The Difference of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Between Sympathetic Hyperactive and Hypoactive Men / 대한배뇨장애요실금학회지

PURPOSE: Heart rate variability (HRV) is a tool used to measure autonomic nervous function; however, there is no evidence that it can be used to define sympathetic hyperactivity in men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). We suspected that LUTS would differ between sympathetic hyperactive and hypoactive patients. Therefore, we measured HRV and divided the LUTS patients into two groups, a sympathetic hyperactive group and a sympathetic hypoactive group according to the low frequency/high frequency (LF/HF) ratio and made clinical comparisons between the groups. METHODS: A total of 43 patients with symptomatic LUTS (International Prostate Symptom Score [IPSS] over 8) and 49 healthy volunteers were enrolled. No subjects had diseases that could affect the autonomic nervous system, such as diabetes or hypertension. Electrocardiographic signals were obtained from subjects in the resting state and HRV indexes were calculated with spectral analyses. We divided the LUTS patients into two groups by an LF/HF ratio of 1.9, which was the median value in the healthy volunteers, and compared the differences in clinical characteristics, IPSS, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) results. The parameters were compared by independent sample t-test by use of SPSS ver. 19. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in age, serum PSA, or volume of the prostate between the 2 LUTS groups. However, analyzing IPSS questionnaires between two groups showed that there were significant differences in mean of Q2 score (frequency) and storage symptom score ([Q2+Q4+Q7]/3) (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that an imbalance of autonomic nervous system activity may be a factor that evokes varieties of symptoms in men with LUTS. LUTS patients with hypoactive sympathetic tone may suffer from frequency and storage symptoms.

Prevalence and risk factors of the metabolic syndrome in young adults with childhood-onset hypopituitary growth hormone deficiency / 소아과

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and risk factors for metabolic derangement in young adults with childhood-onset hypopituitary growth hormone deficiency (ACOHGHD). METHODS: Thirty patients with ACOHGHD who were treated with hormone-replacement therapy, aged 18 to 29 years, who visited the Seoul National University Children's Hospital between September 2009 and February 2010 were enrolled. Height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, and blood pressure were measured, and the clinical and hormonal features were reviewed retrospectively. We evaluated measures of metabolic derangement in the enrolled patients and in the data of healthy adults aged 20 to 29 years taken from the 2005 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) as part of the National Cholesterol Education Program-the Adult Treatment Panel III. RESULTS: Compared with the KNHANES participants, patients with ACOHGHD had significantly large waist circumference (men and women), high systolic blood pressure (BP) (women) and diastolic BP (men), and high serum triglyceride levels (women). The duration of illness correlated significantly with central obesity (r2=0.546, P=0.003). The prevalence of MetS was 10% in patients with ACOHGHD and 2.3% in KNHANES participants. The prevalence of central obesity and MetS was higher in patients with ACOHGHD than in KNHANES participants (P<0.001 and P=0.042, respectively). CONCLUSION: Abdominal obesity correlated with the duration of illness in patients with ACOHGHD. Waist circumference should be measured in the clinic to prevent MetS, particularly in patients with a long history of ACOHGHD, regardless of age or sex.

Effect of Maternal Factors on the Concentrations of Minerals and Immunological Substance in Breast Milk

Flavonoids contained in grapes are potent antioxidants that may protect against oxidative stress and reduce the risk of chronic diseases related with free radical damage. In this study we investigated the effect of daily grape juice supplementation on blood pressure (BP), plasma lipid profiles and the generation of free radicals in 67 healthy volunteers (29 smoker, 38 nonsmokers). The daily 480 ml of grape juice supplementation for 8 weeks resulted in a significant decrease in diastolic BP by 6.5% in smokers and systolic and diastolic BP by 11.2 and 3.7% in non-smokers. Plasma total cholesterol, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol levels in smokers and total cholesterol in non-smokers were significantly increased after the intervention. Plasma triglycerides and conjugated dienes were not affected by grape juice supplementation. Levels of free radical determined by reading the lucigenin-perborate ROS generating sources, decreased significantly by 18% compared to the beginning of the study. The results indicated that the consumption of grape juice may reduce BP and free radical generation in smokers, which was possibly exerted by flavonoids. Our findings suggested that the grape juice has protective effect on chronic disease due to the overproduction of free radical in smokers.