The results in thrity-six adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients(thirty-nine curves) who have been treated with the Boston brace are reported. The average follow-up was two years and three months(range, one year to four years ten months). Before treatment, all the patients had a curve that measured 20 to 35 degrees; 26 patients were in Risser sign of zero or 1, 10 patients in Risser sign 2 to 4. Although the magnitude of the curve was generally reduced about 40 percent by the initial application of the brace, a gradual loss of this initial correction was observed both during active treatment and after the wearing of the brace. Although eleven(28.2 percent) of the curves had progressed more than 5 degrees at follow up. Sixty-seven percent of the thoracic curve, 33.3 percent of the thoracolumbar, 27.8 percent of the lumbar curve had progression of more than 5 degrees. Twelve patients wore the brace for sixteen hours a day, 19 patients wore for 16 to 20 hours a day and 5 patients wore more than 20 hours a day. 41.7 percent of sixteen hours bracing, 15,8 percent of 16 to 20 hours bracing and 60 percent of 20 hours bracing had progression of more than 5 degrees. Our finding indicates that the Boston brace prevents deterioration in certain cases but does not convert major deformity into minor ones, and part time bracing can prevent progression of the curve and can even afford some correction.
Adolescent ; Braces ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Scoliosis

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Humans*

This is to report a case of the homogeneous transplantation of the single articular surface and its supporting bone of the proximal one third of the humerus and humeral head for the treatment of the giant cell tumor involving the proximal humerus.
Giant Cell Tumors ; Humeral Head ; Humerus

No abstract available.

The present study was intended to examine the effect of sodium vanadate on contractility of vascular smooth muscle. Aortic ring preparations were made from the rabbit thoracic aorta and endothelial cells were removed from the ring. The contractility of the aortic ring was measured under various conditions. The results were summarized as follows; 1) Sodium vanadate induced contraction of vascular smooth muscle in a dose-dependent fashion. 2) The contractile effects were not blocked by treatments with adrenergic blocking agent(phentolamine) and indomethacin, indicating the direct action of the drug on vascular smooth muscle. 3) In the presence of ouabain, Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase inhibitor, sodium vanadate still increased the contractility of vascular smooth muscle. 4) Treatment with 4.4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2.2'-disulfonic acid(DIDS) blocked completely the contractile effects of sodium vanadate. 5) In the presence of verapamil, lanthanum and ryanodine, the contractility of the vascular smooth muscle by sodium vanadate was decreased. From the above results. it was suggested that sodium vanadate acts directly on vascular smooth muscle and causes contraction. It was probably due to inhibition of Ca(++)-ATPase in plasma membrane as well as increasing the release of Ca(++) from sarcoplasmic reticulum and Ca(++) influx across the plasma membrane, but not inhibition of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase.
Aorta, Thoracic ; Cell Membrane ; Endothelial Cells ; Indomethacin ; Lanthanum ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular* ; Ouabain ; Ryanodine ; Sarcoplasmic Reticulum ; Sodium* ; Vanadates* ; Verapamil

No abstract available.
Breech Presentation* ; Female ; Fetus* ; Pregnancy

Synthetic genes encoding the gag p24 and the part of the envelope protein gp41 of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) were cloned and overexpressed as fusion proteins in Escherichia coli, using an expression vector carrying 77 promoter and the poly-histidine leader sequence. The overexpressed p24 fusion protein was purified by centrifugation, Ni-affinity chromatography and CM-sepharose chromatography The overexpressed gp41 fusion protein was purified by centrifugation, C4 chromatography and DEAE-sepharose chromatography. The purified fusion proteins showed a high level of purity and immunoreactivity in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blot analysis. These results suggest that this prokaryotic expression-purification method is suitable for obtaining a large amount of the viral antigen which may be useful for screening of antibodies to HIV-1 in human blood samples.
Antibodies ; Blotting, Western ; Centrifugation ; Chromatography ; Clone Cells ; Electrophoresis ; Escherichia coli ; Genes, Synthetic ; HIV* ; HIV-1* ; Humans* ; Mass Screening

BACKGROUND: The angiotensin-converting enzyme(ACE) plays an important role in cardiovascular disease by production of angiotensin and degradation of bradykinin. Cloning of ACE gene revealed an insertion/deletion(I/D) polymorphism according to the presence/absence of a 287 base pair fragment in the 16th intron of ACE gene, and the ACE polymophism was associated with ACE activity. The genotype DD was identified as a risk factor for myocardial infarction in several studies. We analyzed the ACE I/D polymorphism in 62 patients with myocardial infarction and 67 normal subjects. METHODS: Genomic DNA from peripheral blood was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and characterized by three ACE genotypes; two insertion alleles(genotype II), two deletion alleles(genotype DD) and heterogenous alleles(genotype ID). ACE activity was determined by spectrophotometric method utilizing the synthetic substrate. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in ACE polymorphism between patients and normal subjects. But, the frequency of genotype DD was significantly increased in the low-risk group of patients compared with the high-risk group. The multi-vessel disease was more strongly associated with genotype DD, but there was no statistical significance. The ACE activity was strongly associated with ACE polymorphism with the activity being highest in genotype DD. There was no significant difference between patients and control subjects of the same genotype. CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference in ACE polymorphism between patients and normal subjects. The frequencies for genotype II, ID, DD were 0.328, 0.537, 0.134, respectively in normal subjects. There was high frequency of genotype II compared with Caucasians. A deletion polymorphism(genotype DD) may increase the risk for myocardial infarction in lowrisk group, and the serum ACE activity was correlated with three genotypes.
Angiotensins ; Base Pairing ; Bradykinin ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Clone Cells ; Cloning, Organism ; DNA ; Genotype ; Humans ; Introns ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: To investigate subjective symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders in women workers. METHOD: From February to April, 2006, 292 women workers working in 16 companies were surveyed using KOSHA CODE (H-30-2003). RESULT: Of the workers, 84.0% had at least one musculoskeletal disorder. The mean score of the severity of musculoskeletal disorder symptoms was 7.41 out of 25. As for the prevalence rate by body part, shoulder was the most common and severe body part of musculoskeletal disorders, and significant differences were shown in neck, shoulder, and lower limb according to the type of working. The severity of married workers was significantly higher than that of unmarried ones. Significant difference was shown in the severity of disorders by the type of working and in body parts according to the type of working. CONCLUSION: The self-reported symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders were very frequent in women workers, but the severity of the symptoms was relatively low, suggesting the early symptoms of disorders. Specifically, given the highly frequent self-reported symptoms in the shoulder part found in married women workers, intensive prevention is recommended. Furthermore, an ergonomic aspect should be concerned to consider physical characteristics of women workers.
Female ; Human Body ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Neck ; Prevalence ; Shoulder ; Single Person