PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine whether recombinant human endostatin (rhEndostatin), an antiangiogenic agent, is effective against a human neuroblastoma cell line (designated TNB9). We employed a human neuroblastoma xenograft model, and we investigated whether continuous infusion is more effective than an intermittent administration. METHODS: In the first experiment, when the tumors on the backs of nude mice reached a weight of 90 mg, rhEndostatin was administered subcutaneously to the mice (n=5) every day for 10 consecutive days. In the second experiment, the same daily dose of rhEndostatin was administered continuously to the TNB9- bearing mice (n=6) via subcutaneous infusion pumps for 3 consecutive days with the total dose being 30% of the dose given in the first experiment. Nestin and factor VIII expression levels were assessed immunohistochemically to elucidate whether the effects of rhEndostatin was present according to the histologic evidence at day 4 in the second experiment. RESULTS: In the first experiment, the relative tumor weight in treated mice (n=5) was significantly less than that in the controls (n=12) on day 2 after treatment initiation only (P<.05). The maximum inhibition rate (MIR) of TNB9 xenograft growth by rhEndostatin was 46.4%, indicating the lack of efficacy. In the second experiment, the effects of rhEndostatin were much more marked than those noted in the first experiment, with the MIR being 60.7%. The mean relative tumor weight in the treated group (n=6) in the second experiment was significantly less than that in the controls (n=10) on days 2, 4 and 6 (P<.01), as well as on days 8 and 10 (P<.05). The nestin staining in the endothelium of the control tumors (n=2) was remarkable, whereas the nestin staining showed as a loss of fibrillar structure in the rhEndostatin-treated tumors (n=2). The number of vessels immunostained with antifactor VIII antibody was markedly reduced in the tumors (n=2) from the rhEndostatin-treated mice compared with that from the control mice (n=2). CONCLUSION: Continuous administration of rhEndostatin resulted in more significant tumor regression than an intermittent administration of the agent. This result suggests that the continuous infusion of rhEndostatin is an effective agent and administration method for treating patients with neuroblastoma in the future.
Animals ; Cell Line ; Endostatins* ; Endothelium ; Factor VIII ; Heterografts* ; Humans* ; Infusions, Subcutaneous ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Nestin ; Neuroblastoma* ; Tumor Burden

BACKGROUND: Saliva is considered an important vector for the Helicobacter pylori infection. The presence of the babA2 gene, encoding for BabA (blood-group antigen binding adhesin), in the H. pylori genome is crucial for H. pylori-related pathogenesis. METHODS: The study was performed in the group of 215 patients. The detection of H. pylori and babA2 in saliva and gastric tissue was done by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Moreover, gastric tissues were stained with hematoxylin-eosin as well as with modified Giemsa methods for the analysis of Helicobacter pylori density. RESULTS: The positive rate of H. pylori by nested PCR was 78.6% in gastric tissue and 72.7% in saliva. In addition, the positive rate of H. pylori was 55.5% by the histological analysis of Helicobacter pylori density in gastric tissue. The positive rate of babA2 by PCR was 33.9% in gastric tissue, and 8.2% in saliva. CONCLUSION: We revealed that the H. pylori PCR results obtained in gastric tissue correlated well with those obtained in saliva. As saliva is more available specimen, it is more suitable for clinical application of H. pylori detection by PCR. However, clinical use of - BabA PCR seems to be limited because of its low-sensitivity.
Genome ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Saliva*

A sixty-seven-year-old man was admitted to a hospital with symptoms of high fever and chill. Bacterial isolates were obtained from sputum and blood. These isolates were identified as Klebsiella terrigena by API 20E (BioMerieux, Marcy-l'Etoile, France). K. terrigena is very rarely isolated from humans and no case of K. terrigena bacteremia has been reported yet. We analyzed partial 16S rRNA gene sequences of these isolates. The 16S rRNA gene sequences were matched with that of Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 13886). 16S rRNA gene sequencing has been recently introduced in clinical laboratories for unidentified organisms by conventional biochemical tests. For the precise identification of bacteria rarely causing clinical infection, it might be considered to use genotypic methods, such as 16S rRNA gene sequencing.
Bacteremia ; Bacteria ; Fever ; Genes, rRNA ; Humans ; Klebsiella pneumoniae* ; Klebsiella* ; Sputum

BACKGROUND: Urine cultures are among the most numerous of culture types for microbiology studies. In this study, we evaluated the utility of CHROMagar Orientation (CO; Becton Dickinson, Cockeysville, MD, USA), a new chromogenic medium, for the detection, enumeration, and presumptive identification of urinary tract pathogens. METHODS: The 438 clinical urine samples sent for routine culture were plated onto CO and Bi-plate (blood/MacConkey agar). We compared the detection and enumeration of potential pathogens, and the agreement between presumptive identification directly from CO and the confirmative identification, which was performed using conventional biochemical tests and Vitek system. RESULTS: The detection rate of urinary tract pathogens on all two media, CO and Bi-plate were nearly identical. The enumeration of colony counts was consistent on the two media for 102 of the 108 (94%) microorganisms. Colony color and morphology on CO accurately differentiated Escherichia coli and Enterococcus spp. The overall agreement of presumptive identification on CO was 91 of the 108 (84%). CONCLUSION: The CO enabled accurate detection, count determination, and presumptive identification of common urinary pathogens, both in pure and mixed cultures.
Enterococcus ; Escherichia coli ; Urinary Tract

We describe two cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with spuriously increased neutrophil count by the Sysmex SE-9000 hematology analyzer. Each case showed an excess of small lymphocytic cells in blood film microscopy, and a large group of plots in the lymphocyte area was observed on the differential scattergram of the SE-9000. In the cases of CLL, there is a possibility of overestimation of neutrophil count by the SE-9000. Microscopic examination and review of differential scattergram of the SE-9000 are necessary in the cases with increased leukocyte count.
Hematology* ; Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell* ; Leukocyte Count ; Lymphocytes ; Microscopy ; Neutrophils*

BACKGROUND: To prevent complications of diabetes mellitus, diabetic patients should test blood glucose level frequently. In these days, glucometers are widely used for self-monitoring and many kinds of products are introduced. We performed the present study to evaluate the performance of glucophone (GlucoPack(TM), Infopia Co. Ltd., Anyang, Korea) as a point-of-care testing glucometer. METHODS: Glucometers including glucophone and Finetest(TM) (Infopia Co. Ltd., Anyang, Korea) were evaluated for precision, linearity, and accuracy. The interpersonal variation by different operators, reagent stability, comparison capillary blood with venous blood, and user acceptability were also evaluated. RESULTS: Glucophone and Finetest glucometer showed excellent precisions wtih less than 5% of CVs of within-run and total precision. Linearity was also satisfactory from 24 to 517 mg/dL for glucophone and Finetest glucometer. Comparison with routine chemistry autoanalyzer, TBA-200FR showed close concordance over the entire range of evaluated concentrations (y = 0.8397x + 3.8351, x = TBA-200FR, y=glucophone, R2=0.9523). There were no significant changes in test results during exposure period at room temperature after opening the reagents. Generally random users expressed high satisfaction to glucophone with the exception of complicated operating method. CONCLUSION: Glucophone showed excellent precision, linearity, and correlation with the reference method. Because POCT glucometers are influenced by operator and multiple external factors, it is important that users recognize interfering factors and preservation conditions of test strips. It is hoped that glucophone is a good POCT glucose meter by establishment continuous quality control system and improvement of operation.
Blood Glucose ; Capillaries ; Chemistry ; Diabetes Complications ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Glucose ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hope ; Humans ; Indicators and Reagents ; Quality Control

BACKGROUND: Maternal serum triple marker test during 15-20 weeks is a useful prenatal screening technique for detecting chromosomal abnormalities and neural tube defect (NTD). The aim of this study was to investigate the pregnancy outcomes of the women with positive screens in a retrospective case-controlled study. METHODS: Total 2765 women in second trimester received prenatal triple marker screening at Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital between March, 1998 and February, 2002. The study group included 98 women with screen positive results and known pregnancy outcomes and the 194 age-matched contols with negative screen results. We reviewed the triple marker results and pregnancy outcomes in both groups. RESULTS: The overall positive rate of triple marker test was 4.3%, composed of 2.9% for Down syndrome and 1.4% for neural tube defect. Among 98 screen positive women, only one case of trisomy 21 was detected. The adverse outcomes occurred in 23 of 97 pregnancies (23.7%) in the false-positive group and in 14 of 194 matched control pregnancies (9.8%)(P<0.05). Women with false-positive screens were significantly higher than their matched controls in the incidence of premature rupture of membrane, pregnancy-induced hypertension/preeclmapsia, small for gestational age and fetal/neonatal death (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Women with false-positive screens of triple markers are at increased risk for various adverse pregnancy outcomes. Careful fetal examination and thoughtful strategy for perinatal management are warranted for these patients.
Case-Control Studies ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Down Syndrome ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Heart ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mass Screening* ; Membranes ; Neural Tube Defects ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome* ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Pregnancy* ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture

Thymic carcinoma is a rare neoplasm arising in the thymic epithelium. The prognosis of thymic carcinoma is often poor with an aggressive histologic appearance and clinical course. However, few studies about efficacy of treatment modalities have been published because of the rarity of this tumor. Although resection of tumor is the first choice in the treatment of thymic carcinoma, the optimal adjuvant therapy has yet to be defined. A case showed that a patient with thymic carcinoma should be treated by tumor resection followed by radiotherapy alone. And we consider proper management for thymic carcinoma with reviewing literatures
Drug Therapy ; Epithelium ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy* ; Thymoma*

An endobronchial leiomyoma is extremely rare benign tumor of the lung. Most endobronchial leiomyomas reported in the literature have been resected by either a lobectomy or a pneumonectomy. Herein is report a case whose tumor was successfully removed using a fiberoptic bronchoscope without surgical resection. A 64-year-old female presented with a fever, and a cough with purulent sputum of 10 days duration. The bronchoscopy revealed a 1cm sized, glistening, light yellow colored mass lesion totally obstructing the orifice of the superior segment of the right lower lobe. During the bronchoscopic biopsy procedures, the mass lesion was completely removed. A diagnosis of a leiomyoma was made from a histological examination of the obtained specimen. The early diagnosis and appropriate treatment including bronchoscopic removal may prevent respiratory complications.
Biopsy ; Bronchoscopes* ; Bronchoscopy ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Leiomyoma* ; Lung ; Middle Aged ; Pneumonectomy ; Pneumonia ; Sputum

PURPOSE: Photodynamic therapy, with photosensitizer and non-thermal laser, produces selective destruction of cancer without affecting the adjacent normal tissues. The aim of our study was to evaluate the pathological changes to the normal tissues when photodynamic therapy, with non-thermal laser irradiation, after the administration of a photosensitizer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Studies were performed on four C57BL/6 mouse models using a photosensitizer (Photogem(R), Moscow Institute of High Chemical Technologies). The mice received Photogem, 3 mg/kg i.v., 24 hours prior to the exposure of normal tissues to 180 J/cm2 laser light, at a wavelength and power density of 635 nm and 600 mW/cm2, respectively, with the light source being a 635 nm Diode Laser (Laxcell 2004, Bio-Optics. co.) Histological staining and analysis were used to determine the nature and extent of injury at the first, third, fifth, and seventh days after the photodynamic therapy. RESULTS: Histologically, there were losses of endothelium from small vessels in the skin and muscle, with focal necrosis and diffuse inflammatory changes in the adjacent tissues. Between the fifth and seventh days following the photodynamic therapy, generation of granulation tissue, composed of fibroblasts and endothelial cells was observed surrounding the necrotic area. CONCLUSION: Photodynamic therapy using Photogem and a 635 nm Diode Laser, with a power density of 600 mW/cm2, develops non-selective necrosis and has a thermal effect on normal tissue
Animals ; Endothelial Cells ; Endothelium ; Fibroblasts ; Granulation Tissue ; Lasers, Semiconductor* ; Mice* ; Necrosis ; Photochemotherapy* ; Skin