We attempted to observe the expression of stromelysin, which regulates the extracellular matrix of trabecular meshwork and is one of the family of the matrix metalloproteinases, in the trabecular cells after transfection of replication deficient recombinant adenovirus vector containing stromelysin cDNA. Stromelysin cDNA was produced by RT-PCR with total RNA extracted from cultured human trabecular cells after induction with interleukin-1 alpha, and cloned by inserting the cDNA into the TA vector. Adenovirus vector that contains stromelysin cDNA was constructed by cotransfection of pJM17 and p delta A. CMV. PA-str into the 293 cells. The expression of stromelysin in the trabecular cells was assayed by Western blot and zymography. The sequence of stromelysin cDNA was consistent with that previously reported. The constructed adenovirus vector had stromelysin cDNA but had no E1 region. The expression of stromelysin in the trabecular cells by this vector was detected in 4 days and peaked in 7 days after transfection. In conclusion, this study showed the possibility of gene therapy in the glaucoma treatment by transfecting the trabecular cells with the replication deficient recombinant adenovirus vector containing stromelysin cDNA.
Adenoviridae* ; Blotting, Western ; Clone Cells ; DNA, Complementary ; Extracellular Matrix ; Genetic Therapy ; Glaucoma ; Humans* ; Interleukin-1alpha ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 ; Matrix Metalloproteinases ; RNA ; Trabecular Meshwork ; Transfection

Medical knowledge in India began to be introduced to China in earliest from the Later Han Dynasty period to the times of Wei-Qin and South & North Dynasties. This is proved by many Buddhist medical books appeared in those days. Of the contents of Indian medicine, the theory of four major elements affected Chinese medicine more than did the theory of body fluids. Based on the theory of four major elements that was began to be introduced in Fu shuo fu yi jing, an attempt to establish a new medical system was made in Zhou hou bai yifang written by Tao Hong-jing and Sun Si-miao who tried to develop etiology further but could not achieve any great outcomes. Unlike the foregoing situation, Indian medicine aroused a large echo in China in the field of ophthalmology with ophthalmological knowledge mentioned in Susrutasamhita and 'Jin-zhen-shu'(cataract couching) introduced as a surgical treatment of cataract. The Susrutasamhita which is one of the three major texts of Indian medicine contains additional information on surgical operations not introduced in the Carakasamhita. The technique of cataract surgery was particularly popular in the Tang and Song dynasty periods in China under the name Long shu pu sa yan lun(The Ophthalmological Treatise of Bodhisattva Nagarjuna) or Long shu lun and was even designated as a subject to educate medical officers. While the original text of Long shu pu sa yan lun was not handed down, the first testimony that show the trace of the introduction of this text into China was the Tian zhu jing lun yan mentioned in Wai tai mi yao(Arcane Essential from the Imperial Library) written by Wang Tao. Long shang dao ren who was mentioned as the compiler of the book is assumed to be Long shu. Although Tian zhu jing lun yan introduced anatomical knowledge about the eyeball that could have not been in the traditional Chinese medicine, this book has only limited quantity of information in this regard. Thereafter, Tai ping sheng hui fang(Holy Prescriptions for Universal Relief) compiled by a national agency at the beginning of the Song Dynasty period introduced Long shu pu sa yan lun without clear indication of the reference. Contemporary with this book, many ophthalmological books such as Mi chuan yan ke long mu lun(Longmu's Ophthalmology Secretly Handed Down) were published. As Chinese culture was spreading out into surrounding countries, medical knowledge was also introduced to Korean peninsula and Japan. The ophthalmological knowledge contained in Long shu pu sa yan lun was also reflected and some parts of it were introduced in I shin bo in Japan. Based on the policy decision of King Sejong, the fourth king of Joseon Dynasty, large scaled promoting projects of medical knowledge was established. It is notable that the Ui bang ryu chwi compiled as a result of the synthesis of the medical treatises available at that time initiated by King Sejong contained a considerable part of Long shu pu sa yan lun in reedited form that had already passed into oblivion in China. The intellectuals in Joseon Dynasty who participated in the compilation of Ui bang ryu chwi not only indicated that Long shu pu sa yan lun was a medical text published in the times of Wei-Qin and South & North Dynasties in China but also clearly indicated the textual reference and left the original text for later generation without modifying the contents. According to the Ui bang ryu chwi, the Long shu pu sa yan lun indicated that the core causes of eye diseases were heat, winds, and three body fluids(tridosa) and contained the analyses of symptoms, related treatments, and several analyses of wrong treatments. In addition, Long shu pu sa yan lun explained diverse eye diseases through more than 30 medical treatments. In particular, this book accurately described golden needle acupuncture for treatment of a Nei-zhang understood to be cataract. Therefore, this book is a significant textual record in the history of ophthalmological medicine in East Asia. Along with the golden needle acupuncture which is a method of removing the crystalline lens in which white turbidity occurred by stabbing the eyeball with a needle, traces of Indian medicine that had been already lost in China were clearly indicated in Long shu pu sa yan lun kept in the Ui bang ryu chwi. In particular, the book indicates that the eyes were directly correlated with the brain and that to treat the internal disorder, treating the brain that lost stability due to heat and bodily wind was indispensable; these are the traces of Indian influence. This textual source demonstrates a case of knowledge exchange in field of medicine with concrete cases of the encounter and clash between the standpoints of understanding human body.
Acupuncture ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Brain ; Cataract ; China ; Collodion ; Dental Cavity Lining ; European Continental Ancestry Group ; Eye ; Eye Diseases ; Hand ; Hot Temperature ; Human Body ; Humans ; India ; Insecticides ; Japan ; Lens, Crystalline ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Needles ; Nitriles ; Ophthalmology ; Prescriptions ; Pyrethrins ; Singing ; Solar System ; Troleandomycin ; Wind

In 1991, the World Health Organization (WHO) joined hands with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) to establish World Diabetes Day. The purpose of this day is to increase awareness of diabetes worldwide. In December 2006, the United Nations (UN) adopted resolution 61/225, establishing World Diabetes Day as an internationally observed event, and all the countries of the world have increased their efforts in the prevention, management, treatment and sustaining healthcare system. The blue circle was developed originally for the campaign associated with the UN Resolution on diabetes. The circle symbolizes life, health and unity. The blue border of the circle represents the color of the sky and the flag of the United Nations. World Diabetes Day is on the 14th of November in memory of the birthday of Dr. Frederick Banting, and has been held every year since 2007.
Delivery of Health Care ; Hand ; Memory ; United Nations ; World Health Organization

The present study was conducted to investigate the possible role of the sympathetic nervous system in two-kidney, one clip (2K1C) and deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertension. 2K1C and DOCA-salt hypertension were made in Sprague-Dawley rats. Four weeks after induction of hypertension, systolic blood pressure measured in conscious state was significantly higher in 2K1C (216+/-18 mmHg) and DOCA-salt (205+/-29 mmHg) groups than that in control (128+/-4 mmHg). The third branches (<300 micrometer in outer diameter) of the mesenteric artery were isolated and cut into ring segments of 2apprx3 mm in length. Each ring segment was mounted in tissue bath and connected to a force displacement transducer for measurement of isometric tension. The arterial rings were contracted by application of norepinephrine (NE) in a dose-dependent manner. The amplitude of the NE-induced contraction of the vessels was significantly larger in hypertension than in control. The NE-induced contraction was significantly enhanced by neuropeptide Y (NPY) in hypertension. Reciprocally, NPY-elicited vasocontraction was increased by NE in hypertension. These results suggest that the sympathetic nervous system contributes to the development of 2K1C and DOCA-salt hypertension.
Animals ; Baths ; Blood Pressure ; Desoxycorticosterone ; Hypertension ; Mesenteric Arteries* ; Neuropeptide Y* ; Neuropeptides* ; Norepinephrine* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sympathetic Nervous System ; Transducers

BACKGROUND: Hypnosis monitors analyze small-amplitude electrical signals transmitted from the brain that could be exposed to the electromagnetic field that occurs around the body during electrocautery (ECT). We investigated the influence of ECT on hypnosis monitoring during anesthesia. METHODS: We simultaneously monitored BIS and uCON during 50 gynecologic oncology surgeries. During the episodes of ECT, we compared the absolute difference (a-Diff) between the baseline index and the most deviated index after ECT over either 30–60 s (ECT30–60) or more than 60 s (ECT > 60) between the monitors. We also investigated the bias and the limits of agreement between the monitors. RESULTS: Between the two monitors, the a-Diff of ECT30–60 was 1.4 ± 1.1 for the BIS, which was significantly greater than 0.6 ± 0.9 for the uCON (P = 0.003), and the a-Diff of ECT > 60 was 16.5 ± 8.2 for the BIS, which was also significantly greater than 1.4 ± 1.3 for uCON (P < 0.001). The intra-monitor index differences showed that the BIS during ECT > 60 was significantly greater than that during ECT30–60 (P < 0.001), but the uCON showed no significant difference between ECT30–60 and ECT > 60 (P = 0.056). The estimated bias between the monitors was 6.3 ± 9.8 and 95% limits agreement was –12.3 to 25.0. CONCLUSIONS: Prolonged ECT intervention might lead to spurious estimations of quantitative EEG indexes. Therefore, hypnosis should be clinically assessed in combination with scrutinized judgment of relevant clinical symptoms and signs for hypnosis.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General* ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Brain ; Electrocoagulation ; Electroencephalography ; Electromagnetic Fields ; Hypnosis* ; Judgment ; Magnets*

OBJECTIVES: Alteration of epigenetic effects of testosterone during early development was suggested as an ancillary mechanism for the genesis of schizophrenia. EEG coherence was thought to be a marker for cerebral laterality of which important determinant was testosterone during early development. We studied sex-related differences of EEG coherences between patients with schizophrenia and controls to examine the sex effects in the genesis of schizophrenia. METHODS: EEG was recorded in 35 patients with schizophrenia and 46 healthy controls in the eyes closed resting state. Pair-wise EEG coherences were calculated over delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma frequency bands. To examine the differences of EEG coherence according to sex in each group, ANCOVA was performed using Statistical Analysis system (SAS, Ver 9.3) and R (Ver 2.15.2). RESULTS: Healthy control males showed more increased right intrahemispheric coherences than healthy control females in delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency bands. In patients with schizophrenia, this male dominant pattern in right intrahemispheric coherences was attenuated especially in alpha and beta bands. Healthy control females showed more increased interhemispheric coherences than healthy control males in delta, theta, beta and gamma frequency bands. In patients with schizophrenia, these female dominant patterns in interhemispheric coherences were attenuated especially in delta, theta, and beta bands, which were commonly observed in frontal to central areas. CONCLUSION: Sex differences in resting EEG coherences were attenuated in schizophrenia patients. These results imply that sex-related aberrant cerebral lateralization might exist in patients with schizophrenia, which are partly due to sex hormones via epigenetic mechanisms.
Electroencephalography* ; Epigenomics ; Female ; Gonadal Steroid Hormones ; Humans ; Male ; Schizophrenia* ; Sex Characteristics ; Testosterone

OBJECTIVES: Formal thought disorder has been regarded as an essential symptom in the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. The aim of our study was to present gender differences in the formal thought disorder among patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: We tested for potential gender differences in the formal thought disorder among 167 inpatients with schizophrenia (86 men and 81 women). The Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication (TLC scale), Clinical Language Disorder Rating Scale (CLANG), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Young Mania Rating Scale, and Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia were used for evaluation of thought disorder, language disorder, overall symptoms, manic symptoms, and depressive symptoms, respectively. Using the analysis of covariance for continuous variables and logistic regression analysis for discrete variables, gender differences in the formal thought disorder were evaluated. RESULTS: After adjusting for the effects of marital status and religious affiliation, men showed a significantly higher score on the perseveration (TLC scale ; F=7.538, p=0.007), blocking (TLC scale ; F=8.956, p=0.003), stilted speech (TLC scale ; F=6.921, p=0.009), lack of details (CLANG ; F=7.375, p=0.007), dysfluency (CLANG ; F=21.250, p<0.0001), and dysarthria (CLANG ; F=31.198, p<0.0001) items than women. CONCLUSION: Our study has a virtue of exploring gender differences in the formal thought disorder in patients with schizophrenia. Based on our findings, further study might enlighten regarding neural correlates (namely, cerebral asymmetry/lateralization) for gender-differed patterns of the formal thought disorder in patients with schizophrenia.
Bipolar Disorder ; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale ; Depression ; Dysarthria ; Female ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Language Disorders ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Marital Status ; Schizophrenia* ; Virtues

Objective: : To generate synthetic spine magnetic resonance (MR) images from spine computed tomography (CT) using generative adversarial networks (GANs), as well as to determine the similarities between synthesized and real MR images. Methods: : GANs were trained to transform spine CT image slices into spine magnetic resonance T2 weighted (MRT2) axial image slices by combining adversarial loss and voxel-wise loss. Experiments were performed using 280 pairs of lumbar spine CT scans and MRT2 images. The MRT2 images were then synthesized from 15 other spine CT scans. To evaluate whether the synthetic MR images were realistic, two radiologists, two spine surgeons, and two residents blindly classified the real and synthetic MRT2 images. Two experienced radiologists then evaluated the similarities between subdivisions of the real and synthetic MRT2 images. Quantitative analysis of the synthetic MRT2 images was performed using the mean absolute error (MAE) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). Results: : The mean overall similarity of the synthetic MRT2 images evaluated by radiologists was 80.2%. In the blind classification of the real MRT2 images, the failure rate ranged from 0% to 40%. The MAE value of each image ranged from 13.75 to 34.24 pixels (mean, 21.19 pixels), and the PSNR of each image ranged from 61.96 to 68.16 dB (mean, 64.92 dB). Conclusion : This was the first study to apply GANs to synthesize spine MR images from CT images. Despite the small dataset of 280 pairs, the synthetic MR images were relatively well implemented. Synthesis of medical images using GANs is a new paradigm of artificial intelligence application in medical imaging. We expect that synthesis of MR images from spine CT images using GANs will improve the diagnostic usefulness of CT. To better inform the clinical applications of this technique, further studies are needed involving a large dataset, a variety of pathologies, and other MR sequence of the lumbar spine.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cognitive training refers to a series of standardized tasks with inherent challenges that target specific cognitive domains. Positive outcome of cognitive training in persons with Alzheimer's disease has been reported. In this study, the objective was to design sets of cognitive training program, “Gipum-seo” which is combined cognitive training, consists of different levels of difficulty using predesigned paper-and-pencil exercises. Also, to evaluate the effects of the cognitive training on patients' with early stage of Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: The subjects for this study were forty participants who were diagnosed with early stage of Alzheimer's dementia. To test the efficacy of paper-based cognitive training programs to cognition, all patients were randomly grouped to either an intervention group (n=20) or a control group (n=20). The intervention group regularly received 24 sessions of paper-based cognitive training over a 12-week period. Neuropsychological examinations were conducted before and after this training period. RESULTS: After the 12 weeks, the intervention group showed a significant change in Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (25.90±3.8), compared to the control group (23.7±2.8) (p=0.042). The training group also showed a significant improvement in language, attention and executive function, as compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Paper-based cognitive training might have beneficial effects on the general cognitive functions in the early stage of Alzheimer's dementia.
Alzheimer Disease ; Cognition ; Cognitive Therapy ; Dementia ; Education ; Executive Function ; Exercise ; Humans ; Neurocognitive Disorders ; Neuropsychological Tests