Effect of Treadmill Exercise on Leak-point pressure and Neuronal Activation in Brain of Rats with Stress Urinary Incontinence / 대한배뇨장애요실금학회지

PURPOSE: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) commonly occurs in women, and it causes enormous impact on quality of life. Surgery, drugs, and exercise have been recommended for the treatment of this disease. Among these exercise is also known to be effective for relieving thesymptoms of SUI, however, the efficacy and underlying mechanisms of exercise on SUI are poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the effect of treadmill exercise on abdominal leak-point pressure and neuronal activity in the medial preoptic nucleus (MPA), ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG), and pontine micturition center (PMC) following urethrolysis in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 250+/-10 g (9 weeks old), were used in this study. After having undergone transabdominal urethrolysis to induce SUI, the rats were divided into three groups (n=6 in each group): a sham operation group, an SUI-induced group, and an SUI-induced and treadmill exercise group. The rats in the exercise group performed treadmill running for 30 min once a day starting 2 weeks after the induction of SUI and continuing for 4 weeks after surgery. For this study, determination of abdominal leak point pressure and immunohistochemistry for c-Fos in the brain were performed. RESULTS: Induction of transabdominal urethrolysis significantly reduced the abdominal leak point pressure, thereby contributing to the induction of SUI. In contrast, abdominal leak point pressure was significantly improved by treadmill exercise. The expression of c-Fosin the MPA, vlPAG, and PMC, the brain areas relating to micturition, was enhanced by the induction of SUI, whereas treadmill exercise significantly suppressed SUI-induced c-Fos expression, suggesting that neuronal activation in the micturition centers was suppressed by treadmill exercise. CONCLUSION: The present results suggest that treadmill exercise may be an effective therapeutic modality for ameliorating the symptoms of SUI.

Etiologic and Laboratory Analyses of Ascites in Patients who Underwent Diagnostic Paracentesis / 대한간학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Liver cirrhosis and malignant tumors are two major causes of ascites according to the reports from Western countries, 80% and 10% respectively. Assuming that there might be regional differences in etiologies and changes in their frequency over time, we investigated causes of ascites and the diagnostic usefulness of various laboratory tests. METHODS: Medical records of 366 patients, who underwent diagnostic paracentesis in the mid-1990s (1996 and 1997) and early 2000s (2001 and 2002), were retrospectively reviewed. The etiology was confirmed by histology, imaging studies, and ascites analyses. RESULTS: The frequency of cirrhotic ascites was 59.6%, cancer-related 25.7%, tuberculous peritonitis 6.6%, and others 8.1%. Among cirrhotics, the frequency of cases related to hepatitis B decreased significantly from 72% to 55% over time, and alcoholic cirrhosis increased from 18% to 34%. Among cancer-related ascites, peritoneal carcinomatosis type was 75.5% (primary sites: stomach 24.5%, pancreas 15.9%, colon 15.9%, lung 7.4%, etc), metastatic liver cancers 8.5%, hepatocellular carcinoma without cirrhosis 6.4%, etc. The sensitivity of serum-ascites albumin gradient for the diagnosis of cirrhotic ascites was 91.4%, and total protein in ascites also revealed a comparable diagnostic sensitivity, 90%. The diagnostic sensitivity of adenosine deaminase for tuberculous peritonitis was 94.2%, and its positive predictive value was 75%. CONCLUSIONS: Liver cirrhosis is the leading cause of ascites, especially alcoholic cirrhosis has significantly increased. The next common etiology is cancer-related, and its frequency in Korea is higher than in western countries. Tuberculous peritonitis is still prevalent, and adenosine deaminase could precisely differentiate it from other causes.

Extrahepatic Biliary Schwannomas: A Case Report

Benign schwannomas arise in neural crest-derived Schwann cells. They can occur almost anywhere in the body, but their most common locations are the central nervous system, extremities, neck, mediastinum, and retroperitoneum. Schwannomas occurring in the biliary tract are extremely rare and mostly present with obstructive jaundice. We recently experienced a case of extrahepatic biliary schwannomas in a 64-yr-old female patient who presented with intra- and extrahepatic bile duct and gallbladder stones during a screening program. To the best of our knowledge, extrahepatic biliary schwannomas associated with bile duct stones have not been reported previously in the literature.

A Comparison of the Effect of High-dose Oral and Intravenous Proton Pump Inhibitor on the Prevention of Rebleeding after Endoscopic Treatment of Bleeding Peptic Ulcers / 대한소화기내시경학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The use of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) prevents rebleeding by elevating the intragastric pH in patients with bleeding peptic ulcers after hemostasis has been achieved. We assessed if high-dose oral pantoprazole is as effective as high-dose intravenous pantoprazole for their ability to prevent rebleeding after having achieved initial hemostasis in patients with active bleeding or nonbleeding visible vessels. METHODS: Thirty eight patients with bleeding peptic ulcers who had achieved initial hemostasis were enrolled in this randomized controlled trial. In the high-dose oral pantoprazole group (n=19), 40 mg of pantoprazole was given orally twice daily for 5 days. In the high-dose intravenous pantoprazole group (n=19), an 80 mg intravenous bolus of pantoprazole was given; this was followed by 8 mg/hour of continuous infusion daily for 3 days. Thereafter, 40 mg of pantoprazole was given orally once daily for 8 weeks. RESULTS: The two groups were similar with respect to all the background variables. Rebleeding occurred in 2 patients (10.5%) in the intravenous group and in 1 patient in the oral group (5.3%) by day 30 after enrollment (p=1.000). There was no significant difference in terms of the number of therapeutic endoscopic sessions (1 vs. 1.13+/-0.52), the surgery (0% vs. 0%), the bleeding related mortality (0% vs. 0%), and the mean number of units of transfused blood. CONCLUSIONS: The high-dose oral pantoprazole is as effective as an intravenous administration in reducing rebleeding episodes in patients with bleeding peptic ulcers after successful endoscopic therapy.

The Role of Smoking as a Risk Factor in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Single Center Study in Korea / 대한소화기학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cigarette smoking is the most significant environmental factor identified in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Smoking has a beneficial effect on ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. In contrast, Crohn's disease (CD) is associated with smoking, and a detrimental effect of smoking on the course of CD has been demonstrated. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence in smoking in CD and UC at the time of diagnosis compared with the general population in a single center study. METHODS: Prevalence of smoking at the time of IBD diagnosis were compared between CD and UC patients in Kyung-Hee Medical Center with healthy general population at age-, gender-, and time period-adjusted rates. We investigated the smoking status of IBD patients at the time of diagnosis by telephone interview. There were 178 IBD patients (98 UC patients and 80 CD patients) between January 1995 and December 2004. RESULTS: The male to female ratio in CD and UC were 2:1 and 1:1.4, respectively. The onset of age was 28.2 years and 38.8 years, respectively. The prevalence of smoking was significantly lower in CD and UC patients than in the general population (CD; odds ratio 0.21, 95% confidence interval 0.12-0.41, p<0.001, UC; odds ratio 0.06, 95% confidence interval 0.03-0.14, p<0.001). After statistical adjustment for gender and age at the diagnosis of IBD, the odds ratio of a current smoker diagnosed as UC was 73% lower than that of CD (adjusted odds ratio 0.27, 95% confidence interval 0.12-0.59, p<0.001). In contrast, being a former smoker showed a risk of approximate 1.27-fold higher likelihood of having UC diagnosis (adjusted odds ratio 1.27, confidence interval 0.41-3.95, p=0.68). CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette smoking is protective against developing UC at any age, but is not associated with the development of CD in Korean population. Former smoking is not the high risk factor in developing UC.

A Case of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus with Sensorineural Hearing Loss / 대한류마티스학회지

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a rarely reported clinical manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Although the exact pathogenesis is still unclear, several reports suggest that circulatory immune complexes or anti-phospholipid antibodies might play a pathological role in hearing impairment in patients with SLE. We describe a 28-year-old female with SLE who presented with sudden SNHL. She was treated with highdose methylprednisolone and plasmapheresis. After 5 times of the plasmapheresis, her hearing ability was improved from 56 dB to 46 dB by measured of pure tone audiometery.

A Case Report on the Inflation Failure of Distal Portion of Inoue Balloon during Percutaneous Mitral Valvuloplasty in a Patient with Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis

Since Inoue et al introduced a specially designed balloon catheter for percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty (PMV) in 1984, the Inoue balloon catheter has been a popular device for the management of mitral stenosis. During the procedure several fatal complications, such as cardiac tamponade, perforation of a cardiac chamber, atrial septal defect, thromboembolism, mitral regurgitation and death have all been reported in the literature. There have also been several international reports regarding deformities of the Inoue balloon, but few reports in Korea. We recently experienced a case of an inflation failure of the distal portion of the Inoue balloon during a percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty in a 34 year old female patient with a tight mitral stenosis. To the best of our knowledge, a similar deformity of an Inoue balloon has never been reported in Korea.

A Case of Cavitary Pulmonary Metastases of Primary Cavitary Lung Cancer / 결핵

Many disorders and abnormalities are accompanied by cavitary lesoin of the lung and one of the most common causes of cavitary lung disease are primary and metastatic lung neoplasms. but cavitary formation of primary lung cancer is not frequent and cavitary or cystic pulmonary metastases of this is also rare. We report a case of cavitary pulmonry metastases of primary lung cancer proven by bronchoscopic biopsy and chest CT. The patients was 60 year-old heavy smoker who had never been underlying lung diseases 7 years ago and complained chronic cough. The chest CT showed primary lung cancer in right low lobe with multiple cavitary or cystic metastases in both lungs and multiple lymphatic metastases.