To estimate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among Korean adults and to present the putative route of HCV transmission among them, serum samples from 4917 adults older than 20 years of age were tested for antibody to HCV (anti-HCV), and histories of blood transfusion and other pertinent information were obtained by self-administered questionnaires. The overall prevalence of anti-HCV was 1.7%; prevalence was 1.4% in subjects with normal levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), 3.3% in those with slightly elevated and 5.9% in those with markedly elevated levels of the enzymes. The prevalence of anti-HCV increased with increasing age (P < 0.01), but was not associated with blood transfusion. The present study suggests that the prevalence of HCV infection was 1.4% and that the major routes of HCV transmission may be other than blood transfusion in healthy Korean adults.
Adult ; Aged ; Chi-Square Distribution ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Hepacivirus/immunology/*isolation & purification ; Hepatitis Antibodies/*blood ; Hepatitis C/*epidemiology/immunology/transmission ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; Humans ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Questionnaires ; Radioimmunoassay ; Retrospective Studies

Histiocytic medullary reticulosis was first described as a clinical and pathological entity by Scott and Robb-Smith in 1939. The clinical pictures include progressive pancytopenia, fever, wasting, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, jaundice and purpura. The outstanding morphological features of the disease is proliferation of histiocytes throughout the reticuloendothelial system with frequent leucoerythrophagocytosis. In spite of uniform clinical and fistologcal pictures verified by additional case reports, the diagnosis has usually not been made until postmortem examination. Most patients die within six months because the disease runs a rapidly fatal course. Since the orginal report, approximately 90 cases have been reported in the literatures. In this ciuntry, Ko and others reported several cases of HMR in adults, and there has been only one report in childhood. Recently, we had the opportunity to observe a 9 year old girl at this hospital whose clinical course and antemortem pathological features were consistent with criteria for the disease. In spite of the remission after treatment with various anticancer drugs, patient expired six months after diagnosis.
Adult ; Autopsy ; Child ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fever ; Histiocytes ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Mononuclear Phagocyte System ; Pancytopenia ; Purpura

We report a rare case of neuro-Behcet's disease (NBD) presenting as an inflammatory pseudotumor in the brain. A 52-yr-old woman was evaluated for subacute dizziness and headache. Brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging showed a right cerebellar mass, which disappeared 2 weeks later. After a year, recurrent mucocutaneous manifestations of Beh et's disease were observed. Immunosuppressant and steroid maintenance treatment were started. She experienced two more neurologic attacks and brain MR imaging revealed an enhancing mass in the right temporal lobe. The second attack showed a good response to steroid pulse therapy, but the third attack did not respond to steroid and her neurologic signs suggested an impending transtentorial hernia. The right temporal lobectomy was performed for the purpose of life-saving. The pathologic finding of the mass was a chronic inflammatory vasculitis, compatible with NBD.
Behcet Syndrome/*diagnosis/surgery ; Brain Diseases/*diagnosis/surgery ; Brain Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Granuloma, Plasma Cell/*diagnosis/surgery ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged

This study was conducted to investigate the association of the occurrence of pediatric disease with environmental, seasonal and atmospheric factors. The data were collected at 5 pediatric clinics in Seoul and the Department of Pediatrics of Yongin Severance Hospital from May 1986 to April 1987. The results were as follows: 1. Vacation periods had a great influence upon the occurrence of pediatric diseases. 2. The majority of pediatric diseases occurred mainly in spring and autumn, not in summer and winter. 3. The higher the average relative humidity was, the less diseases occurred; and the higher the maximum change of daily temperature, the more diseases occurred. 4. In summer, the pattern of diseases varied along with the environmental factors(eg., toilet).
Gyeonggi-do ; Humidity ; Pediatrics ; Seasons* ; Seoul

The hyaline membrane disease is not a common disease in Korea. Only a few reports of small scale are avaiable in the literature. We have experienced 5 cases of HMD during approximately 1 year period. The diagnosis was made either on characteristic clinical and roentgenological features or postmortem examination. The birth weights of these cases were in the range of 1,000-1,500gm in 2 cases and 2,000-2,500gm in 3 cases. And their gestational age was 28-34 weeks in most of the cases. Three cases were delivered by C-section. There was 1 case of placenta previa. Four of these 5 cases died after average 18 hours postnatum. Postmortem findings in two cases were characterized by typical hyaline membrane lining th respiratory bronchioles and alveolar ducts. Other prominent findings were atelectasis, interstitial edema and congestion and lymphatic dilatation. One case complicated with multifocal bronchopneumonia and perinatal telencephalic leukoencephalopathy. The other case showed acute subarachnoid hemorrhage probably from germinal matrix hemorrhage.
Autopsy* ; Birth Weight ; Bronchioles ; Bronchopneumonia ; Diagnosis ; Dilatation ; Edema ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Gestational Age ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hyalin* ; Hyaline Membrane Disease* ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Leukoencephalopathies ; Membranes ; Placenta Previa ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

BACKGROUND: Pain remains the chief complaint that brings patients to physician's office, despite recent insights into underlying mechanism and the identification of potential new therapeutic targets. In recent years, however, with the development of molecular biology cell transplantation gives us a new chance for treating intractable chronic pain. The major purpose of the present study was to determine if the chromaffin cells that were encapsulated with 1.3% (w/v) sodium alginate-poly-l-lysine-alginate (APA) had robust analgesic effects in the spinal atlanto-occipital subarachnoid space even without nicotine stimulation. METHODS: In order to determine whether microencapsulated bovine adrenal medullary chromaffin cells transplanted in the spinal cord can produce analgesic effects, we microencapsulated adrenal medullary chromaffin cells with APA and implanted them into the subarachnoid space of rats' (n = 10) spinal cord, and investigated the hot sensitivity of rats' hind-paw by a light-beam test. RESULTS: It was found that compared with the control group, hot response latency of the group which received adrenal medullary chromaffin cells increased from the 12th day and the analgesic efficacy was maintained for at least 75 days. CONCLUSIONS: Microencapsulated bovine adrenal medullary chromaffin cells transplanted in the rats' spinal cord may provide a permanent and locally available source of neuropeptides for the relief of intractable pain. Furthermore, these kinds of analgesic effect were produced without any stimulation such as nicotine.
Cell Transplantation ; Chromaffin Cells* ; Chronic Pain ; Drug Compounding ; Humans ; Molecular Biology ; Neuropeptides ; Nicotine ; Pain, Intractable ; Physicians' Offices ; Reaction Time ; Sodium ; Spinal Cord* ; Subarachnoid Space ; Transplants

No abstract available.
Astrocytoma ; Brain* ; Drug Therapy ; Glioblastoma ; Glioma* ; Humans ; Nimustine* ; Radiotherapy*

TW-37 is a small molecule B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) homology 3 mimetic with potential anticancer activities. However, the in vivo anti-cancer effect of TW-37 in human oral cancer has not been properly studied yet. Here, we attempted to confirm antitumor activity of TW37 in human oral cancer. TW-37 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and increased the number of dead cells in MC-3 and HSC-3 human oral cancer cell lines. TW-37 enhanced apoptosis of both cell lines evidenced by annexin V/propidium iodide double staining, sub-G1 population analysis and the detection of cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and caspase-3. In addition, TW-37 markedly downregulated the expression of Bcl-2 protein, while not affecting Bcl-xL or myeloid cell leukemia-1. In vivo, TW-37 inhibited tumor growth in a nude mice xenograft model without any significant liver and kidney toxicities. Collectively, these data reveal that TW-37 may be a promising small molecule to inhibit human oral cancer.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Line ; Cell Proliferation ; Heterografts ; Humans ; Kidney ; Liver ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Mouth Neoplasms ; Myeloid Cells

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to analyze the epidemiologic characteristics of sudden unexpected death in infancy and to evaluate the importance of postmortem autopsy. METHODS: We reviewed, retrospectively, medical records of 34 infants admitted to Kangnam General Hospital from January 1987 to December 2001 because of sudden unexpected death. We investigated the cause of death through medical history, death scene examination, autopsy findings, acylcarnitine and organic acid analysis. RESULTS: Among the total 34 infants, 18 were male(52.9%) and 16 were female(47.1%). Thirty infants(88%) were below the six months of age. Winter was the most affected season(38.2%). Eighteen infants(52.9%) died between 6 and 12AM. The prone sleeping position was observed more frequently than the supine position at death; nine cases in the prone position, six cases in the supine position. The cause of death of 23 cases could not be found by only history and death scene examination. Autopsy was done in 13 cases. Seven cases of them were thought to be SIDS. In six cases, we explained the cause of death with autosy findings. They were an endocardial fibroelastosis, a nesidioblastosis, a subdural hematoma, a bronchopneumonia and two fatty changes of liver. Metabolic screening tests performed in three cases to rule out metabolic disorder since 2000 were all normal. CONCLUSION: We concluded that autopsy and metabolic screening test should be performed to find out the cause of death in sudden unexpected death in infancy.
Autopsy* ; Bronchopneumonia ; Cause of Death ; Endocardial Fibroelastosis ; Hematoma, Subdural ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Infant ; Liver ; Mass Screening ; Medical Records ; Nesidioblastosis ; Prone Position ; Retrospective Studies ; Sudden Infant Death ; Supine Position

No abstract available
Drug Therapy ; Glioma* ; Humans ; Nimustine* ; Radiotherapy*