PURPOSE: Sexual activity is a highly personal matter and uneasy to measure their problems objectively in view of clinical field. Many investigators have been continued to rely on self-report measures of sexual function. However, there have been few report measuring female sexual function in general population in Korea. This study was aimed to investigate function by self-report measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 347 married women was randomly selected and asked to fill the Brief Index of Sexual Function for Women (BISF-W) which was translated into Korean and modified by authors. Three factors-interest/desire, sexual activity, and satisfaction were analyzed. RESULTS: Women were grouped by age at 10-year intervals. 21.5% of women reported to be sexually active during the past moth, and 78.5% was inactive. Most common coital frequency in all age groups pas one-two times per month. 76.1% of women showed passive response in their initiation of sexual activities. Mostly they reach orgasm only by the vaginal intercourse, and overall satisfaction rate was 55.2% including only 25% of fifties groups followed by pain. CONCLUSIONS: In general, Korean women showed less active in their sexual lives, however, they were relatively satisfied to their sexual lives. A larger study and more sophisticated, modified questionnaire, which is more considering specific social, psychological interpersonal factors would be required.
Coitus ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Moths ; Orgasm ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; Research Personnel ; Sexual Behavior*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether GnRH-agonist (GnRH-Ag) using in IVF-ET affects apoptosis of human granulosa-luteal cells and expression of peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) protein involved in the apoptosis of the cells. METHODS: Granulosa-luteal cells obtained during oocyte retrieval were cultured and treated with 10(-5) M GnRH-Ag. Apoptosis of the cells by the treatment was confirmed using DNA fragmentation analysis 24 h after culture. The presence of PBR protein within the cells was examined by immunofluorescence staining and the expression of the protein was analyzed by Western blotting. In addition, it was measured for progesterone and nitric oxide (NO) produced by granulosa-luteal cells after GnRH-Ag treatment. To evaluate the relationship between NO production and PBR expression, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as a NO donor was added in media and investigated the expression of PBR protein by Western blotting. RESULTS: Apoptosis increased in the granulosa-luteal cells 24 h after GnRH-Ag treatment, whereas the expression of PBR protein significantly decreased. Furthermore, the production of progesterone and nitric oxide (NO) by the cells significantly fell from 12 h after the treatment. In the results of Western blotting after SNP treatment, the expression of PBR protein increased in the treatment with SNP alone to the granulosa-luteal cells, but was suppressed in the treatment with GnRH-Ag and SNP. Additionally, the staining result of PBR protein in the cells showed the even distribution of it through the cell. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that GnRH-Ag treatment induces apoptosis, decreasing expression of PBR protein and NO production in human granulosa-luteal cells. The present study suggests that one of the apoptosis mechanism of human granulosa-luteal cells by GnRH-Ag might be a signal transduction pathway via NO and PBR.
Apoptosis* ; Blotting, Western ; DNA Fragmentation ; Female ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Humans* ; Luteal Cells* ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitroprusside ; Oocyte Retrieval ; Progesterone ; Receptors, GABA-A ; Signal Transduction ; Tissue Donors

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to know whether and how tamsulosin induces apoptosis of normal rat prostate cells, and the relationship between apoptosis and clusterin expression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used a prostate cell line, NRP-152 cells which are the basal epithelium cell originated from rat prostate. The NRP-152 cells were treated with various concentrations(50, 100, 200, 400 uM) of tamsulosin for 24 h. To evaluate apoptosis, the cultured NRP-152 cells were stained with Heochst 33258 and Propidium Iodide (PI) without fixation. We also examined DNA fragmentation analysis to confirm apoptosis. In addition, to elucidate the signal transduction pathway by which apoptosis is induced, we examined Bcl-2 family proteins such as Bcl-2, Bax, Bad, Bcl-xL, and Bim by real-time RT-PCR. RESULTS: After tamsulosin treatment, the rate of apoptosis was 25% at 100 micrometer, 50% at 200 micrometer, and 63% at 400 micrometer, whereas the rate of necrosis was 10% at 100 micrometer, 38% at 200 micrometer, and 56% at 400 micrometer. DNA fragmentation was also gradually increased and the highest at 400 micrometer, similar to apoptotic cell rates. As a result of real-time RT-PCR, there was significant difference of Bcl-2 and Bim mRNA expression among the groups. Expression of clusterin protein was significantly increased after treatment of tamsulosin, even as low as 50 micrometer concentration. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that tamsulosin causes the cell death of NRP-152 cells, displaying low concentration of tamsulosin induces apoptosis, but high concentration occurs necrosis. Bim, a proapoptotic factor of the Bcl-2 family, expression was increased in the cells treated with tamsulosin, whereas Bcl-2 expression was decreased. The present study suggests that clusterin may play a role in the process of apoptosis induced by tamsulosin and Bim could be involved in the apoptosis.
Animals ; Apoptosis* ; Cell Death ; Cell Line ; Clusterin* ; DNA Fragmentation ; Epithelium ; Humans ; Necrosis ; Propidium ; Prostate ; Rats ; RNA, Messenger ; Signal Transduction

PURPOSE: We studied the apoptotic index in prostate cancer tissues and investigated the relationship of apoptosis and clusterin expression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-two archival prostatectomy specimens of varying grades of prostate cancer and 10 of benign prostatic hyperplasia were subjected to immunohistochemical clusterin staining with anti- clusterin antibody. Staining intensities were classified from 0 to 3. Apoptotic index was calculated with TUNEL positive cells under fluorescence microscope. We performed double staining for clusterin and TUNEL using immunofluorescence technique to determine the relationship between apoptosis and clusterin expression. RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry of clusterin showed a weak intensity in all benign tissues. Clusterin was localized mainly in the epithelial cells. Staining intensity was increased according to Gleason grade of cancer. Apoptotic indices of cancer were 0.86+/-0.8%, 0.76+/-1.0%, 0.39+/-0.4% and 0.14+/-0.09% in grades 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. In immunofluorescence localization study, apoptosis was not detected in the cancer cells stained with clusterin. Conversely, clusterin was not expressed in the cells showing apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: These results more clearly show that clusterin acts as a survival protein protecting from apoptosis in prostate cancer. In addition, our findings revealed that the apoptotic index is lower in high grade prostate cancer. These findings have significant clinical implications for identifying the value of apoptotic index and clusterin expression in prostate cancer. Further study is needed to define the role of clusterin in the development and progression of prostate cancer.
Apoptosis* ; Clusterin* ; Epithelial Cells ; Fluorescence ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Immunohistochemistry ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Prostate* ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Prostatic Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to evaluate the protective effects of selenium against the methyl mercury chloride (MeHgCl) induced cell apoptosis. METHODS: The effect of selenium on the MeHgCl induced cell apoptosis was observed in mouse macrophage-derived RAW 264.7 cells, in vitro. The cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM). RESULTS: MeHgCl exerted a dose dependent cytotoxicity, as demonstrated by the MTT assay, an assay dependent, in part, on mitochondrial function. Concurrent exposure to selenium provided complete protective effects against the cytotoxicity induced by MeHgCl. Pretreatment with selenium increased the protective effects of subsquent administrations of selenium in conjunction with MeHgCl, but pretreatment of selenium alone did not provide protection against MeHgCl when given alone. Selenium administered after exposure to MeHgCl did not repair the existing MeHgCl induced cytotoxicity.Furthermore, the apoptosis induced by MeHgCl was revealed by the DNA fragmentation, using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase Biotin-dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, alterations to the nuclear morphology, by nuclei staining, and the plasma membrane lipid organization, as shown by cell flow cytometry. The apoptosis induced by MeHgCl was prevented by the concurrent exposure to selenium, or pretreatment with selenium, prior to the administration of selenium in conjunction with MeHgCl. However, no inhibittion of the MeHgCl induced apoptosis was observed with selenium pretreatment prior to exposure to MeHgCl alone, or with the administration of selenium after exposure to MeHgCl. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the coexistence of selenium and MeHgCl are essential for the protective effects of selenium against the MeHgCl-induced apoptosis, and the cytotoxicity, in RAW 264.7 cells, and may involve selenium-MeHgCl binding.
Animals ; Apoptosis* ; Cell Membrane ; DNA Fragmentation ; DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase ; Flow Cytometry ; Mice ; Selenium*

PURPOSE: Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) are important for staging of patients with node-positive breast cancer. However, these can be avoided in select micrometastatic diseases, preventing postoperative complications. The present study evaluated the ability of axillary lymph node maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) on positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) to predict axillary metastasis of breast cancer.METHODS: The records of invasive breast cancer patients who underwent pretreatment (surgery and/or chemotherapy) PET-CT between January 2006 and December 2014 were reviewed. ALNs were preoperatively evaluated by PET-CT. Lymph nodes were dissected by SLNB or ALND. SUVmax was measured in both the axillary lymph node and primary tumor. Student t-test and chi-square test were used to analyze sensitivity and specificity. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under the ROC curve (AUC) analyses were performed.RESULTS: SUV-tumor (SUV-T) and SUV-lymph node (SUV-LN) were significantly higher in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) group than in other groups (SUV-T: 5.99, P < 0.01; SUV-LN: 1.29, P=0.014). The sensitivity (0.881) and accuracy (0.804) for initial ALN staging were higher in fine needle aspiration+PET-CT than in other methods. For PET-CT alone, the subtype with the highest sensitivity (0.870) and negative predictive value (0.917) was TNBC. The AUC for SUV-LN was greatest in TNBC (0.797).CONCLUSION: The characteristics of SUV-T and SUV-LN differed according to immunohistochemistry subtype. Compared to other subtypes, the true positivity of axillary metastasis on PET-CT was highest in TNBC. These findings could help tailor management for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes.
Area Under Curve ; Breast Neoplasms ; Electrons ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Needles ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Postoperative Complications ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy ; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms

Transgenic plants have been tested as an alternative host for the production and delivery of experimental oral vaccines. Here, we developed transgenic potatoes that express the major antigenic sites A and D of the glycoprotein S from transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (TGEV-S0.7) under three expression vector systems. The DNA integration and mRNA expression level of the TGEV-S0.7 gene were confirmed in transgenic plants by PCR and northern blot analysis. Antigen protein expression in transgenic potato was determined by western blot analysis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results revealed that based on a dilution series of Escherichia coli-derived antigen, the transgenic line P-2 had TGEV-S0.7 protein at levels that were 0.015% of total soluble proteins. We then examined the immunogenicity of potato-derived TGEV-S0.7 antigen in mice. Compared with the wild-type potato treated group and synthetic antigen treated group, mice treated with the potato-derived antigen showed significantly higher levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgA responses.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Blotting, Northern ; Blotting, Western ; Coronavirus ; DNA ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Escherichia ; Gastroenteritis ; Glycoproteins* ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulins ; Mice* ; Plants, Genetically Modified ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger ; Solanum tuberosum* ; Transmissible gastroenteritis virus* ; Vaccines

Crohn's disease is a condition of chronic inflammation potentially involving any location of the alimentary tract from mouth to anus. Numerous extraintestinal manifestations can also be present. Urologic complications of inflammatory bowel disease are seen in up to 25% of patients, but renal parenchymal disease has been rarely reported. IgA nephropathy is recognized worldwide as a most common form of primary glomerulonephritis. Clinical manifestations vary, ranging from microscopic hematuria to nephrotic syndrome. Recently, IgA nephropathy associated with systemic diseases has been reported. We describe a case of a 22 year-old man with Crohn's disease associated with IgA nephropathy. At the age of 8 years, microscopic hematuria appeared. After fourteen years, he presented with melena, mild fever, recurrent oral ulcer, microscopic hematuria and proteinuria. Colonoscopic examination revealed characteristic features of Crohn's disease such as multiple ulcers. Microscopic findings showed superficial ulceration with small noncaseating granulomas. Renal biopsy revealed IgA nephropathy. The patient was treated with oral prednisolone, olsalazine, and metronidazole followed by maintenance therapy with sulfasalazine and azathioprine resulting in clinical improvement of Crohn's disease and IgA nephropathy.
Adult ; Crohn Disease/*complications/pathology ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA/*complications/pathology ; Humans ; Male