BACKGROUND: Acute appendicitis is very not uncommon disease and has many difficulties in the diagnosis of disease. So we should evaluate the significance of diagnosis by "MANTRELS" score which is very simple and easily accessible tools in patients of right lower quadrant abdominal pain. METHODS: We studied 164 patients initially complainted of right lower quadrant abdominal pain from Jan 1 to Jun 30. 1997 in emergency department of Yeungnam university hospital. At first, "MANTRELS" scores was calculated and we evaluated the final diagnosis, surgically operated or not, transferred or not, etc, retrospectively. Next, two groups were divided each that group A was surgically operated, group B was not surgically operated. And then the statistical significance and accuracy rate according to scores and cut-off values in each groups were evaluated. RESULTS: All 164 patients was admitted in emergency department of Yeungnam University hospital and male to female ratio was 1:0.98, mean ages was 35.3 years old. The incidences according to each items of "MANTRELS" were as follows; most in Tenderness and Shift to left, Migration of pain in group A and most in Tenderness and Anorexia. Nausea in group B. As the results according to each scores in both group, score 8; 25 cases, score 7; 14 cases in group B were showed and the correlation coefficients was 0.979. And as the results according to cut-off value in both groups. it's sensitivity and negative predictability. false negative, positive joint probability were decreased and others were increased as the cut-off values, respectively. The diagnostic weight was most highest(75.0%) when the cut-off value was 7. CONCLUSION: The authors would authorize that "MANTRELS" score is very simple scoring system and have diagnostic values in differentiating between acute appendicitis and other diseases complaining of right lower quadrant abdominal pain.
Abdominal Pain ; Anorexia ; Appendicitis* ; Diagnosis* ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Joints ; Male ; Nausea ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.
Animals ; Dermatitis, Contact* ; Mice*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Calcium* ; Histamine Release* ; Histamine* ; Mast Cells* ; Rats*

Angiogenesis is an essential process in tumor growth and metastasis. VEGF has been considered a leading candidate inducing tumor angiogenesis. VEGF expression was significantly correlated with clinical stage, lymph node matastasis, and prognosis of cancers of various parts of body. However, little has been known about the correlation between VEGF expression and clinicopathologic parameters in oral squamous cell carcinoma. The aim of this study was to correlate VEGF expression with the clinicopathological parameters and microvessel density. Forty six oral squamous cell carcinomas were analyzed using immunohistochemical method with primary antibodies to VEGF and CD31. VEGF expression was detected in 33 (71.7%) of the 46 cases. The microvessel density was significantly correlated with VEGF expression (P=0.002). There was no correlation between microvessel density and tumour size, clinical stage, and lymph node metastasis, respectively. VEGF expression did not correlate with the histological grade of tumour differentiation, tumour size, and clinical stages. The VEGF-positive rate seemed to be higher in patients with cervical lymph nodal metastasis than in those without it, but it was not statistically significant. In conclusion, the overexpression of VEGF in the oral squamous cell carcinoma seemed to be associated with a more aggressive course of the disease. Further study is necessary to define the role of VEGF in oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Antibodies ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Microvessels* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*

No abstract available.
Muscular Atrophy, Spinal* ; Spinal Muscular Atrophies of Childhood*

No abstract available.
Anaphylaxis* ; Histamine Release* ; Histamine* ; Mast Cells*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Rats*

PURPOSE: To investigate the efficacy, and identify predictors of success of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) in open-angle glaucoma (OAG) patients after adjusting for intraocular pressure (IOP) changes in the untreated fellow eye. METHODS: This retrospective chart review included 52 eyes of 52 OAG patients who underwent SLT in one eye and were followed-up for at least 1 year after the procedure. The IOP was measured before the treatment, at 1, 2, and 3 months posttreatment, and every 3 months thereafter. To account for the possible influence of IOP fluctuations on laser outcomes, post-laser IOP values of the treated eye of each patient were also analyzed, after adjusting for IOP changes in the untreated fellow eye. Success was defined as an IOP decrease ≥20% of the pretreatment IOP. The success rate was determined based on Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and factors predictive of success were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: The mean pretreatment IOP was 23.17 ± 6.96 mmHg. The mean IOP reduction was 5.59 ± 4.78 mmHg (29.7%) and the success rate was 65.4% at 1 year. The adjusted mean IOP reduction was 4.70 ± 4.67 mmHg (23.9%) and the adjusted success rate was 53.9%. Pretreatment IOP was associated with SLT success; the higher the pretreatment IOP, the greater the post-laser IOP reduction (p = 0.025). Age and mean deviation index did not show a significant association with SLT success (p = 0.066 and p = 0.464, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: SLT is a safe and effective alternative method of IOP reduction in OAG patients. Herein, pretreatment IOP was the only factor significantly associated with SLT success. IOP fluctuations of the untreated eye should be considered for a better understanding of the impact of treatment.
Glaucoma, Open-Angle ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Methods ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Shiga Toxin 1 ; Trabeculectomy

No abstract available.
Cytokines* ; Mast Cells*

The traditional light microscopy has limitations for precise growth assays of malaria parasites in culture or for assessment of new compounds for antimalarial activity; the speed and high reproducibility of flow cytometry can overcome these limitations. A flow cytometric method using PicoGreen, a DNA-binding fluorochrome, was developed with optimal precision suitable for performing growth assays of low-parasitemia field isolates. In addition, intra- and inter-person reproducibility of the flow cytometric and the microscopic method were compared in order to quantitatively demonstrate the improved precision. RNase treatment contributed to the precision of the flow cytometric measurements by enhancing the signal-to-noise ratios. Coefficients of variation of the method were smaller than 10% for 0.1% or higher parasitemia samples. The intra- and inter-person coefficients of variation of the flow cytometric method were three to six times smaller than those of the microscopic method. The flow cytometric method developed in this study yielded substantially more precise results than the microscopic method, allowing determination of parasitemia levels of 0.1% or higher, with coefficients of variation smaller than 10%. Thus, the PicoGreen method could be a reliable high sensitivity assay for analysis of low parasitemia samples and might be applied to a high throughput system testing antimalarial drug activity.
*Flow Cytometry ; Fluorescent Dyes/chemistry ; Humans ; *Microscopy ; Organic Chemicals/chemistry ; Parasitemia/*diagnosis ; Plasmodium falciparum/*isolation & purification ; Reproducibility of Results ; Ribonucleases/metabolism ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio