No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Roxithromycin* ; Scrub Typhus*

Infectious diseases, including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), are representative, of which etiology is known in all human diseases. However, many enigmas persist in relation to COVID-19, including different clinical phenotypes and incubation periods across individuals, species-specificity, appearance of cytokine storm and lymphopenia, and the mechanism of damage to organ cells. Current immunological concepts have limitations to explain these unsolved issues. Meanwhile, results of clinical, pathological, and animal studies have suggested that the virus itself is not a direct cause of acute injury to the lung or other organ cells. For better understanding of COVID-19, a presumed immunopathogenesis of COVID-19 is presented under the protein-homeostasis-system hypothesis; every disease, including COVID-19, has associated etiological substances, and the host immune system controls these diverse substances according to the size and biochemical property. These etiological substances, inducing inflammation and subsequent tissue injury, are smaller substances derived from virus-infected cells. Initially acting nonspecific adaptive immune reaction with cytokine imbalance may be responsible for target cell injury. Furthermore, substances from initial target cell injury and secondary bacterial invasion can induce further inflammation if released from local or systemic circulation. COVID-19 patients with pneumonia show hypercytokinemia with lymphocytopenia corresponding to the severity of pneumonia at early stages. Thus, early immune-modulator treatment, including corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin, has an immunological rationale. It could help reduce the morbidity and possibly mortality of older patients with underlying conditions.

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant, Newborn*

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Scrub Typhus*

Every cell of an organism is separated and protected by a cell membrane. It is proposed that harmony between intercellular communication and the health of an organism is controlled by a system, designated the protein-homeostasis-system (PHS). Kidneys consist of a variety of types of renal cells, each with its own characteristic cell-receptor interactions and producing characteristic proteins. A functional union of these renal cells can be determined by various renal function tests, and harmonious intercellular communication is essential for the healthy state of the host. Injury to a kind of renal cells can impair renal function and induce an imbalance in total body health. Every acute or chronic renal disease has unknown etiologic substances that are responsible for renal cell injury at the molecular level. The immune/repair system of the host should control the etiologic substances acting against renal cells; if this system fails, the disease progresses to end stage renal disease. Each renal disease has its characteristic pathologic lesions where immune cells and immune proteins, such as immunoglobulins and complements, are infiltrated. These immune cells and immune proteins may control the etiologic substances involved in renal pathologic lesions. Also, genetic renal diseases and cancers may originate from a protein deficiency or malfunctioning protein under the PHS. A unified pathogenesis for renal diseases, including acute glomerulonephritis, idiopathic nephrotic syndrome, immunoglobulin A nephropathy, genetic renal diseases such as Alport syndrome, and malignancies such as Wilms tumor and renal cell carcinoma, is proposed using the PHS hypothesis.
Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; Cell Membrane ; Complement System Proteins ; Glomerulonephritis ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Immunoglobulins ; Kidney Diseases* ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney* ; Nephritis, Hereditary ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Protein Deficiency ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Wilms Tumor

PURPOSE: The prevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) depends mainly on socioeconomic status. It is well noted that the prevalence of hepatitis A which is a representive agent of the fecal-oral route has changed since the last 10-20 years. In order to evaluate the time of primary CMV infection in childhood and to get help for interpretating the patterns of infection and prevention, we studied the seroepidemiology of CMV in Taejon, Korea. METHODS: We measured IgG anti-CMV antibody by microparticle enzyme immunoassay (CMV IgG, Abbott) from 375 individuals from neonates (cord blood) to people over 30-years old. RESULTS: The prevalence of anti-CMV IgG in neonate was 86.4%, 83.1% in 1-6 months, 84.4% in 7-12 months, 82.6% in 13-18 months, 84.2% in 19-24 months, 86.7% in 2-3 years, 80.0% in 4-6 years, 82.8% in 7-8 years, 80.0% in 10-12 years, 100% in 13-15 years, 100% in 16-19 years, 100% in 20-29 years and 100% over 30 years. In order to evaluate the critical time of CMV infection with the consideration of transfered anti-CMV from mother, analyzed the prevalence of anti-CMV IgG of 131 children aged from 1 month to 24 months with 2-month intervals, and compared the results to that of anti-hepatitis A IgG. The positive rate of anti-CMV IgG is significantly higher than that of anti-HAV IgG from 8 months of age. CONCLUSION: This study showed that most CMV infections in chidren in Taejon, Korea were established within 12 months after birth. It also suggested that the perinatal infection plays an important role in CMV infection.
Adult ; Child ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Daejeon* ; Epidemiology ; Hepatitis A ; Hepatitis A Antibodies ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Immunoglobulin G ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea* ; Mothers ; Parturition ; Prevalence ; Social Class

No abstract available.
Leukocytes*

It was once believed that host cell injury in various infectious diseases is caused solely by pathogens themselves; however, it is now known that host immune reactions to the substances from the infectious agents and/or from the injured host cells by infectious insults are also involved. All biological phenomena in living organisms, including biochemical, physiological and pathological processes, are performed by the proteins that have various sizes and shapes, which in turn are controlled by an interacting network within the living organisms. The author proposes that this network is controlled by the protein homeostasis system (PHS), and that the immune system is one part of the PHS of the host. Each immune cell in the host may recognize and respond to substances, including pathogenic proteins (PPs) that are toxic to target cells of the host, in ways that depend on the size and property of the PPs. Every infectious disease has its own set of toxic substances, including PPs, associated with disease onset, and the PPs and the corresponding immune cells may be responsible for the inflammatory processes that develop in those infectious diseases.
Biological Phenomena ; Communicable Diseases* ; Homeostasis ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Immune System ; Pathologic Processes

PURPOSE: In patients with endometrial carcinoma, preoperative knowledge of myometrial tumor extension has important prognostic and therapeutic implications. The purpose of th is study was to assess the usefulness of meg netic resonance (MR) imaging in preoperative evaluation of myometrial invasion of early stage endometrial ca rcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR imaging findings of 31 consecutive patients with histologicallproved endometrial carcinoma, were prospectively analyzed and compared with pathologic results. Uyometrial invasion was classified into three groups; absence of myometrial invasion, superficial and deep invasion in accordance with clinical stage IA, lB, IC respectively. RESULTS: MR imaging had an accuracy of 74.2%, a sensitivity of 85.7%, and a specificity of 70.8% in stage IA (n=7); 67.7%, 46.2%, 83.3% in stage lB (n=l 3); 93.5%, 81.8%, 100% in stage IC (n=11) respectively. Overall accuracy was 79.9%. Nine of ten incorrect cases were underestimated, and one was overestimated. Degree of invasiveness was underestimated in cases with adenomyosis, small tumor showing focal wall thickening, and faint junctional zone in postmenopausal women. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that MR imaging can be used to distinguish superficial and deep penetration of myometrium in endometrial carcinome.
Adenomyosis ; Animals ; Endometrial Neoplasms* ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Mice ; Myometrium ; Prospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

PURPOSE: We evaluated the effects of intravenous immunoglobulin(IVIG) on the levels of laboratory indices examined serially according to the responsiveness to IVIG therapy in children with Kawasaki disease(KD). METHODS: Children with KD(n=63) who had been treated with IVIG at a dosage of 2.0 g/kg were classified into two groups: the IVIG-resistant(consistent fever over 48 hours after initiation of IVIG infusion, n=9) and the IVIG-responsive(defervescence within 48 hours, n=54). The levels of various laboratory indices were determined three times during admission: before, 24 hours after and seven days after IVIG administration. RESULTS: Among the nine children in the IVIG-resistant group, four(44.4% vs 9.3% in IVIG-responsive group, P=0.019) had coronary artery lesions(CAL). On comparing the two groups, the following statistically significant differences(P<0.05) in the levels of laboratory parameters were found in the IVIG-resistant group relative to the IVIG-responsive group:C-reactive protein(CRP) level was higher(19.0 mg/dL vs 10.9 mg/dL), but the platelet count, total protein, and total cholesterol levels were lower before IVIG infusion; the white blood cell(WBC) and neutrophil counts, and the CRP level were higher, but the platelet count was lower 24 hours after IVIG administration; WBC and neutrophil counts, and the CRP and erythrocyte sedimentation rate levels were higher, but hemoglobin and albumin levels were lower seven days after IVIG administration. CONCLUSION: Approximately 15% of patients with KD did not respond to single dose IVIG treatment (2.0 g/kg). IVIG-resistant patients have a higher risk of CAL and seem to be predicted from high CRP levels(>16 mg/dL) before IVIG treatment and persistently elevated levels of CRP(>11 mg/ dL), WBC(>12,000/mm3) and neutrophil counts(>6,500/mm3) 24 hours after IVIG administration.
Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; Child ; Cholesterol ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Fever ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins* ; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous ; Leukocytes ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Neutrophils ; Platelet Count