No abstract available.
Dermatitis, Atopic ; Pyroglyphidae

PURPOSES: The respiratory tract infection is one of the most prevalent and serious complications following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Reports not only for the respiratory tract infection but, unlikely for bacteria or fungi, for the infections caused by the respiratory viruses have been rarely reported in Korea. During the winter of 2000~2001, authors wanted to know the prevalence rate of the respiratory tract infection and the kinds of causative microorganisms, especially the community respiratory viruses (CRV). Based on these data, we attempted to evaluate the clinical courses and prognosis of the patients. METHODS: From October 2000 to February 2001, specimens were collected from the patients who visited Catholic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation center, showing symptoms and signs of respiratory tract infection after HSCT. Standard methods have been applied to isolate and identify bacterial and fungal species. Measles was diagnosed based on the typical symptoms, rash, fever, and Koplik spot. For the four different CRV (adenovirus, RSV, influenza virus, parainfluenza virus), multiplex PCR and conventional culture method were used for the identification. RESULTS: Eighty-four specimens were collected from 66 patients for 4 month period. Average age of patients was 35+/-8 years. Sixty patients (90%) were received allogeneic HSCT. Sample collection was performed between 10 and 3,740 days (average 370 days, median 215 days) after HSCT. Forty-seven patients (71.2%) have been received immunosuppressants at the time of respiratory tract infection. Forty patients (60.6 %) were suffered lower respiratory tract infection and forty-four patients (66.7%) had community-acquired infection. Sixty microorganisms were identified from 45 patients out of total 66 patients. Identified microoganisms were bacteria accounting for 2 cases (3.4%), fungi for 11 (18.3%), tuberculosis for 5 (8.3%), and viruses for 42 (70.0%). Among viruses, 16 cases were measles (39%), 14 adenovirus (33%), 9 cytomegalovirus (21%), 2 parainfluenza virus (5%), 1 was influenza virus (2%). However, no RSV was identified. Most of patients showed good prognosis without any complications. Ten (15.2%) out of total 66 patients were expired. The direct cause of death for all 8 among 10 patients was pneumonia. CONCLUSION: Of the respiratory tract infection fol-lowing HSCT, most common causative microorganisms were viruses - measles, adenovirus in order. No case of RSV infection was found. No epidemic must be occurred by influenza virus because only 1 case was found. Fourteen patients were infected by more than one microorganisms. Overall mortality rate was 15.2%. This study is still undergoing and once accumulated data for more than 1 year, it might be possible to work out a strategies of treatment and prevention for respiratory tract infections. We also expect that these data might be able to provide the basis of efficient infection control in HSCT unit.
Adenoviridae ; Bacteria ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Cause of Death ; Community-Acquired Infections ; Cytomegalovirus ; Exanthema ; Fever ; Fungi ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells* ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Infection Control ; Korea ; Measles ; Mortality ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Orthomyxoviridae ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; Pneumonia ; Prevalence ; Prognosis ; Respiratory System* ; Respiratory Tract Infections* ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Tuberculosis

PURPOSE: An IRI (Ischemia-reperfusion injury) of the liver is one of the main problems in major liver surgery, liver transplantation and liver trauma, which can lead to liver failure. The mechanism of a liver IRI is supposed to be highly related to the oxygen free radicals (Should the read, "free oxygen radicals"?) made in the course of the damage process. Therefore, antioxidants must be one of the most effective therapeutic modalities for liver IRI. Haematococcus pluvialis contains a lot of astaxanthin, which is known of powerful antioxidant. Since the use of synthetic astaxanthin is not permitted to humans, only naturally produced astaxanthin, such as Haematococcus, is a candidate for use. In this report, the antioxidant effects of a Haematococcus extract has been studied and compared with other antioxidants and synthetic astaxanthin. METHODS: To evaluate the effect of the Haematococcus extract in a liver IRI, the mouse liver IRI model was employed. Following ischemia for 60 minutes, three reperfusion periods were used; 3, 24 and 48 hours. The MDA (malondialdehyde) values in the liver, lungs and serum were all evaluated, and two types of Haematococcus extract compared with other antioxidants and synthetic astaxanthin. RESULTS: In all tissues and serum, the antioxidants all produced lower levels of MDA than in the control. The oil- extracted Haematococcus group had much lower MDA levels compared to the biomass Haematococcus and other antioxidants groups. The effects of synthetic astaxanthin are similar to those of oil-extracted Haematococcus. CONCLUSION: The Haematococcus extract has very potent antioxidant effects compared with vitamin E and Superoxide dismutase (SOD) in protecting the liver from IRI. Oil-extracted Haematococcus is better than biomass Haematococcus, and was even comparable to the effects of synthetic astaxanthin.
Animals ; Antioxidants* ; Biomass ; Free Radicals ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Liver Failure ; Liver Transplantation ; Liver* ; Lung ; Mice* ; Oxygen ; Reperfusion ; Reperfusion Injury* ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Vitamin E ; Vitamins

In spite of decrease in prevalence, yet tuberculosis is not rare disease in Korea and the morbidity is over one percent. Because extrapulmonary tuberculosis is less common than that of lung, quick and accurate diagnosis is not easy and there may be some problems in selecting the methods and the times to treat it. Especially, each or combination of abdominal lymphadenitis and duodenal tuberculosis are so rare that differential diagnosis from other common or rare diseases is difficult, and much attention is required to diagnose and treat those. Recently we experienced a case of tuberculous lymphadenitis accompanied by duodenal bulbar tuberculosis which had been conceived as submucosal tumor at endoscopy and diagnosed by explorative operation. So we report this case with review of related literatures.
Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Endoscopy ; Korea ; Lung ; Lymphadenitis ; Prevalence ; Rare Diseases ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Lymph Node*

Arthonia dokdoensis sp. nov., a lichenicolous fungus from the subcosmopolitan Arthonia molendoi complex growing on crustose thalli of species of the genus Orientophila (subfamily Xanthorioideae, Teloschistaceae), as well as the lichen species Rufoplaca toktoana sp. nov. (subfamily Caloplacoideae, Teloschistaceae) similar to Rufoplaca kaernefeltiana, both from Dokdo Islands, Republic of Korea, are described, illustrated, and compared with closely related taxa. In the phylogenetic tree of the Arthoniaceae based on 12S mtSSU and RPB2 gene sequences, the phylogenetic position of the A. dokdoensis and the relationship with the A. molendoi group are illustrated, while the position of the newly described R. toktoana is confirmed by phylogenetic tree based on ITS nrDNA data.

A family of calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) is a unique enzyme which plays crucial roles in intracellular calcium signaling in plants, algae, and protozoa. CDPKs of malaria parasites are known to be key regulators for stage-specific cellular responses to calcium, a widespread secondary messenger that controls the progression of the parasite. In our study, we identified a gene encoding Plasmodium vivax CDPK4 (PvCDPK4) and characterized its molecular property and cellular localization. PvCDPK4 was a typical CDPK which had well-conserved N-terminal kinase domain and C-terminal calmodulin-like structure with 4 EF hand motifs for calcium-binding. The recombinant protein of EF hand domain of PvCDPK4 was expressed in E. coli and a 34 kDa product was obtained. Immunofluorescence assay by confocal laser microscopy revealed that the protein was expressed at the mature schizont of P. vivax. The expression of PvCDPK4-EF in schizont suggests that it may participate in the proliferation or egress process in the life cycle of this parasite.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Cloning, Molecular ; Conserved Sequence ; Escherichia coli/genetics ; Gene Expression ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Microscopy, Fluorescence ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Molecular Weight ; Plasmodium vivax/chemistry/*genetics ; Protein Kinases/analysis/chemistry/*genetics ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Protozoan Proteins/analysis/chemistry/*genetics ; Sequence Alignment