Journal of Korean medical science
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Dec 2013
Change in somatostatinergic tone of acromegalic patients according to the size of growth hormone-producing pituitary tumors.
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between somatostatinergic tone (SST) and the size of growth hormone (GH)-producing pituitary tumors. GH levels of 29 patients with newly diagnosed acromegaly were measured using a 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), an insulin tolerance test (ITT), and an octreotide suppression test (OST). ⋯ In conclusion, as the size of the pituitary tumor increases, the effect of glucose on SST appears to be attenuated. Macroadenomas that are non-responders to the OST possess a portion of GH secretion exceeding the range of regulation by SST.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Dec 2013
Injuries associated with the 580 km university student grand voluntary road march: focus on foot injuries.
College student volunteers (n = 142) completed a 580 km road march for 21 consecutive days. Each volunteer carried a backpack that weighed 14.1 ± 1.4 kg on the average. We investigated the incidence and location of blisters associated with the road march using a foot map along with other injuries. ⋯ The present study observed a very high incidence rate of injuries (95.1%) associated with the 580 km university students grand road march. These injuries posed an obstacle against completion of the road march and against returning to daily life. Active preventive interventions such as physical therapy and customized reinforced shoes and education program are recommended for reducing incidence rate and severity of injuries.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Dec 2013
Role of regulatory T cells in transferable immunological tolerance to bone marrow donor in murine mixed chimerism model.
Constructing a bone marrow chimera prior to graft transplantation can induce donor-specific immune tolerance. Mixed chimerism containing hematopoietic cells of both recipient- and donor-origin has advantages attributed from low dose of total body irradiation. In this study, we explored the mechanism of mixed chimerism supplemented with depletion of Natural Killer cells. ⋯ Furthermore, the induction of transferable immunological tolerance was confirmed by adoptive transfer and subsequent acceptance of C57BL/6 skin graft (n = 4). CD4(+)FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells were increased in the recipient compartment of the mixed chimera (19.2% → 33.8%). This suggests that regulatory T cells may be therapeutically used for the induction of graft-specific tolerance by mixed chimerism.