Objectives：Left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH) increases the risk of sudden death in hypertensive patients and this is known due to ventricular arrhythmias. Thus, author studied the relationship between LVH as a hypertensive target organ damage and ventricular arrhythmias.
Methods：24-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring, measurement of microalbumin in 24-hour urine and fundoscopic examination were performed on 100 hypertensives (50 patients without LVH and 50 patients with LVH on EKG) who admitted Pusan National University Hospital.
Results：In patients with LVH, ventricular extrasystoles occurred more frequently than without LVH(p<0.05) and ventricular couplet and ventricular tachycardia were more common but statistically not different. Microalbuminuria and hypertensive retinopathy were more severe in patients with LVH than without LVH(p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Conclusion：Of the ventricular arrhythmias, ventricular extrasystole but not ventricular couplet and ventricular tachycardia occurred more frequently in patients with LVH than without LVH. Thus, prospective study with long-term follow up should be done to establish the relationship between hypertensive LVH and cardiovascular mortality, especially sudden death. And, further study should be done to make the relationship between reduction in LVH with antihypertensive therapy and reduction in LVH-associated ventricular arrhythmias.
Pharmacokinetics of IQO4, a new isoquinolinedione derivative, after 30-min intravenous administration of the drug, 5 mg/kg, to rats, the stability, and the blood partition between plasma and blood cells of IQO4 were evaluated. After intravenous administration, IQO4 was eliminated fast with the mean total body clearance of 105 ml/min/kg. IQO4 was almost completely metabolized in rats; 5.18% of intravenous dose of IQO4 was excreted in 24-hr urine and IQO4 was under detection limit in whole gastrointestinal tract as 24 hr. IQO4 has a good affinity to liver, small intestine, heart, lung, and kidney as reflected to greater-than-unity tissue-to-plasma ratios. IQO4 was unstable in rat whole blood, plasma, and liver homogenates when incubated in a water-bath shaker for 24 hr kept at 37 degrees C and at a rate of 50 oscillations per min. The disappearance rate constants of IQO4 were 0.0611, 0.O436, and 0.174 hr(-1) for rat whole blood, plasma, and liver homogenates, respectively. However, IQO4 was stable for up to 3-hr incubation in human gastric juices. The plasma-to-blood cell concentration ratios of IQO4 were independent of initial blood concentrations of IQO4, 0.5, 2, and 10 microg/ml, when the rabbit whole blood was incubated for up to 120 min; the ratios were in the range of 1.56-3.60. Since IQO4 was unstable in blood, considerable in vitro 'blood storage effect' in the plasma concentration of IQO4 was observed.
Background:The aging population trend is increasing globally and raises social concerns regarding life satisfaction of elderly people.Offspring are perceived to be a significant factor for Korean elderly people.This study identified whether elderly life satisfaction was related to offspring gender.Methods: This cross-sectional study consisted of 2,875 respondents (male, 7,176; female, 1,699) aged 65 years or older from the Kangwha Cohort Study.Analysis of variance and linear regression model were used to analyze the association between offspring gender and life satisfaction.The variables related to life satisfaction were controlled for in the present study.Results: Elderly Korean women who had son(s) and daughter(s) scored on average 6.491 points (p = 0.000) higher on the Life Satisfaction Index (LSI) than women with no children.Parents who were 75-84 years old and had only son(s) scored on average 6.166 points (p = 0.034) higher on the LSI than parents of the same age with no children after adjusting for age, marital status, occupation, education, chronic disease, smoking, and alcohol consumption.Conclusion: Life satisfaction of elderly Korean parents varied according to offspring gender.The results may be related to ideology of the nuclear family, tradition of male child preference, importance of social support, and vulnerability of the social security system as Korean social cultural characteristics.
Intermediates of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway are covalently attached to a number of eukaryotic proteins, including the Ras oncoprotein. Ras protein is post-translationally processed at its carboxyl terminus in three steps, resulting in a COOH-terminal cysteine residue to which a polyisoprenoid moiety, probably farnesyl, is attached in a thioether linkage. Polyisoprenylation of Ras protein is required for its membrane association and for the oncogenicity of mutant forms of the protein. Inhibition of polyisoprenylation may offer a route by which Ras-mediated tumors can be pharmacologically suppressed. Other proteins that are polyisoprenylated include nuclear lamin B, fungal mating factors, and subunits of trimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins. A consensus sequence for polyisoprenylation (Cys-aliphatic-aliphatic-X) has been identified at the COOH-terminus of modified proteins. Recent evidence indicates that proteins can be modified by several different polyisoprenoids.
Background/Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of colonoscopy for Salmonella-Shigella culture of biopsy specimen and intraluminal fluid during colonoscopy in patients with acute diarrhea. Methods: From March 2001 to August 2001, sixty-six patients with watery or bloody diarrhea lasting less than 15 days were participated after exclusion of the patients with previous history or presumption of inflammatory bowel disease, radiation colitis, ischemic colitis, or pseudomembranous colitis. The biopsy specimen was taken and colonic luminal fluid was aspirated during colonoscopy for Salmonella-Shigella cultures. Results: Male and female ratio was 1：1.3 and mean age was 4517 years. The normal colonoscopic finding was showed in twelve cases (18.2%). The severity of acute colitis was mild in 25 cases (25/54, 46.3%), moderate in 9 cases (9/54, 16.7%), and severe in 20 cases (20/54, 37.0%). The extent of acute colitis was as followed: involvement of one segment in 9 cases (16.7%), involvement of two or more segments in 26 cases (48.1%), pancolitis in 7 cases (13.0%), and pancolitis with involved terminal ileum in 12 cases (22.2%). In culture study, identification of Salmonella species was in 11 cases (16.7%). Salmonella species were identified in 6.0% (3/50) with stool specimen, 18.0% (9/50) with biopsy specimen, and 4.0% (2/50) with intraluminal fluid, but without statistical significance. Conclusion: The culture using biopsy specimens and intraluminal fluid obtained during colonoscopy may be helpful in diagnosis of cases of suggesting Salmonella-Shigella infection.
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