No abstract available.
Prurigo

Proper positioning of pulmonary artery catheter and predicting distal migration of it during cardiopulmonary bypass is important for the prevention of perioperative complication of pulmonary artery rupture. The authors therefore examined the insertion length of pulmonary artery catheter via right internal jugular vein at which catheter tip was advanced to the most proximal position where pulmonary capillary wedge pressure could be obtained. And also the distal migration is measured by comparing the difference between prebypass and postbypass corrected length. Just before bypass, pulmonary artery catheter was arbitrarily receded 5cm for the prevention of spontaneous distal migration and wedging. The subjects were 47 patients who underwent open heart surgery (valve replacement, coronary artery bypass graft) during the period of November, 1992 through April, 1993. The results were as follows. 1) The insertion length of pulmonary artery catheter from skin to the right ventricle inlet, pulmonary artery inlet and pulmonary capillary wedge position were 26.5+/-3.0 cm, 36.8+/-4.9 cm and 46.1+/-5.7 cm respectively. 2) There were no significant statistical correlations between insertion lengths and patient constitutions such as body weight and height(r=0.144, r=0.032). 3) Locations of catheter tips were distributed to the 0.9+/-3.1 cm left to the spinous process, 1.9+/-1.6 cm inferior to the carina ; mostly LLQ of the lung field(51%). 4) During cardiopulmonary bypass, pulmonary artery catheter tips were migrated distally in 93.6% of the cases and the migration lengths were 2.7+/-2.0 cm. 5) There were no major perioperative complications caused by pulmonary artery catheterization. These results suggest that 5 cm withdrawal of pulmonary axtery catheter just before cardiopulmonary bypass can prevent the fatal complication of pulmonary artery rupture owing to its spontaneous distal migration.
Bays ; Body Weight ; Capillaries ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Catheterization, Swan-Ganz ; Catheters* ; Constitution and Bylaws ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Extracorporeal Circulation* ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Jugular Veins ; Lung ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Pulmonary Wedge Pressure ; Rupture ; Skin ; Thoracic Surgery

No abstract available.
Angiomyoma ; Ear

No abstract available.
Biopsy*

No abstract available.
Hypopigmentation ; Lichens

Macrophage-associated inflammation is crucial for the pathogenesis of diverse diseases including metabolic disorders. Rhodanthpyrone (Rho) is an active component of Gentiana rhodantha, which has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat inflammation. Although synthesis procedures of RhoA and RhoB were reported, the biological effects of the specific compounds have never been explored. In this study, the anti-inflammatory activity and mechanisms of action of RhoA and RhoB were studied in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages. Pretreatment with RhoA and RhoB decreased inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 expressions in RAW 264.7 cells and in thioglycollate-elicited mouse peritoneal macrophages. In addition, it downregulated transcript levels of several inflammatory genes in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, including inflammatory cytokines/chemokines (Tnfa, Il6, and Ccl2) and inflammatory mediators (Nos2 and Ptgs2). Macrophage chemotaxis was also inhibited by treatment with the compounds. Mechanistic studies revealed that RhoA and RhoB suppressed the nuclear factor (NF)-κB pathway, but not the canonical mitogen activated protein kinase pathway, in LPS-stimulated condition. Moreover, the inhibitory effect of RhoA and RhoB on inflammatory gene expressions was attenuated by treatment with an NF-κB inhibitor. Our findings suggest that RhoA and RhoB play an anti-inflammatory role at least in part by suppressing the NF-κB pathway during macrophage-mediated inflammation.
Animals ; Chemotaxis ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Gene Expression ; Gentiana ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-6 ; Macrophages ; Macrophages, Peritoneal ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Mice ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; Protein Kinases ; RAW 264.7 Cells

This study examined the characteristics of people who have preference for complementary medicine and also the psychosocial factors that are related to the selection of complementary medicine. Two-hunred subjects recruited from the community were included in this study. Demographic variables, medical service characteristics, health locus of control, social support, coping style, and personality charateritics such as self-esteem, neuroticism, and hypochondriasis were measured. It turned out that nearly 80% of the subjects had already experienced at least one alternative therapy in the past. However, past expeiece was not significant in predicting future complementary medicine usage. People who were older in age, had more information about complementary medicine, used active-behavioural coping styles, and had internal locus of control were more likely to use complementary medicine in the future. Recommenations for furthur research is indicated.
Complementary Therapies* ; Hypochondriasis ; Internal-External Control ; Psychology

PURPOSE: The subconjunctival sparganosis is rare tissue helminthiasis which developed frequently in abdominal, urethral, ureteral and vertebral cases. Authors report a case of sparganosis in the subconjunctival mass. METHODS: A 51-year-old man with reddish non painful mass in his left eye on the subconjunctiva that was unresponsive to medications for 6months was evaluated and treated surgically. On surgical exploration, a white thread-like plerocercoid 0.2 x 4.7 cm in size was extracted from the subconjunctival mass and actively motile in the bottle filled with saline. It was confirmed as a typical sparganum under histologic examination. Three months after surgery, the lesion disappeared completely. RESULTS: Although rare, parasitic disease should be suspected in a palpable subconjuntival mass unresponsive to the medical treatment.
Helminthiasis ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Parasitic Diseases ; Sparganosis* ; Sparganum ; Ureter

For many years, interest in cardiac function has primarily centered around the systolic pump performance of the left ventricle. it is now recognized, however, that diastolic abnormalities may be just as important in the pathophysiology of certain cardiac disease states. To examine the left ventricular abnormalities (especially diastolic events) in hypertension, diastolic and systolic time intervals were measured from simultaneous high-speed recordings of a phonocardiogram, ECGs, apexcardiogram, echocardiogram and external carotid pulse in 35 hypertensive patients and were compared with those in 15 normal subjects. The hypertensive patients showed significantly prolonged preejection period (PEP) and shortened ejection time (ET), compared to those in normal control subjects (p<0.005, p<0.05 respectively). The PEP/ET ratio too was different from the control subjects in hypertensive patients (0.335+/-0.050 vs 0.422+/-0.666; p<0.005). The isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT) was increased to 81.3+/-15.0 msec, which was significantly longer (p<0.005) than in normal subjects (56.7+/-10.7 msec), in patients with hypertension. The active filling period (AFP) was also prolonged. In patients with hypertension there was no significant difference in rapid filling period and slow filling period compared with those in normal subjects. It is likely that in hypertensive patients the alterations of diastolic time intervals, reflecting disorders in elasticity and compliance, may occur in conjunction with abnormal systolic events.
Compliance ; Elasticity ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Relaxation ; Systole*

BACKGROUND: Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibition has emerged as a potential therapeutic strategy for the left ventricular dilatation that occurs after myocardial infarction. This study is designed to evaluate which treatment is better for attenuating the left ventricular remodeling via MMP inhibition 1) during the early, short highly MMP producing period of the initial phase or 2) during most of the period of the initial phase after myocardial infarction. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Myocardial infarction was induced by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in rabbits. The experimental group was divided into 3 groups. The myocardial infarction only (MI only) group consisted of 7 cases. The MMP inhibitor administered for 5 days after MI (MMPI 5d) group had 6 cases, and these rabbits were given MMP inhibitor for 5 days after myocardial infarction, beginning with the postoperative first day. MMP inhibitor administered for 9 days (MMPI 9d) group consisted of 5 cases and these rabbits were given MMPI for 9 days the same manner as above. CG2300 was used as a selective MMPI; this is a potent MMP-2 and -9 inhibitor. Two-D echocardiograms were performed on all the groups at the time of preoperative period, the postoperative 1st week, the postoperative 2d week and the postoperative 3d week, and we measured the end-diastolic dimension (EDD), the end-systolic dimension (ESD), and the ejection fraction (EF). RESULT: The echocardiograms generally showed postoperative left ventricular dilatation in the MI only group. The EDD was increased significantly higher in the postoperative 1 week compared to the preoperative value (p<0.05). The ESD was also increased significantly higher in the postoperative 1st week, the postoperative 2d week and the postoperative 3d week compared to the preoperative value (p<0.05). Left ventricular dilatation was noted to be less In the MMPI 9d group than in the MI only and MMPI 5d groups. In the MMPI 9d group, there was no significant change of EF postoperatively compared to the preoperative period. MMP-2 and MMP-9 were measured from the infarcted myocardial tissue at post-MI 4 weeks by performing western blotting and zymography. The changes the of protein expression and activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were not significant in the three MI groups and the normal heart group. Histopathologic examination revealed severe collagen deposition in the MI only group. Collagen accumulation was reduced in both the MMPI groups. The MMPI 9d group revealed an increased number of capillaries. CONCLUSION: Left ventricular dilatation developed rapidly after, MI from ligation of the coronary artery and MMPI attenuated the ventricular dilatation. The effect of MMPI seemed to have better a result from its usage during most of the period of the initial phase after myocardial infarction. This suggested that increased neovascularization by MMPI may also contribute to attenuation of the left ventricular remodeling.
Blotting, Western ; Capillaries ; Collagen ; Coronary Vessels ; Dilatation ; Heart ; Ligation ; MMPI ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Preoperative Period ; Rabbits ; Ventricular Remodeling*