No abstract available.
Appendicitis* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Keratinocytes*

OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of embryos using early cleavage to 2-cell stage has been proposed, but a critical time-point for selecting embryos is unclear. The aim of the present study is to provide a guideline including critical time-point in the selection of early cleaving embryo for the reduction of multiple pregnancies as well as the increase of pregnancy rate in human IVF. METHODS: This prospective study was performed in 116 cycles from 85 patients who underwent conventional IVF or ICSI at the infertility clinic of Good Moonhwa Hospital from January 2002 to December 2003. Early cleavage (EC) of embryos to 2-cell stage was assessed at 25 h and 27 h postinsemination/microinjection. Embryos that had early cleaved at each time point were designated as EC-1 and EC-2, respectively, while others were designated as non-early cleavage (NEC). RESULTS: At least one early cleavage embryo was observed in 54 (46.6%) for the EC-1 and 84 (72.4%) for the EC-2 of the 116 cycles assessed. Clinical pregnancy rates (PR) were significantly higher in the EC-1 group (66.7%) compared to the EC-2 group (53.6%) or the NEC group (31.2%) (p<0.05). Significant improvement of the pregnancy rate was found when at least two or more embryos were early cleaved at 25 h postinsemination or when the proportion of early cleavage embryo at 25 h postinsemination was higher than 20% (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The critical time-point for the selection of early cleavage embryos with high implantation potential is more effective in 25 h postinsemination/microinjection compared to 27 h. The proportion as well as number of early cleavage embryos is also an important factor for the prediction of pregnancy outcome and the chance of multiple pregnancies. These results demonstrated that the evaluation of early cleavage embryos to 2-cell stage is an easy, simple, and objective method for the selection of good quality embryos suitable for embryo transfer.
Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Humans* ; Infertility ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnancy Rate* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnancy, Multiple ; Prospective Studies ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical manifestations, contact history, and status of tuberculosis contact investigations in school-age children and adolescents with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) at two centers. METHODS: This study was conducted with 54 patients in the age ranging from 10 to 18 years, who were diagnosed with pulmonary TB at the Pusan National University Hospital and Pusan National University Children's Hospital, January 2008 to December 2012. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of the patients. RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 16 years old; 11 patients were aged 10 to 14 and 43 patients were aged 15 to 18. Among 54 patients, 19 had history of contact with pulmonary TB, 10 had contact with house members (household), and remaining 9 had contact with classmates (non-household). One out of 10 patients who had household contacts and 6 out of 9 patients who had non-household contacts were evaluated with contact investigation after the exposure to pulmonary TB. Among 7 patients who were evaluated with contact investigation, 3 were diagnosed with active pulmonary TB, 1 had latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), and 3 had no evidence of TB or LTBI. The median period of diagnosis after the exposure to active pulmonary TB was 2 years in patients with household contacts and 0.23 years in patients with non-household contacts. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that if the contact investigation conducted properly, it would be helpful for early diagnosis and prevention of pulmonary TB.
Adolescent* ; Busan ; Child* ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Latent Tuberculosis ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary*

Seventy-five patients with tumors of the head and neck treated with either radiation therapy alone or combined with surgery or chemotherapy were studied prospectively to evaluate the effects of radiation therapy to the neck on thyroid gland between September 1986 and October 1992. All patients were serially monitored for thyroid function tests before and after radiation therapy. Radiation dose to the thyroid gland ranged from 35 to 60 Gy with a median dose of 50 Gy. Median follow-up time was 30 months with a range of 11 to 85 months. The incidence of thyroid dysfunction was 40%; forty-five patients (60%) euthyroid, 2 patients (3%) clinical hypothyroidism, 27 patients (36%) subclinical hypothyroidism and 1 patient (1%) hyperthyroidism. No thyroid nodules or thyroid cancer were detected in any patients. Thyroid dysfunction appeared earlier in patients who underwent surgery than in those patients treated with radiation therapy alone or combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy (p=0.0013). By multivariate analysis, risk factors that significantly influenced a higher incidence of thyroid dysfunction were female sex (p=0.0293) and combination of total larygectomy and radiation therapy (p=0.0045). In conclusion, evaluation of thyroid function before and after radiation therapy with periodic thyroid function tests are recommended to detect thyroid dysfunction in time and thyroid hormone replacement therapy is recommended whenever thyroid dysfunction develops.
Drug Therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head* ; Hormone Replacement Therapy ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism ; Hypothyroidism ; Incidence ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neck* ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Thyroid Function Tests ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroid Nodule

No abstract available.
Eclampsia* ; Female ; Pregnancy

No abstract available.
Hysterectomy*

No abstract available.
Hysterectomy*

No abstract available.
Pregnancy*

In May 2015, we conducted a voluntary online survey on laboratory diagnostic assays for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) across clinical microbiology laboratories in Korea. Responses were obtained from 66 laboratories, including 61 hospitals and five commercial laboratories. Among them, nine laboratories reported having not conducted CDI assays. The toxin AB enzyme immunoassay (toxin AB EIA), nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), and C. difficile culture, alone or in combination with other assays, were used in 51 (89.5%), 37 (64.9%), and 37 (64.9%) of the remaining 57 laboratories, respectively, and 23 (40.4%) of the laboratories performed all three assays. Only one laboratory used the glutamate dehydrogenase assay. Nine laboratories used the toxin AB EIA as a stand-alone assay. The median (range) of examined specimens in one month for the toxin AB EIA, NAAT, and C. difficile culture was 160 (50–2,060), 70 (7–720), and 130 (9–750), respectively. These findings serve as valuable basic data regarding the current status of laboratory diagnosis of CDI in Korea, offering guidance for improved implementation.
Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Clostridium difficile ; Clostridium ; Glutamate Dehydrogenase ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Korea ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques