Lived Experience of Middle-Aged Patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Purpose@#This qualitative study aimed to explore the lived and true meaning of experiences of middle-aged patients with complex regional pain syndrome. @*Methods@#The participants were 10 men and women aged 40 to 60 years who received outpatient treatment at a university hospital, could communicate, and agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected through individual interviews using open and semi-structured questions from September 2019 to July 2021 and were analyzed using the content analysis method suggested by Hsieh and Shannon (2005). @*Results@#As a result of this study, 42 summarized semantic units related to life experience, 15 subthemes, and seven themes were derived. The seven themes were “pressed by severe pain,” “frustrated because I cannot be part of the community,” “distressed because people do not recognize my disease,” “sad about conflicts with family,” “unmotivated because of desperate life,” “appreciating for support,” and “putting oneself together and living daily life.” @*Conclusion@#The vivid experiences of the participants derived in this study are the basic data for developing treatment guidelines. In the future, we propose a study on life and family care experiences according to the developmental characteristics of the life cycle of patients with complex regional pain syndrome and develop and apply programs to support patients and their families.

Presence of E-cadherin in Cultured Amnionic Cells / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVES: Cell adhesion molecules may play a role in integrating amnionic membrane. The objective of this study was to prove E-cadherin mRNA and proteins in cultured human amnionic cells. METHODS: We cultured amnionic cells from 4 women undergoing cesarean section without labor. E-cadherin was determined by immunohistochemistry and Western ligend blotting. To demonstrate E-cadherin mRNA, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed. RESULTS: On immunohistochemistry, E-cadherin was abundantly showed on the cytoplasm of the cells. Western ligend blotting showed clear 120 kDa bands on four specimens, and relatively weak band on one specimen. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction showed 432 BP bands. CONCLUSION: We proved E-cadherin and its mRNA by immunohistochemistry, Western ligend blotting and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in cultured human amnionic cells.

Difference of Telomerase Activity Between Uterine Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia, Early and Advanced Cervical Cancers / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVES: Objective: Cellular immortality is believed to be a critical step in tumorigenesis. As an important component of the telomere maintenance mechanism, the activation of the enzyme telomerase is tightly associated with cellular immortality and cancer. However, little is known about the status of telomerase during human cervical cancer development. To assess the role of telomerase in the development of malignant transformation of the uterine cervix, this investigation was performed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Telomerase activity was measured by telomeric repeat amplification protocol(TRAP) assay in 8 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN) and 24 cervical cancers. The tissue adjacent to the lesions from the same patients was also examined for the presence of telomerase activity. RESULTS: Thirty one of the 32(96.9%) lesions were positive for telomerase activity. In the CIN patients, four of the 8(50.0%) lesions showed moderately to strongly positive activities. In the cervical cancer Ia lesions, five of the 9(55.6%), and beyond the stage Ib lesions, fourteen of the 15(93.3%) showed moderately to strongly positive activities. There was a positive correlation between the grade of the lesion and the telomerase activity(P=0.023). Patient's gravida and telomerase activity also had a positive correlation(P=0.022). CONCLUSION: Relatively weak telomerase activity was detected in the low grade cervical lesion and strong activity was detected in the high grade lesion. There was a progressive increase of telomerase activity in association with an increased degree of cervical lesion. Patient's gravida also had an association with telomerase activity. These results suggest that the expression of telomerase activity may play a crucial role in cervical carcinogenesis.

Pregnancy Rate following Laparoscopic Surgery in Infertile Women with Endometriosis / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of laparoscopic surgery on the pregnancy rate of infertile women with endometriosis. MATERIALS & METHODS: Retrospective analysis was performed in 33 infertile patients with endometriosis and infertility who had operative laparoscopy at Seoul National University Hospital from January 1991 to February 1998. We investigated the pregnancy rate during the 12 months following conservative laparoscopic surgery. RESULTS: The overall rate of spontaneous intrauterine pregnancy rate (IUP) during the 12 months was 48.5% (16/33). Most of spontaneous pregnancy occurred during the 3 months after surgery (12/16). There was no correlation between spontaneous pregnancy rate and the revised American Fertility Society (rAFS) classification or laparoscopic findings. The rate of IUP was 50% (7/14) for patients with stage I or II endometriosis and 47.4% (9/19) for the patients presenting stage III or IV endometriosis. CONCLUSION: Conservative laparoscopic surgery may be an effective treatment for infertile patients with endometriosis and most of spontaneous pregnancy occurred during the 3 months after surgery .

Chromosomal Mapping and Brain Distribution of alpha1 Subunit of N-type Voltage Dependent Calcium Channel / 대한해부학회지

Voltage dependent calcium channels mediate wide variety of physiological functions including neurotransmitter release, neurite outgrowth, and gene expression in neurons. omega-Conotoxin-sensitive N-type calcium channels are exclusively expressed in nervous system and involved in the control of neurotransmitter release from neurons. In this experiment, I have investigated human chromosomal location and rat neuronal distribution of N-type voltage dependent calcium channel alpha1, subunit [alpha1B]. I have localized human alpha1B subunit gene to the long arm of chromosome 9[9q34] by fluorescent in situ hybridization. The distribution of rat alphaB1 subunit mRNA has been examined in the rat brain by in situ hybridization histochemistry and high level of alpha1B subunit mRNA has been observed in olfactory bulb, anterior olfactory nucleus, cerebral cortex, piriform cortex, hippocampus, dentate gyrus, parabrachial nucleus, and cerebellum and low level of expression was also found in other areas of rat brain.

Study of the Normal Cerebellar Volume Estimated by Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI in Korean / 대한해부학회지

Brain size is a useful parameter describing ontogenic character and function. Despite its potential contribution to functional study and diagnosis of disease, it has been hampered by poor assessment tools in vivo and postmortem changes. Recent development of medical imaging techniques such as MRI and CT enable us to understand brain structures in vivo. Many morphometirc studies of the brain has given us new insights in the field of functional neuroanatomy and neuropsychiatric diseases. In spite of these advances, volumetric data of normal Korean brain is not available yet. As an initial approach to Korean standard brain size, we measured the cerebellar volume between 20 and 80 years old Koreans. The MRI films free from lesions in brain was analyzed and measured by NIH image program. The Korean cerebellar volume were ranged between 86.2cm(3) and 141.3 cm(3) and average male cerebellum volume was significantly larger than that of female[male : 118.2+/-11.2cm(3)] > female : 108.0+/-9.6cm(3), P=0.1021E-07<0.05]. And we could not find volume change according to aging process. This is the first report on normal Korean cerebellar volume and the presence of gender difference in the Korean cerebellar volume. These data will be used for the standard useful in studying cerebellar function and cerebellum associated disorders in the future.