A most common site for the isthmic spondylolisthesis is at fifth lumbar vertebra(L5) and far less at fourth(L4). The pathogenic lesion in the pars interarticularis is essentially the same in LA and L5 isthmic spondylolisthesis, but the clinical characteristics may differ each other according to their anatomical and biomechanical differences. A retrospective review of 24 patients of LA(study group) and 27 patients of L5(control group) isthmic spondylolisthesis was undertaken for their medical records and radiographs to compare the clinical characteristics in each groups. Included in each groups were all patients who were surgically treated during the same period and followed for more than two years after surgery. In the study group, 18 of 24 patients were females having an average age of 42.5 years(ranging 34-65), while in the control group, 17 of 27 patients were males having an average age of 38,1 years (ranging 13-59). The symptoms were severe leg pain in most of the study group, but in the control group, the leg pain and back pain were equally complained. The degrees of slip were similar in two groups, but a narrowing of dise space at slip segment was more prominent in study group. The lateral radiographs taken in flexion and extension revealed more changes of slip in study group (4.7mm in study group vs 2.8mm in control group in averages), and more angular motion at slip segment in study group unless the dise space is not severely narrowed. A spinal stenosis in CT findings was disclosed in almost all patients of study group and in 18 patients of control group. The sizes of L5 transeverse process were bigger than twice as those of L4 in 17(70.8%) patients including 9(37.5%) sacralizations of L5 in suty group, while in control group they were only 8(29.6%) patients with no sacralization. The heights of intercreastal line revealed no difference in two groups. The surgical procedures in study group were fusion only in two and decompression with fusion in 22(91.7%) patients and those in control group were fusion only in 11 and decompression with fusion in 16(59.3%) paticnts. The satisfactory results of treatment were in 21(87.5%) patients of study group and 25(92.6%) patients of control group without significant difference between two groups. In conclusion, the L4 spondylolytic spondylolisthesis compared to L5 lesion was more unstable and developed spinal stenosis more often. The surgical treatment and decompression procedure were also more needed in L4 lesions particularly in agend women.
Back Pain ; Decompression ; Female ; Humans ; Leg ; Male ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Stenosis ; Spondylolisthesis

Thyroid anomaly are rare embryological condition. The failure of the development of one lobe leading to unilateral agenesis is the rarest of all the thyroid anomalies, The cause of unilateral agenesis is unknown. Thyroid hemiagenes is common in females (3: 1) with the left lobe being absent. The common disease in the remaining lobe is a benign adenoma, a multinodular goiter, hyperthyroidism, chronic thyroiditis, and rarely carcinoma. The most common pathology involved in thyroid hemiagenesis is hyperthyroidism. This report the case of a 57-year-old woman with a right thyroid hemiagenesis.
Adenoma ; Female ; Goiter ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism ; Middle Aged ; Pathology ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroiditis

No abstract available.
Cytosine Deaminase* ; Cytosine* ; Genetic Therapy* ; Osteocalcin* ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Neoplasms*

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: FSH is a heterodimeric glycoprotein and is composed of alpha and beta subunits. alpha subunit is common to FSH and LH, while an unique beta subunit determines the biological specificity of each hormone. The synthesis of beta subunit is the primary rate-limiting step in the synthesis of each hormone. Although FSH plays a pivotal role in folliculogenesis and ovulation, very little studies have been performed on the regulation of FSH beta gene expression. Therefore, the present study attempted to examine the effect of GnRH or activin on the expression of FSH beta mRNA as well as FSH release and signaling pathway involved in their actions. METHODS: The primary cultures of rat anterior pituitary were used for this study. To determine FSH beta mRNA levels, northern blotting method was used. The concentration of FSH in the culture medium was evaluated by using a specific radioimmunoassay for rat FSH. RESULTS: PMA, an activator of PKC, increased FSH beta mRNA levels and FSH release, whereas forskolin, an activator of adenylate cyclase, showed no effect. The application of GnRH augmented FSH release, but not FSH beta mRNA levels. However, the administration of activin increased FSH beta mRNA levels as well as FSH release. Staurosporine, an inhibitor of PKC, suppressed activin-induced increment of FSH beta mRNA levels and FSH release. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that activin rather than GnRH is a major regulator for FSH beta mRNA expression, and suggest that PKC-dependent pathway is also involved in the action of activin on the expression of FSH beta mRNA and FSH release.
Activins ; Adenylyl Cyclases ; Animals ; Blotting, Northern ; Colforsin ; Female ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone, beta Subunit ; Gene Expression* ; Glycoproteins ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Ovulation ; Radioimmunoassay ; Rats* ; RNA, Messenger ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Staurosporine

BACKGROUND: Scid.adh is a recently developed murine thymic lymphoma cell line, which has been used as in vitro model for the study of double negative stage III thymocytes. In this study, we compared the expression profile of a number of genes and proteins, which are tightly related to T cell development and apoptosis, in thymic lymphoma cell lines, R1.1, EL-4, and Scid.adh for the developmental staging. METHODS: We examined the expression of development marker genes and proteins in three lymphoma cell lines by flow cytometry and RT-PCR. In addition, the expression of apoptosis-related molecules including bcl-2, bax and Fas was also investigated. RESULTS: As previously reported, Scid.adh cell line expressed CD8 and CD25 but not TCR alpha chain, while R1.1 cells expressed TCR alpha chain and both CD4 and CD8 transcripts. These suggest that R1.1 might be in double positive stage, and low level of CD44 expression and the absence of CD25 support this suggestion. In contrast, EL-4 cells showed high level of TCR alpha chain transcript, and low-level of CD4 expression, suggesting that EL-4 is in more mature stage than R1.1. Further, this suggestion was supported by the lack of mT-20 in EL-4 cells, which is expressed in the immature thymocytes, and Scid.adh and R1.1 cell lines, but not in the terminally differentiated thymocytes and peripheral T cells. Among the apoptosis-related gene, transcripts of bcl-2 gene were detected in both R1.1 and EL-4 but not in Scid.adh cells, while bax was expressed in all cell lines. Fas expression was the highest in EL-4 cells and low in Scid.adh cell line. CONCLUSION: R1.1 cell may represent double positive stage, and EL-4 is more differentiated cell line. In addition, Scid.adh and EL-4 cell lines are suspected to be useful for the study of function of bcl-2 family and Fas during the thymocyte development, respectively.
Apoptosis ; Cell Line* ; Flow Cytometry ; Genes, bcl-2 ; Humans ; Lymphoma* ; T-Lymphocytes ; Thymocytes

We report the case of a 58-year-old man who developed multiple cerebral infarctions after ingesting accidently a 5% hydrogen-peroxide detergent solution. A 3~5% hydrogen peroxide solution is commercially available as an oxidant and detergent. Neurologic examination of this patient revealed grade III weakeness in both upper and lower limbs and bilateral positive Babinski signs. CT and MRI revealed bilateral multiple brain infarctions in the anterior and the middle vascular territories. The likely mechanism of pathogenesis must be paradoxical cerebral air embolism. Decompression through Nasogastric tube and hyperbaric oxygenation therapy were used to treating this patient. In spite of our intensive care, the patient expired 21days after ICU admission.
Brain Infarction ; Cerebral Infarction ; Decompression ; Detergents ; Eating* ; Embolism, Air* ; Humans ; Hydrogen Peroxide* ; Hydrogen* ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation ; Critical Care ; Lower Extremity ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Neurologic Examination ; Reflex, Babinski

No abstract available.
Choledochal Cyst*

PURPOSE: To investigate synergistic effect of local cryoablation with systemic immunotherapy, the tumor control ability and immunologic responses of combining these two modalities was compared with that of cryoablation, surgical excision, and immunotherapy only group in a tumor re-challenge model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Preliminary experiments were performed in two stages. The first stage consisted of 36 Balb/c mice with Renca bearing tumors imbedded in the right thigh, and was treated with interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-alpha(IFN-alpha) to evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapy and to determine the adequate dosage. The second stage was performed on 10 mice, to evaluate histological changes and efficacy after cryoablation. The main experiment was performed on 48 mice, divided into 6 groups of control with tumor implantation, excision of tumor, excision combined with immunotherapy, cryoablation of tumor, cryoablation with immunotherapy and control without tumor. After treatment, tumor re-challenge was performed with Renca cell, then the growth pattern was evaluated with physical measurements, and immune response was investigated with fluorescent activated cell sorter and cytotoxicity assay. RESULTS: Preliminary studies on immunologic efficacy revealed that IL-2 and IFN-alpha have a dose dependent inhibition of tumor growth. The main experiment evaluating the efficacy of combination treatment revealed that cryoablation with immunotherapy proved to be most effective in terms of tumor recurrence and tumor growth inhibition, yet the difference was not statistically significant from monotherapy with cryoablation. However, cytotoxicity was significantly increased cryoablation with immunotherapy compared with other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Cryoablation on tumor re-challenge mice model showed advantages with immunotherapy most prominently in cytotoxicity.
Mice ; Animals

AIMTo present preliminary results on health-related quality of life (QoL), prostate-associated symptoms and therapeutic effects of targeted-cryosurgical ablation of the prostate (TCSAP) with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in high-risk prostate cancer (PCa) patients.

METHODSThirty-four men with high-risk PCa features underwent TCSAP, and ADT was added to improve the treatment outcomes. High-risk parameters were defined as either prostate-specific antigen (PSA) = or > 100ng/mL, or Gleason score = or > 8, or both. The Genito-Urinary Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) with prostate-cancer-specific module (QLQ-PR25) was used for evaluating morbidities and PSA levels were recorded every 3 months. PSA failure was defined as the inability to reach a nadir of 0.4 ng/mL or less.

RESULTSAlthough it was not statistically significant, the global health status scores increased after TCSAP with ADT. The scores for five functional scales also became higher after treatment. The most prominent symptom after treatment was sexual dysfunction, followed by treatment-related and irritative voiding symptoms.

CONCLUSIONTCSAP with ADT appears to be minimally invasive with high QoL except for sexual dysfunction. Long-term follow-up of PSA data and survival is necessary before any conclusions can be made on the efficacy of this promising new therapeutic modality in the treatment of PCa.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cryosurgery ; methods ; psychology ; Ejaculation ; Follow-Up Studies ; Health Status ; Humans ; Korea ; Libido ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; classification ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; blood ; Prostatectomy ; psychology ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; surgery ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Treatment Outcome