Journal of Korean medical science
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Aug 2009
Comparative StudyComparison of the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease diagnosed by lower limit of normal and fixed ratio criteria.
The Global Initiative of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines define chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in subjects with FEV(1)/FVC <0.7. However, the use of this fixed ratio may result in over-diagnosis of COPD in the elderly, especially with mild degree of COPD. The lower limit of normal (LLN) can be used to minimize the potential misclassification. ⋯ The difference of prevalence between LLN and fixed ratio of FEV(1)/FVC was even higher among subjects with age >/=65, 14.9% and 31.1%, respectively. In conclusion, the prevalence of COPD by LLN criterion was significantly lower in elderly compared to fixed ratio of FEV(1)/FVC. Implementing LLN criterion instead of fixed ratio of FEV(1)/FVC may reduce the risk of over-diagnosis of COPD in elderly people.
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Paraoxonase (PON) has anti-atherogenic activity. Considering the important role of polymorphism in the genetic susceptibility to cardiovascular disease and the variability of its allele frequencies in different ethnic groups, the distribution of genotypes and allele frequencies of PON1M55L, PON1Q192R, PON2A148G, and PON2S311C polymorphisms was analyzed in a total 988 South-western Koreans and determined their effects on lipid parameters. The genotype distribution of PON1 at position 55 was LL=0.886, LM=0.114; and at position 192 was QQ=0.406, QR=0.594. ⋯ The concentrations of LDL and ApoB were significantly different between the PON2A148G (P<0.05) and PON2 S311C polymorphisms (P<0.01). PON polymorphisms and allele frequencies were described in Koreans living south-western part of Korea. These ethnic variations are considered important in the interpretation of diseases associated with PON polymorphisms.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Aug 2009
Case ReportsA case of Wernicke's encephalopathy following fluorouracil-based chemotherapy.
The pyrimidine antimetabolite 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a chemotherapeutic agent used widely for various tumors. Common side effects of 5-FU are related to its effects on the bone marrow and gastrointestinal epithelium. ⋯ Central nervous system neurotoxicity such as Wernicke's encephalopathy following chemotherapy with 5-FU has been reported rarely, although it has been suggested that 5-FU can produce adverse neurological effects by causing thiamine deficiency. We report a patient with Wernicke's encephalopathy, reversible with thiamine therapy, associated with 5-FU-based chemotherapy.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Aug 2009
Nidogen plays a role in the regenerative axon growth of adult sensory neurons through Schwann cells.
We previously reported that nidogen is an extracellular matrix protein regulating Schwann cell proliferation and migration. Since Schwann cells play a critical role in peripheral nerve regeneration, nidogen may play a role in it via regulation of Schwann cells. ⋯ Continuous infusion of recombinant ectodomain of tumor endothelial marker 7, which specifically blocks nidogen function in Schwann cells, suppressed regenerative neurite growth in a sciatic nerve axotomy model. Taken together, it is likely that nidogen is required for proper regeneration of peripheral nerves after injury.
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The purpose of this study is to estimate normative values of maximum versions in healthy Koreans and investigate age-associated changes in eye movement, using lateral and vertical version light-reflex (LVR) test. Two hundred forty normal healthy subjects whose corrected visual acuity was better than 20/50 in both eyes, from 4 to 79 yr old (30 subjects in each decade) were studied. Maximum sustained values of dextroversion, levoversion, supraversion, and infraversion in each eye were measured using LVR test. ⋯ Levoversion had the largest decrease with aging compared with other versions (P<0.001, respectively) and infraversion had the least decrease with age than levoversion (P<0.001), supraversion (P<0.001). All maximal sustained versions were decreased with aging but the ranges of ocular movements in Koreans were different with Caucasians as version least affected and most affected by age was infraversion and levoversion in Koreans. The study standardized normal maximal versions and aging changes of versions in Koreans.