No abstract available.
HIV* ; Humans*

To analyze the correlation between biological phenotypes of HIV-1 isolates and disease progression, we selected 9 long-term non-progressors (LTNP) and 12 rapid progressors (RP) from HIV-1 infected Korean. We isolated HIV-1 isolates by culture of PBMC of LTNP and RP with normal PBMC and measured HIV-1 p24 antigen production. The HIV-1 isolation rate from LTNP was 55.6% (5/9). And 4 HIV-1 LTNP isolates were non-syncytium inducing (NSI) phenotype and showed slow/low replication. The HIV-1 isolation rate from RP was 91.7% (l1/12) which was higher than that from LTNP. Besides 3 RP HIV-1 isolates which showed syncytium inducing (SI) phenotype, 8 RP HIV-1 isolates showed NSI phenotype in normal PBMC and MT-2 cell line. All RP HIV-1 isolates replicated more rapidly than LTNP HIV-1 isolates. Comparing the replication kinetics and syncytium forming capacity of HIV-1 isolates from LTNP and RP, we suggest that the difference of biological phenotype of HIV-1 isolates could be related with disease progression of HIV-1 infected persons.
Cell Line ; Disease Progression ; Giant Cells ; HIV-1* ; Humans ; Kinetics ; Korea* ; Phenotype

No abstract available.
Amino Acid Sequence* ; HIV* ; Phenotype*

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: We attempted to identify the prostatitis in men with elevated serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, and also determined whether treatment with antibiotics lowers serum PSA, resulting in decreases of the frequency of prostatic biopsies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Men with lower urinary tract symptoms, and serum PSA greater than 4ng/ml, were evaluated for the presence of prostatitis. Prostatitis was defined as over 20 white blood cells in expressed prostatic secretions. Patients with prostatitis were treated with a 4-week course of antibiotics. Patient without signs of prostatitis underwent transrectal biopsies. PSA blood tests and prostatic massages were repeated 4 weeks later. Patients with PSA levels greater than 25ng/ml were excluded. RESULTS: Of the 49 patients with elevated PSA levels (with a mean PSA level of 9.26ng/ml), 29 (59%) had the laboratory signs of prostatitis. In 18 patients (62%) with prostatitis, the serum PSA level decreased to below 4ng/ml (mean 2.73ng/ml) after treatment. The remaining 11 patients with prostatitis, and the 20 patients without, underwent sextant transrectal ultrasound guided biopsies; which resulted in pathologic confirmation of prostate cancer in 3 out of the 11 patients with prostatitis, and in 4 (20%) out of the 20 patients without. Screening for prostatitis decreased the frequency of a prostatic biopsy by 32.7%. CONCLUSIONS: In over half of the patients with elevated serum PSA levels, the clinical evaluation revealed evidence of prostatitis. The treatment of prostatitis in this study decreased prostate biopsies by 32.7%. We suggest that screening for prostatitis in patients with elevated PSA levels, and it subsequent treatment can decrease the percentage of negative biopsies.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Biopsy* ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Leukocytes ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Prostate* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen* ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Prostatitis* ; Ultrasonography

Methanol and/or boiling water extraction of 201 natural products and subsequent MTT assay using MT-4 cell line was carried out to screen the anti-HIV-1 activity. Among 97 methanol extracts, 7 extracts from Chrysanthemi Indicium Flos, Magnoliae Cortex Machili Cortex, Reynoutriae Rhizoma, Lithospermi Radix Agastachis Herba, and Chaenomelis Fructus showed anti-HIV-1 activity and their SI value were 2.25 to 5.77. In addition, among 119 boiling water extracts, 10 extracts from Lonicerae Caulis et Foloium, Elsholtziae Herba, Leonuri Herba, Portulacae Herba, Schizonepetae Herba, Curcumae Rhizoma, Amomi Cardamomi Fructus, Cirsii Radix et Herba, Carpesii Herba, and Siegesbeckiae Herba showed anti-HIV-1 activity and their SI value were 1.30 to 7.64. Methanol extracts of above seven natural products were fractionated and the anti-HRs_1 activity of each fraction was examined. Extraction was carried out with hexane, chloroform, butanol, and water to trace active anti-HIV-1 componets. As a result, the water fraction of Magnoliae Cortex, Machili Cortex, Reynoutriae Rhizoma, Agastachis Herba, Chaenomelis Fructus and the butanol fraction of Chrysanthemi Indicium Flos, Reynoutriae Rhizoma showed anti-HIV-1 activity and their SI value were 1.40 to 8.02. We could reach a conclusion that studies to trace the anti-HIV-1 active component of each natural products in further Sractionation and to identify its structure by Infrared spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography were needed.
Biological Products ; Cell Line ; Chloroform ; Chromatography, Gel ; Curcuma ; Lamiaceae ; Lithospermum ; Lonicera ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Magnolia ; Mass Screening* ; Methanol ; Portulaca ; Spectrum Analysis ; Water

To examine AZT resistance of HIV-1 isolates from AZT treated or untreated Korean, several biological characteristics such as syncytium formation, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activity and the p24 antigen production in MT-2 cells infected with 4 HRT_1 isolates were determined. As controls, we tested HIV-1 HTLV-IIIB and pre-drug isolate as AZT susceptible strains, in addition to HIV-1 RTMC/MT-2 and post-drug isolate as AZT resistant strains. When the inoculum size of HIV-1 was 300 TCID50well and 100 TCID50/well, the AZT susceptibility of AZT untreated HIV-1 isolates 8806 and 9571 were similar to that of HIV-1 HTLV-IIIB and AZT-susceptible HIV-1 strains. When we evaluated AZT resistance of isolates HRs-1 8812 and 9113 treated with AZT for 36 months by observation of syncytium formation, HIV-1 8812 showed resistance simillar to that of HIV-1 RTMC/MT-2 strain forming syncytium up to AZT 1microgram/ml, and HIV-1 9113 showed resistance identical with that of AZT-resistant HIV-1 strain which formed syncytium up to AZT 10 microgram/ml. Especially, when we evaluated AZT resistance by HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activty and the p24 antigen production, HIV-1 isolates 8812 and 9113 showed much higher resistance (>10 - 200 fold) compared with HN-1 RTMC/MT-2 and AZT-resistant HIV-1 strain.
Giant Cells ; HIV-1* ; Korea* ; Population Characteristics ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Zidovudine*

PURPOSE: There are no clear-cut guidelines of how to treat patients who have failed after a tension-free midurethral sling (MUS) procedure. We describe our experience with repeat MUS procedures and transvaginal shortening of the previously implanted tape for those patients with an initially failed MUS procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of the patients who failed with their initial MUS procedure and then had a second operation. Of the 20 women, 14 patients had repeat MUS and another 6 patients underwent shortening of the implanted tape. Repeated MUS was done by either the retropubic or transobturator pathway. Shortening of the tape was done with a metal hemoclip to shorten the previously implanted tape. The preoperative characteristics and the intraoperative and postoperative data were assessed by reviewing the operative notes, medical records and office notes. RESULTS: The mean interval between the first and repeat procedures was 8.4 months (range: 1-48). The mean follow up time after the second operation was 29.9 months (range: 7-70). Seven patients underwent repeat MUS instead of tape shortening because the implanted tape had migrated or severe adhesions were noted on the intraoperative findings. Ten (71.4%) of 14 patients who underwent repeat MUS achieved full continence, while 4 patients (28.6%) had significant improvement. Of the patients with tape shortening, 4 (66.6%) achieved full continence, one (16.7%) improved and one (16.7%) was failed. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our limited experience, a repeat MUS sling procedure or tension revision of the tape might be an effective treatment for the patients with failed MUS.
Animals ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Mice ; Reoperation ; Suburethral Slings* ; Treatment Failure ; Urinary Incontinence*

BACKGROUND: High-resolution carotid ultrasonography is considered a fundamental technique for the investigation of the vascular system. However, it is still very unclear whether ultrasonographic studies of carotid arteries are useful for the prediction of cardiovascular events in patients with coronary heart disease. We have tried to assess the usefulness of carotid ultrasonography to predict the severity of coronary artery stenosis in the patients with ischemic heart disease. METHODS: We studied in 80 patients(53 men, 27 women) with acute chest pain, mean ages 63.1 10.8 yr(35 to 84 yrs), who underwent both coronary angiography and carotid ultrasonography with 10 MHz transducer. The patients who had received revascularization procedure were excluded. We classified the patients into two groups, the control group without significant coronary stenosis(23 patients) and the coronary artery disease(CAD) group(57 patients) with significant stenosis(>50%). The intima-media thickness (IMT) was measured in the far wall of CCA at 10 mm proximal to carotid bulb and the abnormal IMT was defined when the measurement was greater than mean IMT+2 SD of control group(>0.99 mm). Serum total cholesterolQlC), low density lipoprotein(LDL), high density lipoprotein(HDL), triglyceride(TG) and lipoprotein (a) (LP(a)) were measured and history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking were investigated. RESULTS: A significant difference in IMT of the CCA was found between control and CAD group(0.75+/-0.12mm vs. 1.02+/-0.34 mm; p<0.001). Also a significant difference in the existence of plaque(control; 26.1% vs. CAD; 73.7%, p<0.00l) and the number of plaque(control; 0.39+/-0.94 vs. CAD; 2.20+/-1.87 p<0.001) was found. The existence and number of carotid plaque were more conelated with coronary artery stenosis severity than carotid IMT. The sensitivity of IMT for prediction of significant CAD was 42.1%, the specificity 95.7%, the positive predictive value 96%, and the negative predictive value 40%. The sensitivity of plaque presence on the carotid artery for prediction of CAD was 73.7%, the specificity 73.9%, the positive predictive value 87.5% and the negative predictive value 53.1%. Among the risk factors, age and LP(a) were correlated with IMT of CCA, and diabetes, hypertension, age were correlated with the presence of plaque. Smoking and hypertension were correlated with coronary artery disease. CONCLUSION: Carotid atherosclerosis was significantly correlated with severity of coronary atherosclerosis. We therefore suggest that carotid ultrasonography is useful to predict the severity of coronary artery stenosis and that the best index of coronary artery stenosis severity may be carotid plaque rather than carotid intima-media thickness.
Carotid Arteries ; Carotid Artery Diseases ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Disease ; Coronary Stenosis* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Lipoprotein(a) ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Transducers ; Ultrasonography*

PURPOSE: This study was a within subject repeated pretest-posttest design done to compare the effect of disinfection and the degree of MRSA(Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) isolation from hand disinfectant in ICU nurses. METHOD: Out of the total internal medicine/surgery ICU nurses at a university hospital in Seoul, 29 female nurses who were participating in direct patient care were participants in this study. After collection of samples, Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA were isolated from the palms, nails and nasal cavities of the nurses according to disinfectants (soap and beta-scrub). RESULTS: The effect of disinfection was greater in the beta-scrub group than in the soap group, and the effect of disinfection on palms was higher in the beta-scrub group than in the soap group. As for the degree of MRSA isolation, there was more isolation in palms in the soap group than in the beta-scrub group but there was no difference in the degree of MRSA isolation from the hand disinfectant in nails and nasal cavities. CONCLUSION: Beta-scrub showed a superior prolonged effect against transient bacteria compared with soap. Further, to reduce MRSA infection, we recommend interventions focused on these aspects.
Bacteria ; Disinfectants ; Disinfection* ; Female ; Hand* ; Humans ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Nasal Cavity ; Patient Care ; Seoul ; Soaps ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus aureus