No abstract available.
Angiocardiography* ; Contrast Media* ; Electrolytes* ; Osmolar Concentration* ; Plasma* ; Renin*

Three anopheline mosquitoes in Korea were studied for their abilities as vectors for Plasmodium vivax. The female mosquitoes of Anopheles lesteri, An. pullus and An. sinensis were allowed to suck malaria patient blood until fully fed, and they were then bred for 2 weeks to develop from malaria parasites to sporozoites. The result from the above confirmed the sporozoites in one An. lesteri of one individual and five An. sinensis of six individuals. We also reconfirmed that An. sinensis was the main vector to transmit malaria and An. lesteri as well as An. sinensis were able to carry Korean malaria parasites. Therefore, we propose that diversified study is needed to manage malaria projects.
Adult ; Animals ; Culicidae/*parasitology/*physiology ; Female ; Humans ; *Insect Vectors ; Korea ; Malaria/parasitology/transmission ; Male ; *Plasmodium vivax

Endoscopic variceal ligation(EVL) is newly developed method to manage esophageal variceal bleeding. This study asse initial control rate of active variceal bleeding, incidence of rebleeding and complications in EVL. From June in l992 to December in 1994, this study was performed on 70 patients who had visited to our medical center for melena or hematemesis by acute esophageal variceal bleeding. In all of 70 cases, eradication of esophageal varix was performed and variceal bleeding was controlled well. And first session was performed successfully with EVL. But rebleeding was occured in 12 cases(11 cases caused by esoyhageal varix and 1 case caused by esophageal ulcer) during follow-up period, so EVL therapy was performed repeatedly and 8 cases were eradicated and 4 cases were uncontrolled and died, and then 94% hemostatic effect was achieved during follow-up period. Complications of EVL therapy were mild(substernal discomfort in 12 cases, substernal pain in 4 cases, fever in 3 cases, mild dysphagia in 2 cases) and well controlled. Superficial esaphageal ulcer was shown in 18 cases by follow-up endoscopy after 1 week. These results show that EVL is a good therapeutic method to control active variceal bleeding and eradication of varix with repeat treatment. In conclusion, EVL is an effective and safe method of treatment and prevention for esophageal variceal bleeding.
Deglutition Disorders ; Endoscopy ; Equidae ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices* ; Fever ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematemesis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Ligation* ; Melena ; Ulcer ; Varicose Veins

In order to study the range of flight and feeding activity of Anopheles sinensis, the dispersal experiment was conducted in Paju city, located in the northern part of Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea, during the period of 7th to 28th September 1998. Unfed females An. sinensis were collected in cowshed and released after being marked with fluorescent dye at 23:00 hours on the same day. Released female mosquitoes were recaptured everyday during 21 days using light traps, which were set at 10 sites in the cowsheds located 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 km north-northwest and north-northeast and at 3 sites located 1, 6 and 9 km toward south-west from the release point. In addition, to study the longest flight distance in one night, we set the light traps at 16 and 20 km toward north-northeast from the release site. All the collected mosquitoes were placed on filter papers and observed on UV transilluminator after treatment with one drop of 100% ethanol. Out of 12,773 females of An. sinensis released, 194 marked females mosquitoes were recaptured, giving 1.52% recapture rate. Of 194, 72 mosquitoes (37.1%) were recaptured in light traps from three places set at 1 km from the release point, 57 mosquitoes (29.4%) from two places at 1-3 km, 41 mosquitoes (21.1%) from three places at 3-6 km, 20 mosquitoes (10.3%) from three places at 6-9 km, and 4 mosquitoes (2.1%) from two places at 9-12 km. Since 170 female mosquitoes (87.6%) out of 194 marked mosquitoes were captured within 6 km from the release point, this flight radius represents the main activity area. An sinensis was found to be able to fly at least 12 km during one night.
Animals ; Anopheles/*physiology ; Entomology/methods ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; *Flight, Animal ; Fluorescent Dyes ; Korea ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Time Factors

The frequency of intestinal tuberculosis is relatively common; however, primary tuberculosis of the appendix remains a rarity. We report on a case of primary tuberculous appendicitis for which we obtained the MDCT images revealing thickening of the appendix and the surrounding lymphadenopathies.
Appendicitis ; Appendix ; Tuberculosis

The biological interpretation of two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis experiments is a key step toward understanding the functions of biological systems. We here present a web-based integrated database, called 2DSpotDB, for the management of proteome data derived from several pathogens. The 2DSpotDB was established as a part of the management of a pathogen proteome project at the Korea National Institute of Health. The goals of the 2DSpotDB implementation are to store and define important pathogen genes, retrieve information obtained by 2D polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, and create an integrated system to provide pathogen proteome information for biological scientists. This database currently contains 14 gels and information on 387 protein spots, among which 329 proteins were identified and annotated.
Acrylic Resins ; Data Mining ; Electrophoresis ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Gels ; Korea ; Mass Spectrometry ; Proteins ; Proteome

BACKGROUND: The heavy-light chain (HLC) quantitative test can identify and quantify the heavy and light chains of each immunoglobulin class. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the HLC quantitative test. METHODS: To evaluate the effectiveness of the HLC quantitative test, a systemic review of the literature, using Ovid-MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and eight domestic databases including KoreaMed, was performed until October 10, 2013. We included five cohort studies and one diagnostic evaluation study in the final evaluation. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of the included studies and extracted data from the studies. The quality of the studies was assessed according to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) tool. RESULTS: A correlation between the HLC quantitative test and previous assays was evaluated in one study, which enrolled patients with increased monoclonal IgA. The correlation coefficient was reported as 0.94 in this study. The clinical significance of the quantitative HLC test to predict a prognosis was also reported in five cohort studies. The survival rate in patients with higher HLC ratio was significantly lower and the increased IgA kappa/lambda ratio or IgM kappa/lambda ratio was significantly correlated with higher survival rate in patients with monoclonal gammaglobulinemia. CONCLUSIONS: The HLC quantitative test is an effective test that can quantitatively measure the identified immunoglobulin type and predict the prognosis of patients with monoclonal gammopathy.
Cohort Studies ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin M ; Immunoglobulins ; Paraproteinemias ; Prognosis ; Survival Rate

In esophageal perforation, fistulous tracts commonly occur between the esophagus and mediastinal or pleural spaces, but rarely between the esophagus and bronchi. The clinical manifestations and radiologic findings of esophageal perforation are nonspecific, and diagnosis is the often delayed; esophagography is the standard technique for evaluation of its location and degree. CT is useful in demonstrating the extraluminal manifestations of esophageal perforation and for follow-up after medical treatment, and may depict the various manifestations of perforation, according to the causes.
Bronchi ; Diagnosis ; Esophageal Perforation ; Esophagus ; Follow-Up Studies*

Polymicrobial peritonitis is a relatively uncommon complication and it's clinical characteristics, risk factor and optimal managernent remain controversial. To identify indications for catheter removal in polymicrobial peritonitis, we reviewed the 340 episodes that occured in 168 patients of CAPD peritonitis during past 7 years to identify those. Polymicribial peritonitis was the 18 epoisodes in 18 patients of all peritonitis. First, 18 patients with polymicrobial peritonitis (P-P) did not show significant differences in the demographic features compared to 130 patients with single organism peritonitis (S-P). In contrast to Staphylococcus in S-P, the most common causative organisrn in P-P was pseudomonas (23%). Also sgnificantly more catheters were removed in P-P than S-P (P=0.001). Second, we cornpared group I, the patients responded to antibiotics only, and group II, those who needed catheter removal. The group I was 7 (39%) and the group II was 11 (61%). No patient of group I died and two patients of group II died. Between group I and group II, there were no significant differences in the demographic features. However, patients whose dialysate-WBC counts were below 100 at 3rd day after start of antibiotics were more significantly frequent in group I than group II. Among combination of causative organisms in P-P, most of Pseudornonas (6/9) and fungus (4/4) were treated by catheter removal. In conclusion, more catheters were removed in P-P than S-P. When dialysate WBC at 3rd day after start of antibiotics were over 100 and causative organism included pseudomonas or fungus in P-P, catheter removal was needed. We suggest that the kinds of organisms isolated and early response to antibiotics influence on the outcome of polymicrobial peritonitis.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Catheters* ; Fungi ; Humans ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory* ; Peritonitis* ; Pseudomonas ; Risk Factors ; Staphylococcus

PURPOSE: Little data is currently available on the use of the impulse oscillometry system (IOS) parameter in analyzing the lung function of young children with cough-variant asthma (CVA) and classic asthma. The aims of this study were to evaluate the bronchial responsiveness between patients with CVA and those with classic asthma using dose-response slope and various cutoff values. METHODS: A methacholine challenge test and a pulmonary function test were performed in 43 children with classic asthma and 26 children with CVA using IOS, and the respiratory resistance (Rrs) and reactance (Xrs) were obtained. The bronchial responsiveness were assessed by provocative concentration causing an 80% fall from baseline in reactance at 5 Hz (PC80_Xrs5) and a 40% increase in resistance at 5 Hz (PC40_Rrs5) and calculating from the degree of dose-response slope (DRS) for airway resistance and reactance. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in base lung function between the two groups. However, the mean DRS_Xrs5 and the number who showed more than an 80% fall in reactance were significantly higher in classic asthma group than those in CVA group (P=0.040 and P=0.040, respectively). CONCLUSION: The use of DRS in oscillatory reactance at 5 Hz is useful for the differential diagnosis of classic asthma and CVA based on bronchial hyperresponsiveness.
Airway Resistance ; Asthma* ; Bronchial Hyperreactivity ; Child* ; Cough ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Lung ; Methacholine Chloride ; Oscillometry ; Respiratory Function Tests