No abstract available.

Recently the use of hydrochloric acid as a toilet disinfectant has become more common, and the risk of its ingestion is though to be increasing. We experienced a case of 67 year-old man who accidentally ingested hydrochloric acid and as a result developed a postprandial epigastric fullness end pain 3 weeks thereafter, The patient underwent an UGI series, fiberoptic gastroscope and abdominal ultrasonography and was found to have a gastric midbody stricture. A total gastreetomy and Roux-en- Y esophagojejunostomy was performed. We report this case with brief review of the literature.
Aged ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Eating ; Gastritis* ; Gastroscopes ; Humans ; Hydrochloric Acid* ; Ultrasonography

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of X-ray evaluation in classification, displacement and size of posterior malleolar fragment, comparing with three dimensional computed tomography (3D CT) in trimallelar ankle fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 20 cases of trimalleolar ankle fractures evaluated with preoperative 3D CT, and followed up periods were at least 2 years. All cases were classified according to the Danis-Weber and Lauge-Hansen classification. Displacement and size of posterior malleolar fragment were measured using PACS. The reliability between simple X-ray and 3D CT was evaluated in the Danis-Weber and Lauge-Hansen classification (kappa analysis). The correlation between simple X-ray and 3D CT was evaluated in displacement and size of posterior malleolar fragment (correlation analysis). RESULTS: Degree of agreement of Danis-Weber classification in simple X-ray and 3D CT was 0.700 kappa value, and that of Lauge-Hansen was 0.605 kappa value. Measurement of simple X-ray and 3D CT about displaced status of posterior malleolar fragment showed statistically significant positive linear correlation (p= 0.000), but correlation of measurement of size in simple X-ray and CT was not statistically significant (p=0.102). CONCLUSION: CT or operative field will be more accurate than simple X-ray to select the method of treatment and operation, especially when the displacement and size of posterior malleolar fragment are important to decide.
Ankle ; Ankle Fractures* ; Classification

The prevalence of right-sided infective endocarditis is increasing with a growing number of intravenous drug abusers. A case of right-sided endocarditis is reported in a 18-year-old female heroin addict. Tricuspid valve vegetation, septic pulmonary emboli and staphyloccus aureus in blood cultures are noted. During antimicrobial therapy, she developed remittent fever and skin rash due to vancomycin. After a change of the antibiotic to teicoplanin, she was freed from fever and discharged in an improved condition.
Adolescent ; Drug Users ; Endocarditis* ; Exanthema ; Female ; Fever ; Heroin ; Humans ; Malaria ; Prevalence ; Pulmonary Embolism* ; Teicoplanin ; Tricuspid Valve* ; Vancomycin

BACKGROUND: Dermatophytoses are infections of keratinized tissues, that is, the epidermis, hair and nails, caused by a group of specialized fungi, the dermatophytes. Laboratory diagnoses of dermatophytes such as Tricophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton are made by microscopic examination and in vitro culture but they are either time consuming of lacking specificity. OBJECTIVE: In order to develop and apply more rapid and precise diagnostic tests for fungal pathogens to facilitate the improved identification of dermatophytes, we investigated random amplified polymorphism DNA for classification and identification of dermatophytes. METHODS: Amplification reactions were performed in volumes of 5011 containing 10mM Tris-HCl(pH 8.3), 50mM KCl, 1.5mM MgCl2, 0.01% (w/v), gelatin, 200mM dNTP mixture, 50pM primer, Taq polymerase (0.025 units/ microliter), DNA 0.001 microgram/microliter. The optimal condition to. PCR was 2 cycles (denaturing 94 degrees C 2min, annealing 33 degrees C 2min, extension 72 degrees C 4min), 40 cycles, and extension (72 degrees C 10min). RESULTS: RAPD showed interspecies polymorphism in but it had identical patterns in intraspecies. CONCLUSION: It was confirmed that RAPD PCR analysis with optimal conditions is a fast, economical and reproducible method for identification and classification of dermatophytes isolates.
Arthrodermataceae* ; Classification* ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; DNA* ; Epidermis ; Epidermophyton ; Fungi ; Gelatin ; Hair ; Magnesium Chloride ; Microsporum ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Taq Polymerase ; Tinea

No abstract available.
Histamine* ; Pneumocytes*

No abstract available.
Erythropoietin* ; Humans* ; Kidney Failure, Chronic*

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can be propagated in vitro on feeder layers of mouse STO fibroblast cells. The STO cells secrete several cytokines that are essential for ESCs to maintain their undifferentiated state. In this study, we found significant growth inhibition of mouse ESCs (mESCs) cultured on STO cells infected with adenovirus containing a dominant-negative mutant form of IkappaB (rAd-dnIkappaB). This blockage of the NF-kappaB signal pathway in STO cells led to a significant decrease in [3H]thymidine incorporation and colony formation of mESCs. Expression profile of cytokines secreted from the STO cells revealed an increase in the bone morphogenetic protein4 (BMP4) transcript level in the STO cells infected with adenoviral vector encoding dominant negative IkappaB (rAd-dnIkappaB). These results suggested that the NF-kappaB signaling pathway represses expression of BMP4 in STO feeder cells. Conditioned medium from the rAd-dnIkappaB-infected STO cells also significantly reduced the colony size of mESCs. Addition of BMP4 prevented colony formation of mESCs cultured in the conditioned medium. Our finding suggested that an excess of BMP4 in the conditioned medium also inhibits proliferation of mESCs.
Animals ; *Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4/genetics/metabolism ; Cell Differentiation/genetics ; Cell Proliferation ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; *Embryonic Stem Cells/cytology/metabolism ; *Feeder Cells/cytology/metabolism ; *Fibroblasts/cytology/metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation/genetics ; *I-kappa B Proteins/genetics/metabolism ; Mice ; Mutation ; NF-kappa B/genetics/metabolism ; Signal Transduction

BACKGROUND: After an esophageal resection for an esophageal disease, the stomach becomes the most common organ for a substitute. The stomach has the advantages of being simple with fewer complications when used properly. The complications of an esophageal reconstruction using the stomach as the substitute are assessed and discussed. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Between 1990 and 1998, 44 patients who underwent esophagogastric anastomosis were treated in the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of Yongdong Severance Hospital, Seoul, Korea. RESULT: The rate of postoperative complications and mortality in these 44 patients were 70.5% and 13.6%, respectively. The major complications in our series involved the stricture of anastomosis(13.6%), pneumonia(11.4%), and wound infection(9.1%). The most frequent causes of postoperative deaths were pulmonary complications and sepsis(6.8%). CONCLUSION: Anastomotic leakage is no longer a major complication of an esophagogastrostomy. Most postoperative stricture can be overcome with frequent esophageal dilations. Postoperative pulmonary infection, nutrition, and physiotherapy are very important in reducing the rate of pulmonary morbidity and mortality.
Anastomotic Leak ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Esophageal Diseases ; Humans ; Korea ; Mortality* ; Postoperative Complications ; Seoul ; Stomach ; Wounds and Injuries

BACKGROUND: Patients with end-stage renal diseases (ESRD) have an increased risk of sleep problems such as daytime sleepiness, insomnia, restless legs syndrome (RLS), and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). However, presently there is limited data available, particularly in Asia. METHODS: To investigate the prevalence of sleep complaints in ESRD patients, 100 patients at the maintenance hemodialysis (HD) and 100 patients at the continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) were surveyed using a specific questionnaire. RESULTS: Patients had a mean age of 50.58+/- 14.03 years, with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 21.8+/-3.5 kg/m2. The mean duration of dialysis was 44.56 +/-49.74 months. Fifty-six percent of the dialysis patients were poor sleepers. Daytime sleepiness occurred in 24% to 34% of the patients, and insomnia occurred in 35% of the patients, while restless legs syndrome was reported in 44% of the patients. The higher BMI group had a lower risk for insomnia when compared to the lower BMI group (OR=0.11, 95% CI=0.03-0.46). The OR of depression for insomnia was 2.8 (95% CI=1.02-7.69). There was no difference in the prevalence of sleep disturbances between the HD and CAPD patients groups. CONCLUSIONS: Complaints of sleep disturbance and daytime somnolence are very common in dialysis patients and likely contribute to the impaired quality of life experienced by many of these patients. Identifying and treating the sleep complaints in dialysis patients could contribute significantly to their quality of life and avoid potential side effects of nonspecific sedatives.
Asia ; Body Mass Index ; Depression ; Dialysis* ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Peritoneal Dialysis ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Renal Dialysis ; Restless Legs Syndrome ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Sleep Wake Disorders* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders