similarly, diabetes defined by either FPG or 2hPG was associated with cancer death (HR, 2.9, 95% CI, 1.7 to 5.0; and HR, 2.1, 95% CI, 1.2 to 3.9, respectively). Although neither IFG nor IGT conferred higher risk for death, when combining stage 2 IFG and/or IGT, the risk of all cause death was higher than in subjects with normal glucose regulation (HR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0 to 1.6). CONCLUSION: Diabetes is associated with higher risk of death from all causes and cancer. In subjects without diabetes, stage 2 IFG and/or IGT confers increased risk for mortality.
Blood Glucose* ; Cohort Studies* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Fasting ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glucose ; Glucose Intolerance ; Korea* ; Mortality* ; Plasma* ; Risk Factors

In order to improve the quality of life and to prevent chronic complications related to diabetes mellitus, intensive lifestyle modification and proper medication are needed from the early stage of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). When using the first medication for diabetic patients, the appropriate treatment should be selected considering the clinical characteristics of the patient, efficacy of the drug, side effects, and cost. In general, the use of metformin as the first treatment for oral hypoglycemic monotherapy is recommended because of its excellent blood glucose-lowering effect, relatively low side effects, long-term proven safety, low risk of hypoglycemia, and low weight gain. If metformin is difficult to use as a first-line treatment, other appropriate medications should be selected in view of the clinical situation. If the goal of achieving glycemic control is not achieved by monotherapy, a combination therapy with different mechanisms of action should be initiated promptly.
Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; Life Style ; Metformin ; Quality of Life ; Weight Gain

In order to improve the quality of life and to prevent chronic complications related to diabetes mellitus, intensive lifestyle modification and proper medication are needed from the early stage of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). When using the first medication for diabetic patients, the appropriate treatment should be selected considering the clinical characteristics of the patient, efficacy of the drug, side effects, and cost. In general, the use of metformin as the first treatment for oral hypoglycemic monotherapy is recommended because of its excellent blood glucose-lowering effect, relatively low side effects, long-term proven safety, low risk of hypoglycemia, and low weight gain. If metformin is difficult to use as a first-line treatment, other appropriate medications should be selected in view of the clinical situation. If the goal of achieving glycemic control is not achieved by monotherapy, a combination therapy with different mechanisms of action should be initiated promptly.
Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; Life Style ; Metformin ; Quality of Life ; Weight Gain

BACKGROUND: It is apparent that more stem cells can be harvested by mobilization treatment with recombinant human G-CSF and/or GM-CSF from normal healthy donors in allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (allo-PBSCT) compared to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT). It is also known to be more effective in inducing the graft-vs-tumor effects than allogeneic BMT because of higher T cell content. METHODS: A variety of clinical applications with allo-PBSCT was done for patients with he matological malignancies with a high risk of relapse in single transplantation center. We reported the preliminary results on trial of allo-PBSCT followed by planned prophylactic G- and/or GM-CSF primed donor lymphocyte infusion additionally reserved at harvest in hematological malignancies with a high risk of relapse and also presented the successful trial of non-myeloablative transplantation for old aged AML patient in 4th complete remission and cases with 2nd transplantation with allo-PBSCs. RESULTS: Seventeen patients with hematological malignancies with a high risk of relapse were enrolled in trial of allo-PBSCT followed by prophylactic donor lymphocyte infusion. All patients received allogeneic PBSCT from HLA- matched sibling donors. Seven out of 17 patients received additional PBSCs with a median number of CD3+ cells of 5.0x107/kg (range, 3.0 to 9.9x107/kg), between day 41 and day 120. Four surviving patients (4/7) were free of disease when last assessed (median follow-up duration, 538 days), but were suffering from chronic GVHD (1 limited and 3 extensive). A 56 year old acute myeloid leukemia patient in the 4th complete remission was successfully treated with allo-PBSCT with non-myeloablative conditioning regimen. One of 2 patients who received second transplantation with allo-PBSCT has shown a long term disease free survival. CONCLUSION: A merit of allo-PBSCT would allow us to design a variety of clinical applications. Allo-PBSCT might be preferable in special clinical setting such as non-myeloablative transplantation, second transplantation, or the situation in need of the strong GVL effect. And also CSF-primed PBSCs can be used for the purpose of donor lymphocyte infusion.
Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Disease-Free Survival ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graft vs Tumor Effect ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Lymphocytes ; Middle Aged ; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation* ; Recurrence ; Siblings ; Stem Cells ; Tissue Donors