No abstract available.
Pancreatitis*

No abstract available.
Cholesterol* ; Granuloma*

Eleven cervical myelograms were perfomed by lateral cervical puncture using Metrizamide. So, following resultswere obtained: 1. Site of lateral cervial puncture; Posterior one third of bony cervical canal at C 1-2 level. 2.Advantages as compared with lumbar puncture for cervial myelogram; 1) Small amount of contrast media 2) Excellentimage 3) Less position change 4) Short time 5) Well visualization of superior margin of obstructive lesion inspinal canal 3. Cessation of lateral cervical puncture, when; 1) Pain during injection of contrast media 2)Localized collection of contrast media
Contrast Media ; Metrizamide ; Myelography ; Punctures ; Spinal Puncture

There have been many reports to date regarding the role of GnRH as a local regulatory factor of ovarian function as studies of human and rat ovaries revealed GnRH and its receptor. In recent studies it has been shown that GnRH directly causes apoptosis in the granulosa cells of the rat ovary, and such results leads to the suggestion that the use of GnRH agonist for more stable long term ovarian hyperstimulation in human IVF-ET programs causes granulosa cell apoptosis which may lead to follicular atresia. Therefore this study attempts to determine if granulosa-luteal cell apoptosis occurs in patients during IVF-ET programs in which GnRH agonist is employed for ovarian hyperstimulation. The quality of oocyte-cumulus complexes obtained during ovum pickup procedures were assessed morphologically and then the fertilization rate and developmental rate was determined. Apoptotic cells among the granulosa-luteal cells obtained during the same procedure were observed after staining with Hematoxylin-rosin. The fragmentation degree of DNA extracted from granulosa-luteal cells was determined and comparatively analyzed. There was no difference in the average age of the patients, the number of oocytes retrieved, and fertilization and developmental rates between the FSH/hMG group and GnRH-long group. There was also no difference in the apoptosis rate and pyknosis rate in the granulosa-luteal cells between the two groups. However, when the oocyte-cumulus complexes were morphoogically divided into the healthy group and atretic group without regard for the method of hyperstimulation, the results showed that the number of oocytes obtained averaged 11.09+/-8.75 and 10.33+/-4.53 per cycle, respectively, showing no significant difference, but the fertilization rate (77.05%, 56.99%, respectively, p<0.01) and developmental ,ate (65.96%, 41.51%, respectively, p<0.01) was significantly increased in the healthy group when compared to the atretic group. The degree of apoptosis in the granulosa-luteal cells showed that in the healthy group it was 2.25% which was not significantly different from the atretic group (2.77%), but the pyknosis rate in the atretic group (27.81%) was significantly higher compared to the healthy group (11.35%, p<0.01). The quantity of DNA fragmentation in the FSH/hMG group was 32.22%, while in the GnRH-long group it was 34.27%, showing no significant difference. On the other hand the degree of DNA fragmentation was 39.05% and 11.83% in the healthy group and atretic group, respectively, showing significantly higher increase in the atretic group (p<0.01). The above results suggest that death of granulosa-luteal cells according to the state of the oocyte-cumulus complex is more related to pyknosis rather than apoptosis. Also, the GnRH agonist used in ovarian hyperstimulation does not seem to directly affect the apoptosis of retrieved oocytes and granulosa-luteal cells, and which is thought to be due to the suppression of the apoptogenic effect of GnRH agonist as a result of the high doses of FSH administered.
Animals ; Apoptosis* ; DNA ; DNA Fragmentation ; Female ; Fertilization ; Follicular Atresia ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone* ; Granulosa Cells ; Hand ; Humans* ; Luteal Cells ; Oocytes ; Ovary ; Ovum ; Rats

BACKGROUND: There are many reports about the correlation between cardiovascular disorders and estrogen deficiency in postmenopausal women. The purpose of current study is to know that postmenopausal estrogen therapy may affect the lipid metabolism and endogenous fibrinolytic system and exercise tolerance. METHOD: We investigated the relation of estrogen treatment (srogen 0.625 mg/day) to serum lipid levels, angiotensin converting enzyme activity, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and parameters of treadmill test in 22 postmenopausal women of normal coronary artery with abnormal exercise test complained with chest pain accompanied by postmenopausal symptoms. RESULTS: Estrogen treatment significantly elevated the serum HDL-cholesterol level (42.8 to 50.1 mg/dl, p<0.05) and reduced the PAI-1 level (16.2 to 10.4 ng/dl, p<0.01) without considerable side effects. During the exercise test, the positivity appearance time and total exercise duration is significantly increased after estrogen treatment. CONCLUSION: The postmenopausal use of estrogen favorably changed the lipid level, fibrinolytic system and might improve the microcirculation which may protect against the ischemic heart disease risk without significant side effects.
Chest Pain ; Coronary Vessels ; Estrogens* ; Exercise Test ; Exercise Tolerance ; Female ; Humans ; Lipid Metabolism ; Microcirculation ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 ; Plasminogen Activators ; Postmenopause

BACKGROUND: Angina with normal coronary angiogram has been called syndrome X or microvasclar angina. Pathophysiologic mechanisms for chest pain in this group of patients are not known exactly. This study was performed to compare the insulin level of the patients with syndrome X with that of the healthy asymptomatic volunteers. METHODS: The syndrome X group was consisted of 18 patients(11 men and 7 women). All patients had typical chest pain and positive exercise test with a completely normal coronary andgiogram. Patients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and there taking any drug known to affect the insulin secretion were excluded. The control group was consisted of 38 healthy subjects(25 men and 11 women) who were not taking any medications. We measured the plasma glucose insulin and C-peptide concentration during oral glucose tolerance test in both groups. RESULTS: Fasting plasma glucose was normal in all patients in both groups. There were no significant differences in plasma glucose level, during the oral grucose tolerance test. There were no significant differences between control and wyndrome X group in the fasting plasma insulin concentration(5.1+/-2.4 vs 5.9+/-2.7 microg/ml, p>0.05). However, the insulin levels at 60min(47.6+/-20.0 vs 84.0+/-68.0 microg/ml) and 120 min(31.4+/-18.2 vs 92.9+/-83.8 microg/ml)were significantly higher in the syndrome X group(p<0.05). THere were no significant differences in the C-peptide concentrations at fasting, 60 min and 120 min after oral glucose tolerance test between control and syndrome X group(p>0.05). CONCLUSION: As shown in above results, there were significant differences in insulin concentrations, but nor in C-peptide concentrations between control and syndrome X group. Thus it can be suggested that the increased dinsulin level in these patients is resulted from the altered insulin action to the target tissues, not from the pancreatic overproduction of insulin. We suggest that this hyperinsulinemia resulted from the insulin resistance play a possible role in the abnormality of microvascular circulation as a mechanism of Syndrome X.
Blood Glucose ; C-Peptide ; Chest Pain* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Exercise Test ; Fasting ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism* ; Hypertension ; Insulin ; Insulin Resistance ; Male ; Plasma ; Thorax* ; Volunteers

No abstract available.

The association of exposure to bleomycin with the development of scleroderma-like cutaneous abnormalities has been reported. We experienced a case of scleroderma involving the hands, feet, and forearms after bleomycin chemotherapy. The present report supports the possible causal relation of bleomycin with scleroderma. Regarding the widespread use of bleomycin, this complication is thought to be under appreciated.
Bleomycin/*pharmacology ; Case Report ; Foot Dermatoses/*chemically induced/pathology/therapy ; Hand Dermatoses/*chemically induced/pathology/therapy ; Human ; Male ; Middle Age ; Scleroderma, Circumscribed/*chemically induced/pathology/therapy

Since B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentration has been shown by recent studies to be elevated in patients presenting acute coronary syndrome (ACS) even in the absence of overt heart failure, other mechanisms for elevating plasma BNP (p-BNP) concentrations may be suggested to exist. We have studied the correlation between p-BNP level and the extent of myocardial ischemia (EMI) in non-ST elevation (NSTE) ACS and evaluated the BNP level as an objective marker of EMI. In 204 patients with NSTE ACS, we estimated the EMI by the echocardiographic wall motion score index (WMSI) and the coronary angiographic Gensini score. As the positive control group, 44 patients with stable angina were enrolled into the study. We compared their initial p-BNP levels with WMSI and the Gensini score. Additionally, peak troponin-T level was compared with p-BNP level in NSTE myocardial infarction (MI) patients. Using the multiple regression analysis, adjustments for age, left ventricle (LV) wall stress, LV mass amount and ejection fraction (EF) were made. Patients with LVEF < 45% or age > 75 years or underlying diseases that could elevate BNP levels were excluded from the study. P-BNP level was increased in NSTE ACS patients compared with stable angina patients (133.9 +/- 87.4 vs. 12.2 +/- 9.2 pg/ml, p < 0.05). P-BNP levels were found to correlate with WMSI and the Gensini score in unstable angina (r=0.519, p < 0.01; r=0.680, p < 0.01) and NSTEMI (r=0.716, p < 0.01; r=0.684, p < 0.01) patients, respectively. Additionally, p-BNP levels correlated with the peak troponin-T level in patients with NSTEMI (r=0.700, p < 0.01). P-BNP level might be a useful marker in the assessment of EMI.
Acute Disease ; Aged ; Biological Markers ; *Electrocardiography ; Female ; Human ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Ischemia/*blood/*diagnosis ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain/*blood ; Severity of Illness Index ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't