Synthetic genes encoding the gag p24 and the part of the envelope protein gp41 of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) were cloned and overexpressed as fusion proteins in Escherichia coli, using an expression vector carrying 77 promoter and the poly-histidine leader sequence. The overexpressed p24 fusion protein was purified by centrifugation, Ni-affinity chromatography and CM-sepharose chromatography The overexpressed gp41 fusion protein was purified by centrifugation, C4 chromatography and DEAE-sepharose chromatography. The purified fusion proteins showed a high level of purity and immunoreactivity in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blot analysis. These results suggest that this prokaryotic expression-purification method is suitable for obtaining a large amount of the viral antigen which may be useful for screening of antibodies to HIV-1 in human blood samples.
Antibodies ; Blotting, Western ; Centrifugation ; Chromatography ; Clone Cells ; Electrophoresis ; Escherichia coli ; Genes, Synthetic ; HIV* ; HIV-1* ; Humans* ; Mass Screening

Ameloblastic fibrosarcoma is an extremely rare variety of odontogenic tumor. It has not previously been reported in Korea. The tumor is composed of benign odontogenic epithelium with a mesenchymal part which exhibits the histologic features of fibrosarcoma. We have reported a case of amloblastic fibrosarcoma of the mandible in a 26-year-old man with swelling of right mandible for 2 weeks. The tumor showed yellowish ill-demarcated ulcerating mass involving right premolar and molar area. Light microscopy revealed irregularly arranged strands and islands of odontogenic epithelium surrounded by abundant mesenchymal tissue with the feature of fibrosarcoma. The fibrosarcoma cells were strong positive on immunostain for vimentin and ameloblastic cells were weakly positive for cytokeratin. S-100 and CEA were negative in both epithelial and sarcoma cells. The sarcoma cells were corresponding to fibroblasts on the electron microscopy with abundancy of RER and mitochondria and covering of basal lamina. Two types of virus like particles were distributed in the cytoplasm and nuclei of sarcoma cells. We treated the patient with surgery and chemotherapy. The recovery was uneventful and the prognosis is under observation.
Male ; Humans

No abstract available.
Condoms* ; Education* ; Humans ; Intention*

BACKGROUND: There are only a few studies regarding the causes of treatment failure for tuberculosis. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the causes of intractable tuberculosis. METHODS: M.tuberculosis, differentiated MOTT (Tycobacterium Other Than Tuberculosis) were isolated, and the RFLP (Restriction fragments length polymorphisms) pattern was analyzed from 204 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 53 suffering from neck tuberculosis. The IL-1β, IL-12, *1 IFNγ and *2 TNFαblood levels were measured. All patients were regularly followed for 18 months after treatment. RESULTS: There was no correlation between the RFLP patterns of M.tuberculosis treatment failure. From the 204 cases, 31.9% were intractable. The characteristics of patients with intractable tuberculosis were old age, being male and recurrent cases. The causes of treatment failure were identified as follows ; a decrease in the IL-12(59.4%) concentration, drug resistant strain(54.7%), irregular medication(15.4%), MOTT(6.2%) and a heavy infection(4.6%). The causes of all cases of intractable tuberculosis could be investigated. The IL-12 concentration in the blood was significantly lower in the intractable cases, where it disclosed a maximum sensitivity(64.7%) and specificity(75.4%) at 165.0 pg/ml. Most of the 53 cases on neck node tuberculosis were treated successfully. Therefore, we were unable to analyze the cause of treatment failure. CONCLUSION: A decrease in the blood IL-12 concentration and drug resistant strains were identified as the most significant causes of treatment failure for tuberculosis. In Korea, infection by clusters were prevalent, but no difference in the clinical course between clusters and non-clusters could be found.
Humans ; Interleukin-12 ; Korea ; Male ; Neck* ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Treatment Failure* ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

OBJECTIVE: To measure the performance of a hospital enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and suggest various system improvements. METHODS: A survey based on a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire and an exclusive interview was administered to 102 employees with a one-year experience of using an ERP system at one university hospital. In order to analyze the factors affecting the ERP system performance, multiple regression analysis and Chi-square test were conducted. RESULTS: All three examined variables-system quality, information quality and integration of hospital information resources-affected the ERP system performance positively. However, the system quality variable had the lowest mean score indicating that the ERP system was difficult to understand for many users. User characteristics were not significantly associated with information quality satisfaction. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the study results, we recommended some suggestions to improve the ERP system performance. In order to reduce users' dissatisfaction with the new system, hospitals should publicize the needs of the ERP system for the employees, design more effective training programs, and provide more decision-supporting information for managers.
Education ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The increased expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 has been implicated in the development and progression of human cancers. We investigated COX-2 expression in normal, gastric adenomas and adenocarcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: COX-2 protein was assayed in gastrectomy and biopsy specimens, from 68 gastric adenocarcinomas, 40 gastric adenomas and 35 normal gastric tissues, by immunohistochemistry, and 32 specimens of normal and adenocarcinomas by western blot analysis. Correlation between COX-2 expression and various clinicopathological factors were studied in the gastric adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: COX-2 protein expression in epithelial cells was increased in 6/40 (15%) of the adenomas and 55/68 (80.9 %) of the adenocarcinomas, while normal mucosa was not expressed. COX-2 expression was increased in differ-entiated gastric carcinomas compared with those in the undifferentiated group (p<0.05). The expression of COX-2 protein was unrelated to tumor size, depth of tumor invasion and the presence of lymphatic or vascular invasions. Western blot analysis showed the enhanced expression of the COX-2 protein (23 out of 32)(71%) in gastric carcinomas compared to that of normal gastric mucosal epithelium. CONCLUSION: The above results indicated that the expression of COX-2 protein occurs in dysplastic epithelium and gastric carcinomas, which suggests COX-2 expression may contribute to tumor formation.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adenoma ; Biopsy ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinogenesis* ; Cyclooxygenase 2* ; Epithelial Cells ; Epithelium ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Mucous Membrane ; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases ; Stomach Neoplasms

Consecutive anesthesia records of transurethral resection. (TUR) on 97 patients have been reviewed. The patients' anesthetic management and complications were discussed. Operations in this series were classified as follows: 65 cases of TUR of the benign prostate hypertrophy(BPH), 8 cases of TUR of prostate ca, 24 cases of TUR of the bladder tumor. Of all the 97 cases of TUR, 62 cases had some systemic disease. Circulatory diseases, such as hypertension, abnormal EKG and ischemic heart disease were encountered most frequently, namely in 24 cases(26%). The patients who underwent TUR of the BPH had the highest mean age(70 years old). Spinal anesthesia was given 79.4%, and general anesthesia in 18. 6%. Complications did not occur during or after TUR. There was no death associated with anesthesia and operation in this study.
Anesthesia* ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Prostate ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms

A 41-year-old man was admitted due to altered mentality and confusion. He had showed progressive cerebellar ataxia, dysarthria, gait disturbance from his age of 33 years old. Brain MRI revealed high signal lesions in periaqueductal gray matter, mammillary bodies, median thalami and postcentral gyri bilaterally on T2-weighted images. Severe cerebellar atrophy was noted, too. We report a case of Wernicke's encephalopathy in a patient with probable multiple system atrophy. As far as we know, there have been no published report on this kind of case.
Adult ; Atrophy ; Brain ; Cerebellar Ataxia ; Dysarthria ; Gait ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mamillary Bodies ; Multiple System Atrophy* ; Periaqueductal Gray ; Wernicke Encephalopathy*

BACKGROUND: Medical students are usually under more stress than that experienced by non-medical students. Stress testing tools for Korean medical students have not been sufficiently studied. Thus, we adapted and modified the East Asian Student Stress Inventory (EASSI), a stress testing tool for Korean students studying abroad, and verified its usefulness as a stress test in Korean university students. We also compared and analyzed stress levels between medical and non-medical students. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted on medical and non-medical students of a national university, and the responses of 224 students were analyzed for this study. Factor analysis and reliability testing were performed based on data collected for 25 adapted EASSI questions and those on the Korean version of the Global Assessment of Recent Stress Scale (GARSS). A correlation analysis was performed between the 13 modified EASSI questions and the GARSS, and validity of the modified EASSI was verified by directly comparing stress levels between the two student groups. RESULTS: The 13 questions adapted for the EASSI were called the modified EASSI and classified into four factors through a factor analysis and reliability testing. The Pearson's correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between the modified EASSI and the Korean version of the GARSS, suggesting a complementary strategy of using both tests. CONCLUSION: The validity and reliability of the EASSI were verified. The modified Korean EASSI could be a useful stress test for Korean medical students. Our results show that medical students were under more stress than that of non-medical students. Thus, these results could be helpful for managing stress in medical students.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Exercise Test ; Humans ; Reproducibility of Results ; Stress, Psychological ; Students, Medical*

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the somatostain analogue, octreotide, pretreatment before ovulation induction with human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) affects ovarian response, and ovulation induction outcome in infertile patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) resistant to clomiphene citrate (CC) METHODS: From November 1998 to June 1999, 30 infertile patients with PCOS unresponsive to CC were randomly allocated either octreotide pretreatment (treatment group) (n = 15) or hMG alone (control group) (n = 15) groups. In the treatment group, 100 g of octreotide were administered daily for 7 days after progesterone injection for withdrawal bleeding, and then hMG was administered for ovulation induction. RESULTS: There were no differences in the total number of hMG ampules required and the duration of hMG administration between the two groups. The number of follicles of 10-14 mm diameter on the day of hCG injection was significantly less in the treatment group than that in the control group (4.3 +/- 2.5 vs. 9.6 +/- 4.4, p < 0.001). The serum estradiol (E2) level on the day of hCG injection was significantly lower in the treatment group, with 1579.2 +/- 421.0 pg/ml compared with 2120.3 +/- 512.7 pg/ml in the control group (p < 0.001). The hematocrit level on the day of hCG injection was also significantly lower in the treatment group than that in the control group (36.9 +/- 2.1% vs. 40.8 +/- 2.9%, p < 0.05). The incidence of severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) seemed to be lower in the treatment group, but the difference did not achieve significance (6.7% vs 20.0%). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that octreotide pretreatment before ovulation induction could improve hormonal milieu compared to hMG alone, and therefore may be effective in ovulation induction for patients with PCOS resistant to CC.
Clomiphene ; Estradiol ; Female ; Gonadotropins ; Hematocrit ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Octreotide ; Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome ; Ovulation Induction* ; Ovulation* ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome* ; Progesterone ; Somatostatin*