No abstract available.
Actinomycosis*

Mycobacterium marinum is a photochromogenic and slowly growing acid-fast organism classified in Runyon's group I of atypical mycobacteria. Infection with M. marinum occurs when the organism is inoculated usually in association with exposure to contaminated water and the disease is characteristically limited to the skin but deep soft tissue may be involved. We report a case of M. marinum infection in a 43-year-old man with erythematous verrucous plaque on his right knee, which was caused by a shell wound on a beach 3 months ago. The skin biopsy specimen showed pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia and several small epithelioid granulomas in the dermis. Culture of the tissue specimen revealed slowly growing whitish colonies in the dark, which changed yellowish after exposure to light. The microorganism was identified as M. marinum by biochemical tests, and was confirmed by the DNA-DNA hybridization method. The skin lesion disappeared after 3 moaths of treatment with minocycline, 200mg daily.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Dermis ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Knee ; Minocycline ; Mycobacterium marinum* ; Mycobacterium* ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ; Skin ; Wounds and Injuries

The major presenting manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Korea are known to be cutaneous manifestations, arthritis, nephritis, and fever. The ascites due to peritoneal involvement in SLE is quite common. However, it is unusual for massive ascites to be major presenting manifestations of SLE. In this report, we describe a case of SLE patient whose disease manifested as intractable ascites. This illustrates an unusual presentation and natural history of a complex autoimmune disease.
Arthritis ; Ascites* ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Fever ; Humans ; Korea ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Natural History ; Nephritis

Cryopreservation is able to store the surplus pre-embryos for freezing and furthermore thawing and transfer in a subsequent cycle. Cryopreserving cells which are maintaining their viability are the very complex process. This study has been carried out in order to find the effects of cryopreservation steps, freezing media and embryonic stages on the rates of viability and development of cryopreserved mouse embryos. Female ICR mice (6~8 weeks old) were induced to superovulate by sequential intraperitoneal injection of 5 IU PMSG and 5 IU hGC 48h apart. Mouse embryos were collected according to its developmental stage after the injection of hCG. Embryos were cryopreserved not only by cryoprotectant step (1 step~ 4 step) but also in a variety of media (HTF, IVF medium, D-PBS) and cell stage. The results were as follows: There is no clear advantage in these freezing media of rapid method, but 4 cell and 8 cell of slow method (2, 3, 4 step) have advantage in D-PBS. The development of embryos according to cell stage become greater in 8 cell stage. In the treatment steps of cryopreservation, the development of embryo to blastocyst was similar among rapid method, but the development of 4 cell and 8 cell embryos to blastocyst according to slow method was better than rapid method.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Cryopreservation* ; Culture Media* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Freezing ; Humans ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR

Xanthogranulomatous epididymitis is an extremely rare disease. Its etiology is unclear, but it is characterized by chronic suppurative granulomatous inflammation. We report on a 53-year-old diabetic man who suffered from left scrotal swelling and pain. Because the condition did not improve with the use of antibiotic therapy, left orchiectomy was performed. Pathological examination revealed a xanthogranulomatous epididymitis.
Epididymitis* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Orchiectomy ; Pyelonephritis ; Rare Diseases

The gene for tyrosinase has been mapped to the long arm of chromosome 11 at 11q14-21. The gene is at least 50Kb in length and its coding region is divided into five exons. Until now several mutations of the tyrosinase gene have been identifed in patient with typical oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) who are responsible for tyrosinase negative OCA. It may be possible to determine the types of OCA by measuring the hairbulb tyrosinase activity. Hairbulb tyrosinase activity was examined in a Korean albino to determine the type of OCA. And also tyrosinase assay was carried out in normally pigmented individuals and all members of a Korean albino's family to examine the tyrosinase activities. Five exons of tyrosinase gene from a Korean albino were amplified by polymerase chain reaction. Each amplified exon segments were independently subcloned and DNA sequences of clones were determined. The results obtained were as follows : 1. A Korean albino had no measurable hairbulb tyrosinase activity and was identified as type IA (tyrosinase negative) oculocutaneous albinism. 2. Normally pigmented individuals had different ranges of hairbulb tyrosinase activity. 3. A Korean albino had two single base insertions within exon V (between 337bp and 338bp, 353bp and 354bp) of tyrosinase gene. These insertional mutations might disrupt tyrosinase function and were associated with a total lack of melanin biosynthesis.
Albinism* ; Albinism, Oculocutaneous ; Arm ; Base Sequence ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11 ; Clinical Coding ; Clone Cells ; Exons ; Humans ; Melanins ; Monophenol Monooxygenase* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

-D- is a very rare haplotype which determines D without C, c, E or e and exalted D activity. The extremely rare homozygote propositi(-D-/-D-) are usually ascertained through their immune antibodies which react with red cells of all common Rh phenotypes. Authors experienced a woman with -D- phenotype for the first time in Korea. She had a history of abortion and intrauterine fetal death. She delivered a baby with severe hemolytic disease of the newborn at the third pregnancy. In spite of intensive medical interventions, the baby died of hydrops fetalis. An immune antibody to high incidence Rh antigen, namely anti-Hro, was demonstrated in the woman's serum. Family study revealed that all of the family had -D- gene complex and one of her sisters also was -D-homozygote. The sister also had anti-Hro in the serum.
Antibodies ; Female ; Fetal Death ; Haplotypes ; Homozygote ; Humans ; Hydrops Fetalis ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn* ; Korea ; Phenotype* ; Pregnancy ; Siblings

No abstract available.
Anesthesia* ; Intubation, Intratracheal* ; Vocal Cord Paralysis*

PURPOSE: It has been reported that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) can inhibit glioma growing in vitro. However, clinical trials with ATRA alone in gliomas revealed modest results. ATRA has been shown to increase radiosensitivity in other tumor types, so combining radiation and ATRA would be one of alternatives to increase therapeutic efficacy in malignant gliomas. Thus, we intended to know the role of catalase, which is induced by ATRA, for radiosensitivity. If radiation-reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) is removed by catalase, the effect of radiation will be reduced. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A rat glioma cell line (36B10) was used for this study. The change of catalase activity and radiosensitivity by ATRA, with or without 3-amino-1, 2, 4-triazole (ATZ), a chemical inhibitor of catalase were measured. Catalase activity was measured by the decomposition of H2O2 spectrophotometrically. Radiosensitivity was measured with clonogenic assay. Also ROS was measured using a 2, 7-dichlorofluorescein diacetate spectrophotometrically. RESULTS: When 36B10 cells were exposed to 10, 25 and 50microM of ATRA for 48 h, the expression of catalase activity were increased with increasing concentration and incubation time of ATRA. Catalase activity was decreased with increasing the concentration of AT (1, 10 mM) dose-dependently. ROS was increased with ATRA and it was augmented with the combination of ATRA and radiation. ATZ decreased ROS production and increased cell survival in combination of ATRA and radiation despite the reduction of catalase. CONCLUSION: The increase of ROS is one of the reasons for the increased radiosensitivity in combination with ATRA. The catalase that is induced by ATRA doesn`t decrease ROS production and radiosensitivity.
Animals ; Catalase* ; Cell Line ; Cell Survival ; Glioma* ; Radiation Tolerance* ; Rats* ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Tretinoin*

PURPOSE: Bladder tissue fibrosis is characterized by the abnormal deposition of connective tissue within different layers of the bladder wall, resulting in "non-compliance". The different etiologies of bladder fibrosis are either neurogenic, which encompasses myelodysplasia and spinal cord injury, or nonneurogenic, due to a bladder outlet obstruction. In this study, bladder fibrosis was examined to see if it was due to the effect of an abnormal innervation or to abnormal bladder dynamics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats (250-300g) were divided into four groups; the normal (n=5), bilateral pelvic nerve transection; denervation (n=10), vesicostomy (n=10) and vesicostomy after denervation (n=10) groups. After 4 weeks, the bladders of the animals in each group were obtained. In the histological study, the collagen to muscle ratio from Masson's trichrome staining, and the elastin density (%) from Van Gieson staining, were determined using a Metamorph ver 4.6r5 image analyzer. The TGF-beta1 and collagen III protein expressions were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: The collagen to muscle ratios of the normal, vesicostomy, denervation and vesicostomy after denervation groups were; 0.67+/-0.04*, 0.67+/-0.04*, 1.25+/-0.03* and 0.96+/-0.02 (*p<0.001) and the elastin densities were 14.73+/-1.09**, 16.38+/-2.27, 23.6+/-1.93** and 18.35+/-1.27, respectively (**p<0.01). From the Western blotting, the denervation group showed significantly increased TGF-beta1 and collagen III protein expressions compared with the normal and vesicostomy groups. CONCLUSIONS: The orders of the collagen to muscle ratio and the deposition of elastin were; denervation>vesicostomy after denervation>vesicostomy>normal from the histological study. The levels of TGF-beta1 and of collagen III in the denervation group were higher than those in the vesicostomy after denervation group. The above findings show that pressure and nerve innervation in the bladder both have significant effects on the process of bladder fibrosis. Meanwhile, a vesicostomy could reduce the fibrotic effect caused by denervation, although this is not complete.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Collagen ; Connective Tissue ; Cystostomy ; Denervation ; Elastin ; Fibrosis* ; Humans ; Male ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; Urinary Bladder Neck Obstruction ; Urinary Bladder*