No abstract available.
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors*

PURPOSE: We investigated the effects of phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 gene phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 gene (PTEN) expression on the cell proliferation and on the responsiveness of troglitazone in osteosarcoma cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Western blotting alnalysis was performed to detect the expression of PTEN in U-2OS cells treated with troglitazone. WST (water-soluble tetrazolium) assay was used to evaluate cell proliferation. Flow cytometry was used to determine cell apoptosis. Further, transfection of wild-type PTEN plasmid DNA was used to upregulate PTEN expression. RESULTS: Troglitazone treatment induced growth inhibition of U2-OS cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Troglitazone increased the expression of PTEN in a dose-dependent manner. PTEN upregulation induced by troglitazone treatment resulted in cell growth inhibition and apoptosis in U-2OS cells. PTEN over-expression by plasmid transfection enhanced these effects of troglitazone. Moreover, no changes were observed in the mutant type-PTEN group. CONCLUSION: Upregulation of PTEN is involved in the inhibition of cell growth and induction of cell apoptosis by troglitazone. Further, PTEN over-expression can cause cell growth inhibition in osteosarcoma cells and these cell growth inhibitions could be enhance by troglitazone treatment.
Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Proliferation ; Chromans ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 10 ; DNA ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Microfilament Proteins ; Osteosarcoma ; Plasmids ; Thiazolidinediones ; Transfection ; Up-Regulation

No abstract available.
Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy in Adolescence*

PURPOSE: Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis(HSPN) accompanied by nephrotic syndrome(NS) is known to have a poor prognosis and effective treatment is still controversial, even though both corticosteroids and immunosuppresant have been used for therapy. Cyclosporine A(CsA) is a well known immunosuppresant and widely used in renal transplantation and glomerular diseases especially steroid resistant. The aims of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of CsA and to compare CsA with previously reported our data of rifampin(RFP) and azathioprine(AZA) in children with HSPN accompanied by NS. METHODS: 37 HSPN patients with NS confirmed by renal biopsy were selected. Of these, 17 patients were treated with CsA(5 mg/kg/day) for 6-8 months, 7 children were treated with RFP(10-20 mg/kg/day) for 9-12 months and 13 patients were treated with AZA(2 mg/kg/day) for 8 months. Along with these regimens, low dose oral prednisolone(0.5-1 mg/kg, qod) was also used. Sequential renal biopsy was done in all patients 1 month after termination of treatment. RESULTS: Complete remission rate of nephrotic syndrome was 5S.8% in CsA, 57.1% in RFP and 38.4% in AZA group after 17, 22, 11 months of mean follow-up period. Overall remission rate including partial remission was 88.2% in CsA, 85.7% in RFP and 84.6% in AZA group. Disappearance rate of hematuria was 58.8% in CsA, 57.1% in RFP and 46.2% in AZA group. Improvement of grade of clinical status was observed in 17 out of 17 CsA, 7 out of 7 RFP and 10 out of 13 AZA group. Improvement of pathologic class on sequencial renal biopsy was shown in 5 CsA(29.4%), none RFP(0%) and 2 AZA group(12.4%). Improvement on histologic immune-deposition was seen in 15 CsA(88.2%), 6 RFP(85.9%) and 4 AZA group(30.8%). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, Both CsA and RFP treated groups showed better result in complete remission rate of nephrotic syndrome and significant inprovement of histologic immune-deposition compared with AZA treated group(p=0.004). So, we recommend CsA and RFP rather than AZA for immunosuppresant treatment in HSPN with nephrotic syndrome.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Breast* ; Child ; Cyclosporine ; Diagnosis* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Prognosis ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch

449 hospital patients with no pathologic brain CT findings, 30 yrs of age or older, were selected for the study of cerebral atrophy during the 30 months, from January 1980 to June 1983, at dept. of internal medicine, Hanyang Univ. hospital & following results were obtained. 1) Thoses in male group, A gradually progressive increase in the degree of cerebral atrophy score in the 3rd, 4th & late 5th decades was followed by a dramatic increase in the late 6th & 7th decades. 2) Those in female group, A gradually progressive increase in the degree of cerebral atrophy.
Atrophy* ; Brain* ; Female ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Male

449 hospital patients with no pathologic brain CT findings, 30 yrs of age or older, were selected for the study of cerebral atrophy during the 30 months, from January 1980 to June 1983, at dept. of internal medicine, Hanyang Univ. hospital & following results were obtained. 1) Thoses in male group, A gradually progressive increase in the degree of cerebral atrophy score in the 3rd, 4th & late 5th decades was followed by a dramatic increase in the late 6th & 7th decades. 2) Those in female group, A gradually progressive increase in the degree of cerebral atrophy.
Atrophy* ; Brain* ; Female ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Male

No abstract available.
Neck*

OBJECTIVE: Recommended dosage of quetiapine for patients with schizophrenia is from 150 mg to 750 mg, which is based on randomized controlled study. But there are trends of increasing quetiapine dosage in clinical practice. Therefore, we evaluated the clinical aspect of schizophrenic patients who took quetiapine by naturalistic non-intervention study. METHODS: Schizophrenia outpatients in 88 mental hospitals were selected and 170 psychiatrists evaluated Clinical Global Impressions Scale for Severity (CGI-S) before starting quetiapine medication and CGI-S, Clinical Global Impressions Scale for Improvement (CGI-I), quetiapine dosage and medication compliance at 6 weeks after starting quetiapine medication. Overall efficacy and difference of efficacy between drug-naive patients and medication-switch patients were evaluated. We clustered the patients into 4 groups by using cluster analysis with three variables such as quetiapine dose at week 6, baseline CGI-S, and end-point CGI-S. We compared clinical aspect of each cluster with analysis of variance. RESULTS: 841 patients were enrolled. Efficacy of quetiapine was replicated, and improvement rate defined as CGI-I < or =2 was 55.9%. Drug-naive patients show more improvement in CGI-I than medication-switch patients, and efficacy for patients with insufficient treatment was also reported. Dosage for each clustered group was 25-350 mg, 400-500 mg, 600-700 mg and 750-1,500 mg. 750-1,500 mg group shows more decrease in CGI-S than 400-500 mg group and 600-700 mg group. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that there is a cluster of patients who take more benefits in reducing symptoms and show more compliance in high-dose quetiapine.
Cluster Analysis ; Compliance ; Dibenzothiazepines ; Hospitals, Psychiatric ; Humans ; Medication Adherence ; Outpatients ; Psychiatry ; Schizophrenia ; Quetiapine Fumarate

The halophilic bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, causes acute fulminating wound infections and septicemia in human. Especially the septicemia shows high mortality above 50%. In Korea, septicemia by V. vulnificus was reported at westem and southern coast in every year. Here, we try to isolate this V. vulnipcus at Kyoung-nam area and coast of Pusan during 1996. Purposed sites were Dadaepo, Songjung, Chungsapo and Mipo of Pusan and Kijang, Ilkuang, Juksoung, Dongam, Waljun and Chilam of southern sea. Total 40 strains of V. vulnipcus were isolated from sea samples. Biochemical characteristics of isolated V. vulnificus were almost same with reference strain V. vulnificus ATCC 27562 on Farmer's tests and on API 20E kit test. V. vulnificus isolates in 1996, fermented cellobiose and salicin but arabinose. and had resistance to 7% sodium chloride.
Arabinose ; Busan* ; Cellobiose ; Humans ; Korea* ; Mortality ; Sepsis ; Sodium Chloride ; Vibrio vulnificus* ; Vibrio* ; Wound Infection

BACKGROUND: Phadiatop test which was developed for screening of atopy in eastern asia area, has not been sufficiently evaluated in Korea. In our previous study, the clinical usefulness of Phadiatop test for screening of atopy was evaluated on atopics and non-atopics defined by the results of skin prick tests with 10 inhalant allergens in Korea. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of Phadiatop test for screening of atopy based on the level of CAP specific IgE in Korean asthmatics. METHODS: On 136 Korean asthmatics, the level of CAP specific IgE to 10 important inhalant allergens and the level of Phadiatop specific IgE to mixture of 8 important inhalant allergens in Korea were measured. Atopics and non-atopics were defined by the results of CAP specific IgE and the sensitivity, specificity, predictive value of a positive and negative result, and concordance rate of Phadiatop test were estimated. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, predictive values of a positive and negative result, and concordance rate of Phadiatop test were 90.5%, 95.0%, 99.1%, 63.3%, and 91.2%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Phadiatop test was very sensitive, rapid and convenient, and corresponded well to the results of CAP specific IgE. We concluded that Phadiatop test is very useful as a screening tool of atopy in Korea.
Allergens ; Asthma ; Far East ; Immunoglobulin E* ; Korea ; Mass Screening* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Skin