The nonstructural protein 4 (NSP4) of rotavirus encoded by gene 10, plays an important role in rotavirus pathogenicity. In this study, NSP4 gene sequences of human rotaviruses circulating in Seoul, Korea between March 2004 and April 2005 were determined. The nucleotide sequence data indicated that the NSP4 genes of human rotavirus Korean isolates were 750 or 751 bases in length and encoded one open reading frame of 175 amino acids with two glycosylation sites. The NSP4 of Korean isolates exhibited amino acid sequence homologies between 59.4% and 98.9%. The NSP4 of CAU4 and CAU15 showed a high degree of amino acid sequence homologies with NSP4 genotype A viruses, but the NSP4 of CAU5, CAU6, CAU11, CAU14, CAU16 and CAU22 exhibited a high degree of amino acid sequence homologies with NSP4 genotype B viruses. Interestingly, CAU3 and CAU7 showed low degree of amino acid sequence homology with those of currently described NSP4 genotypes A to D and belonged a distinct lineage on the phylogenetic tree. These findings suggests that distinct NSP4 type was circulating among human rotavirus strains in the local community of Seoul and raising intriguing questions regarding possible explanations for new genotype.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Amino Acids ; Base Sequence ; Genetic Variation* ; Genotype ; Glycosylation ; Herpesvirus 1, Cercopithecine ; Humans* ; Korea ; Open Reading Frames ; Rotavirus* ; Seoul* ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Virulence

Traumatic cardiac injury is an extremely serious medical condition. It is possible to overlook a cardiac injury where there is no chest wall trauma. We here report the 47-year-old woman who got a crach car accident and had a tear of the right atrium. The distortion force from a decelerating injury may cause cardiac rupture at a fixed point. The most common symptom that alerts the clinician to a potentially fatal cardiac injury is the change in vital signs. Therefore cardiac injury should be considered in any patient with unexplained hypotension who has experienced decelerating trauma, even without external injury to the chest wall.
Accidents, Traffic* ; Female ; Heart Atria* ; Heart Rupture ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Middle Aged ; Rupture* ; Thoracic Wall ; Vital Signs

Leukocytoclastic vasculitis (LV) is a systemic inflammatory disorder involving the small vessels. The exact cause of LV remains unknown, yet malignancy has been considered as a causative factor for LV. We experienced a 60-year-old male with purpura on his extremities. Computed tomography of the chest showed a mass lesion that was suspected to be a non-small-cell lung cancer and the biopsy revealed an adenosquamous carcinoma. There has been no report of LV associated with adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung in Korea. Thus, we report here on this case along with a review of the relevant articles.
Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; Extremities ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Purpura ; Thorax ; Vasculitis ; Vasculitis, Leukocytoclastic, Cutaneous

Lymphangioma is a developmental anomaly that is known to occur in the neck and axilla, and only rarely in the mediastinum, retroperitoneum, groin and pelvis. An isolated chest wall lymphangioma is a rare benign neoplasm. In case of large sized lymphangioma, surgical excision is preferably recommended as the treatment of choice. We operated on a three-year old female for excision of chest wall. In pathologic diagnosis, it diagnosed the mass as chest wall lymphangioma.
Axilla ; Child* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Groin ; Humans ; Lymphangioma ; Lymphangioma, Cystic* ; Mediastinum ; Neck ; Pelvis ; Thoracic Wall* ; Thorax*

Lymphangioma is a developmental anomaly that is known to occur in the neck and axilla, and only rarely in the mediastinum, retroperitoneum, groin and pelvis. An isolated chest wall lymphangioma is a rare benign neoplasm. In case of large sized lymphangioma, surgical excision is preferably recommended as the treatment of choice. We operated on a three-year old female for excision of chest wall. In pathologic diagnosis, it diagnosed the mass as chest wall lymphangioma.
Axilla ; Child* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Groin ; Humans ; Lymphangioma ; Lymphangioma, Cystic* ; Mediastinum ; Neck ; Pelvis ; Thoracic Wall* ; Thorax*

BACKGROUND: Pathologic confirmation is needed to diagnose various forms of interstitial lung diseases. We wanted to find out how much the thoracic surgical lung biopsies will be needed for definite diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 17 patients underwent surgical lung biopsy in the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, Gyeongsang National University Hospital from June 1995 to November 2002. Chart review and telephone questionnaire were done for retrospective study. RESULT: Mean age was 49+/-22 years. Age ranged from 1 to 70 years. Dyspnea was the most common complaint. They were referred for definite differClinical Evaluation of Instrumental ential diagnosis from pediatrics and internal medicine. Biopsy methods were thoracotomy in 11 cases, and thoracoscopy in 6 cases. Pathologic confirmation was possible in 11 cases (65%). According to the pathologic reports, treatment plans were changed in 13 cases (76%). CONCLUSION: Surgical lung biopsy was effective method in differentiating diagnosis of the interstitial lung disease. There was no mortality during operation. It is important that undiagnosed fibrous lung disease should be recommanded the lung biopsy for planning patient's treatment.
Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential* ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Lung ; Lung Diseases ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial* ; Mortality ; Pediatrics ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Retrospective Studies ; Telephone ; Thoracoscopy ; Thoracotomy

Intrapulmonary aberrant needle is rarely encountered in clinical practice. Even if the patient is asymptomatic, the aberrant needle should be removed because it can migrate into the major organs and cause lung abscess or empyema. We report here on 2 cases of successfully removed intrapulmonary aberrant needle, along with a review of the literature.
Empyema ; Foreign Bodies* ; Humans ; Lung Abscess ; Needles

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC) are the major histological types of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Although both SCCs and ACs have been characterized histologically and clinically, the precise mechanisms underlying their migration and invasion are not yet known. Here, we address the involvement in NSCLC of the p21-associated kinase1 (Pak1)/LIM kinase1 (LIMK1)/cofilin pathway, which recently has been reported to play a critical role in tumor migration and invasion. The Pak1/LIMK1/cofilin pathway was evaluated in tumors from SCC (n=35) and AC (n=35) patients and in SCC- and AC-type cell lines by western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and in vitro migration and invasion assays. The levels of phosphorylated Pak1, LIMK1, and cofilin in lung tumor tissues from SCC patients were increased as compared to normal tissues. In addition, immunohistochemistry showed greater expression of phosphorylated cofilin in SCC tissues. Expression of phosphorylated Pak1 and LIMK1 proteins was also significantly higher in SCC-type cells than in AC-type cells. Moreover, migration and invasion assays revealed that a higher percentage of SCC type cells exhibited migration and invasion compared to AC type cells. Migration was also decreased in LIMK1 knockdown SK-MES-1 cells. These findings suggest that the activation of the Pak1/LIMK1/cofilin pathway could preferentially contribute to greater tumor migration and invasion in SCC, relative to that in AC.
Adenocarcinoma ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cell Line ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Proteins

Single-channel recordings of TASK-1 and TASK-3, members of two-pore domain K+ channel family, have not yet been reported in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, even though their mRNA and activity in whole-cell currents have been detected in these neurons. Here, we report single-channel kinetics of the TASK-3-like K+ channel in DRG neurons and up-regulation of TASK-3 mRNA expression in tissues isolated from animals with spinal cord injury (SCI). In DRG neurons, the single-channel conductance of TASK-3-like K+ channel was 33.0+/-0.1 pS at -60 mV, and TASK-3 activity fell by 65+/-5% when the extracellular pH was changed from 7.3 to 6.3, indicating that the DRG K+ channel is similar to cloned TASK-3 channel. TASK-3 mRNA and protein levels in brain, spinal cord, and DRG were significantly higher in injured animals than in sham-operated ones. These results indicate that TASK-3 channels are expressed and functional in DRG neurons and the expression level is up-regulated following SCI, and suggest that TASK-3 channel could act as a potential background K+ channel under SCI-induced acidic condition.
Acidosis ; Animals ; Brain ; Clone Cells ; Diagnosis-Related Groups ; Ganglia, Spinal ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Kinetics ; Neurons ; Rats ; RNA, Messenger ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Spinal Nerve Roots ; Up-Regulation