Oxidative stress has been implicated in mediation of vascular disorders. In the presence of vanadate, H2O2 induced tyrosine phosphorylation of PLD1, protein kinase C-a (PKC-a), and other unidentified proteins in rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Interestingly, PLD1 was found to be constitutively associated with PKC-a in VSMCs. Stimulation of the cells by H2O2 and vanadate showed a concentration-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of the proteins in PLD1 immunoprecipitates and activation of PLD. Pretreatment of the cells with the protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of H2O2-induced PLD activation. PKC inhibitor and down-regulation of PKC abolished H2O2-stimulated PLD activation. The cells stimulated by oxidative stress (H2O2) caused increased cell migration. This effect was prevented by the pretreatment of cells with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, PKC inhibitors, and 1-butanol, but not 3-butanol. Taken together, these results suggest that PLD might be involved in oxidative stress-induced migration of VSMCs, possibly via tyrosine phosphorylation and PKC activation.
Animals ; Cell Movement/drug effects/*physiology ; Cells, Cultured ; Enzyme Activation/drug effects ; Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology ; Genistein/pharmacology ; Hydrogen Peroxide/pharmacology ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/cytology/*physiology ; *Oxidative Stress/drug effects ; Phospholipase D/*metabolism ; Phosphorylation/drug effects ; Protein Kinase C/*metabolism ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinase/antagonists & inhibitors ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Signal Transduction/drug effects ; Vanadates/pharmacology ; Vascular Diseases/metabolism

Objective: Facial affect recognition is associated with neuropsychological status and psychiatric diseases. We hypothesized that facial affect recognition is associated with psychological status and perception of other affects. Methods: A total of 80 images depicting facial affect, including 20 Neutral, 20 Angry, 20 Fear, and 20 Sad, were screened for use in our research. A total of 100 healthy individuals were asked to rate these images using a 10-point Likert scale and complete psychological scales assessing the emotional statuses and cognitive functions. Results: The participants’ emotional state of aggression, attention, and impulsivity may have been associated with their interpretation of the Angry facial expressions. The participants often rated the Angry facial expressions as Fear. The participants rated Fear images as Angry or Sad. In response to a Sad facial expression, the participants reported psychological statuses of attention and impulsivity which were associated with the facial expression rating. The participants rated the Sad expression as Angry or Fear. Conclusion The psychological statuses of the participants were significantly correlated with their interpretation of facial affects. In particular, a psychological state of attention was often correlated with incorrect affect ratings. Attention and impulsivity could affect the rating of the sad facial expressions.

Elevated expression of protein casein kinase II (CKII) stimulated basal phospholipase D (PLD) activity as well as PMA-induced PLD activation in human U87 astroglioma cells. Moreover, CKII-selective inhibitor, emodin and apigenin suppressed PMA-induced PLD activation in a dose-dependent manner as well as basal PLD activity, suggesting the involvement of CKII in the activation of both PLD1 and PLD2. CKII was associated with PLD1 and PLD2 in co-transfection experiments. Furthermore, CKII induced serine/threonine phosphorylation of PLD2 in vivo, and the multiple regions of PLD2 were phosphorylated by CKII in vitro kinase assay using glutathione S-transferase-PLD2 fusion protein fragments. Elevated expression of CKII or PLD increased cell proliferation but pretreatment of cells with 1-butanol suppressed CKII-induced cell proliferation. These results suggest that CKII is involved in proliferation of U87 cells at least in part, through stimulation of PLD activity.
1-Butanol/pharmacology ; Astrocytoma/*enzymology/metabolism/pathology ; Blotting, Western ; Casein Kinase II/analysis/*pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Enzyme Activation ; Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology ; Glutathione Transferase/metabolism ; Humans ; Kinetics ; Phospholipase D/genetics/*metabolism ; Phosphorylation/drug effects ; Precipitin Tests ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins/metabolism ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate/pharmacology

BACKGROUND: With the rapid increase in the number of the aged population, curable or controlled disease were treated as aging process because of the difficulty of early detection and treatment of disease and the specificity of elderly patients. We help manage elderly patients by studying their frequency of common known disease and hidden disease that would enable the curable diseases to be detected early, and noncurable disease to be controlled. METHODS: The subjects included 128 patients over 60 years old who had completed structured questionnaires and we reviewed chart records among 208 patients registered from January 1997 to July at the Health Screening Center of a general hospital in Kyonggi-do. Known diseases were based on charts recorded through structured questionnaires and hidden diseases were based on health screening results and overall geriatric assessment data. RESULTS: The number of patients was 128 in which male was 47 and female was 81. The ratio between male and female was 1: 1.72 and the average age was 66.0 years. In the order of frequency the most common known diseases were hypertension, arthritis, G-I disturbance, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, depression and the hidden diseases they were arthritis, G-1 disease, depressive mood, malnutrition, hypertension, osteoporosis, hearing loss, hypercholesterolemia, hypomagnesemia, incontinence, anemia, decreased cognitive function. CONCLUSION: We assessed the characteristics of multiple pathology in geriatric patients and realized that it was important t manage aggressively those with a hidden disease that can be treatable after early detection through overall geriatric assessement.
Aged* ; Aging ; Anemia ; Arthritis ; Depression ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Female ; Geriatric Assessment ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hearing Loss ; Heart Diseases ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Male ; Malnutrition ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged ; Osteoporosis ; Pathology ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: It was known that physical illness and depression due to cognitive function defects increase in the elderly, This study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of depressive mood, associated factors and to help understanding recent trends of the depressive elderly. METHODS: We selected 108 subjects over 65-year-old who visited Health Promotion Center, Pundang CHA General Hospital for geriatric health evaluation from Mar. 1996 to Feb. 1997. We analyzed Geriatric Evaluation Record to Know the effect of sociodemographic factors, life styles and geriatric medical factors by Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS). RESULTS: The result showed that depressive mood appeared 20(37.0%) in male, 35(64.8%) in female and 55(50.9%) in total among 108 subjects. Factors associated with depressive mood of the elderly were occupation(p<0.05), regular exercise(p<0.001), nutritional status(p<0.05), functional status and alcohol drinking. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of depressive mood of the elderly was 50.9%, and the depressive mood have been affected more for the elderly who was out of work, not doing regular exercises and got high nutritional risk. Further study is required to know other factors influencing on depressive mood of the elderly.
Aged* ; Alcohol Drinking ; Depression ; Exercise ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male ; Prevalence*

BACKGROUND: Airborne particles during Yellow Sand phenomena are known to be associated with the respiratory disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the concentration and metal component properties of Yellow Sand particles and compare with airborne microbial concentration and species in non Yellow Sand and Yellow Sand phenomena. METHODS: Samplings were carried out in 2002 in Seosan, during non Yellow Sand and Yellow Sand phenomena. Samples were taken using the 8-stage Cascade impactor and metallic elements were analyzed by XRF. Those were culture on the media for bacterial and fungal culture and celline for virus. RESULTS: The concentration of total suspended particulate matter were respectively 80.2microgram/m3, 40.3microgram/m3 in non Yellow Sand and Yellow Sand phenomena. The concentration of metallic elements such as Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn in Yellow Sand phenomena were higher than its in non Yellow Sand. Two bacteria, Bacillus species and Staphylococcus were grown in two periods. In both periods, several fungal spores(Mucor species, Cladosporum, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Alternaria species) were identified. The differences of bacteria and fungus species not observed in Yellow Sand and non Yellow Sand. Any viruses were not isolated in between both periods. CONCLUSIONS: The concentration of total suspended particulate matter and some metallic elements in Yellow Sand phenomena were higher than its in non Yellow Sand. The difference of bacteria and fungus species was not observed in non Yellow Sand and Yellow Sand phenomena.
Alternaria ; Aspergillus ; Bacillus ; Bacteria ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Fungi ; Particulate Matter* ; Penicillium ; Silicon Dioxide* ; Staphylococcus

Botryomycosis is a chronic supprative disease with characteristic granules formation in the pus caused by bacteria and frequently is mistaken for a fungal infection. Pulmonary botryomycosis can resemble actinomycosis, tuberculosis, or invasive carcinoma by causing a mass lesion with constitutional symptoms. We report a case of pulmonary botryomycosis in a 43 years old man. He had a cavitary lesion of the right upper lobe and diagnosis was confirmed by percutaneous needle aspiration. The specimen demonstrated multiple clusters of bacteria within abscess that best were visualized by gram staining. Cultures of the biopsy materials yielded pure growth of Gemella morbilium. The patient recovered quickly after antibiotics treatment for 3 weeks.
Abscess ; Actinomycosis ; Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteria ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Gemella* ; Humans ; Needles ; Suppuration ; Tuberculosis

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine cell carcinoma is a very rare tumor. We experienced a 75-year-old woman with primary hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma presenting with pyogenic liver abscess. Abdominal CT scan revealed a multiseptated liver abscess and an enlarged lymph node in portocaval portion. We performed percutaneous drainage of the liver abscess, but the amount of drained pus did not decrease after 20 days. The follow-up abdominal CT scan showed that the cystic portion of liver abscess had been replaced by the solid tumor. Microscopic examination of the tumor tissue showed nests of epithelial cells with uniform round hyperchromatic nuclei and high nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio. Immunohistochemical staining was strongly positive for synaptophysin and chromogranin A.
Adenine/analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use ; Antiviral Agents/*adverse effects/therapeutic use ; Drug Eruptions/diagnosis/*pathology ; Female ; Hepatitis B, Chronic/*drug therapy ; Humans ; Ichthyosis/chemically induced/pathology ; Lamivudine/*adverse effects/therapeutic use ; Middle Aged ; Phosphonic Acids/therapeutic use

No abstract available.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Jugular Veins ; Paralysis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Deterioration of renal function in cirrhotic patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a predictor for in-hospital mortality; however, the clinical significance of renal dysfunction during bacterial infection other than SBP is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical significance of renal dysfunction due to bacterial infections other than SBP in patients with liver cirrhosis. METHODS: Retrospective data from inpatients with bacterial infections other than SBP were analyzed. RESULTS: Eighty patients were recruited for the analysis. The types of infections included that of urinary tract (37.5%), pneumonia (23.8%), biliary tract (20%), cellulitis (12.5%), and bacteremia of unknown origin (6.3%). Renal dysfunction developed in 29 patients (36.3%), of which 11 patients had irreversible renal dysfunction. The initial MELD score, neutrophil count, albumin, and blood pressure were significant risk factors in the univariate analysis, whereas only the MELD score was an independent risk factor for the development of renal dysfunction (p<0.001) after multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of renal dysfunction during bacterial infection other than SBP in patients with liver cirrhosis was 36.3%, and its development was related to the severity of the liver disease. Occurrence of irreversible renal dysfunction seemed to affect the prognosis of these patients.
Bacteremia ; Bacterial Infections ; Biliary Tract ; Blood Pressure ; Cellulitis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inpatients ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Diseases ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neutrophils ; Peritonitis ; Pneumonia ; Prevalence ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Urinary Tract