Essential hypertension is an important public health problem in Korea-being common, asymptomatic, easily treatable, and often leading to lethal complication in left untreated. The number of patients with hypertension has been significantly increased, and this factor may be an importnat one responsible for the increase in cardivascular mortality during past 20 years in Korea. As the drug therapy for hypertension needs longer period, it is very important to evaluate the efficacy and the adverse effects. Thirty patients(17 men and 13 womon) with essential hypertension were evaluated in this study. All patients had received oral Isradipine 1.25~2.5mg b.i.d. for 8 weeks. 1) The systolic and diastolic pressure were decreased significantly(166.8+/-9.0mmHg vs 147.3+/-12.0mmHg, p<0.001 and 100.3+/-4.0mmHg vs 90.3+/-6.1mmHg, p<0.001, respectively) 2) Heart rate, body weight, laboratory tests, chest X-ray, ECG studies were not changed significantly. 3) The systolic pressure was lowered by 20mmHg or more in 17 cases(56.7% of total), and the diastolic pressure was lowered by 10mmHg or more in 20 cases(66.7% of total) at 8 weeks after Isradipine administration. 4) The adverse effects of Isradipine were edema in 3(10%), constipation in 2(6.7%), headache in 2(6.7%), and insomnia, dizziness and dry mouth in 1 patient respectively, and none of them discontinued Isradipine administration due to adverse effects. In many patients with essential hypertension there is an effective response to Isradipine, even though there may be some mild adverse effects.
Blood Pressure ; Body Weight ; Constipation ; Dizziness ; Drug Therapy ; Edema ; Electrocardiography ; Headache ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Isradipine ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality ; Mouth ; Public Health ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Thorax

No abstract available.
Appointments and Schedules*

The direct antiglobulin test (DAT) is used in investigating autoimmune hemolytic anemia, drug-induced antibodies, hemolytic diseases of newborn and alloimmune reactions to recently transfused red cells. We performed 3,033 DATs in our blood bank from 1985 to 1992. When using a polyspecific antihuman globulin reagent, the DAT was positive in 7.2% of all cases tested. In further studies using monospecific anti-IgG and anti-C3d reagents, three patterns of reactivity were founded: in 37% of cases, red cells are coated with IgG alone; in 18% of cases, the red cells are coated with both IgG and complement; and in 45% of cases only with complement. We evaluated clinical significance of DAT positive results with the 227 patients' medical records which can be available for reviewing among the positive DAT patients. The male to female ratio of DAT positive patient was 1:2 and 41% of cases were belong to the 20-30 years old age group. The most common underlying disorders were systemic lupus erythematosus (29.5%), idiopathic (10.1%), hematologic malignancy (8.8%), and liver disease (6.2%). Patients with warm reactive autoantibodies account for 60.4% of all DAT positive cases. Cold reactive autoantibodies were demonstrated in 11%, and the mixed-types were 2.6%. Drug-induced DAT positive findings were observed in 15.4% and the DAT positve caused with transfusion associated alloantibodies were 7.5%. IgG warm-reactive autoagglutinins were more commonly detected in patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia and drug induced hemolysis. Definite hemolysis was present in 37% of all DAT positive patients and especially in all patients with mixed type autoagglutinin. Drugs caused a positive DAT were cephalosporin, penicillin, isoniazid, and rifampicin.
Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune ; Antibodies ; Autoantibodies ; Blood Banks ; Complement System Proteins ; Coombs Test* ; Female ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Indicators and Reagents ; Infant, Newborn ; Isoantibodies ; Isoniazid ; Liver Diseases ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Male ; Medical Records ; Penicillins ; Rifampin

No abstract available.
Parenteral Nutrition, Total

Fibrous dysplasia of temporal bone is a rare disease that may lead to progressive stenosis of external auditory canal. This stenosis leads to trapping of skin and development of cholesteatoma. Most cases with fibrous dysplasia of temporal bone are monostotic, and the polyostotic type is far more rare. We have experienced a recurred polyostotic fibrous dysplasia with cholesteatoma on the external auditory canal and the mastoid. Our purpose of this paper is to discuss properties and management of this rare disease. A twenty-one-year-old woman who had undergone canaloplasty for polyostotic fibrous dysplasia of right temporal bone and occipital bone 5 years ago returned complaining of intermittent right-sided otorrhea for one year. She underwent canal down mastoidectomy with tympanoplasty type 3 for recurred canal obstruction and developing cholesteatoma. The patient has been followed up regularly for one year. There is no evidence of the recurrence of the disease or associated symptoms. We emphasize the need for a long term follow-up of patients with this disease as cholesteatoma or restenosis may develop insidiously.
Cholesteatoma* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Ear Canal* ; Female ; Fibrous Dysplasia, Polyostotic* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mastoid* ; Occipital Bone ; Rare Diseases ; Recurrence ; Skin ; Temporal Bone ; Tympanoplasty

PURPOSE: The purpose is to evaluate the CT or MRI findings to help in the differentiation between benign and malignant meningiomas. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The CT and MRI findings of 8 patients with surgically proven malignant meningioma were reviewed. Four cases of 8 malignant meningiomas and 18 cases of 27 benign lesions were studied with a 1.5T or 0.5T MRI. Radiologic analysis was focused on the heterogeneity of tumor, grade of peritumoral edema, presence of cystic degeneration and calcification, tumoral enhancement pattern, dural enhancement, and tumoral border. RESULT: Histologic types of malignant meningioma were meningotheliomatous (n=4), papillary(n=1), fibroblastic(n=l), angioblastic(n=l), and sarcomatous(n=l). Tumoral Heterogeneity was seen in 8 of 8 malignant lesions(100%) and 8 of 27 benign ones(30%). (p<0.01) Marked peritumoral edema was seen in 8 of 8 malignant lesions(100%) and 2 of 27 benign ones. (7.3%)(p<0.01) Most of malignant lesions(6 of 8 cases, 75%) showed ill defined border. Calcification was not present in malignant lesions in contrast with benign ones (14 of 27 cases, 52%). (p<0.05) No statistical significance was noted in cystic degeneration, dural tail like enhancement or tumoral enhancement pattern between malignant and benign meningiomas. MRI signal intensity of malignant meningiomas was homogeneously or heterogeneously hypointense on T1WI, heterogeneously isointense or hypointense on T2WI and heterogeneous or mixed on Gd-DTPA enhancement study. CONCLUSION: The CT or MRI findings such as heterogeneity, ill defined tumoral border, marked peritumoral edema, and absence of calcification may suggest the possibility of malignancy in meningioma.
Edema ; Gadolinium DTPA ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Meningioma* ; Population Characteristics

PURPOSE: This study is aimed at identifying the effects of telephone counseling as nursing support on distress, anxiety, depression, and adverse events in cancer patients undergoing their first chemotherapy. METHODS: This was a randomized controlled trial (pretest-posttest design). A total of 70 patients who showed 4 or higher distress scores were selected from the screening process. Four patients dropped out; therefore, 66 patients participated in this research. Thirty-two and 34 patients were randomly assigned to the experimental and the control group, respectively. After a preliminary survey, telephone counseling support was given to the experimental group at three time points. The post survey was done before the second cycle of chemotherapy. RESULTS: Regarding distress, both groups showed a statistically significant decrease in the scores: 3.4 for the experimental group and 1.8 for the control group (p=.002). Furthermore, the experimental group demonstrated a statistically significant decrease relative to the control group. Anxiety and depression showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that nursing support through phone counseling is effective in decreasing distress in patients undergoing chemotherapy for the first time.
Anxiety* ; Counseling* ; Depression* ; Drug Therapy* ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Nursing ; Telephone*

Purpose: This study aimed to establish the role of and to analyze the job of nurses in a regional emergency center using the Developing a Curriculum(DACUM) process, a job analysis technique. Methods: The DACUM committee was organized, and three workshops were held from June 1st to July 4th, 2016. One hundred two nurses in a regional emergency center participated in a survey from October 3rd to 10th, 2016. The frequency, importance and difficulty of each tasks and task elements in the DACUM were investigated on a Likert scale. Results: The roles of nurses in a regional emergency center were identified and the DACUM chart was developed with 6 duties, 29 tasks and 153 task elements. According to the survey, some tasks such as ‘CPR,’ ‘acute respiratory distress care,’ and ‘drug administration’ showed high frequency and importance or difficulty in all nursing units in common, and different results reflected the characteristics of each nursing unit were also found. Conclusion The results showed the feature of the regional emergency center. Based on these results, it is necessary to develop educational programs for practice.

Knee pain is rarely an initial symptom of colon cancer, because most bone metastases develop in the late stage of cancer. Therefore, patients with colorectal cancer usually present with gastrointestinal symptoms. Recently, we experienced a 46-year-old female with rectal cancer that presented as knee pain due to tibial metastasis without other organ metastasis. She was evaluated for knee pain and diagnosed with a rectal cancer after biopsies of the tibial and rectal masses. We report the first such case in Korea with a review of the literature.
Biopsy ; Colon ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Female ; Humans ; Knee ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Tibia

Colchicine has been shown to regulate the expression of inflammatory gene, but this compound possesses much weaker anti-inflammatory activity. In this study, we synthesized a new colchicine derivative CT20126 and examined its immunomodulatory property. CT20126 was found to have immunosuppressive effects by inhibiting lymphocyte proliferation without cytotoxicity and effectively inhibit the transcriptional expression of the inflammatory genes, iNOS, TNF-alpha, and IL-1beta, in macrophages stimulated by LPS. This effect was nearly comparable to that of cyclosporine A. This compound also significantly suppressed the production of nitric oxide and Th1-related pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, and IL-2, with minimal suppression of Th2-related anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 in the sponge matrix allograft model. Moreover, administration of CT20126 prolonged the survival of allograft skins from BALB/c mice (H-2d) to the dorsum of C57BL/6 (H-2b) mice. The in vivo immune suppressive effects of CT20126 were similar to that of cyclosporine A. These results indicate that this compound may have potential therapeutic value for transplantation rejection and other inflammatory diseases.
Animals ; Cell Line ; Colchicine/*analogs & derivatives/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Cytokines/*biosynthesis ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects ; Graft Survival/*drug effects ; Immunosuppression ; Interleukin-1beta/genetics/metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides/pharmacology ; Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Nitric Oxide/biosynthesis ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II/genetics/metabolism ; Skin Transplantation/*immunology ; Th1 Cells/*drug effects/immunology/metabolism ; Th2 Cells/*drug effects/immunology/metabolism ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/genetics/metabolism