We retrospectively reviewed the results of nine children who were less than sixteen years old and in whom partial or total arthroscopic meniscectomy was performed for symptomatic discoid meniscus in eleven knees between March 1991 and February 1997. On arthroscopic findings, there were two complete and eight incomplete type of lateral discoid menisci and one medial discoid meniscus. Among eleven cases, partial meniscectomy was performed in seven and total meniscectomy in four. The average duration of follow-up was two and a half years (range, one to five years). In this study, arthroscopic total meniscectomy was superior to partial meniscectomy for a symptomatic discoid meniscus including pain, click and locking in children. Therefore, arthroscopic meniscectomy may offer the best prognosis following accurate diagnosis in children.
Child* ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Knee ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

Bla g 2 is a cockroach allergen of great importance. This study was conducted to identify IgE-binding epitope(s) of Bla g 2 using the recombinant protein technique. Approximately 50% of tested sera showed IgE reactivity to Pichiaexpressed Bla g 2 (PrBla g 2) and E. coli-expressed Bla g 2 (ErBla g 2). Only 5.3% of serum samples showed stronger reactivity to PrBla g 2 than ErBla g 2, indicating that serum was reactive to conformational or carbohydrate epitopes. The full-length and 5 peptide fragments of Bla g 2 were produced in E. coli. All fragments showed IgE-binding activity to the cockroach-allergy patients' sera. Specifically, peptide fragments of amino acid residue 1-75 and 146-225 appeared to be important for IgE-binding. The information about the IgE-binding epitope of Bla g 2 can aid in the diagnosis and treatment for cockroach allergies.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Antibodies ; Aspartic Endopeptidases/chemistry/genetics/*immunology ; Child ; Cockroaches/immunology ; Epitopes ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E/*immunology ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult