No abstract available.
Chromatography* ; Mass Screening* ; Porphobilinogen*

No abstract available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Prevalence*

No abstract available.
Factor VIII* ; Prevalence*

No abstract available.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Mycobacterium* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Sputum*

BACKGROUND: Measurements of the concentrations of free amino acids in the blood are used as useful biochemical indicators. The sample pretreatments, including anticoagulant selection and deproteinization, are important steps in plasma-free amino acid analysis for accurate and stable results. Heparin and EDTA venous plasma in a frozen state are most commonly applied sample sources in our laboratory. Therefore, we investigated the effects of the anticoagulant and delayed deproteinization in amino acid measurement using ion-exchange chromatography. METHODS: We used Biochrom 20 amino acid analyzer (Biochrom, U.K). Blood samples were taken from 3 healthy adults after a minimum of 8 hours fasting. Two different types of vacutainer tubes, including sodium heparin and EDTA were used. To investigate variations by heparin volume, 3 mL and 6 mL of blood were drawn in 10 mL heparin tubes. We used an aqueous solution of SSA for deproteinization. To investigate variations through delayed deproteinization, we deproteinized the samples immediately and 24 hours later after plasma separation. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in concentrations except for cystine, glutamic acid and taurine, and the retention time between the 6 sample groups. The concentration of taurine was higher in the groups of late deproteinized plasma. In the groups of the same deproteinization time, there were no significant differences in concentration by different heparin concentrations. When we compared the results of 3 mL EDTA plasma with that of heparin-treated 6 mL of blood, the most widely used sample type, there was a significant difference in cystine concentration in the delayed deproteinized group but there were no differences in the immediately deproteinized group. CONCLUSIONS: Both 3 mL EDTA blood and 6 mL heparin-treated blood can be used commonly in case of using high-resolution ion-exchange chromatography and an immediately deproteinized sample. But, the results in amino acids can be affected in delayed pretreatment samples. Their effects should always be considered when interpreting laboratory results. The laboratories should standardize adequate sample preparation for the accurate analysis of amino acids.
Adult ; Amino Acids ; Chromatography, Ion Exchange ; Cystine ; Edetic Acid ; Fasting ; Glutamic Acid ; Heparin ; Humans ; Plasma ; Taurine

A cytogenetic study was performed on 4,117 Korean patients referred for suspected chromosomal abnormalities. Chromosome aberrations were identified in 17.5% of the referred cases. The most common autosomal abnormality was Down syndrome and Turner syndrome in abnormalities of sex chromosome. The proportions of different karyotypes in Down syndrome (trisomy 21 92.5%, translocation 5.1%, mosaic 2.4%) were similar to those reported in other countries. However, it was different in Turner syndrome (45, X 28.1%, mosaic 50.8%, 46, X, del (Xq) 4.4%, 46, X, i (Xq) 16.7%), in which proportions of mosaics and isochromosome, 46, X, i(Xq), were higher than those reported in other countries. In structural chromosome aberrations of autosome, translocation was the most common (43.6%), and duplication (21.3%), deletion (14.4%), marker chromosome (7.9%) and ring chromosome (4.0%) followed in order of frequency. Rates of several normal variant karyotypes were also described. Inversion of chromosome 9 was observed in 1.7% of total referred cases.
Adolescence ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6 ; Down Syndrome/genetics* ; Down Syndrome/epidemiology* ; Family Health ; Female ; Gene Deletion ; Human ; Infant, Newborn ; Inversion (Genetics) ; Karyotyping ; Klinefelter's Syndrome/genetics ; Klinefelter's Syndrome/epidemiology ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Mosaicism ; Prevalence ; Translocation (Genetics) ; Turner's Syndrome/genetics* ; Turner's Syndrome/epidemiology* ; X Chromosome ; Y Chromosome

THE NECESSITY AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Recently the number of patients with chronic diseases and the aged patients is increasing steadily. Furthermore, due to the expansion of health insurance system, the number of patients hospitalized in the general hospital is increasing at a surprising speed. However, hospitals urge the early discharge of the patients for the efficiencies of hospital administration, and therefore, the number of patients who must be taken care of in their home is also increasing. Homecare nursing is one of the health care service for the patients at home who require continual attention and care, and now increasing attentions are given to it as one of the professional nursing fields. However, it was almost impossible to find a study on the actual experiences of the homecare nurses written by their own language in Korea, that it also posed a great difficulty in understanding their diverse experience. Considering these situation, this study will help understanding of them, and provide the fundamental data on their experiences for making policies to develop homecare nursing. METHODS OF RESEARCH: Phenomenological research method was employed to analyze the lived experiences of homecare nurses fundamentally. DATA COLLECTION: Data were collected from August 1998 to December 1998 from ten homecare nurses who worked for patients under the homecare nursing setting as model cases designated by Seoul Nurses Association and who agreed to the purpose of this study after listening to and understanding the explanation completely. The in-depth interview was carried at the time which was convenient both for the researcher and participants for one or two hours, and recovered with the approval participants. The first interview covered diverse and broad areas like the situation of homecare nursing, and their feelings and thoughts over it, and in the second and third interviews, more specific questions are asked. DATA ANALYSIS: For the phenomenological analysis, contents analysis was employed. The data collected from the participants were analyzed into the following procedures according to Van Manen 's phenomenological analysis. 1) Reserve the preconception of the researcher by restricting it inside parenthesis. 2) Make a thorough observation of the lived experiences by insight process. 3) Analyze the contents (Find out the repetitive factors) 4) Interpret the essence found. 5) State the meaning of the interpretation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: 1. Fear and expectation for the first visit. (unfamiliarity, awkwardness, anxiety, shivering) 2. Mingle with the family (feeling friendly with the family, becoming like a family member) 3. Being proud of her own know-how (learning the know-how, organizing alternatives, building up confidence) 4. Pity for the poor. (criticizing the current government, feeling ashamed, feeling anger) 5. Difficulty of constructing cooperative system with physicians (strenuousness, frustration) 6. Helplessness due to the lack of support system (difficulty to get supplies, annoyance, embarrassment by institutional restraints) 7. Anxiousness for heavy traffic and parking (annoyance, hastiness) 8. Ethical conflicts (pity for the patients and family, skepticism about lengthening life maintenance) 9. Burden for the possible accident (pressure, anxiety, conflict, physical exhaustion) 10. Establishment of identity as a professional (fulfillment, worth, joy) 11. Being distressed at other's ignorance
Anxiety ; Attention ; Chronic Disease ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Delivery of Health Care ; Equipment and Supplies ; Hospital Administration ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Nursing ; Seoul ; Statistics as Topic

In order to investigate the role of adenovirus in diarrheal children, we evaluated 907 children with diarrhea and 193 children without diarrhea for a 22-month. Stools were tested for group A rotavirus antigen and for adenovirus types 40/41 (Ad 40/41) by using ELISA, cell technique and indirect immunofluorescent method. Adenovirus was detected in 10.1% of the diarrheal children and 3.1% of the non-diarrheal children. Ad40/41 was detected in 4.85% of the diarrheal children. Other nonenteric adenovirus was detected in 5.29% of the diarrheal children. In addition, 24% of the adenovirusinfected children excreted rotavirus simultaneously. Rotavirus was found in 57.1% of the diarrheal patients. Among the diarrheal children. 88% of those with adenovirus were younger than 24 months. Although peaks of adenovirus infection were detected in July and Autumn in the study, there is no apparent seasonal trend with adenovirus. The average duration of admission caused by adenoviral infection was 4.9 days and 88% of the cases accompanied by fever. Stool occult blood test revealed positive reaction in 66.3% of the cases and serum aminotransferase activities transiently elevated in 5.4% of the cases. Diarrhea with more than 10 stools per day, vomiting, or fever in adenovirusinfected children were similar with ratavirus, where as the first two manifestions were associated with confection of rotavirus and adenovirus. Nine out of 92 cases(9.8%) of the gastroenteritis caused by adenovirus revealed intussusception. We conclude that Ad40/41 is an important cause of diarrhea among infants and children, and non-enteric adenovirus is considered to be a cause of diarrhea, but their role in diarrheal children should be further studied.
Adenoviridae Infections ; Adenoviridae* ; Candy ; Child* ; Diarrhea ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fever ; Gastroenteritis ; Humans ; Infant ; Intussusception ; Occult Blood ; Rotavirus ; Seasons ; Vomiting

BACKGROUND: Influenza virus is a cause of annual outbreaks of acute respiratory disease and is responsible for considerable mortality and morbidity in all age groups. To achieve maximum efficacy antiinfluenza drugs must be started within 48 h of the development of influenza symptoms. Improvements in rapid diagnosis methods are needed to identify influenza infections. The aim of this study was to compare a quick rapid antigen test with viral culture assays. METHODS: A total of 87 nasopharyngeal swab specimens were collected from symptomatic paediatric patients during March, 2004. The performance of the Quick S-Influ A/B rapid test for influenza virus detection was compared to that of the viral culture. RESULTS: The overall rate of detection for viral culture was 23.4% for influenza A virus and 13.4% for influenza B virus. The Quick S-Influ A/B assay identified 17 of 18 influenza A viruses (sensitivity, 94.4%; specificity, 96.8%; PPV, 89.5%; NPV, 98.4%), and identified 7 of 9 influenza B viruses (sensitivity, 77.8%; specificity, 98.4%; PPV, 87.5%; NPV, 96.8%). CONCLUSIONS: The Quick S-Influ A/B assay was easy to perform and showed comparable sensitivities and specificities. This rapid test kit can be an alternative tool for interventions in disease management.
Diagnosis ; Disease Management ; Disease Outbreaks ; Humans ; Influenza A virus ; Influenza B virus ; Influenza, Human* ; Mortality ; Orthomyxoviridae* ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVE: The authors analyzed the effectiveness and therapeutic response of Novalis shaped beam radiosurgery for metastatic brain tumors, and the prognostic factors which influenced the outcome. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 106 patients who underwent 159 treatments for 640 metastatic brain lesions between January 2000 and April 2008. The pathologies of the primary tumor were mainly lung (45.3%), breast (18.2%) and GI tract (13.2%). We classified the patients using Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Recursive Partitioning Analysis (RPA) and then analyzed the survival and prognostic factors according to the Kaplan Meier method and univariate analysis. RESULTS: The overall median actuarial survival rate was 7.3 months from the time of first radiosurgery treatment while 1 and 2 year actuarial survival estimates were 31% and 14.4%, respectively. Median actuarial survival rates for RPA classes I, II, and III were 31.3 months, 7.5 months and 1.7 months, respectively. Patients' life spans, higher Karnofsky performance scores and age correlated closely with RPA classes. However, sex and the number of lesions were not found to be significantly associated with length of survival. CONCLUSION: This result suggests that Novalis radiosurgery can be a good treatment option for treatment of the patients with brain metastases.
Brain ; Brain Neoplasms ; Breast ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Lung ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiosurgery ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate