No abstract available.
Humans

No abstract available.
Diagnosis* ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic* ; Ultrasonography*

OBJECTIVE: To verify the separate and combined effects of cadmium and nickel on blood pressure in rats. METHODS: Following the daily administration of cadmium chloride(CdCl2) and nickel chloride(NiCl2) to rats both individually and in combination with intraperitoneal injection method for one week, systolic blood pressure of the tail was measured at 1 day and 5, 10, 20, 30 days after administration. Each substance was injected into the rats with 0.1 mg/kg bw and 1.0 mg/kg bw concentration. RESULTS: After 0.1 mg/kg bw CdCl2 was injected, a statistically significant difference was found as compared with the control group(only saline) after 1, 5 and 10 days. After 0.1 mg/kg bw NiCl2 was injected, a statistically significant difference was not found compared with the control group. After 0.1 mg/kg bw CdCl2 and 0.1 mg/kg bw NiCl2 were injected simultaneously, a statistically significant difference was found as compared with the control group after 1, 5 and 10 days and compared with 0.1 mg/kg bw CdCl2 group after 5 days and as compared with 0.1 mg/kg bw NiCl2 group after 5 and 10 days. After 1.0 mg/kg bw CdCl2 was injected, a statistically significant difference was found as compared with the control group after 1, 5, 10 and 20 days. After 1.0 mg/kg bw NiCl2 was injected, a statistically significant difference was found as compared with the control group after 1 day and 5 days. After 1.0 mg/kg bw CdCl2 and 1.0 mg/kg bw NiCl2 were injected in combination, a statistically significant difference was found after 1, 5, 10, 20 and 30 days as compared with 1.0 mg/kg bw CdCl2 after 10, 20 and 30 days and as compared with 1.0 mg/kg bw NiCl2 after 5, 10, 20 and 30 days. CONCLUSION: It was found that the effect of CdCl2 on blood pressure was much more than NiCl2 and a high concentration CdCl2 and NiCl2 in combination delayed the recovery of blood pressure.
Animals ; Blood Pressure* ; Cadmium Chloride ; Cadmium* ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Nickel* ; Rats* ; Tail

BACKGROUND: Tourniquet pain is probably mediated by C-fiber. The ability of fentanyl to interrupt this nociceptive conduction was studied by administering either fentanyl or saline intrathecally along with hyperbaric bupivacaine for spinal anesthesia. METHOD: The incidence of tourniquet pain was evaluated in 60 patients having orthopedic surgery of the lower extremities during spinal anesthesia by administering either 30 mcg fentanyl (group 2) or saline (group 1) along with 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine 10 mg. We measured the maximal sensory spread of analgesia to pinprick, the incidence of tourniquet pain, and the sensory anesthesia to pinprick at the onset of tourniquet pain. RESULTS: The average maximal sensory spread of analgesia was the same in both groups (T9). The incidence of tourniquet pain was significantly greater in group 1 (33%) than in group 2 (10%). The sensory levels of anesthesia at the onset of tourniquet pain were not different in two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Intrathecal fentanyl was effective against tourniquet pain for 2 hours of the orthopedic surgery of the lower extremities.
Analgesia ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, Spinal* ; Bupivacaine* ; Fentanyl* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lower Extremity ; Orthopedics ; Tourniquets*

BACKGROUND: Pain on injection is one of the major disadvantages of propofol. To solve this problem, many investigations have been done. We postulated that the duration of pre-treatment of local anesthetics might affect the incidence and nature of injection pain. METHODS: Seventy seven patients were involved in our study. They were divided into control group (group C, n = 25); pre-treatment with normal saline and study group (n = 52); pre-treatment with 0.1% lidocaine 1 ml/kg/h for 30 min before propofol injection. The study group was subdivided into 2 groups, one receiving maintenance fluid (group LF, n = 28) and one not (group LS, n = 24). A vein on the dorsum of the hand was used for the intravenous line in all patients. Pain assessment was made twice, immediately after injection of first half dose of propofol and after injection of the remaining half dose. The speed of propofol injection was 0.5 ml/sec. After measuring pain with the visual analogue scale (VAS) and pain scoring (PS) during propofol injection, the highest score in each case was used for comparison. RESULTS: The values of VAS and PS of group LF were not different from group C. However the corresponding values of group LS were lower than those of group C (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: From our results, it can be suggested that the duration of 30 min pre-treatment of lidocaine without maintenance fluid is one method for reducing the incidence and nature of pain induced by propofol.
Anesthetics, Local ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lidocaine* ; Pain Measurement ; Propofol ; Veins

OBJECTIVES: It is the objective of this study to compare hepatotoxicity of nickel chloride and cadmium chloride with each other through IPRL(Isolated Perfused Rat Liver) method. METHODS: Biochemical indicator of hepatic function such as AST(aspartate aminotransferase), ALT(alanine aminotransferase), LDH(lactate dehydrogenase) and perfusion flow rate were used as the indicator of hepatotoxicity. Oxygen consumption rate were used as viability indicator. 300(+/-50) g - weighted rats were allocated randomly to each group(0 micrometer, 50 micrometer, 200 micrometer NiCl2 and CdCl2 exposure) by 5, totally 25. After Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer solution flowed into the portal vein and passed the liver cell, it flowed out of vena cava. Liver was administered with each NiCl2 and CdCl2 of each concentration and observed with buffer solution sampling time. Buffer which got out of liver was sampled and then biochemical indicator of hepatotoxicity was measured. RESULTS: AST, ALT, and LDH in buffer increased with sampling time much more in CdCl2 exposure group than NiCl2 exposure group in both 50 and 200 micrometer and statistical significance was verified with 2-way repeated ANOVA. Viability was decreased more and more in all substances during passed time. CONCLUSIONS: It is inferred that CdCl2 has stronger hepatotoxicity than NiCl2. IPRL method would be used widely for acute hepatotoxicity when considerating the benefit of it.
Animals ; Cadmium Chloride ; Cadmium* ; Liver ; Nickel* ; Oxygen Consumption ; Perfusion ; Portal Vein ; Rats*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: QT dispersion (QTd) is defined as the difference between the maximum and minimum QT interval in any of the 12 leads of the surface ECG. QTd has been shown to reflect regional variations in ventricular repolarization. Ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) may lead to more spatial and temporal dispersion in ventricular repolarization than idiopathic DCM. The purpose of this study was to determine the difference of QTd between patients who had ischemic and idiopathic DCM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population included 30 patients with ischemic DCM and 30 with idiopathic DCM. All standard 12-lead ECGs were examined prospectively by two observers who were unware of the patient's details. RESULTS: QTd in ischemic DCM was significantly higher than that in idiopathic DCM (63+/-32 vs. 44+/-26 msec, p=0.012) and JTd in ischemic DCM was significantly higher than that in idiopathic DCM (48+/-21 vs. 36+/-22 msec, p=0.036). Results did not change when Bazett's QTc and JTc was substituted for QT (QTcd:69+/-33 vs. 52+/-28 p=0.039) and JT (JTcd:56+/-21 vs. 41+/-25 p=0.043). CONCLUSION: Ischemic DCM has increased spatial inhomogeneity of repolarization probably due to more regional myocardial damages compared with idiopathic DCM. The value of QT dispersion as an easily accessible, non-invasive method in predicting the risk of life threatening arrhythmia and overall mortality in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy must be confirmed in prospective trials.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated* ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Mortality ; Prospective Studies

OBJECTIVES: To compare the quality improvement of the abstracts of original articles, according to the revised manuscript format, of the Korean Journal of Preventive Medicine (Korean J Pre Med) was adopted in 1999. METHODS: A total 63 abstracts for 1997, and 49 for 2001, were selected as the original articles from the Kor J Pre Med. This study was carried out by the separate-sample pretest-posttest design. The quality of the abstracts was measured by a checklist of Narine' evaluation criteria, and the other information related to the articles were also surveyed by e-mail and fax or telephone using a self-made questionnaire. From the response rate, a total of 62 abstracts for 1997 and 49 for 2001 were finally analyzed. RESULTS: The mean number of words in an abstract decreased from 285 in 1997, to 250 by 2001. The mean number of key words per abstract decreased from 3.9 in 1997, to 3.6 by 2001. The mean number of inappropriate usage of key words per abstract, by the MeSH standard, decreased from 1.9 in 1997, to 0.4 by 2001. Also, the overall mean score of abstract quality increased from 0.54 in 1997 to 0.61 by 2001. The range of scores for the abstract quality was better in 2001 (0.40~0.77) than in 1997 (0.20~0.81). From the multiple regression analyses of the 1997 and 2001 databases, the intervention of the manuscript format's revision, and the number of English words to the quality score of the abstract, were the only statistically significant factors. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the quality of abstracts in the Kor J Pre Med has improved since the revised manuscript format was adopted in 1999. The Korean Society for Preventive Medicine will continuously recommend proposals for more informative abstracts in their journal, and will evaluate the abstracts' content with quality criteria. Future studies should address these issues, and compare the quality of abstracts between different international and domestic journals.
Checklist ; Electronic Mail ; Preventive Medicine* ; Quality Improvement* ; Telephone

OBJECTIVES: Because shipyard workers are involved with various manufacturing process, they are exposed to many kinds of hazardous materials. Welders especially, are exposed to bisphenol-A (BPA) during the welding and flame cutting of coated steel. This study was conducted to assess the exposure status of the endocrine disruptor based on the job-exposure matrix. The effects of the genetic polymorphism of xenobiotic enzyme metabolisms involved in the metabolism of BPA on the levels of urinary metabolite were investigated. METHODS: The study population was recruited from a shipyard company in the K province. A total of 84 shipbuilding workers 47 and 37 in the exposed and control groups, respectively, were recruited for this study. The questionnaire variables included, age, sex, use of personal protective equipment, smoking, drinking and work duration. The urinary metabolite was collected in the afternoon and correction made for the urinary creatinine concentration. The of the CYP1A1, CYP2E1 and UGT1A6 genotypes were investigated using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods with the DNA extracted from venous blood. RESULTS: The urinary BPA level in the welders group was significantly higher than in the control group (p< 0.05). The urinary BPA concentration with the wild type UGT1A6 was higher than the other UGT1A6 genotypes, but with no statistical significant. From themultiple regression analysis of the urinary BPA, the regression coefficient for job grade was statistically significant (p< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The grade of exposure to BPA affected the urinary BPA concentration was statistically significant. However, the genetic polymorphisms of xenobiotics enzyme metabolism were not statistically significant. Further investigation of the genetic polymorphisms with a larger sample size is needed.
Biomarkers* ; Creatinine ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2E1 ; DNA ; Drinking ; Genotype ; Hazardous Substances ; Metabolism ; Personal Protective Equipment ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Sample Size ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Steel ; Welding ; Xenobiotics

BACKGROUND: Urapidil is a new antihypertensive agent known to diminish total peripheral vascular resistance by postsynaptic alpha 1-adrenergic blockade and central sympatholytic activity. The purpose of this study was to determine its effectiveness and safety in preventing hemodynamic responses to endotracheal intubation under general anesthesia. METHODS: Thirty normotensive, ASA physical status I patients for elective surgery were selected randomly. They were divided into three groups(Group 1: control group with saline, Group 2: urapidil 0.4 mg/kg, Group 3: urapidil 0.5 mg/kg, n=10 in each group). The drugs were injected 3 minutes before induction with thiopental sodium(4 mg/kg) and succinylcholine(1 mg/kg). Endotracheal intubation was performed 5 minutes after the drugs injection. After endotracheal intubation, vecuronium 0.1 mg/kg was injected and 50% nitrous oxide in oxygen and 2Vol% enflurane were inhaled. We measured the blood pressure and the heart rate with noninvasive method at one minute interval for 5 minutes. RESULTS: In group 3, no significant increase in systolic blood pressure after endotracheal intubation was noted(p<0.05). Urapidil groups showed increase in heart rate at 1, 2 minutes after urapidil injection(p<0.05) and did not blunt increase in heart rate after endotracheal intubation. The side effects of urapidil(hypotension, dizziness, headache and chest tightness) occured in a patient of group 3. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the blood pressure response was effectively controlled, but the change in heart rate was not controlled by urapidil 0.5 mg/kg injection before induction.
Anesthesia, General ; Arterial Pressure* ; Blood Pressure ; Dizziness ; Enflurane ; Headache ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal* ; Nitrous Oxide ; Oxygen ; Thiopental ; Thorax ; Vascular Resistance ; Vecuronium Bromide