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

We present a case of systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) asseci ted with vitiligo in a 57 year-old male patient. Physical examination revealed two distinct skin lesions those of itiligo showed as centrally located depigmented patches surrounded by erythernatous patch on the right cheek, scalp and left dorsurn of hand and those of SLE showed as erythematous papules and patchs with partial adherent scales on the face, scalp, neck, both extensor surface of arm, and left dorsun of hand. Their coexistence lends credence to the contention that altered autoimrnunity may play a role in the pathogenesis of each of these diseases. In Western countries and Japen, patients with lupus erythema osis have been observed to develop vitiligo or depigmented spots on the skin, while in Korea, its has not been previously observed.
Arm ; Cheek ; Erythema ; Hand ; Humans ; Korea ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Physical Examination ; Scalp ; Skin ; Vitiligo* ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: Obesity is a significant health problem with medical and psychological consequences for children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation between body fat percent using bioelectrical impedance(BI) and other variable methods. METHODS: We measured height, weight, body mass index(BMI) and body fat percent by skinfold thickness(ST) and BI in 1,035(496 male; 539 female) children from seven to 18 years of age. The correlation coefficients between BI and each of the other different methods were obtained. The sensitivity and specificity to predict obesity by these several methods were studied. RESULTS: Fat percent estimated by BI analysis and BMI showed a strong correlation(r=0.749). Fat percent estimated by BI analysis and ST showed a very strong correlation(r=0.835). At the 95th percentile cut-off point for BI, ST showed a sensitivity of 57.7%, and a specificity of 97.6% for estimating body fat. At the 95th percentile cut-off point for BI, BMI showed a sensitivity of 84.9%, and a specificity of 99.3% for estimating body fat. CONCLUSION: The fat percent estimated by BI analysis correlated strongly with ST or BMI. BI analysis is an objective and accurate method for estimating body fat in childhood obesity.
Adipose Tissue* ; Adolescent ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Child ; Electric Impedance* ; Humans ; Male ; Obesity ; Pediatric Obesity ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Skinfold Thickness

No abstract available.
Glomus Tumor*

This study was aimed at investigation of the stimulatory innervations on the rat urinary bladder. Detrusor muscle strips of 15 mm long were suspended in isolated muscle chambers containing 1 ml of PSS maintained at 37℃ and aerated with 95% O²/5% Co². Isometric myography was performed, and the results were as followings: Muscle strips showed “on-contraction” by electric field stimulation (EFS) frequency-dependently. The EFS-induced contraction was not affected by hexamethonium, a ganglion blocker, but abolished by tetrodotoxin, a nerve conduction blocker. Physostigmine, a cholinesterase inhibitor enhanced the EFS-induced contraction which was inhibited by hemicholinium, an inhibitor of choline uptake at the cholinergic nerve ending. Such an EFS-induced contraction was antagonized by atropine only partially, and the atropine-resistant portion was completely abolished by the desensitization of purinergic receptors by prolonged incubating of the strips in the presence of high concentration of ATP. Bethanechol, a cholinergic agonist, elicited concentration-dependent contraction. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a purinergic agonist, induced a weak but concentration-dependent contraction of short duration. Bethanechol-induced contraction was not affected by ATP-desensitization, and ATP-induced contraction was not affected by tetrodotoxin. These results suggest that there are at least two main stimulatory components of innervations in the detrusor muscle, cholinergic muscarinic and purinergic; and those receptors are independent each other.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Animals ; Atropine ; Bethanechol ; Choline ; Cholinergic Agonists ; Cholinesterases ; Ganglion Cysts ; Hemicholinium 3 ; Hexamethonium ; Myography ; Nerve Endings ; Neural Conduction ; Physostigmine ; Rats* ; Receptors, Purinergic ; Tetrodotoxin ; Urinary Bladder*

No abstract available.
Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Muscle, Skeletal* ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

PURPOSE: Although neonatal pulmonary hemorrhage is rare, it is associated with high mortality. We aimed to evaluate the risk factors associated with pulmonary hemorrhage in preterm infants and to describe the clinical course, including neonatal morbidity, of infants who developed pulmonary hemorrhage. METHODS: We performed a retrospective case-control study of 117 newborn infants aged less than 37 gestational weeks admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Daegu Fatima Hospital between January 1995 and December 2008. Control group infants without pulmonary hemorrhage were matched according to the gestational age, duration of mechanical ventilation, and birth weight range (< or =100 g). Pulmonary hemorrhage was defined as the presence of hemorrhagic fluid in the trachea and severe respiratory decompensation. RESULTS: Pulmonary hemorrhage occurred in 17 cases of very low birth weight infants (VLBW; birth weight < 1,500 g; median age, 3 days) and 22 cases of low birth weight infants (LBW; 1,500 g < or = birth weight < 2,500 g; median age, 1 day). Antenatal maternal glucocorticoid treatment significantly reduced the incidence of pulmonary hemorrhage in VLBW infants. Low APGAR score (< or =3 at 1 min) and acidosis at birth were associated with significantly high incidence of pulmonary hemorrhage in LBW infants. CONCLUSION: Antecedent factors and timing of pulmonary hemorrhage of LBW infants were different from those of VLBW infants. The mortality rates of VLBW and LBW infants were 88.2% and 45.5%, respectively. Pulmonary hemorrhage was the principal cause of death in 66.6% VLBW infants and 40.0% LBW infants.
Acidosis ; Aged ; Apgar Score ; Birth Weight ; Case-Control Studies ; Cause of Death ; Gestational Age ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Intensive Care, Neonatal ; Parturition ; Prognosis ; Respiration, Artificial ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Trachea

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Smoking is major cause of lung cancer. However, the prevalence of lung cancer in never-smokers increasing recently. This study investigated the clinical characteristics of advanced lung cancer in never-smokers. METHODS: We anlyzed the clinical characteristics including demographics, bronchoscopic features, stage, and serum tumor markers, of never smokers with lung cancer seen at Kosin University Hospital from January 2001 to December 2008. RESULTS: There were 105 never smokers with lung cancer (mean age 61 years, 82 females), comprising 83 (79%) adenocarcinomas, 9 (8.6%) squamous carcinomas, and 13 (12.4%) undifferenciated carcinomas. The overall median survival time (MST) was 18.7 months. The MST was longer in females (21.6 vs. 13.7 months, p = 0.03), patients younger than 60 years (19.2 vs. 17.5 , p = 0.019), and those with adenocarcinoma (21.6 vs. 8.8 months, p = 0.038), and a neuron-specific enolase level of less than 15 ng/mL (22.4 vs. 13.4 months, p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: We analyzed the clinical characteristics of advanced lung cancer in never smokers. A more comprehensive study is need to compare never-smokers and smokers with lung cancer and to determine the appropriate treatment for non-smokers.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Demography ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; Prevalence ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Biomarkers, Tumor

No abstract available.
Edema*

When the split thickness skin graft (STSG) was harvested from the patient's posterior thigh in supine position, an accidental donor site injury could occur by postural instability with the raised leg of patient. The idea of partial return of the harvested graft to the donor site, spraying fibrin sealant and using skin fragments have been individually introduced as the management of donor site injury created during harvest of the STSG. However, in our knowledge, there has been no attempt to combine the three ideas and apply to the accidental STSG donor site injury. We present the fragments regraft technique, with deliberately leaving some of harvested skin, cutting the remnant skin into small pieces, and immediately returning the skin fragments by spraying fibrin sealant on the damaged donor site wound. This method could be considered as a treatment option to prevent delayed wound healing of STSG donor site injury, especially when elderly or debilitated patients who are suspected of a delayed wound healing and poor-quality skin.
Aged ; Fibrin Tissue Adhesive ; Humans ; Leg ; Skin ; Skin Transplantation ; Supine Position ; Thigh ; Tissue Donors* ; Transplant Donor Site ; Transplants ; Wound Healing ; Wounds and Injuries