After the synthesis of IL-15 cDNA from the total RNA of mouse spleen, it was inserted into the prokaryotic expression vector, pRseta, and eukaryotic expression vector, pcDNA3.0, respectively. Subsequently, the insertion of gene and open reading frame were confirmed by sequencing of each plasmid, respectively. Using pRseta- IL-15 plasmid, the recombinant IL-15 protein was induced by IPTG under BL21 (DE 3) host cells and recombinant IL-15 was expressed at 14.5 KDa with time. Then, IL- 15 was separated by His-tag affinity chromatography and analyzed by SDS-PAGE to yield soluble IL-15 at 14.5 KDa as monomer and 29.0 KDa as dimer. In order to inspect the function and contribution of IL-15, the in vitro experiment was established using mononuclear cells separated from the mouse spleen. After 48h exposure of PHA to mouse splenocyte and 24h treatment with recombinant IL-15, the effects of cytokine inductions inspected against IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-r, and GM-CSF. The results showed that comparing with the control, IL-6 increased, IL-2, IL-12 and IFN-r increased and similar, and GM-CSF decreased. In addition, the direct injection of pcDNA3.0-IL-15 plasmid into mice gave the similar results to in vitro studies. Namely, IL-6 and IL-12 increased, and IL-2, IFN-r and GM-CSF were similar or decreased. IL-10 was not induced in in vitro and in vivo experiments. These results suggested that the IL-15 induce the splenocyte activation and can be an important factor in proliferation and fuction recovery of weakened T-cell.
Animals ; Chromatography, Affinity ; DNA, Complementary ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-12 ; Interleukin-15* ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-6 ; Isopropyl Thiogalactoside ; Mice* ; Open Reading Frames ; Plasmids ; RNA ; Spleen ; T-Lymphocytes

Pigmented Bowen's disease (PBD) is a rare variant of Bowen's disease(BD). Most of the reported cases showed pigmented patches or thin plaques. Thus its clinical manifestations may simulated other various pigmented skin lesions. We experienced 2 cases of PBD in patients with multiple BD developed after taking Korean proprietary pills (KPP, "Hwan-Yak"), which were suspected to contain certain amount of arsenics. Both patients also showed arsenical keratosis on their palms and soles. The darker pigmentation of the PBL led us to differentiated them from melanoma.
Bowen's Disease* ; Humans ; Keratosis ; Melanoma ; Pigmentation ; Skin

BACKGROUND: It is traditiqnally considered that the non-bullous fonn of impetigo is primarily of streptococcal origin and the bullous form is of staphylococcal origin. However, recent reports have shown that Staphylococcus aureus (SA) has become the predominant cauative pathogen of non-bullous impetigo as well as of bullous impetigo. Objective. Our purpose was to evaluate the predominant causativi. pathogen, and to establish a therapeutic guideline for impetigo. METHOD: We described the characteristics of lesions and gerformed bacterial culture and susceptibility tests in patients with impetigo. Patients were treatecl by one of three frequently used antibiotics(erythromycin, cefuroxime, fusidic acid). RESULTS: Of 77 patients, there were 47 cases of crusted type(61.9%), 18 cases of mixed type with crusted and bullous lesiona(23.3%), 7 cases of mixed type with crusted and pustular lesions(9.1%) and 5 cases of bullous type(6.6%). SA was grown from 90.1% af the cases, in 83.1% of cases it was the only organism to be foind and no gowth of streptococcus was faund even in mixed infections. An antimicrobial susceptibility test of 63 strains of SA demonstrated high susceptibility to vancomycin(98.4%), cefuroxime(97.1%), oxacillin(96.4%), cephalothin(95.2%), fusidic acid(91.7%) etc, and high resistance to penicillin(93.7%), gentamicin(90.5%), tobramycin(88.9%) and erythromicin(80.9%). Of 19 patients treated with erythrornycin, 12(63.1% ) showed treatment failure at a weeks, while no treatment failure occured in groups treated with cefuroxime and usidic acid. There were statistically significant differences iri therapeutic effect between cefuroxirne and erythromycin(P=0.005 by two tailedy test), and betweer fusidic acid and erythromycin(P=0.0040. But there was no significant difference between cefuroxime and fusidic acid. CONCLUSION: The predominant pathogen of non-bullous impetigo a well as bullous impetigo was SA which were highly resistant to erythromycin and highly sensitive to efuroxime and fusidic acid. In the clinical response, cefuroxinie and fusidic acid treatment were most effective and erythromycin was inadequate for treatment of impetigo.
Cefuroxime ; Coinfection ; Erythromycin ; Furosemide ; Fusidic Acid ; Humans ; Impetigo* ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Streptococcus ; Treatment Failure

In order to evaluate the ability of spin-echo MR imaging to differentiate slow flow from mural thrombus in aortic diseases, we reviewed the spin-echo MR images of 13 patients with intraaortic thrombus documented by CT (N=11) or aortography (N=2). Six patients had aortic aneurysms and seven had aortic dissection. Intraaortic mural thrombi were accompanied by flow-related intraluminal signal of various patterns and extents in all 13 patients. On 10 gated MR studies, slow flow regions showed even-echo rephasing phenomenon (N=8), interslice variation of signal intensities of the intraluminal signal (N=7) and flow-related ghost artifact (N=2). However, these MR flow phenomena were obscured on two of three non-gated studies. Seven of 13 intraaortic thrombi remained hyperintense on T2-weighted second-echo images. In these circumstances, a hypointense boundary layer between slow flow and mural thrombus, which was caused by either 'boundary layer dephasing phenomenon' of slow flow or 'paramagnetic T2 shortening' of fresh clot at the edge of mural thrombus, was useful in discriminating the area of slow flow from that of mural thrombus. Proper interpretation of spin-echo MR images may obviate the need for phase display imaging or gradientecho imaging in differentiating slow flow and mural thrombus.
Aortic Aneurysm ; Aortic Diseases* ; Aortography ; Artifacts ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Thrombosis*

In order to evaluate the ability of spin-echo MR imaging to differentiate slow flow from mural thrombus in aortic diseases, we reviewed the spin-echo MR images of 13 patients with intraaortic thrombus documented by CT (N=11) or aortography (N=2). Six patients had aortic aneurysms and seven had aortic dissection. Intraaortic mural thrombi were accompanied by flow-related intraluminal signal of various patterns and extents in all 13 patients. On 10 gated MR studies, slow flow regions showed even-echo rephasing phenomenon (N=8), interslice variation of signal intensities of the intraluminal signal (N=7) and flow-related ghost artifact (N=2). However, these MR flow phenomena were obscured on two of three non-gated studies. Seven of 13 intraaortic thrombi remained hyperintense on T2-weighted second-echo images. In these circumstances, a hypointense boundary layer between slow flow and mural thrombus, which was caused by either 'boundary layer dephasing phenomenon' of slow flow or 'paramagnetic T2 shortening' of fresh clot at the edge of mural thrombus, was useful in discriminating the area of slow flow from that of mural thrombus. Proper interpretation of spin-echo MR images may obviate the need for phase display imaging or gradientecho imaging in differentiating slow flow and mural thrombus.
Aortic Aneurysm ; Aortic Diseases* ; Aortography ; Artifacts ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Thrombosis*

No Abstract Available.
Alopecia* ; Telemedicine*

It is well known that high energy X and r-ray have high penetration power in tussue, but have lower survacedose which is called the “skin sparing effect”. However, the surface dose can be increased significantly by excessive electron contamination and it is an important factor intreatment planning in the presence of a blocktray, especially in isocentric set-up. So relaltive surface doses for 10MV-X-ray and Co-60 r-ray were measuredwith various field sizes and SSD with or withoug 1/4" lucite shadow tray, present in the beams, using pancakechamber and polystylene phantom. The results obtained are as follows. 1. A rapid increase in surface dose isapparant with increasing field size in 10MV X-ray and Co-60 r-ray. 2. high surface dose is evident for smallerdistance from the tray, so at least 25cm of skin shadow tray distance for 10MV X-ray and 20cm for Co-60 are desirable. 3. Utilization of either bolus for treatment field or electron boost should be considered in treatmentof superificial nodal disease. 4. A tray using an intermediate or high z No. filter can be reduced the surfacedose significantly.
Polymethyl Methacrylate ; Silver Sulfadiazine ; Skin

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia, especially due to steroid-12-hydroxylase(P450c21) deficiency, is one of the most common autosomal recessive inborn errors at adrenal steroidogenesis in Korean. Molecular genetic analysis has demonstrated that there are two steroid 21-hydroxylase genes, CYP21A1P and CYP21A2. The CYP21A2 gene encodes P450c21, whereas the CYP21A1P gene is a pseudogene. Since there is 98 percent homology between the CYP21A1P and CYP21A2 gene in nucleotide sequences, it has hampered the characterization of molecular defects in the CYP21A2 gene.In this study, efforts have been made to selectively PCR amplify the CYP21A2 gene and test feasibility of DNA microextraction from Guthrie card for prospective use of molecular screening. This study was also aimed at investigating deletion mutations in P450c21 deficient patients, as well as allele frequencies and average heterozygosity of exon 1 A/C polymorphism in Korean newborns. Genomic DNAs were obtained from Guthrie cards of 50 Korean newborns by microextraction method and these DNAs were analyzed by PCR-allele specific oligonucleotide(ASO) hybridization. First part of the CYP21A2 gene has been successfully amplified and digested by restriction enzyme using Taq I or Kpn I, subsequently run on 1.5% agarose gel to confirm its specificity. The anterior 1141 bp PCR product was utilized to examine the frequency and average heterozygosity of exon 1 A/C polymorphism in 100 alleles by ASO dot blot hybridization. Amplified genomic DNAs from four P450c21 deficient patients out of three families were screened by PCR to see if any one has complete deletion of the CYP21A2 gene.The results were as follows;1) The average 1230ng of genomic DNA was obtained form single semi-circled Guthrie card of 1/2 inch diameter by microextraction method, which has been successfully used for DNA analysis.2) The PCR amplified anterior 1141 bp product from the CYP21A2 gene was digested by Kpn I, generating 309 bp, 832 bp fragments, not by Taq I, indicating its specificity.3) The frequencies of exon 1 nucleotide 138 A/C polymorphism in Korean population were 0.81, 0.91 respectively, and average heterozygosity was 0.31.4) None of four P450c21 deficient patients turned out to carry complete deletion of the CYP21A2 gene based on selective PCR amplification of the CYP21A2 gene.In conclusion, dried blood spots from Guthrie card can be sued for DNA analysis because of easy sample collection, bandling, shipment, and DNA extraction feasibility. The selective PCR amplification of the CYP 21A2 gene will pave the way for molecular characterization in P450c21 deficient patients. The exon 1 A/C polymorphism can by efficiently used for molecular diagnosis of P450c21 deficiency in informative families, though it has a drawback of handling radioactive material.
Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital ; Alleles ; Base Sequence ; Diagnosis ; DNA ; Exons ; Gene Frequency ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Mass Screening ; Methods ; Molecular Biology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prospective Studies ; Pseudogenes ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sepharose ; Sequence Deletion ; Steroid 21-Hydroxylase

No Abstract Available.
Sezary Syndrome*

We observed 2 cases of occupational radiodermatitis which occurred during the radioisotope transpierce test. Patient 1, a 40-year-old man, noticed swelling, erythema, and stiffness on his left 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers 5 days after the exposure to about 2700 rem. Patient 2, a 32-year-old man, noticed painful swelling, erythema, bullae and necrosis on his right palm and thumb 1 week after the exposure to about 5500 rem. Clinicopathologically, patient 1 and 2 came under 2 and 3 burns respectively. The symptoms have been improving after treatment with systemic and topical corticosteroids and antibiotics.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Burns ; Erythema ; Fingers ; Humans ; Necrosis ; Radiodermatitis* ; Thumb