PURPOSE: To characterize the MR findings of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and to assess the value of the MR imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SE T1 -, T2-weighted, and IR brain MR images of 44 infants and children with the past history of perinatal hypoxic insults were reviewed. Abnormal brain MR findings of 8 patients with birth history of prematurity and 36 patients with birth history of full-term/posterm including 7 with severe anoxic insult history, were compared in regard to the location and the character of the lesions RESULTS: MRI demonstrated the followings;(1)abnormal signal intensity lesions of subcortical and/or deep cerebral white matter, cortex, and deep gray matter, (2)atrophy of the cerebral white matter, cortex and corpus callosum, with/without ventriculomegaly, and (3)delay in myelination. Periventricular and deep white matter lesions were demonstrated in the prematurity, the deep white matter lesions and/or subcortical white matter lesions in the term/post-term, and deep gray matter lesions in the 7 patients with severe anoxic insults history. CONCLUSION: MR imaging was useful in the diagnosis of the hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, and the white and gray matter lesions were correlated with the time of the injury and the severity of hypoxic insult.
Brain Injuries* ; Brain* ; Child ; Corpus Callosum ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Infant ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Myelin Sheath ; Reproductive History

No abstract available.
Thyroidectomy*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Meningitis, Aseptic* ; Paralysis*

Parapelvic renal cyst, also designated as pericalyceal lymphangiectasis, is an unusual lesion that is usually brought to light during surgery for ureteropelvic junction obstruction or recurrent pyelonephritis. Grossly, the renal pelvis is enveloped by a multilocular cystic mass filled with clear fluid. This lesion is confined to the peripelvic tissues and does not extend into the parenchyma, which, however, may show the effects of hydronephrosis or pyelonephritis. A 50-year-old man presented with hydronephrosis. An ultrasonography revealed hydronephro-sis of the left kidney. Intravenous pyelography and DMSA ("Tc-Dimercaptosuccinic acid) scan showed nonfunctioning kidney of the same side. Simple left nephrectomy was done. The renal pelvis was mildly dilated and a cyst was found buldging into the renal pelvis. The content was watery clear and the cyst was not connected to the renal pelvis or calyces. The cyst was round unilocular and lined by attenuated single layer of endothelial cells. The endothelial cells showed no reactivity to factor-VIII related antigen. With these findings, we concluded that this cystic lesion is basically lymphatic cyst and hydronephrosis was caused by the compression of pelvic out-flow of the kidney.
Male ; Humans ; Cysts

In order to obtain some informations on the nature and relative activity of the phosphatases present in various helminths, biochemical studies have been made in thirteen kinds of worm parasites including the adults and larvae (Fasciola hepatica, Eurytrema pancreaticum, Paramphistomum sp., Taenia solium, Taenia pisiformis, Dipylidium caninum, Diphyllobothrium mansoni, Cysticercus cellulosae, Cysticercus fasciolaris and Sparganum). A comparison based on the analysis of pH-activity curves was made among these helminths. The worm materials were mostly obtained alive from an abattoir and removed from the organs or tissues of the animal hosts naturally infected. Sparganum and Cysticercus cellulosae, however, are collected from the subcutaneous tissue of the patients by surgical removal. The worms thoroughly washed were weighed and transferred with 0.1 M Tris buffer to a chilled glass grinder (Capacity; 15 ml) and homogenized in the cold. The homogenate was centrifuged at 5000 RPM for 30 minutes. The supernatant was pipetted off for determination of the phosphatase activity. Incubation mixtures consisted of 1 ml substrate, 1 ml buffer and 0.5ml extract. The buffers used were Tris (Hydroxymethyl) aminomethane and citric acid monohydrate and the substrate was paranitrophenyl phosphate (1 gm/25 ml). These mixtures were incubated at the temperature of 37 C for 30 minutes in water bath. The absorbance or transferance of mixture was determined colorimetrically by "Spectronic 20 "spectrophotometer at 410 nm against a distilled water blank. The amount of phenol liberated was then calculated from a standard curve using phenol solutions. Controls consisted of unincubated mixtures. The results were deducted from this experiment. The phosphatase activity occurred over all parasitic helminths used in this experiment. In trematodes, pH-activity curves have demonstrated two peaks of phosphatase activity in Fasciola hepatica and Paramphistomum species. However the acid phosphatase activity was predominantly found and the alkaline phosphatase activity was found distinctly to be low in all three species. In Eurytrema pancreaticum, the pH-activity curves displayed two peaks in acid phosphatase activity, one at pH 5.0 and the other pH 9.0. In cestodes, both alkaline and acid phosphatase activity displayed the pH optima 5.0 and 9.0 to 10.0 in the adult tapeworms. However, major activity in the adults is due to the alkaline phosphtases. In contrast to the adults, Cysticercus and sparganum showed the higher activity in acid phosphatases which predominates in the larvae. In all cases of nematodes, the pH optimum for acid phosphatase was 4.0 to 6.0. A preponderance of acid phosphatase activity was shown in the extract of intestine of Ascaris lumbricoides. The aspect that phosphatases are correlated with phosphorylated passage of substances through the cuticle of helminths and may also be involved in carbohydrate metabolism is discussed.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda-cestoda ; Fasciola hepatica ; Eurytrema pancreaticum ; Paramphistomum sp. ; Taenia solium ; Taenia pisiformis ; Dipylidium caninum ; Diphyllobothrium mansoni ; Cysticercus cellulosae ; Cysticercus fasciolaris ; sparganum ; alkaline phosphatase ; acid phosphatase ; biochemistry

Since the male sterilization (vasectomy) has been performed on a large scale as an accepted family planning in Korea on 1980s and this, in turn, has been followed by an increase in the number of patients requesting vasovasostomy. We studies 1000 consecutive cases of vasovasostomy performed from January 1975 to July 1995 in Pusan National University Hospital. In this report, we are going to present serial studies of vasovasostomy through which we attempted to find out what factors are of impotence in influencing the successful outcome of vasovasostomy operation. We inquired the operative results data through the questionnaire and telephone interview with survey of medical records. A total of 259 cases was excluded due to the loss of follow-up. The overall patency and pregnancy rates of 741 cases were 86.9% and 51.1%, respectively. The age of man at the time of anastomosis ranged from 23 to 57 years old with an average of 34.9. The most frequent reason for requesting vasovasostomy was the desire to have more children (43.4%). The average obstructive interval was 60.6 months with range from 1 to 264 months. If the obstructive interval had been less than S years patency rate was 92.4% and pregnancy rate 64.8%, but 6 years or more 84.1% and 48.5% p<0.01, p<0.01). Patency and pregnancy rates according to intraoperative vas fluid were 93.1% and 62.8% for presence and 83.7% and 53.1% for absence p<0.01, p<0.05). Patency and pregnancy rates according to histologically proven sperm granuloma at vasectomy site were 87.7% and 49.2% for presence and 86.9% and 50.6% for absence (p>0.05, p<0.05). Patency and pregnancy rates were not significantly different between microscopic standard vasovasostomy (88.4%, 64.3%) and modified vasovasostomy (89.5%, 56.3%)(p>0.05, p>0.05). Both patency and pregnancy rates according to level of anastomosis were 89.8% and 59.8% in cases of straight vas and 91.5%, 60.1% in cases of convoluted vats (p>0.05, p>0.05). Patency and pregnancy rates according to the kind of suture materials were 91.5% and 56.2% for absorbable, 91.0% and 64.2% for non-absorbable and 93.3% and 53.3% for absorbable plus non-absorbable, respectively 0>0.05, p<0.05). Thus it is suggested that the important factor influencing the success rate of vasovasostomy is the interval of obstruction and nasal ooze with surgical skills.
Busan ; Child ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Family Planning Services ; Follow-Up Studies ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Korea ; Male ; Medical Records ; Middle Aged ; Pregnancy Rate ; Spermatozoa ; Sterilization, Reproductive ; Sutures ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Vasectomy ; Vasovasostomy ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Human stem cells have been isolated from embryos as well as diverse somatic tissues. Much efforts have been made to apply those stem cells for therapeutic purpose. Molecular dissection of "stemness" and differentiation process will provide us a clue to further understanding of stem cell biology. The fate of stem cell is determined in part by internal regulation mediated by transcriptional control. A set of genes related to specific functions might be expressed and suppressed upon external or internal signaling. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the complete gene expression profile that defines the stem cell. Moreover, we should verify the potential of therapeutic stem cells regarding differentiation, specific function, tumorigenecity, and toxicity rigorously before the clinical application. At present we have only limited information on "stemness" and differentiation into specific lineages. In the genome era, we can draw a molecular portrait on these functional and morphologic changes along the differentiation, trans-differentiation as well as de-differentiation using the DNA chip technology. We need to accumulate database for gene expression at various steps of stem cell differentiation, which will enhance our knowledge for research on and medical application of stem cell.
Biology ; Embryonic Structures ; Gene Expression ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Genome ; Genomics ; Humans ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Stem Cells* ; Transcriptome

"Mig is a gamma interferon-inducible T cell chemoattractant that is a member of the chemokine family of cytokines. In order to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate expression of the Mig gene, we have characterized the Mig gene and compared its structure and regulatory sequences with that of its ciosest IP10 gene. The genomic organization of the Mig gene reveals three introns that interrupt the transcribed sequence into four functional domains with a single ""CAT""- and ""TATA""-like structure. Primer extension analysis was used to identify the transcriptional initiation site that is located 50 bp upstream to the methionine codon that begins the long open reading frame. Comparison of the intron-exon structure of this gene to the gene for IP10 establishes that both genes are interrupted in precisely the same positions within homologous codons. The similarity of the intron-exon structure of the Mig and IP10 genes further support the hypothesis that Mig and IP10 genes have evolved from a common ancestral gene by gene duplication. The 5'-flanking region of Mig gene shows no overall sequence similarity with that from its closest IP10 gene whose production is also affected by gamma interferon. However, there are regions including a sequence with similarity to the NFxB binding site, AP-1 binding site, and ISRE. The r-RF-1 binding site is well conserved from -204 to -194 from the transcription start site in the Mig gene. Given the importance of IFN-r for effective immunity in tuberculosis and induction of Mig and IP10 genes in macrophages by IFN-r, we demonstrated induction of the genes Mig and IP10 with different message levels in the THP-1 human monocytic cell lines stimulated with whole M. tuberculosis. Despite the very similarity in genomic organization and the overlap in biological activities between MIG and IP10, our data described herein further support the suggestion that these chemokines rnay role nonredundantly in vivo. Moreover, our studies done on the Mig gene should provide the structural framework for future studies and begin to dissect cis-acting DNA sequences that are critical for gene regulation mediated by cell surface receptors."
Base Sequence ; Binding Sites ; Cell Line ; Chemokine CXCL9* ; Chemokines ; Codon ; Cytokines ; Gene Duplication ; Genome ; Humans* ; Interferons ; Introns ; Macrophages ; Methionine ; Open Reading Frames ; Transcription Factor AP-1 ; Transcription Initiation Site ; Tuberculosis

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: To provide basic data to help construct regional EMSS. METHOD: Using preformed questionnaire, authors investigated prospectively data of 214 patients transferred directly to emergency medical center from other hospitals from May 11 to june 10,1998. RESULTS: 1. Total 214 patients were transferred directly to the emergency medical center of KNUH (14.4% of total), and 63.5% of patients excluding children were non-traumatic patients. 2. The peak age group was 5th decade (19.6%) with mean age of49.6 years old. The male to female ratio was 1.8 : 1. 3. The period between 08 : 00 to 16 : 00 was the most frequent arrival time of transfer patients (42.5%), and the proportion of patients for surgical departments were more common than those for other departments (53.7%). 4. the majority of patients were transferred from secondary hospitals (91.6%), but among them the proportion of mild non-traumatic and mild traumatic patients was 52.3%, and 72.0%. 5. The decision-maker for transfer was a patient himself or family members in 32.3% of severe and 26.8(/) of mild non-traumatic patients, compared with 37.5% of severe and 26.8% of mild traumatic patients. 6. The physician-to-physician communication prior to the patient's transfer was not carried out in 90.8% of severe and 85.9% of mild non-traumatic patients, compared with 75.0%of severe and 67.0%of mild traumatic patients. 7. The hospital ambulance was the most common mode of transfer (64.5%), but non-emergency vehicles such as a taxi or a private car was used for transfer in 21.5% of severe non-traumatic patients, and 12.5% in severe traumatic patients. 8. Transfer accompanied by medical personnel took place in 15.4% of severe non-traumatic patients, 25.0% in severe traumatic patients, and in 27.0% of severe non-traumatic patients, and 44.4% in severe traumatic patients transferred 4 by hospital ambulance. 9. Transfer took less than 1 hour in 66.9% of non-traumatic patients, and 45.2% of traumatic patients, but it took 1 hour or more in 27.7% of severe non-traumatic patients, and 43.7% of severe traumatic patients. 10. Transfer record accompanied the patient in 90.2% of total, but radiologic film and results of laboratory tests did not in 36.9% and 56.9% of severe non-traumatic patients, and in 12.5% and 43.7% of severe traumatic patients. CONCLUSION: It is considered that an appropriate triage system, interhospital transfer guidelines, good transfer records, cooperative interhospital communication, emergency medical information center, public information with education about regional EMSS, improvement of equipment in ambulance, and training of emergency personnel are necessary for effective and well-organized EMSS.
Ambulances ; Child ; Education ; Emergencies* ; Female ; Humans ; Information Centers ; Male ; Prospective Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Triage