No abstract available.
Gastrointestinal Neoplasms* ; Thymidine Kinase* ; Thymidine*

No abstract available.
Pheochromocytoma* ; Pregnancy*

Hand and wrist tuberculosis in adults are relatively rare disease. The purpose of treatment is to minimize the limitation of motion and to relieve the pain and swelling of involved joints. The treatments consist of curettage of bone, synovectomy and arthrodesis, which were combined with chemotherapeutic agents for tuberculosis. In the period from June 1989 to Oct. 1993, we performed operative treatment in twelve cases of hand and wrist tuberculosis(hand in 3, wrist in 9). We performed curettage and synovectomy in eight cases and arthrodesis in four. The length of follow up was over one year in all cases. Patients were evaluated by clinical examination, radiography and the Robins criteria for clinical results. The results were analysed, as follows, l. Eight patients who had tenosynovitis with moderate joint destruction were treated by curettage and synovectomy, and seven patients(87.5%) of them were evaluated "good" by Robins criteria. 2. Arthrodesis was performed in four patients who had severe joint destruction, and demonstrates "good" results in 75% of cases. 3. One patient who was treated by synovectomy, complaint intermittent pain after three years postoperatively, but no active lesion was visible on the bone scanning. 4. One patient who was performed wrist arthrodesis feels discomfort during lift up heavy products due to insufficient grip power. In conclusion, the synovectomy and curettage in early diagnosed and not so much advanced hand wrist tuberculsis is more preferable, but arthrodesis is inevitable in advanced cases with profound degree of bony destruction and nonviable cartilage in operative findings, for painless and powerful joint.
Adult ; Arthrodesis ; Cartilage ; Curettage ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand Strength ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints ; Radiography ; Rare Diseases ; Songbirds ; Tenosynovitis ; Tuberculosis ; Wrist

99m Tc-pyrophosphate was investigated for use as an indicator of intestinal infarction in intussusceptedbowel. Irreducible intussusceptions were created in 18 rabbits by surgery. 99mTc-pyrophosphate was then injectedintravenously 6-12, 18, 24 and 30-40 hours later for external scanning. In 15 of the rabbits, infaractiondeveloped with intussusception, and 13 of them demonstrated increased uptake of 99m Tc-pyrophosphate on externalinvivo scintiscans. The remained 2 of them showed no evidence of increased uptake. So false negative cases were2(sensitivity 86.7%). The 3 rabbits without infarction showed no increased uptake of radionuclide. Specimenscanning confirmed increased uptake of radionuclide in the infarcted segments. These observations suggest that 99mTc-pyrophosphate is a reliable indicator of the intestinal infarction that sometimes occures with intestinal intussusception.
Infarction ; Intussusception ; Rabbits ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Technetium Tc 99m Pyrophosphate

BACKGROUND: Among the various factors affecting bone mass and bone metabolism, aging and menopause play a major role. After the disappearance of the menstrual cycle, estrogen deficiency is the most important factor in bone loss. It is still unclear whether women with early menopause have a rate of bone loss different from women whose menopause has occurred later. Various biochemical bone markers are increased after menopause but it is still unclear whether women with early menopause have biochemical bone markers different from women whose menopause has occurred later. The aim of this study was to establish whether healthy women with early or normal menopause have different bone mass, biochemical bone markers and rates of bone loss. METHODS: Postmenopausal healthy women were divided into two groups according to their age at menopause(AAM): one group with AAM > 43 years, and the other group with AAM 50 years. Bone mass was measured using a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry(DEXA) in the lumbar, femur neck, femur trochanter, and Wards triangle. Serum levels of bone alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin, and urine levels of calcium, deoxypyridinoline and type I collagen N-telopeptide were measured using a commercial kit. RESULTS: Age and body mass index in the early menopause group were different from those in the normal menopause group. All the bone mass and the biochemical bone markers in the early menopause group were not different from those in the normal menopause group. We selected 15 subjects from the two groups matched by age and BML Bone mass of femur neck in the early menopause group was lower than in the normal menopause group matched by age and BMI. Bone mass in lumbar, femur trochanter, and Wards triangle was lower in the early menopause group than in the normal menopause group, but the difference between the two groups was not significant. After adjusting years since menopause, we didnt find the difference of bone mass between the two groups. All the bone biochemical markers were not different in the two groups matched by age and BMI. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that women with early menopause dont lose bone faster than women with normal menopause.
Aging ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Biomarkers ; Body Mass Index ; Bone Density* ; Calcium ; Collagen Type I ; Estrogens ; Female ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Humans ; Menopause* ; Menstrual Cycle ; Metabolism ; Osteocalcin

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the prevalence of thyroid cancer in patients with cold thyroid nodules and the impact of sex, age, hardness of nodule, and multinodularity as factors able to predict the probability of malignancy in patients with nodular thyroid diseases. METHODS: We examined a 728 patients who visited Seoul National University Hospital with one or more cold thyroid nodules between Jan. 1996 and Dec. 1997. After clinical evaluations including medical history, physical examinations(size, hardness and multiplicity of nodule), fine needle aspiration biopsies and cytologic examinations were carried out. RESULTS: Among the 728 cases, 76 cases(10.4%) were diagnosed as cancer and 602 cases (82.6%) were diagnosed as benign nodule. The prevalence of cancer was significantly lower in female patients with cold nodules(9.4%, 62/662) than in males(17.5%, 11/63)(p=0.041). Age was an important factor in both sexes. The proportion of nodules that were malignant was lower in patients of 20-60 years old(8,9%, 56/632) than patients younger than 20 years old(1S.1%, 2/11) or older than 60 years old(18.3%, 15/82)(p=0.019). The prevalence of cancer was significantly higher in hard nodules(36.3%, 41/113) than firm(5.2%, 30/574) or soft nodules(5.3%, 2/38)(p= 0.001). There was no size difference between malignant(25.2 +- 13.7mm) and benign nodules(25.3 +- 8.9mm)(p=0.9425). The prevalence of thyroid cancer in solitary nodule(10.6%, 63/593) was not different from that in multiple nodules(7.6%, 10/132)(p=0.293). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that thyroid nodules of the patients who are younger than 20 years old or older than 60 years old, male, as well as hard nodule require more careful evaluation for the risk of thyroid malignancies.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Female ; Hardness ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence* ; Seoul ; Thyroid Diseases ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms* ; Thyroid Nodule* ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether there is an association between the characteristics of pain in endometriosis and chronic stress. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Fifteen women were diagnosed as endometriosis by diagnostic laparoscopy and 14 asymptomatic volunteers were enrolled. Case group was divided into two groups with their pain duration and severity. Saliva was collected four times a day with commercial collector, Salivette. Salivary cortisol was analyzed by enzyme immunoassay. Statistical association was assessed with Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, and repeated measures ANOVA test. RESULTS: In the curve showing diurnal changes of cortisol level, morning rise in cortisol level was significantly blunted among patients compared with control group (p<0.05). Among two patient groups, there was no significant correlation with disease severity, but with duration (p<0.05). CA 125 level, pain scaling score, and age showed no significant correlation. CONCLUSION: Morning rise in salivary cortisol level is blunted in women especially with chronic endometriosis. These is findings might be a small clues that the changes in the salivary cortisol level can be a sign of chronic stress state.
Endometriosis* ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Laparoscopy ; Saliva ; Volunteers

A 68 year-old male was admitted with complaint of dyspnea and nonproductive cough which developed 6 hours after accidental inhalation of nitrogen dioxide. On admission, acute pulmonary edema and severe hypoxemia were found. With oxygen and bronchodilator therapy, diffuse alveolar consolitation and his dyspnea were improved from the following day. He was discharged at 8th hospital day with prednisolone 30mg daily for prevention of bronchiolitis obliteraus. During 6 weeks of follow up, there was no evidence of bronchiolitis obliterans.
Aged ; Anoxia ; Bronchiolitis ; Bronchiolitis Obliterans ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Inhalation* ; Male ; Nitrogen Dioxide* ; Nitrogen* ; Oxygen ; Prednisolone ; Pulmonary Edema*

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that thyroid stimulation blocking antibody (TSBAb) is involved in the development of early hypothyroidism after radioiodine treatment in patient with Graves disease. However, previous studies have reported the effect of radioiodine treatment on overall changes of TSH receptor antibodies without detailed observation of changes in properties of TSH receptor antibodies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of radioiodine treatment on thyroid stimulation antibody (TSAb) or on thyroid stimulation blocking antibody (TSBAb) activities and to see whether the appearance of TSBAb after radioiodine treatment is involved in the development of early hypothyroidism in patients with Graves disease. METHODS: The activities of TSAb, TSBAb were measured serially with human TSH receptor transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in 36 patients with Graves disease who received 131I treatment. In addition to the wild type TSH receptor-expressing cells, we used a chimeric receptor that 90-165 amino acid residues were substituted by those of rat LH/CG receptor (Mc2) for measurement of TSBAb without interference by the presence of TSAb and for evaluation of TSAb epitope spreading. We evaluated the association of early hypothyroidism after 131I treatment with changes of various immunologic parameters. RESULTS: In 14 (39%) of 36 patients, TSBAb activities were present in their sera before or after 131I treatment. Four of them had TSBAb activities before 131 treatment, and 12 newly acquired TSBAb activities after 131I treatment. The existence of TSBAb was not associated with the development of early hypothyroidism after 131I treatment but with low TSAb activities before 131 treatment, high thyroidal uptake of 131I given and with old age. The phenomena of epitope spreading measured by TSAb with Mc2 mutant clone before and after 131I treatment was not infrequent, but it had no clinical relevance. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the existence of TSBAb may be not a major factor in the development of early hypothyroidism after radioiodine treatment in Graves disease. Other factors such as TSAb activities before radioiodine treatment, the efficiency of thyroidal uptake of 131I or old age are associated with the development of early hypothyroidism.
Animals ; Antibodies* ; Clone Cells ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus ; Female ; Graves Disease* ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; Ovary ; Rats ; Receptors, Thyrotropin* ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyrotropin*

Cadmium intoxication has been associated with the dysregulation of iron homeostasis. In the present study, we investigated the effect of cadmium on the expression of ferroportin 1 (FPN1), an important iron transporter protein that is involved in iron release from macrophages. When we incubated cadmium with J774 mouse macrophage cells, FPN1 mRNA levels were significantly increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, the cadmium-induced FPN1 mRNA expression was associated with increased levels of FPN1 protein. On the other hand, cadmium-mediated FPN1 mRNA induction in J774 cells was completely blocked when cells were co-treated with a transcription inhibitor, acitomycin D. Also, cadmium directly stimulated the activity of the FPN1-promoter driven luciferase reporter, suggesting that the cadmium up-regulates FPN1 gene expression in a transcription-dependent manner. Finally, cadmium exposure to J774 macrophages increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels by ~ 2-fold, compared to untreated controls. When J774 cells were co-treated with antioxidant N-acetylcystein, the cadmium-induced FPN1 mRNA induction was significantly attenuated. In summary, the results of this study clearly demonstrated that cadmium increased FPN1 expression in macrophages through a mechanism that involves ROS production, and suggests another important interaction between iron and cadmium metabolism.
Animals ; Cadmium ; Cation Transport Proteins ; Gene Expression ; Hand ; Homeostasis ; Iron ; Luciferases ; Macrophages ; Mice ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; RNA, Messenger