No abstract available.
Dermatitis, Allergic Contact

BACKGROUND: Aging is associated with increased cardiovascular risk and firmly established as a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. However the exact mechanism of age-related damage to the arterial wall and its relation to the atherosclerotic process are not well known.The endothelium plays an important role for the regulation of vascular tone and the endothelial function is impaired in the presence of risk factors early in the process of atherosclerosis. Assessment of endothelial function appears to be a valuable tool for the diagnosing and therapeutic monitoring of coronary artery disease. Anti-oxidants are known to improve endothelial dysfunction in atherosclerosis patients. The aim of this study was, (1) to evaluate the endothelial function in elderly, (2) to investigate whether vitamin C administration has benefit on the endothelial function in elderly. METHODS: The endothelial function was estimated using venous occlusion plethysmography(VOP) in 7 elderly and 7 young healthy volunteers. The strain guage was connected to plethysmograph to record the forearm volume change. A rapid cuff inflator was used to inflate the arm cuff to 40 mmHg instantaneuosly thus occluding venous return from the forearm. The measurement of forearm volume change was repeated for 7 times each stage. The change of the forearm blood flow(FBF) was measured with the acetylcholine infusion through brachial artery and also with intra-arterial vitamin C. RESULTS: Endothelium-dependent vasodilatation was significantly impaired in the elderly group compared to the young group(321 +/-17% in elderly group vs 509 +/-81%, mean+/-SEM) Forearm blood flow response to acetylcholine was significantly enhanced with inraarterial infusion of vitamin C in elderly group(321+/-17% in elderly group vs 78% in vitamin C) Coinfusion of L-NMMA, an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, blunted forearm blood flow response to acetylcholine. CONCLUSIONS: Even though the mechanisms leading to drpressed endothelial function in elderly remains to be elucidated, our study shows that vitamin C result in demonstrable improvement by a mechanism that is probably related to antioxidant activity.
Acetylcholine ; Aged* ; Aging ; Arm ; Ascorbic Acid* ; Atherosclerosis ; Brachial Artery ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Endothelium ; Forearm ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; omega-N-Methylarginine ; Risk Factors ; Vasodilation* ; Vitamins*

Inbred mice are an essential animal strain for research as they can improve the reproducibility and reliability of study results. The establishment of new inbred lines is continuing, and new inbred lines are being used in many research fields. C57BL/6 is a mouse laboratory animal that has been developed and used as an inbred strain since early stage of mouse strain development, and, in the 1950s, C57BL/6 was separated into substrains by the Jackson Laboratory (C57BL/6J) and the National Institutes of Health (C57BL/6N). C57BL/6 mice have been used in immunology and antitumor activity studies since the early strain development stage. After the mouse genome was fully described, C57BL/6 mice use in many areas of research has expanded. In particular, immunological characteristics such as those related to cell-mediated immunity and NK cell activity are relatively higher in C57BL/6 mice than in other mice. The C57BL/6NKorl is a stock of C57BL/6N established as part of a localization of experimental animal strategy of the Korean Food and Drug Administration. Based on analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), C57BL/6NKorl is considered a genetically distinct inbred stock from other C57BL/6N. Various research efforts have been made to describe the characteristics and increase knowledge of the characteristics of C57BL/6Nkorl. The results obtained through these efforts are expected to increase the utilization of C57BL/6Nkorl as a domestic laboratory animal resource and to enhance the reliability of mouse based studies.
Allergy and Immunology ; Animals ; Animals, Laboratory ; Genome ; Immunity, Cellular ; Killer Cells, Natural ; Mice* ; National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; United States Food and Drug Administration

No abstract available.
Methicillin Resistance* ; Methicillin* ; Staphylococcus*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the independent prognostic value of Ki-67 in lymph node-negative breast cancer and the usefulness of Ki-67 when it combined with St. Gallen classification as a guidance of adjuvant chemotherapy for node-negative cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 534 patients with lymph node-negative breast cancer who underwent curative surgery between 1998 and 2001 at our institution. Patients were classified according to the guideline of risk groups of St. Gallen consensus and the level of Ki-67 expression. Distant metastasis-free survival (DFS) rates were compared between groups. RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 55 months, the overall 5-year DFS rate was 91.5%. The 5-year DFS rates for patients with high and low Ki-67 tumors (cut-off value: > or = 10%) were 84.6% and 93.7%, respectively (p < 0.001). In a Cox regression model involving potential prognostic factors, high Ki-67 expression could independently predict the risk of distant recurrence (odds ratio = 2.0 [95% confidence interval, 1.03-3.93]). The 5-year DFS rates for patients with average and minimal risk group of St. Gallen classification were 89.3% and 97.5%, respectively. The average risk group was further divided into two subgroups with significantly different prognosis according to the Ki-67 expression (DFS rate: 84.2% vs. 91.5%; p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Ki-67 was an independent prognostic factor in lymph node-negative breast cancer and the combination of Ki-67 expression and the St. Gallen classification could provide a more useful therapeutic guideline for lymph node-negative breast cancer patients.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Classification ; Consensus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To evaluate the independent prognostic value of Ki-67 in lymph node-negative breast cancer and the usefulness of Ki-67 when it combined with St. Gallen classification as a guidance of adjuvant chemotherapy for node-negative cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 534 patients with lymph node-negative breast cancer who underwent curative surgery between 1998 and 2001 at our institution. Patients were classified according to the guideline of risk groups of St. Gallen consensus and the level of Ki-67 expression. Distant metastasis-free survival (DFS) rates were compared between groups. RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 55 months, the overall 5-year DFS rate was 91.5%. The 5-year DFS rates for patients with high and low Ki-67 tumors (cut-off value: > or = 10%) were 84.6% and 93.7%, respectively (p < 0.001). In a Cox regression model involving potential prognostic factors, high Ki-67 expression could independently predict the risk of distant recurrence (odds ratio = 2.0 [95% confidence interval, 1.03-3.93]). The 5-year DFS rates for patients with average and minimal risk group of St. Gallen classification were 89.3% and 97.5%, respectively. The average risk group was further divided into two subgroups with significantly different prognosis according to the Ki-67 expression (DFS rate: 84.2% vs. 91.5%; p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Ki-67 was an independent prognostic factor in lymph node-negative breast cancer and the combination of Ki-67 expression and the St. Gallen classification could provide a more useful therapeutic guideline for lymph node-negative breast cancer patients.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Classification ; Consensus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: We investigated the operative outcome after bypass surgery in patients selected using viability criteria on F-18 FDG PET. MATERALS AND METHODS: Rest-24hr delay redistribution imaging of Tl-201 SPECT and F-18 FDG PET were performed in 11 patients. Seven of these 11 patients (6 men, 1 woman) were evaluated to have viable myocardium by F-18 FDG PET. Changes in symptoms and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after operation were evaluated. RESULTS: In seven of 11 patients, a significant amount of viable myocardium was found on F-18 FDG PET and Tl-201 SPECT. Severity of both chest pain and dyspnea improved markedly in all patients. Mean LVEF improved from 22% to 32%. CONCLUSION: F-18 FDG PET could be used to select the patients who will benefit from coronary artery bypass surgery.
Cardiomyopathies* ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardium ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Stroke Volume ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a genetically trarlsmitted benign muscular dystrophy which has autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. It starts anytime within the first 30 years of life, and usually involves the face and shoulder girdle, and finally the pelvic muscles with very slow progression. Authors-report a fanily consisting of a father, two sons and one daughter, who had suffered from exertional dyspnea, weakness of facial muscle and winged scapulae, all wlth a slow progressive course. Two of these patients were biopsied arld confirmed light microscopically and electron microsopically.
Dyspnea ; Facial Muscles ; Fathers ; Humans ; Inheritance Patterns ; Muscles ; Muscular Dystrophies ; Muscular Dystrophy, Facioscapulohumeral* ; Nuclear Family ; Scapula ; Shoulder

One of the authors' names was misprinted.

We report a case of breast gigantism in a patient with Wilson's disease treated with penicillamine. A 19-year-old female with alleged Wilson's disease visited our hospital due to diffuse enlargement of both breasts. She had been treated with penicillamine 1,000 mg/day since her age of 15 after diagnosis of Wilson's disease. At the initial presentation, there were diffuse skin thickenings in both lower inner breasts and huge lesion which replaced almost all the breast parenchyma. After gun biopsy and excision for tissue diagnosis, fibroadenoma with ductal epithelial hyperplasia was diagnosed. Although daily dose of penicillamine was lowed to 500 mg/day, her symptom progressed. After 1 year of follow up, she and her parents strongly wanted to remove her breasts because of distorted body shape and weight of breasts. The patients underwent subcutaneous mastectomy with the designed incision of the reduction mammoplasty for the future mammoplasty. Although the breast gigantism is a rare side effect of penicillamine, female patients should be followed up cautiously for the possible change of breasts. Because penicillamine is no more the first choice for Wilson's disease, it would be better to avoid using penicillamine for Wilson's disease patients especially for the young females.
Biopsy ; Breast* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fibroadenoma ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gigantism* ; Hepatolenticular Degeneration* ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Mammaplasty ; Mastectomy, Subcutaneous ; Parents ; Penicillamine* ; Skin ; Young Adult