No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung*

One of the main restrictions of vertebroplasty is the high injection pressure that is required to inject sufficient cement into a fractured vertebral body. Kyphoplasty can be used to reduce injection pressure by making a void with a balloon tamp. During vertebroplasty, serious complications such as pulmonary embolism and neurologic compression have been reported, which usually occur when uncontrolled excessive pressure is applied to inject bone cement. We devised a technique of making small voids and connections with the fracture gaps to reduce cement delivery pressure during vertebroplasty that involves a simple modification of the conventional technique. The modification of vertebroplasty using a curved probe may be used to control the cement injection easily during the procedures and minimize complications related to cement leakage.
Kyphoplasty ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Vertebroplasty

BACKGROUND: An accurate ABO blood type is essential for transfusion therapy. Genetic structures of ABO blood group and subgroup have been investigated and so far about 100 ABO alleles have been reported worldwide. This study was performed to investigate the molecular characteristics of B subgroups in the Korean population. METHODS: A total of 19 samples of B subgroups were collected from patients (n=11) and from blood donors (n=8) of Korean Red Cross blood centers; these samples had been typed serologically for the ABO blood group. Allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR), direct sequencing of exon 6 and 7, and allele separation were performed for ABO gene analysis. RESULTS: The ABO PCR-RFLP genotyping results of 18 samples among the provisional 19 B subgroups were identical regardless of their phenotypes. Two new B alleles showing 255C>T base change and 547G>A base change were observed in B3 and A1B3 subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Serologically unidentified B subgroups were unequivocally identified through molecular analyses of the ABO gene. And new ABO alleles observed only in the Korean B subgroups were recognized.
Alleles ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Blood Donors ; Exons ; Genetic Structures ; Humans ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Red Cross

PURPOSE: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome. It is mainly seen in young children under the age of five. KD is a multifactorial disorder that includes genetic variants. The present study investigated the association between KD and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the candidate gene early B cell factor 2 (EBF2), which is associated with inflammation markers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An SNP analysis was performed by whole exon sequencing of the EBF2 gene. Our study comprised a total of 495 subjects (295 KD patients and 200 unrelated normal controls) from a Korean population. Tag SNPs were discovered using the Haploview program. Genotyping of the EBF2 gene was performed with the TaqMan® assay with real-time PCR methods. RESULTS: Polymorphism of rs10866845 showed a significant difference in allele frequency between KD patients and controls (p=0.040). The EBF2 gene polymorphisms were significantly associated with KD on logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION: EBF2 gene variants can contribute to KD in the Korean population.
Child ; Exons ; Gene Frequency ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Logistic Models ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Sacrococcygeal teratoma is a rare tumor, it occurs once in every 40,000 live births. Most of the reported cases appear in female infant (M:F=1:4). They deserve clinical attention because they are potentially malignant and are curable if diagnosed and treated early. The patients may have associated congenital anomalies. This patient has spina bifida cystica in lower sacrum. Brief review of related literature is included in the report.
Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn* ; Live Birth ; Sacrum ; Spina Bifida Cystica* ; Spinal Dysraphism* ; Teratoma*

PURPOSE: Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent antigen presenting cells and should be differentiated to mature form to induce primary T cell response. In this study, we intended to generate mature DCs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), so that develope the basis for immunotherapy using DCs. METHODS: PBMCs were isolated from 25 mL of normal adults' peripheral blood and evenly distributed in 5 wells of a 6-well plate. Nonadherent cells were gently aspirated after 2 hour-incubation under humidified 5% CO2 at 37degrees C. Adherent monocytes were cultured in 3 mL of 10% fetal bovine serum plus RPMI-1640 media containing granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) 200 ng/mL and interleukin (IL)-4 20 ng/mL. To assess the effect of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interferon (IFN)-alpha on DC maturation, either or both were added on day 4 of culture. Cells were harvested on day 4 and 7 to calculate the cell counts, CD83 /HLA-DR cells, and CD86 /HLA-DR cells. RESULTS: On day 4, large amounts of DCs were observed. CD83 /HLA-DR cells and CD86 / HLA-DR cells were 11.6% and 16.6% of total cells counted and yields were 1.3% and 2.0%, respectively. On day 7, DCs were more frequently observed in all instances and purity ranged from 24.0% to 31.0% as a mean value. The final yields of matue DCs were 2.9~3.4% of PBMCs inoculated. Adding TNF-alpha plus IFN-alpha led to the best yield. But, IFN-alpha alone did not increase the mature DCs compared to the control. CONCLUSION: We successfully cultured large quantities of mature DCs from PBMCs using GM-CSF and IL-4. IFN-alpha seems to have a synergistic effect when added with TNF-alpha, but further studies are required to prove the clinical significance.
Antigen-Presenting Cells ; Cell Count ; Dendritic Cells* ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; HLA-DR Antigens ; Immunotherapy ; Interferon-alpha ; Interferons ; Interleukin-4 ; Interleukins ; Monocytes ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

BACKGROUND: Simple ventricular septal defect(VSD) is the most common congenital heart disease. Although closure of VSD is currently associated with a relatively low risk, experience with younger and smaller infants has been variably less satisfactory. We assessed the results of surgical closure of VSD in infant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1996 and 2000, 45 non-restrictive VSD patients underwent patch repair and retrospective analysis was done. Patients were divided into two groups based on weight: group I infants weighed 5kg or less(n=16), and group II infants weighed more than 5kg(n=29). Both groups had similar variation in sex, VSD location, aortic cross clamp time and total bypass time. But combined diseases (ASD, PDA, MR) were more in group I. We closed VSD with patch and used simple continuous suture method in all patients. RESULTS: There were no operative mortality, no reoperation for hemodynamically significant residual shunt and no surgically induced complete heart block. As a complication, pneumonia(group I: 2 cases, group II: 2 cases), transient seizure(group II: 2), wound infection(group I: 1, group II: 1), urinary tract infection(group I: 1) and chylopericardium(group I: 1) developed, and there was no significant difference between two groups(p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Early primary closure with simple continuous suture method was applicable in all patients with non-restrictive VSD without any serious complications.
Heart Block ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular* ; Humans ; Infant* ; Mortality ; Reoperation ; Retrospective Studies ; Sutures ; Urinary Tract ; Wounds and Injuries

BACKGROUND: Massive hemoptysis is one of the major medical emergency with high risk of mortality. Though the best predictor of mortality associated with hemoptysis appears to be the amount of bleeding within the first 24 hours, catastrophic hemorrhage could be occurred to the patients who were apparently in a stable condition with scanty hemoptysis at the time of admission. We evaluated APACHE III score system to find if it could be a prognostic index that can predict the mortality of the patients with hemoptysis. METHODS: We identified all the patients who had admitted with hemoptysis in the Medical Intensive Care Unit of Asan Medical Center between May 25, 1989, and July 31, 1995. A retrospective analysis was done in 66 patients with hemoptysis on APA- CHE III score. RESULTS: The overall mortality rate was 17.4% (12/69). In univariate analysis of possible prognostic factors, independent predictors of mortality were age(P=0.016), amount of hemoptysis(P=0.012), AaDO2 (P=0.017), requirement of transfusion(P=0.036), mechanical ventilatory care(P<0.05) and APACHE III score(P=0.02), In multivariate analysis with sex, age, amount of hemoptysis, AaDO2, requirement of transfusion and APACHE III score, APACHE III score was the only independent predictor of mortality(P=0.015, odd ratio=19.3, 95% confidence interval, 3.4 to 249.7) CONCLUSION: APACHE IU score may be a clinically significantly important independent predictor of outcome in the patients with hemoptysis. In addition, invasive procedure, such as bronchial artery embolizaticn or operation, could be considered in advance in the patients with more than 30 points of APACHE III.
APACHE* ; Bronchial Arteries ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Emergencies ; Hemoptysis* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: An exact ABO blood type is essential for transfusion therapy. Genetic structures of ABO blood group and subgroup have been investigated and about 100 ABO alleles have been reported worldwide. This study was performed to investigate the molecular characteristics of A subgroups in the Korean population. METHODS: Nine A and five AB subgroups were collected from patients and from blood donors of Korean Red Cross blood centers after serological ABO blood group typing. On these samples, allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), direct sequencing of exon 6 and 7, and allele separation were performed for ABO gene analysis. RESULTS: The ABO PCR-RFLP genotyping results of 13 samples among the provisional 14 A subgroups were identical with their phenotypes. ABO*A205 allele was observed in an Aint subgroup. Two new A alleles that showed 784G>A base change and 990C>T of intron 6. And a polymorphism of 532C>T in A(pro) intron 5 were also discovered. Conclusion: Through the molecular analysis of this study, serologically unidentified A subgroups were obviously identified. And the new alleles only observed in the Korean A subgroups were recognized.
Alleles ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Blood Donors ; Exons ; Genetic Structures ; Humans ; Introns ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Red Cross