BACKGROUND: Elecsys 2010 immunoassay system is based on the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay using a ruthenium (II) tris (bipyridyl) label. Since it was the first time to use the system in our laboratory, we would like to evaluate the analytical performances (precision, linearity and recovery rate) and correlation with radioimmunoassay (RIA) and microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA) methods. METHODS: We used precicontrol tumor marker (TM1, TM2) for alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), prostatic specific antigen (PSA) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), Precicontrol universal (Ul, U2) for triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), Precicontrol-TSH for thyrotropin (TSH) and pooled serum for the evaluation of precision and recovery rate. Patients' sera were used for the linearity and comparison study. RESULTS: The coefficients of variatron of Imprecision study were below; 4.0%, 8.7% and 10.2%, respectively in the within-run, within-day and between-day analysis. The recovery rates were 100.5%, 96.1% and 102.5%, respectively in T4, TSH, and AFP. The linearity were y=1.02x-0.182(r=0.99) for T4, y=1.01x+0.12 (r=0.99) for TSH and y=1.01x+0.54(r=1.00) for AFP. T3, T4, TSH, CEA and PSA results showed good correlation with RIA (r>0.90), but AFP showed r=0.88. Also, AFP, CEA and PSA results showed excellent correlation with AxSYM (r>0.99). CONCLUSION: Elecsys 2010 immunoassay system showed excellent precision, recovery rate, clinically acceptable linearity and good correlation with the results obtained by RIA and MEIA methods.
alpha-Fetoproteins ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; Immunoassay* ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Radioimmunoassay ; Ruthenium ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine ; Triiodothyronine

No abstract available.
Captopril* ; Hypertension, Renovascular* ; Radionuclide Imaging*

PURPOSE: To describe MR imaging features of hypoxic brain damage in relation to time elapse and prog-nosis of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed 19 MR studies of 18 patients with hypoxic brain damage. MR imaging studies were performed between 1 to 20 days after the hypoxic insults (mean 8.6 days). MR images were analyzed with regard to the locations of abnormal signal intensities, the presence of brain edema. And imaging findings were correlated with the time elapse after the insults and the prognosis of patients. RESULTS: On 19 cases of MR studies, abnormal high intensities on T2-weighted images were found in the basal ganglia (15, 78.9%), cerebral cortex (13, 68.4%), white matter (9, 47.4%), thalamus (6, 31.6%), cerebellum (4, 21.1%) and brainstem (1, 5.3%), respectively. Cerebral cortical involvement was typically bilateral and diffuse, but sometimes limited to the parieto-occipital area. The brainstem and cerebellar involvement was rare and in all cases, cerebral cortical lesions accompanied. Most of the white matter lesions were accompanied with cortical and deep gray matter lesions and found in subacute period(>6 days). The cortical high signal intensity lesions on T1-weighted image were found mostly in subacute stage, but in some cases involvement was also found in acute stage (< or =6 days). The cortical edema is found on 11 cases in acute and subacute stages. In cases of recovered consciousness, cortical involvement and edema on MR were rare. CONCLUSION: MR findings of hypoxic brain damage were various, but diffuse bilateral involvement of cortex and/or deep gray matter was found in most of the cases. White matter involvement was rarely found in acute stage and usually found in subacute stage. In cases of good pronosis, cortical involvement and edema were rare.
Anoxia ; Basal Ganglia ; Brain ; Brain Edema ; Brain Stem ; Cerebellum ; Cerebral Cortex ; Consciousness ; Edema ; Humans ; Hypoxia, Brain* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Prognosis* ; Thalamus

OBJECTIVES: Health is closely related to an individual's assessment of their quality of life and their subjective level of happiness. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between happiness index and self-rated health by utilizing a community health survey in Korea. METHODS: The study participants were 17,937 people living in Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea, who completed a community health survey in 2014. The non-subjective variables included in the statistical analysis were sex, age, region, education, income, and economic activity. The subjective awareness variables included self-rated health, self-rated oral health, chewing difficulty, pronunciation difficulty, and happiness index. Statistical analysis of the data was done using the SPSS 21.0 program. RESULTS: Evaluation of the subjective awareness levels revealed that the respondents that were better educated, whose income levels were higher, and those who engaged in an economic activity found themselves to be in better physical health and oral health. In contrast, the respondents that were female, older, and with residence in the counties reported a higher incidence of chewing difficulty. There was a positive correlation between happiness index and subjective awareness level, and a negative correlation between chewing difficulty and pronunciation difficulty. Happiness index was influenced the most by subjective health levels, followed by income, age, pronunciation difficulty, subjective oral health, chewing difficulty, academic credential, region, and sex. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, in order to improve the happiness index of community residents, regular health checkups and systematic oral health education should be prepared in order to improve awareness of subjective health and reduce discomfort in the oral cavity, and efforts should be made to reduce the gap between regions.
Diagnostic Self Evaluation* ; Education ; Female ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Happiness* ; Health Surveys* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mastication ; Mouth ; Oral Health ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation in patients undergoing general anesthesia causes hypertension and tachycardia with concomitant increases in plasma catecholamine concentration. These transient stress responses are greatly exaggerated in patients with hypertension and cardiovascular disease and can lead to cardiac arrhythmia, pulmonary edema, cardiac failure and cerebral hemorrhage. Therefore, several attempts have been made to attenuate the hypertensive and tachycardiac responses, but none have been satisfactory. This study was designed to evaluate verapamil or propranolol as a valuable adjuvant in attenuating hemodynamic responses to tracheal intubation in 53 patients with hypertension. They were randomly divided into three groups according to premedication used. Group 1 (n=19) was without pretreatment, and group 2 (n=18) and group 3 (n=16) were pretreated with verapamil (0.1 mg/kg) iv and verapamil (0. 1 mg/kg)-propranolol (0.01 mg/kg) mixture iv, respectively, just prior to the intubation. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were measured, just prior to intubation (baseline), after induction, and at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 minutes following intubation. The results were as follows. 1) In the control group. tracheal intubation produced increases in MAP (27% average increase from baseline) and heart rate (31% increase) at one minute after the procedure. 2) In group 2, verapamil abolished pressor response to tracheal intubation, but did not affect tachycardiac responses. 3) In group 3, the verapamil-propranolol mixture attenuated both pressor and tachycardiac responses to tracheal intubation. 4) The rate-pressure product increased after tracheal intubation by 61% and 31% in group 1 and group 2, respectively, but it remained unchanged in group 3. These findings suggest that intravenous verapamil-propranolol mixture is a valuable adjuvant in attenuating hypertensive and tachyeardiac responses to tracheal intubation.
Anesthesia, General ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Arterial Pressure ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Heart Failure ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Intubation* ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Laryngoscopy* ; Plasma ; Premedication ; Propranolol* ; Pulmonary Edema ; Tachycardia ; Verapamil*

Two patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis were treated with itraconazole. One patient was a 24-year-old man who had several erythematous papulonodules on the extremities for 1 month, which revealed cutaneous leishmaniasis, histopathologically. He was treated with itraconazole (200 mg/day) for 2 months. After treatment he showed clinical healing and the biopsy specimens no longer showed leishmania organisms. The other patient was a 27-year-old female who had several erythematous papulonodules on the face and neck for 3 months. The skin lesions revealed leishmania organisms in the tissue sections and culture media. She was also treated with itraconazole (200 mg/day) for 2 months. After treatment she also showed satisfying clinical healing and the biopsy specimens revealed no leishmania organisms. No specific side effects were encountered in both patients during the treatment. From these results, itraconazole is considered to be one of the promising anti-leishmanial drugs.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Culture Media ; Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; Itraconazole* ; Leishmania ; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous* ; Neck ; Skin ; Young Adult

A 47-year-old woman with stage IV chronic kidney disease developed a fistula between common carotid artery (CCA) and internal jugular vein (IJV) during central catheterization of the right IJV. The patient was treated with a self-expandable graft stent, which achieved successful closure of the carotid-jugular fistula. As demonstrated in our case, self-expandable graft stents could be a feasible treatment option for CCA-IJV fistulas without additional interventional procedures such as balloon angioplasty.
Angioplasty, Balloon ; Carotid Artery, Common* ; Catheterization, Central Venous ; Female ; Fistula* ; Humans ; Jugular Veins* ; Middle Aged ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Stents* ; Transplants*

Through the recent study, we have come to know that the gene group, which has an important function, is closely existed in the part of 6 chromosome short arm of a human being. Gene group consists of a major histocompatibility complex which develops rejective reaction in the process of kidey tranplantation, the gene group which controls immune response and the gene group which decides serum compliment component. These are called HLA in total. Through HLA-a.B.C. typhing, we may be able to find the following: 1. It is polymorphic, the gene group of A.B.C.D. DR locus is found along with many haplo-type. 2. Antigen differs accorbing to race. Example: HLA B8=White people 0.1% Oriental people 0.001% 3. It is related to disease. 4. There are few cases in the Department of Pediatrics but the result Shows A2, A9, B5 and B40 which is very similar to that of Japanese. There has been no Korean specific antigen founb yet.
Arm ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Continental Population Groups ; Humans ; Major Histocompatibility Complex ; Pediatrics

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the body weight, body mass index (BMI), and basal serum level of LH, FSH, testosterone (T), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) are related to the ovarian response to clomiphene citrate (CC) in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). MATERIALS AND METHOD: From January 1996 to June 1997, total 57 patients with PCOS were enrolled in the present study. Women who had other infertility factors were excluded from our study. The ovulation induction using CC was used in all patients. The patients were grouped into 50 mg group, 100 mg group, and 150 mg group according to their daily CC dose. The patients were also grouped to ovulatory and non-ovulatory group. The body weight, BMI, arid basal serum level of LH, FSH, T, DHEA-S were measured in all patients on the 2nd or 3rd day of the menstrual cycle. Results were analysed with Student's t-test and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: The body weight and BMI of the nonovulating group were significantly higher than those of the ovulating group in all groups (50, 100, 150 mg of CC). However, there were no significant differences of the level of LH and FSH between ovulating and nonovulating groups in all CC groups (50, 100, 150 mg). The level of T of nonovulating group was significantly higher in 50 and 100 mg of CC groups, but not in 150 mg group. The level of DHEA-S of the non-ovulating group is significantly higher in 50 mg group, but not in 100 and 150 mg groups. CONCLUSION: The body weight and BMI could be useful predictors of ovarian response to CC in patients with PCOS, and basal T and DHEA-S also might be useful in cases of low-dose CC treatment.
Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Clomiphene* ; Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate ; Female ; Humans ; Infertility ; Menstrual Cycle ; Ovulation Induction ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome* ; Testosterone

Individuals affected with Swyer syndrome are phenotypic females with 46, XY karyotype, sexual infantilism, mullerina derivatives, and bilateral streak gonads that may undergo neoplastic transformation. The pathogenesis of this syndrome is uncertain, but may be related to a defect in the regulation or expression of the testicular determining factor which is believed to be located on the short arm of the Y chromosome. Recently, a region termed "SRY", a single copy gene of the Y chromosome was identified as belonging to a testis-determining gene. This gene is Y-specific, highly conserved among mammals, and transcribed only in testis. The predicted amino acid sequence of SRY shares homology with DNA-binding domains of transcription factors such as chromatinassociated, nonhistone proteins HMG 1 and HMG 2. Hence, it was thought that there may be some change in SRY gene of the patients with Swyer syndrome. And it was reported in some cases that there was deletion or mutation in the gene, but no abnormality of SRY gene was observed in other cases. So, it is a new approach to understand the mechanism of the human sexual differentiation to investigate this syndrome in terms of DNA sequence of SRY gene. To verify the presence or absence of SRY, or the change in SRY, we performed polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing of the conserved region of SRY gene from four patients with Swyer syndrome and their family members. The results are as follows. 1) Four patients with Swyer syndrome, their father, and two normal male control were positive whereas two female control were negative for the band that represents the coding sequence of SRY. 2) The DNA sequences of SRY gene from four patients with Swyer syndrome, their father, and two normal male control were the same, and there was no deletion or mutation in the gene. In conclusion, there may be complex sex determining cascade including other genes not only on the Y chromosome, but also on the X chromosome or even autosome in human sexual differentiation.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Arm ; Base Sequence ; Clinical Coding ; Fathers ; Female ; Genes, sry* ; Gonadal Dysgenesis, 46,XY* ; Gonads ; HMGB2 Protein ; Humans ; Karyotype ; Male ; Mammals ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sex Differentiation ; Sex-Determining Region Y Protein ; Sexual Infantilism ; Testis ; Transcription Factors ; X Chromosome ; Y Chromosome