No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Bowen's Disease ; Foot

Coronary spasm may be induced by a variety of physiologic and pharmacologic stimuli but specific receptor blockade has not been consistently shown to prevent the attacks. Most patients with variant angina respond well to treatment with calcium antagonists and nitrates. A small proportion of patients are refractory to this therapy. We report a case of the patient with a 9-year-history of variant angina who has been refractory to high doses of calcium antagonists and nitrates. The repeated addition of clonidine was consistently effective in abolishing both symptoms and objective evidence of myocardial ischemia in this particular patient.
Calcium ; Clonidine* ; Humans ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Nitrates ; Spasm

Alcoholic liver disease(ALD)represents a wide spectrum of disease from simple steatosis to cirrhosis.Although there have been multiple attempts to treat ALD,its treatment is still based on abstinence from alcohol and using corticosteroids in specified cases.However,nearly 40％of patients with ALD who are in need of treatment are unresponsive to the current treatments,which implies a new paradigm shift for the treatment of ALD.Traditionally,earlier studies have focused on the abnormal metabolism occurring in the hepatocytes as a protagonist in the pathogenesis of ALD.However,increasing evidence suggests that non-parenchymal cells,such as hepatic stellate cells(HSCs),Kupffer cells,liver sinusoidal endo-thelial cells,and immune cells around the hepatocytes have critical roles in multiple stages of ALD either by direct or indirect cell-to-cell interactions.For instance,in the early stage of ALD,Kupffer cells and HSCs located closely to hepatocytes contribute to the development of alcoholic steatosis and inflammation through the secretion of various inflammatory cytokines(immunologic pathways)and the activation of the endocannabinoid system(metabolic pathways).While the stage of ALD progresses to alcoholic hepatitis and fibrosis,various cell-to-cell interactions with infiltrating immune cells become highly significant at the multicellular level.This review explains the diverse roles of non-parenchymal cells in the progression of ALD,as well as potential therapeutic strategies to treat ALD.

PURPOSE: We designed this study to identify and suggest the reasonable timing of adjuvant radiotherapy in the treatment of uterine carcinosarcoma according to the surgical intent and patterns of progression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed a total of 50 carcinosarcoma patients diagnosed between 1995 and 2010. Among these 50 patients, 32 underwent curative surgery and 13 underwent maximal tumor debulking surgery. The remaining five patients underwent biopsy only. Twenty-six patients received chemotherapy, and 15 patients received adjuvant radiotherapy. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 17.3 months. Curative resection (p < 0.001) and stage (p < 0.001) were statistically significant factors affecting survival. During follow-up, 30 patients showed progression. Among these, eight patients (16.0%) had loco-regional progression only. The patients who had received adjuvant radiotherapy did not show loco-regional progression, and radiotherapy was a significant negative risk factor for loco-regional progression (p = 0.01). The time to loco-regional progression was much earlier for non-curative than curative resection (range, 0.7 to 7.6 months vs. 7.5 to 39.0 months). CONCLUSION: Adjuvant radiotherapy in the treatment of carcinosarcoma might be related to a low loco-regional progression rate. Radiotherapy should be considered in non-curatively resected patients as soon as possible.
Biopsy ; Carcinosarcoma ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors

The present study was performed to evaluate the effect of sulfhydryl compounds, cysteine and glutathione, on the size of melanosomes and the ratio of melanosormai stages of epidermal melanocytes in UV-irradiated black mice. The results were as follows; 1. Both of cysteine and glutathione showed significant diminution in the short axis of melanosomes and the percentage of stage 4 melanosomes of epidermal melanocytes in C57BL black mice skin. 2. The length of short axis of melanosomes in glutathione-treated group is smaller than those in cysteine-treated group at the end of 3rd week of intraperitoneal injection. The percentage of stage IV melanosomes significantly decreased in glutathione-treated group and cysteine-treated group at the end of 3rd week and 5th week respectively. 3. In glutathione-treated group, the short axis of melanosomes and the percentage of stage 4 melanosomes both decreased in proportional to the period of intraperitoneal in]ection.
Animals ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Cysteine ; Glutathione ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Melanocytes* ; Melanosomes ; Mice* ; Skin ; Sulfhydryl Compounds*

To compare the differences between hemodialysis and essential hypertension patients and its affecting factors of left ventricular hypertrophy and left ventricular systolic dysfucntion in patients with hemodialysis, M-mode and two dimensional echocardiography were performed in 77 essential hypertension without azotemia and 78 chronic renal failure patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis. M-mode measurement including LV mass (192.56+/-63.6g vs 300.01+/-95.99g, P=0.000), r/th (radius/LV thickness, 4.41+/-0.97 vs 4.74+/-1.0, P=0.039), LV dimemsion and fractional shortening (4.68+/-0.6 vs 5.63+/-0.97, P=0.000, 30.0+/-19.7% vs 36.6+/-97%, P=0.000 respectively) showed more severe eccentric LV hypertrophy and LV dysfunction in patients with hemodialysis than those of essential hypertension. Using Pearson correlation in hemodialysis patients, Interdialytic weight gain was positively correlated with LVEDD (r=0.318, P=0.005). In addition to the determinant, serum PTH level was negatively (r=-0.344, P=0.002) and Kt/V (r= 0.0487, P=0.003) was positively correalated with systolic function. The hypertension and dialysis duration, patient's age, had no relationship with LV function and mass in this study. In Conclusion, LV hypertrophy and LV systolic dysfunction occur more frequently in hemodialysis patients than in essential hypertension patients. And the LV systolic dysfunction, which is acutally related with the patient's quality of life, was partially explained by serum parathyroid level and Kt/V. But additional laboratory and prospective clinical studies are needed to further elucidate the mechanisms involved in the development of LVH and LV impairment in hemodialysis patients.
Azotemia ; Dialysis ; Echocardiography* ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Hypertrophy ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Quality of Life ; Renal Dialysis* ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left ; Weight Gain

BACKGROUND: The Soonchunhyang University Hospital Bloodless Center was established in 2000, and more than 2,000 bloodless surgeries have been performed there since. In this study, the lowest postoperative Hb/preoperative Hb (Hblow/pre) ratio and mortality rates of patients who underwent bloodless surgery were analyzed for each maximum surgical blood order schedule (MSBOS) category to assess whether MSBOS can be used as a predictor of successful completion of bloodless surgery. METHODS: A total of 971 patients were included. MSBOS was defined as the average number of units of RBCs transfused during each elective surgery. We used the Hblow/pre ratio as an alternative to intraoperative blood loss. Frequency of Hblow/pre ratios < or =0.5, use of transfusion alternatives, and mortality rates were compared across MSBOS categories. RESULTS: Out of the 971 patients, 701 (72.2%) were categorized as type and screen (T&S), 184 (18.9%) as MSBOS 1, 64 (6.6%) as MSBOS 2, and 22 (2.3%) as MSBOS 4. Transfusion alternatives were used by 397 (40.9%) patients. The frequency of the use of simultaneous erythropoietin and iron, hemostatics, acute normovolemic hemodilution, and Cell Saver (Haemonetics corp., USA) was higher in patients in the higher MSBOS categories. Six (0.6%) patients died within 30 days of surgery. Hblow/pre ratios tended to be lower as the level of MSBOS category increased. CONCLUSIONS: Surgeries in the higher MSBOS categories tended to be associated with high blood loss and mortality. Active use of transfusion alternatives is recommended in patients in high MSBOS categories who are scheduled to undergo bloodless surgery.
Blood Loss, Surgical/mortality/prevention & control ; Bloodless Medical and Surgical Procedures/*methods/mortality ; Erythropoietin/therapeutic use ; Hemodilution ; Hemoglobins/analysis ; Hemostatics/therapeutic use ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Iron/therapeutic use ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Tertiary Care Centers

No abstract available.
Hand* ; Regional Blood Flow*

No abstract available.