No abstract available.

No abstract available.

GTP-Binding Proteins ; Receptors, Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the predictors of PTSD in subway fire accident survivors. METHODS: Subjects consisted of 129 survivors from the Daegu subway fire accident. The 129 subjects were registered at April, 2003, which was 2 months after the accident, and 49 of them were followed up from June to November 2004. Subjects were assessed at 2 months and 18 months after the accident. All participants completed BDI-II, SCL-90-R, MMPI, PCL-C, STAI-S, STAI-T and IES at the two time points, respectively. CAPS was only administered in the follow-up assessment. Statistical analysis was performed using Binary Logistic regression with SPSS 12.01. RESULTS: Only the BDI-II total scores at 2 months significantly predicted PTSD at 18 months. Other measures did not significantly predict PTSD. Conclusions: These findings suggest that high BDI-II total scores at the initial assessment may be regarded as a major predictor of PTSD. Accordingly, early treatment intervention may serve to prevent the chronicity of PTSD among accident survivors.
Daegu* ; Fires* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; MMPI ; Prospective Studies* ; Railroads* ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* ; Survivors*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the personality factors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients to investigate the contribution of personality to the development of PTSD. METHODS : The PTSD group and Non-PTSD group with no other sympton met DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for major psychiatric disorders were selected among 129 survivors of Daegu subway fire accident. Of 129 survivors of the accident, 95 survivors who had faithfully resonded to the psychiatric evaluation were assessed with Catell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) and Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Of 95 survivors, 52 survivors were diagnosed to have PTSD. The results were compared among PTSD group, non-PTSD group and normal group. RESULTS : In 16PF measurement, the scores of Anxiety and Tender-mindedness were significantly higher in PTSD group than normal and Non-PTSD groups. And the scores of Liberalism was significantly higher in PTSD group than normal group. The scores of Warmth, Stableness, Dominance, Surgency were significantly lower in PTSD and Non-PTSD than normal group. The scores of Guilty-proness and Anxiety were significantly higher in PTSD and Non-PTSD groups than normal group. In STAI measurement, PTSD group showed higher scores than Non-PTSD and normal group. CONCLUSION : These results suggested that patients with PTSD group were disposed to tension, anxiety, inpatience, fatigue, dependence, concern and compassion. It indicates that development of PTSD is associated with personality factors such as Anxiety and Tender-mindedness. Further prospective studies are necessary to clarify how personality factors were involved in the development of PTSD.
Anxiety ; Daegu* ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Empathy ; Fatigue ; Fires* ; Humans ; Politics ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Railroads* ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* ; Survivors

Background: To test the hypothesis that Galphas gene mutation may suppress the expression of TRH-R gene, we investigated whether hTRH-R gene expression is lower in human GH-secreting pituitary adenomas with Galphas mutation than in tumors without the mutation. Method: TRH-induced paradoxical response of GH was observed in 8 acromegalic patients. The mutation of gene was identified by direct sequencing of the genomic DNA prepared from GH-secreting pituitary adenomas. The expression of hTRHT mRNA was quantitated by RT-PCR. Results: The transcript of hTRH-R gene was detected in 6 of 8(75%) tumors. Three of these(50%) showed the paradoxical GH response to TRH and the other three patients did not show the response. The relative expression of hTRH-R mRNA in the tumors from patients with the paradoxical response of GH to TRH did not differ from that in the tumors from patients without the paradoxical response. Direct PCR sequencing of Galphas disclosed a mutant allele and a normal allele only at codon 201 in 4 of 8 tumors. The paradoxical response to TRH was observed in 2 of 4 patients without the mutation, and 2 of 4 patients with the mutation. The hTRH-R gene expression of pituitary adenomas did not differ between the tumors without the mutation and those with mutation. Conclusion: This study suggests that the expression of TRH-R gene is not likely to be a main determinant for the paradoxical response of GH to TRH, and that Galphas mutation does not seem to suppress the gene expression of TRH-R in GH secreting adenoma.
Acromegaly ; Adenoma* ; Alleles ; Codon ; DNA ; Gene Expression ; Growth Hormone-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma ; GTP-Binding Proteins ; Humans ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone* ; RNA, Messenger

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The Literacy-Independent Cognitive Assessment (LICA) has been developed for a diagnosis of dementia and is a useful neuropsychological test battery for illiterate populations as well as literate populations. The objective of this study was to develop the short form of the LICA (S-LICA) and to evaluate the reliability and validity of the S-LICA. METHODS: The subtests of the S-LICA were selected based on the factor analysis and validation study results of the LICA. Patients with dementia (n=101) and normal elderly controls (n=185) participated in this study. RESULTS: Cronbach's coefficient alpha of the S-LICA was 0.92 for illiterate subjects and 0.94 for literate subjects, and the item-total correlation ranged from 0.63 to 0.81 (p<.01).The test-retest reliability of the S-LICA total score was high (r=0.94, p<.001), and the subtests had high test-retest reliabilities (r=0.68-0.87, p<.01). The correlation between the K-MMSE and S-LICA total scores were substantial in both the illiterate subjects (r=0.837, p<.001) and the literate subjects(r=0.802, p<.001). The correlation between the S-LICA and LICA was very high (r=0.989, p<.001). The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic was 0.999 for the literate subjects and 0.985 for the illiterate subjects. The sensitivity and specificity of the S-LICA for a diagnosis of dementia were 97% and 96% at the cutoff point of 72 for the literate subjects, and 96% and 93% at the cutoff point of 68 for the illiterate subjects, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the S-LICA is a reliable and valid instrument for quick evaluation of patients with dementia in both illiterate and literate elderly populations.
Aged ; Dementia ; Literacy ; Humans ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Reproducibility of Results ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVE: Comprehensive neuropsychological tests are important in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with MCI; however, most were developed without consideration of illiteracy. We developed the Literacy Independent Cognitive Assessment (LICA) as a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment battery applicable to older adults who are either literate or illiterate. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the LICA for diagnosis of MCI. METHODS: Normal controls (n=634) and patients with MCI (n=128) were recruited from 13 centers were included in this study. Participants were divided into illiterate or literate groups, based on their performance on a brief reading and writing test. The LICA, Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), and Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) were administered. RESULTS: Total LICA scores distinguished MCI patients from controls (p<0.001). They were closely and positively correlated to the K-MMSE scores (r=0.632, p<0.001) but negatively correlated to clinical dementia rating (CDR) (r=-0.358, p<0.001) and CDR sum of boxes (r=-0.339, p<0.001). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for patients with MCI by total LICA score was 0.827 (0.783-0.870), superior to that presented by the K-MMSE. For the classification of MCI subtypes, inter-method reliability of LICA with the SNSB was good (kappa 0.773; 0.679-0.867, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that the LICA may be reliably used to distinguish MCI patients from cognitively intact adults, to identify MCI subtypes and monitor progression toward dementia, regardless of illiteracy.
Adult* ; Classification ; Dementia ; Diagnosis ; Literacy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Mild Cognitive Impairment* ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Reproducibility of Results ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Seoul ; Writing

BACKGROUND: Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) plays a key role in the regulation of the proliferation and differentiation of somatomammotroph cells as well as secretion of GH. The actions of GHRH are mediated through the GHRH receptor (GHRH-R) that is a G protein coupled receptor with seven transmembrane domains. It has been demonstrated that alternative splicing occurs in the third cytoplasmic domain of rat and human GHRH-R mRNA, However, the clinical significance of the altemative splicing remains to be unsolved. To find an insight into the clinical significance, we investigate the correlation between the GHRH-R gene expression and a variety of clinical clinical and endocrinological findings in 11 acromegalic patients. METHODS: Eleven acromegalic patients (3 males and 8 females, mean age 43.5 years) were included in this study. Six endocrine tests were carried out to evaluate the GH seeretory function of tumors. Invasiveness of tumors were evaluated by preoperative MRI findings on the basis of Hardys classification. Sequence the gsp oncogene and estimate the GHRH-R gene expression by RT-PCR and in vitro transcription. RESULTS: Three different sized cDNA fragments, 250 bp, 700 bp and 810 bp, were found after RT-PCR. The amount of 250 bp fragment was higher than those of the other two fragments. The clinical findings (age, size, GH level, frequency of paradoxical response to TRH or GnRH, octreotide response, hypothalamic somatostatinergic activity) of the group with high expression of the 250 bp fragment did not significantly differ from those of the group with low expression. The GHRH-R gene expression of tumors with gsp oncogene did not significantly differ from that of tumors without gsp oncogene. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the expression of GHRH-R gene may not be an important determinant for tumor growth, and the lower GH response to GHRH of tumors with gsp oncogene may not be attributed to the lower expression of GHRH-R gene. The expression of GHRH-R is likely to be regulated by a certain property of tumors for GH secretion and growth.
Acromegaly ; Alternative Splicing ; Animals ; Classification ; Cytoplasm ; DNA, Complementary ; Female ; Gene Expression ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone* ; Growth Hormone-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma* ; GTP-Binding Proteins ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Octreotide ; Oncogenes ; Rats ; RNA, Messenger

C-terminal farnesyl cysteine carboxyl methylation has been known to be the last step in the post-translational modification processes of several important signal transduction proteins in eukaryotes including ras related GTP binding proteins and the gamma-subunit of heterotrimeric G proteins. Protein farnesyl cysteine carboxyl methyltransferase (PFCCMT; EC, 2.1.1.100) catalyzing the reaction is well characterized as being stimulated by guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTP gamma S) and suppressed by N-acetyl-S-farnesyl-L-cysteine (AFC). As an initial step to understand the physiological significance of the process, we attempted to purify the enzyme, which was partially purified 130-fold (specific activity, 143 pmol of methyl group transferred/min/mg of protein) with yield of 1.8% after purification by fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) on a Superdex 75 column. The enzyme was further purified with non denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (ND-PAGE) and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The molecular weight of PFCCMT was determined to be about 30 kDa based on Superdex 75 FPLC as well as photoaffinity labelling with S-adenosyl-L-[methyl-3H] methionine ([methyl-3H]SAM). The partially purified enzyme (Superdex 75 eluate) was found to be characteristically affected by GTP gamma S, being activated about 40-fold in 2 mM, in contrast to ATP which did not show any effect on enzyme activity. Meanwhile, the enzyme was found to be markedly inhibited by AFC, reaching 0 activity in 2 mM. These observations strongly suggested that the partially purified enzyme was PFCCMT.
Acetylcysteine/pharmacology ; Acetylcysteine/analogs & derivatives ; Animal ; Brain/enzymology* ; Cattle ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Guanosine 5'-O-(3-Thiotriphosphate)/pharmacology ; Molecular Weight ; Protein Methyltransferases/isolation & purification* ; Protein Methyltransferases/chemistry ; Protein Processing, Post-Translational