Scleroderma is a connective tissue disease characterized by excessive accumulation of collagen in skin and visceral organs due to increased collagen production by scleroderma fibroblasts. The basic etiology of this collagen accumulation is not known. We examined the expression of various extracellular matrix genes in cultured fibrolasts using Northern blot and slot-blot hybridization. The scleroderma fibroblasts exhibited characteristic mRNA size of extracellular matrix genes and prominanty increased type I and III procollagen mRNAs levels compared to control fibroblasts cultures from univolved skin. The ratios of type I /IE procollagen in scleroderma cell lines were not so much different to the controls. These results indicate that increases of collagen biosynthesis in scleroderma can be a accounted for, at least in part, by an increased content of transcriptable type I and type JE procollagen mRNAs, both.
Blotting, Northern ; Cell Line ; Collagen ; Connective Tissue Diseases ; Extracellular Matrix ; Fibroblasts* ; Procollagen ; RNA, Messenger ; Skin

Human Papillomaviruses(HPVs) are regarded as sexually transmitable and closely associated with precancerous lesions or invasive cancers of the vulva, vagina, and cer V1X. In situ hybridization, besides showing higher sensitivity, allowed the identification of specific viral types. We studied 12 cases of condylomata accuminata for HPV typing by in situ hybridization techenique. Ten cases(83.3 % ) showed positive for HPV type 6/11, and 2 cases(16.7% ) were positive for HPV type 16/18.
DNA Probes* ; DNA* ; Humans* ; In Situ Hybridization* ; Vagina ; Vulva

BACKGROUND: Methods to detect and quanitify Mycobacterium leprae(M. leprae)are needed for studies involving the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and chemotherapy of leprosy. Serological assays and skin tests lack the sensitivity and specificity to serve as diagnostic tool for M. leprae infection. The polymerase chain reaction(PCR) based on the selective amplification of an 530-bp frangment of the gene encoding the proline-rich antigen of M. leprae was performed with sections of fixed or frozen biopsy samples from leprosy patients. OBJECTIVE: This study was done to investigate the applicability of PCR for the detection of low numbers of M. leprae in tissues and peripheral blood. METHODS: The PCR was used to amplify a 530-base-pair M. leprae DNA with the thermoxtable Taq DNA polymerase. RESULTS: The In frozen skin tissues and peripheral blood of leprosy patients. relatively high detection rates of PCR products was achieved by using direct gel analysis as well as Southern blot hybridization. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that PCR amplification for the detection of M. leprae may be useful for the epidemiologic study of large papulations as well as coinical astudies on the individual patients.
Biopsy ; Blotting, Southern ; DNA ; Drug Therapy ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Leprosy ; Mycobacterium leprae* ; Mycobacterium* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Skin ; Skin Tests ; Taq Polymerase

No abstract available.
Ganoderma* ; Pancytopenia*

Purpose: This systematic review aimed to investigate the effects of aromatherapy interventions on depression and anxiety in menopausal women. Methods: This study adhered to PRISMA (preferred reporting items of systemic reviews and meta-analysis) guidelines. Relevant studies published between 1994 and 2002 were searched in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Google Scholar, DBPIA, KISS, and RISS databases. Search criteria included the mesh terms 'aromatherapy menopause women depression anxiety.' The review included randomized and nonrandomized studies of women who were menopausal or postmenopausal and received aromatherapy intervention for depression and anxiety associated with symptoms of menopause. The extracted literature was evaluated via quality appraisal checklists of ROB 2 (Risk of Bias 2.0) and ROBINS-1 (Risk Of Bias In Non-Randomized Studies - of Interventions) and visualized using a risk-of-bias visualization tool. Results: The review included 6 randomized controlled studies and 2 quasi-experimental studies. The results showed that aromatherapy massage and inhalation therapy were effective in reducing depression and had beneficial effects in reducing anxiety, improving quality of sleep, and menopausal symptoms in menopausal women. Conclusion Interventions using aromatic essential oils to massage the hands, arms, back, and scalp or inhalation of aromatic oils from clothing, necklaces, and bedding might be beneficial for the emotional health of menopausal women. Women health professionals should consider applying aromatherapy to menopausal women to improve emotional health, sleep, and menopausal symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the most common causative microorganism in pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). In this infection tubal obstruction, infertility, tubal pregnancy and recurrent pelvic infection has involved. Also, perinatal infection, spontaneous abortion and preterm labor of pregnant women increased in chlamydia infection. This study was performed to investigate the prevalence rate and clinical characteristics of Chlamydia trachomatis in symptomatic women. METHODS: From March, 2003 to March, 2004, in OB-Gyn development, endocervical swab were obtained in 218 patients (137 impatients of PID and 81 outpatients) by Amplicor Chlamydia Transfer Kits and Human papilloma virus kit. They were studied on history taking, physical examination, laboratory test, and polymerase chain reaction for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis. Also, in this study we investigated the prevalence of human papilloma virus and N. gonorrhea in the Chlamydia infection group. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of Chlamydia trachomatis was 27.5% (61/218) in pelvic inflammatory disease. As regarding the age distribution of Chlamydia trachomatis positive group was the high prevalence rate in twenties (52.8%). Chlamydia infection was related to the history of artificial abortion, oral contraception, occupation status, history of gynecologic disease (PID, Ectopic pregnancy). Women with chlamydial infection were 2.5 times greater risk of coincidal HPV infection and 2 times greater risk of coincidal N. gonorrhea infection and both were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The prevalence rate of Chlamydia infection is higher than any other sexually transmitted disease and Chlamydia infection has serious complication on reproduction. It appears weak symptom and detection is difficult. Therefore the screening and treatment of Chlamydia trachomatis are necessary to decrease the prevalence and prevention of complication.
Abortion, Spontaneous ; Age Distribution ; Chlamydia Infections ; Chlamydia trachomatis* ; Chlamydia* ; Contraception ; Fallopian Tube Diseases ; Female ; Genital Diseases, Female ; Gonorrhea ; Humans ; Infertility ; Mass Screening ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Occupations ; Papilloma ; Pelvic Infection ; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease* ; Physical Examination ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Tubal ; Pregnant Women ; Prevalence ; Reproduction ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Due to the increased frequency of interspecies transmission of avian influenza viruses, studies designed to identify the molecular determinants that could lead to an expansion of the host range have been increased. A variety of mouse-based mammalian-adaptation studies of avian influenza viruses have provided insight into the genetic alterations of various avian influenza subtypes that may contribute to the generation of a pandemic virus. To date, the studies have focused on avian influenza subtypes H5, H6, H7, H9, and H10 which have recently caused human infection. Although mice cannot fully reflect the course of human infection with avian influenza, these mouse studies can be a useful method for investigating potential mammalian adaptive markers against newly emerging avian influenza viruses. In addition, due to the lack of appropriate vaccines against the diverse emerging influenza viruses, the generation of mouse-adapted lethal variants could contribute to the development of effective vaccines or therapeutic agents. Within this review, we will summarize studies that have demonstrated adaptations of avian influenza viruses that result in an altered pathogenicity in mice which may suggest the potential application of mouse-lethal strains in the development of influenza vaccines and/or therapeutics in preclinical studies.
Animals ; Host Specificity ; Humans ; Influenza A virus ; Influenza in Birds* ; Influenza Vaccines ; Methods ; Mice ; Orthomyxoviridae ; Pandemics ; Serial Passage ; Vaccination ; Vaccines* ; Virulence

PURPOSE: To evaluate changes in corneal and ocular high-order aberration, ocular fatigue, and tear break-up time (TBUT) before and after playing computer games and the correlations among the variables. METHODS: Thirty-nine normal healthy subjects played computer games for 1 hour. Ocular fatigue was evaluated with a questionnaire, TBUT was measured with slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and high-order aberrations were measured with a KR-1W aberrometer (Topcon Medical System, Inc., Tokyo, Japan) in each subject before and after playing computer games. The right eye was used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Subjective ocular fatigue (expressed as the interview score) increased from 4.23 +/- 5.35 to 12.05 +/- 8.68 after playing games (p < 0.001) and TBUT decreased from 8.03 +/- 6.43 sec to 4.90 +/- 3.31 sec (p < 0.001). Ocular high-order aberrations in the 4 mm and 6 mm zones were not significantly changed before and after playing games (p = 0.150, p = 0.202, respectively). However, corneal high-order aberrations in the 4 mm and 6 mm zones were significantly increased after playing computer games (p = 0.002, p = 0.002, respectively). Changes in TBUT, interview score, and corneal high-order aberration were not correlated with each other. CONCLUSIONS: Playing computer games increased corneal high-order aberrations as well as subjective ocular fatigue and TBUT.
Eye ; Fatigue ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tokyo

We experienced a case of malignant lymphoma with the simultaneous involvement of right testis left adrenal gland and retroperitoneal lymph nodes and treated with radical orchiectomy followed by systemic chemotherapy, who died with widespread malignant lymphoma 9 months later.
Adrenal Glands* ; Drug Therapy ; Lymph Nodes* ; Lymphoma* ; Orchiectomy ; Testis*

In a murine model system, enhancement of the total IgA and rotavirus-specific IgA of suckling mice was measured by ELISA with the intestinal fluid following oral administration of murine rotavirus EC (EDIM-Cambridge) strain. In the EC strain-administered group, the geometric mean titers (GMT) of total IgAs were 512 and 91 at 1 and 2 week postinfection, respectively. On the other hand, the GMTs of the rotavirus-specific IgAs were 108 and 3 at the same periods, respectively. Thus increase in the total IgAs was 64 folds and that in the rotavirus-specific IgAs was 43 folds compared with the negative control group. As the maximal titers of both the total and rotavirus-specific IgAs were observed at 1 week decreasing until 2 weeks after infection, it is evident that the GMT of the total IgA implies that of rotavirus-specific IgA. In our ELISA system, whose specificity was verified by Western blot analysis, the total IgA in the administered group was determined to be 40-400 ng per 1 ml of the intestinal fluid. Therefore it is concluded that determination of the rotavirus-specific IgA in murine models can be a sensitive indication of rotavirus infection, and will be another promising tool in viral challenge experiments in vaccine development.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hand ; Immunoglobulin A* ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR* ; Rotavirus Infections ; Rotavirus* ; Sensitivity and Specificity