BACKGROUND: The immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) criteria were newly standardized by the International Working Group. Thus, we analyzed the natural course of childhood chronic ITP to predict the prognosis based on the revised criteria. METHODS: The medical records of children with chronic ITP from May 2000 to February 2013 in our institute were reviewed. RESULTS: Forty-seven children with chronic ITP who were not undergoing corticosteroid therapy were included. Their initial platelet count was 23+/-25x10(9)/L, and age at diagnosis was 6.3+/-4.1 years. The follow-up period was 5.4+/-3.7 years. Among them, 44.7% (21/47) showed spontaneous remission and maintained a platelet count > or =100x10(9)/L. And 66.0% (31/47) maintained a platelet count > or =50x10(9)/L until the last follow-up date. The time periods required for the platelet count to be maintained > or =50x10(9)/L and > or =100 x10(9)/L were 3.1+/-2.7 and 3.6+/-2.7 years. Age at diagnosis in the > or =50x10(9)/L group (5.7+/-4.4 years) was significantly lower than the age at diagnosis in the <50x10(9)/L group (7.4+/-3.3 years) (P=0.040). And follow-up period was the factor influencing prognosis between the > or =100x10(9)/L group and <50x10(9)/L group (P=0.022). CONCLUSION: Approximately 45% of children with chronic ITP recovered spontaneously about 3-4 years after the diagnosis and 2/3 of patients maintained a platelet count > or =50x10(9)/L, relatively safe state. Age at diagnosis of ITP and follow-up period were the factors influencing prognosis in this study.
Child ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Platelet Count ; Prognosis ; Remission, Spontaneous ; Thrombocytopenia*

PURPOSE: The ability to perform chromosome analysis of cryopreserved cord blood mononuclear cells is important for future retrospective studies. We compared the karyotypes of cryopreserved cells with cells before cryopreservation. METHODS: One cord blood (CB) sample was obtained from normal healthy volunteer. Karyotype analysis was performed before cryopreservation. After mononuclear cell separation with Ficoll-Hypaque, the mononuclear cells were cryopreserved by programmed controlled-rate freezer and then transferred into the liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees C) for 3 days. After rapid thawing, cytogenetic analysis was performed as the same method for each sample by different conditions. The samples were divided by three groups. The first group was no culture before cryopreservation, the second group was 72 hours culture before cryopreservation, but no 24 hours culture after thawing and the third group was 72 hours culture before cryopreservation and 24 hours culture after thawing. RESULTS: The chromosome analysis was successful in the second and third groups of CB sample. CONCLUSION: The successful result from CB samples may suggest the usefulness of long-term cryopreservation for retrospective study in various clinical settings including hematologic malignancies.
Cell Separation ; Cryopreservation ; Cytogenetic Analysis ; Fetal Blood ; Karyotype ; Nitrogen ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell* ; Humans ; Ulcer*

PURPOSE: Burn injury is among the most severe type of trauma that the body can sustain. The major burn increases energy expenditure as the result of its induction of the hypermetabolic and catabolic state. It is well-documented that nutritional support may improve morbidity and mortality after severe burn injury. Therefore, adequate nutritional support is essential in burned patients to prevent the detrimental consequences of overfeeding and underfeeding. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors influencing resting energy expenditure on major burn patients. METHODS: In 199 patients with > or =20% total body surface area (TBSA) burn were monitored with 403 measurement of resting energy expenditure (REE) from January 2004 to December 2008 in burn center of the Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital. Gender, age, burn size, inhalation injury, ventilator were included in the factors which influence the REE of massive burn patients. RESULTS: The measured REE and REE/basal metabolic rate (BMR) were significantly higher in males (p<0.05). The measured REE and REE/body mass index (BMI) showed significant difference between age groups (p<0.01). The measured REE and REE/BMI showed significant difference between burn size groups (p<0.01). The measured REE, REE/BMR and REE/BMI for patients with inhalation injury were significantly higher than patients without inhalation injury (p<0.01). The measured REE, REE/BMR and REE/BMI for patient needs ventilator were significantly higher than the other group (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Indirect calorimetry is useful in detecting variations in energy expenditure among individuals and in detecting changes in metabolism. Unlike indirect calorimetry measurements, static formulas may not consider hypermetabolic and catabolic states. Because adequate nutritional support is essential in burned patients, it should be considered the factors influencing resting energy expenditure on major burn patients.
Body Surface Area ; Burn Units ; Burns ; Calorimetry, Indirect ; Energy Metabolism ; Heart ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Male ; Nutritional Support ; Ventilators, Mechanical

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the dual route model is applicable to Korean word reading in acquired dyslexia after stroke. METHOD: Sixty-two year old patient with dyslexia after left inferior temporal and occipital lobe infarct was evaluated according to the lexical processing. After evaluation of general cognitive and language function, visual perception, semantic, and lexical stages were assessed. RESULTS: Visual perception was appropriate, and semantic categorization and picture-word matching tasks were 80.6% and 78.6% correct, respectively. Lexical decision task showed no significant differences within word classes, except shorter reaction time in reading words of Korean origin than those of chinese origin (p <0.05). The patient was able to read only 39.8% of tested words, and he could not read all the non-words. Reading of high frequency word was superior (65.4%) to that of low frequency words (10.9%) and semantic errors were not remarkable (p <0.05). CONCLUSION: The patient showed characteristics of recovery from deep to phonologic dyslexia with impairment of grapheme to phoneme conversion (GPC) route. These findings support that dual route model is applicable to Korean word reading.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Dyslexia ; Dyslexia, Acquired ; Humans ; Language Disorders ; Occipital Lobe ; Reaction Time ; Semantics ; Stroke* ; Visual Perception