• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.781-786
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• 2004

None of the currently available strategies for diagnosis and management of the pleural effusion are ideal. We tried to evaluate the validity of VEGF in differential diagnosis of the pleural effusion and find out if VEGF were correlated with the established markers. Material and Method: 35 patients with pleural effusion were divided into malignant effusion (n=10), benign effusion (n=5), infectious effusion (n=10), and pneumothorax (n=10), respectively. The pleural fluids from each group were examined for differential cell count, chemistry (glucose, protein, LDH, and ADA), and VEGF. Result: Glucose level was lower in infectious effusion compared with benign effusion (60.5$\pm$36.09 mg/dL vs. 162.0$\pm$19.80 mg/dL, p=0.011). ADA level in infectious effusion was higher compared with malignant effusion (87.9$\pm$42.62 IU/L vs. 27.7$\pm$31.04 IU/L, p=0.024). Malignant effusion (p=0.026) and infectious effusion (p=0.048) showed significantly higher level of VEGF than that of pneumothorax. VEGF level was substantially higher in malignant effusion compared with benign effusion (364.38$\pm$433.83 pg/dL vs. 53.3$\pm$22.20 pg/dL, p=NS). The pleural VEGF level did not correlate with the other markers. Conclusion: The measuring pleural VEGF may be helpful in diagnosing malignant and infectious pleural effusion that increase angiogenesis and vascular permeability, but it can not discriminate between the two. The pleural VEGF may not be correlated with the established markers. The measurement of pleural VEGF might discriminate between malignant and benign effusion.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.834-842
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• 2000

In order to investigate the characteristics of various sweet potato starches, gelatinization temperatures, solution viscosity of starch separated from two cultivars of the dry type sweet potatoes(Yulmi and Gunmi), one cultivar of moist type sweet potato(Jinmi), and one cultivar of purple colored variety(Jami) were compared, and properties of the edible films prepared with the starches were determined. Under a differential scanning colorimetry(DSC), initial temperatures for starch gelatinization of the dry type sweet potatoes (Yulmi and Gunmi) were higher than that of the moist type sweet potato (Jinmi), and that of Jami was close to those of the dry type ones. The sweet potato starch solutions tested by a cone and plate viscometer, showed peudoplastic characteristics. The moist type sweet potato was the most viscous followed by Jami, Yulmi, and Gunmi among the tested starch solutions. Total color difference of the edible films prepared with different cultivars of sweet potatoes showed appreciable differences between cultivars, caused by differences in Hunterb values. Water Vapor Permeability (WVP) of sweet potato starch films also showed significant differences between cultivars. Films prepared with the dry type sweet potato, Gunmi, showed the lowest WVP value of $0.83{\times}10^{-9}\;g\;{\cdot}\;m/m^{2}\;{\cdot}\;s\;{\cdot}\;Pa$, followed by Jami, Yulmi, and Jinmi. Water solubility of the films did not show any significant differences between cultivars. Tensile strength of the dry type sweet potato and Jami, which ranged 14.18-18.75 MPa, were higher than that of the moist type sweet potato, which was 4.66 MPa. Elongation values of the films, which were 5-6%, indicated that sweet potato starch films were not so elastic.