Functional voice and swallowing outcomes after robotic thyroidectomy by a gasless unilateral axillo-breast approach: comparison with open thyroidectomy.

Background: Voice and swallowing alterations are common complaints after thyroidectomy, even in the absence of laryngeal nerve impairment. However, voice and swallowing functions after robotic thyroidectomy have not been thoroughly investigated. This study compared the functional outcomes for voice and swallowing after robotic thyroidectomy and conventional open thyroidectomy.

Early surgical outcomes of robotic thyroidectomy by a gasless unilateral axillo-breast or axillary approach for papillary thyroid carcinoma: 2 years' experience.

Background: The efficacy of robotic thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer has not yet been assessed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the technical feasibility and completeness of robotic thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

Methods: We analyzed 75 patients with PTC who underwent robotic thyroidectomy from October 2008 to August 2010 using a gasless unilateral axillo-breast or axillary approach with a da Vinci S Surgical System Robot and compared them with 226 patients who received conventional open thyroidectomy.

Effects of alpha-lipoic acid on transforming growth factor beta1-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase-fibronectin pathway in diabetic nephropathy.

In diabetic nephropathy, transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1) is related to p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) that induces production of fibronectin in mesangial cells. We investigated the effects of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), a potent antioxidant, on proteinuria and TGFbeta1-p38 MAPK-fibronectin pathway in diabetic Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats. After ALA treatment for 5 weeks in OLETF rats at 30 weeks of age, plasma malondialdehyde, urinary protein excretion, renal cortical TGFbeta1, and fibronectin protein levels were decreased; and urinary protein excretion was positively correlated with renal cortical TGFbeta1 and fibronectin protein levels.

Effects of soybean supplementation on blood glucose, plasma lipid levels, and erythrocyte antioxidant enzyme activity in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of soybean on blood glucose and lipid concentrations, and antioxidant enzyme activity in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. We divided patients into two groups and fed them, respectively, a basal diet (control group) and a basal diet with 69 g/d of soybean (soybean group) for 4 weeks. Pills with roasted soybean powder were provided to the soybean supplementation group three times a day.

Manganese superoxide dismutase gene polymorphism (V16A) is associated with stages of albuminuria in Korean type 2 diabetic patients.

Several single-nucleotide polymorphisms of genes related to oxidative stress have been evaluated because intracellular reactive oxygen species are associated with development of diabetes and its microvascular complications. We performed a case-control study to investigate whether V16A polymorphism of manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) gene is related to pathogenesis of diabetes and whether the polymorphism is associated with stages of albuminuria in Korean type 2 diabetic patients. Genotype distributions were studied in 178 nondiabetic subjects and 371 type 2 diabetic patients of 3 groups with a normoalbuminuria group (Normo group, n = 244), a microalbuminuria group (Micro group, n = 86), and an overt albuminuria group (Macro group, n = 41).

Chromium picolinate supplementation improves insulin sensitivity in Goto-Kakizaki diabetic rats.

Chromium picolinate (CrP) supplementation has been studied as a potential therapy of insulin resistance and lipid abnormalities. There have been some reports involving chromium supplementation in patients with diabetes, but the results are varied. The present study was conducted to assess the effects of CrP on insulin sensitivity and body weight in Goto-Kakizaki (GK) diabetic rats.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone increases phospholipase D activity through stimulation of protein kinase C in GH3 cells.

Activation of phospholipase D was investigated after treatment of GH3 cells with thyrotropin-releasing hormone. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone treatment resulted in both time- and dose-dependent increases of phospholipase D activity, translocation of protein kinase C-alpha and -beta I isozymes from cytosol to membrane within 30 min, and approx 43-fold increase of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C activity. Intracellular calcium concentration was rapidly increased and diacyglycerol level remained high up to 3 h after the treatment.

[Outbreak of hepatitis by Orientia tsutsugamushi in the early years of the new millenium].

Background/aims: Orientia -tsutsugamushi infection is an acute febrile disease due to the accidental transmission through human skin of forest dwelling vector Leptotrombidium larva. The authors observed liver dysfunctions in patients diagnosed with tsutsugamushi disease (Scrub typhus) in the past 3 years and report the data in the hope of bringing attention to this disease in the differential diagnosis of autumn-season hepatitis, especially of non-A, non-B and non-C hepatitis.

Methods: Medical records of 22 patients diagnosed with tsutsugamushi disease by the hemagglutinin method between October 2000 and November 2002 were reviewed.

[New scoring systems for severity outcome of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma: current issues concerning the Child-Turcotte-Pugh score and the Model of End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score].

It has been approximately 30 years since Child-Turcotte-Pugh score has been used as a predictor of mortality in patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, new prognostic models such as Model for End-Stage Liver disease (MELD), Short- and Long-term Prognostic Indices (STPI and LTPI), Rockall score, and Emory score were proposed for predicting survival in patients with liver cirrhosis treated by transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS). In MELD scoring, three independent variables which showed a wide range of results including serum creatinine, serum bilirubin and international normalization ratio (INR) of prothrombin time were evaluated in log(e) scale in comparison with simply categorized-into-three scoring system of Child-Turcotte-Pugh.

Effects of chromium picolinate supplementation on insulin sensitivity, serum lipids, and body weight in dexamethasone-treated rats.

Chromium (Cr) is essential for the regulation of insulin action, and Cr supplementation has been studied as a potential therapy of insulin resistance and lipid abnormalities. Corticosteroid treatment is well known to cause the abnormality of carbohydrate metabolism. Recently, it has been reported that corticosteroid increases urinary loss of Cr, and Cr supplementation recovers steroid-induced diabetes mellitus.