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

No abstract available.
Humans* ; Pregnancy* ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic* ; Spermatozoa*

PURPOSE: To report the results of switching treatment to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) Trap-Eye (aflibercept) in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) refractory to anti-VEGF (ranibizumab and bevacizumab). METHODS: This is a retrospective study involving 32 eyes from 29 patients; 18 were cases of neovascular AMD and 14 were cases of PCV. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness (CMT) of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography were evaluated. RESULTS: BCVA and CMT improved from 0.58 to 0.55 (p = 0.005) and from 404 to 321 microm (p < 0.001), respectively, after switching to aflibercept. The 14 eyes that received 6 or more aflibercept injections remained stable at 0.81 to 0.81 and 321 to 327 microm (p = 1.0, 0.29), respectively, after 3 aflibercept injections. The 10 eyes that received 3 or more bevacizumab injections after 3 or more aflibercept injections worsened, from 0.44 to 0.47 and from 332 to 346 microm (p = 0.06, 0.05), respectively. The results showed similar improvement of BCVA and CMT in neovascular AMD and PCV. CONCLUSIONS: Aflibercept seems to be effective for improvement and maintenance of BCVA and CMT for neovascular AMD and PCV refractory to anti-VEGF. Switching from aflibercept back to bevacizumab treatment may not be a proper strategy.
Angiogenesis Inhibitors/administration & dosage ; Bevacizumab/administration & dosage ; Choroid/*blood supply ; Choroid Diseases/complications/diagnosis/*drug therapy ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intravitreal Injections ; Male ; Ranibizumab/administration & dosage ; Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor/*administration & dosage ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins/*administration & dosage ; Retinal Neovascularization/complications/diagnosis/*drug therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Treatment Outcome ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/*antagonists & inhibitors ; *Visual Acuity ; Wet Macular Degeneration/diagnosis/*drug therapy/etiology

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis is a condition which often begins in early infancy as an erythematous, intensely pruritic, maculopapular eruption. The role of anxiety and depression in the course of atopic dermatitis in children has long been considered an important factor. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the depression and anxiety state of patients with childhood atopic dermatitis. The age of all studied individuals ranged from 8 to 15 years. METHODS: Psychological data were obtained by administration of the Kovacs' Children's Depression Inventory and the Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children. RESULTS: Patients with atopic dermatitis were characterized by a high degree of state anxiety compared with the control group. However, there were no significant differences in trait anxiety and depression between the atopic patient group and the control group. With regards to disease activity, state & trait anxiety were higher in the severs group as compared with the mild group. The degrees of anxiety and depression analyzed by recent onset, remote onset and sex did not show any significant differences. CONCLUSION: We think that patients with childhood atopic dermatitis are highly anxious, which suggest that psychological intervention may be helpful.
Anxiety* ; Child ; Depression* ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Humans