No abstract available.
Urinary Incontinence*

PURPOSE: To determine the efficacy of CarnitilR (acetylcarnitine, Hanmi, Korea) therapy in idiopathic oligoasthenospermic men. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-four subfertile men with abnormal semen parameters were treated between March, 2003 and March, 2004 with 3 g of CarnitilR daily for 3 months. Changes in semen parameters were evaluated 3 months after this therapy. RESULTS: The mean age was 34.2 years and the mean follow-up duration was 3.7 months. In asthenospemic patients (n=28), semen analysis before and after CarnitilR treatment showed an increase in volume (2.64+/-1.65 ml vs. 3.10+/-1.60 ml), motility (35.1+/-17.7% vs. 45.9+/-20.4%) and viability (51.4+/-20.3% vs. 59.3+/-13.6%) respectively. In oligoasthenospermic patients (n=16), semen analysis before and after CarnitilR treatment showed an increase in sperm count (10.7+/-54.4 million/ml vs. 38.4+/-32.5 million/ml) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that in idiopathic oligoasthenospermic men the empirical medical therapy with acetylcarnitine may be considered as primary treatment.
Acetylcarnitine* ; Carnitine ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; Male ; Semen ; Semen Analysis ; Sperm Count

This study was performed to assess the accuracy of 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy(MRS) in the evaluation of myocardial ischemia in cats. Twelve cats underwent myocardial ischemia and reperfusion induced by 90 minutes ligation followed by 90 minutes recirculation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). MRS was performed using a 4.7T Biospec MRS/MRI system (Bruker, Switzerland). An inner diameter 1.5cm-sized doubly tuned surface coli was used for the collection of the MR signal. The coli was implanted to the epicardial surface at the expected area of infarction. 31P MRS was acquired before and during the periods of ischemia and reperfusion with 5-minute to 30-minute of intervals. After completion of the 31P MRS study, animals were sacrificed and the hearts were excised for 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTG0 histochemical staining. The area of infarct was measured on the photographs of TTG stained heart slices using a computer programmed planimetry and the results were compared with those of the 31P MRS study. The level of phosphocreatine (PCr) was decreased to 28.2±6.9% of the baseline level 90 minutes after occlusion and recovered to 43.8±4.8% of the baseline level at the end of the reperfusion. A 50% depletion of PCr was reached 5 minutes after the LAD occlusion. The ATP was decreased to a 26.6±3.6% of the baseline level 90 minutes after occlusion and recovered to a 35.9±6.0 of the baseline level 90 minutes after reperfusion. The decreasing rate of ATP was slower than that of PCr showing a 50% of depletion 15 minutes after occlusion. The PCr/ATP ratio was 1.16±0.09 at the baseline, decreased to 0.88±0.07 at 30 minutes of occlusion, and then progressively increased during the late ischemic and reperfused periods. The ratio of the infarcted area to the effective signal area of the surface coli was inversely correlated to the ATP (r=0.68) and PCr (r=0.40) levels obtained at the end of reperfusion. In conclusion, 31P MRS reflects the changes in myocardial high energy phosphorous metabolism during the actue ischemia and reperfusion. If on adequate localization technique is feasible, 31P MRS can be used clinically in the diagnosis and monitoring of the patients with acute myocardial infarction.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Animals ; Cats* ; Coronary Vessels ; Diagnosis ; Heart ; Humans ; Infarction ; Ischemia ; Ligation ; Metabolism ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Phosphocreatine ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reperfusion ; Spectrum Analysis*

There are several EKG changes in cerebrovascular disease(CVD). The wide prominent of inverted T wave is frequently developed in patients with CVD. There were case reports for CVD in patient with ST-segment elevation without myocardial infarction, but the exact mechanism is unknown. EKG abnormalities associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage were first described by Byer et al, in 1947.1 We report the case of 72 years old female patient who developed subarachnoid hemorrhage and intraventricular hemorrhage with ST-segment elevation.
Aged ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Rats* ; Urinary Bladder*

No abstract available.
Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins*

Granuloma is a chronic inflammatory process associated with non-infectious agents or infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. It is well known that AFB staining, which has been used to determine the etiology of the granulomatous inflammation, lacks both sensitivity and specificity. Due to the slow growth rate of most pathogenic mycobacteria, culturing of organisms can take up to eight weeks. It is not uncommon for specific therapy to be delayed, or for an inappropriate treatment be given to patients without mycobacterial infections or with infections caused by atypical mycobacteria. Determination of the causative agent in Papanicolaou stained cytology specimens gives pathologists even more difficulties when only necrotic material has been aspirated from the center of the granuloma. In recent years, the use of a polymerase chain reaction for the amplification of DNA has appeared promising in terms of speed, efficiency, sensitivity, and specificity. Since a polymerase chain reaction permits the sensitive genetic analysis of small amounts of tissue, it is ideally suited to the genetic analysis of cytologic specimens. A polymerase chain reaction is easily performed on unfixed and unstained cells, however, an analysis of ethanol fixed and Papanicolaou-stained archival smears has also been described. We have recently established a method to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis organism by a nested polymerase chain reaction with primers in the insertion sequence IS 6110, using cellular digests of ethanol-fixed and Papanicolaou-stained archival specimens aspirated from the lymph nodes, lungs, thyroid, etc. Inhibitors present in Papanicolaou stained material was removed by destaining the slides with 0.5% HCl solution for 10-30 minutes. Eight out of ten cases which have shown the epithelioid granulomas revealed a positive reaction and four out of ten cases which have shown lymphohistiocytic cells in a necrotic background without any evidence of granuloma revealed a positive reaction. This study showed that it was possible to employ a polymerase chain reaction to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Papanicolaou stained archival cytology specimens.
Communicable Diseases ; DNA* ; Ethanol ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Mycobacterium* ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroid Gland ; Tuberculosis

The reservoir hosts of Thelazia callipaeda were examined. The eyes of the 76 dogs raised at farm, 78 military dogs (shepherds), 96 cattle, and 105 pigs were investigated for the presence of eyeworm. Among them, six worms of T. callipaeda were collected from two dogs raised at farm (2.7%), and 188 worms from 26 shepherds (33.5%). No worms were recovered from the cattle or pigs. These results suggest that the dogs, especially the military dogs are serving as a reservoir host of T. callipaeda. in Korea.
Animals ; Cattle ; Disease Reservoirs/*veterinary ; Dog Diseases/epidemiology/*parasitology ; Dogs ; Eye/parasitology ; Female ; *Host-Parasite Interactions ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Prevalence ; Spirurida Infections/epidemiology/parasitology/*veterinary ; Swine ; Thelazioidea/*isolation & purification

During a 3 month period in 1984, 12 patients undergoing scheduled valvular replacement were Studied by CK and CK-MB isoenzyme to evaluate the myocardial damage during open heart operation. Total creatine kinase value was 58.3+/-25.6 u/L at control, 59.8+/-23.5 u/L at prebypass period, 85.5+/-49.6 U/L at during bypass period, 20.2+/-87.6 at postbypass period respectively. It began to rise in prebypass period and showed higtest level in postbypass period. CK-MB value was low in most cases below 20 U/L but in 2 patients postbypass period showed high level which above 40U/L. Initial isoenzyme activity was detected in 2 patients prior to anesthesia, in 2patients prior to bypass, in 5 patients during bypass, and in all others after termination of bypass. Considering above data we concluded that anesthetic management during prebypass period and myocardial preservation during bypass period required more proper and aggressive management despite of good operation results.
Anesthesia ; Creatine Kinase* ; Creatine* ; Heart ; Heart Valve Diseases* ; Humans

Acardiac twinning affects 1 in 100 monozygotic twin pregnancies and 1 in 35,000 pregnancies overall. This condition is characterized by the absence or rudimentary development of fetal heart, and associated with various anomaly. The presence of an acardiac twin requires the normal (or "pump") twin to provide circulation for itself, as well as the acardiac sibling. The acardiac malformations are uniformly fatal in the affected twin, and mortality in the co-twin is as high as 55%. The principal perinatal problems associated with acardiac twinning are pump-twin congestive heart failure, maternal hydramnios, and preterm delivery. We recently experienced a case of acardius anceps associated with a normal male infant, so present with a brief review of the literature.
Fetal Heart ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mortality ; Polyhydramnios ; Pregnancy ; Siblings ; Twins, Monozygotic