No abstract available.
Sepsis*

The present study investigated the prevalence rate of Cryptosporidium parvum as a cause of diarrhea. We examined 942 stools of unidentified reasons occurring in patients in whom no immunosuppression had been detected. We examined the stools for Cryptosporidium parvum via modified acid-fast staining. The clinical records of all of the positive patients were then analyzed. Nine (1%) of the stools among the 942 diarrheal patients were positive for C. parvum. The positive rate in the males was 1.1% (6/522) and the positive rate of the females was 0.7% (3/420). Age distribution revealed that the highest positive rates were in patients in their sixties, with a positive rate of 2.5% (4/158). In the clinical tests, levels of c-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, and neutrophil proportions were normally increased in the peripheral blood, whereas the lymphocyte proportion exhibited a tendency towards decrease. The pathological findings were compatible with an inflammatory reaction in the host.
Adult ; Aged ; Animals ; Child, Preschool ; Cryptosporidiosis/*epidemiology/immunology ; *Cryptosporidium/isolation & purification ; Cryptosporidium parvum/isolation & purification ; Diarrhea/*epidemiology/immunology/parasitology ; Feces/parasitology ; Female ; HIV Seronegativity ; Humans ; Immunocompetence ; Korea/epidemiology ; Lymphocyte Count ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Staining and Labeling

Intrathecal administration of methotrexate(IT-MTX) has constituted the standard approach to prophylaxis and treatment of central nevous system(CNS) leukemia. We experienced a quadriplegia and motor aphasia in a 14-year-old boy following repeated IT-MTX for the prophylaxis of meningeal leukemia. He was diagnosed as ALL without CNS involvement and treated by CCG- 1882 protocol. IT-MTX was administered for CNS prophylaxis. The patient began complaining of urinary incontinence, motor aphasia and weakness in his right leg from 12 days after the 5th dose of the IT-MTX therapy. Even though the IT-MTX was discontinued, loss of muscle power progressed upward resulting in quadriplegia. The patient showed slow and partial recovery on right extremities over 3 months. We report this case with brief review of literature.
Adolescent ; Aphasia, Broca* ; Extremities ; Humans ; Leg ; Leukemia ; Male ; Methotrexate* ; Quadriplegia* ; Urinary Incontinence

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The introduction of Hansenula polymorpha for recombinant hepatitis B vaccine production allowed high product yield with plasmid stability and less glycosylation than conventional Saccharomyces cerevisiae system. A Green Cross HG-II vaccine formulated from HBsAg produced by a recombinant strain of the yeast H. polymorpha was evaluated for immunogenicity and safety in an open label triaL METHOFD: A 20 ug dose of Green Cross HG-II vaccine was administered intramuscularly at 0, 1 and 6 months at the deltoid region in 118 healthy adults seronegative for HBV markers. The anti-HBs titers were determined at one month after administration of the third dose of vaccine by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: The seroconversion rate was 96.8% (90 out of 93), with seroprotective rate of 95.7% (89 out of 93). The geometric mean titers(GMT) of the anti-HBs response was 153.1mIU/ml in seroconverters. An age-dependent effect was observed in the anti-HBs response. But sex-dependent effect was not prominent. Reactogenecity was in incidence and general reactions were short-lasting and a mainly mild in severity. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study have shown that the Green Cross HG-II vaccine is safe and clinically well tolerated, a nd that it may provide protection against HBV infection.
Adult* ; Glycosylation ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B Vaccines* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Pichia ; Plasmids ; Radioimmunoassay ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; Yeasts

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to present our thoughts on the medical student evaluation of the courses via online at Konkuk University School of Medicine (KUSM) and to prompt us to improve the course evaluation system. METHODS: Electronic questionnaire for computer-aided course evaluation via online was completed by 93 medical students who attended 32 block lectures at KUSM in 2007. The questionnaire consisted of 21 evaluation items. Frequency analysis of response on the evaluation items was conducted to find out the key features. RESULTS: Evaluation forms for 32 lectures were received from the attendees via online. An average response rate was 63.8%. Among 17 Likert-scaled items, more negative response was observed in class quantity, studying method guidance, lecture note, teaching methods, and relevance of final examination. CONCLUSION: The current course evaluation at KUSM includes more questions that request students to state the overall quality of course modules than the detailed quality or skill of each lecturer. As the objective of the course evaluation is to promote students' learning and to give a feedback to the lecturer, the current consideration on the course evaluation prompted us to reorganize the design of the questionnaire according to the objective.
Educational Measurement ; Electronic Mail ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Humans ; Learning ; Lectures ; Program Evaluation ; Students, Medical ; Teaching ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to compare and quantify the expressions of RANK and RANKL in the gingival tissues of non-periodontitis patient and patients with chronic periodontitis, in order to understand the contribution of these proteins to periodontal destruction. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Gingival tissue samples were obtained during periodontal surgery or tooth extraction. According to the patient's systemic condition & clinical criteria of gingiva, each gingival sample was divided into two groups. Group 1 (n=8) is clinically healthy gingiva without bleeding and no evidence of bone resorption or periodontal pockets, obtained from non-periodontitis patients. Group 2 (n=8) is inflammed gingiva from patients with chronic periodontitis. Tissue samples were prepared and analyzed by Western blotting. The quantification of RANK and RANKL were performed using a densitometer and statistically analyzed by Student's t-Test. RESULTS: The expression of RANK were similar in group 1 and 2. The difference between group 1 and 2 was not statistically significant. And the mean amount of RANKL was more increased in group 2 than group 1. The difference between group 1 and group 2 was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The expression level of RANK didn't show any significant difference between healthy tissue from non-periodontitis patients and inflamed tissue from chronic periodontitis, but the expression level of RANKL in inflammed tissue from chronic periodontitis showed significantly increased tendency compared to healthy gingiva from non-periodontitis patients. Threrefore, characteristics of RANK and RANKL in progress of chronic periodontitis would be basis of further studies in diagnostic method and treatment index of the disease.
Blotting, Western ; Bone Resorption ; Chronic Periodontitis* ; Gingiva ; Hemorrhage ; Humans* ; Periodontal Pocket ; Tooth Extraction

Various anatomical defects have been described in the surviving twin who had a stillborn, macerated monozygotic co-twin with Disseminated Intravascular Coargulation. The etiology is thought to be placental transfer of emboli or thromboplastic material through placental vascular anastomoses. We experienced a case of monozygotic twin with deceased co-twin at 30 weeks of gestation and confirmed to have antenatal periventricular germinal matrix and intraventricular hemorrhage, multicystic periventricular leukomalacia and diffuse encephalomalacia by neurosonography on first day of life despite of no clinical evidence of brain damage. The pathologic findings of placenta revealed infarct with massive fibrin deposition. A brief review of related literature is presented.
Brain* ; Encephalomalacia ; Fibrin ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Leukomalacia, Periventricular ; Placenta ; Pregnancy ; Twins ; Twins, Monozygotic*

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using crude and affinity-purified antigens of adult worms of Paragonimus westermani was performed for infected cat sera with different worm burden, from preinfection to 18th week after infection. Crude antigen was used with supernatant of homogenated worms by freezing-thawing method, and the supernate was centrifuged for l hour at 10,000 rpm at 4C. Affinity-purified antigen (antibody-bound antigen) was prepared from fractions (bound and unbound) of crude antigen by affinity chromatography on CNBr-activated sepharose 4B, and IgG as a ligand was prepared from paragonimiasis cat serum (6 months infected) obtained by ammonium sulfate (40-45 per cent saturated) precipitation method. By SDS-PAGE, crude antigen showed 22 polypeptide fractions while purified antigen showed 4 fractions: 36, 400, 34,700,27,600 and 11,500 in molecular weights. All cats were divided into five groups(G1-G5) by different worm burdens. The mean of recovered worms (+/-SD) and the number of cats in each group are as follows:G1, 2 worms(0) and 4 cats; G2, 4.75(+/-0.66) and eight; G3, 10.75(+/-1.92) and four; G4, 25.20(+/-3.43) and five; G5, 48(+/-12.63) and five cats. The results were summarized as follows: The antibody levels(OD value) increased by worm burden in G1 to G4 generally. However, individual antibody levels were not exactly related with worm burden in all groups, especially there was a wide difference in G4 and G5. These results suggested that the worm burden in G4 (about 20 - 30 worms) is enough to produce antibody maximum in cats of 2~3 kg weight. The antibody levels increased significantly (p<0.05) compared to control sera at the 3rd week in G1 and G2, at the 2nd week in G3, and at the 1st week in G4 and G5. Especially in the 4th week, OD value increased more in G1(p<0.001) and in G2 to G5(p<0.01). In the pattern of antibody levels by ELISA in each group, OD in G1 increased to the 18th week continuously, in G2 OD was maintained same after the 16th week, but in G3 it decresed after the 16th week, and it was maintained same in G4 and G5 after the 14th week. The antibody levels by ELISA with the affinity-purified antigen were higher than those with crude antigen in all groups generally. Especially, the difference of OD values between two antigens was larger from the 4th to the 10th week. In G1 and G2 OD with purified antigen was higher than that with crude one to the 18th week. It was also higher in G3 than that with crude antigen to the 16th week and OD of G4 and G5 were higher before the 14th week than that with crude antigen, however became lower at the 16th week. Consequently, the antibody level in ELISA with affinity-purified antigen was more sensitive at the early weeks after infection and in light infection groups than that with crude antigen.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; immunology ; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ; Paragonimus westermani ; paragonimiasis ; cat

No abstract available.
Dexamethasone*

No abstract available.