No abstract available.
Asthma* ; Atrial Natriuretic Factor* ; Egg Hypersensitivity* ; Ovum*

Mullerian agenesis or dysgenesis, rare developmental anomaly presenting as primary amenorrhea, is characterized by absence of vagina and absence or rudimentary development of the uterus. Anatomic anomalies of the axial skeleton and kindney often accompany this psychologically devatating condition. There are various methods of surgical treatment for congenital absence of the vagina. The six cases reviewed in this paper were all treated with McIndoe technique. All of 6 women experienced satisfactory sexual activity and were satisfied with vaginal depth following vaginal creation using a split thickness skin graft technique. Despite the existence of several alternative methods, the McIndoe technique is a relatively simple and highly successful procedure and hence is still prefered by many surgeons.
Amenorrhea ; Female ; Humans ; Sexual Behavior ; Skeleton ; Skin ; Transplants ; Uterus ; Vagina*

The antigenic domain of the major surface protein (Nc-p43) of Neospora caninum was examined by polymerase chain reaction of its gene fragments and recombinant expression as GST fusion proteins. The fragments of Nc-p43 were as follow: a total open reading frame (OFR), T; OFR without signal sequence and C-terminal hydrophobic sequence, S; N-terminal 2/3 parts of S, A; C-terminal 2/3 parts, P; N-terminal 1/3 part, X; middle 1/3 part, Y; and C-terminal 1/3 part, Z, respectively. The DNA fragments were cloned into pGEX-4T vector. Recombinant plasmids transformed into Escherichia coli of BL21 pLysS (DE3) strain were induced to express GST or GST fused fragments of Nc-p43 such as 69 kDa protein for T, 66 kDa for S, 52 kDa for A, 53 kDa for P, and 40 kDa proteins for X, Y, and Z, respectively in SDS-PAGE. The Nc-p43 fragments of T, S, and P reacted with a bovine serum of neosporosis while those of A, X, Y, and Z together with GST did not in the western blot. These findings suggest that the antigenic domain of Nc-p43 of N. caninum may be localized in the C-terminal 2/3 parts. Together with A19 clone in SAG1 of Toxoplasma gondii (Nam et al., 1996), the P fragment of Nc-p43 could be used as efficient antigens to diagnose and differentiate those infections with both species.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Biological Markers/analysis ; Blotting, Western ; Cells, Cultured ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Coccidiosis/diagnosis ; Neospora/*immunology ; Protozoan Proteins/*analysis/genetics/immunology ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Vero Cells/parasitology

Cyclic Neutropenia is a benign, unusual hematologic disorder characterized by regularly recurring episodes of severe neutropenia occurring approximately every 21 days. Beside neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, platelets and reticulocytes all cycle with strict periodicity suggest that this disease should be viewed as cyclic hematopoiesis, not merely as cyclic neutropenia. During neutropenic periods, patients regularly experience aphthous stomatitis, fever, malaise, cervical lymphadenitis, cutaneous infections and occasional pneumonia and otitis media. The exact cause of cyclic neutropenia is unknown. But it is strongly suggested that cyclic neurtopenia is due to an abnormality in the regulation of early hematopoietic precursor cells. We have documented a case of cyclic neutropenia for a period of 2.5 years in a 11 year-old boy who had suffered from recurrent fever, stomatitis, gingival swelling, cervical lymphadenitis and skin infections at 3 weeks intervals since 5 years of age. A brief review of the related literatures is presented.
Child ; Fever ; Hematopoiesis ; Humans ; Lymphadenitis ; Lymphocytes ; Male ; Monocytes ; Neutropenia* ; Neutrophils ; Otitis Media ; Periodicity ; Pneumonia ; Reticulocytes ; Skin ; Stomatitis ; Stomatitis, Aphthous

Primary renal lymphoma is a rare tumor of the kidney that typically presents with bilateral nodular enlargement in the absence of extrarenal masses. We describe MR findings of a case of primary renal lymphoma along with ultrasound and CT findings. MR imaging demonstrated globular enlargement of both kidneys with multilobulated contour and multiple masses which had isosignal intensity on T1WI and low signal intensity on T2WI. The masses enhanced slightly on dynamic contrast enhanced scan.
Kidney ; Lymphoma* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Ultrasonography

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to construct a structural model that explains the factors affecting aggression among elementary school students and to verify their suitability.METHODS: The study period was from June to August 2018. The study subjects were fifth- and sixth- graders at an elementary school. In total, 291 surveys were collected, of which 259 were analyzed. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24.0 and AMOS version 24.0.RESULTS: The fit of the final model was acceptable (χ2=160.08 [p<.001], GFI=.921, AGFI=.869, CFI=.919, SRMR=.057, and RMSEA=.086). Thus, eight of the 10 hypotheses were shown to be statistically significant.CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that positive and open parenting behaviors and training children to engage in self-control are needed to reduce their aggression. In addition, considerable attention and education are required in the home, school, and society so that children can learn to properly recognize and express their emotions and establish suitable beliefs regarding aggressive behavior.
Aggression ; Child ; Education ; Humans ; Models, Structural ; Parenting ; Parents ; Self-Control

OBJECTIVES: This empirical study aimed to identify the differences in expenditures by household income level, as well as the patterns of dental care spending by dental services. METHODS: We analyzed the Korea Health Panel's data collected between 2008 and 2010. We calculated expenditures by service items by itemizing dental care services such as conservative, prosthetic, orthodontic, periodontal, surgical, preventive, dental implant care. Then we obtained the ratios of spending per item and per visit to overall out-of-pocket spending on dental care and used these as the weights for dental care cost allocation. Income quintiles were derived using the equivalence scale. Kakwani's concentration index was used to determine the degree of disparity by income quintile, and 95% confidence intervals were computed. RESULTS: Out-of-pocket expenditures on dental care steadily increased over time and income quintile. The analysis of dental care spending by income quintile revealed that the level of expenditure of the first income quintile was 3.6 times lower than that of the fifth income quintile. In terms of expenditure comparison between 2008 and 2010, the first quintile households showed an increased spending on prosthetic and periodontal treatments, whereas the fifth quintile households spent a relatively high proportion on orthodontic and dental implant care. The concentration index revealed that conservative services and root canal treatments was significant and positive, indicating that the demand for, and utilization of, these services increase as household income increases. In contrast, prosthetic services showed a significant negative trend, indicating that these services are not as common among those with higher incomes. CONCLUSIONS: To address the problems associated with the disparity in dental care expenditures based on income levels, it is necessary to establish policies that expand health insurance coverage and provide other supportive measures for low-income populations.
Cost Allocation ; Dental Care* ; Dental Implants ; Dental Pulp Cavity ; Family Characteristics* ; Health Expenditures ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Poverty ; Weights and Measures

No abstract available.

Background: Shift work is associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome. However, this association in the normal-weight population remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether shift work is associated with normal-weight obesity (NWO). Methods: From the nationally representative Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) dataset (2008 to 2011), 3,800 full-time workers aged ≥19 years with a body mass index (BMI) ≤25 kg/m2 were analysed. We defined NWO as BMI ≤25 kg/m2 and body fat percentage ≥25% in men and ≥37% in women. Working patterns were classified into “daytime,” “other than daytime,” and “shift.” Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between shift work and NWO. Results: Shift work was associated with higher odds of NWO than daytime work (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04 to 2.09) and night/evening work (aOR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.11 to 3.14) after adjustment for type of work, working hours, age, sex, BMI, 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance, and other sociodemographic factors. In subgroup analyses, the association between shift work and NWO was more robust in those aged ≥60 years and those working ≥56 hours/week. Conclusion Shift work was associated with NWO in community-dwelling Korean adults, independent of age, sex, BMI, and other covariates.

Since the reformation of the National Health Insurance Act in 2000, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) in the Republic of Korea has performed quality assessments for healthcare providers. The HIRA Value Incentive Program (VIP), established in July 2007, provides incentives for excellent-quality institutions and disincentives for poor-quality ones. The program is implemented based on data collected between July 2007 and December 2009. The goal of the VIP is to improve the overall quality of care and decrease the quality gaps among healthcare institutions. Thus far, the VIP has targeted acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and Caesarian section (C-section) care. The incentives and disincentives awarded to the hospitals by their composite quality scores of the AMI and C-section scores. The results of the VIP showed continuous and marked improvement in the composite quality scores of the AMI and C-section measures between 2007 and 2010. With the demonstrated success of the VIP project, the Ministry of Health and Welfare expanded the program in 2011 to include general hospitals. The HIRA VIP was deemed applicable to the Korean healthcare system, but before it can be expanded further, the program must overcome several major concerns, as follows: inclusion of resource use measures, rigorous evaluation of impact, application of the VIP to the changing payment system, and expansion of the VIP to primary care clinics.
Benchmarking ; Hospitals ; Humans ; *National Health Programs ; Quality Improvement/*economics ; Quality of Health Care/economics ; Reimbursement, Incentive/*organization & administration ; Republic of Korea