Valsalva retinopathy and branch retinal artery occlusion after cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation.

We report a 53-year-old woman who had acute visual loss 10 days after cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation performance. Immediately after she had performed cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation, she developed floater symptoms in her left eye, which persisted for 2 hours, and she was diagnosed as having Valsalva retinopathy. Ten days later, she had an acute painless visual loss in the same eye (visual acuity 20/1000). On fundus examination, optic disk edema, peripapillary hemorrhage, and retinal artery occlusion were detected in the superior half of her left retina and she was diagnosed as having branch retinal artery occlusion. Four months later, her visual acuity had increased to 20/40; however, the inferior altitudinal visual field defect remained. To rule out cardiac associations of branch retinal artery occlusion, transesophageal echocardiography was performed and a patent foramen ovale on her atrial septum was detected. This case indicates a possible risk that emergency medical personnel could have medical problems while performing strenuous tasks to help other people.

Upregulation of Transforming Growth Factor-beta Receptors in the Rat Remnant Kidney / 대한신장학회잡지

TGF-beta1 plays a major role in the regulation of extracellular matrix synthesis and degradation. TGF-beta1 exerts its biological effects by interacting with specific cell surface receptors including type I and II receptors(TGFbetaRI and RII). The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression of TGFbetaRI and RII proteins in the kidney during the development of glomerulosclerosis and renal fibrosis in rats with subtotal nephrectomy. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200 to 220 grams were divided into two groups: 25 rats were subjected to 5/6 renal ablation and 15 to sham operation. The animals were sacrificed 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 weeks following operation and the kidneys were removed for histological and immunohistochemical studies for TGF-beta1, TGFbetaRI, and TGFbetaRII. The results showed increased glomerulosclerosis, interstitial fibrosis, and mononuclear cellular infiltration with time and progressively higher immunohistochemical TGF-beta1, TGFbetaRI, and TGFbetaRII staining in rats with subtotal nephrectomy. We conclude that increase in TGFbetaRI and RII expression in remnant kidney rats may be causally related with the development of renal fibrosis.

The Effect of Tumor Removal and Administration of OK432 on the Splenic Natural Killer Cell Activity in the Subcutaneous Tumor Bearing Rats

To investigate the effect of tumor removal and administration of OK432 on the splenic natural killer (NK) cell activity in the subcutaneous tumor bearing rats, NK cell activity assay using a 4-hour 51Cr release assay and flow cytometric analysis for NK cell population were performed. The results were as follows: 1. Splenic NK cell activity and population in the subcutaneous tumor bearing rats decreased along with the growth of the tumor. 2. The rats with subcutaneous tumor removal showed decrease of splenic NK cell activity, but splenic NK cell population was not decreased. 3. In the rats with subcutaneous tumor removal and OK432 administration, splenic NK cell activity was significantly increased 1 week after administration of OK432 and then gradually returned to normal, whereas increase of NK cell population was not significant. In the present study, splenic NK cell activity was significantly decreased despite removal of subcutaneous tumor. But with the administration of OK432, splenic NK cell activity returned to normal. Considering the role of NK cells on the first line of defense against the metastatic implantation of circulating tumor emboli, we suggest that perioperative administration of immunopotentiator such as OK432 may improve the patient's outcome after surgery of human neoplasm.