Recently, the proportion of cardiovascular disease as a cause of death in diabetics is in ever increasing tendency. Present study is designed to evaluate the change of myocardial performance by the effect of microangiopathy of diabetics. The measurements of systolic time intervals were obtained from simultaneous high speed recordings(100mm/sec) of electrocardiography, phonocardiography, and carotid pulse tracing in diabetics(male 26, female 31). 1. As the diabetic retinopathy got severe, shortening of LVET and prologation of PEP were noted, but QS2 showed no significant change. 2. PEP/LVET ratio fo diabetics without diabetic retinopathy was significantly higher than that of normal control(p<0.01). 3. PEP/LVET ratio of diabetics with diastolic blood pressure under 95mmHg was significantly higher than that of normal control group(p<0.01), and PEP/LVET ratio of diabetics with diastolic blood pressure over 96mmHg was significantly higher than that of normal control and that of diabetics with diastolic blood pressure under 95mmHg(p<0.01). 4. PEP/LVET ratio of diabetics with proliperative retinopathy was significantly higher than that of normal control and that of diabetics with mild diabetic retinopathy(p<0.01), but this result was not conclusive because of the small case number.
Blood Pressure ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death ; Diabetic Retinopathy ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Humans ; Phonocardiography ; Systole*

No abstract available.
Autoantibodies* ; Incidence* ; Interferon-gamma*

To analyze the synaptic characteristics of axon terminals originated from the tooth pulp in the trigeminal nucleus oralis, labeling of tooth pulp afferents with wheat-germ agglutinin conjugated horseradish peroxidase and morphometric analysis with electron microscopic photographs were performed. The results obtained from 23 labeled endings were as follows. All of the labeled boutons contained clear and round synaptic vesicles (dia. 45~55 nm). 3 (13.64%) out of 23 labeled endings have 20~105 dense cored vesicles and do not make synaptic contacts with p-endings. But remaining 20 labeled endings (86.36%) almost do not have dense cored vesicles and 12 of them make synaptic contacts with p-endings. The mean number of synaptic contacts was 2.61+/-2.06 and the postsynaptic profiles were usually middle or distal dendrite and dendritic spine (1.74+/-1.36) rather than soma or proximal dendrite. The mean number of synaptic contacts with pendings was 0.87+/-1.01. And the frequency of the synaptic triads were 0.39+/-0.58. The vesicle density was 993.23+/-267.41/mum(2). The volume of labeled bouton was 3.54+/-2.20 mum(3) and highly correlated (P < 0.01) with surface area (11.78+/-4.92 mum(2), r = 0.95), total apposed surface area (2.90+/-1.56 mum(2), r=0.72), total active zone area (0.61+/-0.37 mum(2), r = 0.82), mitochondrial volume (0.75+/-0.53 mum(3), r = 0.94), the number of synaptic vesicles (2621.30+/-1473.61, r= 0.91) and the number of synaptic contacts (r = 0.76). These results suggest that there are two groups of tooth pulp afferent terminals according to the presence of dense cored vesicles in the trigeminal nucleus oralis. And the sensory processing mechanism of each groups may be different. And the "size principle" of Pierce & Mendell (1993) is also applicable to these terminals.
Carisoprodol ; Dendrites ; Dendritic Spines ; Horseradish Peroxidase ; Mitochondrial Size ; Mouth* ; Presynaptic Terminals ; Synapses ; Synaptic Vesicles ; Tooth ; Trigeminal Nuclei*

Aconitum species have been used in western and eastern medicine for centuries. In present, chinese medicine uses the drug to treat weak constitution, poor metabolism, dysuria, cardiac weakness, gout rheumatism in the limbs, neuralgia. Poisoning may occur from intentional or accidental ingestion, and the concentration of the toxic alkaloids - aonitine, mesaconitine, and hypoconitine - varies depending on species, place of origin, time of harvest, and processing procedure. In addition to cardiac arrhythmias, and hypotension, the alkaloids cause GI upset & neurological symptoms, especially numbness of the mouth and parethesia in the extrimities. The alkaloid causes a prolonged sodium current in cardiac muscle with slowed repolarization. The aconitine acts as a agonist of Na-channel receptor. Vaughan-Williams' classification I antiarrhythmic agents which belong to might be the first choice for the therapy of aconitine induced arrhythmias. The modification of the sodium system by aconitine seems to be responsible for the prolongation of the action potential and the appearance of extrasystoles and fibrillation. We experienced a 67-year-old male patient who suffered chest discomfort and palpitation with ventricular tachycardia through to be caused by aconitine. After treatment for 3days he recovered well and discharged. We report this case with literature review.
Aconitine ; Aconitum ; Action Potentials ; Aged ; Alkaloids ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cardiac Complexes, Premature ; Classification ; Constitution and Bylaws ; Dysuria ; Eating ; Extremities ; Gout ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Hypotension ; Male ; Metabolism ; Mouth ; Myocardium ; Neuralgia ; Poisoning ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Sodium ; Tachycardia, Ventricular* ; Thorax

The visual loss owing to acute optic nerve injury after blunt head trauma has been reported about 5% at the incidence. But it has been real circumstances that we still don`t have the exact knowlege about surgical indication, operation time and steroid dosage for this candidate. Lately, endoscopic surgery was introduced for treatment of orbital disease instead of classic external approach and we have performed and report endoscoic endonasal optic canal decompression followed by megadose steroid injection in 5 patients who experienced visual loss due to optic canal fracture following trauma.
Craniocerebral Trauma ; Decompression* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Optic Nerve Injuries ; Orbital Diseases

PURPOSE: Although adjuvant chemotherapy after resection of gastric cancer is a popular practice in Korea, there are still controversies about the effectiveness of the treatment. The fact that the relatively less effective drugs have been used and the rarity of large-scaled controlled studies may be partially responsible for the controversies. FP(5-FU, Cisplatin) combination is one of the most active regimen against advanced gastric cancer, consistently showing a response rate of 50~60%. We tried the FP chemotherapy as an adjuvant treatment for high-risk patients after curative resection of gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between February 1992 and June 1996, 35 patients with completely resected high-risk gastric cancer(postoperative stage III or IV except thase with M1) received six courses of FP chemotherapy. Endpoints were toxicities of treatment, relapse free survival, and overall survival. RESULTS: With a median follow-up time of 17.1 months, Kaplan-Meier estimates of 2-year overall survival was 63.3% and relapse free survival estimates was 49%. There were no differences between stage III and IV patients in terms of overall survival or relapse free survival. Hematologic and non-hematologic toxicities were tolerable for most of the patients. CONCLUSION: Postoperative FP combination chemotherapy was tolerable for patients with high-risk(stage III and IV) gastric cancer. It is too early to determine the long term survival rates for this patients, but 2-year overall and relapse free survival were comparable to that of historical non-cisplatin containing regimens. Randomized phase III studies are warranted.
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cisplatin* ; Drug Therapy* ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Fluorouracil* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Recurrence ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: There is no scientific basis for an immunization policy for children with renal disease who have increased risk of infection in Korea. As an initial step in approaching this problem, this survey of pediatric nephrologists was undertaken to determine the current recommendations of practicing pediatric nephrologists. METHODS: Questionnaires were sent to the members of Korean Society of Pediatric Nephrology via mail and E-mail. The questionnaire was designed to obtain information about the immunization practice of basic vaccination schedule for nephrotic syndrome, the side effects after vaccination and the immunization practice about recommended vaccines for children with renal disease. RESULTS: Questionnaires were sent to 56 pediatric nephrologists. 35 replies were received (response rate: 62.5%). Almost of the respondents (82.8%) reported practicing at university hospital. All respondents reported modified vaccination schedule. 65.7% of the respondents immunized nephrotic children with live vaccines some time later after discontinuation of corticosteroids treatment and 57.1% of respondents immunized them with killed vaccines during medication of low doses of corticosteroids. Respondents experienced relapse of nephrotic syndrome after vaccination are nine, lack of vaccine efficacy are three and infection by organisms of live vaccines are two. 71.4% of respondents reported vaccinating children with renal disease for hepatitis B, pneumococcus and influenza during medication of low doses of corticosteroids. But There is few difference of the rates of respondents vaccinating them for Hemophilus influenzae type b between during medication of low doses of corticosteroids and after discontinuation of corticosteroids treatment (45.7% vs 42.9%). Almost of respondents reported vaccinating renal failure children without immunosuppression for hepatitis B, pneumococcus, influenza and H. influenzae type b (54.3-77.1%). CONCLUSION: Pediatric nephrologists practiced modifying vaccination schedules for children with renal disease in Korea and there was variation according to the progression of disease and the doses of corticosteroids. It is necessary to establish the immunization guideline for children with renal disease through the prospective studies.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Appointments and Schedules ; Child* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Electronic Mail ; Haemophilus influenzae type b ; Hepatitis B ; Humans ; Immunization* ; Immunosuppression ; Influenza, Human ; Korea ; Nephrology* ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Recurrence ; Renal Insufficiency ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Vaccination ; Vaccines ; Vaccines, Inactivated

No abstract available.
Animals ; Guinea Pigs* ; Guinea* ; Nasal Mucosa*

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an electric toothbrush, with a specially designed orthodontic brush head, compared to a manual toothbrush on the periodontal health of patients with fixed orthodontic appliances. Forty patients were randomly divided into two groups, the electric and the manual toothbrush groups, 1 month after attachment of fixed orthodontic appliances. Periodontal status was measured using a plaque index, a gingival index, a bleeding index, a pocket depth and a relative attachment loss, at baseline and after 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months. The Braun Oral-B Plak Control with Ortho OD 15-1 brush head was used as the electric toothbrush while the Butler G.U.M 124 was given as the manual toothbrush. In the manual toothbrush group, the gingival and bleeding indices showed no statistically significant differences, but the plaque index was significantly decreased (p < 0.001) and pocket depth as well as relative attachment loss were significantly increased (p < 0.01). In the electric toothbrush group, the bleeding index, pocket depth and relative attachment loss showed no statistically significant differences, but the plaque and gingival indices were significantly decreased (p < 0.001). In the case of the plaque, gingival and bleeding indices, there were no statistically significant differences between the electric and the manual toothbrush groups. On the contrary, in the case of pocket depth and relative attachment loss, there were statistically significant differences between the electric and the manual toothbrush groups: an increase in the manual toothbrush groups unlike the electric toothbrush group which kept the same state (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that an electric toothbrush is useful for orthodontic patients with fixed appliances.
Head ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Oral Hygiene ; Orthodontic Appliances ; Periodontal Index

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the roles of tacrolimus and minidose methotrexate (MTX) in the prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) in pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is limited. We retrospectively evaluated the engraftment status, incidence of aGVHD and chronic GVHD (cGVHD), and toxicities of tacrolimus and minidose MTX in aGVHD prophylaxis in children undergoing allogeneic HSCT. METHODS: Seventeen children, who underwent allogeneic HSCT and received tacrolimus and minidose MTX as GVHD prophylaxis from March 2003 to February 2011, were reviewed retrospectively. All the patients received tacrolimus since the day before transplantation at a dose of 0.03 mg/kg/day and MTX at a dose of 5 mg/m2 on days 1, 3, 6, and 11. RESULTS: Of the 17 patients, 9 received human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched related donor transplants, and 8 received HLA-matched, or partially mismatched unrelated donor transplants. The median time for follow-up was 55 months. The incidence of aGVHD in the related and unrelated donor groups was 22.2% and 42.9%, respectively. cGVHD was not observed. To maintain therapeutic blood levels of tacrolimus, the younger group (<8 years of age) required an increased mean dose compared to the older group (> or =8 years) (P=0.0075). The adverse events commonly associated with tacrolimus included hypomagnesemia (88%), nephrotoxicity (23%), and hyperglycemia (23%). CONCLUSION: Tacrolimus and minidose MTX were well tolerated and effective in GVHD prophylaxis in pediatric patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT. Children <8 years of age undergoing HSCT required increased doses of tacrolimus to achieve therapeutic levels.
Child ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graft vs Host Disease ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; Incidence ; Korea ; Leukocytes ; Methotrexate ; Retrospective Studies ; Tacrolimus ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants ; Unrelated Donors