• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.230-235
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• 2006

This study was performed in rats to find the minimum dose of melatonin that can effectively prevent the formation of postoperative intraperitoneal adhesions. Forty-two Sprague Dawley male rats were divided into six groups consisting of 7 rats, respectively. After celiotomy, five abrasions of $0.5{\times}1cm$ area were made on the antimesenteric serosal surface of the colon with a scalpel blade. The abdominal cavity was filled with 1 ml of solution containing 1 mg/kg(Mel 1), 3 mg/kg(Mel 3), 10 mg/kg(Mel 10), 30 mg/kg(Mel 30) and 5% ethanol solution(sham) through the catheter, using a sterile syringe before abdominal closure. Control group was given no adjuvant. The locations and values of adhesion were assessed through the second operation on the 14th day after the first operation. The adhesions were located on serosa to mesentery(54 of 210, 25.7%), serosa to serosa(44 of 210, 21%), serosa to omentum (12 of 210, 5.7%) and serosa to parietal peritoneum(0 of 210, 0%). The incidences of adhesion in Control, Sham, Mel 1, Mel 3, Mel 10 and Mel 30 were 68.6%, 91.4%, 57.1%, 60.1%, 17.1% and 20%, respectively. The values of adhesion separation in Mel 10 and Mel 30 group were lower than those in other groups. However, there was no significant(p<0.05) between Mel 10 and Mel 30 group. This study showed that 10 mg/kg of melatonin were effective in reducing the intraperitoneal adhesion.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.854-861
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• 2002

In this study, we reviewed our early and long-term surgical results of complete atrioventricular septal defect during the last 16 years at our hospital. Materials and Methods: Between April 1986 and March 2002, 73 patients with complete atrioventricular septal defect underwent total correction without preceding palliation. Age at repair ranged from 2 to 85 (median age, 7) months, and weight ranged from 3 to 22 (median weight, 5.9)kg. Follow-up was complete with a mean duration of 69$\pm$51 months. Results: Overall operative mortality was 16.4%(12) with 3 late deaths. One, 5, and 10 year actuarial survival rates were 96.3 %, 94.2 % and 94.2 % respectively Sixteen of 61 (22.2%) operative survivors have undergone reoperation for postoperative mitral regurgitation or left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO). Freedom from mitral reoperation at 1, 5, and 10 years were 87.8 %, 72.4 %, and 57.8 % and freedom from LVOTO at 1, 5, and 10 years were 98.2 %, 86.3 %, and 83.2 % respectively. Summary: In this study, we found that our early surgical results improved with quite an acceptable long-term outcome. Close observation of remaining mitral regurgitation was necessary, A precise evaluation of the atrioventricular valve morphology, a meticulous surgical technique, and the adequate postoperative management are mandatory for the excellent results.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.910-916
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• 2009

Purpose : The arterial switch operation (ASO) has become the preferred procedure for the surgical management of transposition of the great arteries (TGA). We conducted a retrospective evaluation of our experience in 30 patients seen from January 2003 to July 2008, in order to determine outcomes and related risk factors after the arterial switch operation. Methods : Patients charts, surgical reports, and echocardiograms were retrospectively reviewed. And they were analyzed in 2 different groups: complex (n=16) versus simple TGAs (n=14). Complex TGAs are TGAs with VSD or the Taussig-Bing anomaly with or without aortic arch anomalies. Simple TGAs are defined as TGAs with intact ventricular septum having no such anomalies. Median follow-up time was 44 months (3-63 months). Results : Hospital mortality was 0%. However, follow-up echocardiographies revealed potential complications, including stenosis of the branch pulmonary arteries, neo-aortic and/or neo-pulmonary valvar regurgitation, and right or left ventricular outflow tract obstructions. Great arterial relationship (side-by-side), association of aortic arch anomalies, and the existence of the Taussig- Bing anomaly were assessed as significant risk factors of neo-aortic and/or neo-pulmonary valvar regurgitation in this series. On the other hand, right or left ventricular outflow tract obstructions were more frequently found in patients demonstrating VSD, side-by-side positioned great arteries, or associated coronary anomalies. Conclusion : The ASO is the procedure of choice in the treatment of TGA. However, special attention and follow-ups are needed to detect residual problems like the stenosis of the branch pulmonary arteries, neo-aortic and/or neo-pulmonary valvar regurgitation, as well as ventricular outflow tract obstructions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.386-392
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• 1996

Preoperative and postoperative evaluation was done in 60 adult patients above 20 years of age among 152 patients, who had operation for the congenital atrial septal defect from January 1984 to June 1993 in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Chonbuk National University Hospital. Anatomically, the secundum type defect was present In 58 cases and the other two were ostium primum type defect. The defect were closed directly in 45 cases and with patches in 15 cases. Preopera ive EKG findings revealed regular sinus rhythm in 81%, arrhythmia 19%, RVH 32%, RAD 30%, Postoperative findings were regular sinus rhythm in 76%, arrhythmia 24%, RVH 25%. RAD 25%. In hemodynamic data, the mean SPAP in patients over 40 years old was 41.91 $\pm$ 14.33mmHg compared to 31.46 $\pm$ 13.77 mmHg in patients under 40 years old, and the difference between the two groups was stastistically significant. And then the patients were classified into two groups (group A sinus group, and group B : arrhythmia group) according to their preoperative rhythm. The patients in group B were older, had greater value of mean SPAP and Rp/Rs. Mean Qp/qs was higher in group A. But the difference between two groups about the mean Qp/qs and Rp/Rs was not significant. Postoperative complications such as arrhythmia, pneumothorax or hemothorax occurred in 7 cases, but there was no operative mortality. The functional improvement were remarkable in half of the patients who underwent surgery.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.591-597
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• 2008

Background: Pulmonary endarterectomy is widely accepted as a treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Based on our experiences, we sought to find ways to reduce perioperative complications and to improve surgical outcomes in patients undergoing pulmonary endarterectomy. Material and Method: This study was designed as a retrospective analysis of 20 patients with pulmonary hypertension who underwent pulmonary endarterectomy between January 1998 and March 2008. All patients presented with chronic dyspnea. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was the major cause of chronic pulmonary thromboembolism (55%). Seventeen patients (85%) underwent inferior vena cava (IVC) filter placement. Thirteen patients underwent surgery under total circulatory arrest, while the others underwent surgery while on low flow cardiopulmonary bypass. Concomitant tricuspid annuloplasty was done in 6 patients (66%) whose tricuspid regurgitation was as severe as grade IV/IV. The mean follow-up duration was $45{\pm}32$ months. Result: Using of University of California, San Diego (UCSD), thromboembolism classification, 4 patients (20%) were type 1, 8 patients (40%) were type II, and 8 patients (40%) were type III. Right ventricular systolic pressure was reduced significantly from $77{\pm}29$ mmHg to $37{\pm}19$ mmHg after pulmonary endarterectomy (p<0.001). The degree of tricuspid regurgitation and the NYHA functional class were all improved postoperatively. Reperfusion edema occurred in 7 cases (35%). The incidence of reperfusion edema was higher in the UCSD type III group than in the other group (25% vs 50%, p=0.25) and the length of postoperative intensive care unit stay was longer in type III group ($5{\pm}2$ days vs $9{\pm}7$ days, p=0.07). The early mortality rate was 10%, and the late mortality rate was 15% (n=3); one death was due to progression of underlying non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and the other deaths were related to recurrent thromboembolism and persistent pulmonary hypertension, respectively. Conclusion: Pulmonary endarterectomy, as a curative surgical method for treating chronic thromboernbolic pulmonary hypertension, should be performed aggressively in patients diagnosed with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, and an effort should be made to reduce the frequency of perioperative complications and to improve surgical outcomes.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2002

Objective : Previous studies have suggested an association between sleep-related breathing disorder (SRBD) and several psychological problems, and there were increasing recognition of the link. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the characteristic profiles of MMPI and SCL-90-R in patients with SRBD. Methods : This study consisted of 80 SRBD patients(73 men, 7 women) referred from Sleep Disorder Clinic of Dong-A University Hospital, Busan, Korea. Basic informations including demographic findings and physical examination were collected. Subjects completed the Epworth Sleepiness Scale(ESS), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory(MMPI), and Symptom Check List-90-Revision (SCL-90-R) prior to standard overnight polysomnography that was performed at hospital sleep laboratory. SRBD was divided into two groups of primary snoring(PS) and obstructive sleep apnea(OSA) according to polysomnographic findings. Results : SRBD showed significant elevation rate of Hs, D, and Hy scales of MMPI and SOM scale of SCL-90-R, which exceeded the rate expected in normal individuals(>5%, 2SD). On comparison of clinical scales of SCL-90-R, OSA group had significantly greater mean score than that of PS group in terms of O-C, DEP, PAR, GSI(p<0.05), SOM and PST(p<0.01). OSA group also showed significantly higher elevation rate in Hs scale of MMPI and SOM scale of SCL-90-R than that of PS. Among OSA group, three scales of MMPI(D, Pt, Si) and three scales of SCL-90-R(ANX, PAR, PSDI) had significant correlation with some PSG variables including total sleep time and sleep efficiency. Among PS group, two scales of MMPI(Hy and Pt), elevation rate of MMPI scales and three scales of SCL-90-R(I-S, PAR, PSDI) had significant correlation with some PSG variables including sleep efficiency, sleep latency and REM sleep percent. Conclusion : The above results suggest that SRBD show neurotic profiles in MMPI and SCL-90-R. This study also clearly indicates that PS group are suffered from clinically meaningful psychiatric symptoms, which are quantitatively lessened but qualitatively similar as compared to that of OSA group.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.207-215
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• 2003

Objective: To compare the pregnancy outcomes after in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI) between obstrucvtive and non-obstrucvtive azoospermia. Methods: From January 1994 to December 2002, 524 patients with obstructive azoospermia (886 cycles) and 163 patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (277 cycles) were included in this study. Microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration (MESA) or testicular sperm extraction (TESE) in obstructive azoospermia and TESE in non-obstructive azoospermia were perfomed to retrieve sperm, which was used for ICSI and then fertilized embryos were transferred. The results of ICSI - fertlization rate (FR), clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), clinical abortion rate (CAR) and delivery rate (DR) - were statistically analysed in obstructive versus non-obstructive azoospermia. Results: There were no differences in the number of retrieved oocytes, injected oocytes for ICSI and oocyte maturation rate. FR was significantly higher in obstructive than non-obstructive azoospermia (71.7% vs. 61.1%, p<0.001). There was no difference in CPR per embryo transfer cycle. After pregnancy was established, however, CAR was significantly higher in non-obstructive than obstructive azoospermia (25.6% vs. 12.5%, p=0.004). DR per clinical pregnancy cycle was significantly higher in obstructive than non-obstructive azoospermia (78.0% vs. 64.4%, p=0.012). In the karyotype ananlysis of abortus, abnormal karyotypes were found in 75.0% (6/8) of obstructive and 55.6% (5/9) of non-obstructive azoospermia. Conclusion: Our data show significantly higher FR in obstructive than non-obstructive azoospermia. Though there was no differrence in CPR, CAR was significantly higher in non-obstructive than obstructive azoospermia. The abortion may be related to the abnormal karyotype of embryo, but further investigations are necessary to elucidate the cause of clinical abortion in azoospermia.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2008

The histochemical characteristics and ultrastructure of the mantle in the spiny top shell, Batillus cornutus were described using light and electron microscopy. The simple epidermal layer wrapped on the top and bottom of the centrally located connective tissue. And then the epidermal layer were divided into the outer epidermal layer near a shell and the inner epidermal layer closed to the visceral mass. The connective tissue layer was composed of the collagen fiber muscularfiber bundle and hemolymph sinus. Mucous cells in the apical mantle contained acid and neutral mucopolysaccaride, and acidic carboxylated mucopolysaccaride in the mid and marginal mantle. The mantle thickness, epidermal layer thickness and hemolymph sinus area displayed a trend of reduction from the marginal zone to the apical zone. From TEM observation, it was possible to distinguish epithelium, ciliated cell, absorptive cell and secretory cell in the epidermal layer. The epithelia were columnar and the nucleus was elliptical. The free surface were covered with microvilli. The lateral membranes of epithelium was con nected with neighboring cells by the zonular occludens, zonular adherens and membrane interdigitation. Ciliated cell on free surface had cilia and microvilli, and numerous mitochondria in the apical cytoplasm. In the epidermal layer, it observed 2 type cells having absorptive function. The absorptive cells were columnar in shape, and contained microvilli, pinocytotic vesicles, mitochondria and lysosomes of various electron density. Secretory cells can be divided into four types (A, B, C, D) depending on the cell shape and characteristics of secretory granules. These cells were unicellular glands and had similar characteristics to previously reported on the mantle of the gastropod and bivalves.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.457-468
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• 1995

In order to develop a more practical culture system from the present running seawater tank system, two experiments of environmental factors, growth, survival rate and rearing density of olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) were carried out for two consecutive years. Two groups of fish in initially averaging 7.5cm of total length, and 3.4g of body weight (EXP. I) and 5.0cm and 1.8g (EXP. II) were reared in the semi-closed recirculating seawater system equipped with the rotating biological contactors with the commercial culture scale. The dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations is EXP. I ranged 0,247-0.512 ppm of $NH_4-N$ (0.010-0.043 ppm of$NO_2-N$, and 0.108-0.342 ppm of $NO_3-N$, and those in EXP. II were 0.091-0.715 ppm, 0.002-0.045 ppm, and 0.007-0.277 ppm, respectively. Daily feeding rates of the fish were $0.67-2.41\%$ in EXP. I and $0.69-2.22\%$ in EXP_ II, and teed efficiency were $34.8-59.8\%\;and\;40.5-88.4\%$ in EXP. I and II, respectively. The average total ten說h and body weight were 40.0-42.8cm and 695.0-852.69g after 340 days culture in EXP. I, and 36.7-39.7cm and 552.4-706.4 g after 365 days culture in EXP. II, respectively. Survival rates of the fish at the end of EXP. I and II were $92.0\%\;and\;96.0\%,$ respectively. The ratio to body surface area of non-ocular side in all fish to bottom area of rearing tank, so-called covering rate, was used as an indicator of rearing density. The highest cowering rate and weight density of fish per $m^2$ of rearing tank at the end of experimental period were 2.2 and 34.1kg in EXP. I, and 2.6 and 36.3kg in EXP. II, respectively. For the commercial culture of olive flounder, the semi-closed recirculating seawater system was found to be more effective than the running seawater tank system in aspect to the fish productivity and protection of marine environment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.88-97
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• 2003

Background : Although smoking is a major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), only 10-20% of cigarette smokers develop symptomatic COPD, which suggests the presence of genetic susceptibility. This genetic susceptibility to COPD might depend on variations in the activities of the enzyme that detoxify hazardous chemical products, such as microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEPHX) and glutathione-S transferase M1 subunit (GSTM1) genes. Methods : The genotypes of 58 patients with COPD, and 79 age matched control subjects, were determined by a polymerase chain reaction, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) for the mEPHX, and multiplex PCR for the GSTM1. Results : GSTM1 was deleted in 53.3% of the subjects. There was no difference in GSTM1 deletion rates between the COPD patients (32/58, 55.2%) and the control subjects (41/79, 51.9%). The combination patterns of two polymorphisms of mEPHX showed slow enzyme activity in 29(21.2%), normal in 73(53.3%) and fast in 32(23.4%). The COPD group (7/57, 12.3%) showed a significantly lower incidence of slow enzyme activity compared to the control subjects (22/77, 28.6%, p<0.05). However, when the COPD and control groups were compared with smokers only, there were no significant differences in the genotypes of GSTM1 and mEPHX. Conclusion : The genotypes of GSTM1 and mEPHX were not significant risk factors of COPD in this cohort of study.