No abstract available.
Animals ; Cerebral Cortex* ; Imipramine* ; Rats* ; Receptors, Adrenergic*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Imipramine* ; Lymphocytes* ; Plasma* ; Rats*

A 40-year-old woman had a pruritic, vesiculobullous eruption of her face for 6 weeks with no evidence of systemic disease. A biopsy showed subepidermal blisters and dermal infiltrates of neutrophilic inflammatory cells. Direct immunofluorescence demonstrated thick linear deposits of IgG and C3 along the basement membrane zone. The cleavage plane was identified to be just beneath the lamina densa. Using Western immunoblots, the patient's IgG autoantibodies were found to recognize type VII proeollagen. Moderate starting doses of systemic prednisolone gave a good response for this patient with an early inflammatory form of epidermolysis bullosa acquisita.
Adult ; Autoantibodies ; Basement Membrane ; Biopsy ; Blister ; Blotting, Western ; Epidermolysis Bullosa Acquisita* ; Epidermolysis Bullosa* ; Female ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Neutrophils ; Prednisolone

It has been studied that a variety of fauna and flora are sensitive biological indicators which reflect the severity of regional pollution of heavy metals, but in the center of part of Taegu city the controversial issue of lead poisoning attributable to the atmosphere which contains an increased concentrations of lead has been raised recently, it is usually hard to find suitable plants or animal in the areas with heavy traffic. Pigeons are ubiquitous in and around Taegu city area, inhabiting even the most densely populated areas with heavy traffic with its small body size, high metabolic turnover, and rather limited mobility, a pigeon, as a biological indicator is expected. This study was conducted to monitor lead pollution in the Taegu and kyongju city in Korea. We measured the lead content of the various tissue of three groups of feral pigeon(Columbia livia) and soil and atmospheric lead concentration. First group was obtained io heavy traffic area in Taegu City, the second group was obtained a park in Taegu city and the third group was obtained light traffic area in kyongju city. The air and soil lead concentration of heavy traffic area in Taegu city was 0.11 microgram/m2, 4.96 microgram/g, that of park in Taegu city was 0.05 microgram/m3, 2.65 microgram/g and that of light traffic area in kyonngju city was 0.03 microgram/m3, 0.01 microgram/g. The lead content of lung, blood, kidney, femur and liver of feral pigeons in heavy traffic area in Taegu city was significantly higher than pigeons obtained in a park in Taegu city and low traffic density area in Kyonfju city(p<0.01). But stomach lead content of three group did not reflect a significant difference. In this study positive correlation was found between atmospheric lead concentrations and the concentration of lead in the pigeon's lung(r=0.5040, p<0.001), blood(r=0.3322, p<0.01), kidney(r=0.4824, p<0.001), femur(r=0.7214, p<0.001) and liverer (r=0.4836, p<0.01). we can also found positive correlation between soil lead concentrations and the concentration of lead in the pigeon's femur(r=0.4850, p<0.001), kidney(r=0.4850, p<0.001) and liver(r=0.4386, p<0.01). In the pigeon`s tissue there were significant correlations between concentration of lead in the blood and kidney(r=0.4818, p<0.001), femur(r= 0.6157, p<0.001) and liver(r=0.3889, p<0.001). In conclusion, at the heavy traffic area in Taegu city, lead concentrations found in the atmosphere and soil are reflected in the lead concentrations of different tissue of urban pigeons. It is suggested that the tissue of pigeons can be good biological indicators of environmental lead pollution.
Animals ; Atmosphere ; Body Size ; Columbidae ; Daegu ; Femur ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Kidney ; Korea ; Lead Poisoning ; Liver ; Lung ; Metals, Heavy ; Soil* ; Stomach

No abstract available.
Genes, myc* ; Neuroblastoma* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction*

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous manifestations of vasculitis can be seen as pleomorphic lesions; purpura, erythema, nodule, bulla, ulcer and so on. In cases of polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), cutaneous presentations of small artery pathology may be seen in about one fourth among those patients with systemic form of PAN, and in all cases of cutaneous form subset. OBJECTIVE: To examine the pattern or morphology of cutaneous lesions found in the skin (especially on the lower legs) among Korean patients with cutaneous form of PAN. Patients AND METHODS: Eight patients with diagnosis-confirmed cases of cutaneous PAN were examined regarding the patterns of cutaneous lesions, as well as possible local symptoms, distributions, duration, and any positive findings in laboratory examinations and systemic review. RESULTS: Clinical patterns of cutaneous lesions observed in the lesional areas among those 8 patients were mottled or atypical reticular erythema (5 cases), subcutaneous nodules (3 cases), scattered erythematous patch (3 cases), ecchymotic erythematous patch (3 cases) and superficial ulcer (1 case). Tenderness was detected at the nodular lesions; predilection site were shin and calf areas; a few laboratory abnormalities and systemic symptoms were found regardless of the duration of skin lesions. CONCLUSION: Common clinical patterns of cutaneous lesion recognized with 8 patients of cutaneous PAN were mottled/atypical reticular erythemas, subcutaneous nodules, erythematous/ecchymotic patches, and these in all cases were seen at the lower legs. In patients with each different clinical presentation, there were no relevancies between the duration and severity of the disease.
Arteries ; Erythema ; Humans ; Leg* ; Pathology ; Polyarteritis Nodosa* ; Purpura ; Skin ; Ulcer ; Vasculitis

Emphysematous pyelonephritis is a necrotizing renal infections characterized by intrarenal and occasional perirenal gas production. Although uncommon (89 cases in the literature), it occurs almost exclusively in diabetic patients (87% of the cases). Prompt and aggressive management is required to sahage these patients. We describe a recent case of a diabetic woman with emphysematous pyelonephritis due to E. Coll, successfully managed with unilateral nephrectomy.
Female ; Humans ; Nephrectomy ; Pyelonephritis*

No abstract available.
Thyroid Dysgenesis*

Many previously described nuclear medicine procedures to assess glomerular filtration rate have some problems because numerous blood sample is to be taken and they don't measure each separate renal function. Gates described isotopic method for the measurement of global and unilateral GFR based on the fractional renal uptake of (99m)Tc-DTPA 2 to 3 minutes after its intravenous injection. We evaluated GFR using (99m)Tc-DTPA in 57 people according to Gates method and compared with creatinine clearance. A good correlation was observed between creatinine clearance and GRF calculated by Gates' formula with an r value of 0.9(P<0.05). And also the relationship between parameters of (99m)Tc-DTPA renal scan images and GFR was taken. They were significantly correlated with GFR calculated by Gates' formula : r value 0.66 between relative intensity of peak renal to peak aortic activity(pK/pA) and GFR, -0.42 between time between aortic and kidney peak(A-K) and GFR and -0.48 between parenchymal renal activity at 25 min compared to peak kidney activity(25K/pK) and GRF. In conclusion, the determination of GFR according to Gates' formula shows good and reproducible of GRF with rapidity and simplicity. And the parameters from the renal scan images can use to estimate the renal function.
Creatinine ; Filtration* ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Injections, Intravenous ; Kidney ; Methods ; Nuclear Medicine

No abstract available.
Biopsy* ; Cytoplasm* ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Glomerulonephritis* ; Kidney Transplantation*