No abstract available.
Infant, Newborn ; Humans

Foreign body (FB) ingestion of children is a common pediatric emergency requiring medical attention. Pediatric emergency physicians and gastroenterologists often encounter nervous and distressed situations, because of children presenting with this condition in the common clinical practice. When determining the appropriate timing and indications for intervention, physicians should consider multiple patient- and FB-related factors. The utilization of a flexible endoscopy is considered safe and effective to use in these cases, with a high success rate, for the effective extraction of FBs from the gastrointestinal tract of a child. Additionally, a Foley catheter and a magnet-attached Levin tube have been used for decades in the case of FB removal. Although their use has decreased significantly in recent times, these instruments continue to be used for several indications. Using a Foley catheter for this purpose does not require special training and does not necessarily require sedation of the patient or fluoroscopy, which serve as advantages of utilizing this method for foreign object retrieval. An ingested magnet or iron-containing FB can be retrieved using a magnet-attached tube, and can be effective to retrieve an object from any section of the upper gastrointestinal tract that can be reached. Simple and inexpensive devices such as Foley catheters and magnet-attached tubes can be used in emergencies such as with the esophageal impaction of disk batteries if endoscopy cannot be performed immediately (e.g., in rural areas and/or in patients presenting at midnight in a facility, especially in those without access to endoscopes or emergency services, or in any situation that warrants urgent removal of a foreign object).
Catheters ; Child ; Eating ; Emergencies ; Endoscopes ; Endoscopy ; Esophagus ; Fluoroscopy ; Foreign Bodies ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Methods ; Upper Gastrointestinal Tract ; Urinary Catheterization

Dendritic cell (DC)s are protessional antigen presenting cells and they have been used for antitumor immunotherapy or cell vaccines. However therapy using DC is restricted because the number of DC available from tissue is very low. Flt3 ligand (FL) has been known as a hematopoietic growth factor that increases proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells, and recently it showed inducibility of dendritic cell (DC)s and signiticant antitumor effects in vivo. Thus FL will be frequently used for DC induction and antitumor immunotherapy in future. Here we constructed FL plasmid and studied its in vivo effect. FL plasmids were made by cloning of partial FL cDNA into pcDNA3 plasmid, and gene expression and protein producibility of FL plasmid were confirmed in Renca cells transfected with FL plasmid. Mice were injected with FL plasmid (100ug/mouse) three times and 20 days later mouse spleens were harvested for staining and RT-PCR. There were lots of blastogenic cells in the spleen of mice treated with FL plasmid. FL plasmid also induced DEC205, IL-12 and GM-CSF gene expression in mouse splenocyte. All these data suggest FL plasmid may be used for induction of DC and antitumor therapy as DNA adjuvant.
Mice ; Animals

In order to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in terminally failing hearts, we screened the explanted hearts of transplantation recipients for the presence of HBV DNA and HCV RNA. DNA and RNA extractions were taken from explanted failing hearts (N=7) and normal hearts (N=). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in situ PCR of HBV or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and in situ RT-PCR of HCV were performed. The positivity of HBV in failing hearts was 63% (17/27) and it was 50% (3/6) in normal hearts in PCR. There was no significant difference in the positivity of HBV DNA between failing and normal hearts. The positivity of HCV in failing hearts was 18.5% (5/27) and it was 16.7% (1/6) in normal hearts in nested RT-PCR. There was no significant difference in the positivity of HCV RNA between failing and normal hearts. HCV was very rarely observed in explanted terminally failing hearts and HBV was frequently found in both explanted failing hearts and normal hearts. We concluded that these viruses have little direct causal relationship with the development of heart failure.
DNA ; Heart Failure ; Heart* ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans* ; Mass Screening* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; RNA

Tamoxifen is a nonsteroidal triphenylethylene delivative that has been widely used in the treatment of breast cancer. tamoxifen is indicated for the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer in women following total mastectomy or segmental mastectomy, breast irradiation and chemotherapy. tamoxifen has been shown to have significant benificial effect in the treatment of breast cancer patient as hormonal therapy. However ,there is mounting evidence that tamoxifen may affect other hormon sensitive organs, including the uterus and ovaries. An increased risk of endometrial polyps, endometrial hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma has been reported in tamoxifen treated women. We have met cases of endometrial polyp and endocervical polyp which were associated with tamoxifen use, after modified radical mastectomy for infilterating ductal carcinoma of breast . So we report these cases with the brief review of literatures.
Adenocarcinoma ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma, Ductal ; Drug Therapy ; Endometrial Hyperplasia ; Female ; Humans ; Mastectomy, Modified Radical ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Mastectomy, Simple ; Ovary ; Polyps* ; Tamoxifen* ; Uterus

BACKGROUND: In order to evaluate the prevalence of enterovirus and cytomegalovirus infections to terminally failing hearts, the presence of enteroviral RNA and cytomegaloviral DNA was screened in the explanted hearts of transplantation recipients. METHODS: RNA and DNA extractions were performed from explanted failing hearts (N=22) and normal hearts (N=5). Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of enterovirus and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of cytomegalovirus were performed. In situ RT-PCR and in situ PCR were performed with positive nucleic acids of viruses. RESULTS: The positivity of enterovirus in failing hearts was 4.4% (1/22) and 0% (0/5) in normal hearts in nested RT-PCR. There was no significant difference in positivity of enteroviral RNA between failing and normal hearts. Nuclei of myocardium was stained in dark-violet color with in situ RT-PCR. The positivity of cytomegalovirus in failing hearts was 45% (10/22) and 40% (2/5) in nested PCR. There was no significant difference in positivity of cytomegaloviral DNA between failing and normal hearts. Nuclei of myocardium was stained in dark-violet color with in situ PCR. Positive chambers of cytomegalovirus were in decreasing tendency according to increasing patient's age. CONCLUSION: Enterovirus was very rarely observed in explanted terminally failing hearts and cytomegalovirus was frequently found both in explanted failing hearts and normal. These viruses have little direct causal relationship with the development of heart failure.
Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Cytomegalovirus Infections* ; Cytomegalovirus* ; DNA ; Enterovirus* ; Heart Failure ; Heart* ; Humans* ; Mass Screening* ; Myocardium ; Nucleic Acids ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; RNA

No abstract available.
Female ; Hepatitis B/*transmission ; Humans ; *Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical ; *National Health Programs ; Pregnancy ; *Tertiary Care Centers

Serpiginous choroiditis is a chronic. progressive, recurrent, and usually bilateral disease involving the choriocapillaris, retinal pigment epithelium, and retina. This disease classically involves the juxtapapillary retina and extends outward in a pseudopodial fashion. We report a case of serpiginous choroiditis beginning in the posterior pole without initial peripapillary lesion, and extending toward the optic disc. The fluorescein angiogram of the lesion showed hypofluorescence in the early phase and hyperfluorescence in the late phase, and the progression of the lesion with time.
Choroid* ; Choroiditis* ; Fluorescein ; Retina ; Retinal Pigment Epithelium

No abstract available.
Liver* ; Mesenchymoma*

We present a case of an 8-year-old boy with visceral autonomic neuropathy complicated by Guillain-Barre syndrome. In this pediatric patient, gastroparesis was the major symptom among the autonomic symptoms. Due to the gastroparesis, there was no progress with the oral diet, and nutrition was therefore supplied through a nasojejunal tube and gastrojejunal tube via Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). After tube feeding for 9 months, the patient's gastrointestinal symptoms improved and his oral ingestion increased. The pediatric patient was maintained well without gastrointestinal symptoms for 3 months after removal of the PEG, had repeated vomiting episodes which lead to the suspicion of cyclic vomiting syndrome. Then he started treatment with low-dose amitriptyline, which resulted in improvement. Currently, the patient has been maintained well for 6 months without recurrence, and his present growth status is normal.
Amitriptyline ; Child* ; Diet ; Eating ; Enteral Nutrition ; Gastroparesis ; Gastrostomy ; Guillain-Barre Syndrome* ; Humans ; Male ; Primary Dysautonomias ; Recurrence ; Vomiting*