No abstract available.
Ultrasonography, Prenatal*

OBJECTIVE: Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene is involved in various neuroendocrine reproductive activities and its principal areas of expression are hypothalamus and pituitary gland. However, as it is known as low copy gene, detection of its expression by in situ hybridization is challenging. This study was to examine the degree of basal expression of POMC mRNA and anatomic localization of its expression in rat hypothalamus and pituitary gland as a preliminary study for related reproductive endocrine researches. METHODS: Hypothalamus and pituitary gland of ovariectomized female Spraque-Dawley rat (weight: 250-300 g) was obtained by decapitation with preservation of POMC mRNA by cardiac perfusion of 4% paraformaldehyde. Then, coronal sections of hypothalamus and horizontal sections of pituitary gland were made after paraffin embedding. For in situ hybridization, 35S-labeled antisense RNA probe was used and after in situ hybridization reaction and serial washing procedure, detection of its signal was made by emulsion autoradiography of slide and dark field microscopic examination was done for photographic documentation. Anatomic localization of various nucleus of hypothalamus was done by method proposed by Paxinos and Watson1. RESULTS: Strong expression signal of POMC mRNA was detected in the intermediate lobe of pituitary gland. Less strong, but evenly distributed signals were also detected in the anterior lobe of pituitary gland. In hypothalamic sections, entire area of arcuate nucleus from rostral to caudal direction (between bregma -2.80 mm to bregma -4.30 mm area) showed clear and strong signal of POMC mRNA expression. CONCLUSION: Though POMC gene is known as low copy gene, its basal mRNA expression in pituitary gland and hypothalamus in ovariectomized rat were detectable by in situ hybridization technique. As subpopulation of arcuate nucleus are under complex differential regulation, this in situ hybridization model would be helpful for understanding the effects of various regulatory factors on expression of POMC gene in the specific anatomic area of hypothalamus and pituitary gland.
Animals ; Arcuate Nucleus ; Autoradiography ; Decapitation ; Female ; Humans ; Hypothalamus* ; In Situ Hybridization* ; Paraffin Embedding ; Perfusion ; Pituitary Gland* ; Pituitary Gland, Anterior ; Pituitary Gland, Intermediate ; Pro-Opiomelanocortin* ; Rats* ; RNA, Antisense ; RNA, Messenger

The recent introduction of chemotherapy in the treatment of gynecological malignancies has gained wide acceptance along with prstoperative and prostperative adjuvant therapy and with preradiation and concurrent chemoradiation therapy. But, the side effects of chemotherapy including bleeding and infection due to, bone marrow suppression have reaulted in delayed treatment and a reduction in the chemotherspeutic agent used. Recent efforts overcome this bone marrow suppression have led to development of the various human colony-stimulating factor indluding recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. The author investigated the clinical benefita and toxicity of G-CSF used during chemotherapy of various gynecological malignancies at the Departent of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Hanyang University between August, 1991 and July, 1992. The results were as follows ; 1. An increase in the number of neutrophils following a single injection of G-CSF was noted in 19 out of 21 cases(600~1,000/mm3 before injection, 4,500~12,000/mm3 after injection). The remaining 2 cases showed an increase after 3~5 continuous injections. 2. To assess the increase in neutrophils according to the dosage of G-CSF given, 100 and 300microgram/m* of G-CSF were injected in each trial of chemotherapy in a single case of ovarian cancer. The results were a 1.5 time increase when injected when injected with 300microgram/m*. 3. After injecting into a patient with recurrent endometrial cancer who was managed with 15gm of ifosfamide, 50gm of cis-platinum, 50gm of adriamycin and 3gm of mesna following surgery, no evidence of neutropenia could be found after 4days of prophylactic G-CSF injections. 4. Patients with cervix cancer with metastasis to the lung were first treated with GM-CSF in one trial and G-CSF in the nest. Patients treated with Gm-CSF for a period of 7 days showed leukocytosis(3,600/mm3) but the number was reduced to 1,400/mm3 after 7 days. On the other hand, patients treated with G-CSF showed an increase of 5,700/mm3 within one day and this figure did not decrease until 20 days later. 5. The toxic effects of G-CSF included on case of severe back pain was easily managed by administration acetaminophen. Others were headache, chills, general weakness and redness of the oral mucosa and injection area. Most of these symptoms disappeared within 2 days. The G-CSF is effective in neutropenia during chemotherapy thereby decreasing the incidence of treatment delay or dose reduction. It also increases the amount of chemotherapeutic agent administered and its toxicity is more tolerable making a rigid systemic chemotherapeutic regime possible.
Acetaminophen ; Back Pain ; Bone Marrow ; Chills ; Cisplatin ; Colony-Stimulating Factors ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy* ; Endometrial Neoplasms ; Female ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Gynecology ; Hand ; Headache ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Ifosfamide ; Incidence ; Leukopenia* ; Lung ; Mesna ; Mouth Mucosa ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Obstetrics ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Fanconi's anemia(FA) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by aplastic anemia and congenital malformations. As up to 30% of patients have no physical stigmata, the modern diagnosis of FA rests on chromosomal breakage of patient's cells induced by chemical clastogens such as diepoxybutane(DEB) or mitomycin-C(MMC). METHODS: We reviewed the clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, diagnostic methods, treatment and outcome of 6 patients diagnosed to have a FA at the Chonnam University Hospital for the last 6 years. RESULTS: Six cases(16.2 %) were found to have FA among 37 aplastic children who were diagnosed during the same period. The mean age at diagnosis was 6.3 years which was the usual onset of hematologic findings. All patients had features of aplastic anemia, and had one or more anomalies, such as low birth weight, hyperpigmentation, cafeau-lait spots, mental retardation, developmental delay, peculiar face(broad nasal bases, epicanthal folds, micrognathia), polydactyly, microcephaly, short stature, and dislocation of hip. We found increased breaks in cultured cells with DEB and MMC in 5 cases tested. The median duration of follow-up was 30 months. Oxymetholone and prednisolone treatment was partially beneficial in three cases. Immunosuppressive treatment with ALG/ATG was not successful in two cases tried. Four cases are living now, without transfusion in three. Two patients were died of disseminated fungal infection and transplant-related problems, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Fanconi's anemia should be sought carefully in any patients with aplastic anemia because the prognosis, treatment modality, and the approach to bone marrow transplantation are quite different when the hematologic disorder is inherited rather than acquired.
Anemia, Aplastic ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Cells, Cultured ; Child ; Christianity ; Chromosome Breakage ; Diagnosis ; Dislocations ; Fanconi Anemia* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip ; Humans ; Hyperpigmentation ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Intellectual Disability ; Jeollanam-do ; Microcephaly ; Mitomycin ; Mutagens ; Oxymetholone ; Polydactyly ; Prednisolone ; Prognosis

Since 1970, the group B streptococcus(GBS) has been a significant cause of neonatal sepsis in the West. Two distinct forms of disease occur in neonates. Early-onset disease which occurs within 7 days after birth is characterized by respiratory distress, apnea, shock, pneumonia, and occasionally meningitis. Late onset disease usually occurs at 3-4 weeks of age(ranging from 7 days to 3 months) and presents occult bacteremia or meningitis. The GBS is thought to be a rare causative agent for neonatal sepsis in Korea. Lately, we experience a case of early-onset GBS sepsis who died at 3rd day of life. We present this case with brief review of literatures.
Apnea ; Bacteremia ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Meningitis ; Parturition ; Pneumonia ; Sepsis* ; Shock

Doppler sonography has been introduced to evaluate uterine and ovarian diseases. It has been reported to be used to distinguish benign from malignant adnexal masses. The purpose of this study was to assess the blood flow characteristics of adnexal masses and to determine the optimal cut-off points for the Doppler indices obtained, resistance index and pulsatility index, to best differentiate benign from malignant lesions. We performed pulsed Doppler ultrasound in seventy-eight adnexal masses between February 1989 and June 1994. The pulsatility and resistance index were calculated from the waveforms generated from blood flow within the ovary. There were 51 benign and 27 malignant histologically proved ovarian lesions. All women have been operated on. The results were as follows ; Benign tumors and cysts had a significantly higher pulsatility index(mean, 1.23+/-0.74; range, 4.46-3.36) and resistance index(mean, 0.64+/-0.19; range 0.34-1.43) than did malignant tumors(pulsatility index : mean, 0.87+/-0.49; range, 0.31-2.27; resistance index : mean, 0.50+/-17; range, 0.23-0.8). However, some overlap in individual values for benign and malignant lesions was found. In conclusion, our data suggest that high pulsatility and resistance indices may indicate benign adnexal masses ; however, considerable overlap in pulsatility and resistance indices between benign and malignant lesions were noted, and further work will be needed before the validity of these factors is proved.
Female ; Humans ; Ovarian Diseases ; Ovary ; Ultrasonography

Previous studies have shown that the cancer cell lines secrete multiple cytokines, such as macrophage colony-stimulating factor(M-CSF), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor(GM-CSF), interleukin-l(IL-1), interleukin-2(IL-2), interleukin-6(IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha). We evaluated the levels of IL-2, IL-6, and TNF-alpha in the ascites of 23 patients with ovarian cancer. These levels were then compared with cytokine concentration found in 10 patients who had benign ascites and also studied the relation between levels of cytokines and clinical parameters. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to determine the levels of cytokines in ascitic fluids. The median age of the group was 56, and the median follow-up time was 24 months. The levels of IL-2 was not elevated in ascites of ovarian cancer(30.5 vs 37.2 pg/ml, p=0.083), 1 he levels of TNF-alpha in the ascites with ovarian cancer were higher when compared with ascites of benign disease and was nearly approached statistically significant(91.0+/-20.7 vs 440.2+/-117.9pg/ml, p=0.058). Significantly higher IL-6 levels were detected in patients ascites compared with ascites with benign disease(354.3+/-42.9 vs 5,605+/-1,137pg/ml, p=0.006). IL-6 and TNF-a levels in ascites did not correlate statistically with tumor volume, histologic type or with survival time. IL-6 levels did not correlated statistically with volume of ascites. IL-6 and TNF-a levels did not correlated either. Circulating platelet counts in patients with ovarian cancer were significantly higher than in patients with benign conditions (282.6+/-5 vs 388.4+/-21.2x-10(9)/l, p=0.003). Thrombocytosis(platelet counts>400x10(9)/l) occured in 35%(8/23) of the cases with ovarian cancer. IL-6 levels in ascites correlated signi-ficantly with circulating platelet counts(R=0.427, p=0.042). This study showed that the patients with ovarian cancer have elevated levels of IL-6 in ascites. IL-6 levels were not correlate with disease status in patients with ovarian cancer. However, the correlation was found between IL-6 levels and thrombocytosis. This observation suggest a role for IL-6 in the development of tumor-associated thrombocytosis. A larger study would help in evaluating the potential biological roles and use of cytokines as tumor markers in ovarian cancer.
Ascites* ; Ascitic Fluid ; Blood Platelets ; Cell Line ; Cytokines ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-6 ; Macrophages ; Necrosis* ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Platelet Count ; Thrombocytosis ; Tumor Burden ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

To study the effect of anticancer drugs on the RESFunction, cyclophosphamide and 6-mercaptopurine were intramuscularly injected and evaluated the reticuloendotherial phagocytic activity by the carbon clearence method in rats. Experimental groups were subdivided by the dosage, into the small and large dosage groups, and by the duration of treatment, into the 1, 3, 5 days and 8days (3 days cessation after 5 days treatment) groups. The results obtained were as follow. 1. Cyclophosphamide-treated groups showed the splenic atrophy which was in proportion to duration of treatment. RES phagocytic activities seemed to be slightly increased in large groups, but to be within normal ranges in ranges in small dosage groups, which were normalized in the 8 days groups. 2. 6-Mercaptopurine-treated groups didn't show the hepatic and splenic alterations significantly. RES phagocytic activities were variably changed as in triphagic curve fashion in both small and large dosage subgroups of 1, 3, 5 days treated groups, which were normalized in the 8 days groups.
6-Mercaptopurine* ; Animals ; Atrophy ; Carbon ; Cyclophosphamide* ; Rats* ; Reference Values

No abstract available.
Ovarian Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinicopathologic characteristics of the torsion of the ovarian tumor in postmenopausal women. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 20 postmenopausal patients with a postoperative diagnosis of torsion of the ovarian tumor in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hanyang University Hospital from January 1989 to December 1998. RESULTS: The postmenopausal patients with torsion of the ovarian tumor constitute 20/94 (21.3%) of all adnexal torsion patients encountered during this period. The mean (+/-SD) age of the 20 patients was 63.5+/-9.0 years, with a range of 52-90 years. The mean time since menopause was 16.5+/-10.3 years, with a range of 1-39 years. The mean parity was 5.4+/-2.0 (range of 3-10). Lower abdominal pain (65%) was the most frequently presenting symptom, palpable mass(20%) or diagnosed mass(15%) being the second. But, in 20% of cases there was no lower abdominal pain. The torsion occurred at the right side in 11cases (55%) and at the left side in 9 cases. The most frequent degree of torsion was those cases that was rotated twice (720 degrees). The neoplasms undergoing torsion ranged in diameter between 5cm and 30cm and the most prevalent size was 6 to 10 cm (8 cases). Most of the patients (17cases) were treated by total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. The tumors that produce torsion varied histologically and the most common type was cystic teratoma (in 5 cases), simple cyst(in 3 cases), serous cystadenoma(in 2 cases), mucinous cystadenoma(in 2 cases). CONCLUSIONS: In our study, ovarian tumor torsion occurring in postmenopausal patients constituted approximately 20% of all torsion patients, therefore adnexal torsion should be considered when a postmenopausal woman presents with lower abdominal pain. When torsion is diagnosed, total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy is the usual treatment for postmenopausal patients. Histologically, in more than 90% of cases, the tumors that produce torsion were benign. If cancer is evident, more extensive surgery is required.
Abdominal Pain ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Medical Records ; Menopause ; Mucins ; Obstetrics ; Parity ; Teratoma