Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S H Cho.
A 35-year-old woman had recurrent urticarial erythemas on her trunk and extremities for 3 years. The eruptions appeared regularly 3 to 5 days prior to menstruation and persisted for several days. The patient showed a positive skin test response to progesterone and had circulating antiprogesterone IgG antibodies. A speculative concept of the possible autoimmune damage to the ovary, the major organ producing progesterone, is discussed.
In order to define osteoporosis on the basis of bone mineral measurements, one must define an acceptable normal range or fracture threshold. It is clear that the normal range cannot be compared between different ethnic groups. We have measured spinal bone mineral density (BMD) by dual photon absorptiometry in 277 women without spinal fracture, aged 30-91 years, and in 53 women with asymptomatic spinal fracture to provide such a database for normal Korean women. Peak bone mass at the 3rd decade was 1.24 g/cm2. BMD from age 40-69 was strongly correlated with age (r = -0.7) and the annual decrease averaged 0.018gm/cm2. The rate of annual loss slowed by 50% in women after 70% years of age. Fracture threshold was evaluated at the 90th percentile for spinal BMD in patients with vertebral fractures. The fracture threshold of the vertebra was 0.94 g/cm2. Approximately 50% of normal women over 50 years of age had values below this threshold. These findings suggest that the way of developing low bone mass in Korean women is to peak high and lose fast.
The low affinity IgE receptor (Fc epsilon RII/CD23) has been proposed to be involved in the regulation of IgE synthesis. The present study was undertaken to investigate the responses to in vitro stimulation by allergen (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus; D.p) and/or interleukin-4 (IL-4) of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) isolated from atopic and non-atopic subjects. IL-4 induced up to 5 fold increase in CD23 expression on PBLs from both atopic patients and normal controls, whereas the D.p extract increased CD23 expression on cells from 7 of 8 atopic donors and from 2 of 8 normal controls. The combination of IL-4 and allergen had an additive effect of CD23 expression. PBLs from 6 of 8 atopic patients but 1 of 8 normal controls showed significant proliferative responses to D.p extract whereas IL-4 did not induce any cell proliferation. The dose of D.p extract required for the maximal CD23 expression was 20 fold higher than that for cell proliferation. These results imply that allergen stimulation, presumably through proliferating allergen specific T cells which secrete IL-4, activates B cells from most atopic donors and a few non-atopic donors resulting in increased CD23 expression. This allergen-mediated CD23 expression may play an important role in specific IgE production.
The purpose of this study was to observe the change of the meniscal lesions, which are conservable by suture or simply by leaving-in-place within the frame of operated anterior instability. Forty-six knees which had been operated by the free transplant of bone-patellar tendon-bone, presented the associated lesions of conservable meniscus. These lesions were treated by suture of the meniscus in 15 cases and left in place in 31 cases. The programme of rehabilitation was the same in the two groups. All the patients have been followed-up for 26 months in average (12-40 months). In the group of meniscal suture, only one secondary meniscectomy was carried out. 8 patients presented moderate pain on the corresponding femorotibial joint line and 5/13 of the sportive patients recovered to the same level of activity. In the group of leaving-in-place, no meniscectomy has been carried out. Only 4 patients complained of pain and 23/27 recovered to the same activity level. The arthrographic and arthroscopic observations have been carried out in 23 cases. They confirmed the cicatrization of the sutured meniscus but also showed the possibility of total or partial cicatrization of the lesions left in place (12 on 13). The authors conclude that the peripheral meniscal lesions associated with the operation of the chronic anterior instability do not always require suture. The abstention on the meniscal lesion is possible if it is limited on the posterior segment: Then the functional results seem better.
Fifty-one meniscectomies by arthroscopy were realised on patients of more than 55 years of age between 1981 and 1986. Twenty-four patients were reviewed after at least 4 years of follow up, 12 of them after a 7.5 years follow up. 21 results were noted as functionally very good or good, 3 were poor. The radiological analysis of femoro-tibial compartments in comparison with the non operative side showed a clear pejorative difference in one case, moderate in 5 without incriminating the morphological type. If the quality of result does'nt correlate with age, it was'nt the same for the type of lesion seen during arthroscopy, the best results after arthroscopic meniscectomies were seen in traumatic lesions occurring on normal menisci or on degenerative ones. The authors concluded that medial meniscectomy in patients older than 55 years is justified in precise indications: a known traumatism or also acute medial pain, or speedy with normal or subnormal X-ray and after a positive arthrography.
One new triterpenoidal saponin, saponin F(2) has been isolated from the bark of Kalopanax pictum Nakai var. typicum (Araliaceae), together with one known saponin, kizuta saponin K12 (1). On the basis of chemico-spectral evidences, the structure of 2 has been elucidated to be 3-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl(1-->3)-alpha- L-rhamnopyranosyl(1-->2)-alpha- L-arabinopyranosyl-23-hydroxyolean-12-en-28-O-alpha-L- rhamnopyranosyl(1-->4)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl(1-->6)-beta-D-glucopyranosy l ester.
Bone destruction and hypercalcemia are well-recognized complications in a variety of neoplasms without bone metastasis. Reduction in the volume of trabecular bone has been confirmed by histomorphometric study, but not by bone densitometer. We measured spinal bone mineral densities by dual-photon absorptiometry in 85 patients with invasive uterine cervical cancer and compared them with measurements from 148 control women. When adjusted for age and menopause duration, mean bone mineral density in patients with uterine cervical cancer was 12.8% lower (P = .0003) and age-matched percentiles were 9.1% lower (P = .0003) than in control women. The deficits in bone mineral density and age-matched percentiles were confined to the uterine cervical cancer patients in their fifties, ie, less than 5 years' menopause duration. Serum concentrations of calcium, phosphate, creatinine, and alkaline phosphatase were not different between control women and the patients with uterine cervical cancer. The results suggest that women with uterine cervical cancer have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.
Versicolorin A hemiacetal was converted to versicolorin C in cell-free systems from Aspergillus parasiticus. The rate of reaction catalyzed by the 35-70% ammonium sulfate fraction was 0.43 nmol min-1 mg-1 with NADPH as cosubstrate and 0.17 nmol min-1 mg-1 with NADH at 25 degrees C at pH 7.4. The product from incubation of 17-hydroxy-16,17-dihydrosterigmatocystin with the 35-70% ammonium sulfate fraction and NADPH was a polar compound which was converted to dihydrosterigmatocystin by 0.4 M HCl. The polar compound is proposed to be the 14,17-hydrated open-chain derivative of dihydrosterigmatocystin. Aflatoxin G2 alpha was also reduced in this system to a polar product tentatively identified as the 13,16-hydrated open-chain derivative of AFG2. The reductase activity may be involved in the formation of reduced intermediates and aflatoxins in cultures of A. parasiticus.
The activity of cytidine 5'-diphosphate (CDP) choline: 1,2-diacylglycerol cholinephosphotransferase (EC 2.7.8.2) in developing soybean (Glycine max L. var Williams 82) seeds was 3 to 5 times higher in cotyledons grown at 20 degrees C than in those grown at 35 degrees C. Some characteristics of the enzyme from cotyledons cultured at 20 and 35 degrees C were compared. In preparations from both growth temperatures, the enzyme showed a pH optimum of 7, K(m) of 7.0 micromolar for CDP-choline, and an optimum assay temperature of 45 degrees C. Both enzyme preparations were stimulated by increasing concentrations of Mg(2+) or Mn(2+), up to 10 millimolar and 50 micromolar, respectively, though Mn(2+) produced lower activities than Mg(2+). Enzymes from both 20 and 35 degrees C show the same specificity for exogenous diacylglycerol. No metabolic effectors were detected by addition of heat treated extracts to the assay mixture. The above findings suggest that the higher enzyme activity at 20 degrees C can be attributed to a higher level of the enzyme rather than to the involvement of isozymes or metabolic effectors. Enzyme activity decreased rapidly during culture at 35 degrees C, indicating a rapid turnover of the enzyme. The level of temperature modulation was found to be a function of seed developmental stage.
The effect of preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy on the 2-year survival rate of patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (stages Ib and II with bulky tumour) was evaluated. The 54 patients first received initial chemotherapy of vinblastine, bleomycin, and cis-platinum in a combined regimen (VBP) and then radical hysterectomy. The overall histologic response rate to chemotherapy of the primary tumor confirmed in the surgical specimen was 81% including microscopic or no evidence of disease (41%, Grade III or IV). A lower than expected incidence of lymph node metastasis (20%) was found. All nodal metastasis was noted in patients with Grades I or II (P = 0.0034). Median follow-up was 36 months (range 26-60 months). Three recurrences (6%) appeared and those patients died of the disease within 24 months. Thus the 2-year tumour-free survival rate was 94%. The patients who had positive nodes more often experienced recurrence (27 vs 0%) and a lower 2-year survival rate (72 vs 100%) (P = 0.0067). All of these recurrences were found in patients with three or more positive nodes. This preliminary study suggest that preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (VBP) is effective (1) in reducing tumour volume or the stage of the disease, (2) in curing the lymph node involvement, and (3) in improving the 2-year tumour-free survival rate. A prospective randomized study comparing radical surgery alone with preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical surgery is in progress.
Experiments have been conducted to determine whether mono- and digalactosyldiacylglycerols (MGDG and DGDG) labeled by short term exposure of the green alga Dunaliella salina to exogenous radioactive lauric, myristic, or palmitic acids are preferentially recovered in one or more thylakoid protein complexes separated by electrophoresis on nondenaturing gels. A selective retention of certain lipid classes and molecular species by the major electrophoretically separable fractions, oligomeric form (LHCP-1) and monomeric form (LHCP-3) of hight-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein complex, and major photosystem I protein complex (CPla), and nonprotein-bound lipids, was indicated. After 5 min of labeling with (3)H-palmitate the specific radioactivities of MGDG and DGDG molecular species recovered from LHCP-3 and CPla were slightly higher and lower, respectively, than specific radioactivities of equivalent molecular species from LHCP-1 and nonprotein-bound lipid. However, the differences were smaller than those which have been observed between whole thylakoids and the more highly labeled chloroplast envelopes from briefly labeled cells.
Alveolar hemorrhage is a life threatening condition which requires an urgent diagnosis and treatment. We report a case of alveolar hemorrhage associated with crescentic glomerulonephritis without immune complex deposition with a review of the literature.
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Thirty-five previously untreated patients with stage Ib, IIa, and IIb squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix with bulky mass (more than 4 cm) were treated with initial chemotherapy of vinblastine, bleomycin, and cis-platinum combined regimen (VBP, one to five courses) and subsequent radical surgery. The effectiveness of the preoperative chemotherapy was evaluated in the surgical specimen. The overall clinical response rate was 89% and included a complete response in 16 (46%) and a partial response in 15 patients (43%). There were no differences in the response rate by age, stage, or the geographic contour of the tumor. The number of chemotherapeutic courses correlated well with the response of the primary tumor (P = 0.0004) up to three courses. Histologic examination of the resected primary tumor revealed no evidence of disease (Grade IV) in 44% of complete responders, microscopic foci (Grade III) in 38% (6), and macroscopic disease (Grade II) in 18% (3). Of 15 patients with stage IIb, 11 (73%) had a stage-down. Lymphnode metastases after chemotherapy were found in 26% (9/35) of the patients. All nodal metastases were found among the patients who had a partial response or a stable disease, and none was found in those with a complete response (P = 0.0029). This preliminary study suggests that initial chemotherapy before surgery is effective in reducing tumor volume or stage of the disease providing better circumstances for surgery, offers selection of high-risk groups of patients requiring additional chemotherapy, and might be able to eliminate effectively diseases in lymphnodes and possibly micrometastases. This regimen is now being evaluated to test its impact on survival.
The cardiomyopathic Syrian hamster develops genetically determined cardiac necrosis that invariably leads to premature death from congestive heart failure or arrhythmia. This hamster is a valuable model of human disease because it has many features in common with clinical dilated, congestive cardiomyopathy. Previous studies have shown that therapy for several weeks with the calcium channel blocking drug verapamil or the alpha-1 adrenoceptor blocking drug prazosin can prevent myocardial necrosis due to microvascular spasm. Other investigations have demonstrated the positive effects of verapamil in the early stages of disease. It is not clear, however, whether continued treatment can prevent the long-term expression of the cardiomyopathy or whether the disease is genetically predetermined. To address this question, hamsters were treated with oral verapamil for 7 to 8 months during the necrotizing, compensatory hypertrophy and early failure stages of disease. Analysis of myocardial pathologic and biochemical variables demonstrated that continuously treated animals were generally similar to unaffected control hamsters; discontinuous therapy led to partial protection. These findings demonstrate that virtually complete prevention of this hereditary disease is feasible; these results may have important implications for the treatment of human cardiomyopathy.
This study was initiated to determine whether factors are present in human sperm-free seminal plasma (HSP) that regulate the uptake and release of carnitine from sperm. Bovine caput epididymal sperm cells accumulated more carnitine than caudal sperm cells. A significant reduction in carnitine uptake by caput sperm was observed in the presence of HSP from normal subjects, but not from three subjects with reduced motility. A factor has been isolated from HSP that inhibits carnitine uptake by caput sperm and has the following properties: it is nondialyzable, stable to freeze-thawing, soluble in 60% ammonium sulfate, and has an approximate molecular weight of 158 kd. These data are consistent with the existence of a relatively high molecular weight protein in HSP responsible for the preservation of carnitine concentrations in sperm.
Dunaliella salina cells were pulse-labeled for 2 min with [14C]palmitic acid, [14C]oleic acid, or [14C]lauric acid in order to trace the pathway of galactolipid biosynthesis and desaturation. Through the use of high performance liquid chromatography it was possible to follow the movement of radioactivity through many individual molecular species of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) for periods of 24 h and, in some cases, as much as 120 h. Analysis of the fatty acid fluxes permitted us to refine current views regarding biosynthesis of the predominantly "prokaryotic" galactolipids. The initial D. salina MGDG molecular species, containing paired oleate and palmitate (18:1/16:0), can follow two metabolic routes. If the palmitoyl chain is desaturated to 16:1, the resulting 18:1/16:1 MGDG is subject to rapid further desaturation to varying degrees, and a part of these products is subsequently galactosylated to DGDG. Contrary to widely held opinions, these DGDG molecular species can themselves be further desaturated toward a 18:3/16:4 final product. In a separate series of reactions, a smaller portion of the nascent 18:1/16:0 MGDG is directly galactosylated to 18:1/16:0 DGDG. This molecular species can then be sequentially desaturated to 18:2/16:0 DGDG and 18:3/16:0 DGDG. However, there is only very limited desaturation of the palmitoyl group attached to these molecular species.
When applied in liquid paraffin to the upper surface of expanding spinach leaves, [1-14C]palmitic acid was efficiently and exclusively incorporated into the sn-1 position of cellular glycerolipids, principally phosphatidylcholine and triacylglycerol. A slow transfer of fatty acids from phosphatidylcholine to chloroplast glycolipids subsequently occurred with the positional specificity of the label remaining intact. Labeled palmitate at the sn-1 position of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol was desaturated to hexadecatrienoate so that 1-[14C]hexadecatrienoyl-2-linolenoyl-3-galactosoylglycerol became the major labeled species of the lipid between 8 and 24 h. There was no evidence of deacylation/reacylation reactions modifying the acyl compositions of spinach leaf glycerolipids for at least 48 h after labeling with [1-14C]palmitic acid; even the partially prokaryotic glycerolipids remained firmly labeled at the sn-1 position. Exogenous [1-14C]stearic acid was also incorporated into the sn-1 position of MGD, presumably by the same mechanism, and was there desaturated to [14C]linolenate. Exogenous [1-14C]oleic acid was initially incorporated equally into both sn-1 and sn-2 positions of phosphatidylcholine, and was desaturated to linoleate at both positions before the label was rapidly transferred to monogalactosyldiacylglycerol. There, desaturation of linoleate to linolenate took place. Galactolipids remained equally labeled at both positions throughout the 6 days of the experiment, but label was concentrated in the 1-saturated-2-[14C]linolenoyl molecular species of phosphatidylcholine as those species with two [14C]linoleoyl residues were drawn off for monogalactolipid synthesis. Glycerolipids synthesised from exogenous [1-14C]acetate by spinach leaves were labeled equally at both the sn-1 and the sn-2 positions. These results are interpreted as providing strong support for the two-pathway scheme of glycerolipid synthesis in plants.