In this study, immunohistochemistry was used to examine the changes in the density of colonic endocrine cells - argyrophil and argentaffin cells, chromogranin A (CGA), serotonin, somatostatin and glucagon-containing cells in trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced rat colitis. Ulcerative colitis was induced by the instillation of 10 mg of TNBS into the colonic lumen through the anus. To confirm the inducement of ulcerative colitis, the macroscopic and microscopic scores as well as the colonic myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities were monitored for 8 days after TNBS instillation in the colonic lumens. In addition, the number of argyrophil and argentaffin cells, CGA, serotonin, somatostatin and glucagon-immunoreactive cells were counted in the colonic mucosa, respectively. After TNBS instillation into the lumen of the colon from the anus in rats, increases in macroscopic and microscopic scores in the colon tissues were observed along with increases in the colonic MPO activities. Therefore, ulcerative colitis was relatively well induced by the TNBS instillations. Marked decreases in the number of colonic endocrine cells were detected in the TNBS-treated animal compared to the sham control. These results suggest that colonic endocrine cells were also disrupted by TNBS-induced ulcerative colitis.
Anal Canal ; Animals ; Chromogranin A ; Colitis ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; Colon ; Endocrine Cells ; Enterochromaffin Cells ; Immunohistochemistry ; Mucous Membrane ; Peroxidase ; Rats ; Salicylamides ; Serotonin ; Somatostatin

The density of intestinal endocrine cells, in Balb/c mice with colon 26 (CT-26) carcinoma cells, were examined immunohistochemically at 28 days after implantation. After CT-26 cell administration there was a significant decrease in most of the intestinal endocrine cells (p < 0.01) compared with the control group. The significant quantitative changes in the intestinal endocrine cell density might contribute to the development of the gastrointestinal symptoms commonly encountered in cancer patients.
Animals ; Enteroendocrine Cells/metabolism/*pathology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Tract/pathology ; Glucagon/metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Neoplasms, Experimental/metabolism/*pathology ; Pancreatic Polypeptide/metabolism ; Serotonin/metabolism ; Sincalide/metabolism ; Somatostatin/metabolism

With the advancement of laparoscopic instruments and computer sciences, complex surgical procedures are expected to be safely performed by robot assisted telemanipulative laparoscopic surgery. The da Vinci system (Intuitive Surgical, Mountain View, CA, USA) became available at the many surgical fields. The wrist like movements of the instrument's tip, as well as 3-dimensional vision, could be expected to facilitate more complex laparoscopic procedure. Here, we present the first Korean experience of da Vinci robotic assisted laparoscopic cholecystectomy and discuss the introduction and perspectives of this robotic system.
Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic/*instrumentation/*methods ; Female ; Gallstones/*surgery ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; *Robotics ; Surgery, Computer-Assisted/*methods ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVES: The research was aimed at analyzing the contents of university intranet for systematically execution of the healthy information provision and healthy consultation services from 2000 January to 2004 December. METHODS: We have analyzed 300(28.3%) the instances of accomplished health consultation cases from the whole 1,059 instances which were the replied in a university intranet. RESULTS: According to the contents of health consultation in ICPC code, a general symptom 91 cases(30.3%) was most, muscle-skeletal system 44 cases(14.7%), and digestive system 43 cases(14.3%) in order of cases of health counselling. The symptoms and complaint with 155 cases(51.7%) were most in the distribution of the health counselling contents by 17 charter of ICPC. The most common reason of counselling by 17 charter of ICPC were as follows; questions about the symptom and diagnosis(118 cases, 39.3%), the preventive and treatment methods(91 cases, 30.0%), and medical fee(20cases, 6.7%) in order. We mainly answer on the content of health counselling were as follows; make an offer of medical information and knowledge(48.3%), recommend visit clinic or hospital(23.7%), guide to treatment(12.7%), and so on. CONCLUSIONS: This research showed that the program of health counselling may not meet completely the high quality and adequate distribution of health counselling by the intranet in a university by content analysis. The finding suggests that health counselling by intranet in a university may be used to supplement of systemic improvement on the intranet Q/A format from current lack of essential health information and security for the quality of the health counselling.
Computer Communication Networks* ; Counseling* ; Digestive System

PURPOSE: To present our treatment protocol and surgical outcome for patients with congenital brachymetatarsia in which treatment was decided according to the number of affected rays. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-nine metatarsals in 44 patients with single or multiple congenital brachymetatarsia were included in the study. When a single ray was affected in a foot, we performed a one-stage lengthening using an intercalary autogenous iliac bone graft. We overcame excessively short rays by the double level lengthening at the metatarsal and proximal phalanx as one stage. When multiple rays were affected in one foot, we performed a one-stage combined shortening and lengthening procedure without an iliac bone graft. RESULTS: All patients were satisfied with the cosmetic and functional results. The average length gain by one-stage lengthening in 56 metatarsals of 38 patients was 14 (6-21) mm. Six patients with a combined shortening and lengthening procedure regained a nearly normal parabola of the involved foot. Neurovascular complication was not identified. CONCLUSION: Satisfactory results were achieved for the treatment of patients with congenital brachymetatarsia, by individualizing the surgical options according to the number of affected rays and general foot appearance.
Clinical Protocols ; Foot ; Humans ; Metatarsal Bones ; Transplants

The regional distributions and frequencies of argyrophil endocrine cells in gastrointestinal (GI) tract of Balb/c-nu/ nu mouse were studied using Grimelius silver stain after abdominal subcutaneous implantation of COLO205. The experimental animals were divided into two groups, one is non-implanted group (Sham) and the other is COLO205-implanted group. Samples were collected from GI tract (fundus, pylorus, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, colon and rectum) at 21 days after implantation of COLO205 cells (1x10(6) cell/mouse). In this study, argyrophil cells were detected throughout the entire GI tract with various frequencies regardless of implantation. Most of these argyrophil cells in the mucosa of GI tract were generally spherical or spindle in shape (open type cell) while cells showing round in shape (close type cell) were found occasionally in gastric and/or intestinal gland regions. The regional distributions of argyrophil cells in COLO205 were similar to those of Sham. However, significant decreases of argyrophil cells were detected in COLO205 compared to those of Sham except for the jejunum and ileum. In the jejunum and ileum, argyrophil cells in COLO205 showed similar frequencies compared to those of Sham. In the pylorus, the most dramatically decreasement of argyrophil cells were detected in COLO205 compared to that of Sham. Implantation of COLO205 tumor cell line induced severe quantitative changes of argyrophil cell density, and the abnormality in density of GI endocrine cells may contribute to the development of gastrointestinal symptoms such as anorexia and indigestion, frequently encountered in patients with cancer.
Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Colonic Neoplasms/*ultrastructure ; Enteroendocrine Cells/*ultrastructure ; Female ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Silver Staining

The changes on the regional distributions and frequencies of two types of chromogranin, chromogranin A (CGA) and bovine Sp-1 chromogranin (BCG)-immunoreactive (IR)cells in gastrointestinal (GI)tract of osteoporotic Sprague-Dawley rat induced by ovariectomy were studied by immunohistochemical methods. The experimental animals were divided into two groups, one is non-ovariectomized group (Sham)and the other is ovariectomized group (OVX). Samples were collected from each part of GI tract at 10th week after ovariectomy or sham operation. CGA-IR cells were restricted to the stomach regions with various frequencies regardless of ovariectomy except for the fundus of OVX in which no cells were detected. In addition, BCG-IR cells were also restricted to the pylorus and duodenum regardless of ovariectomy. A significantly decrease of CGA IR cells was detected in OVX compared to that of Sham in both fundus and pylorus, and BCG-IR cells were also significantly decreased in the duodenum(p<0. 05). However, in the pylorus, BCG-IR cells in OVX showed similar frequency compared to that of Sham. In conclusion, the abnormality in density of chromogranin, a generally used GI endocrine cell marker, detected in this study may contribute to the development of GI symptoms in osteoporosis such as impairments of calcium and some lipids, frequently encountered in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis.
Animals ; Chromogranin A ; Chromogranins/*metabolism ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa/*metabolism/pathology ; Gene Expression Regulation/physiology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins/*metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Intestinal Mucosa/*metabolism/pathology ; Models, Animal ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal/*metabolism/pathology ; Ovariectomy ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

The regional distributions and frequencies of argyrophil endocrine cells in gastrointestinal (GI) tract of osteoporotic Sprague-Dawley rat induced by ovariectomy were studied using Grimelius silver stain. The experimental animals were divided into two groups, one is non-ovariectomized group (Sham) and the other is ovariectomized group (OVX). Samples were collected from each part of GI tract (fundus, pylorus, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, colon and rectum) at 10th week after ovariectomy or sham operation. In this study, argyrophil cells were detected throughout the entire GI tract with various frequencies regardless of ovariectomy. Most of these argyrophil cells in the mucosa of GI tract were generally spherical or spindle in shape (open type cell) while cells showing round in shape (close type cell) were found occasionally in gastric and/or intestinal gland regions. The regional distributions of GI argyrophil endocrine cells in OVX were similar to those of Sham. However, significant decreases of argyrophil cells were detected in OVX compared to those of Sham except for the pylorus, jejunum and cecum. In pylorus and jejunum, argyrophil cells in OVX dramatically decreased compared to those of Sham but significances were not recorded. In addition, argyrophil cells in cecum of OVX showed similar frequency compared to that of Sham. The endocrine cells are the anatomical units responsible for the production of gut hormones that regulate gut motility and digestion including absorption, and a change in their density would reflect the change in the capacity of producing these hormones and regulating gut motility and digestion. Ovariectomy induced severe quantitative changes of GI argyrophil endocrine cell density, and the abnormality in density of GI endocrine cells may contribute to the development of gastrointestinal symptoms in osteoporosis such as impairments of calcium and some lipids, frequently encountered in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis.
Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Enteroendocrine Cells/*pathology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Tract/*pathology ; Histocytochemistry/veterinary ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Intestinal Mucosa/pathology ; Osteoporosis/*pathology ; Ovariectomy ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Silver Nitrate/chemistry ; Silver Staining/veterinary ; Statistics, Nonparametric

The distributions and frequencies of some endocrine cells in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of ddY mice were studied with immunohistochemical method using 7 types of antisera against bovine chromogranin (BCG), serotonin, gastrin, cholecystokinin (CCK)-8, somatostatin, glucagon and human pancreatic polypeptide (HPP). All of 7 types of immunoreactive (IR) cells were identified. Most of IR cells in the intestinal portion were generally spherical or spindle in shape (open typed cell) while cells showing round in shape (close typed cell) were found in the intestinal gland and stomach regions occasionally. Their relative frequencies were varied according to each portion of GI tract. BCG-IR cells were demonstrated throughout whole GI tract except for the cecum and they were most predominant in the fundus and pylorus. Serotonin-IR cells were detected throughout whole GI tract and they were most predominant cell types in this species of mice. Gastrin-IR cells were restricted to the pylorus and CCK-8-IR cells were demonstrated in the pylorus, duodenum and jejunum with numerous frequencies in the pylorus. Somatostatin-IR cells were detected throughout whole GI tract except for the cecum and rectum and they showed more numerous frequencies in the stomach regions. In addition, glucagon-IR cells were restricted to the fundus, duodenum and jejunum with rare frequencies, and HPP-IR cells were restricted to the rectum only with rare frequency. In conclusion, some strain-dependent unique distributional patterns of gastrointestinal endocrine cells were found in GI tract of ddY mice.
Animals ; Biological Markers/analysis ; Cholecystokinin/analysis ; Chromogranins/analysis ; Enteroendocrine Cells/*cytology/immunology ; Female ; Gastrins/analysis ; Glucagon/analysis ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Mice ; Pancreatic Polypeptide/analysis ; Protein Precursors/analysis ; Serotonin/analysis

Finite Element Analysis ; Models, Theoretical ; Tooth