BACKGROUND: Histamine, released from mast cells in atheromatous plaque, has been known to cause cardiac ischemia or sudden cardiac death in atherosclerosis patient. Previous reports have suggested that histamine induced coronary vasoconstriction was due to increase in IP(3) and DAG, which induce release of Ca2+ from SR and increase the Ca2+ sensitivity of contractile element via activation of PKC. Recently, it was reported that application of histamine cause depolarization of intestinal smooth muscle, which may contribute to histamine-induced contraction via augmenting Ca2+ influx through activation of Ca2+ channels. However, the underyling mechanism of histamine-induced depolarization and its contribution to the magnitude of coronary vasoconstriction are still uncertain. METHOD: To elucidate the underlying mechanism of Ca2+ influx change during histamine-induced vasoconstriction, we examined the effect of Ca2+ channel antagonist and PKC blocker on histamine-induced contractions, and then measured the effect of PKC antagonist on whole cell K+ current using patch clamping method in rabbit coronary smooth muscle cells. RESULTS: Application of histamine induced phasic and tonic constraction of coronary rings via activation of H(1) receptors. Pretreatment of Ca2+ channel antagonist (nifedipine, 1 microM) or PKC blockers (10 nM staurosporine and 10 microM Go6976) markedly inhibited histamine-induced tonic contraction, which suggest that the magnitude of tonic contraction depend on the Ca2+ influx. Application of 4-AP, a blocker of voltage-dependent K+ channels, increased resting tone of coronary rings, and combined treatment of nifedipine blocked this 4-AP induced increase of resting tone. Application of active analoge of DAG (1,2-DiC(8)) significantly inhibited the activity of voltage-dependent K+ current in single smooth muscle cell, meanwhile the inactive analogue of DAG (1,3-DiC(8)) has no apparent effect on the activity of voltage-dependent K+ current. Furthermore, pretreatment of calphostin C (1 microM), a blocker of PKC, diminished the 1,2-DiC(8)-induced inhibition of K+ current. CONCLUSION: PKC dependent inhibition of voltage-dependent K+ current may be responsible for the maintaining of histamine-induced tonic contraction in rabbit coronary artery.
Atherosclerosis ; Constriction ; Coronary Vessels* ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Histamine ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Mast Cells ; Muscle, Smooth ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Nifedipine ; Protein Kinase C ; Staurosporine ; Vasoconstriction

The increasingly successful results of hair restoration surgery in the last years have developed the interest and the confidence of patients and it is the most frequently performed esthetic surgery among male patients. Currently, various kinds of techniques for hair restoration surgery including hair transplantation, scalp reduction, and scalp flaps are performed in our clinic. Among these, hair transplantation is the basic and the most popular procedure, which can be performed not only by itself but also in conjunction with other procedures. 123 consecutive cases of hair transplantations were peformed from Jan. 1995 to Feb. 1996 for male pattern baldness, traumatic alopecia, and female pattern baldness under out patient base. The authors introduced a new classification for male pattern baldness, which are the type M, O, C, U, M-O, and C-O after alphabet to make simple and easy for clinical application. The ancillary procedures were scalp reduction, preauricular flap, and scalp expansion. An ellipsis of hair bearing scalp taken from the occipital area was sliced into slit-, mega-, mini-, and micro-grafts. The survival rate of the grafts was over 90% with minimal complications. This hair transplantation technique enabled us to achieve a good density and more natural looking hair with avoidance of cobble stoning and apparent scar.
Alopecia* ; Cicatrix ; Classification ; Hair* ; Humans ; Male* ; Scalp ; Surgery, Plastic ; Survival Rate ; Transplants

The purpose of this study is to describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MR) findings of metastatic brain tumors with emphasis on the signal intensities of the lesion on MR. Thirty four patients with intracranial metastases were studies with MR imaging. The diagnosis was established on the basis of either brain biopsy or combination of brain MR findings and the presence of primary tumors. The primary tumors include lung cancer (n=18), breast cancer (n=3), stomach cancer (n=3), rectal cancer (n=1), renal cell carcinoma (n=1), hepatocellular carcinoma(n=1), ovarian cancer (n=1), thyroid cancer (n=1), melanoma (n=1) and unknown primary sites (n=4). The parenchymal lesions were solitary in 35% (12/34) and multiple in 65% (22/34). The size of the lesions was variable, ranging from several millimeters to 5cm in diameter. The corticomedullar junction of the cerebral heispheres was the most common location of the lesions (68%). The signal intensity of solid portion of the lesions was usually either isointense (44%) or hypointense (29%) on T1-weighted images, whereas it appeared in isointense (47%), hypointense (8%) or hyperintense (11%) on proton density-weighted or T2-weighted images. The remaining cases showed mixed signal intensities. The enhancement patterns were variable including nodular (<1cm) (6%), homogenous (19%), heterogeneous (10%), ring-like enhancement (22%) or mixed pattern(43%). The size of surrounding edema was larger than the tumor diameter in 76%. In conclusion, although there are no specific MR findings of intracranial metastasis except multiplicity, intracranial metastasis should be included in differential diagnosis with high priority, when a solitary mass showing isointensity on boty T1-and T2-weighted images with massive surrounding edema, especially in the corticomedullary junction of the cerebral hemispheres is encountered.
Biopsy ; Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; Cerebrum ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Edema ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Melanoma ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Protons ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Thyroid Neoplasms

The purpose of this study is to describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MR) findings of metastatic brain tumors with emphasis on the signal intensities of the lesion on MR. Thirty four patients with intracranial metastases were studies with MR imaging. The diagnosis was established on the basis of either brain biopsy or combination of brain MR findings and the presence of primary tumors. The primary tumors include lung cancer (n=18), breast cancer (n=3), stomach cancer (n=3), rectal cancer (n=1), renal cell carcinoma (n=1), hepatocellular carcinoma(n=1), ovarian cancer (n=1), thyroid cancer (n=1), melanoma (n=1) and unknown primary sites (n=4). The parenchymal lesions were solitary in 35% (12/34) and multiple in 65% (22/34). The size of the lesions was variable, ranging from several millimeters to 5cm in diameter. The corticomedullar junction of the cerebral heispheres was the most common location of the lesions (68%). The signal intensity of solid portion of the lesions was usually either isointense (44%) or hypointense (29%) on T1-weighted images, whereas it appeared in isointense (47%), hypointense (8%) or hyperintense (11%) on proton density-weighted or T2-weighted images. The remaining cases showed mixed signal intensities. The enhancement patterns were variable including nodular (<1cm) (6%), homogenous (19%), heterogeneous (10%), ring-like enhancement (22%) or mixed pattern(43%). The size of surrounding edema was larger than the tumor diameter in 76%. In conclusion, although there are no specific MR findings of intracranial metastasis except multiplicity, intracranial metastasis should be included in differential diagnosis with high priority, when a solitary mass showing isointensity on boty T1-and T2-weighted images with massive surrounding edema, especially in the corticomedullary junction of the cerebral hemispheres is encountered.
Biopsy ; Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; Cerebrum ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Edema ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Melanoma ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Protons ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Thyroid Neoplasms

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome*

No abstract available.
Forearm*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical effects of silicone tube intubation in patients with epiphora and a narrow common canaliculus. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 107 patients (169 eyes) who underwent silicone tube intubation for treatment of canaliculus between August 2008 and August 2010 and who were followed for more than 12 months. The patients were divided into 3 groups: patients with canalicular stenosis (A), patients with common canalicular stenosis (B), and patients with nasolacrimal duct stenosis (C). Successful treatment was defined as attainment of the predefined requisites, which included improvements in the clinical symptoms following surgery, an adequate passage of tears resulting from post-operative probing and syringing, and continued improvement to the time of the patients' final follow-up visit. In contrast, surgical failure was defined as the lack of post-operative symptom improvement, and recurrence was defined as the appearance of epiphora following the silicone tube extubation. RESULTS: The average follow-up duration for the entire group of patients was 30.5 months. The success rates of Group A, Group B, and Group C were 66%, 75.4%, and 56.3%, respectively, demonstrating that Group B attained the highest success rate. These success rates are similar to rates resulting from other types of surgery such as canaliculodacryocystorhinostomy. CONCLUSIONS: Silicone tube intubation can be considered a relatively simple and effective surgical technology for the long-term treatment of patients with a narrow common canaliculus.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intubation ; Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases ; Nasolacrimal Duct ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Silicones

PURPOSE: The purpose of the experiment with the rabbit was to evaluate the effect of human amniotic membrane transplantation in the extraocular muscle surgery area after the operation. METHODS: Five millimeters resection of both superior rectus muscles was performed in eight rabbits. The left eye was served as a control, and the right eye was covered with human amniotic membrane at the site where the operation was performed. Each rabbit was graded according to the degree of adhesion. A histological comparison was done after enucleation. RESULTS: At one week after the operation, it was discovered that the inflammation of the human amniotic membrane transplantation site was suppressed, but at two weeks the human amniotic membrane transplantation site was significantly inflamed. However, the inflammation decreased at six weeks. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that strabismus surgery with transplantation of human amniotic membrane may reduce postoperative inflammation and adhesion in strabismus surgery after one week. However, after two weeks the inflammation will increase and produce more postoperative adhesion. After six weeks there was no significant inflammation in comparison to the control group.
Amnion* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Muscles ; Rabbits* ; Strabismus* ; Tissue Adhesions*

The main trend moves towards early excision and skin grafting as treatment for the deep second degree burns and the third degree burns. The ability to excision & skin grafting. This study prospectively evaluated the ability of laser doppler flow measurements obtained within 72 hours after burn injury to predict the depth of burn wounds. A Periflux system 4001 laser doppler flowmetry had been used to measure cutaneous microflow circulation of 100 selected points of burn wounds in 44 admitted patients from March 1993 to February 1994. The mean value of superficial second degree burn checked by laser doppler was 194.6 perfusion unit(PU). The deep second degree burn was 59.7 PU and third degree burn was 5.1 PU. The blood flow of more than 100 PU reliably predicted the superficial second degree burn with 90.2 percents accuracy. The blood flow between 100 PU and 10 PU predict the deep second degree dermal burn with 96.2 percents accuracy. That of less than 10 PU predict the third degree burn with 100 percents accuracy. There was also a significant correlation between initial flow measurements and the depth of burn wounds. We conclude that laser doppler flow measurements performed early after burn injury are useful in predicting the depth of burn wounds. The laser doppler flowmetry has the advantage of being easy to use, noninvasive, provide immediate result for early determination of burn depth. The laser doppler flowmetry is useful in selecting patients for early excision and grafting of burn wounds.
Burns* ; Humans ; Laser-Doppler Flowmetry* ; Perfusion ; Prospective Studies ; Skin Transplantation ; Transplants ; Wounds and Injuries