No abstract available.
Cadmium*

No abstract available.
Flow Cytometry* ; Humans* ; Leukocytes* ; Microscopy* ; Phagocytosis* ; Staphylococcus aureus* ; Staphylococcus*

No abstract available.
Flow Cytometry* ; Humans* ; Leukocytes* ; Microscopy* ; Phagocytosis* ; Staphylococcus aureus* ; Staphylococcus*

Placement of an endoprosthesis for palliative decompression of biliary obstruction has been advocated as an effective alternative for interanl-external drainage catheters, of which the care and psychological impact of the external segment protruded through the skin has been a difficult problem. (continue...)
Catheters ; Decompression ; Drainage* ; Skin

Congenital M llerian anomalies of uterus are so infrequently encountered and endometriosis, primary infertility, hematometra, and urinary tract anomalies are claimed to be common complaints in women with unicornuate uterus. We report one case of rudimentary horn associated with agenesis of right kidney and pelvic endometriosis which is presented with brief review of literature about anomaly of the female genital tract.
Animals ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Hematometra ; Horns* ; Humans ; Infertility ; Kidney* ; Urinary Tract ; Uterus

PURPOSE: To compare the predicted and actual refractive errors of hydrophilic, one-piece, C-flex(R)570C (C-flex) intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in simultaneous vitrectomy and lens extraction in various conditions. METHODS: One hundred fifty-nine eyes of patients who had lens extraction between March 2004 and September 2005 were enrolled in a retrospective study. Group 1 had lens extraction and IOL implantation, and Group 2 had lens extraction and IOL implantation with vitrectomy. IOL calculation was done with axial length and keratometry measurements. The actual and predicted refractive errors were compared at 1 and 6 months postoperatively. The factors influencing the postoperative refractive outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean refractive predictive error (i.e., the actual minus predicted spherical equivalent) was +0.19+/-0.39 D (Diopter) and -0.26+/-0.45 D at 1 and 6 months postoperatively (all: p<0.001) in group 1, and -0.22+/-0.39 D and -0.06+/-0.62 D at 1 and 6 months postoperatively (p=0.013, p=0.399 respectively). In group 2, all surgical factors related to refractive errors were not statistically significant (all: p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Refractive errors in combined surgery showed myopic shift of -0.50 D and -0.32 D at 1 and 6 months postoperatively compared with C-flex IOL implantation alone. With the hyperopic tendency of IOL and myopic tendency of vitrectomy, the combined surgery made postoperative refractive errors near emmetropia.
Acrylic Resins ; Aged ; Humans ; *Lens Implantation, Intraocular ; Lenses, Intraocular ; Middle Aged ; Phacoemulsification/*methods ; Refractive Errors/*diagnosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Vitrectomy/*methods

BACKGROUND: There have been many reports that 1,5-Anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG) was a better marker than the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) or fructosamine for monitoring the control of glucose in patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM). However, there was difficulty in performing the tests on the patient's samples in the hospital laboratory because the measurement was possible only with gas chromatog-raphy or high performance chromatography. Recently, a reagent that can measure 1,5-AG on the automatic chemistry analyzer was introduced. We evaluated the analytical and clinical characteris-tics of the reagent. METHODS: We measured the 1,5-AG with the Lana(TM) (Japan Chemistry Medicine, Tokyo, Japan) on the automatic chemistry analyzer, TBA-30FR (Toshiba, Otawara, Japan). We evaluated the pre-cision, the recovery rate, the lower detection limit, the reference value, and the correlation with other clinical markers for glucose control of the DM patient. RESULTS: The within-run precisions of abnormal and normal samples were 1.27% and 1.41%. The between-day precisions were 2.34% and 4.56%, respectively. The recovery rate was 100.1% and 100.7% in abnormal and normal samples, respectively. The lower detection limit was 0.05 mg/L. The reference value from the healthy people was from 12.7 to 50.9 mg/L. The correlation coefficients of the 1,5-AG with glucose and HbA1c were -0.45 and -0.63, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The newly introduced reagent for 1,5-AG that could be applied with the automatic chemistry analyzer was enough to satisfy the analytical features and it showed better correlation with HbA1c than with the fasting blood glucose. We expect that the Lana(TM) can be used in hospital lab-oratories to monitor the blood glucose control of DM patients and more studies on the clinical value of the 1,5-AG can be done with the convenient reagent such as this.
Biomarkers ; Blood Glucose ; Chemistry ; Chromatography ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Fasting ; Fructosamine ; Glucose ; Humans ; Laboratories, Hospital ; Limit of Detection ; Reference Values

A 32 year-old-man was admitted because of paraparesis. Hypertension and hypokalemia was noted with increased aldosterone level in his serum. Computerized tomography of abdomen showed well-defined an ovoid mass of low density in the right adrenal gland. Right adrenalectomy was done and pathologic findings showed a golden yellow color adenoma with large clear cells. Postoperatively there was reversal of hypertension and hypokalemia. We present a case of periodic paralysis due to aldosterone producing adrenal cortical adenoma with brief review of literature.
Abdomen ; Adenoma ; Adrenal Glands ; Adrenalectomy ; Adrenocortical Adenoma* ; Aldosterone* ; Hypertension ; Hypokalemia ; Paralysis* ; Paraparesis

PURPOSE: Reclassfication of the medullary carcinoma using a strict histologic criteria and analysis of the clinical and pathological characteristics of the medullary carcinoma. MATERIAL & METHODS: Thirty-seven cases of the breast carcinoma originally diagnosed as medullary carcinoma were reviewed. One to ten microscopic slides of each case were reexamined and reclassified using the strictly defined histologic criteria defined by Ridolfi et al. Tumors were excluded from the category of the typical medullary carcinoma (TMC) on the basis of presence of glandular features, focal marginal infiltrations, or sparse mononuclear infiltrations. Tumor with two or more atypical features, or extensive marginal infiltrations, no mononuclear cell infiltration and/or less than 75% syncytial growth were classified as infiltrating ductal carcinoma with medullary feature (IDC). A predominantly syncytial growth pattern (75% or more) was requisite for inclusion in both TMC and atypical medullary carcinomas (AMC). RESULTS: Twenty-two tumors (60%) fulfilled the criteria for TMC, and 12 tumors (32%) were AMC and three tumors (8%) were IDC. TMC occupied 3.1% of breast cancer. The mean age of patients with TMC was 45.4+/-11.2 years and the average size of the tumor in TMC was slightly larger than that of breast cancer in general, although not statistically significant. The frequency of lymph node metastasis in TMC was similar to breast cancer in general. Five year survival of patients with TMC was 95.5% which was significantly better than breast cancer in general. CONCLUSION: The TMC occupied 3.1% of breast cancer. The mean age of patient, tumor size and lymphnode metastasis were not different from that of breast cancer but 5 years survival of patient with TMC was significantly better than breast cancer in general.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma, Ductal ; Carcinoma, Medullary* ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis

PURPOSE: Intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) is the first choice of treatment for age-related macular degeneration. However, quite a few eyes treated using conventional dose anti-VEGF (CDAV) have persistent pigment epithelial detachment (PED) on optical coherence tomography. This study investigated the efficacy and safety of high dose anti-VEGF (HDAV) for refractory PED. METHODS: In this retrospective study, 31 eyes of neovascular age-related macular degeneration patients with persistent PED findings despite six or more intravitreal injections of CDAV (bevacizumab 1.25 mg or ranibizumab 2.5 mg) were analyzed. Changes in visual outcome, central foveal thickness, and PED height were compared before and after HDAV (bevacizumab 5.0 mg) for these refractory PED cases. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 67.7 years. The number of CDAV injections was 12.1. The number of HDAV injections was 3.39. Best-corrected visual acuity in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution before and after HDAV was 0.49 and 0.41 (p < 0.001), respectively. Central foveal thickness before and after HDAV was 330.06 and 311.10 µm (p = 0.125), respectively. PED height before and after HDAV was 230.28 and 204.07 µm (p = 0.014), respectively. There were no serious adverse reactions in all the eyes. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing the dose of bevacizumab in refractory PED may be a possible treatment option.
Aged ; Angiogenesis Inhibitors/administration & dosage ; Bevacizumab/*administration & dosage ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Fluorescein Angiography ; Fundus Oculi ; Humans ; Intravitreal Injections ; Macular Degeneration/*complications/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retinal Detachment/diagnosis/*drug therapy/etiology ; Retinal Pigment Epithelium/*diagnostic imaging/drug effects ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/antagonists & inhibitors