We compared the performance of three screening kits for the detection of anti-HIV in 187 samples; Enzygnost Anti-HIV 1/2 Plus, ABBOTT TESTPACK HIV- 1/HIV-2 & SERODIA. HIV- 1/2. Four samples, 3 serums and 1 CSF, from 2 patients were repeatedly reactive in all three screening kits and 2 serum specimens were confirmed positive(HIV-1) by the western blot assay. The sensitivity and specificity of all three screening kits were 100% and 98.9%, respectively. In Korea, the cause of AIDS is mostly HIV-1 and the prevalence is very low. So, all three screening kits were useful for the detection of anti-HIV from patients and blood donors. But the use of screening kit for the detection of anti-HIV-1, anti-HIV-2 and anti-HIV-I subtype O will be needed for the decrement of false negative rate because HIV infection has been increased, especially, HIV-2 infection and pediatric AIDS patient by vertical transmission were also reported, currently.
Antibodies* ; Blood Donors ; Blotting, Western ; HIV Infections ; HIV* ; HIV-1 ; HIV-2 ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening* ; Prevalence ; Sensitivity and Specificity

No abstract available.
Female* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Infant* ; Measles*

Although causes of restriction of knee extension in osteoarthritis are thought to be contractures involving the posterior capsule and the hamstring muscles, intercondylar notch stenosis, osteophyte, loose body, and displacement of ruptured meniscus, few studies have investigated incidence and treatment. The purpose of this study is to consider intercondylar notch stenosis and anterior impingement as major causes of flexion contracture in osteoarthritic knee and to assess their relationship through arthroscopic notchplasty. We performed arthroscopic notchplasty and debridement in sixty patients (sixty-eight cases) with more than Sflexion contracture for early osteoarthritic knee and compared flexion contracture before and after operation. The average flexion contracture was 13degrees (5degrees-35degrees) before operation and 4degrees (0degrees- 25degrees) immediately after. An average of 9degrees improvement was shown, with 29 cases ( 48% ) showing improvement of over 5degrees. Our study indicates that flexion contracture in the 29 cases (48%) improved by arthroscopic notchplasty was caused by intercondylar notch stenosis and anterior impingement. Arthroscopic notchplasty may beneficially affect those with flexion contracture in early osteoarthritic knee when conservative management of this disease has failed. This is a preliminary study on the immediate postoperative outcome, therefore, long-term follow-up and recurrence rate should be investigated in future studies.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Contracture ; Debridement ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Knee* ; Muscles ; Osteoarthritis ; Osteophyte ; Recurrence

A sensitive thermometer utilizing thermistor as a sensing element has been constructed in order to measure the temperatures in various ocular tissues. The Wheatstone bridge was used to detect the changes in thermistor resistance. The out-put of the bridge was fed into a single-stage differential DC amplifier and read by an micro-ammeter. There was a linear relationship between temperature and meter scale. The thermistor was inserted into the inferior conjunctival sacs of 158 healthy normal human eyes. The average temperature was found to be 35.14 +/- 1.08 (in C). No difference due to sex and age distribution was found to exists. Preliminary temperature measurement has been done on rabbits. Their results are shown graphically in Fig. 3.
Age Distribution ; Humans ; Rabbits ; Thermometers*

Carbamazepine is a derivative of iminostilbene with carbamoyl group and related chemically to the tricyclic antidepressants. Carbamazepine has been introduced for treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Recently it is used as an antiepileptic agent such as diphenylhydantoin. Antiepileptic drugs are known to affect experimentally induced cardiac arrhythmia and are now widely used clinically for treatment of ventricular tachyarrhythmias, particularly those produced by digitalis intoxication. Steiner et al. (1970) reported that carbamazepine was found to be very effective in converting ventricular tachycardia due to digitalis toxicity to normal sinus rhythm. Clinically bradycardia, complete heart block, ventricular standstill and Adams-stokes attack were reported in the course of carbamazepine treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of carbamazepine on the ouabain-induced arrhythmia in vivo. The rabbits of either sex, weighing from 1.6 to 3.2 kg were anesthetized by urethane. After the trachea was cannulated, the rabbits were ventilated with room air using a respirator. Drugs were given into polyethylene cannula in the femoral vein. Blood pressure were recorded by physiograph via pressure tranducer connected with the cannula in the femoral artery. EKG were recorded by physiograph via electrode implanted in both fore leg and left hind leg. The results are summarized as follows 1. Arrhythmia was induced by continuous infusion of ouabain (65±8.8 µg/kg). 2. Single administration of ouabain (64 µg/kg) induced arrhythmia which was persisted for 7-8 min. 3. Ouabain induced arrhythmia was restored to normal sinus rhythm by administration of carbamazepine (the more dosage, the less frequent and the longer duration). 4. Severe bradycardia, A-V block, atrial fibrillation were seen on the EKG after injection of carbamzepine alone. By the above results, it may be concluded that carbamzepine inhibits the ouabain-induced arrhythmia by dose-dependent.
Anticonvulsants ; Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac* ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Blood Pressure ; Bradycardia ; Carbamazepine* ; Catheters ; Digitalis ; Electrocardiography ; Electrodes ; Femoral Artery ; Femoral Vein ; Heart Block ; Leg ; Ouabain ; Phenytoin ; Polyethylene ; Rabbits* ; Tachycardia ; Tachycardia, Ventricular ; Trachea ; Trigeminal Neuralgia ; Urethane ; Ventilators, Mechanical

This study aimed at surveying recreational scuba divers in order to determine demographic characteristics such as diving certification level and diving times, history of medical illnesses or injuries, and incidence of accidents or risks during underwater diving. For this, the authors contacted the managers of 190 diving clubs, which are listed on an online site called "DiveWeb." Responses were obtained from 87 diving clubs, amounting to a total of 154 completed questionnaires. The authors also visited a 4-day-long "Seoul International Sports & Leisure Industry Show" and collected 168 completed questionnaires from certified divers who visited the show. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS for Windows, version 17.0. We found the following results among 314 divers: 261 (83.1%) were male, and 221 (70.4%) were aged 30 to 49 years; 174 divers (55.4%) had over 5 years of diving experience; average body mass index (24.13) was within normal limits; number of non-smokers (175) was greater than that of smokers (139); 110 (35.0%) divers reported past or present diseases (allergic rhinitis being the most common) or injury history. Risky situations that were encountered by the divers included currents, underwater environment, buddy system complications, and air depletion during diving. Underwater diving is a potentially hazardous activity, but at present, medical examinations or fitness tests are not a prerequisite for certified divers in Korea. To secure the safety of underwater divers, we need to establish policies for medical checkups and fitness tests before the divers begin training or attain certification.
Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Certification ; Diving ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Leisure Activities ; Male ; Rhinitis ; Sports ; Surveys and Questionnaires

To investigate the effect of diazepam on the contractility of the intestinal smooth muscle, longitudinal muscle strip isolated from rat ileum was prepared for myography in isolated organ bath. 1) Basal tone of ileal muscle was reduced by diazepam concentration-dependently. 2) Higher concentrations (30 and 100 microM) of diazepam inhibited (p<0.05, p<0.001) The carbachol-induced contraction in a concentration-dependent manner; but lower concentration of diazepam (10 microM) enhanced (p<0.05). 3) Histamine-induced contraction was inhibited by pretreatment with diazepam in a concentration-dependent manner. 4) Ca⁺⁺-induced tension recovery in calcium-free solution was inhibited in the presence of diazepam concentration-dependently. These results suggest diazepam reduces the contractility of the longitudinal muscle isolated from rat ileum via interference with influx of calcium into the muscle cells.
Animals ; Baths ; Calcium ; Carbachol* ; Diazepam* ; Ileum* ; Muscle Cells ; Muscle, Smooth ; Myography ; Rats*

In 1910 Purtscher first presented his original report of "angiopathia retinae traumatica" before the German Congress of Ophthalmology in Heidelberg. Since then many varying fundus pictures have been described as "Purtscher's Disease" and many theories have been advanced as to the cause. In 1962 Marr and Marr provided an extensive review of the literature on traumatie retniopathy and pointed out that the cause of Purtscher's retinopathy was an abrupt rise of intravascular pressure in the vessel entering and leaving the orbit, and in most cases the mechanism of the injury was a sudden and violent compression of the chest. Recently we have experienced a case of bilateral Purtscher's traumatic retinal angiopathy leading to optic nerve atrophy and macular degeneraion. Our patient is a 36-year-old previously healthy Korean male. who had his left chest compressed by a truck when he was working in the country farm. Just after the accident he fall into an unconscious state for a short time. Two days after admission he was referred to our ophthalmologic department because of visual impairment. Funduscopic examination revealed Purtscher's retinopathy in both eyes. His chest X-ray examination showed several fractured ribs anterolaterally. Within several days after the accident the whitish retinal exudates and hemorrhages gradually disappeared in the left ocular fundus, but in the right fundus the retinal edema, situated at posterior pole, persisted for about 7 months duration. During this period optic nerve atrophy developed ill the right fundus. As soon as the retinal edema subsided, retinal degeneration of the macular area appeared in the right fundus. Five months after the accident temporal optic nerve atrophy appeared and the patient complained of marked visual impairment in the left eye. We could not find any similar cases in the literature, that is, after the retinopathy and impaired vision recovered, later, the vision was markedly impaired again due to secondary optic nerve atrophy and development of macular Degeneration. In a survey of literature we want to say that the pathogenesis of Purtscher's traumatic retinal angiopathy is due mainly to the result of a sudden and severe increased intravascular pressure. particularly in the upper portion of body. Following points influenced our thought. 1. The ocular fundus changes similar with Purtscher's retinopathy could be seen in hydrostatic pressure syndrome and compression cyanosis syndrome. 2. Purtscher's retinopathy could developed in minor chest compression which is not strong enough to fracture ribs or other banes. 3. Usually Purtscher's retinopathy is developed in both eyes. If unilateral development occurs, it is almost on the right eye. If bilaterally the right eye is more severe than the left. This is postulated due to the shorter venous path to the rijsht eye. In addition, the prognosis of Purtscher's retinopathy seems to be good but poor result such as in our case and other previously reported cases are also possible.
Adult ; Atrophy ; Cyanosis ; Exudates and Transudates ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hydrostatic Pressure ; Macular Degeneration ; Male ; Motor Vehicles ; Ophthalmology ; Optic Nerve ; Orbit ; Papilledema ; Prognosis ; Retina ; Retinal Degeneration ; Retinaldehyde* ; Ribs ; Thorax ; Unconsciousness ; Vision Disorders

This study was aimed at investigation of the stimulatory innervations on the rat urinary bladder. Detrusor muscle strips of 15 mm long were suspended in isolated muscle chambers containing 1 ml of PSS maintained at 37℃ and aerated with 95% O²/5% Co². Isometric myography was performed, and the results were as followings: Muscle strips showed “on-contraction” by electric field stimulation (EFS) frequency-dependently. The EFS-induced contraction was not affected by hexamethonium, a ganglion blocker, but abolished by tetrodotoxin, a nerve conduction blocker. Physostigmine, a cholinesterase inhibitor enhanced the EFS-induced contraction which was inhibited by hemicholinium, an inhibitor of choline uptake at the cholinergic nerve ending. Such an EFS-induced contraction was antagonized by atropine only partially, and the atropine-resistant portion was completely abolished by the desensitization of purinergic receptors by prolonged incubating of the strips in the presence of high concentration of ATP. Bethanechol, a cholinergic agonist, elicited concentration-dependent contraction. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a purinergic agonist, induced a weak but concentration-dependent contraction of short duration. Bethanechol-induced contraction was not affected by ATP-desensitization, and ATP-induced contraction was not affected by tetrodotoxin. These results suggest that there are at least two main stimulatory components of innervations in the detrusor muscle, cholinergic muscarinic and purinergic; and those receptors are independent each other.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Animals ; Atropine ; Bethanechol ; Choline ; Cholinergic Agonists ; Cholinesterases ; Ganglion Cysts ; Hemicholinium 3 ; Hexamethonium ; Myography ; Nerve Endings ; Neural Conduction ; Physostigmine ; Rats* ; Receptors, Purinergic ; Tetrodotoxin ; Urinary Bladder*

This study was designed to investigate the effect of GABA and related substances on the spontaneous contraction of rat small intestine. The rats (Sprague-Dawley), weighing 200-250g, were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, and the small intestine was isolated. Longitudinal muscle strips from duodenum, jejunum and ileum were suspended in Biancani's isolated muscle chambers and myographied isometrically. GABA and muscimol, a GABA A receptor agonist relaxed the duodenum and jejunum significantly, but baclofen-induced relaxation in those muscle strips negligible. The effectiveness of GABA and muscimol in various regions were the greatest on duodenum, and greater on jejunum than on ileum The effect of GABA and muscimol was antagonized by bicuculline, a competitive GABA A receptor antagonist and picrotoxin, a noncompetitive GABA A receptor antagonist. Duodenal relaxation induced by GABA and muscimol was unaffected by hexamethonium, but was prevented by tetrodotoxin. These results suggest that GABA inhibit the contractility of smooth muscle with distinct regional difference of efficacy, and the site of inhibitory action is the GABA A receptor existing at the presynaptic membrane of postganglionic excitatory nerves.
Animals ; Bicuculline ; Dislocations ; Duodenum ; GABA-A Receptor Agonists ; GABA-A Receptor Antagonists ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid* ; Hexamethonium ; Ileum ; Intestine, Small* ; Jejunum ; Membranes ; Muscimol ; Muscle, Smooth ; Picrotoxin ; Rats* ; Receptors, GABA-A ; Relaxation ; Tetrodotoxin