• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.61 no.3
• /
• pp.256-264
• /
• 2006

Background: An acute lung injury(ALI) is characterized by the recruitment, activation, and apoptosis of inflammatory cells, numerous products released by inflammatory cells such as reactive oxygen species, inflammatory mediators, and a variety of proteolytic enzymes. It was reported that bacterial infections in diabetics showed impaired PMN functions such as reduced PMN respiratory burst and decreased microbicidal activity in inflamed tissue. However, the effect of the proteinase - inhibitor (MMP-9 vs TIMP-1) in ALI in diabetics is unclear. This study evaluated the differences in the expression of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 after the stimulation of endotoxin in a rat model. Methods: Six-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were classified into normal, DM, LPS and DM+LPS groups. The peripheral blood, BAL fluids, and lung tissues were obtained from individual rats. The MMP-9 activity was measured by gelatin zymography and the TIMP-1 level was measured by Western blotting. Results: The total BAL cells of the DM-LPS groups were significantly lower than the LPS groups (p < 0.01). The MMP-9 activities in the serum were higher in the DM+LPS groups than in the other groups. The MMP-9 activities in the BAL fluids were significantly higher in the DM+LPS group than in the normal and diabetic rats (p < 0.05). TIMP-1 expressions in the BAL fluids were significantly lower in the DM+LPS group than other groups (p < 0.05). The ratio between MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in the BAL fluids was significantly higher in the DM+LPS groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In ALI in diabetics the higher MMP-9 activity and lower TIMP-1 level are believed to prolonged and intensify the course of inflammation.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.15-28
• /
• 2019

Purpose Nuclear medicine was initially introduced in Korea in 1969 and widely applied to treat hyperthyroidism with $^{131}I$. Also, gamma camera was adopted in 1969 in the first place and its application has been growing continually in many ways. We analyzed long-term trend in nuclear medicine examinations for the last 2 decades. The purpose of this paper is to make predictions and to set both plans and directions on the development of nuclear medicine. Materials and Methods We analyzed the performance of nuclear medicine examinations and therapies performed in Asan Medical Center from 1998 to 2017. Results Results from the last 20 years regarding Bone scan, Renal scan, MUGA scan and $^{18}F$-FPCIT, Bone Mineral Density were on a increase. And Myocardium perfusion SPECT, Thyroid scan, Lung scan were on a decrease while $^{18}F-FDG$ PET maintained on a steady course. Until 2010 there was a positive performance with the therapy but after the excessive medical care in thyroid examination performance is at status quo. Key events such as a medical strike(2000), Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (2015) influenced the overall performance of the therapy. Conclusion In order to promote a long-term growth in nuclear medicine examination and therapy, it is inevitable to respond to the changes in current medical environment. Furthermore, it is strongly suggested to put efforts to maintain and develop new examinations and clinical indicators.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.207-217
• /
• 2017

For effective patient treatment in proton therapy, it is therefore important to accurately measure the beam range. For measuring beam range, various researchers determine the beam range by measuring the prompt gammas generated during nuclear reactions of protons with materials. However, the accuracy of the beam range determination can be lowered in heterogeneous phantoms, because of the differences with respect to the prompt gamma production depending on the properties of the material. In this research, to improve the beam range determination in a heterogeneous phantom, we derived a formula to correct the prompt-gamma distribution using the ratio of the prompt gamma production, stopping power, and density obtained for each material. Then, the prompt-gamma distributions were acquired by a multi-slit prompt-gamma camera on various kinds of heterogeneous phantoms using a Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation, and the deduced formula was applied to the prompt-gamma distributions. For the case involving the phantom having bone-equivalent material in the soft tissue-equivalent material, it was confirmed that compared to the actual range, the determined ranges were relatively accurate both before and after correction. In the case of a phantom having the lung-equivalent material in the soft tissue-equivalent material, although the maximum error before correction was 18.7 mm, the difference was very large. However, when the correction method was applied, the accuracy was significantly improved by a maximum error of 4.1 mm. Moreover, for a phantom that was constructed based on CT data, after applying the calibration method, the beam range could be generally determined within an error of 2.5 mm. Simulation results confirmed the potential to determine the beam range with high accuracy in heterogeneous phantoms by applying the proposed correction method. In future, these methods will be verified by performing experiments using a therapeutic proton beam.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.102-110
• /
• 1985

In order to determine the epidemiological pattern of the Paragonimus westermani, the infestation rates for the cercarial and metacer-carial larvae of digenetic trematodes in the snail and crayfish hosts, and the prevalence of Paragonimus westermani among the residents in the vicinity of the stream Namdae, Wyangpi, and Kwang, in the Ulchin county, Kyungpook Province were studied from March to October in 1984. The population density of the snails per square meter of the habitats ranged from 5 to 25, with an average of 15. Among the seven habitats, one, Ducheon, had snails infested with the cercariae of Paragonimus westermani, and the proportion of infested snails was very low, the average being 0.152 per thousand. Of six hundred and four crayfish examined, 113 or 18.7 per cent harboured the encysted larvae of Paragonimus westermani. A high infestation rate for the metacercariae in the crayfish was found in two habitats; 39.0 per cent in the Ducheon and 21. 6 per cent m the Sokwang. The prevalence of Paragonimus westermani among the residents in Ulchin county was relatively high, 25.8 per cent by the Paragonimus intradermal tests, and the difference in the rate of infection between males and females was found to be significant (t>2). The results obtained in this study indicate that endemic foci of Paragonimus westermani exist in Ulchin county and the prevalence of this lung fluke among the residents is relatively high.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.593-606
• /
• 1984

With the ligation of patent ductus arteriosus by Gross in 1938, surgeons first entered the field of congenital heart disease. Interruption of a ductus is one of the most satisfactory and curative operations in the field of surgery for congenital heart disease. 27 cases of isolated patent ductus arteriosus were operated from Jan. 1978 to July 1984 at the Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery in Kyung-Hee University Hospital. Retrospective clinical analysis of these patients were: 1. Sex ratio, female: male, was 2:1. 2. Mean age at operation was 9.85\ulcorner.58 years. The youngest patient was a 23 month-old girl and the oldest one was a 24 year-old male. 3. More than half of the patients had less than 50 percentile of growth retardation. 4. Chief complaints of the patients were frequent URI [52%], dyspnea on exertion [33%], generalized weakness [22%], palpitation [7%], but 7 patients [26%] had no subjective symptoms. 5. Continuous machinery murmur could be heard at the 2nd or 3rd intercostal space on the left sternal border in 22 patients [81%]. The other S patients made systolic murmur with accentuation of the second heart sound and those were associated with pulmonary hypertension. 6. Radiologic findings of Chest P-A were cardiac enlargement in 15 patients [55%], enlargement of pulmonary conus and/or increasing density of pulmonary vascularity in 20 patients [74%]. 7. Electrocardiographic findings of the patients were within normal limit in 13 patients [48%], LVH in 4 patients [15%], biventricular hypertrophy in 3 patients [11%]. 8; echocardiogram was obtained from 11 patients. Ductus was directly visualized in 7 patients. Left atrial enlargement is the secondary change of left to right shunt, 10 patients had LA/Ao ratio more than 1.2. 9. Cardiac catheterization performed in 25 patients. The mean value of the results were:SO2[PA-RV]= 14.72\ulcorner6.01%, Qp/Qs=2.22\ulcorner.80, peak systolic pulmonary arterial pressure=48.28\ulcorner1.60 mmHg. 10. 26 patients were operated through the left posterolateral thoracotomy: closure of ductus by double ligation in 14 cases, triple ligation in 5 cases, and division with suture in 8 cases. One patient suffer from aneurysmal rupture of main pulmonary artery, endocarditis, hemopericardium was treated with cardiopulmonary bypass via median sternotomy and closure of ductus through the ruptured main pulmonary artery. 11.There was no death associated with the operation, but 3 cases were experienced with intraoperative rupture around the ductus resulting in massive bleeding. The other complications were transient hoarseness in one patient, atelectasis in left lower lobe in 3 patients, and postoperative systemic hypertension in 4 patients with unknown etiology. 12. Pulse pressure was reduced, 11.47+5.92 mmHg, postoperatively, as compare to preoperative status. 13. Intraoperative wedge lung biopsy from lingular segment for the evaluation of the pulmonary vascular disease was taken in S patients with severe pulmonary hypertension. The result was Heath-Edward grade I in one case, grade II in two cases, and grade III in two cases.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.66 no.2
• /
• pp.127-131
• /
• 2009

Most mediastinal teratomas are histologically well-differentiated tumors and benign. The majority of patients with a mediastinal teratoma are asymptomatic and their tumors are usually discovered incidentally on chest radiography. On rare occasions this tumor will rupture spontaneously into the adjacent organs. A 72-year-old female patient was admitted for dyspnea and she had a multiloculated pleural effusion in the left lung field. Although repeated pleural biopsy and pleural fluid cytology did not prove the presence of malignancy, we assumed that this was a malignant effusion because it revealed consistently high levels of carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9, and the chest CT scan did not show typical fat or bone density in the mass. Secondary infection and an uncontrolled septic condition due to pleural empyema finally compelled the patient to undergo a surgical operation. Mature teratoma was the final diagnosis and she has done well without recurrence for 2 months.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.115-121
• /
• 2003

Essential oils from Fennel fruit(Foeniculum vulgare Mill), Olibanum resin(Boswellia carteii Birew) and Needl Juniperus stem(Juniperus rigida Sieb.) were extracted by a supercritical fluid extraction system(SFE) and biological activity of each essential oils were observed. SFE technique was applied for the isolation and purification of nonpolar biologically active essential oils from each samples. The quantitative analysis of essential oils was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer(GC/MS). About 60% of the growth of AGS and A549 cells were inhibited by adding 1.0g/l of the crude essential oils and below 40% was observed by the control. Cytotoxicity on human normal lung cell(HEL299) was scored as $15{\sim}18%$ for the crude essential oils and 12% for control, respectively. It meant that the essential oils were more effective than the control in anti-mutagenecity tested by CHO V79 cells. The effect of the essential oils on the growth of nerve cells, PC12 was observed as follows: The viable cell density was about two times higher than control.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.442-448
• /
• 1993

Foreign body aspiration, although not an uncommon problem in children, is unusual in adults and is overlooked as a cause of airway obstruction. Small foreign bodies that lodge in the peripheral airway are often asymptomatic initially and can result in respiratory symptoms several years later. Especially in the cases of otherwise healthy subjects, even though manifested overt respiratory symptoms, diagnosis can be delayed due to lack of history of aspiration or unnoticed aspiration. A 57-year-old male was admitted to Yonsei University College of Medicine Severance hospital due to left upper chest pain for five months. on the past history he had been diagnosed as bronchiectasis about 20 years ago. He showed radiologically bead-like bronchostenosis and a calcific density protruding into the lumen of left upper lobar bronchus. Bronchoscopically broncholith was revealed with the finding of endobronchial obstruction of each upper and lingular division of left upper lobar bronchus due to mucoid impaction and surrounding inflammed bronchial mucosa. The preoperative diagnosis was broncholithiasis due to chronic inflammatory process. Lung perfusion scan shows absence of perfusion in left upper lobe. So left upper lobectomy was performed. But from the pathologic specimen an incisor tooth was emerged. Later a history of tooth extraction thirty years ago at dental clinic was found. We report a case of bronchial obstruction due to occult aspiration of a tooth with a review of the literatures.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.167-179
• /
• 2019

Ovarian cancer is the fifth main cause of pre-senescent death in women. Although chemotherapy is generally an efficient treatment, its side effects and the occurrence of chemotherapeutic resistance have prompted the need for alternative treatments. In this study, ${\alpha}$-mangostin and apigenin were evaluated as possible anticancer alternatives to the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin, used herein as a positive control. The ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line SKOV-3 (ATCC No. HTB77) was used as model ovarian cancer cells, whereas the skin fibroblast line CCD-986Sk (ATCC No. CRL-1947) and lung fibroblast line WI-38 (ATCC No. CCL-75) were used as model untransformed cells. Apigenin and doxorubicin inhibited the growth of SKOV-3 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. After 72 hr exposure, doxorubicin was mostly toxic to SKOV-3 cells, whereas apigenin was toxic to SKOV-3 cells but not CCD-986Sk and WI-38 cells. ${\alpha}$-Mangostin was more toxic to SKOV-3 cells than to CCD-986Sk cells. A lower cell density, cell shrinkage, and more unattached (floating round) cells were observed in all treated SKOV-3 cells, but the greatest effects were observed with ${\alpha}$-mangostin. With regard to programmed cell death, apigenin caused early apoptosis within 24 hr, whereas ${\alpha}$-mangostin and doxorubicin caused late apoptosis and necrosis after 72 hr of exposure. Caspase-3 activity was significantly increased in ${\alpha}$-mangostin-treated SKOV-3 cells after 12 hr of exposure, whereas only caspase-9 activity was significantly increased in apigenin-treated SKOV-3 cells at 24 hr. Both ${\alpha}$-mangostin and apigenin arrested the cell cycle at the $G_2/M$ phase, but after 24 and 48 hr, respectively. Significant upregulation of BCL2 (apoptosis-associated gene) and COX2 (inflammation-associated gene) transcripts was observed in apigenin- and ${\alpha}$-mangostin-treated SKOV-3 cells, respectively. ${\alpha}$-Mangostin and apigenin are therefore alternative options for SKOV-3 cell inhibition, with apigenin causing rapid early apoptosis related to the intrinsic apoptotic pathway, and ${\alpha}$-mangostin likely being involved with inflammation.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.652-662
• /
• 2021

Objective: To investigate the association between CT imaging features and survival outcomes in patients with primary invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma (IMA). Materials and Methods: Preoperative CT image findings were consecutively evaluated in 317 patients with resected IMA from January 2011 to December 2015. The association between CT features and long-term survival were assessed by univariate analysis. The independent prognostic factors were identified by the multivariate Cox regression analyses. The survival comparison of IMA patients was investigated using the Kaplan-Meier method and propensity scores. Furthermore, the prognostic impact of CT features was assessed based on different imaging subtypes, and the results were adjusted using the Bonferroni method. Results: The median follow-up time was 52.8 months; the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival rates of resected IMAs were 68.5% and 77.6%, respectively. The univariate analyses of all IMA patients demonstrated that 15 CT imaging features, in addition to the clinicopathologic characteristics, significantly correlated with the recurrence or death of IMA patients. The multivariable analysis revealed that five of them, including imaging subtype (p = 0.002), spiculation (p < 0.001), tumor density (p = 0.008), air bronchogram (p < 0.001), emphysema (p < 0.001), and location (p = 0.029) were independent prognostic factors. The subgroup analysis demonstrated that pneumonic-type IMA had a significantly worse prognosis than solitary-type IMA. Moreover, for solitary-type IMAs, the most independent CT imaging biomarkers were air bronchogram and emphysema with an adjusted p value less than 0.05; for pneumonic-type IMA, the tumors with mixed consolidation and ground-glass opacity were associated with a longer DFS (adjusted p = 0.012). Conclusion: CT imaging features characteristic of IMA may provide prognostic information and individual risk assessment in addition to the recognized clinical predictors.