Accessory renal artery (ARA) is a kind of developmental anomaly in renal artery. It is important in respect to clinical medicine, for example primary hypertension, renovascular disease, inferior vena caval obstruction, ureteral obstruction, occurrence of other vascular anomalies such as accessory renal veins, surgical importance and renal transplantation. However, up to few research of ARA was reported in dissection of cadavers. In our dissecting theater, 12 accessory renal arteries for 10 cadavers were found during dissection the 22 cadavers from 1995 to 1996. 1. Two cases were bilateral and 8 cases were unilateral accessory renal arteries. 2. Seven cases were left and 5 cases were right accessory renal arteries. 3. Two cases originated at the abdominal aorta between celiac trunk and superior mesenteric artery, 7 cases originated between superior mesenteric artery and inferior mesenteric artery, and 3 cases originated below inferior mesenteric artery. 4. Seven cases have no branches during their courses, 4 cases have 3 branches, and a case has 2 branches. 5. Seven cases entered into renal parenchyma through renal hilum, 5 cases entered into apical and arterosuperior segments, and 6 cases entered into inferior segment.
Aorta, Abdominal ; Cadaver ; Clinical Medicine ; Hypertension, Renovascular ; Kidney Transplantation ; Mesenteric Arteries ; Mesenteric Artery, Inferior ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior ; Renal Artery* ; Renal Veins ; Ureteral Obstruction

Background: A clinician reported unusually high incidence of A. xylosoxidans isolation from aspirated tissues in outpatient clinic. Methods: A. xylosoxidans isolates from January 2002 to June 2002 were investigated. The infection control nurse reviewed medical records and observed the procedures of tissue aspiration and culture at the clinical microbiology laboratory. Specimens were obtained for investigational cultures from dye, aspiration gun, slide alcohol sponge, tray, sink. water of sink, buffer solution, microscope, computer, and telephone. Results: A. xyloxosidans was isolated from twenty-four patients during 6 months. None of 24 cases had any typical signs or symptoms of infections by A. xylosoxidans. Observation of tissue aspiration and culture procedure revealed that buffer solution was used for prevention of specimen drying after tissue aspiration. Culture of the buffer solution yielded a heavy growth of A. xylosoxidans from four out of ten specimens. A. xylosoxidans was not isolated from any other investigational specimens. Conclusions: This was supposed to represent pseudoepidemic. Contaminated buffer solution was documented as the cause of this pseudoepidemic. The usage of buffer solution was stopped. During the follow-up period of 2 months, no additional A. Xylosoxidans was cultured from aspirated tissues.
Alcaligenes* ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infection Control ; Medical Records ; Methods ; Porifera ; Telephone ; Water

PURPOSE: Pertussis is a highly communicable infectious disease in children with high mortality, especially in young infants. The incidence of pertussis in South Korea has decreased to about 10 cases a year in late '90s. Doubting previously reported incidences of pertussis, we designed this study to establish exact epidemiology and a diagnostic basis of pertussis. METHODS: From Mar. 2000 to Mar. 2001, polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and cultures of nasopharyngeal aspirates were taken from 49 patients who were clinically suspected of pertussis in Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital. RESULTS:Among 49 patients suspected of pertussis, 10 cases showed positive results by PCR method. Four out of those 10 cases were positive in culture. The peak outbreak was noticed in the spring(Mar.-May) and the autumn(Sep.-Nov.). The mean age of the patients was 3.6 months. Eight of the 10 cases which were PCR positive results proved not to be immunized against pertussis. CONCLUSION: Most of the pertussis patients in our study were diagnosed as bronchiolitis, pneumonia or bronchitis at the beginning of the disease and only a few patients showed typical clinical manifestations of pertussis, including whooping. When the above results are taken together, we suggest the possibility that the actual prevalence of pertussis in South Korea might be higher than that of previous reports. The importance of pertussis screen tests should be emphasized in children with severe coughs.
Bronchiolitis ; Bronchitis ; Child* ; Communicable Diseases ; Cough ; Epidemiology ; Heart ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Korea ; Mortality ; Pneumonia ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; Whooping Cough*

BACKGROUND: Although heart transplantation is the only therapeutic modality for patients with end-stage heart disease, immunosuppressive therapy to reduce organ rejection may increase the risk of infection in transplant patients. Little is known regarding infectious complications in heart transplant recipients in Korea. Thus, this study was performed to evaluate the clinical features and outcome of infectious complications in patients receiving heart transplantation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed by reviewing medical records of patients who underwent heart transplantation from December 1996 to October 2008 in Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. RESULTS: A total of 72 cardiac allograft recipients were included in the analysis. Median follow-up duration was 417 (range, 2-3995) days. During the follow-up period, 75 infectious complications occurred in 39 (54.2%) recipients, of which 31 cases (41.3%) were caused by bacteria, 28 (37.3%) by viruses, 10 (13.3%) by fungi, 4 (5.4%) by Pneumocystis jirovecii, and 2 (2.7%) by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Median onset time of bacterial, viral and fungal infection were 153, 106 and 68 days, respectively. The most common site of infection was lung (n=26, 34.7%), followed by gastrointestinal tract (n=11, 14.7%) and oral cavity (n=9, 12%). All patients were sero-positive for cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific IgG before transplantation and received preemptive therapy of CMV infection. After heart transplantation, 44 (63.8%) patients experienced CMV reactivation identified by CMV antigenemia and 9 (13%) patients had organ-specific CMV diseases. The overall mortality rate was 33.3% (24/72). Infectious complications were the most common cause of death (n=10, 41.7%). The operative risk factors for death were lung infection, fungal infection and bloodstream infection. CONCLUSIONS: In the current study, the lung was the most common site of infection and bacteria were the most frequent etiologic pathogens among heart transplant recipients. Infectious complications, especially fungal infections were the most common causes of death. Prevention strategies against fungal infections should be evaluated in the future studies.
Bacteria ; Cause of Death ; Cohort Studies ; Cytomegalovirus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fungi ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Heart ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Transplantation ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Korea ; Lung ; Medical Records ; Mouth ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Pneumocystis jirovecii ; Rejection (Psychology) ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Transplants

Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculitis of unknown causes that occurs predominantly in infants and young children and produces coronary artery aneurysm. We have recently experienced a case of persistent Kawasaki disease in a 24 month-old-girl improved with pulsed doses of methylprednisolone. Even with an administration of intravenous gamma globulin(IVIG), she repeated the course of recovery and aggravation. After four times repeated doses of IVIG, additional intravenous methylprednisolone pulse therapy was tried and resulted in remarkable improvement. We reported the case with a brief review of the related literature.
Aneurysm ; Child ; Coronary Vessels ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous ; Infant ; Methylprednisolone* ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Vasculitis

No abstract available.
Aspergillosis* ; Autopsy* ; Humans ; Lupus Nephritis* ; Tuberculosis*

Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is an uncommon pathogen in human, which causes zoonotic infection. The most common type of human disease with E. rhusiopathiae is a localized skin infection (erysipeloed). E. rhusiopathiae endocarditis is very rare, which usually develops in normal heart valves and causes a variety of complications leading to valve replacement. We described a case of E. rhusiopathiae endocarditis which developed in a 56-year-old man without a predisposing valvular heart disease. In this case, aortic valve and mitral valve were involved and emergency valve replacement was required, which improved patient's condition markedly. Intravenous therapy with penicillin G and subsequent ceftriaxone were given for 8 weeks after surgery and he was recovered without relapse.
Aortic Valve ; Ceftriaxone ; Emergencies ; Endocarditis* ; Erysipelothrix* ; Heart Valve Diseases ; Heart Valves ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mitral Valve ; Penicillin G ; Recurrence ; Skin ; Zoonoses

Four Gram-positive cocci were isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid or blood of four different patients, but they could not be identified by an automated conventional identification system, so they were identified using cellular fatty acid (CFA) composition analysis and 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. Of these, two strains (SMC-A2662 and SMC-A5889), which were previously supposed to be Rothia dentocariosa according to the API Coryne system, were identified as Rothia aeria by the 16S rRNA gene analysis. SMC-A608, which was unidentified by both the VITEK2 and API Coryne systems, was identified as Rothia mucilaginosa. The one remaining SMC-2244T was distinguished from the other Rothia species by its biochemical profile, its CFA composition and its 16S rRNA gene sequence. Phylogenetic analysis showed that it was closely related to Rothia nasimurium but the 16S rRNA gene sequence dissimilarity of 1.8% was enough to differentiate it from R. nasimurium. Based on both the phenotypic and phylogenetic evidence, we propose a new species name for this bacterium, Rothia arfidiae sp. nov. The results of this study show that several Rothia species were isolated from human and we have identified them using 16S rRNA gene sequences.
Genes, rRNA ; Gram-Positive Cocci ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to evaluate the public's awareness of the importance of hand washing and to compare perceptions on the habit of hand washing with actual hand washing behavior. METHODS: Data were collected by observing 2,800 participants washing their hands after using public restrooms in seven cities nationwide and by surveying 1,000 respondents (age > 14 years) through telephone interviews using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Although 94% of the survey respondents claimed to mostly or always wash their hands after using public restrooms, only 63.4% of the observed participants did wash their hands after using public restrooms. Significant factors related to increased adherence to hand washing were female gender, approximate ages of 20 to 39 years by their appearance, and the presence of other people from the observation. About 79% of the survey respondents always washed their hands after using bathrooms at home, 73% washed their hands before handling food, and 67% washed their hands upon returning to their home. However, 93.2% and 86.3% of the survey respondents did not wash their hands after coughing or sneezing and after handling money, respectively. Although most of the survey respondents (77.6%) were aware that hand washing is helpful in preventing communicable diseases, 39.6% of the survey respondents did not do so because they were 'not accustomed' to washing their hands and 30.2% thought that washing their hands is 'annoying'. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first comprehensive report on hand washing behavior and awareness of the general population in Korea. The result of this study in terms of individual behavior and awareness of hand washing are comparable with similar studies conducted in other countries. However adherence to hand washing is still low and needs to be increased. The results of this study can be used as a baseline in setting up strategies and activities to Bpromote adherence to hand washing.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Female ; *Handwashing ; *Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Toilet Facilities

Traumatic bone cyst is a pathologic cavity that is not lined with epithelium. It is, therefore, not a true cyst. It may be a normal variant rather than a disease process. The etiology of the condition is unknown. This condition is occured widely ranging ages(2 to 75years), however, most are found during the second decade of life. Radiographically, this condition is radiolucent lesion with well-defined outline, scalloping of superior margins. Cyst enucleation and curettage is the treatment of choice. The authors compared and analyzed the clinicoradiologic features of the five cases of traumatic bone cyst, diagnosed at the Dental college hospital in Chosun University, Kwangju, Korea. The five cases were shown the follwed results; 1. 3cases occured in second decade of life and no significant sex differences (M:F, 2:3) All cases occurred in mandible. 2. Two patients complained symptoms, but three cases had no symptom with encountering during routine examination. 3. In 3 of 5cases, teeth vitality existed except one tooth and no checking of teeth vitality in two cases. 4. All cases didn't have any accurate trauma history, but one case was in orthodontic treatment, another case was postextraction site area. 5. Radiologically, "scalloping appearance" were evident in all cases; in 3 cases, multilocular tendency and only one case seen intact mandibular canal image. 6. Histologically, alll section showed bone trabeculae with blastic activity, 2 cases showed no epithelial lining, and other 2 cases were seen innflammatory cell infiltration in edematous tissue. 7. Surgical intervention (curettage) was that treatment of choice.
Bone Cysts* ; Curettage ; Epithelium ; Gwangju ; Humans ; Korea ; Mandible ; Pectinidae ; Sex Characteristics ; Tooth