We examined several kinds of immunocompromied patients for onyr,homycosis. The incidence of onychomycosis in the patients with connective tissue disease treated with corticosteroid was significantly higher than the incidences in the patients with solid tumors trcated with chemotherapeutic agents, in the patients with leukernia (WBC<1, 000/cm3), and in the control patients. Although conventional corticosteroid trcatment do not disseminate the superficial fungal infection, it may perpetuate the low grade dermatophytosis.
Connective Tissue Diseases* ; Connective Tissue* ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Incidence ; Onychomycosis* ; Tinea

No abstract available.
Immunoglobulin G* ; Inflammation*

Macrophage infiltration has been observed in the renal biopsy specimens of diabetic nephropathy (DN), and hyperglycemic state stimulates the renal expression of RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted) and MCP-1 (monocyte chemoattractant protein-1). Upregulation of RANTES and MCP-1 with infiltrating macrophages may play a crucial role in the development and progression of DN. Genetic polymorphisms of RANTES and its receptors were reported to be independent risk factors for DN. We genotyped single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in the MCP-1 G-2518A, CCR2 G46295A, RANTES C-28G and G-403A in 177 diabetic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and 184 patients without renal involvement (controls) in order to investigate the effects of these SNPs on DN in Korean patients with type 2 DM. There were no differences in the frequencies of SNPs and the distribution of haplotypes of RANTES promoter SNPs between two groups. In conclusion, there were no associations of MCP-1, CCR2 and RANTES promoter SNPs with diabetic ESRD in Korean population. Prospective studies with clearly-defined, homogenous cohorts are needed to confirm the effect of these genetic polymorphisms on DN.
Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group/*genetics ; Chemokine CCL2/*genetics ; Chemokine CCL5/*genetics ; Chi-Square Distribution ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/complications ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic/ethnology/etiology/*genetics ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Promoter Regions, Genetic

PURPOSE: Direct recognition of porcine MHC proteins by human T cells is an impediment to successful xenotransplantation. Therefore, reducing human T cell response initiated by the interaction between TCR/CD8 cell and MHC class I on pig endothelial cell may be beneficial in successful pig- to-human xenotransplantation. METHODS: We examined MHC expression on porcine endothelial cell line, MYP30 cells in the absence or presence of IFN-g by FACS analysis. We introduced human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) US genes, which are known to be able to reduce MHC class I expression on the cell surface after infection, into MYP30 cells in order to test the feasibility of modifying these cells to reduced MHC class I antigens by the introduction of hCMV US genes such as US2, 3, 6 or 11. RESULTS: MHC class I expressions in MYP30 cells were dramatically induced by IFN-gamma treatment. FACS analysis showed that cells transfected with the hCMV US2, 3, 6 or 11 genes exhibited 30~40% of MHC class I expression compared with mock-transfected cells. We next established stable cell lines expressing US6 gene, which had been found to exert best down-regulation effect on MHC class I expression. Stable cell line expressing US6 gene products exhibited more than 10% reduced expression level of the MHC class I compared with transiently transfected cells. CONCLUSION: Although the further analysis of the cytotoxicities of T and NK cells on the hCMV US gene transfected cells are needed to clarify the feasibility of their application, these results suggest that virus stealth technology can be exploited for xenotransplantation.
Cell Line ; Cytomegalovirus ; Down-Regulation* ; Endothelial Cells* ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural ; T-Lymphocytes ; Transplantation, Heterologous

No abstract available.
Abscess* ; Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime*

We conducted a multicenter clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of recombinant human erythropoietin(Espogen(R), LG Chemical Ltd.) in the anemic patients of chronic renal failure undergoing dialysis. The patients were end-stage renal disease who were undergoing hemodialysis or peritonea1 dialysis for 3 months or longer and they had less than 8g/dL of hemoglobin and more than 100ng/mL of serum ferritin. Hemodialysis patients were administered 150unit/kg/week of recombinant human erythropoietin as initial dose, and peritoneal dialysis patients 50unitAg, twice per week. We examined hemoglobin value every other week and adjusted the dose in order to maintain hemoglobin level as 10-llg/dL. We enrolled 64 patients and analysed 54 cases in the final. 96.3% (52/54) of patients showed increase by more than 1.0g/dL and the others in- crease by more than 0.5g/dL. Baseline hemoglobin, hematocrit were 7.11+/-0.85g/dL, 21.3+/-2.6% and final level were 10.42+/-1.31g/dL, 31.9+/-3.5%(p=0.0001), respectively. Reticulocyte was increased after 2 weeks of administration from 0.90+/-0.74% to 2.45+/-0.84% The adverse effects included hypertension, headache, increased potassium and phosphate level so required regular monitoring. Therefore we showed that Es-pogen was effective in correcting the anemia of chronic renal failure and didn't have any particular adverse effects.
Anemia ; Dialysis* ; Erythropoietin ; Ferritins ; Headache ; Hematocrit ; Humans* ; Hypertension ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Peritoneal Dialysis ; Potassium ; Renal Dialysis ; Reticulocytes

No abstract available.
Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Stomach* ; Technetium Tc 99m Medronate*

We report herein a case successful endovascular treatment with a stent-graft of a rare case of rapidly growing mycotic aneurysm of the left common carotid artery due to acute bacterial endocarditis after eradication of the infection. Infected mycotic aneurysms of the peripheral vasculature have been considered as a contraindication for stent-graft implantation because of the possibility of microorganism spreading to the stent-graft; however, if there is evidence of complete eradication of microorganism and surgery is not an option, stent-graft implantation can be an effective and safe treatment modality for exclusion of the mycotic aneurysm.
Acute Disease ; Aged, 80 and over ; Aneurysm, Infected/etiology/radiography/*therapy ; Angioplasty/*methods ; Carotid Artery Diseases/etiology/radiography/*therapy ; Endocarditis, Bacterial/*complications/radiography ; Female ; Humans ; *Stents ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is one of chronic autoimmune diseases of which the central pathophysiologic derangement has not been yet established. Recently, it has been suggested that immune-regulatory cells might affect the development of autoimmune diseases such as SLE and RA. NKT cells were reported to be strong candidate for regulatory cells to regulate immune responses in vivo. To elucidate the roles of immune regulatory cells in the pathogenesis of SLE, we investigated the fractional distribution and functional status of NK and NKT cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of SLE patients and healthy volunteers. METHODS: Twenty-two SLE patients and 18 age-matched healthy volunteers were included in this study. The analysis for NK and NKT cells fraction in PBMCs of patients and normal controls were performed by flow cytometric analysis. In addition, to explore the functional status of these cells in SLE patients, we stimulated PBMCs using phorbol ester and ionomycin and measured cytoplasmic IL-4 and IFN-gamma by flow cytometry. RESULTS: The number (percentage) of NK cells was lower in SLE patients (CD3-CD56+: 4.93+/-1.30%, CD3-CD94+: 4.03+/-1.00%) than in controls (11.28+/-1.77%, 8.15+/-1.40%; p< 0.01, respectively). Peripheral NK cell numbers negatively correlated with anti-dsDNA Ab levels (r=-0.431, p< 0.05) and ESR (r= -0.475, p< 0.05). However, the percentage of these cells was not correlated with renal activity or corticosteroid doses. SLE patients showed, compared with controls, significantly decreased numbers of NKT cells (CD3+CD56+: 1.79+/-0.42% vs 5.04+/-0.44%, CD3+CD94+: 1.21+/-0.27% vs 4.39+/-0.45%; p< 0.01, respectively). The cytoplasmic expression of IL-4 and IFN-gamma in NK and NKT cells of SLE patients stimulated using phorbol ester and ionomycin were almost similar to those of normal controls, suggesting the NKT cells from SLE patients are functionally intact. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that the decreased numbers of immune regulatory cells were associated with the immune dysregulation of SLE patients. The cellular replacement of NKT cells may be one of useful therapeutic approaches for autoimmune diseases such as SLE.
Autoimmune Diseases ; Cytoplasm ; Flow Cytometry ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Interleukin-4 ; Ionomycin ; Killer Cells, Natural* ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Natural Killer T-Cells

Since beginning with the first organ transplantation from brain-dead donor in 1979, organ transplantation has been developing continuously in Korea. However, organ shortage still is a serious problem in the field of solid organ transplantation. For this reason, it is necessary to promote deceased donor organ transplantation and achieve self sufficiency. There are two system requirements managing deceased donor organ transplantation; operational and regulatory systems. In operational system, mutual and balanced cooperation between transplantation centers, organ procurement organism (OPO), registration/allocation system and NGOs is one of most important determinants to maximize brain dead donor. Especially, transplantation center and OPO need to improve in their organ donation process through evaluating donation practices and developing critical pathway for each step. In addition, public education program focusing on the hospital staff, the family of deceased donors and students should be enhanced to increase public awareness for organ donation. In regulatory system, national transplantation authority for the transplant coordination among various structures and policy-making on the issue of organ donation is necessary. For this purpose, Korean Network for Organ Sharing (KONOS) has to be improved into professional and authoritative body and establish more expanded national database network system. Further improvement in operational and regulatory systems to activate organ donation could enable to achieve the Asian leadership in the field of transplantation as well as self sufficiency for organ transplantation.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Brain Death ; Critical Pathways ; Humans ; Korea ; Organ Transplantation ; Tissue and Organ Procurement ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants