PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to illustrate MR patterns of bone marrow of calvarium and vertebral body in normal subjects according the age distribution and to understand the course of the fatty replacement from red marrow. METHODS AND MATERIAL: We retrospectively evaluated MR examinations of the calvaria(n=71), cervical spine(n=71), thoracic spine(n=65), Imbar spine(n =68) in subjects without bone marrow abnormality whose age ranged 3 weeks to 74 years. Three distinctive patterns were categorized on Tl-weighted images of the skull. In pattern 1, uniformly low signal intensity with or without very small areas of high intensity in frontal and occipital bones is noted. In pattern 2, frontal and occipital bones have uniformly high signal intensity, and patchy area of high intensity appears in parietal bone. In pattern 3, the entire skull has uniformly high signal intensity. In the spine, four patterns were categorized on Tl-weighted MR images. In pattern 1, the vertebral body has uniformly low signal intensity except for linear areas of high intensity superior and inferior to basivertebral vein. In pattern 2, bandlike and triangular areas of high signal intensity are found in the periphery. Pattern 3 and 4 have diffusely distributed areas of high signal intensity; pattern 3 consist of numerous indistinct dots measuring a few millimeter or less, and pattern 4 consist of fairly well marginated areas ranging in size from 5 to 1.5cm. RESULT:In the calvaria, 73% of pattern 1 were younger than 20 years, pattern 2 were evenly distributed, and 86% of pattern 3 were older than 40 years. In the spine, 87% of pattern 1 were younger than 40 years, 72% of pattern 3 were in 40 to 50 years, and 87% of pattern 4 were older than 50 years. Pattern 2 were evenly distributed in the cervical and thoracic spine, but in the thoracic spine 62% were younger than 30 years. CONCLUSION:It is concluded that younger age group shows mainly pattern 1, whereas elderly group has pattern 3 or 4 in the calvarial and vertebral body marrow. This suggests that conversion to fatty marrow begin locally and progress diffusely with age.
Age Distribution* ; Aged ; Bone Marrow* ; Humans ; Occipital Bone ; Parietal Bone ; Retrospective Studies ; Skull* ; Spine ; Veins

No abstract available.
Brain Diseases ; Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome ; Uremia

Brucellosis is zoonotic disease of worldwide distribution and still remains endemic in some developing countries. The main pathogenic species worldwide are B. abortus, responsible for bovine brucellosis, B. melitensis. The B. abortus is most common in Korea. Each Brucella spp. has a preferred natural host that serves as a reservoir of infection. The incubation period varies between 5 and 60 days, and Brucella infection may be asymptomatic or symptomatic. The majority of patients complained of fever (undulating fever), sweats, malaise, anorexia, and arthralgia. The diagnosis of brucellosis requires the isolation of Brucella from blood or body tissues, or the combination of suggestive clinical presentation and positive serology. There were first patients in 2002, thereafter 16 patients in 2003, and 47 patients in 2004, the human brucellosis are increasing more gradually in Korea. Brucellosis is an occupational risk for farmers, veterinarians, and abattoir workers. The main sources of Brucella are infected animals or their products, such as milk, blood, carcasses, and abortion products. Routes of transmission of the infection to humans include direct contact with infected animals and their secretions through cuts and abrasions in the skin, by way of infected aerosols inhaled or via the ingestion of unpasteurized dairy products. A combination of doxycycline and streptomycin has been used widely in brucellosis. Prevention of brucellosis in human still depends on the eradication or control of the disease in animal hosts, the exercise of hygienic precautions to limit exposure to infection through occupational activities and the effective heating of dairy products, and other potentially contaminated foods. Also, physicians and veterinarians must be concerned about specific environments and clinical patterns of brucellosis.
Abattoirs ; Aerosols ; Animals ; Anorexia ; Arthralgia ; Brucella ; Brucellosis* ; Brucellosis, Bovine ; Cattle ; Dairy Products ; Developing Countries ; Diagnosis ; Doxycycline ; Eating ; Fever ; Heating ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Korea ; Milk ; Skin ; Streptomycin ; Sweat ; Veterinarians ; Zoonoses

In order to determine the most suitable computer interfaces for patients with high cervical cord injury, we report three cases of applications of special input devices. The first was a 49-year-old patient with neurological level of injury (NLI) C4, American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (ASIA)-A. He could move the cursor by using a webcam-based Camera Mouse. Moreover, clicking the mouse could only be performed by pronation of the forearm on the modified Micro Light Switch. The second case was a 41-year-old patient with NLI C3, ASIA-A. The SmartNav 4AT which responds according to head movements could provide stable performance in clicking and dragging. The third was a 13-year-old patient with NLI C1, ASIA-B. The IntegraMouse enabling clicking and dragging with fine movements of the lips. Selecting the appropriate interface device for patients with high cervical cord injury could be considered an important part of rehabilitation. We expect the standard proposed in this study will be helpful.
Animals ; Forearm ; Head Movements ; Humans ; Light ; Lip ; Mice ; Pronation ; Spinal Injuries ; User-Computer Interface

PURPOSE: We evaluated the humoral and cellular immune response to varicella-zoster virus after vaccination with varicella vaccine (Oka/LG strain). METHODS: The seroprevalence rate of fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen (FAMA) was evaluated among 178 children and 15 adults. After vaccination, seroconversion rate of FAMA, varicella-zoster virus (VZV) specific IgG and cell mediated immune response to glycoprotein I was performed. RESULTS: The seropositive rate of FAMA against VZV in healthy children ages 3 to 6 was 43.1%. A past history of chickenpox illness was confirmed in 15.2% of children who had positive response in FAMA assay in 90.9%. 34.5% of those without a past history of chickenpox had antibodis. The seropositive rate in children vaccinated with varicella vaccine in the past was found to be 46.3% in questionnaire and 44.4% in immunization schedule, lower than that of other studies (greater than 90%). The seroconversion rates in children vaccinated with the Oka/LG were 97.1% with 2,500pfu and 100.0% with 5,000pfu. Antibodies appearing after the Oka/LG vaccination were found to have glycoprotein I zone confirmed by western blotting. The rate of cell mediated immune response was 88.2% in children and 100.0% in adults. CONCLUSION: Further investigation about the effect of the various varicella vaccines used in Korea and about the cause of their immunzation failure after vaccination is needed.
Adult ; Antibodies ; Blotting, Western ; Chickenpox Vaccine* ; Chickenpox* ; Child ; Glycoproteins ; Herpesvirus 3, Human ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; Immunization Schedule ; Immunization* ; Immunoglobulin G ; Korea ; Membranes ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

BACKGROUND: Rhabdomyolysis is a well known cause of the exercise induced acute renal failure (ARF), but the patch renal vasoconstriction with severe loin pain which developed after the anaerobic exercise is not. Although there are a few cases about ARF resulted from the patchy renal vasoconstriction in Korea, there are only a few reports about comparisons of their clinical manifestations. METHODS: Eight patients of ARF with severe loin pain after the exercise, were admitted to Chungbuk national university hospital from April 1994 to March 2004. For all patients, we obtained basic clinical findings and laboratory studies, and performed an enhanced computed tomography (CT) initially and delayed CT without contrast media at least 6 hours after. RESULTS: All the patients were previously healthy young men. The main symptom was loin pain in five patients and all patients experienced the anaerobic exercise before. Six patients took analgesics and fever was observed in seven patients. There was no marked elevation of creatinine phosphokinase (CPK). The initial mean creatinine (Cr) was 3.50+/-1.49 mg/dL and the maximum Cr was 8.8 mg/dL. All the patients fully recovered their renal function. We observed the typical patchy wedge-shaped contrast enhancement CT findings in seven patients. CONCLUSION: Differential diagnosis between rhabdomyolysis and the patchy renal vasoconstriction in newly developed ARF after exercise is important. Our eight patients showed typical clinical manifestations. In cases which implicate the pathy renal vasoconstriction by their typical clinical findings, the enhanced CT and the delayed postcontrast CT are helpful for diagnosis.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Analgesics ; Chungcheongbuk-do ; Contrast Media ; Creatinine ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Fever ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Rhabdomyolysis ; Vasoconstriction

Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is one of the most prevalent unmet psychosocial needs. This study aimed to confirm the cultural equivalence, reliability, and validity of the Korean version of Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory (K-FCRI). We conducted a forward–backward translation of the English version FCRI to Korean version through meticulous process including transcultural equivalence test. The psychometric property of the K-FCRI was then validated in 444 survivors from cancers at various sites. The Korean translation was accepted well by participants. There was a good cultural equivalence between the Korean version and the English version of FCRI. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original seven-factor structure with slightly insufficient level of goodness-of-fit indices (comparative fit index = 0.900, non-normed fit index = 0.893, root mean square error of approximation = 0.060). The K-FCRI had high internal consistency (α = 0.85 for total scale and α = 0.77–0.87 for subscales) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.90 for total scale and r = 0.54–0.84 for subscales). The K-FCRI had significant correlations with the Korean version of Fear of Progression Questionnaire, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Version 3.0, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Fatigue Severity Score, supporting the good construct validity and psychometric properties of K-FCRI. The K-FCRI was confirmed as a valid and reliable psychometric test for measuring FCR of Korean survivors from cancers at various sites.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Psychometrics ; Quality of Life ; Recurrence* ; Reproducibility of Results ; Survivors

P450 1A2 is responsible for the metabolism of clinically important drugs and the metabolic activation of environmental chemicals. Genetic variations of P450 1A2 can influence its ability to perform these functions, and thus, this study aimed to characterize the functional significance of three P450 1A2 allelic variants containing nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (P450 1A2*8, R456H; *15, P42R; *16, R377Q). Variants containing these SNPs were constructed and the recombinant enzymes were expressed and purified in Escherichia coli. Only the P42R variant displayed the typical CO-binding spectrum indicating a P450 holoenzyme with an expression level of approximately 170 nmol per liter culture, but no P450 spectra were observed for the two other variants. Western blot analysis revealed that the level of expression for the P42R variant was lower than that of the wild type, however the expression of variants R456H and R377Q was not detected. Enzyme kinetic analyses indicated that the P42R mutation in P450 1A2 resulted in significant changes in catalytic activities. The P42R variant displayed an increased catalytic turnover numbers (k(cat)) in both of methoxyresorufin O-demethylation and phenacetin O-deethylation. In the case of phenacetin O-deethylation analysis, the overall catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) increased up to 2.5 fold with a slight increase of its K(m) value. This study indicated that the substitution P42R in the N-terminal proline-rich region of P450 contributed to the improvement of catalytic activity albeit the reduction of P450 structural stability or the decrease of substrate affinity. Characterization of these polymorphisms should be carefully examined in terms of the metabolism of many clinical drugs and environmental chemicals.
Biotransformation ; Blotting, Western ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2* ; Escherichia coli ; Genetic Variation ; Metabolism ; Phenacetin ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

DREAM (downstream regulatory element antagonistic modulator) is a calcium-binding protein that regulates dynorphin expression, promotes potassium channel surface expression, and enhances presenilin processing in an expression level-dependent manner. However, no molecular mechanism has yet explained how protein levels of DREAM are regulated. Here we identified group I mGluR (mGluR1/5) as a positive regulator of DREAM protein expression. Overexpression of mGluR1/5 increased the cellular level of DREAM. Up-regulation of DREAM resulted in increased DREAM protein in both the nucleus and cytoplasm, where the protein acts as a transcriptional repressor and a modulator of its interacting proteins, respectively. DHPG (3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine), a group I mGluR agonist, also up-regulated DREAM expression in cortical neurons. These results suggest that group I mGluR is the first identified receptor that may regulate DREAM activity in neurons.
Calcium ; Cytoplasm ; Dynorphins ; Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol ; Neurons ; Potassium Channels ; Presenilins ; Proteins ; Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate ; Up-Regulation

IL-17-producing CD4+ T cells (Th17) play important functions in autoimmune diseases and allograft rejection of solid organs. We examined the effects of IL 17 and its mechanism of action on arthritis in a murine collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model using bone marrow transplantation (BMT) system. DBA/1J mice were administered a lethal radiation dose and then rescued with bone marrow derived from either wild-type (WT) or IL-17-/- mice on C57BL/6 background mice. CIA was induced after the bone marrow transplant, and disease progression was characterized. DBA/1J mice with CIA that received IL-17-/- donor bone marrow showed potently inhibited development and severity of clinical arthritis as compared with CIA mice that received WT bone marrow. Reduced secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-6, and collagen-specific T cell responses were observed in mice that received IL-17-/- bone marrow. IL-17 blockade also inhibited effector T cell proliferation by reciprocally regulating the Treg/Th17 ratio. IL-17 blockade prevented joint destruction in mice with CIA. These findings suggest that CIA with BMT is a viable method of immunological manipulation and that IL-17 deficiency suppresses severe joint destruction and inflammation in CIA mice. There may be clinical benefits in blocking IL-17 and BMT in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Animals ; Antigens, Differentiation/metabolism ; Arthritis, Experimental/pathology/*prevention & control ; *Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen Type II ; Cytokines/metabolism ; Humans ; Interleukin-17/*deficiency/genetics ; Joints/pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Mice, Inbred DBA ; Mice, Knockout ; Osteoclasts/metabolism/physiology ; Signal Transduction ; T-Lymphocytes/metabolism/physiology ; Transplantation, Homologous