No abstract available.
Lower Extremity*

No abstract available.
Peripheral Nerves* ; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation*

No abstract available.
Chronic Pain* ; Electroacupuncture* ; Needles* ; Syringes*

PURPOSE: Although it is well known that surgical treatment has been gold standard in most cases of ureteral stricture, but its effect was not satisfactory. The development of balloon catheters and advances in endourology offer attractive alternative management compared to surgery in the treatment of urethral strictures. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of balloon dilatation as an alternative treatment in the management of benign ureteral stricture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the records of 32 patients, treated during the last 5 years for benign ureteral stricture disease. Balloon dilatation of benign ureteral strictures were performed in a percutaneous antegrade(10 patients) or retrograde(22 patients) fashion followed by placement of a 6 Fr. stent for 6-8 weeks. The underlying diseases or conditions of the benign ureteral stricture were tuberculous ureteritis in 15, surgery to ureter in 8, iatrogenic cause in 5, and primary cause in 4. RESULTS: The over-all rate of succesful management of benign ureteral stricture diseases using endoscopic techniques was 75 percent. The significant complications were not observed in all patients. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the result of our experiences, we suggest the use of balloon dilatation as the initial treatment method in benign urethral stricture.
Catheters ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Dilatation* ; Humans ; Stents ; Ureter* ; Urethral Stricture

The present study was performed in order to investigate the correlation among the number of T zone histiocytes, the clinicopathologic parameters and the patient's survival. The subjects in this study were 131 advanced gastric carcinomas including 86 follow-up cases and 41 early gastric carcinomas. The infiltration of T zone histiocytes into tumor tissues was investigated using the immunohistochemical method with andti s-100 protein, nd the data obtained were evaluated statistically. T zone histiocytes were scattered among the cancer cells and in areas formed clusters within the cancer stroma. These cells were abundantly present in tumor tissues and around lymphoid follicles but were rarely seen in surrounding normal stomach tissue. Analysis of the number of T zone histiocytes showed no correlation between the number of T zone histiocytes and the clinicopathologic features except the degree of lymphocytic infiltration within the advanced and the early gastric carcinomas. Survival of the patients with a marked infiltration of T zone histiocytes in stage III was longer than that with mild infiltration of T zone histiocytes, but there was no statistical significance(P value=0.084). Multivariate regressio analysis revealed that the depth of invasion(P value=0.0074) and the lymphocytic infiltration(P value=0.0152) were the important prognostic factors. The results indicate that good prognosis is expected in cases with less deep invasion and high lymphocytic infiltration, and that the number of T zone histiocytes is in proportio to the degree of lymphocyte infiltration within the tumor, although not directly correlated with the patient's survival.

The correlation between deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) ploidy, pathological stage and prognosis was evaluated in 18 patients, who underwent nephrectomy and proved to be renal cell carcinoma. Of them, 10 (56%) cases showed a DNA diploid pattern and 8 (44% ) cases a DNA aneuploid one. The pathologic stage and DNA ploidy. revealed aneuploid tumors in 2(29%) of 7 patients with stage pT1-2N0M0(group 1). in 2 (33%) of 6 patients with stage pT3aN0M0 (group 2) and in 4 (80%) of 5 patients with stage pT3bN02M0.(group 3) respectively. The Mean follow up period was 3.3 years. The number of the survivals more than 2 years were 12(67%). comprising 8 of diploid tumors and 4 of aneuploid tumors, suggesting that patients with diploid tumor survived longer than those with aneuploid tumor. The survivals more than 2 years in relation to pathological stage were 6 (86%) or 7 patients with group 1, 5(83%) of 6 with group 2 and 1 (20%) of 5 with group 3, respectively. The S phase fraction showed no significant difference between diploid and aneuploid tumors, but the survivals more than 2 years had significantly lower S phase fraction than those less than 2 years. The results suggest that DNA ploidy correlates with pathologic stage and prognosis. and S phase fraction may influence the prognosis independently.
Aneuploidy ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Diploidy ; DNA* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Nephrectomy ; Ploidies* ; Prognosis* ; S Phase

No abstract available.
Deoxyglucose* ; Shock*

No abstract available.
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone* ; Hydrocortisone* ; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation*

BACKGROUND: Under certain conditions, exertional headaches may reflect coronary ischemia. CASE REPORT: A 44-year-old woman developed intermittent exercise-induced headaches with chest tightness over a period of 10 months. Cardiac catheterization followed by acetylcholine provocation demonstrated a right coronary artery spasm with chest tightness, headache, and ischemic effect of continuous electrocardiography changes. The patient's headache disappeared following intra-arterial nitroglycerine injection. CONCLUSIONS: A coronary angiogram with provocation study revealed variant angina and cardiac cephalalgia, as per the International Classification of Headache Disorders (code 10.6). We report herein a patient with cardiac cephalalgia that manifested as reversible coronary vasospasm following an acetylcholine provocation test.
Acetylcholine ; Adult ; Angina Pectoris ; Cardiac Catheterization ; Cardiac Catheters ; Coronary Vasospasm ; Coronary Vessels ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Headache ; Headache Disorders ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Nitroglycerin ; Spasm ; Thorax

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical properties and cytocompatibility of microporous, spherical biphasic calcium phosphate(BCP) ceramics with a 60/40 hydroxyapatite/beta-tricalcium phosphate weight ratio for application as a bone graft substitute. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Microporous, spherical BCP granules(MGSB) were prepared and their basic characteristics were compared with commercially available BCP(MBCP; Biomatlante, France) and deproteinized bovine bone mineral(Bio-Oss; Geistlich-Pharma, Switzerland, BBP; Oscotec, Korea). Their physicochemical properties were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. Cell viability and proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells on different graft materials were evaluated. RESULTS: MGSB granules showed a chemical composition and crystallinity similar with those in MBCP, they showed surface structure characteristic of three dimensionally, well-interconnected micropores. The results of MTT assay showed increases in cell viablity with increasing incubation times. At 4d of incubation, MGSB, MBCP and BBP showed similar values in optical density, but Bio-Oss exhibited significantly lower optical density compared to other bone substitutes(p < 0.05). MGSB showed significantly greater cell number compared to other bone substitutes at 3, 5, and 7d of incubation(p < 0.05), which were similar with those in polystyrene culture plates. CONCLUSION: These results indicated the suitable physicochemical properties of MGSB granules for application as an effective bone graft substitute, which provided compatible environment for osteoblast cell growth. However, further detailed studies are needed to confirm its biological effects on bone formation in vivo.
Bone Substitutes ; Calcium* ; Cell Count ; Cell Survival ; Ceramics* ; Crystallins ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Osteoblasts ; Osteogenesis ; Plasma ; Polystyrenes ; Spectrum Analysis ; Switzerland ; Transplants*