No abstract available.
Empyema* ; Fistula*

No abstract available.
Rhabdomyoma*

Reexpansion Pulmonary edema is the iatrogenic complication which develops in a lung that has been rapidly reinflated after varied period of collapse secondary to a pneumothorax or a pleural effusion of large volume. Its incidence is relatively low, but can sometimes lead to death. The prevention of this disease is known well, but the definite treatment method has not been known in severe case although there have been conventional ventilator therapy and some medications in mild case. Asynchronous differential lung ventilation is a new therapeutic modelity which is applied independently to bilateral lungs in respiratory failure patients secondary to ventilation-perfusion mismatch, preoperatively, intraoperatively or postoperatively. By asynchronous differential lung ventilation, we successfully treated a severe reexpansion pulmonary edema in 29 year old male patient. Therefore we suggest that asynchronous differential lung ventilation is the treatment of choice for severe reexpansion pulmonary edema.
Adult ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lung* ; Male ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumothorax ; Pulmonary Edema* ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Ventilation* ; Ventilators, Mechanical

Pneumocystis carinii causes serious pulmonary infection in immunosuppressed patients. This study was undertaken to observe the cytoskeletal proteins of P. carinii by immuno-electron microscopy. P. carinii infection was experimentally induced by immunosuppression of Sprague-Dawley rats for seven weeks, and their lungs were used for the observations of this study. The gold particles localized actin, tropomyosin, and tubulin. The actin was irregularly scattered in the cytoplasm of the trophic forms but was much more concentrated in the inner space of the cell wall of the cystic forms called the inner electron-lucent layer. No significant amount of tropomyosin was observed in either trophic forms or cystic forms. The tubulin was distributed along the peripheral cytoplasm and filopodia of both the trophic and cystic forms rather than in the inner side of the cytoplasm. Particularly, in the cystic forms, the amount of tubulin was increased and located mainly in the inner electron-lucent layer of the cell wall where the actin was concentrated as well. The results of this study showed that the cell wall of P. carinii cystic forms is a structure whose inner side is rich in actin and tubulin. The location of the actin and tubulin in P. carinii suggests that the main role of these proteins is an involvement in the protection of cystic forms from the outside environment by maintaining rigidity of the cystic forms.
Actins/analysis ; Animals ; Cytoskeletal Proteins/*analysis ; Fungal Proteins/*analysis ; Histocytochemistry ; Microscopy, Immunoelectron ; Pneumocystis/*chemistry/cytology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Tropomyosin/analysis ; Tubulin/analysis

Sometimes, it is difficult to distinguish Churg-Strauss syndrome from idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome and there may be overlap syndrome in the differential diagnosis of systemic vasculitis with hypereosinophilia. Recently, we experienced a 42-year-old female patient who presented signs and symptoms of cardiac failure and neuropathy with peripheral hypereosinophilia. She had no history of asthma. She had erythematous skin lesions and distal digit necrosis. The cause of hypereosinophilia could not be identified. Skin and nerve biopsy revealed vasculitis with eosinophilic infiltration. Cardiac failure improved dramatically with steroid, inotropics and diuretics. Other symptoms including digital necrosis also improved. During steroid, tapering peripheral eosinophilia recurred. For maintenance therapy, we added daily cyclophosphamide to every-other-day prednisolone therapy. We report the case with a review of the literature.
Adult ; Asthma ; Biopsy ; Churg-Strauss Syndrome* ; Cyclophosphamide ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diuretics ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypereosinophilic Syndrome* ; Necrosis ; Prednisolone ; Skin ; Systemic Vasculitis ; Vasculitis

Recently, minimally invasive approach via limited incision becomes one of the rapidly developing strategy in cardiac surgery as it gives less surgical trauma and is more satisfactory to the patients in respect to operative scar although the surgical technique is more demanding. Here, we report two cases of aortic valve replacement via limited transsternal incision. The methodology is described with review of the relevant literature.
Aortic Valve* ; Cicatrix ; Humans ; Surgical Procedures, Minimally Invasive ; Thoracic Surgery

No abstract available.
Lung Transplantation* ; Lung*

BACKGROUND: Recently many studies reported that the postoperative pain was prevented or decreased from preoperative regional anesthesia by preventing the establishment of central sensitization(pre-emptive analgesia). Therefore, we evaluated the efficacy of preincisional lidocaine infiltration on the postoperative pain. METHODS: We conducted a study to compare preinfiltrating group with 1% lidocaine (30 ml), postinfiltrating group with 1% lidocaine (30 ml) and non-infiltrating group in 45 patients scheduled for elective inguinal herniorrhaphy. During operation, all patients received a general anesthesia with thiopental, isoflurane and nitrous oxide in oxygen. Postoperatively, pain scores on visual analogue scale (VAS) and on verbal rating scale(VRS) at rest, coughing and movement from supine into sitting position were assessed. Also the time to first request for an on-demand postoperative analgesics and the total dose of postoperative analgesics were assessed. And the number of patients who didn't require any analgesics during postoperative period was assessed. RESULTS: The VAS and VRS at rest, coughing, movement were low in preinfiltrating group than in non-infiltrating group and postinfiltrating group postoperatively, but it was statistically significant only in early postoperative period. The time to first request for an on-demand postoperative analgesics occurred later in preinfiltrating group than in non-infiltrating group and in postinfiltrating group and the total dose of supplemental analgesics (ketorolac) was smaller in the preinfiltrating group than in non-infiltrating group and postinfiltrating group, and the patients without analgesic treatment was less in the preinfiltrating group than in non-infiltrating group and postinfiltrating group, but it was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with inguinal herniorrhaphy, we can not support the pre-emptive analgesia clinically with preincisional lidocaine infiltration.
Analgesia ; Analgesics ; Anesthesia, Conduction ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthetics ; Cough ; Herniorrhaphy* ; Humans ; Isoflurane ; Lidocaine* ; Nitrous Oxide ; Oxygen ; Pain, Postoperative* ; Postoperative Period ; Thiopental

Many fungi including Penicillium, Aspergillus, Gliocladium, and Thermoascus produce an epipolythiodioxopiperazine class of fungal metabolite, gliotoxin, which contirbutes the pathogenesis of fungal infection as an immunomodulator and cytotoxic agent. This study is designed to define the mechanism by which gliotoxin exerts the cytotoxic effect of gliotoxin on human promyelocytic leukemic cells, HL-60. Gliotoxin induces the apoptosis of HL-60 cells which is characterized by the ladder pattern fragmentation of DNA. Gliotoxin induces the activation of DEVD-specific cysteine protease in a time- and dose-dependent rnanner. It also increases the phosphotransferase activities of c-Jun N-terminal kinase1 (JNK1) and p38 in gliotoxin-treated HL-60 cells. Furthermore, gliotoxin decreases the activation of transcriptional activator, actiating protein (AP-1) and NF-kB. These results suggest that gliotoxin induces the apoptotic death of HL-60 cells via activation of DEVD- specific caspase as well as mitogen activated protein kinases (MAP kinases) including JNK1 and p38, and inhibition of transcriptional activators, AP-1 and NF-kB.
Apoptosis* ; Aspergillus ; Caspase 3 ; Cysteine Proteases ; DNA ; Fungi ; Gliocladium ; Gliotoxin* ; HL-60 Cells* ; Humans ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; NF-kappa B ; Penicillium ; Thermoascus ; Transcription Factor AP-1 ; Transcription Factors

No abstract available.
Heart, Artificial*