PURPOSE: Airborne pollen and mold spores are common causative agents of allergic disease. Atmospheric pollen and spores in one area of Pusan were collected to investigate species, particle amount, seasonal distribution, and of its association with reactivity to skin prick test in children. METHODS: Rotorod sampler was installed on the rooftop of St. Benedict Hospital in Pusan. 24 hour sampling of airborne allergens over a two year period was conducted 6 days/week from July 1, 1997 to June 30, 1999. Those samples were stained with Calberla's fuchsin and were identified, counted under the light microscope (400xfor pollen, 1000xfor mold). The data were compared with the daily weather report and allergy skin test. RESULTS: Major pollens collected were Pinus, Alnus, Juniperus, Betula, Quercus, Artemisia, Ambrosia, and Chenospodium-Amaranthus. The pollen season is relatively short and the pollen dispersed mainly during the period from March to May in case of tree pollen and from August to October in case of grass pollen. Total pollen count ranged from 0 to 1000 grains/m3/day (May 14, 99). The peak pollen season was seen during Spring and Autumn, especially in March and September. Major mold spores counted were Cladosporium, Leptospheria and Alternaria. Mold spore count ranged from 0 to 2,360 spores/m3/day (Oct. 8, 98). Cladosporium was dispersed year-round, but mainly in the October and November, while Leptospheria was dispersed mainly in the period from July to September and Alternaria counts tended to be higher around July. The concentration of mold is roughly correlated with the amount of rainfall, having high spore count in July and August, especially in case of Leptospheria. In terms of positive reaction to skin prick test in children, Alnus and Artemisia were found to be allergen source in early spring and late summer season, respectively. CONCLUSION: Analysis of pollens and mold spores sampled in the atmosphere of Pusan, Korea, for a 2 year period identified 19 species of pollens and 22 species of mold spores with seasonal variation of some clinically important pollen/mold load. Cladosporium, Leptospheria and Alternaria are found to be three major molds, especially from June to October.
Allergens ; Alnus ; Alternaria ; Ambrosia ; Artemisia ; Atmosphere ; Betula ; Busan* ; Child ; Cladosporium ; Colony Count, Microbial ; Fungi* ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Juniperus ; Korea ; Pinus ; Poaceae ; Pollen* ; Quercus ; Rosaniline Dyes ; Seasons ; Skin ; Skin Tests ; Spores ; Weather

Aortic transection or interruption is a rare condition which developed after an acute deceleration injury. Its occurrence depends on the location and direction of the force applied and is usually from motor vehicle accident or falling down. The exact incidence of aortic transection in trauma is not known but, when develops, only about 10-15% of the victims can furtive and be transported to the hospital. Even in the survivors, majority of them will be fatal within a few days if a prompt diagnosis and surgical treatments are not made. Aggressive diagnostic work-up is recommended for the patients with high suspicious index, which would salvage the victims with this fatal condition. We report the experience of two cases of aortic transection or interruption following motor vehicle accidents.
Deceleration ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Motor Vehicles ; Survivors ; Thorax* ; Wounds and Injuries*

PURPOSE: The prevalence of obesity in children is increasing rapidly. Epidemiologic studies suggest that obesity induced atherosclerosis may start in childhood. We investigated whether obese children show early abnormalities of the arterial wall and endothelial dysfunction. METHODS: Thirty-eight obese children(14-16 years old of age, male, body mass index 29.40+/-3.18 kg/m2) and forty-five age and sex-matched healthy control children(body mass index 18.43+/-1.01 kg/ m2) were enrolled. Their carotid artery intima-media thickness(IMT) and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation(FMD) response were measured by high-quality ultrasound system, and compliance, distensibility, stiffness index, incremental elastic modulus and wall stress were calculated by equation. In addition, we looked at the relations between these arterial features and metabolic cardiovascular risk factors. RESULTS: The obese children had significantly increased IMT(0.52+/-0.09 mm vs 0.40+/-0.07 mm, P< 0.001) and markedly impaired FMD(7.35+/-7.78 percent vs 20.34+/-16.81 percent, P<0.001) than the healthy controls. But the compliance and distensibility were lower, and the stiffness index, incremental elastic modules and wall stress were higher in the obese group than the control group, but not statistically significantly. Body mass index was highly associated with increased IMT(r=0.612, P< 0.001) and reduced FMD(r=-0.414, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: We showed the deleterious effect of child obesity on both early functional and structural atherosclerotic markers. The ultrasonic findings will be used for screening and follow up markers to identify high-risk patients among obese children.
Atherosclerosis ; Body Mass Index ; Brachial Artery ; Carotid Arteries ; Child* ; Compliance ; Elastic Modulus ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Pediatric Obesity ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Ultrasonics ; Ultrasonography

PURPOSE: The practice of early discharge of healthy term and near-term newborns is growing worldwide. For this reason, early identification of newborn at risk for developing significant hyperbilirubinemia has become a public health issue. We therefore investigated prospectively 1) the pattern of bilirubin levels of healthy newborn by measuring transcutaneous bilirubin in the first postnatal week, 2) the predictive ability of a predischarge transcutaneous bilirubin measurement to screen for risk of subsequent significant hyperbilirubinemia in healthy newborn. METHODS: The study population consisted of 218 healthy term and near-term babies in the newborn unit at the Konyang University hospital during from August 2004 to June 2005. Transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) measurements on the midsternum were initially made at the 24 hours of life, repeated daily until discharge, each measurement was performed just at the 24 hours after the previous measurement. And a postdischarge TcB was measured on the 7th day of life. The accuracy of the predischarge TcB as a predictor of subsequent hyperbilirubinemia was determined. RESULTS: The mean bilirubin level is 4.51+/-1.63 mg/dL on the 1st day of life (n=218), 6.71+/-1.92 mg/dL on the 2nd day of life (n=186), 8.04+/-2.05 mg/dL on the 3rd day of life (n=118), 8.60+/-2.33 mg/dL on the 4th day of life (n=88) and 8.60+/-2.79 mg/dL on the 5th day of life (n=41). A total of 16/218 (7.3%) had significant hyperbilirubinemia. Predischarge, 5.5% of the population (12/218) had TcB values in the high risk zone (> or =95 percentile) at the 24 hours of life; of these, 66.7% (8/12) developed significant hyperbilirubinemia. Predischarge, 38% of the population (83/218) was in the low risk zone (<40 percentile) and there was no measurable risk for significant hyperbilirubinemia. CONCLUSION: By measuring noninvasive transcutaneous bilirubin at the 24 hours of life, we can predict which newborn is at high risk of significant hyperbilirubinemia.
Bilirubin* ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia* ; Infant, Newborn ; Prospective Studies ; Public Health

Childhood obesity seems to contribute to the development of vascular inflammation and the progression of arterial wall changes. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) has recently emerged as a useful biomarker for vascular inflammation associated with atherosclerosis. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the association of the serum hs-CRP level with ultrasonic findings of early atherosclerosis, carotid intima-media wall thickness (IMT) and brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD), in obese children. Thirty eight obese children and 45 sex/age-matched healthy control children were recruited. Serum CRP levels were measured by the high-sensitive latex turbidimetric immunoassay, and we measured carotid IMT and brachial FMD using high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography. Obese children had significantly higher hs-CRP levels (1.40+/-0.74 mg/L vs. 0.55+/-0.49 mg/L, p<0.01), as well as increased IMT (0.52+/-0.09 mm vs. 0.41+/-0.07 mm, p<0.01) and impaired FMD (7.35+/-7.78% vs. 20.34+/-16.81%, p<0.01) compared to healthy controls. Serum hs-CRP correlated positively with IMT (r=0.413, p<0.05) and inversely with FMD (r=-0.350, p<0.05) in the obesity group. Measurement of the serum hs-CRP level is a simple, cheap, and highly reproducible assay and correlates with IMT and FMD in obese children. Thus, it would be a useful marker for evaluating and estimating the degree of atherosclerosis in children.
Sensitivity and Specificity ; Risk Factors ; Risk Assessment/*methods ; Reproducibility of Results ; Prognosis ; Obesity/*blood/*complications/diagnosis ; Male ; Humans ; Female ; C-Reactive Protein/*analysis ; Biological Markers/blood ; Atherosclerosis/*blood/complications/*diagnosis ; Adolescent

Congenital absence of the gall bladder without extrahepatic biliary atresia is an extremely rare congenital malformation with a reported incidence ranging between 0.01 and 0.02%. It is thought to be occurred from failure of the gallbladder bud to develop in utero and frequent association with other malformations. Agenesis can be randomly discovered at autopsy or operations for symptoms suggestive of biliary tract disease. The authors report a case of agenesis of the gallbladder without extrahepatic biliary atresia in a neonate which was incidentally found at laparotomy for presumed duodenal obstruction, with a review of the literature.
Autopsy ; Biliary Atresia* ; Biliary Tract Diseases ; Duodenal Obstruction ; Gallbladder* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Laparotomy ; Urinary Bladder

PURPOSE: Apolipoprotein E (Apo E) plays a major role in lipoprotein metabolism and lipid transport. Many investigators have described that Apo E polymorphisms is one of the most important genetic determinants for cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between Apo E polymorphisms and serum lipid profiles in obese adolescent. METHODS: We measured the serum concentrations of glucose, apolipoprotein (Apo) A1, Apo B, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), HDL and LDL-cholesterol after overnight fasting in obese adolescent. Apo E polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). RESULTS: 86 obese adolescents participated in this study. The body mass index (BMI) of participants were excess of 95 percentile by age and sex. Male to female ratio was 1.7 and mean age of study group was 16.2+/-1.8 years. Mean BMI was 27.4+/-2.5 kg/m2. The frequency of epsilon2, epsilon3 and epsilon4 allele were 8.1%, 87.2% and 4.7% respectively. Study populations were classified into the following three genotypes 1) Apo E2 group (n=13, 15.1%) carrying either the epsilon2/epsilon2 or epsilon2/epsilon3 2) Apo E3 group (n=65, 75.6%) carrying the most frequent epsilon3/epsilon3 3) Apo E4 group (n=8, 9.3%) carrying either the epsilon3/epsilon4 or epsilon4/epsilon4. No differences were found among Apo E genotypes concerning age, sex, weight, height and BMI. Apo B and LDL-cholesterol concentrations were significantly higher in the Apo E4 group (P<0.05). No association were found between Apo E genotypes and glucose, Apo A1, TC, TG and HDL. CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed that serum concentrations Apo B and LDL-cholesterol were influenced by Apo E genotypes. Apo E polymorphisms seems to influence some alteration of lipid metabolism associated with obesity in adolescent.
Adolescent ; Alleles ; Apolipoprotein A-I ; Apolipoprotein E2 ; Apolipoprotein E3 ; Apolipoprotein E4 ; Apolipoproteins ; Apolipoproteins B ; Apolipoproteins E ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Fasting ; Female ; Genotype ; Glucose ; Humans ; Lifting ; Lipid Metabolism ; Lipoproteins ; Male ; Obesity ; Research Personnel

Spontaneous gastric perforation of the newborn is a rare, serious and life-threatening problem. This is surgical emergency because of high mortality. Most historical reports have described gastric perforation in the neonate as spontaneous cause. But, recent reviews report the contributing factor including prematurity and mechanical ventilation. Usually clinician identifies the pneumoperitoneum in simple abdomen X-ray. The final diagnostic method is surgical finding and the treatment of gastric perforation is immediate surgical correction. Early diagnosis, hemodynamic monitoring and fluid therapy for hypovolemia improve outcome. Pseudocyst formation after gastric perforation is very rare in newborn. We report a rare case of pseudocyst formation after spontaneous gastric perforation in full term newborn.
Abdomen ; Early Diagnosis ; Emergencies ; Fluid Therapy ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Hypovolemia ; Infant, Newborn ; Mortality ; Pneumoperitoneum ; Respiration, Artificial

The ras-related GTP binding protein, rab6, is located in late Golgi compartment. Modulation of beta-and gamma-secretase activity may lead to production of beta-amyloid fragments that are ultimately deposited in senile plaques at the brain of Alzheimer patients. Because modulation of rab6-mediated intracellular transport has been known to affect amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing, we investigated the rab6 immunoreactivity on the hippocampal neurons in the Alzheimer brains, according to the pathological staging of the disease. A total of 30 brains were used for this study. Campbell's silver stain for beta-amyloid and immunohistochemistry for rab6 protein were employed. The cortices of the hippocampal formation and the neighboring temporal neocortex were observed. The results are obtained as follows: 1. In normal elderly brains, no amyloid plaque is seen. In Alzheimer brains, a number of amyloid plaques are seen at the temporal neocortex and dentate gyrus. 2. In normal elderly brains, the perikaria of the pyramidal cells at the CA1 sector shows weak rab6 immunoreactivity. At the CA2 and CA3 sectors, trace immunoreactivity is observed in the pyramidal cells. 3. In preclinical Alzheimer brains, the perikaria of the pyramidal cells at the CA1 sector shows moderate rab6 immunoreactivity and the cells at the CA2 sector show weak immunoreactivity. A weak to moderate imunoreactivity is seen in the pyramidal cells of the CA3 sector. 4. In clinical Alzheimer brains, the pyramidal cells at the CA1 and CA3 sectors show strong rab6 immunoreactivity, but the cells at the CA2 sector shows moderate immunoreactivity. It is suggested that alteration of intracellular protein transport caused by abnormal rab6 activity may modulate amyloid precursor protein processing, which results in beta-amyloid production.
Aged ; Amyloid ; Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases ; Brain* ; Dentate Gyrus ; GTP-Binding Proteins ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neocortex ; Neurons ; Plaque, Amyloid ; Protein Transport ; Pyramidal Cells ; Silver

Although various functions of CD99 have been reported, such as apoptosis and homotypic aggregation of thymocyte and transendothelial migration of immune cells, biochemical/molecular natures of CD99 are still elusive. Using mouse CD99 gene, we show that CD99 forms homodimer through its extracellular domain. Expression of mouse CD99 is up-regulated on T cells after CD3-mediated activation, like the case for human CD99. The potential of CD99 to form homodimer was tested with a recently developed bimoleular fluorescence complementation analysis (BiFC). In BiFC analysis, the dimerization-induced fluorescence was strong near the perinuclear region and was faded at the cell membrane. However, surface expression of CD99 was still detected by flow cytometry, suggesting that CD99 either in monomer form or in association with other molecules exists on the cell surface. In BiFC analysis using CD99 mutants with its extracellular, transmembrane, or cytosolic domains changed to corresponding human CD4 domains, the mutant replaced with human CD4-extracellular domain did not produce fluorescence. Purified soluble CD99-Fc fusion proteins bound to CD99-Fc immobilized onto the gold sensor chip in surface plasmon resonance analysis, confirming that the extracellular domain was responsible for dimer formation. Intracytoplasmic staining for CD99 expression in the thymocytes and mature T cells showed that most of the cells, even the cells with low surface level of CD99, contained the molecule inside the cell. Our results suggest that majority of CD99 homodimers may exit in the cell and be exported to the cell surface, dissociating from each other, after a certain regulatory signal is delivered.
Animals ; Antigens, CD/chemistry/*isolation & purification ; Cell Adhesion Molecules/chemistry/*isolation & purification ; Flow Cytometry ; *Fluorescence ; Luminescent Measurements/*methods ; Mice ; Molecular Biology/*methods ; T-Lymphocytes/immunology