No abstract available.
Constipation*

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to assess the effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on the menopausal symptoms of Korean women by comparing the postmenopausal symptoms before and after HRT in women who continued therapy and those who stopped. METHODS: The subjects were 40 menopausal women(24 women on continuous medication, 16 women who discontinued medication) who received HRT and were alde follow of at least 2 months later in the Department of Family Practice. The menopausal symptoms were evaluated by two doctors according to the modified Kupperman Index. RESULTS: The basic values of Kupperman Index were not significantly different between women who had received the HRT continuously and those who discontinued HRT. In women with continued HRT improved symptoms after HRT were hot flushes, sweating, fatigue, headache, tachycardia and total score of Kupperman Index. However, only vertigo and headache were improved in women who discontinued HRT. Treatment period was the single most predictor of total score of Kupperman Index after therapy. And it could explain the 44.1% of variance of total score in the direction of improvement proportional to the treatment period. CONCLUSIONS: The HRT is helpful to relieve the menopausal symptoms. And the treatment period is more important than the severity of basic symptoms to improve menopausal symptoms after therapy.
Family Practice ; Fatigue ; Female ; Headache ; Hormone Replacement Therapy* ; Humans ; Sweat ; Sweating ; Tachycardia ; Vertigo

The heart, 500g in weight, with subacute myocarditis associated with granulomatous myocarditis may be a good model for the study on the pathophysiologic mechanism of cardiac failure. Furthermore, the clinical data of this case is enough to clarify his all clinical course from admission to death due to cardiac failure. So, we analyzed the clinical data, histologic findings, and morphometric pattern of histologically intact myocardial cells and inflammatory reaction to investigate the pathophysiologic mechanism of the cardiac failure. The results were summarized as follows. 1. Clinically, the heart showed cardiac failure of diastolic phase and abnormal conduction system related to sudden cardiac death. However, it might be adapted to the relatively stable wital signs due to pericardial positive pressure by slowlyprogressed pericardial effusion. 2. The distribution pattern of area of intact myocardial cell area and inflammtion reaction showed relatively even spread of inflammatory reaction and extremely decreased area of myocardial cells to about 21% of total heart. So, its contractility might be decreased below to the 21% of the normal cardiac contractility. 3. The mechanism of the cardiac failure in myocarditis may be sudden inflammatory involvement of conduction system and/or extremely decreased myocardial cell volume due to inflammatory destruction. 4. Morphometric analysis may be a useful objective method to grading the severity of old and recent form of myocarditis. From the above results, the cardiac failure of myocarditis is influenced by the adaptability at the inflammatory abnormality of the conduction system, contractility of injured myocardial cells, and compensation activity of pericardial effusion.
Cell Size ; Compensation and Redress ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Heart ; Heart Failure* ; Myocarditis* ; Pericardial Effusion

No abstract available.
Animals ; Rats* ; Regeneration*

BACKGROUND: It is known that obesity is related to hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus. The results of study done in Korea are widely spread. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of obesity by four obesity measure methods and the risk of obesity for obesity related diseases. METHODS: This study was done for the period from May 1 to August 31, 1995 in three health care centers run by middle sized hospitals in Pusan. The total number of sampled population was 654(men 227, women 427) RESULTS: We compared obesity by sex and age according to four obesity measure methods. The results were as following . Obesity was more prevailed in women than in men for all measure methods. In women, there was significant difference according to age by Brocas Index(P =0.006), Kassura's modified formula(P=0.018) and Suh's formula(P=0.009) but in men there was no significant difference. We cornpared the laboratory test results of men and women. The test results elevated significantly in men were diastolic blood pressure(P=0.001), hemoglobin(P<0.001), aspartate aminotransferase(AST)(P=0.034), alanine aminotransferase(ALT)(P=0.011), gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase(rGT)(P<0.001). Total cholesterol was elevated significantly in women. We evaluated the correlation of age and obesity with the tests. For the age, systolic blood pressure(P<0.001), diastolic blood pressure(P=0.001), total cholesterol(P<0.001), glucose(P=0.038), AST(P<0.001) were correlated positively. For the obesity, systolic blood pressure(P<0.001), diastolic blood pressure(P<0.001), total cholesterol(P<0.001), glucose(P= 0.045), ALT(P=0.003) were correlated positively. The odds ratio of obesity for elevated blood pressure was 1.03(P=0.005), for hypercholesterolemia 1.03(P=0.001), for elevated ALT 1.03(P =0.005) for hyperglycemia 1.01(P=0.083). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found that the prevalence of obesity is higher in women than in men at 40 years old and beyond. We found that obesity is independent risk factor of elevated blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia and elevated ALT. We suggest that the clinicians be concerned in dealing with obesity.
Adult* ; Alanine ; Aspartic Acid ; Blood Pressure ; Busan ; Cholesterol ; Delivery of Health Care ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Female ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hyperglycemia ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Male ; Obesity* ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors

No abstract available.
Diagnosis* ; Ossification, Heterotopic* ; Risk Factors* ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord*

No abstract available.
Urinary Incontinence*

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to compare the effectiveness of cholesterol-lowering diet therapy instructed by physicians with that instructed by dieticians using techniques that remove regression to the mean. METHODS: 118 patients who visited the office of Family Medicine department in Pusan Paik Hospital from February to November, 1996 and had serum total cholesterol(TC) concentrations greater or equal to 200mg/dL from two measurements were enrolled. The patients were divided into two groups randomly according to the cholesterol-lowering dietary education methods : the one was educated by physicians(Group I), and the other by dieticians(Group II). We evaluated the differences of lipid levels after education in consideration of regression to the mean. RESULTS: The mean reduction in TC concentrations achieved by dietary therapy was 10.7 % and 7.3%(without and with adjustment for regression to the mean) in Group I, and 9.8 and 6.5%(without and with adjustment, for regression to the mean) in Group II. The baseline TC concentrations and TC concentrations after dietary therapy were significantly different in individual group regardless of adjustment for regression to the mean. However, the reduction degrees of TC concentrations were not significantly different between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that even after adjustment for regression to the mean, dietary therapy will achieve the expected reduction. And it seems that the diet education by physicians will be effective as much as that by dieticians.
Busan ; Diet Therapy ; Diet* ; Education ; Humans ; Nutritionists*

BACKGROUND: Recently involvenment of apoptosis, or programmed cell death, has been suggested in myocardial reperfusion injury. Free radicals are one of the inducers of apoptosis, and superoxide dismutase(SOD), a oxygen free radical scavenger, inhibits apoptotic cell death of neurons. Reperfusion of ischemic myocardium results in a burst of oxygen free radical production, however, it has not been defined that oxygen free radicals mediate apoptosis in myocardial reperfusion injury. This study was undertaken to investigate the role of oxygen free radicals by examining the inhibition of apoptosis by SOD. METHOD: New Zealand white rabbits (n=16) weighing 1.8-20kg underwent 30 minutes of left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion followed by reperfusion for 1 or 4 hours. In control group, bovine serum albumin(5mg/kg) was administered continuously via the left atrial appendage starting 10 minutes before reperfusion and ending simultaneously with reperfusion for 1 hour(n=4) or 4 hours(n=4). In SOD group, bovine erythrocyte SOD(15,000u/kg) was administered starting 10 minutes before reprefusion and ending simultaneously with reperfusion for 1 hour(n=5) or 4 hours(n=3). Ventricles were excised immediately after intervention. Tissues were fixed in 10% buffered formalin and 2.5% glutaraldehyde. Apoptosis was examined by hematoxylin and eosin(H&E) staining, in situ nick end labeling, and transmission electron microscopy. Number of apoptotic cells was evaluated semi-quantitatively on H&E stained section. RESULTS: Evidence of apoptosis was detected in every ischmia-reperfused myocardium, and apoptotic cells were found in the non-necrotic myocardium near areas of contraction band necrosis. In control group, the average number of apoptotic cells was 1.7(range 1.5-2.0)for 1 hour reperfused myocardium and 1.4(range 0.3-2.5) for 4 hours reperfused myocardium per high power field(x400). In SOD group, the average number of apoptotic cells was 0.2(range 0.2 -0.3) for 1 hour reperfused myocardium and 0.3(range 0.2-0.4) for 4 hours reperfused myocardium. There was a significant difference in the number of apoptotic cells between conrol and SOD groups (as a whole group 1.5 +/- 0.2 vs 0.3 +/- 0.1,p<0.01). CONCLUSION: SOD partially, however, singificantly inhibits apoptosis, which suggests that oxygen free radicals may induce apoptosis in ischemia-reperfused myocardium of rabbit.
Apoptosis* ; Atrial Appendage ; Cell Death ; Coronary Vessels ; Erythrocytes ; Formaldehyde ; Free Radicals ; Glutaral ; Hematoxylin ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; Myocardium* ; Necrosis ; Neurons ; Oxygen ; Rabbits ; Reperfusion ; Superoxide Dismutase* ; Superoxides*

The authors experienced a case of secondary glaucoma combined with mesodermal dysgenesis of anterior segment, which disclosed extensive peripheral iridocorneal adhesion of congenital origin while his fellow eye revealed a sclerocornea. This case is extremely rare and entirely different from the previously reported Axenfeld's and Rieger's anomalies. We report this interesting case with brief review of the literatures.
Glaucoma* ; Mesoderm*