BACKGROUND: To evaluate depressure effect and safety of delapril, a new ACE inhibitor, in Korea. METHOD: Thirty three patients, aged 37-69, with mild to moderate essential hypertension were first observed for 2 weeks with placebo followed by administration of 15mg of delapril twice daily for 2 weeks, then doubled dosage to 30mg b.i.d. and combined with 25mg of dihydrochlorothiazide if optimal BP were not obtained at the end of 4th week, continued the same dose until the end of 10 week's trial period. RESULT: BP dropped 15/9mmHg inaverage at the end of 10th week rewarding 70% of cumulative effectiveness. Most frequent side reaction was dry cough, occurred in 9% of patients followed by chest tightness, headache, constipation and transient elevation of GPT. CONCLUSION: Delapril 15-30mg twice daily as monotheraphy or combined with diuretics is well tolerated and effective in the treatment of mild to moderate essential hypertension.
Constipation ; Cough ; Diuretics ; Headache ; Humans ; Hydrochlorothiazide ; Hypertension* ; Korea ; Reward ; Thorax

Intussusception is the most common cause of acquired intestinal obstruction during infancy and early childhood and requires early diagnosis and treatment. We observed 431 cases of intussusception who admitted at Chungang Gil Hospital from January 1987 to June 1991, and compared the result of treatment with Barium Enema in 302 cases with that of Air Enema in 129 cases. The results were as follows; 1) In sex distribution, males were more affected than females as a ratio of 2:1. 2) In age incidence, 78.2% of the cases were between 3~10 months. 3) Slight seasonal prevalence was noted in spring and autumn. 4) The common symptoms and signs were cyclic irritability (89.1%), vomiting (78.9%), bloody stool (84.9%) and abdominal mass(43.1%). 5) The common diseases accompanied were URI (39.7%), AGE (13.0%) and UTI(1.2%). 6) 5.8% of cases were visited after the 48 hours of symptom onset, in these cases the operation rate was 39.1%. So the longer duration of symptoms persists, the lower reduction rate follows. 7) The most common type of intussusception was ileocolic type, and the lowest reduction rate was noted in ileoileocolic type. 8) In the reduction rate, 87.4% with Barium Enema and 89.1% with Air Enema. 9) After 24 hours of symptom onset, the reduction rate, 74.4% with Barium Enema and 78.6% with Air Enema. 10) Recurrence rate was 9.3% with Barium Enema and 7.8% with Air Enema. 11) In Barium Enema, 1 case of bowel perforation was observed, and he expired with barium peritonitis, in Air Enema, 2 cases of bowel perforation were observed, and cured after operation. 12) We observed some advantages in Air Enema such as simplicity, high reduction rate and absence of fatal complications. And we think that Air Enema is a useful diagnstic and treatment method of intussusception.
Barium* ; Early Diagnosis ; Enema* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intestinal Obstruction ; Intussusception* ; Male ; Peritonitis ; Prevalence ; Recurrence ; Seasons ; Sex Distribution ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the outcomes of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) therapy with or without growth hormone (GH) therapy for girls with idiopathic central precocious puberty (CPP). METHODS: The medical records of 166 girls diagnosed with CPP from 2002 to 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. All included patients were treated with GnRHa for ≥36 months. Changes in height standard deviation score (SDS) for bone age, chronological age (CA), and predicted adult height (PAH) were assessed for the first three years of treatment. The final height gain SDS was calculated as the difference between the initial PAH SDS and adult height (AH) SDS; these were then compared between the GnRHa group (group A, n=135) and the combined GnRHa/GH group (group B, n=31).
Adolescent ; Adult ; Body Height ; Female ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Growth Hormone ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Puberty ; Puberty, Precocious ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: This paper aims at investigating the fitness of available computer mouse interfaces to each level of cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) patients ranging from C4 to C7. METHOD: Several commercially available computer mouse interfaces were selected for performance evaluation. They were head pointer, touch screen, button mouse, big-ball mouse, and mouse pad. Usual mouse with rubber pad was also tested for the C6-C7 SCI patients. The performance of each interface was evaluated in terms of average click rate of moving target box and patient's satisfaction. RESULTS: The results that the touch screen and the head pointer were superior to other interfaces in terms of click rate. However, in terms of the satisfaction ratio, C4-C5 SCI patients preferred the head pointer and C6-C7 SCI patients preferred the big-ball mouse. The difference in click rate and satisfaction ratio was attributed to the convenience of the interface, i.e., the necessity and type of orthosis when using the mouse interface. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the patients' preference was determined mainly by the convenience. Therefore, the convenience of the interface must be fully considered in the design and selection of computer interface for the SCI patients.
Animals ; Head ; Humans ; Mice* ; Orthotic Devices ; Rubber ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord*

PURPOSE: To perform comparative analysis between the results of internal fixation and hemiarthroplasty in unstable intertrochanteric fracture of osteoporotic bone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From February 2003 to February 2006, 36 patients treated surgically for unstable intertrochanteric fractures were evaluated. The patient's age was older than 70 year old; the T-score of preoperative bone mineral density (BMD) was lower than -3.0; they were followed up for more than 1 year. The patient were divided into two groups. One group was treated with dynamic hip screw or proximal femoral nail (Group A, 23 cases), and the other group was treated with bipolar hemiarthroplasty (Group B, 13 cases). The two groups were compared in terms of hip joint function using Clawson classification and radiologically. RESULTS: Nonunion and fixation failure happened in 6 cases (26%) of gruop A. However, all patients in group B showed stable maintenance of implant. Recovery of hip joint function was found in 13 cases (43%) of group A, whereas 12 cases (93%) of group B recovered. CONCLUSION: Nonunion and failure of fixation happened more frequently in internal fixation than bipolar hemiarthroplasty, and the postoperative hip joint function was better in bipolar hemiarthroplasty than internal fixation. Therefore, bipolar hemiarthroplasty might be better operative treatment for unstable intertrochanteric fracture of osteoporotic bone.
Bone Density ; Classification ; Hemiarthroplasty* ; Hip ; Hip Fractures ; Hip Joint ; Humans ; Osteoporosis

No abstract available.
Chorion* ; Chorionic Villi* ; Female ; Humans* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic* ; Telomerase*

BACKGROUND: Smoking is one of the most important leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Smoking habit is recognized as nicotine dependence, which consists of physical and psychosocial dependence. To evaluate social nicotine dependence, the Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND) working group developed a new questionnaire, which consists of 10 questions with a total score of 30 in Japan. We examined the social nicotine dependence among healthy adults using the new KTSND questionnaire and evaluated validity of the KTSND questionnaire in Korea. METHOD: We applied Korean KTSND questionnaire version 2 to employees of hospital, university students and people for medical examination and promotion test. Complete data obtained from the 741 responders were analyzed. RESULT: The mean age of responders was 31.8 years. Among them, males were 57.8%. Current smokers, ex-smokers, and non-smokers were 13.8%, 12.8%, and 73.4% respectively. According to smoking status, the total KTSND scores of current smokers were significantly higher than those of ex-smokers, and of non-smokers (17.1+/-5.4 versus 14.3+/-5.5, and 12.3+/-5.5, p< or =0.001). The total KTSND scores of males were higher than those of females, suggesting that males have a propensity for depending nicotine socially much more than females (14.3+/-5.7 and 11.7+/-5.4 respectively, p<0.001). Eight of ten questions produced significantly different scores among three different smoking groups. When current smokers were sub-classified by heavy smoking index (HSI) that represented physical nicotine dependence, we did not find a significant difference of KTSND score between low HSI group (<4) and high HSI group (> or =4), This finding suggested that the psychosocial dependence might play a different role from physical nicotine dependence in smoking. Most of the non-smokers (62.5%) had an experience of harmful passive smoking especially in public place. CONCLUSION: Our study suggested that the KTSND questionnaire could be a useful method to evaluate psychosocial aspects of smoking.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea* ; Male ; Mortality ; Nicotine* ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution ; Tobacco Use Disorder*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to verify renal inflammation following Kawasaki disease (KD) using single photon emission computed tomography along with Technetium-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid scintigraphy (DMSA renal SPECT). METHODS: From March 2011 to October 2011, 15 patients diagnosed with KD at the National Health Insurance System Ilsan Hospital were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent DMSA renal SPECT to evaluate renal involvement during the acute phase of KD. Urine beta2-microglobulin (beta2-MG), a marker of renal proximal tubular dysfunction, was also measured to assess renal damage. RESULTS: All 15 patients had normal renal function test results. However, microscopic hematuria and pyuria were observed in 13% and 33% of the patients, respectively. Moreover, urine beta2-MG was elevated in 46% of the patients. In addition, patients were divided into two groups based on beta2-MG level: those with an increased beta2-MG level, and those with a normal beta2-MG level. No significant differences were found between these two groups in clinical characteristics, laboratory, sonography, and echocardiography findings. All patients' DMSA renal SPECT scans were normal. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that mild abnormalities in the urinalysis and elevated urine beta2-MG were the only findings of renal involvement in KD. However, no aggressive renal manifestations were detected on DMSA renal SPECT.
Echocardiography ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; National Health Programs ; Pyuria ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Succimer ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; Urinalysis

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the risk factors for the development of coronary artery lesions (CALs) and to determine whether hyponatremia is associated with CALs in children with Kawasaki disease (KD). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 105 children with KD who were admitted to Ilsan Hospital between January 2000 and July 2011. RESULTS: Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (P = 0.013), total bilirubin levels (P = 0.017) were higher and serum sodium levels (P = 0.027) were lower in KD children with CALs than those without. White blood cell (WBC) counts (P = 0.006), neutrophil counts (P = 0.003) were higher and albumin levels (P = 0.009) were lower in KD children with hyponatremia than those without. On multiple logistic regression analysis, hyponatremia (P = 0.024) and intravenous immunoglobulin??resistance (P = 0.024) were independent risk factors for CALs in KD. Furthermore, serum sodium levels were correlated negatively with WBC counts (P = 0.004), neutrophil counts (P < 0.001), total bilirubin levels (P = 0.005) and positively with albumin levels (P = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Our study indicates that hyponatremia may reflect severe inflammation in children with KD.
Bilirubin ; Blood Sedimentation ; Cardiovascular Abnormalities ; Child* ; Coronary Vessels ; Humans ; Hyponatremia* ; Inflammation* ; Leukocytes ; Logistic Models ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Neutrophils ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sodium

It is well established that blocking the interaction of EGFR with growth factors leads to the arrest of tumor growth, resulting in tumor cell death. ER414 is a human monoclonal antibody (mAb) derived by guided selection of the mouse mAb A13. The ER414 exhibited a ~17-fold lower affinity and, as a result, lower efficacy of inhibition of the EGF-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of EGFR when compared with mAb A13 and cetuximab. We performed a stepwise in vitro affinity maturation to improve the affinity of ER414. We obtained a 3D model of ER414 to identify the amino acids in the CDRs that needed to be mutated. Clones were selected from the phage library with randomized amino acids in the CDRs and substitution of amino acids in the HCDR3 and LCDR1 of ER414 led to improved affinity. A clone, H3-14, with a ~20-fold increased affinity, was selected from the HCDR3 randomized library. Then three clones, ER2, ER78 and ER79, were selected from the LCDR1 randomized library based on the H3-14 but did not show further increased affinities compared to that of H3-14. Of the three, ER2 was chosen for further characterization due to its better expression than others. We successfully performed affinity maturation of ER414 and obtained antibodies with a similar affinity as cetuximab. And antibody from an affinity maturation inhibits the EGF-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of EGFR in a manner similar to cetuximab.
Amino Acids ; Animals ; Antibodies ; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ; Bacteriophages ; Cell Death ; Cetuximab ; Clone Cells ; Deoxycytidine ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Mice ; Phosphorylation ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; Tyrosine