• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.72 no.2
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• pp.207-211
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• 2012

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a rare disorder characterized by the triad of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and acute renal failure. HUS arises from a wide spectrum of conditions, and chemotherapeutic agents have been reported to be associated with HUS, including Mitomycin, Cisplatin, Bleomycin, and Gemcitabine. A 76-year-old man treated with Gemcitabine due to non-small cell lung cancer developed clinical and laboratory findings compatible with HUS. Gemcitabine was ceased and hemodialysis and plasma exchange were utilized and he recovered. A high level of suspicion for HUS is necessary when cancer patients are treated with Gemcitabine, and prompt recognition and treatment are also essential.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.620-629
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• 2014

Keloid scars are often considered aesthetically unattractive and frustrating problems that occur following injuries. They cause functional and cosmetic deformities, displeasure, itching, pain, and psychological stress and possibly affect joint movement. The combination of these factors ultimately results in a compromised quality of life and diminished functional performance. Various methods have been implemented to improve keloid scars using both surgical and non-surgical approaches. However, it has proven to be a challenge to identify a universal treatment that can deliver optimal results for all types of scars. Through a PubMed search, we explored most of the literature that is available about the intralesional injection treatment of hypertrophic scars and keloids and highlights both current (corticosteroid, 5-fluorouracil, bleomycin, interferon, cryotherapy and verapamil) and future treatments (interleukin-10 and botulinum toxin type A). The reference lists of retrieved articles were also analysed. Information was gathered about the mechanism of each injection treatment, its benefits and associated adverse reactions, and possible strategies to address adverse reactions to provide reliable guidelines for determining the optimal treatment for particular types of keloid scars. This article will benefit practitioners by outlining evidence-based treatment strategies using intralesional injections for patients with hypertrophic scars and keloids.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.266-278
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• 2008

Erythrina stricta, a deciduous tree widely used traditionally in indigenous system of medicine for various ailments such as rheumatism, fever, leprosy, epilepsy etc. The leaves of Erythrina stricta was extracted with ethanol (70%) and used for the evaluation of various in vitro antioxidant assays which includes H - donor activity, nitric oxide scavenging, superoxide anion scavenging, reducing ability, hydroxyl radical, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, total antioxidant activity by thiocyanate and phosphomolybdenum method, metal chelating, $\beta$-carotene bleaching, total peroxy radical assays. The pro-oxidant activity was measured using bleomycin-dependent DNA damage. Ex vivo models like lipid peroxidation and erythrocyte haemolysis were also used to study the antioxidant property of the extract. The various antioxidant activities were compared with suitable standard antioxidants such as ascorbic acid, butylated hydroxyl toluene, $\alpha$-tocopherol, curcumin, quercetin and Trolox. The generation of free radicals viz. $O_2^{{\cdot}-}$, $OH^{\cdot}$, $H_2O_2$, $NO^{\cdot}$ and peroxyl radicals were effectively scavenged by the ethanolic extract of Erythrina stricta. In all the methods, the extract offered strong antioxidant activity in a concentration dependent manner. The total phenolic content, flavonoid content and total antioxidant activity in Erythrina stricta were determined as microgram (g) pyrocatechol, quercetin and $\alpha$-tocopherol equivalent/mg respectively. The extract did not exhibit any prooxidant activity when compared with ascorbic acid. The results obtained in the present study clearly indicates that Erythrina stricta scavenges free radicals and reduces lipid peroxidation, ameliorating the damage imposed by oxidative stress in different disease conditions and serve as a potential source of natural antioxidant.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 2010

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a useful tool in researches and in clinical medicine of lung diseases because the BAL fluid contains biochemical and cytological indicators of the cellular response to infection, drugs, or toxicants. However, the variability among laboratories regarding the technique and the processing of the BAL material limits clinical research. The aim of this study was to determine the suction frequency and lavage fraction number necessary to reduce the variability in lavage using male Sprague-Dawley rats. We compared the total cell number and protein level of each lavage fraction and concluded that more cells and protein can be obtained by repetitive lavage with a suction frequency of 2 or 3 than by lavage with a single suction. On the basis of total cell recovery, approximately 70% of cells were obtained from fractions 1~3. The first lavage fraction should be used for evaluation of protein concentration because fractions 2~5 of lavage fluid were diluted in manifolds. These observations were confirmed in bleomycin-induced inflamed lungs of rats. We further compared the BAL data from the whole lobes with data from the right lobes and concluded that BAL data of the right lobes represented data of the whole lobes. However, this conclusion can only be applied to general lung diseases. At the end, this study provides an insight into the technical or analytical problems of lavage study in vivo.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4909-4913
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• 2014

Malignant ovarian germ cell tumors (MOGCT) are rare neoplasms that most frequently occur in women at a young reproductive age. There have been limited data regarding this disease from Southeast Asian countries. We therefore conducted a retrospective study to analyze the clinical characteristics and the treatment outcomes of MOGCT treated at our institute between January, 2003 and December, 2012. Seventy-six patients were recruited from this period with the mean age of 21.6 years and 11.8% were pre-puberty. The two most common symptoms were pelvic mass and pelvic pain. Two-thirds of the studied patients presented at an early stage. The most common histology was immature teratoma (34.2%) followed by endodermal sinus tumor (28.9%), dysgerminoma (25%), mixed type (10.5%) and choriocarcinoma (1.3%). Over 80% of these patients received fertility sparing surgery and about 70% received adjuvant chemotherapy with the complete response rate at 73.3% and partial response at 11.1%. The most frequent chemotherapy was BEP regimen (bleomycin, etoposide, cisplatin). With the mean follow up time at 56.0 months, 12 patients (15.8%) developed recurrence and only an advanced stage was the independent prognostic factor. The ten year progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival rate of our study were 81.9% and 86.2%, respectively. In conclusion, MOGCT often occurs at a young age. Treatment with fertility sparing operations and adjuvant chemotherapy with a BEP regimen showed a good outcome. An advanced stage is a significant prognostic factor for recurrence.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1381-1387
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• 2001

Objective : Endodermal sinus tumor or yolk sac tumor is an uncommon malignant germ-cell neoplasm. This tumor was originally described as a germ cell tumor of the ovary or the testis. Intracranial endodermal sinus tumor is extremely rare and usually develop in the pineal or suprasellar regions. The authors evaluated the effect of adjuvant therapy(chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy) and radical removal of intracranial endodermal sinus tumors. Material and Methods : Between 1996 and 2001, four patients of intracranial endodermal sinus tumor were diagnosed with tumor marker(AFP) and biopsy. Three patients were treated with surgical removal and chemotherapy with cisplatin($20mg/m^2$), etoposide($100mg/m^2$) and bleomycin($15mg/m^2$) as well as external beam radiation therapy. We compared the management problems for these tumors. Result : In all three patients the tumor size and the level of tumor marker decresed during initial adjuvant therapy. However, Tumors showed regrowth with elevated AFP of serum and CSF possibly related to delayed chemotherapeutic treatment or inadequate administration of chemotherapeutic drugs due to severe bone marrow suppression. An additional chemotherapy and external radiation therapy were given, but tumors could not be controlled with leptomeningeal seeding. Conclusion : Radiotherapy is considered to be less effective. The combination chemotherapy with PVB(cisplatin, vinblastine, bleomycine) or PE(cisplatin, etoposide) is considered to be value in prolongation of the survival rate. But the role of chemotherapy in this tumor has not yet been clarified due to bone marrow suppression and drug resistance. Further study with large series of this tumor is necessary to establish the optimal management.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2014

An increasing number of recent studies have focused on the impact of particulate matter on human health. As a model for atmospheric particulate inhalation, we investigated the effects of inhaled carbon black nanoparticles (CBNP) on mice with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. The CNBPs were generated by a novel aerosolization process, and the mice were exposed to the aerosol for 4 hours. We found that CBNP inhalation exacerbated lung inflammation, as evidenced by histopathology analysis and by the expression levels of interleukin-6 protein, fibronectin, and interferon-${\gamma}$ mRNAs in lung tissues. Notably, fibronectin mRNA expression showed a statistically significant increase in expression after CBNP exposure. These data suggest that the concentration of CBNPs delivered (calculated to be $12.5{\mu}g/m^3$) can aggravate lung inflammation in mice. Our results also suggest that the inhalation of ultrafine particles like PM 2.5 is an impactful environmental risk factor for humans, particularly in susceptible populations with predisposing lung conditions.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.94-97
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• 2003

The teratoma is a unique complex neoplasm and is one of the most frequent pediatric tumors originated from the extragonadal germ cells. Mature teratoma is composed of mature differentiated tissues, while immature teratoma always contains embryonic tissues of variable degrees of immaturity, especially in the neuroepithelial elements. Diagnosis of teratoma is relatively easy by conventional radiologic study, but the immaturity can be identified only by histopathological examination. Between January 1993 to December 2002, 63 cases of teratoma were operated and analysed retrospectively at the Chonnam University Hospital Female to male ratio was about 3:1 and age distribution was relatively even. Among 63 cases, gonadal teratoma was the most common (52.4%), followed by sacrococcygeal (25.4%), retroperitoneal (9.5%) and mediastinal teratoma (9.5%). Fifty-six cases were mature teratomas and seven were immature teratomas. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was elevated in 4 of 6 immature cases, but in 2 of 51 mature ones Elevated AFP progressively returned to normal range by 1 month after operation in all. Complete excision of the mass was performed, and major complication was not noticed. In five immature cases, PEB chemotherapy (Cisplatin, Etoposide, Bleomycin) was performed. Two of 2 cases in histological grade II were well tolerated to the aggressive chemotherapy. One of three cases in grade III expired due to severe bone marrow depression, and two of them expired by tumor recurrences. In conclusion, immature teratoma in histological grade III showed high potentiality of recurrence. Therefore, postoperative chemotherapy has to be applied to the high graded immature tumors.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.203-215
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• 1991

Using the calorimetric [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT)assay, we evaluated the chemosensitivity of 8 anticancer drugs{vincristine(VCR), vinblastine(VBL), adriamycin(ADR), cisplatin(CPDD), etoposide(VP-16), cytosine arabinoside(ara-C), bleomycin (Bleo) and cyclophosphamide(CYC)} and the cytotoxicity-enhancing effects of ($\pm$)-ar-turmerone and the extracts of the crude drugs {Lithospermum eythrorhizon(LE) and Scutellaria baicalensis (SB)} on the above mentioned anticancer drugs against HL-60 and KG-1 cells among 8 anticancer drugs, VCR, VBL, ADR, and CPDD inhibited the growth of both cell lines by more than 50%, while VP-16, ara-C, Bleo, and CYC were less effective. ($\pm$)-ar-Turmerone had significant inhibitory effects against both cell lines, showing the ID$_{50}$ values of 11.730 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml and 0.292 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml for HL-60 and KG-1 cells. respectively. But the extracts of LE and SB roots showed no significant cytotoxic effects. According to ID$_{50}$ values, the cytotoxicities of VCR, VBL and ADR against HL-60 were enhanced two, eight and three times by mixing ($\pm$)-ar-turmerone, five, seven and three times by adding the extract of LE root, and twenty, six and three times by mixing the extract of SB root, respectively. The cytotoxicities of the above mentioned drugs against KG-1 cell were enhanced two, seven and three times by mixing ($\pm$)-ar-turmerone, two, three and three times by combining wilth the extract of LB root, and two, five and two times by adding the extract of SB root, respectively. The cytotoxicity-potentiating effects of ($\pm$)-ar-turmerone and the extracts of LE and SB roots against HL-60 cell were greater than KG-1 cell.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 1983

Alkaline elution profiles showed that the frequency of DNA single strand breaks associated with DNA-protein crosslinks in cells treated with both an inducing dose of MMC $(MMC_1)$ and a challenge dose of MMC $(MMC_2)$ was slightly less than that in cells treated with MMC alone. The amount of unscheduled DNA synthesisi in cells treated with both $MMC_1$ and $MMC_2$ was greater than that in cells treated with MMC alone. This enhancement of exicision repair detected by UDS autoradiography and alkaline elution, was not observed, when cells were incubated with cyclohexmide between the two treatments of $MMC_1$ and $MMC_2$. These results suggest that MMC-damaged DNA from Chinses hamster cells is repaired by excision repair mechanisms that require de novo protein synthesis for enhancement, and that an inducible repair mechanism may exist in CHO cells.