PURPOSE: Although progenitor cells may contribute to intimal hyperplasia (IH) after arterial injury, positive contribution of IH is variable with type of injury or cells. This study was designed to examine whether differentiated muscle derived stem cells (MDSC) attenuate IH in rat. METHODS: MDSCs were retrieved using preplate techniques from rat calf muscle and MDSCs (preplate 6th culture fraction, pp6) were exposed to VEGF (50 ng/ml) for endothelial differentiation prior to injection. Male rats were divided into two groups (cell treated vs. control) and underwent carotid balloon injury with 2-Fr catheter. The virus containing Green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene was transfected into cells for monitoring. Cells (5x10(6)) were indwelled into carotid artery for 30 minutes after injury and then blood flow was restored. Arteries were harvested at various intervals (1, 2 and 4 weeks) after injury. The intima to media thickness ratio (IMTR) was calculated with morphometric analysis. RESULTS: Endothelial surface markers such as VE-CADHERIN were strongly expressed on differentiated MDSCs. At 4 weeks after injury, IH was predominantly observed in control group compared to cell treated group. The intensity of GFP was strongly observed at 1 week and declined at 4 weeks in carotid artery wall at MDSC group. CD31(+) endothelial cells were observed at MDSC group compared to control. The mean IMTR in cell treated groups were significantly lower than control at 2 weeks (P=0.005) and 4 weeks (P< or =0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that MDSCs therapy promotes re-endothelialization and leads to attenuation of IH after balloon injury in rat.
Animals ; Antigens, CD ; Arteries ; Cadherins ; Carotid Arteries ; Catheters ; Endothelial Cells ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Male ; Muscles ; Rats ; Stem Cells ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; Viruses

OBJECTIVE: It has been known that the enzyme deficiency associated with uric acid production is the minor cause of gout. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of hypoxanthine- guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) activity deficiency in the development of gout. METHODS: Assay of HGPRT activity was performed on 38 gout patients and 107 controls compromising 82 men and 25 women. In the patients with gout, age of onset, sex, family history of gout, duration of disease, serum uric acid level, and uric acid concentration of 24-hour urine were analyzed. RESULTS: In gout patients and control male group, the HGPRT activity was lowest in the age of forties. But, in female, there was no decreasing tendency with aging. In 4 gout patients, HGPRT activities were severely deficient and their ages of onset were less than 30 years old, and all have a family history of gout. CONCLUSION: In men, the lowest HGPRT activity in the age of forties could be one of the factors that make the onset of gout is highest in the fifth decade of age. The deficiency of HGPRT enzyme and family history of gout are the important factors in the pathogenesis of early onset gout.
Adult ; Age of Onset ; Aging ; Female ; Gout* ; Humans ; Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase* ; Male ; Uric Acid

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is characterized by episodic vertigo and nystagmus provoked by head motions. To study the characteristics of BPPV in a large group of patients in Korea, we retrospectively analyzed clinical features of 1,692 patients (women: 1,146, 67.7%; men: 54.6, 32.3%; mean age: 54.8+/-14.0 yr), who had been diagnosed as BPPV by trained neuro-otologists Dizziness Clinics. The diagnosis of BPPV was based on typical nystagmus elicited by positioning maneuvers. Posterior semicircular canal was involved in 60.9% of the patients, horizontal canal in 31.9%, anterior canal in 2.2%, and mixed canals in 5.0%. The horizontal canal type of BPPV (HC-BPPV) comprised 49.5% of geotropic and 50.5% of apogeotropic types. We could observe significant negative correlation between the proportion of HC-BPPV of each clinic and the mean time interval between the symptom onset and the first visit to the clinics (r=-0.841, p<0.05). Most patients were successfully treated with canalith repositioning maneuvers (86.9%). The high incidence of HC-BPPV in this study may be explained by relatively shorter time interval between the symptom onset and visit to the Dizziness Clinics in Korea, compared with previous studies in other countries.
Vestibular Function Tests ; Vertigo/*diagnosis ; Semicircular Canals/pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Nystagmus, Physiologic ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Korea ; Humans ; Head Movements ; Female ; Aged

To identify a proper T-score threshold for the diagnosis of osteoporosis in Koreans using quantitative ultrasonography (QUS), normative data from 240 females and 238 males (ages 20-29 yr) were newly generated. Then, the osteoporosis prevalence estimate for men and women over 50 yr of age was analyzed using previous World Health Organization (WHO) methods and heel QUS. T-scores were calculated from the normative data. There were definite negative correlations between age and all of the QUS parameters, such as speed of sound (SOS), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA), and estimated heel bone mineral density (BMD) (p<0.0001). After applying the recently determined prevalence of incident vertebral fracture in Koreans over 50 yr of age (11.6% and 9.1%, female vs male, respectively) to the diagnosis of osteoporosis by T-scores from heel BMD as measured by QUS, it was revealed that applicable T-scores for women and men were -2.25 and -1.85, respectively. These data suggest that simply using a T-score of -2.5, the classical WHO threshold for osteoporosis, underestimates the true prevalence when using peripheral QUS. Further prospective study of the power of QUS in predicting the absolute risk of fracture is needed.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Bone Density/physiology ; Female ; Fractures, Bone/diagnosis/epidemiology ; Heel/ultrasonography ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteoporosis/diagnosis/*ultrasonography ; Reference Values ; Risk ; Severity of Illness Index ; Young Adult

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) is defined as the presence of extraluminal gas in the mediastinal space without any clear traumatic cause. It has been reported in association with asthma exacerbation, emesis, childbirth, seizure, excessive shouting, drug inhalation and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). SPM complicated by DKA is infrequently accompanied with chest pain and DKA can lead to changes in respiratory rate and depth; this complication might be underestimated. Here, we report a 21-year-old male with throat pain on swallowing due to SPM complicated by DKA. Clinicians need to consider this complication in differential diagnoses.
Asthma ; Chest Pain ; Deglutition ; Diabetic Ketoacidosis* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Male ; Mediastinal Emphysema* ; Parturition ; Pharynx ; Respiratory Rate ; Seizures ; Vomiting ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: Trauma is a leading cause of death, even in previously healthy and disease-free individuals, and the mortality rate is very high in neck trauma patients. On the other hand, there have been few studies related to neck injuries. This study examined the characteristics and treatment results of trauma-related neck injuries using the data from Korean National Emergency Department Information System. METHODS: Neck trauma patients were classified using the 6th Korean Standard Disease Classification system. The patients' demographic factors, number of surgeries, and clinical results were investigated. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS to evaluate the annual differences in the demographic factors; mortality according to the site of injury and type of surgery; and mechanisms of injury. RESULTS: From 2011 to 2014, 2,458 neck trauma patients were treated in hospitals in South Korea. The number of patients admitted to regional and local emergency medical centers was 883 (35.9%) and 1,502 (61.1%), respectively. No significant annual differences were observed in age, sex ratio, location of treatment center, mortality, and injury site (vascular, tracheal, or esophageal). In addition, no significant differences in the cause of injury, performed surgery (%), and mortality according to the injured organ were observed. CONCLUSION: This study revealed no annual changes in neck injury patients or differences in mortality according to injured organs. This study can be used as a basis for national research on organ-specific injuries, and may help predict the demand for future support projects for the establishment of regional trauma centers.
Cause of Death ; Classification ; Demography ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Hand ; Humans ; Information Systems* ; Korea ; Mortality ; Neck Injuries ; Neck* ; Sex Ratio ; Trauma Centers ; Wounds and Injuries

We describe a 37-yr-old man who developed central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After HSCT, desquamation developed on the whole body accompanied by hyperbilirubinemia. The liver biopsy of the patient indicated graft-versus-host disease- related liver disease, and the dose of methylprednisolone was increased. Then, the patient developed altered mentality with eye ball deviation to the left, for which electroencephalogram and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were done. Brain MRI scan demonstrated the imaging findings consistent with central pontine myelinolysis and extrapontine myelinolysis. He did not have any hyponatremia episode during hospitalization prior to the MRI scan. To the best of our knowledge, presentation of CPM after allogeneic HSCT is extremely rare in cases where patients have not exhibited any episodes of significant hyponatremia. We report a rare case in which hepatic dysfunction due to graft-versus-host disease has a strong association with CPM after HSCT.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Brain/pathology ; Electroencephalography ; Graft vs Host Disease ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/*adverse effects ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia/etiology ; Liver/pathology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Myelinolysis, Central Pontine/complications/*etiology ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/complications/*therapy ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: Phospholipase C(PLC) plays a central role in cellular signal transduction and is important in cellular growth, differentiation and transformation. There are currently ten known mammalian isozymes of PLC reported to this date. Hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate(PIP2) by PLC produces two important second messengers, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate(IP3) and diacylglycerol. PLC-gamma1, previously, was known to be activated mainly through growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase. Other mechanisms of activating PLC-gamma1 have been reported such as activation through tau protein in the presence of arachidonic acid in bovine brain and activation by IP3, phosphatidic acid, etc. Very recently, another PLC-gamma1 activator protein such as tau has been found in bovine lung tissue, which now is considered to be AHNAK protein. But there has been no report concerning AHNAK and its associated disease to this date. In this study, we examined the expression of the PLC-gamma1 activator, AHNAK, in lung cancer specimens and their paired normal. METHODS: From surgically resected human lung cancer tissues taken from twenty-eight patients and their paired normal counterparts, we evaluated expression level of AHNAK protein using immunoblot analysis of total tissue extract. Immunohistochemical stain was performed with primary antibody against AHNAK protein. RESULTS: Twenty-two among twenty-eight lung cancer tissues showed over expression of AHNAK protein(eight of fourteen squamous cell lung cancers, all of fourteen adenocarcinomal). the resulting bands were multiple ranging from 70 to 200 kDa in molecular weight and each band was indistinct and formed a smear, reflecting mobility shift mainly due to proteolysis during extraction process. On immunohistochemistry, lung cancer tissues showed a very heavy, dense staining with anti-AHNAK protein antibody as compared to the surrounding normal lung tissue, coresponding well with the results of the western blot. CONCLUSION: The overexpression of PLC-gamma1 activator protein, AHNAK in lung cancer may provide evidence that the AHNAK protein and PLC-gamma1 act in concerted manner in carcinogenesis.
Arachidonic Acid ; Blotting, Western ; Brain ; Carcinogenesis ; Humans* ; Hydrolysis ; Immunohistochemistry ; Inositol ; Isoenzymes ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Molecular Weight ; Phosphatidic Acids ; Phosphatidylinositols ; Phospholipases* ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Proteolysis ; Second Messenger Systems ; Signal Transduction ; tau Proteins

PURPOSE: For the research of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), fast neutrons generated from the MC-50 cyclotron with maximum energy of 34.4 MeV in Korea Cancer Center Hospital were moderated by 70 cm paraffin and then the dose characteristics were investigated. Using these results, we hope to establish the protocol about dose measurement of epi-thermal neutron, to make a basis of dose characteristic of epi-thermal neutron emitted from nuclear reactor, and to find feasibility about accelerator-based BNCT. METHOD AND MATERIALS: For measuring the absorbed dose and dose distribution of fast neutron beams, we used Unidos 10005 (PTW, Germany) electrometer and IC-17 (Far West, USA), IC-18, EIC-1 ion chambers manufactured by A-150 plastic and used IC-17M ion chamber manufactured by magnesium for gamma dose. There chambers were flushed with tissue equivalent gas and argon gas and then the flow rate was 5 cc per minute. Using Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code, transport program in mixed field with neutron, photon, electron, two dimensional dose and energy fluence distribution was calculated and there results were compared with measured results. RESULTS: The absorbed dose of fast neutron beams was 6.47x10-3 cGy per 1 MU at the 4 cm depth of the water phantom, which is assumed to be effective depth for BNCT. The magnitude of gamma contamination intermingled with fast neutron beams was 65.2+/-0.9% at the same depth. In the dose distribution according to the depth of water, the neutron dose decreased linearly and the gamma dose decreased exponentially as the depth was deepened. The factor expressed energy level, D20/D10, of the total dose was 0.718. CONCLUSION: Through the direct measurement using the two ion chambers, which is made different wall materials, and computer calculation of isodose distribution using MCNP simulation method, we have found the dose characteristics of low fluence fast neutron beams. If the power supply and the target material, which generate high voltage and current, will be developed and gamma contamination was reduced by lead or bismuth, we think, it may be possible to accelerator-based BNCT.
Argon ; Bismuth ; Boron Neutron Capture Therapy* ; Boron* ; Cyclotrons ; Electric Power Supplies ; Fast Neutrons* ; Hope ; Korea ; Magnesium ; Neutrons ; Nuclear Reactors ; Paraffin ; Plastics ; Water

Variant surface antigens (VSAs) encoded by pir families are considered to be the key proteins used by many Plasmodium spp. to escape the host immune system by antigenic variation. This attribute of VSAs is a critical issue in the development of a novel vaccine. In this regard, a population genetic study of vir genes from Plasmodium vivax was performed in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Eighty-five venous blood samples and 4 of the vir genes, namely vir 27, vir 21, vir 12, and vir 4, were selected for study. The number of segregating sites (S), number of haplotypes (H), haplotype diversity (Hd), DNA diversity (π and Θw), and Tajima’s D test value were conducted. Phylogenetic trees of each gene were constructed. The vir 21 (S=143, H=22, Hd=0.827) was the most genetically diverse gene, and the vir 4 (S=6, H=4, Hd=0.556) was the opposite one. Tajima’s D values for vir 27 (1.08530, P>0.1), vir 12 (2.89007, P<0.01), and vir 21 (0.40782, P>0.1) were positive, and that of vir 4 (−1.32162, P>0.1) was negative. All phylogenetic trees showed 2 clades with no particular branching according to the geographical differences and cluster. This study is the first survey on the vir genes in ROK, providing information on the genetic level. The sample sequences from vir 4 showed a clear difference to the Sal-1 reference gene sequence, whereas they were very similar to those from Indian isolates.
Antigenic Variation ; Antigens, Surface ; DNA ; Genetic Variation ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Immune System ; Plasmodium vivax* ; Plasmodium* ; Republic of Korea* ; Trees ; United Nations