Chemotherapeutic agents were evaluated for their effect on the development of urinary bladder tumors, induced by N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine (BBN) in female Sprague-Dawley rats. For 16 weeks, 0.05% BBN was administered orally, and then chemotherapeutic agents (adriamycin and cisplatin) were injected intraperitoneally for 12 weeks. In our preliminary experimental series, an experimental bladder tumor model induced by BBN was useful in evaluating the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic agents. Cisplatin appears to be effective in inhibiting precancerous histologic changes and carcinoma in rat urinary bladder mucosa by BBN. However, the effectiveness of adriamycin was inconclusive.
Animals ; Carcinogenesis* ; Cisplatin ; Doxorubicin ; Female ; Humans ; Injections, Intraperitoneal* ; Mucous Membrane ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder*

A 12-year-old boy developed pure red cell anemia(PRCA) during a combination therapy of antiepileptic drugs(AEDs) for epilepsy. His complex partial seizure was intractable to monotherapy. During 7 months of treatment, he was treated with Vigabatrin, Carbamazepine and Valproate. While switching from Carbamazepine to Valproate, he presented anemia but with no jaundice. His hemoglobin was 4.1g/dl bone-marrow biopsy revealed erythroid hypoplasia with normal myelopoiesis and megakaryocytopoiesis, indicating PRCA. Rapid recovery from PRCA was observed 1 month after discontinuation of Valproate, without immunosuppressive therapy. Although the hematologic toxicity of AEDs is well documented, isolated cessation of red cell production is uncommon. Our observation suggests that the synergistic toxicity caused by Valproate and Carbamazepine may induce PRCA through the inhibitory effect beyond the differentiation stage of BFU-E and CFU-E.
Anemia* ; Anticonvulsants* ; Biopsy ; Carbamazepine ; Child ; Epilepsy ; Erythroid Precursor Cells ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Male ; Myelopoiesis ; Seizures ; Thrombopoiesis ; Valproic Acid ; Vigabatrin

No abstract available.
Autopsy* ; Statistics as Topic*

No abstract available.
Cesarean Section* ; Endometritis* ; Female ; Pregnancy

We report a 72-year-old female patient with spontaneous rupture of the left external iliac vein. She visited our hospital for abdominal and back pain. She had the abnormal finding of hemoperitoneum. We performed an emergency operation with diagnosis of left ovarian cyst rupture though she suffered from spontaneous rupture of the left external iliac vein. This case provides insight to the experience of spontaneous rupture of the left external iliac vein.
Aged ; Back Pain ; Emergencies ; Female ; Hemoperitoneum ; Humans ; Iliac Vein ; Ovarian Cysts ; Rupture ; Rupture, Spontaneous

In data analysis, given that various statistical methods assume that the distribution of the population data is normal distribution, it is essential to check and test whether or not the data satisfy the normality requirement. Although the analytical methods vary depending on whether or not the normality is satisfied, inconsistent results might be obtained depending on the analysis method used. In many clinical research papers, the results are presented and interpreted without checking or testing normality. According to the central limit theorem, the distribution of the sample mean satisfies the normal distribution when the number of samples is above 30. However, in many clinical studies, due to cost and time restrictions during data collection, the number of samples is frequently lower than 30. In this case, a proper statistical analysis method is required to determine whether or not the normality is satisfied by performing a normality test. In this regard, this paper discusses the normality check, several methods of normality test, and several statistical analysis methods with or without normality checks.
Data Collection ; Methods ; Normal Distribution ; Statistics as Topic

INTRODUCTION: The fixation strength of transpedicular screw system in the vertebral hody relied on bone quality and anatomical characteristics of vertebral pedicle, designs of screw and types of connection(rod or plate) with screw. The purpose of this study is to verify the biomechanical nature of the transpedicular fixation in spine under various conditions with porcine vertebrae. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fresh porcine vertebrae and the custom-made screws were used in this experiment. To reduce the errors caused by vertebral bodies of different size and quality, vertebral bodies having regular range of pedicular width(10.0 to 11.5mm) and hone density(more than 1.0 gm/cm2) were used. The pedicle screws were inserted in the same procedure and axial pull out test was performed with using the Material Testing System(lntron8511, Canton, USA). The experiments were performed in four types to assess the difference of strength accroding to designs of the screw hy using two group of screws. The first group of screw was designed according to the outer and inner diameter and the second group was designed according to the shape, pitch, and thread profile of screw. Experiment I was perfomed to evaluate the effect of screw diameters on the biomechanical pull-out strength hy using the first group of custom-made pedicle screw which fixed all other factors except the diameter of screw. Experiment I was to verify the effect of screw shape, experiment III to verify the effect of pitch and experiment IV to verify the effect of thread profile. RESULTS: The results of experiments were summarized as follows: Experiment I showed that the screw of larger outer diameter had greater holding strength. Experiment II showed that the holding strength of cylindrical shaped screw is superior to that of conical shaped screw. Experiment III showed that there is no statistical significance between different modes of pitch. Experiment IV showed that the holding strength of buttress shape of thread profile is superior to that of V-shape. CONCLUSION: It seemed that the fixation strength of the screw was more powerful with 1 mm increment of outer diameter in 4-7mm of outer diameter, 3mm of pitch and buttress shape of thread of the screw with the same operation technique.
Spine

No abstract available.
Cardiopulmonary Bypass* ; Lipoproteins* ; Plasma*

Living-Related-Liver-Transplantation(LRLT) has been established as a reliable method of treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease when the scarcity of cadaveric organ donor was considered. But the hepatic artery is high at risk in thrombosis(HAT) following LRLT. So microsurgical technique was introduced in anastomosis of hepatic artery. This study was aimed at using microsurgical technique in LRLT and presenting some technical details of the procedures. From December 1994 to November 1997, a sereis of 41 LRLTs on patients with end-stage liver disease was performed with follow-up period of 5 to 40 months(mean,15.6 months). Organs were donated by living-related donors(n=36) and living-nonrelated ones(n=5). Hepatic artery was reconstructed with microsurgical technique by plastic surgeon. All hepatic arteries were patent intraoperatively and postoperatively except one case, which had leakage at anastomosed site on the postoperative fourth day.Hepatic artery is high at risk in thrombosis(HAT) following LRLT due to the caliber discrepancy and technical difficulties. To overcome these risks, microsurgical technique was introduced. The technique has greatly reduced arterial complication. However, there are some difficulties in microsurgery of LRLT, which are somewhat different from those in other microsurgery fields: the first difficulty is to obtain a good operative field and a sufficient view through the microscope. The second one is to overcome arterial caliber discrepancy. And the last is to achieve a stable posture in narrow and deep operating field against the respiratory movement and heartbeat.With the persistent team approach of plastic and general surgeons in the field of LRLT, we could have reduced the HAT and have had better outcome after LRLT.
Arteries ; Cadaver ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatic Artery ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Microsurgery ; Posture ; Tissue Donors*

No abstract available.
Anesthesia, Epidural* ; Spinal Cord*