No abstract available.
Antibodies* ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome* ; Humans* ; Immunization*

No abstract available.
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome* ; Pregnancy*

PURPOSE: Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a test with relatively low specificity used for determination of risk for prostate cancer. PSA velocity (PSAV) has been used as a complimentary test. We investigated the association of PSAV with age and an initial PSA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We enrolled 989 healthy men with initial PSA of 4.0ng/ml or lower. The PSA levels were measured at intervals of at least 12 months. We analyzed the influence of age and initial PSA on the PSAV. RESULTS: PSAV was directly correlated with age and the initial PSA. The initial PSA was not correlated with the PSAV when adjusted by age (r=0.009, p=0.773); age was correlated with PSAV when adjusted by initial PSA level (r=0.276, p<0.001). The mean PSAV in cases with initial PSA of 2.1-4.0 ng/ml was significantly greater compared to the cases with an initial PSA of 0-2.0 ng/ml (p<0.01). The ratio of the men with a PSAV greater than 0.75 ng/ml/year was significantly higher in cases with an initial PSA of 2.1-4.0 ng/ml (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: PSAV is associated with age and an initial PSA level in healthy Korean men. Men with initial PSA of 2.1-4.0 ng/ml had an abnormal PSAV in high proportion, and therefore annual follow up PSA would be useful for the early detection of prostate cancer in these cases.
Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Prostate ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Sensitivity and Specificity

No abstract available.
Ovarian Neoplasms*

Atrial septal defect is one of the most common congenital heart diseases in adult, of which absolute causes is not confirmed, but explained by multifactorial inheritance. In Korea, there has been no case report of atrial septal defect in identical twins in spite of some reports of atrial septal defect in relatives and twins in other countries. We present a first case of atrial septal defect in identical twins whose mother had no infection or medication history during pregnancy.
Adult ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial* ; Humans ; Korea ; Mothers ; Multifactorial Inheritance ; Pregnancy ; Twins ; Twins, Monozygotic*

Epinephrine ; Pulmonary Edema

Infantile hemiplegia is the end state of various pathological conditions affecting the cerebral hemisphere before or during birth, or in first few years of life. In 1950, Krynauw first reported that total hemispherectomy could be carried out with beneficial results for infantile hemiplegia with uncontrollable convulsion, temper tantrum and mental deficiency. Hemispherectomy is not suitable for all cases of infantile hemiplegia, but is seems clear that it should be undertaken in any case of established infantile hemiplegia with fits which cannot be controlled by drugs, or in which there is backwardness or deterioration in the patient's intellectual or emotional state. We have recently experienced a 8-year-old boy who was suffering left hemiplegia with intractable epilepsy. Both carotid angiogram and pneumoencephalogram showed right cerebral hemiatrophy. After right hemispherectomy intractable seizure was controlled and personality disorder disappeared completely. But left hemiplegia wasn't definitely improved.
Cerebrum ; Child ; Epilepsy* ; Hemiplegia* ; Hemispherectomy* ; Humans ; Intellectual Disability ; Male ; Parturition ; Personality Disorders ; Seizures

BACKGROUND: The amount of interference due to hemolysis, bilirubin, and lipemia can be measured on the AU5800 autoanalyzer (Beckman Coulter, USA) by spectrophotometry. This is reported as semi-quantitative indices, specifically H-index, I-index, and L-index, respectively. In this study, we evaluated the impact of interference using chemistry assays and established the concentration of interfering substances and HIL-index above which analytically significant interference exists, according to CLSI guidelines C56-A and EP7-A2. METHODS: Pooled sera including different concentrations of analytes were prepared and mixed with hemoglobin, bilirubin, or Intralipid. These samples were then tested for 35 clinical chemistry analytes by AU5800 and the bias based on interferent concentrations was computed. The interferent concentration above which significant interference exists was calculated from the 50% within-subject biological variation (desirable analytic goal), and the corresponding index was assigned. RESULTS: Among 35 items evaluated, interference was detected for 12 analytes by hemoglobin, 7 analytes by bilirubin, and 12 analytes by Intralipid. We proposed HIL-index₁ and HIL-index₂ for each analyte according to 2 different medical decision levels. HIL-index₁ and HIL-index₂ were considered more reasonable criteria than the HIL-index from the manufacturer's technical document (HIL-index(TD)). This is because HIL-index(TD) was empirically set to 5% or 10%, and had a wide tolerance range, which was not sufficient to reflect the presence of interference, compared to HIL-index₁ and HIL-index₂. CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated hemoglobin, bilirubin, and Intralipid interferences according to CLSI guidelines using the desirable analytic goal. Our results provide applicable information for Beckman Coulter automated chemistry analyzers.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Bilirubin ; Chemistry ; Chemistry, Clinical ; Hemolysis* ; Hyperlipidemias* ; Jaundice* ; Spectrophotometry

OBJECTIVES: The differentiation of tuberculous effusion from the other causes of exudative pleural effusion remained difficult even with aids of biochemical analyses and pleural biopsy. As the pathophysiology of tuberculous pleural effusion is an enhanced cell mediated immunity, Adenosine deaminase(ADA) and various cytokines including Inteferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α) are considered as useful diagnostic tools in differentiating exudative pleural effusion The author would like to demonstrate the diagnostic usefulness of TNF-α in the differentiation of exudative pleural effusion, and compared the discriminating ability of TNF-α with ADA. METHODS: Pleural fluids obtained from 80 patients (tuberculous : 39, malignant : 31, parapneumonic : 10) with exudate pleural effusions were processed for cell counts and biochemical analysis including ADA and TNF-α RESULTS: Tuberculous pleural fluid showed higher levee of ADA and TNF-α, 48.7α 32.7U/L and 184.1±214.2pg/mL than that of non-tuberculous effusion 26.0α41.3U/L and 44.1α114.2pg/mL, respectively (ADA, TNF-α : p<0.05, p<0.01). Receiver operating characteristics(ROC) curves were generated for ADA and TNF-α, and the best cut-off value for adenosine deaminase and TNF-α were considered as 30U/L and 15pg/ml, respectively. Comparing the area under the ROC curves, there was no significant difference between ADA and TNF-α CONCLUSION: For the differential diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion from the other causes of exudative pleural effusions, TNF-α as well as ADA was considered as useful diagnostic method. However adding TNF-α to ADA has no further diagnotic benefit than ADA alone.
Adenosine ; Adenosine Deaminase ; Biopsy ; Cell Count ; Cytokines ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Exudates and Transudates ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; Pleural Effusion* ; ROC Curve ; Tuberculosis ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha*

The tracheobronchial histopathologic findings in 7 healthy cats used with high frequency oscillation ventilation (HFOV) were compared with those in 6 cats used with conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV). 4-point, 9-variable scoring system was used to evaluate the injury in the trachea, right & left main bronchi and parenchyma. The following results were obtained; 1) The tracheobronchial tree received HFOV had no significant damage compared with CMV (P>0.05). 2) Intraepithelial mucus loss and emphysema were slightly more prominent in CMV groups. As above results; the tracheobronchial histopathologic difference was not prominent between CMV and HFOV groups received with relatively short period, however, the cellular of function and barotrauma may be more prominent in CMV groups. From now on, as causes of tracheobronchial injury in HFV, interaction between humidification and mechanical trauma considers further study.
Animals ; Barotrauma ; Bronchi ; Cats* ; Emphysema ; High-Frequency Ventilation* ; Mucus ; Respiration, Artificial* ; Trachea ; Trees