Patients who had posterior synechiae associated with uveitis,IOL mplantation, vitrectomy, underwent Nd-YAG synechiolysis had been treated with topical corticosteroids and surgical iridectomy. Even minimal dilatation of the pupil by Nd YAG synechiolysis enable the patient to read and the surgeon to postpone cataract surgery and evaluate optic disc or fundus. Also, pupil block may be treated by detaching the synechiae.18 Patients (20 eyes) with posterior synechiae underwent Nd-YAG synechiolysis at Kangnam St.Mary's Hospital from November 1997 to August 1998. An average of 17.14 +/-6.43mJ laser were used. The average prelaser pupil size was 3.78 +/-0.98 mm ;postlaser, 5.13 +/-1.27 mm.This change was statistically significant (p<0.01). Microhyphema and pigment dispersion developed in 4 eyes. However,no significant long-term complications occurred, and there were no obvious lenticular damage and pupil abnormality. Because this laser treatment is relatively safe and offers some possibility of visual improvement, we recom-mend Nd-YAG synechiolysis,but only if performed by an experienced laser microsurgeon.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Cataract ; Dilatation ; Humans ; Iridectomy ; Lasers, Solid-State ; Pupil ; Vitrectomy

No abstract available.
Neoplasm Metastasis*

No abstract available.
Cell Proliferation* ; Female ; Humans ; Trophoblasts*

No abstract available.
Mycobacterium*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the reproducibility of the quantitative assessment of segmental wall motion and systolic thickening provided by an automatic quantitation algorithm. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tc-99m-MIBI gated myocardial SPECT with dipyridamole stress was performed in 31 patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (4 with single, 6 with two, 11 with triple vessel disease; ejection fraction 51+/-14%) twice consecutively in the same position. Myocardium was divided into 20 segments. Segmental wall motion and systolic thickening were calculated and expressed in mm and % increase respectively, using AutoQUANTTM software. The reproducibility of this quantitative measurement of wall motion and thickening was tested. RESULTS: Correlations between repeated measurements on consecutive gated SPECT were excellent for wall motion (r=0.95) and systolic thickening (r=0.88). On Bland-Altman analysis, two standard deviation was 2 mm for repeated measurement of segmental wall motion, and 20% for that of systolic thickening. The weighted kappa values of repeated measurements were 0.807 for wall motion and 0.708 for systolic thickening. Sex, perfusion, or segmental location had no influence on reproducibility. CONCLUSION: Segmental wall motion and systolic thickening quantified using AutoQUANTTM software on gated myocardial SPECT offers good reproducibility and is significantly different when the change is more than 2 mm for wall motion and more than 20% for systolic thickening.
Coronary Artery Disease ; Dipyridamole ; Humans ; Myocardium ; Perfusion ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

OBJECTIVE: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in culture release a biologically active human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). This effect is detectable during pregnancy with a maximum between the 16th and 19th week. HCG plays an important role for the corpus luteum rescue during the early gestational age and possibly for the immunotolerance. This study was performed to investigate the relationships between the productivity of cultured PBMC of pregnant women and the ability to maintain early pregnancy, and whether 12-o-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) increases hCG sectetion by cultured PBMCs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PBMC were obtained from 20 pregnant women between 16th to 19th week of gestation , and cultured with TPA. Culture cells were harvested and hCG mRNA were extracted and RT-PCR were performed. Culture supernatants were collected and hCG concentration were determined by commercial RIA methods. RESULTS: The mean age was 31.0 years old, 19 of 20 (95%) pregnant women's PBMC secereted hCG and expressed hCG mRNA, but in control group exept male hepatitis B patient, none of them produced hCG. TPA activated expression of hCG in PBMC in linear manner. CONCLUSION: Pregnant women's cultured PBMC secreted hCG, but not in non-pregnant or male. We could confirm the mRNA of hCG in PBMC as well in the placental control. The productivity of hCG in PBMC might be closely related with maintenance of early pregnancy.
Chorionic Gonadotropin ; Corpus Luteum ; Efficiency ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Hepatitis B ; Humans ; Male ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnant Women ; RNA, Messenger

OBJECTIVE: To identify fetal gender using fetal DNA in maternal plasma. METHODS: DNA from maternal plasma of 55 pregnant women(47: inpatients, 8: outpatients) underwent a sensitive Y-PCR assay to identify gender. RESULTS: Of the inpatients, fetus-derived Y sequences were detected in 26(80.6%) of the 31 maternal plasma samples from women bearing male fetuses. None of the 16 women bearing female fetuses had positive results from plasma DNA. Eighteen weeks is earliest gestation of gender identification. Of the outpatients(GA 8-11 weeks), fetus-derived Y sequences were detected in 7 of the 8 maternal plasma. Only one patient's fetal gender(GA 9 weeks) was identified. The others were not identified at this moment. CONCLUSION: We identified fetal DNA in maternal plasma. The sensitivity of Y-PCR was 80.6% in women bearing male fetus and the specificity was 100% in women bearing female fetus.
DNA* ; Female ; Fetus ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Male ; Plasma* ; Pregnancy ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Squamous cell carcinoma of the ovary is rare and usually arise from preexisting cystic teratomas, endometriosis or Brenner tumors which undergo carcinomatous degeneration in their epithelial elements. Some of squamous cell carcinoma of the ovary is known to be associated with cervical neoplasm, but the pathogenesis is still unknown. Recently we experienced one case of ovarian squamous cell carcinoma in patients with microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix. We report this case with possible pathogenesis and brief review of literatures.
Brenner Tumor ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cervix Uteri* ; Endometriosis ; Female ; Humans ; Ovary ; Teratoma ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

The purpose of this study was to determine the meaning of the pain and experiences of elderly women with osteoarthritis, by adopting Colaizzi's phenomenological method. The participants were 7 elderly women over the age of 65. They were selected using a theoretical sampling technique. The Data was collected by in-depth and open-ended interviews from Dec. 1. 1999. to Feb, 28. 2000. The length of the interviews varied from 120 minutes to 180 minutes. Data was recorded and analyzed by a constant comparative method. From the data, significant statements were extracted and then organized into 48 themes, which resulted in 15 clusters of themes and 6 categories. The final descriptions turned out to be valid through the interviewee' validation process. Essential themes of the pain experiences emerged : "physical discomfortness(disturbances)", "negative state of mind", "influence of the death", "positive change in life", "Cause of pain perceived", and "change of their personal relationships". From these results, it was found that elderly women need nursing care based on a deep understanding of pain, and a reflection on their past is imperative to overcome their given situations. In conclusion, it is suggested that the care givers provide more support to solve the problems experienced by the elderly. Thus the researchers expect to provide understanding of older people and give basic data of holistic care for them.
Aged* ; Arthritis ; Caregivers ; Female ; Humans ; Nursing Care ; Osteoarthritis*

Seafood is one of the common causes of food allergies to adults. The sea hare Aplysia kurodai is a marine mollusk which belongs to invertebrate gastropod that has been consumed as a food in Korea. Cases of acute toxic hepatitis after ingestion of sea hares have been reported, but few cases of allergic reactions to sea hare have been reported in the literature. A 33-year-old man was referred to our Emergency Department due to urticaria and periorbital/perioral swelling after eating sea hares. Approximately 10 years ago, he experienced similar allergic reactions to it. Skin prick and intradermal tests showed strong positive responses to crude sea hare allergen extract. He was diagnosed with food allergy to sea hares. We herein report the first case of sea hare allergy after ingestion.
Adult ; Angioedema* ; Aplysia ; Drug-Induced Liver Injury ; Eating* ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Gastropoda ; Hares* ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Intradermal Tests ; Invertebrates ; Korea ; Mollusca ; Seafood ; Skin ; Urticaria*