Jeongdon Seo

The objective of this study is to evaluate the changes of diurnal blood pressure pattern after 8 weeks of red ginseng medication (4.5 g/day) by 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. In 26 subjects with essential hypertension, 24 hour mean systolic blood pressure decreased significantly (p = 0.03) while diastolic blood pressure only showed a tendency of decline (p = 0.17). The decrease in pressures were observed at daytime (8 A.M.-6 P.M.) and dawn (5 A.M.-7 A.M.). In 8 subjects with white

Smaller guiding catheters can help reduce local complications and patient morbidity during transradial coronary intervention (TRI). This study was designed to compare the patient's morbidity, success rate, and the operator's convenience between 5-French (5Fr) and 6-French (6Fr) TRIs. This is a single-center prospective randomized study. Patients who underwent TRI, in 2003, were prospectively randomized to either 5Fr or 6Fr catheter groups (100 patients in each group). Procedure-related patient m

Our work provides the first evidence that links ecNOS polymorphism to the risk of AMI in relation to age. Young persons who smoke or have ecNOSaa genotype may have an increased risk of developing AMI. The functional as well as structural changes associated with aging in the vascular endothelium may mask the effect of the ecNOS polymorphism in the development of AMI in old persons.

It has been proposed that the local renin-angiotensin system is activated in the adventitia after vascular injury. However, the physiological role of Angiotensin II (Ang II) in the adventitia has not been studied at a cellular level. This study was designed to assess the role of Ang II in the growth response of cultured adventitial fibroblasts (AFs). Adventitial explants of the rat thoracic aorta showed outgrowth of AFs within 5-7 days. Ang II caused hyperplastic response of AF cultures. The Ang

Background and Objectives:The so-called 'stress-induced cardiomyopathy' or takotsubo cardiomyopathy, mimicking acute myocardial infarction (AMI, has recently been reported, particularly in Japan. We pro- spectively studied the clinical characteristics of, for the first time with a Korean series, this novel syndrome. Subjects and Methods:Eighteen patients, fore filling the inclusion criteria, were entered onto the study. The criteria for inclusion were:1 no previous history of cardiac disease, 2

Cough syncope is a syndrome in which dizziness or syncope occurs after prolonged bouts of cough. This paper presents a case of 63-year-old man with recurrent dizziness and syncope. The 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram and intracardiac electrogram showed sinus node dysfunction with sinus arrest, both spontaneous and inducible by voluntary cough. Sinus arrest was sometimes associated with dizziness. A permanent VVI pacemaker was implanted and no further cough syncope has occurred. We suggest t