STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study. SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW: The reports comparing short- and long-segment instrumentation are insufficient. OBJECTIVES: To determine the postoperative results and to analyze relative factors affecting results between short- and long-segment instrumentation in thoracolumbar fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From March 2006 to March 2012, 97 patients with thoracolumbar fracture were treated with posterior instrumentation. They were divided into 2 groups, the short- (Group I) and long-segment groups (Group II). To analyze factors affecting results, several factors including age, anterior column height (ACH), and the kyphotic angle were reviewed. For radiologic evaluation, postoperative and follow-up radiographs were evaluated by measuring the kyphotic angle and ACH. Additionally, the presence of complications was reviewed. RESULTS: Groups I and II consisted of 45, 52 cases and had mean ages of 50.3, 55.8 years, respectively. In Group I, the ACH increased from 44.2% to 75.3% postoperatively, and remained 72.8% at follow-up. The kyphotic angle decreased from 19.4degrees to 10.6degrees postoperatively, and remained at 12.8degrees at follow-up. In Group II, the ACH recovered from 41.6% to 76.4% postoperatively, and was 74.8% at follow-up. The kyphotic angle decreased from 21.6degrees to 12.6degrees postoperatively, and was 13.9degrees at follow-up. The canal compromise, age, and comminution were not directly related with results. However, the mean age of the 7 cases showing complications was 72 years, and the 7 cases had severe comminuted fractures. CONCLUSIONS: The short- and long-segment instrumentations of thoracolumbar fractures are not significantly different with respect to the results attained. However, in order to decrease complications, we should pay attention to age and fracture comminution.
Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Comminuted ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVES: The present study was designed to determine the characteristics of shift work and the relationship between shift work and the level of self-rated health using the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) data, which represents urban households in Korea. METHODS: Using the 9th wave of KLIPS, this study analyzed 2,087 male workers aged 25 to 64 years; participants missing data were excluded from analysis. To determine the impact of shift work on the level of self-rated health, logistic regression analysis was applied that controlled for socio-demographic characteristics, labor environment, and health-related behaviors. RESULTS: Shift workers comprised 13.4% of study subjects overall. The majority(69.2%) of participants were in 2-teams and in 2-shifts. Week 1 shift cycle changes were the highest, 56.3%. The risk of poor self-rated health was not significantly higher among shift workers compared to non-shift workers (OR=1.08, 95% CI=0.79~1.48). When divided by tenure, shift workers with more than 10-years experience (OR=1.79, 95% CI=0.91~3.50) tended to show greater risk than non-shift workers at marginal significance. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, a significantly higher risk of self-rated poor health among shift workers was not observed. However, shift workers with more than 10-years experience tended to show increased health risk compared to non-shift workers. Further studies are required to determine time-series data and to consider both healthy worker effect and information bias.
Aged ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Family Characteristics ; Healthy Worker Effect ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Male

BACKGROUND: In order to characterize human antibodies with specificity for mite allergens at the molecular level, a scFv phage display library was constructed using peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes from an asthma patient allergic to mite as Ig gene sources. METHODS: Immunoglobulin VH and V gene fragments were obtained by polymerase chain reaction, and randomly combined in pCANTAB-5E vector. The resulting human scFv phage display library had 3 X 10(4) independent clones, and biopanning was performed with house dust mite extracts. RESULTS: Four scFv clones specific for house dust mite extract were isolated. Immunoblot assay showed that our clones reacted to 25 kDa and 50~60 kDa proteins with unknown identity in mite extracts. Sequence analysis indicated that two clones (b7 and c15) are identical, and all clones belong to human VH3 subgroup. On the other hand, light chain usage was different in that two clones (a2 and b7/c15) belonging to V kappa 4 subgroup, but a4 used V kappa 1 light chain gene. CONCLUSION: Our approach should facilitate provision of useful information on the antibody responses against allergens at the molecular level in humans.
Allergens ; Antibodies ; Antibody Formation ; Asthma* ; Bacteriophages* ; Clone Cells ; Dust* ; Genes, Immunoglobulin ; Hand ; Humans* ; Immunoglobulins ; Lymphocytes ; Mites ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pyroglyphidae* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sequence Analysis ; Single-Chain Antibodies*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the multidimensional constructs of the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) in patients with cancer, employing not only the commonly used multitrait scaling analysis and interscale correlations, but also the factorial and multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 334 Korean cancer patients participated in this cross-sectional study. All patients completed the QLQ-C30. RESULTS: With the multitrait scaling analysis, the cognitive functioning scale did not meet item convergent and divergent validities. With the interscale correlations, the physical and role functioning scales were found to be highly correlated; this was also evident in the factorial analysis. The MDS showed that each item within the social, emotional, global health status/quality of life, and nausea/ vomiting scales were clustered close together, but far from those of the other scales. CONCLUSION: The authors conclude that the four way evaluation of the QLQ-C30 produced results that supported the original hypothesized constructs. However, the physical and role functioning scales were not distinctive, and that of the cognitive functioning was somewhat problematic in the Korean population with cancer.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Quality of Life* ; Vomiting ; Weights and Measures ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to explore the association between shift work and the bone mineral density in a representative sample of Korean workers. METHODS: He data from the Fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008-2009) was used. The participants were Korean workers aged 16 to 60 years. Logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the association between shift work and the bone mineral density after controlling for covariates using the SAS version 9.3 package program. RESULTS: The blood vitamin D level in shift workers was significantly lower than that of day workers in both males and females. In male shift workers, shift work was significantly associated with a decreased bone mineral density in the femoral neck (odds ratio(OR) 1.42, 95% confidence interval(CI)=1.05~1.92) and lumbar spine (OR 1.53, 95% CI=1.09~2.15) compared to day workers. After controlling for covariates, this association was still significant. In the case of female shift workers, shift work was significantly related to a decreased bone mineral density in the total femur (OR 2.84, 95% CI=1.69~4.79) and lumbar spine (OR 1.58, 95% CI=1.12~2.24). After controlling for covariates, this risk was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The blood vitamin D level of shift workers was significantly lower than that of day workers. In male shift workers, shift work can decrease the bone mineral density in the femoral neck and lumbar spine. Prospective studies with information on the shift work intensity and duration and exposuredata to explain mechanisms will be needed.
Aged ; Bone Density ; Female ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Phenothiazines ; Spine ; Vitamin D ; Work Schedule Tolerance

Cancer cachexia, characterized by weight loss and progressive tissue wasting, has been postulated to be mediated by cytokines. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Korean Traditional Medicine (KTM ; mokhyang, jisil, osooyu) mixture on food intake, blood cytokines level and blood nutrients status of the cachexia induced-mice. Thirty male Balb/c mice aged 6-8 weets were blocked into 3 groups that were Normal (no colon26 cells) Control (colon 26 cells) and KTM (colon26 cells + KTM extract mixture) group. In Control and KTM groups, murine adenocarcinoma colon 26 cells were injected subcutaneously to induce cachexia. KTM mice were given 200 ul KTM extract mixture (7%) per day. Half of each groups were sacrificed at the 14 th day to see serum cytokines & nutrients and the others were fed until almost of control group died to see life span. food intake and body weight were decreased significantly in cachexia induced groups. Tumor weight of KTM group was significantly lower than control group. Serum cytokines (IL-1beta and TNF-alpha) level of cachexia induced groups were increased than those of normal group, and those of KTM group were significantly lower than the level of control group. Total serum protein and serum albumin were higher in KTM group than other groups. TG and fatty acid were lower in cachexia induced groups than normal group. HDL-cholesterol in serum was increased in KTM group. Effect of oral administration of KTM extract mixture on survival time of colon26 bearing mice showed extension of the life span. Overall, this study showed that KTM (mokhyang, jisil, osooyu) extract mixture inhibited the growth of cancer cell, changed the secretion of cytokines induced by colon26 adenocarcinoma in mice, and changed nutrition metabolism.
Adenocarcinoma ; Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Body Weight ; Cachexia* ; Colon ; Cytokines ; Eating* ; Humans ; Interleukin-1beta ; Male ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Medicine, Korean Traditional* ; Metabolism* ; Mice ; Serum Albumin ; Tumor Burden ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Weight Loss

BACKGROUND: Based on outstanding progresses in animal experiments, vaccines for some human tumors have been developed. However, clinical effects of these vaccines have been far below than expected. This discrepancy might come from differences between animal models and human patients with respect to immunocompetency. The immune status of mice after tumor inoculation has not been well studied, which make us cautious in interpreting and applying the results from mice to human. We evaluated cell-mediated immune responses in mice after tumor cell inoculation. METHODS: Mice were inoculated with TA3Ha, CT26, or 4T1. Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses were induced 2-4 weeks after inoculation using 2,4-dinitro-1-fluorobenzene as an antigen. The relationships between the severity of DTH responses and the duration of tumor inoculation or the size of tumor mass were analyzed. RESULTS: In TA3Ha groups, DTH response was elevated 2 weeks after inoculation, but depressed after 4 weeks, compared to the control group. When analyzed based on the sizes of tumor masses elicited, DTH responses were inversely related to the mass size, especially in those greater than 10 mm in diameter. In CT26 groups, while the duration after inoculation did not affect the severity of DTH responses, those with large mass showed depressed responses regardless the duration of inoculation. 4T1 cells grew so slowly that the size of tumor mass was small even 4 weeks after inoculation, and this group showed much higher DTH responses compared to that of tumor-free group. CONCLUSION: At least in an experimental setting where tumor model was induced by inoculating tumor cell lines into immunologically competent mice, the host immune response was elevated in early stage, and then depressed in late stage when the mass grew over a critical size.
Animal Experimentation ; Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Mice* ; Models, Animal ; Vaccines

PURPOSE: Cytogenetic studies molecular genetic studies, including loss of heterozygosity (LOH) studies, have shown that deletions on the short arm of chromosome 17 (17p) distal to TP53 locus are the most common genetic events in medulloblastoma, and that these occur in 30 to 50% of medulloblastomas. We examined the occurrences and frequencies of allelic deletions on chromosome 17p13.1-13.3 by LOH analysis to investigate the possible involvement of 17p13.1-13.3 in medulloblastoma development. We also performed survival analysis to determine whether LOH analysis of 17p13.1-13.3 can be used to predict prognosis in medulloblastoma. METHOD: LOH was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on chromosome 17p13.1-13.3 using 3 microsatellite markers, TP53 on 17p13.1, D17S796 on 17p13.1-13.2 and D17S1574 on 17p13.3, in 17 medulloblastoma DNAs extracted from archival tissue specimens (cases 1~15) or fresh frozen tissue specimens (cases 16 and 17). RESULTS: Allelic deletions were detected in 5 of 17 informative cases (29%) on TP53, 8 of 17 informative cases (47%) on D17S796, and 4 of 17 informative cases (24%) on D17S1574. Overall, 9 of 17 cases (53%) showed LOH on chromosome 17p13.1-13.3. The 5-year progression free survival (PFS) and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were identical (59%). The 5-year PFS for 9 medulloblastoma patients with LOH on 17p13.1-13.3 was 56%, and the 5-year PFS for 8 medulloblastoma patients without LOH on 17p13.1-13.3 was 63%. In our survival analysis, we did not find a significant association between survival and LOH on 17p13.1-13.3. CONCLUSION: Our results support the notion that deletions of chromosome 17p13.1-13.3 may be involved in the pathogenesis of medulloblastoma. From survival analysis, we conclude that LOH on chromosome 17p13.1-13.3 may not be a significant predictor of prognosis in medulloblastoma.
Arm ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17 ; Cytogenetics ; Disease-Free Survival ; DNA ; Humans ; Loss of Heterozygosity* ; Medulloblastoma* ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Molecular Biology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prognosis

PURPOSE: In order to determine the value of first-pass MR imaging in the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia, first-pass perfusion abnormality of coronary artery stenosis was observed in MRI after gadopentate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA) enhancement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The left anterior descending (LAD) coronary arteries of six dogs were subjected to approximately 70% stenosis confirmed by coronary angiography. Half an hour after adenosine and 99mTc-sestamibi infusion, Gd-DTPA (0.2 mmol/kg) and methylene blue were administered and termination was induced with potassium chloride. SE T1-weighted and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images were subsequently obtained and the findings of perfusion defect compared with specimen stain. Three dimensionally reconstructed MR images were used to measure signal intensity (SI) of normal myocardium and perfusion defect from their sectional and total volume. RESULTS: Five of six dogs with LAD artey stenosis ranging from 66% to 73% displayed perfusion defect on MRI, SPECT, and specimen stain, but the remaining dog with stenosis of 58% showed no such defect. MRI showed the perfusion defect as distinct low SI, enabling the measurement of percentage perfusion defect (24.4+/-5.4%), which increased inferiorly. SI of normal myocardium and perfusion defect decreased inferiorly; their difference indicated stenosis-induced perfusion loss according to section location. Volumetric SI of normal myocardium and perfusion defect were 3.42+/-0.52 and 2.16+/-0.45, respectively (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Gd-DTPA enhanced MRI displayed first-pass perfusion abnormality of coronary artery stenosis as perfusion defect with distinct low SI ; this enabled the measurement of its volume and SI changes according to section location, and thus indicated the value of first-pass MR imaging in the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia.
Adenosine ; Animals ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Stenosis* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diagnosis ; Dogs ; Gadolinium DTPA* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Methylene Blue ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Myocardium ; Perfusion* ; Potassium Chloride ; Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi ; Tomography, Emission-Computed ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

Tumor necrosis factor-inducible gene 6 protein (TSG-6) has recently been shown to protect the liver from acute damage. However, the mechanism underlying the effect of TSG-6 on the liver remains unclear. Autophagy is a catabolic process that targets cell components to lysosomes for degradation, and its functions are reported to be dysregulated in liver diseases. Here we investigate whether TSG-6 promotes liver regeneration by inducing autophagic clearance in damaged livers. Mice fed a methionine choline-deficient diet supplemented with 0.1% ethionine (MCDE) for 2 weeks were injected with TSG-6 (the M+TSG-6 group) or saline (the M+V group) and fed with MCDE for 2 additional weeks. Histomorphological evidence of injury and increased levels of liver enzymes were evident in MCDE-treated mice, whereas these symptoms were ameliorated in the M+TSG-6 group. Livers from this group contained less active caspase-3 and more Ki67-positive hepatocytic cells than the M+V group. The autophagy markers ATG3, ATG7, LC3-II, LAMP2A and RAB7 were elevated in the M+TSG-6 group compared with those in the M+V group. Immunostaining for LC3 and RAB7 and electron microscopy analysis showed the accumulation of autophagy structures in the M+TSG-6 group. TSG-6 also blocked both tunicamycin- and palmitate-induced apoptosis of hepatocytes and increased their viability by inducing autophagy formation in these cells. An autophagy inhibitor suppressed TSG-6-mediated autophagy in the injured hepatocytes and livers of MCDE-treated mice. These results therefore demonstrate that TSG-6 protects hepatocytes from damage by enhancing autophagy influx and contributes to liver regeneration, suggesting that TSG-6 has therapeutic potential for the treatment of liver diseases.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Autophagy* ; Caspase 3 ; Cellular Structures ; Diet ; Ethionine ; Hepatocytes ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Regeneration ; Liver* ; Lysosomes ; Methionine ; Mice* ; Microscopy, Electron ; Necrosis*