No abstract available.
Haloperidol* ; Homovanillic Acid* ; Humans ; Plasma*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Ovum* ; Rats*

No abstract available.
Gallstones*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Urinary Bladder*

No abstract available.
Fever*

Ambulatory BP monitoring was performed in a patients with pheochromocytoma before and after removal of the tumor. Before surgery, it did not show any significant diurnal variation. But, after surgery the diurnal variation was restored.
Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory* ; Blood Pressure* ; Humans ; Pheochromocytoma*

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mortality of patients over eighty years old with femoral neck fractures that have been treated with bipolar endoprostheses. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively studied 37 patients out of a total of 83, who suffered from hip fractures and were treated with surgery from 2000 through December 2004. We attempted to distinguish the differences between the 8 patients who died (Group A) and the 29 patients who lived (Group B). The variables that we analyzed, were: age, sex, operative time, the time period from admission to surgery, the time period from admission to discharge, the ASA score, and any medical comorbidities. Results: In Group A, 2 patients died within 1 month, 2 died between 1 and 6 months, 1 died between 6 and 12 months, and 3 died after 1 year. There were statistical differences between Group A and Group B with respect to two variables: the time period from admission to, and medical comorbidities. Conclusion: There were significant correlations with an increase in the mortality rate among patients with lung disease, female patients in general, and delays in surgery. Therefore, particular care should be paid to patients with these variables.
Comorbidity ; Female ; Femoral Neck Fractures ; Hip Fractures ; Hip* ; Humans ; Lung Diseases ; Mortality* ; Operative Time ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE: Parkinsoinsm is characterized by clinical symptoms of igidity, bradykinesia, tremor, and gait disturbance. There are many causes of secondary parkinsonism. Hypocalcemia associated with hypoparathyrodism is a rare metabolic cause of secondary parkinsonism. We experienced a case presenting reversible secondary parkinsonism caused by hypocalcemia associated with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism. CASE: A 35-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of generalized edema. She had been diagnosed as nephrotic syndrome for 1 year. During admission, slurred speech suddenly developed and hypocalcemia was founded. With replacement of calcium and dialysis, these symptom were improving. However, she complained of slowly progressive gait disturbance. On examination, she had parkinsonian features including masked face, slurred speech, rigidity of all extremities, bradykinesia, gait disturbance with short step, and stooped posture. Laboratory studies showed hypocalcemia, primary hypoparathyroidism, normal thyroid and parathyroid scan. Brain CT and MRI revealed normal. She was diagnosed as secondary parkinsonism following hypocalcemia associated with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism. She was started on levodopa and bromocriptine, and parkinsonian features slowly improved. One month later, she was fully recovered from parkinsonian features, and then levodopa and bromocriptine were discontinued. COMMENT: We report a case of reversible secondary parkinsonism caused by hypocalcemia with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism.
Adult ; Brain ; Bromocriptine ; Calcium ; Dialysis ; Edema ; Extremities ; Female ; Gait ; Humans ; Hypocalcemia ; Hypokinesia ; Hypoparathyroidism* ; Levodopa ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Masks ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Parkinson Disease, Secondary ; Parkinsonian Disorders* ; Posture ; Thyroid Gland ; Tremor

To investigate the contributions of intrinsic membrane properties to the spontaneous activity of medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) neurons, we assessed the effects of blocking large and small calcium-activated potassium channels by means of patch clamp recordings. Almost all the MVN neurons recorded in neonatal (P13~P17) rat were shown to have either a single deep after-hyperpolarization (AHP; type A cells), or an early fast and a delayed slow AHP (type B cells). Among the recorded MVN cells, immature action potential shapes were found. Immature type A cell showed single uniform AHP and immature B cell showed a lack of the early fast AHP, and the delayed AHP was separated from the repolarization phase of the spike by a period of isopotentiality. Application of apamin and charybdotoxin (CTX), which selectively block the small and large calcium-activated potassium channels, respectively, resulted in significant changes in spontaneous firings. In both type A and type B cells, CTX (20 nM) resulted in a significant increase in spike frequency but did not induce bursting activity. By contrast, apamin (300 nM) selectively abolished the delayed slow AHP and induced bursting activity in type B cells. Apamin had no effect on the spike frequency of type A cells. These data suggest that there are differential roles of apamin and CTX sensitive potassium conductances in spontaneous firing patterns of MVN neurons, and these conductances are important in regulating the intrinsic rhythmicity and excitability.
Action Potentials ; Animals ; Apamin ; B-Lymphocytes ; Charybdotoxin ; Fires* ; Membranes ; Neurons* ; Periodicity ; Potassium ; Potassium Channels, Calcium-Activated ; Rats* ; Vestibular Nuclei*

BACKGROUND: Dermal papilla cells, which are mesenchymal components of the hair bulb are considered to play an important role in the regulation of hair growth by production of diffusible factors that stimulate follicular epithelial cells. Degenerative changes in the dermal papilla cells in the involved scalp of alopecia areata cases indicate that these cells are one of the important targets in this disease. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effects of serum from alopecia areata patients on the proliferation of dermal papilla cells. METHOD: Dermal papilla cells and fibroblasts from normal human scalp were cultured in DMEM media with 10% or 20% of normal and alopecia areata serum for 48hrs and 96hrs. Cell proliferation was measured by cell counts and [3H]-thymidine incorpoartion. RESULTS: Both 10% and 20% alopecia areata serum had no significant effects on the proliferation of dermal papilla cells and fibroblasts after 48hrs and 96hrs. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that there are no serum factors that inhibit the proliferation of dermal papilla cells.
Alopecia Areata* ; Alopecia* ; Cell Count ; Cell Proliferation ; Epithelial Cells ; Fibroblasts ; Hair ; Humans ; Scalp