Aortic root diameter by two dimensional and M-mode echocardiography in predicting prosthetic aortic valve size preoperatively was measured in 10 adult patients undergoing aortic valve replacement. Correlation of aortic root diameter measured by two dimensional echocardiography and actual prosthetic valve size implanted by aortic valve replacement was excellent. Correlation coefficient was statistically significant (r=0.91, P<0.001). Correlation of aortic root diameter measured by M-mode echocardiography and actual prosthetic valve size was also excellent. Correlation coefficient was statistically significant (r=0.86, P<0.001). This study demonstrates that aortic root diameter by two dimensional and M-mode echocardiography can accurately predict prosthetic aortic valve size in patient undergoing aortic valve replacement.
Adult ; Aortic Valve* ; Echocardiography* ; Humans

The hindfoot in the human body is known to play an important function for weight bearng, shock absorption and locomotion. The defect of hindfoot presents serious problems of the leg length discrepancy and weight bearing. Therefore, it is essential to reconstruct the defect of hindfoot. Up to date, many surgical modalities from a skin graft to the innervated osteocutaneous flap have been developed, but a completely satisfactory method of reconstruction has not been found. The ideal reconstructive method should provide sufficient padding tissue and sensibility. In the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, capital Armed Forces General Hospital, two cases of hindfoot defect due to explosion were reconstructed by the midplantar fasciocutaneous flap with free iliac bone graft. The results of our procedure were very acceptable one year after the operations.
Absorption ; Arm ; Explosions ; Hospitals, General ; Human Body ; Leg ; Locomotion ; Methods ; Shock ; Skin ; Transplants ; Weight-Bearing ; Wounds and Injuries

PURPOSE: Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is the gold standard for the surgical treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), but the procedure's limitations are its invasiveness and the high prevalence of complications. Photoselective vaporization of the prostate (PVP) using an 80w high power potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP) laser has recently been developed as a less invasive treatment. We assessed the efficacy of PVP as an alternative to TURP for the treatment of BPH. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 324 patients who were surgically treated for BPH from July 2005 to December 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. Among the 324 patients, 190 patients of Group I were treated by TURP and 134 patients of Group II were treated by PVP. Before treatment, assessing the serum PSA level transrectal ultrasound and urodynamic study were done. The primary efficacy parameters were the postoperative international prostatic symptom score and the uroflow parametersat 6 months after the operation. The secondary efficacy parameters were perioperative factors such as the duration of the hospital stay, the operative time and the catheter-indwelling period. Any adverse reactions were monitored. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the basal characteristics of the study subjects between both the groups. The primary efficacy parameters, the IPSS, the Qmax and thepostvoid residual urine volume were significantly improved in both groups, but there were no significant differences between both the groups. In group II, the perioperative parameters such as the operation time, the hospitalization day and the catheter-indwelling periodwere significantly shorter than those of group I (p<0.05). But the urethral complications such as urethral stricture, dysuria and bladder neck contracture were more common in group II. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that PVP using an 80w high power KTP could be an alternative for TURP in terms of efficacy. For the general, safe use of PVP, PVP should be carefully done until the causes of the urethral complications of PVP are determined.
Contracture ; Dysuria ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Laser Therapy ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Neck ; Operative Time ; Prevalence ; Prostate ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Retrospective Studies ; Transurethral Resection of Prostate ; Urethral Stricture ; Urinary Bladder ; Urodynamics ; Volatilization

We investigated the efficacy of high dose corticosteroid therapy in the treatment of traumatic optic-neuropathy. We experimentally damaged the optic nerves of six white rabbits with a Hartman mosquito. Three of the rabbits were intravenously injected with 0.25mg/kg dexamethasone every six hours for a 48 hour period. The others were used as controls. In both groups, the optic nerves were removed after one month and stained with Hematoxyline-eosin, then examined microscopically. No histological differences were found in either the control or the experimental group.
Culicidae ; Dexamethasone ; Optic Nerve ; Optic Nerve Injuries* ; Rabbits

Histopathology of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis(LAM) is studied using four new cases and six previously reported cases, which include two cases without definite evidence of LAM. The important diagnostic features of this lesion were nodular proliferation of immature smooth muscle and cleft or cyst formation within the nodules of smooth muscle cells. The nuclei of the smooth muscle cells were bigger than those of blood vessels or fibrotic lung, and the direction of nuclei was irregular. The lung parenchyma showed little inflammatory change but there were multiple air cysts with smooth muscle nodules at their margin. There were two cases with exuberant proliferation of smooth muscle nodules and two cases with papilliferous projections of the cells into lymphatic lumen. Whereas, three cases had only a few small slender nodules of smooth muscle cells at the margin of air cyst. The lymphatic lumen with smooth muscle nodules is dilated in four cases but other four cases show collapsed lumen. Pulmonary hemorrhage and hemosiderosis were prominent in three cases. There were variety of histology in terms of the cellularity of smooth muscle nodules, the size of the lymphatic lumen and the degree of pulmonary destruction, which may have significance on the clinical presentation and prognostication.
Cysts

The dense granule protein of Toxoplasma gondii, inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (IST) is an inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) transcriptional activity that binds to STAT1 and regulates the expression of inflammatory molecules in host cells. A sterile inflammatory liver injury in pathological acute liver failures occurs when excessive innate immune function, such as the massive release of IFN-γ and TNF-α, is activated without infection. In relation to inflammatory liver injury, we hypothesized that Toxoplasma gondii inhibitor of STAT1 transcription (TgIST) can inhibit the inflammatory response induced by activating the STAT1/IRF-1 mechanism in liver inflammation. This study used IFN-γ and TNF-α as inflammatory inducers at the cellular level of murine hepatocytes (Hepa-1c1c7) to determine whether TgIST inhibits the STAT1/IRF-1 axis. In stable cells transfected with TgIST, STAT1 expression decreased with a decrease in interferon regulatory factor (IRF)-1 levels. Furthermore, STAT1 inhibition of TgIST resulted in lower levels of NF-κB and COX2, as well as significantly lower levels of class II transactivator (CIITA), iNOS, and chemokines (CLXCL9/10/11). TgIST also significantly reduced the expression of hepatocyte proapoptotic markers (Caspase3/8/9, P53, and BAX), which are linked to sterile inflammatory liver injury. TgIST also reduced the expression of adhesion (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) and infiltration markers of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) induced by hepatocyte and tissue damage. TgIST restored the cell apoptosis induced by IFN-γ/TNF-α stimulation. These results suggest that TgIST can inhibit STAT1-mediated inflammatory and apoptotic responses in hepatocytes stimulated with proinflammatory cytokines.

The dense granule protein of Toxoplasma gondii, inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (IST) is an inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) transcriptional activity that binds to STAT1 and regulates the expression of inflammatory molecules in host cells. A sterile inflammatory liver injury in pathological acute liver failures occurs when excessive innate immune function, such as the massive release of IFN-γ and TNF-α, is activated without infection. In relation to inflammatory liver injury, we hypothesized that Toxoplasma gondii inhibitor of STAT1 transcription (TgIST) can inhibit the inflammatory response induced by activating the STAT1/IRF-1 mechanism in liver inflammation. This study used IFN-γ and TNF-α as inflammatory inducers at the cellular level of murine hepatocytes (Hepa-1c1c7) to determine whether TgIST inhibits the STAT1/IRF-1 axis. In stable cells transfected with TgIST, STAT1 expression decreased with a decrease in interferon regulatory factor (IRF)-1 levels. Furthermore, STAT1 inhibition of TgIST resulted in lower levels of NF-κB and COX2, as well as significantly lower levels of class II transactivator (CIITA), iNOS, and chemokines (CLXCL9/10/11). TgIST also significantly reduced the expression of hepatocyte proapoptotic markers (Caspase3/8/9, P53, and BAX), which are linked to sterile inflammatory liver injury. TgIST also reduced the expression of adhesion (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) and infiltration markers of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) induced by hepatocyte and tissue damage. TgIST restored the cell apoptosis induced by IFN-γ/TNF-α stimulation. These results suggest that TgIST can inhibit STAT1-mediated inflammatory and apoptotic responses in hepatocytes stimulated with proinflammatory cytokines.

The dense granule protein of Toxoplasma gondii, inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (IST) is an inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) transcriptional activity that binds to STAT1 and regulates the expression of inflammatory molecules in host cells. A sterile inflammatory liver injury in pathological acute liver failures occurs when excessive innate immune function, such as the massive release of IFN-γ and TNF-α, is activated without infection. In relation to inflammatory liver injury, we hypothesized that Toxoplasma gondii inhibitor of STAT1 transcription (TgIST) can inhibit the inflammatory response induced by activating the STAT1/IRF-1 mechanism in liver inflammation. This study used IFN-γ and TNF-α as inflammatory inducers at the cellular level of murine hepatocytes (Hepa-1c1c7) to determine whether TgIST inhibits the STAT1/IRF-1 axis. In stable cells transfected with TgIST, STAT1 expression decreased with a decrease in interferon regulatory factor (IRF)-1 levels. Furthermore, STAT1 inhibition of TgIST resulted in lower levels of NF-κB and COX2, as well as significantly lower levels of class II transactivator (CIITA), iNOS, and chemokines (CLXCL9/10/11). TgIST also significantly reduced the expression of hepatocyte proapoptotic markers (Caspase3/8/9, P53, and BAX), which are linked to sterile inflammatory liver injury. TgIST also reduced the expression of adhesion (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) and infiltration markers of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) induced by hepatocyte and tissue damage. TgIST restored the cell apoptosis induced by IFN-γ/TNF-α stimulation. These results suggest that TgIST can inhibit STAT1-mediated inflammatory and apoptotic responses in hepatocytes stimulated with proinflammatory cytokines.

The dense granule protein of Toxoplasma gondii, inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (IST) is an inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) transcriptional activity that binds to STAT1 and regulates the expression of inflammatory molecules in host cells. A sterile inflammatory liver injury in pathological acute liver failures occurs when excessive innate immune function, such as the massive release of IFN-γ and TNF-α, is activated without infection. In relation to inflammatory liver injury, we hypothesized that Toxoplasma gondii inhibitor of STAT1 transcription (TgIST) can inhibit the inflammatory response induced by activating the STAT1/IRF-1 mechanism in liver inflammation. This study used IFN-γ and TNF-α as inflammatory inducers at the cellular level of murine hepatocytes (Hepa-1c1c7) to determine whether TgIST inhibits the STAT1/IRF-1 axis. In stable cells transfected with TgIST, STAT1 expression decreased with a decrease in interferon regulatory factor (IRF)-1 levels. Furthermore, STAT1 inhibition of TgIST resulted in lower levels of NF-κB and COX2, as well as significantly lower levels of class II transactivator (CIITA), iNOS, and chemokines (CLXCL9/10/11). TgIST also significantly reduced the expression of hepatocyte proapoptotic markers (Caspase3/8/9, P53, and BAX), which are linked to sterile inflammatory liver injury. TgIST also reduced the expression of adhesion (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) and infiltration markers of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) induced by hepatocyte and tissue damage. TgIST restored the cell apoptosis induced by IFN-γ/TNF-α stimulation. These results suggest that TgIST can inhibit STAT1-mediated inflammatory and apoptotic responses in hepatocytes stimulated with proinflammatory cytokines.

BACKGROUND: Recently, biplanar fluoroscopy is used to evaluate the cervical kinematics, especially to locate the instant center of rotation (ICR) during in vivo motion. This study aims to ascertain the ICR at each cervical segment in the sagittal plane during dynamic motion and assess the differences from previous studies. METHODS: While three healthy subjects were performing full flexion-extension, two oblique views aligned horizontally and angled at approximately 55° were obtained by biplanar fluoroscopy. The minimum degree to detect significant movement in a helical axis model was set at 2°, and anterior-posterior and superior-inferior locations of each ICR were defined. To evaluate the possible distribution area and overlapping area of the ICR with disc space, we drew a circle by using the calculated distance between each coordination and the mean coordination of ICR as the radius. RESULTS: During flexion-extension motion, the mean superior-inferior location of the ICR became progressively more superior, except the C5–6 segment (p = 0.015), and the mean anterior-posterior location of the ICR became progressively more anterior without exception from C2–3 to C6–7 segments, but anterior-posterior ICR locations were not significantly different among segments. The overlapping area with the distribution circle of ICR was mainly located in the posterior half in the C3–4 segment, but the overlapping area was about 80% of the total disc space in C4–5 and C6–7 segments. The overlapping was more noticeable in the lower cervical segments after exclusion of the outlier data of the C5–6 segment in subject 1. CONCLUSIONS: The ICR in the cervical spine showed a trend of moving progressively more superiorly and anteriorly and the disc space overlapping the distribution circle of ICR increased along the lower motion segments except the C5–6 segment. These findings could provide a good basis for level-specific cervical arthroplasty designs.
Arthroplasty ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Fluoroscopy ; Healthy Volunteers ; Radius ; Spine