OBJECTIVES: To develop a quantitative and noninvasive method of bone marrow cellularity evaluation in solvent-exposed painters. METHODS: Six painters (mean age 46.5 years, 5 males and one female) with hypocellular marrow, and 132 controls were examined using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A full examination of the peripheral blood and a bone marrow biopsy was done on each patient. Signal intensities were measured at the vertebral bodies from T12 to S1 on both the T1- and the T2-weighted image (T1WI and T2WI). Signal indices were calculated by dividing the signal indices of the vertebral bodies by that of the paraspinal muscle and the subcutaneous fat in the same view. RESULTS: The Bone marrow cellularities of the cases painters were between 20.3% and 33.6%. Signal indices based on the muscle at T1WI were greater in the cases of the painters compared to those of the controls (p<0.05, p<0.01). Signal indices based on the muscle at T1WI were significantly higher in older women compared with men (p< 0.05 ) . After adjusting for age and gender, the signal index of cases at S1 based on muscle of T1WI was higher than that of the controls by 0.364. Five of the six cases had a muscle signal index at S1 of T1WI higher than the mean + 1 standard deviation for the same age group and gender. CONCLUSIONS: MR signal indices are influenced by constitutional factors such as fat content, bone density, and the presence of other pathology. However, after adequate adjustment, it can be used as a useful indicator of bone marrow cellularity in a high-risk population.
Biopsy ; Bone Density ; Bone Marrow Diseases ; Bone Marrow* ; Female ; Humans ; Leukopenia ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Male ; Occupational Exposure ; Paraspinal Muscles ; Pathology ; Solvents* ; Subcutaneous Fat

PURPOSE: Suprapubic bladder aspiration(SBA) of urine is the most reliable method to obtain urine avoiding contamination in non-toilet trained infants. Ultrasonography is a useful tool for guiding the anatomic location as well as for direct visualization during procedure. We evaluated the success rate and complication of ultrasound(US) assisted SBA. METHODS: Sixty infants who visited Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, with suspected urinary tract infection were randomly divided into the US assisted (n=32) and blind SBA(control, n=28) group. In US assisted SBA group, the anteroposterior(AP), transverse, and sagittal diameters and the volume of the bladder were measured. In the blind SBA group, urine was blindly aspirated when the urinary bladder was palpated at the suprapubic area. The rate of successful urine aspiration, the number of attempts until successful aspiration, aspirated urine volume were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The success rate was 100%(32/32) in the US assisted group, which was significantly higher than 85.7%(24/28) of the control group (P<0.05). The aspirated urine volume in the US assisted group was 7.4+/-3.7 mL, which was significantly higher than 4.5+/-3.4 mL of the control group (P<0.05). The diameters and volume of bladder in successful aspiration were 2.1+/-0.7 cm in AP diameter, 3.1+/-0.6 cm in transverse diameter, 4.2+/-1.0 cm in sagittal diameter and 15.2+/-10.4 mL in volume, which were significantly higher than those (1.7+/-0.3 cm, 1.8+/-0.7 cm, 2.4+/-0.6 cm, 3.9+/-2.5) of the control group (P<0.05). The correlations between the AP(r=0.78), transverse (r=0.72), sagittal(r=0.91) diameter and bladder volume were significant (P<0.05). SBA was 100% successful in the AP diameter >3 cm, transverse diameter >4 cm, depth >4 cm and bladder volume >5 mL. CONCLUSION: US assistance can significantly improve the success rate of SBA in infant with suspected urinary tract infection.
Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Ultrasonography* ; Urinary Bladder* ; Urinary Tract Infections

Mesenteric lymphangioma, which is rare and often diagnosed incidentally, is a benign tumor in infants and children. Most cases of lymphangioma are in the neck and axilla. About 5% of these lesions are in the mediastinum, mesentery or retroperitoneal region. Although most lymphangioma produce no symptoms, it may present an acute surgical condition suggesting acute intestinal obstruction. We report one case of histologically confirmed mesenteric lymphangioma causing billous vomiting and bloody stool in a 3-day-old infant.
Axilla ; Child ; Humans ; Infant* ; Intestinal Obstruction ; Lymphangioma* ; Mediastinum ; Mesentery ; Neck ; Vomiting*

Lymphangiomas are benign tumors of lymphatic vessels, which can occur anywhere the lymphatics exist. The lymphangioma of the esophagus is exceedingly rare. Seven cases had reported in the world and there is no case report about the lymphangioma of the esophagus in our country. So we present one case of lymphangiomas that coexist in esophagus and sigmoid colon. This kind of case don't have been reported yet.
Colon, Sigmoid* ; Esophagus* ; Lymphangioma* ; Lymphatic Vessels

Behcet's disease is a chronie inflammatory symptom complex consisting of recurrent oral ulcer, genital ulcer, ocular lesion or skin lesion. Intestinal involvement in Behcet's disease most commonly affects the ileocecal region in the patient with gestrointestinal symptoms, But esophageal involvement in Behcet's disease is very uncommon, most commonly affects the midesophagus with localized ulcerative lesion. A 38-Year-old woman with refractory and recurrent oral and genital ulcer was admitted because of aggravation of pharyngodynia and dysphagia. Gastrofiberscopic examination showed multiple, small sized ulcers on oral cavity and mid-to-distal esophagus. She was treated with steroid.
Adult ; Deglutition Disorders ; Esophagus ; Female ; Humans ; Mouth ; Oral Ulcer ; Skin ; Ulcer

Chondrodysplasia punctata is a heterogenous skeletal dysplasia characterized by small focal calcifications in articular and other cartilages in infancy, with subsequent epiphysial dysplasia and associated anomalies of the face, eyes, and skin. Chondrodysplasia punctata is classified with autosomal recessive rhizomelic type, autosomal dominant nonrhizomelic type(Conradi-Hunermann type), and X-linked dominant type. These types have different clinical manifestations respectively. We report cases of autosomal dominant type of chondrodysplasia punctata which occurred in brothers, who were presented with typical face(short collumella leading to depressed tip of the nose), punctate calcification on the lumbar spine, dislocation of right hip, no obvious skin lesions, and atropic optic nerve without cataracts.
Cartilage ; Cataract ; Chondrodysplasia Punctata* ; Dislocations ; Hip ; Humans ; Optic Nerve ; Siblings* ; Skin ; Spine

PURPOSE: We tried to evaluate whether the detection rate of Helicobacter pylori in gastric biopsy specimens could be improved by using pre-embedding immunoelectron microscopy. METHODS: A total of 119 children who complained of upper gastrointestinal symptoms were endoscoped at the Gyeongsang National University Hospital from July, 1996 to July, 1999. Five biopsy specimens(three for urease test, one for hematoxylin-eosin(H and E) staining, and one for pre- embedding immunoelectron microscopy) were obtained from each antrum and body. Immunoblotting analysis were also performed. RESULTS: Among the 119 patients, H. pylori were found in 116 patients(97.5%) by the immunoelectron microscopy. Among three patients who were found H. pylori negative in immunoelectron microscopy, two patients showed H. pylori in H and E stained slides and one patient was urease test positive(color change within six hours). Urease tests were positive in 107 patients(89.9 %). The positive rate of immunoblotting tests was 81.5%. However, only 13 patients(10.9%) showed H. pylori on the H and E stained antrum or body tissue. CONCLUSION: In this study, we found H. pylori histopathologically in most of the pediatric patients who complained of upper gastrointestinal symptoms. This study showed that pre-embedding immunoelectron microscopic examinations can be used as a gold standard in the diagnosis of childhood H. pylori infection. However, this method also has limited capacity to detect widely scattered H. pylori compared to the other histopathologic diagnostic methods.
Biopsy ; Child ; Diagnosis ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Immunoblotting* ; Microscopy, Immunoelectron* ; Urease

The rate of dependence among ever-users of a drug indicates the risk of developing dependence once an individual has been exposed to the drug. This is the first study to investigate 12-month tobacco dependence (TD) among ever-smokers in a community-based population. Analyses were based on two national studies of representative samples aged 18-64 in 1984 (n=5,025) and in 2001 (n=6,275), conducted with household visits and face-to-face interviews. The rates of 12-month TD among ever-smokers in men showed no significant difference between 51.6% in 1984 and 50.6% in 2001. On the contrary, the rates in women significantly increased from 33.3% in 1984 to 52.8% in 2001. After adjusting for the sociodemographic variables, 'male gender' was significantly associated with 12-month TD among eversmokers in 1984, but not in 2001. 'Unmarried' was significantly associated in 2001 but not in 1984. 'Alcohol dependence' was the only psychiatric disorder associated with 12-month TD in both study years. In conclusion, 12-month TD was found in about 50% of ever-smokers, and gender differences between the rates of 12-month TD which was observed in 1984 disappeared in 2001. Individuals with 12-month TD showed higher comorbidity with alcohol dependence than ever-smokers without TD.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Alcoholism/complications ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Sex Factors ; *Smoking ; Tobacco Use Disorder/complications/*diagnosis/*epidemiology

PURPOSE: There was a global increase in the prevalence of oseltamivir-resistant influenza viruses during the 2007-2008 influenza season. This study was conducted to investigate the occurrence and characteristics of oseltamivir-resistant influenza viruses during the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 influenza seasons among patients who were treated with oseltamivir (group A) and those that did not receive oseltamivir (group B). METHODS: A prospective study was conducted on 321 pediatric patients who were hospitalized because of influenza during the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 influenza seasons. Drug resistance tests were conducted on influenza viruses isolated from 91 patients. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the clinical characteristics of groups A and B during both seasons. Influenza A/H1N1, isolated from both groups A and B during the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 periods, was not resistant to zanamivir. However, phenotypic analysis of the virus revealed a high oseltamivir IC50 range and that H275Y substitution of the neuraminidase (NA) gene and partial variation of the hemagglutinin (HA) gene did not affect its antigenicity to the HA vaccine even though group A had a shorter hospitalization duration and fewer lower respiratory tract complications than group B. In addition, there was no significant difference in the clinical manifestations between oseltamivir-susceptible and oseltamivir-resistant strains of influenza A/H1N1. CONCLUSION: Establishment of guidelines to efficiently treat influenza with oseltamivir, a commonly used drug for treating influenza in Korean pediatric patients, and a treatment strategy with a new therapeutic agent is required.
Child ; Drug Resistance ; Hemagglutinins ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Neuraminidase ; Orthomyxoviridae ; Oseltamivir ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Respiratory System ; Seasons ; Viruses ; Zanamivir