PURPOSE:We investigated the production of oxygen hydroxyl radicals in the striatum of neonatal rat brain after intrastriatal injection of dopamine (DA) and the effect of growth hormone (GH) on the apoptosis of striatal neurons injured by hypoxia-ischemia. METHODS:The extracellular striatal levels of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA) and 2,5-DHBA as indicators of hydroxyl radical(OH-) production were measured by in vivo microdialysis in the striatums of 7 day-old newborn rats (n=10) after direct intrastriatal infusion of dopamine hydrochloride (1.0 micromol/microL). The samples of perfused artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were collected every 10 minutes interval. The levels of DA, 2,3-DHBA and 2,5-DHBA of CSF were analysed by HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography). Also, the brains were removed at 24 hour after hypoxic-ischemic injury by Rice-Vannucci method. The coronal sections (12 micrometer) of paraffin-fixed brains were stained by TUNEL (terminal transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end-labelling) technique, and the neuronal cells undergoing apoptosis in the striatum were observed by fluorescent microscopy and compared between GH-treated (50 mg/kg, Dong-Ah Pharmacy Co.) and saline-treated rats. RESULTS:The extracellualr striatal levels of 2,3-DHBA and 2,5-DHBA increased abruptly in the first 10 minutes samples after intrastriatal injection of DA. After then, the levels declined slowely. The levels of striatal extracelluar 2.3-DHBA increased up to 621.8+/-508.7% of basal levels (P<0.05), and the levels of 2.5-DHBA increased up to 262.8+/-198.1% of basal levels (P<0.05). GH reduced markedly the number of apoptotic neuronal cells in the striatum after hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. CONCLUSION: The level of hydroxyl radicals increased abruptly after intrastriatal injection of DA and GH reduced markedly the number of apoptotic neuronal cells in the striatum after hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.
Animals ; Apoptosis* ; Brain Injuries ; Brain* ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Dopamine* ; Growth Hormone* ; Humans ; Hydroxyl Radical* ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Infant, Newborn* ; Microdialysis ; Microscopy ; Neurons* ; Oxygen ; Pharmacy ; Rats*

BACKGROUND: Oral allergy syndrome(OAS) is composed of it,ching sense and edema in oral cavity, lips, throat, pharynx, and larynx following eating some fresh fruits or vegetables. It has been known that most of patients with OAS are allergic to pollens. Common epitopes were found among pollens, fruits and vegetables. Although OAS is a common farm of food allergy in adults, this is the first epidemiologic study of OAS in Korea. MATERIAL AND METHOD: One hundred and fifty one patients who showed positive skin reaction to pollens were telephone-interviewed. Investigation of the prevalence and clinical manifestations of OAS was possible in 81 patients. RESULT: The prevalence of OAS among these patients was 34.6% (28/81). OAS was found in 24(48%) out of 50 patients sensitized to tree pollens, whereas 4(13%) of 31 grass or weed pollen-sensitized paients had OAS. Most common causative food was apple and all of 17 apple- OAS patients were sensitized to tree pollens. Peach was the second common food and 14 of 15 peach-OAS patients were sensitized to tree pollens. Besides oral symptoms, rhinitis, asthma, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or generalized urticaria were accompanied in half of the OAS patients (14/28). Some patients showed OAS to some unique Korean foods such as dropwort, taro and Aster. CONCLUSION: OAS was very common in pollen-sensitized patients. Larger epidemiologic studies are needed to find unique Korean foods and their antigensm causing OAS.
Adult ; Asthma ; Colocasia ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Edema ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epitopes ; Filipendula ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Fruit ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Korea ; Larynx ; Lip ; Mouth ; Nausea ; Pharynx ; Poaceae ; Pollen* ; Prevalence ; Prunus persica ; Rhinitis ; Skin ; Urticaria ; Vegetables ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: Interest in peptic ulcer in children has been relatively low because the disease is rarer in children than in adults and there were restrictions in the application of endoscopy to children, but the recent development of pediatric endoscopy is activating research on pediatric peptic ulcer. Thus, this study compared the H. pylori infection rate and clinical and endoscopic findings among pediatric patients diagnosed with peptic ulcer. METHODS: We analyzed retrospectively 58 pediatric patients for whom whether to be infected with H. pylori was confirmed selected out of pediatric patients diagnosed with gastric ulcer or duodenal ulcer through upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at the Department of Pediatrics of Gachon University Gil Hospital during the period from January 2002 to December 2007. A case was considered H. pylori positive if H. pylori was detected in the Giemsa stain of tissue or the results of UBT (urea breath test) and CLO (rapid urease test) were both positive. RESULTS: Of the pediatric patients, 37 were infected with H. pylori and 21 were not. The H. pylori infection rate increased with aging and the result was statistically significant (p<0.05). However, H. pylori infection was not in a statistically significant correlation with sex, chief complaint, and gastroduodenal ulcer (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: H. pylori infection increased with aging, but was not significantly correlated with gastroduodenal ulcer. Further research may need to examine prospectively the relation between H. pylori and gastroduodenal ulcer in the Incheon area.
Adult ; Aging ; Azure Stains ; Child ; Duodenal Ulcer ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Helicobacter ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Pediatrics ; Peptic Ulcer ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Ulcer ; Urease

Cryopreservation is able to store the surplus pre-embryos for freezing and furthermore thawing and transfer in a subsequent cycle. Cryopreserving cells which are maintaining their viability are the very complex process. This study has been carried out in order to find the effects of cryopreservation steps, freezing media and embryonic stages on the rates of viability and development of cryopreserved mouse embryos. Female ICR mice (6~8 weeks old) were induced to superovulate by sequential intraperitoneal injection of 5 IU PMSG and 5 IU hGC 48h apart. Mouse embryos were collected according to its developmental stage after the injection of hCG. Embryos were cryopreserved not only by cryoprotectant step (1 step~ 4 step) but also in a variety of media (HTF, IVF medium, D-PBS) and cell stage. The results were as follows: There is no clear advantage in these freezing media of rapid method, but 4 cell and 8 cell of slow method (2, 3, 4 step) have advantage in D-PBS. The development of embryos according to cell stage become greater in 8 cell stage. In the treatment steps of cryopreservation, the development of embryo to blastocyst was similar among rapid method, but the development of 4 cell and 8 cell embryos to blastocyst according to slow method was better than rapid method.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Cryopreservation* ; Culture Media* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Freezing ; Humans ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR

BACKGROUND: Chronic cough is a common clinical problem to which various etiologies are attributable; postnasal drip, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and chronic bronchitis, However, in some cases, no particular etiology can be confirmed. OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to evaluate cough sensitivity and the clinical manifestations of patients with idiopathic chronic cough. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recruited 70 non-smoking patients who had been coughing for more than 3 weeks without any history, symptoms or signs of rhinitis, sinusitis, typical asthma, GER or recent upper respiratory infection episodes. Nineteen healthy controls were also enrolled. Bronchial provocation tests with methacholine, capsaicin and distilled water (DW) were performed. RESULTS: Thirteen patients were positive to rnethacholine test (PC20 < 25mg/ml) and defined as cough variant asthma. The others are classified into idiopathic chronic cough. By capsaicin and DW challenge tests, idiopathic cough patients could be divided into two groups, i.e., increased cough sensitivity (ICS) and normal cough sensitivity (NCS) groups. DW- induced cough counts were negatively correlated with C7 (lowest capsaicin concentration inducing continuous 7 or more coughs) (r=-0.739, p<0.001). No difference was found in clinical features such as age, sex, atopy, or peripheral eosinophil counts between these two groups but cough counts per cough burst were significantly higher in the ICS group. CONCLUSION: The heterogeneity in cough sensitivity of idiopathic chronic cough patients may refiect different pathophysiologic mechanisms. It is unclear whether patients with NCS merely have habitual or psychogenic cough or not. These suggest that different therapentic strategies should be established on idiopathic chronic cough patients according to cough sensitivity.
Asthma ; Bronchial Provocation Tests ; Bronchitis, Chronic ; Capsaicin ; Cough* ; Eosinophils ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Humans ; Methacholine Chloride ; Population Characteristics ; Rhinitis ; Sinusitis ; Water

Recurrent abortion has been defined as the occurrence of three or more clinically recognized pregnancy loss before 20 weeks and it occurs in 1% of women. The chromosomal abnormalities of abortuses have been suggested as the most common causes of recurrent abortion. We have studied the incidence of chromosomal abnormalities in 57 patients with recurrent abortion using the chorionic villi samples. Of the 57 abortuses analysed, 32 (56.1%) had chromosomal abnormalities. Trisomy was predominant (23 cases, 40.4%), followed by mosaicism 3 (5.2%), tetraploidy 2 (3.5%), monosomy 2 (3.5%), and structural anomaly 1 (1.8%). Trisomy for the chromosome 16 was most prevalent among trisomies. The incidence of trisomy was positively related to matemal age above 35 year-old. But there is not statistically significant. And there are no correlation between gestational age and chromosomal abnormalities. In conclusion, the incidence of chromosomal abnormalities of recurrent abortuses was 56.1% which was similar to that of the other reports. This means that the analysis of karyotype of chorionic villi, as the first test to investigate the cause of recurrent abortion, may be not useful, however, it will require further.
Abortion, Habitual ; Adult ; Chorion* ; Chorionic Villi Sampling ; Chorionic Villi* ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16 ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Incidence ; Karyotype ; Monosomy ; Mosaicism ; Pregnancy ; Tetraploidy ; Trisomy

The association of Graves' disease and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura(ITP) is a rather rare, but well documented condition, and has also been reported a few times in Korea. At present, two main hypothetical mechanisms are used to explain the association of the two diseases; the presence of autoimmunity, which leads to both diseases, and activation of the reticuloendothelial system by thyroid hormone. A 33 year old female patient visited our hospital with mucosal bleeding and purpura over her entire body of 3 days duration. Her initial platelet count was 2x109/L, and the thyroid function tests showed a suppressed TSH level of 0.09 mU/L(0.4~3.1) and elevated levels of triiodothyronine and free thyroxine. The levels of anti-thyroglobulin Ab anti-TPO Ab, and anti-TSH receptor Ab were also elevated. The clinical, laboratory and bone marrow findings were compatible with Graves' disease associated with ITP. She was treated with methylprednisolone and propylthiouracil, after which her platelet count increased and thyroid function normalized. We report a case of Graves' disease associated with ITP, which was treated well by glucocorticoid and antithyroid medications
Adult ; Autoimmunity ; Bone Marrow ; Female ; Graves Disease* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Korea ; Methylprednisolone ; Mononuclear Phagocyte System ; Platelet Count ; Propylthiouracil ; Purpura ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic* ; Thyroid Function Tests ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroxine ; Triiodothyronine

Purpose: We compared corneal higher-order aberration (HOA) measurements between the Pentacam® HR (PC), which uses the Scheimpflug principle, and the iTraceTM aberrometer (IT), which evaluates Placido disc topography. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 109 eyes of 87 patients without a history of ocular surface disease during the period from January 2021 to December 2022; both devices were used on the same day. We calculated the root mean square values (μm) of corneal total HOA and of the corneal 3rd- and 4th-order HOA at a pupil diameter of 4 mm. Data were compared by Bland-Altman plots for agreement analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient for correlation analysis. Results: There was no significant difference in the total HOA (p = 0.145), coma (p = 0.309), or secondary astigmatism (p = 0.080) between the PC and IT measurements; all other HOAs significantly differed between devices (p < 0.001). In the correlation analysis, the total HOA (r = 0.605, p < 0.001) and coma (r = 0.634, p < 0.001) were moderately correlated between the two devices; the other HOAs showed low degree of correlations. In the Bland-Altman plot analysis, all HOAs showed low agreement between the two devices. Conclusions Corneal total HOA and coma measured by the two devices were significantly correlated between the two devices, but other HOAs showed significant differences in measurement and low correlations. Therefore, corneal HOA measurements cannot be interpreted interchangeably between the two devices.

No abstract available.
Neurocysticercosis*

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the time-response of clip compression model for the relationship between the duration of the injury on the rat thoracic spinal cord, and histological and functional outcome measures. METHODS: After laminectomy at T9 in Sprague-Dawley rats, a modified aneurysm clip with a closing force of 30-gram was applied extradurally around the spinal cord at T9, and then rapidly released with cord compression persisting for 1, 5, and 10 minutes, respectively. The locomotor function, according to the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) scale, was assessed weekly for 4 weeks after the injury. The injured spinal cord was then examined histologically including quantification of cavitation. RESULTS: Spinal cord injury by clip compression resulted in worsened BBB scale scores. However, there was spontaneous functional improvement in times for all 3 injury severities, with the greatest improvement in the 1-minute compression group. From 1 week after the injury, BBB scores in the 1-minute group were significantly higher than in the 5 or 10-minutes groups until the end of the follow-up period (p<0.05). For histological analysis, the cavitation area and cavity volume at 4 weeks was directly proportional to the severity of the injury. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that the rat thoracic cord clip compression model is a reliable and reproducible spinal cord injury model. The duration of clip compression injury in the rat thoracic cord has been correlated with both functional and histologic outcome measures.
Aneurysm ; Animals ; Follow-Up Studies ; Laminectomy ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Injuries