No abstract available.

PURPOSE: To examine the fate of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSC) after injection into different host conditions and provide an insight for their mechanism of action. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MDSCs differentiated in vitro towards the endothelial lineage and transfected with lentivirus tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP) were injected into two animal models mimicking vascular diseases: hindlimb ischemia and carotid injury models. Injected cells were tracked at the site of injection and in remote organs by harvesting the respective tissues at different time intervals and performing immunofluorescent histological analyses. Stem cell survival was quantified at the site of injection for up to 4 weeks. RESULTS: MDSCs were successfully tagged with fluorescent material GFP and showed successful implantation into the respective injection sites. These cells showed a higher affinity to implant in blood vessel walls as shown by double fluorescent co-stain with CD31. Quantification of stem cell survival showed a time-dependent decrease from day 3 to 4 weeks (survival rate normalized against day 3 was 72.0% at 1 week, 26.8% at 2 weeks and 2.4% at 4 weeks). Stem cells were also fo und in distant organs, especially the kidneys and liver, which survived up to 4 weeks. CONCLUSION: MDSCs were successfully tracked in different vascular disease models, and their fate was assessed in terms of cell survival and distribution. Better understanding of the donor cell properties, including their interaction with the host conditions and their mechanism of action, are needed to enhance cell survival and achieve improved outcomes.
Adult Stem Cells ; Animals ; Blood Vessels ; Cell Survival ; Hindlimb ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Kidney ; Lentivirus ; Liver ; Models, Animal ; Stem Cell Niche ; Stem Cells* ; Tissue Donors ; Vascular Diseases

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a widely used method, and its decreased invasiveness compared to traditional surgical repair has brought about reduced rates of morbidity and mortality. Several vascular complications related to the procedure have been reported, but non-vascular complications have rarely occurred. We report herein the case of a 78-year-old man who underwent EVAR for AAA and presented with active duodenal ulcer bleeding and acute acalculous cholecystitis as complications after the procedure. We must consider that a wide spectrum of complications may occur following EVAR, and therefore it is important to evaluate the risks of complication and to take the necessary measures to minimize them.
Acalculous Cholecystitis ; Aged ; Aneurysm ; Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal ; Duodenal Ulcer ; Hemorrhage ; Humans

No abstract available.
Clomiphene*

PURPOSE: Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is a new surgical option using endoscopic advancement to the peritoneal cavity through the stomach, colon, vagina, or urinary bladder without an abdominal wall scar (incision). The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of transgastric gastroscopic intra-abdominal exploration with gastric incision and closure before the NOTES would be done. METHODS: Under general anesthesia of a female dog, one-channel gastroscope was advanced to the stomach and the lumen was irrigated with anti-bacterial solution. The anterior wall of the antrum was incised by about 1 cm with a needle knife; then, the gastroscope was advanced into the peritoneal cavity. An exploration of the entire intra-abdominal cavity was performed. RESULTS: We were able to evaluate the stomach, the greater omentum, the diaphragm, the peritoneum, the urinary bladder, the bowel, the spleen, the liver, the gallbladder, the uterine horn, the uterine body, and the vagina, but could not evaluate the ovary, the kidney, and the pancreas. The observation of the abdominal cavity was followed by the gastric wall closure with a 135o endoclip. The dog was recovered after confirmation of secure closure of the incision site. CONCLUSIONS: Transgastric incision, closure, and abdominal exploration are feasible without an abdominal wall scar, and the NOTES can be one option for future abdominal operations in humans and needs to be further investigated.
Abdominal Cavity ; Abdominal Wall ; Anesthesia, General ; Animals ; Cicatrix ; Colon ; Diaphragm ; Dogs* ; Female* ; Gallbladder ; Gastroscopes ; Horns ; Humans ; Kidney ; Liver ; Natural Orifice Endoscopic Surgery ; Needles ; Omentum ; Ovary ; Pancreas ; Peritoneal Cavity ; Peritoneum ; Spleen ; Stomach ; Urinary Bladder ; Vagina

OBJECTIVE: Today, Korean medical community faces rapid changes in medical environment due to opening of medical market, more emphasis on making profit and introduction of private medical insurance. Therefore, it is apparent that around, major university hospitals, efforts are being made to adapt to such changes by establishing mid to long range strategic plans. We want to keep pace with changing times and diverse demand of patients by introducing state of the art system, utilizing Radio Frequency Identification and Ubiquitous Sensor Network technologies for improvements. In doing so, we want to distinguish our hospital services from others. However, Hospital Information System that integrates ubiquitous technologies are introduced in limited basis due to problems like standardization and limits on medical use, where responsibilities lie, legal safeguard on transmission, invasion of privacy etc. Particularly, problems like absence of tag design suitable for medical environment, compatibility issue with previous medical information system, and also, problems on sharing information with other organizations and patients need to be addressed on application of Radio Frequency Identification technologies. METHODS: In order to solve such problems, we have designed medical tags for the first time that are consistent with future ubiquitous environment by deciding on medically suitable field with 96bit tag offered by Electronic Product Code as its base. Second, improving on previous multi-tag recognizing crash prevention algorithm, we have designed a priority anti-collision algorithm that reflects priorities on the needs in medical environment, This means, by designing group bit that reflects priorities, this algorithm is able to recognize tags with faster priorities. RESULTS: For performance evaluation of proposed techniques, we have designed medical tags on 96 bit Philips U-code tag to store and to use medical information. A priority anti-collision algorithm showed superior performance than previous algorithm by recognizing tags with at least 4 times faster priorities. CONCLUSION: This study represented a priority anti-collision algorithm based on RFID in healthcare environment. we expected that the designed algorithm could provide high quality services in hospital.
Delivery of Health Care* ; Hospital Information Systems ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Insurance ; Privacy ; Radio Frequency Identification Device*

No abstract available.
Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Skull* ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms*

No abstract available.
Hematoma*

No abstract available.
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Traumatic*

BACKGROUND: The angiotensin converting enzyme(ACE) is a key component of the renin-angiotensin system thought to be important in the pathogenesis of hypertension and cadiovascular diseases. Deletion polymorphism in the ACE gene may be a risk factor for myocardial infarction. The insertion/deletion(I/D) polymorphism of the ACE detected by PCR analysis appears to be associated with hypertension in Koreans and its nucleotide was subcloned into T-vector and its nucleotide sequences were determined. We also examined an association between hypertension and genetic variance of ACE. METHODS AND RESULTS: We identified the angiotensin I-converting enzyme genotype in 127 hypertensive and 189 normotensive Korean subjects. The distribution of ACE genotype II, ID, DD were 39.2%, 40.2%, 20.6% respectively and the frequency for ACE alleles I and D were 0.593 and 0.407, respecively in all subjects. The frequency of D allele in Korean males is higher than that of Korean females(male; 0.438 : female; 0.267), and the frequency of I allele in Korean females is higher than that of Korean males(female; 0.733 : male; 0.562). Genotype distributions of angiotensin I-converting enzyme genes in Korean normal adult population were different from that of Caucasians(P<0.001). There were no significant differences in genotype frequency between the hypertensive control group(n=127) and the normotensive group(n=189). CONCLUSIONS: We observed significant differences of ACE genotype distribution between the male group and the female group in total(P=0.001) and in hypertensive Korean subjects(P=0.013).
Adult ; Alleles ; Angiotensins* ; Base Sequence ; Female ; Gene Frequency* ; Genotype* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Renin-Angiotensin System ; Risk Factors