Genomic DNAs were extracted from cervical lavages of 49 patients with cervical cancer. Dot and Southern blot hybridization were performed using the P-labeled HFV DNA probes to find high risk HPV(type 16 and 18) infection that is known as the mast prevalent pathogenic factor in cervical cancer. Furthermore, genornic DNAs purified frnm cervical cancer tissues were studied in 8 out of 49 patients allowing us to convince the results from cervical lavages. The results were as follaws: 1. Dot blot analysis were used to examine the sensitivity and specificity of hybridization condition and HPV-DNA probes. Fasitive signals were obtained even at the level of 10pg for HPV DNA, but no signals could he detected at the level of as much as 400pg for salmon sperm DNA. 2. Dot blot of DNAs from cervircal lavages showed positive signals in 32.7%(16/49) with HPV type 16 probe and 20.4% (10/49)and one mixed infection was found. 3. When the DNAs from cervircal lavages of 49 patients were classified according to the clinical stage of cervical cancer, the infection rates of HPV type 16 and 18 were 50% (2/4) in CIN, 80% (4/5) in stage I, 64. 2% (9/14) in stage I b, 45% (9I20) in stage II and 16. 7% (1/6) in stage Ill and K respectively. The occurrenr,e of HPV type 16 and 18 seemed to be the highest in the cervical cancer stage 1 (68.4%(13/19). 4. Experiments perfornecl with genomic DNAs from 8 cancer tissues showed similar results compared to those of cervical lavages, but the intensity of positive signals was stronger. 5. Genomic DNAs from 5 patients(3 cases from cervical lavages and 2 cases from cervical cancer tissues) which showed strong positive signals to the dot blot analysis were further examined by Southern blot hybridixation using HFV type 16 DNA probe. When DNAs were digested with Pst 1 restriction enzyme, the five characteristic frgmenta of BFV type 16(2.8, l.9, l.6, 1.0 and 0.5 kb long in length) were recognized in ell 5 cases, These results may suggest a direet relatianship between HPV type 16 & 18 infectioas considered as the most effective methods for HPV detectioe and typing. Mo1ecular biclogieal studies in the reserarch of HPV are expected to reveal and help us understand the pathogenesis of cervical cancer.
Blotting, Southern ; Coinfection ; DNA Probes ; DNA* ; Humans* ; Salmon ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Spermatozoa ; Therapeutic Irrigation ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

The metabolic changes in diabetics result in progressive retinopathy and influence corneal metabolism. Changes in corneal autofluorescence were demonstrated originating from mitochondrial flavoproteins and influenced by the metabolic changes in cornea in diabetics. The corneal autofluorescence was determined to evaluate its correlation with diabetic retinopathy using fluorophotometer in 25 healthy controls, 25 diabetic mellitus(DM) pationts without retinopathy, 25 background diabetic retinopathy(BDR)patients, 25 preproliferative diabetic retinopathy (PPDR) patients, and 25 proliferative diabetic retinopathy(PDR) patients. The mean values(mean +/- standard deviation in ng fluorescein/ml) were 13.9 +/- 1.9, 18.7 +/- 3.1, 19.6 +/- 2.3, 20.2 +/- 4.0, 24.3 +/- 4.2, respectively. The means of coreal autofluorescence values in diabetics were significantly higher than that of the healthy controls(p<0.001). The mean values in DM patients without retinopathy, BDR patients and PPDR patients did not differ significantly(p>0.05), but the mean value in PDR patients was significantly higher than those of the other 4 groups(p<0.001). These results indicate that measurement of corneal autofluorescence can play a supplementary role in diagnosing diabetic retinopathy.
Cornea ; Diabetic Retinopathy* ; Flavoproteins ; Humans ; Metabolism

OBJECTIVES: Anticardiolipin antibody (ACA) and lupus anticoagulant (LA) are acquired antiphospholipid antibodies (APAs), which are regarded as important risk factors far vascular thrombosis and recurrent fetal loss. Although the clinical relevance of APAs in dialysis patients is uncertain, recent studies have suggested that APAs are involved in bioincompatibility and thrombogenic complications in hemadialysis (HD) patients. METHOD: We performed a cross sectional study of ACA and LA in 50 stable HD patients and their 68 vascular accesses (52 native arteriovenous fistulae and 16 synthetic arterovenous grafts), with the analysis of factors associated with the presence of APAs and the retrospective evaluation of vascular access occlusion (VAO). LA was assessed by platelet neutralization method whereas IgG-ACA was measured by a solid phase ELISA. Values higher than 23GPLU/ml (IgG phospholipid units) were considered to be positive for IgG-ACA and positive values for LA was more than 8 seconds in prolongation of the clotting time with human platelet lysate. Vascular access survival was assessed by Kaplan- Meier method, RESULTS: The mean age of the subject (M:F 21:29) was 46 years and the mean duration of hemodialysis was 49 months. The frequency of VAO in entire subjects was 0.45+/-0.98 episodes/patient year. The median value of IgG-ACA was 16.0 GPLU/ml with a distribution from 2.7 to 46.1GPLU/ ml. The median titer of I.A was 4.5 (3.1-45.6) seconds. Fourteen patients (28%) were found to have at least one episode of VAO. In spite of comparable clinical and biochemical data according to the presence of VAO, the titers of IgG-ACA (13.6+/-7.7 vs, 20.3+/-8.7GPLIJ/ml, P<0.05) and LA (4.5+/-2.9 vs. 11.7 +/-12.6sec, P<0.05) were significantly higher in VAO group. Six out of 50 patients(12%) had an increased titer of IgG-ACA and LA was found in 11 patients(22%). No patients were positive for ACA and LA simultaneously. There was no significant difference in sex, etiology of ESRD, diabetic status, the dosage of heparin during HD or the amount of erythropoietin administered according to the presence of APAs. We could not find any significant correlation between the titer of APAs and age, duration of dialysis, blood pressure, platelet count and biochemical parameters. In the patients with positive ACA, the frequency of VAO was 1.05+/-0.12 episodes/patient year, which was significantly higher than patients without ACA (0.33+/-0.17 episodes/ patient year, P<0.05). In the patients with the presence of LA(1.06+/-0.43 vs. 0.12+/-0.06 episodes/ patients year, P<0.01). The median vascular access survival time in IgG-ACA positive patients (32.7 months) was significantly decreased compared to 66.8 months in IgG-ACA negative group. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the presence of APAs (ACA and/or LA) affects the event-free vascular access survival in HD patients. Therefore the evaluation of APAs status have to be included in the diagnostic strategies for the patients with recurrent VAO. Further studies are necessary to explore the pharmacologic intervention method to decrease APAs and prevent VAO in HD patients.
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid ; Arteriovenous Fistula ; Blood Platelets ; Blood Pressure ; Dialysis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Erythropoietin ; Heparin ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor* ; Platelet Count ; Renal Dialysis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Thrombosis

OBJECTIVE: To describe normal postoperative MR findings and MR findings of postoperative discitis in patients who underwent operation due to herniated intervertebral disc. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed normal postoperative MR findings and MR findings of discitis in 30 patients(21-61yrs.) (13 cases dignosed as discitis and 17 cases as normal) who previonsly underwent laminectomy and discectomy, or bony fusion. We analyzed signal intensity of end plate and disc, end plate destruction, and enhancement of end plate and disc on T1- and T2-weighted images(WI) of 1.5T MRI. RESULTS: Among 14 out of 17 patients with no evidence of discitis, 7 patients showed high signal of the posterior portion of disc on T1- and T2-WI and 11 patients revealed enhancement at the same sites. In all 13 patients suspected of having discitis, end plate and disc showed low signal on T1-WI, high signal on T2-WI, heterogeneous enhancement, and irregular destruction of end plate. Meanwhile, 3 cases with no evidence of postoperative discitis clinically who underwent bony fusion showed similiar findings to those of the above 13 patients, except for homogeneous enhancement of end plate and vertebral body. CONCLUSION: The MR findings of postoperative discitis were low signal on T1-WI, high signal on T2-WI, and heterogeneous enhancement of and plate and disc, and destruction of end plate.
Discitis* ; Diskectomy ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc* ; Laminectomy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Retrospective Studies

We conducted a study to compare the effects of Healon(R) and BioLon(R), which are sodium hyaluronates made by different raw materials, on rabbit eyeballs after intracameral and intravitreal injections. In the intracameral-injection group, aqueous humor was replaced with 0.2 ml of Healon(R) or BioLon(R), and in the intravitreal-injection group. 0.4 ml of Healon(R) or BioLon(R) was injected after the removal of the same amount of vitreous. Slitlamp and indirect ophthalmoscopic examination, measurement of IOP, and measurement of corneal thickness were performed preoperatively and at 2hours, 24 hours, 3 days, and 7 days postoperatively. Histopathologic examinaion was done at 7 days postoperatively. No group had significant differences in all tests(p>0.05) and the findings were normalized within 7 days. These results indicated that there were no significant differences between the Healon(R) and BioLon(R) groups in the effects on rabbit eyeballs after intracameral and intravitreal injections.
Aqueous Humor ; Intravitreal Injections* ; Sodium

When illuminated by blue light, the human crystalline lens exhibits green autofluorescence. Autofluorescence of the human lens were analyzed quantitatively in vivo as a function of age in 75 healthy individuals{150 eyes) without cataract, ranging in age from 17 to 63 years. Lenses were scanned through the dilated pupil along the optical axis, generating a fluorescence profile consisting of anterior and posterior peaks of lens, using an automated scanning fluorophotometer(Fluorotron master) coupled with a lens system designed for high resolution of the anterior segment structures. Anterior peak autofluorescence increased linearly by 90 ng fluorescein/ml per decade and posterior peak autofluorescence by 70 ng fluorescein/ml per decade. No significant difference between right and left eyes was demonstrated for anterior or posterior peak autofluorescence. We suggest that the quantitative analysis of the autofluorescence of the human lens might be useful to investigate the changes of the aging lens proteins and the pathogenesis of cataract.
Aging* ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Cataract ; Crystallins* ; Fluorescence ; Fluorophotometry ; Humans ; Lens, Crystalline* ; Pupil

No abstract available.
Plasma* ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Neoplasms* ; Stomach Neoplasms*

Detecting malignant cells in ascitic fluid from tumor patients is important since the existence of malignant cells in ascitic fluids is related to the prognosis of patients. Various laboratory methods are being used to obtain diagnosis in ascitic fluids, but some ascitic fluids can not be diagnosed reliably. Cytogenetic analysis of ascitic fluid is not used routinely as a laboratory tool. In this presentation a cytogenetic study of the ascitic fluids from 9 patients with malignant tumor was performed by a direct or short-term culture method. According to cytogenetic study, 5 cases had positive findings for malignant cells. One case had a inconclusive result. There were no malignant cells in the remaining 4 cases. On blind cytologic data, no informations could be obtained in 4 out of 9 cases and the remaining 5 cases had negative findings for detecting malignant cells. Among the 5 cases, cytogenetic findings were negative in 3 cases but in the remaining 2 cases, one was reported positive and the other inconclusive each other. In present study, even though the ascitic fluids from 5 patients were subjected to the comparison of the cytologic study with cytogenetic analysis, two different findings could be obtained. Therefore if further study of a large series of cancer patients with ascitic fluids is done, the value of cytogenetic analysis will be clearly shown. In addition, the cytogenetic study of cell present in ascitic fluids can be used as useful adjunct to cytologic study, and also it can indicate that more invasive diagnostic procedures are necessary.
Ascitic Fluid* ; Cytogenetic Analysis ; Cytogenetics ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Prognosis

Hypoxia can occur in pancreatic islets in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are activated during hypoxia. Here we aimed to investigate whether PSCs within the islet are also activated in hypoxia, causing β-cell injury.

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Kidney Transplantation*