Vibrio vulnificus is a halophilic gram-negative, marine bacterium which causes fulminating and potentially fatal human disease. A new sensitive and specific serogrouping procedure was developed for identifying V. vulnificus. Reference antis:ra(01-014) to V. vulnificus were prepared by vaccinated rabbits with heat-killed bacteria, and the antisera were examined whether erogrouping test will be available for rapid and sensitive identification method of V. vulnifiius or not. All of thirty-seven clinical strains tested were agglutinated with 5 kinds of aritisera such as 04A, 01, 013, 03, and 014. Of these serovar 04A was predominant(75.7%). The author investigated the correlation among certain serovars, consumed seafoods, and nortality rate to verify whether the serovar is of pognostic value. There was no significant orrelation among them. These results suggest theart serogrouping procedure could be of value in rapidly identifying V. vulnificus.
Bacteria ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; Rabbits ; Seafood ; Vibrio vulnificus* ; Vibrio*

The buttercup is an inportant irritant plant which contairs an unsaturated lactone, protoanemonin, formed by the breakdown of a glucoside in injured plants. We report the three cases of irritant contact dermatitis due to buttercup(Ranunculus sceleratus). These patient developed erythematous and edematous patches with tense vesicles or bullae on t,he application site of pounded buttercup for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, arthralgia, and neuralgia, respectively.
Arthralgia ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Dermatitis, Irritant* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Neuralgia ; Plants ; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation

Paraquat(Gramoxone) is the most commonly used herbicide in Korea. But serious paraquat poisoning in human beings has occurred following ingestion or exposure to the skin. Exposure to paraquat through the skin has resulted in local irritation or inflammation of varyiig degree, sometimes severe. We report three cases of primary irritant dermatitis due to paraquat. Two patients developed generalized vesicobullae and necrotirulcer in the scrotum, respectively. The other patient developed painful whitish patch and erosion in ttie tongue after accidental exposure.
Dermatitis, Irritant* ; Eating ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Korea ; Paraquat ; Poisoning ; Scrotum ; Skin ; Tongue

Focal dermal hypoplasia (Goltz syndrome) is a rare genetic mesoectodermal disorder characterized by variable multisystem defects, including anomalies of the skin, skeleton, teeth and eyes. A 22-year-old female patient presented with confluent and disciete, yellowish nodules on the calves, white linear atrophic lesions, hypoand hyper!igmented patches, and telangiectasia scattered over the trunk, neck and extremities. In addition to the skin lesions, this patient showed hypertrophy of the left leg, anomalies of the left foot, fingers and nails, and maloccluded teeth. Histopathological findings of a yellow nodule revealed accumulations of adipose tissue very near to the epidermis that largely replaced the upper dermis.
Adipose Tissue ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Extremities ; Female ; Fingers ; Focal Dermal Hypoplasia* ; Foot ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Leg ; Neck ; Skeleton ; Skin ; Telangiectasis ; Tooth ; Young Adult

No abstract available.

Ewing's sarcoma is a highly malignant, small, round cell tumor that usually affects long bones. The acral part of the extremities is a very rare primary site for this neo plasm. A fifteen-year-old girl was seen for a lobulated, dome-shaped, 2.7cm diameter, denuded mass on the distal phalanx of the right middle finger which had increased in size over a 14-month period. The radiological featuies of the hand showed a cortical brick of distal phalanx and surrounding soft tissue mass. Histologically, the biopsy specimen showed sheets of small round to oval cells with scanty cytoplasm, that were closely packed and separated into lobules by trands of fibrous tissue. A periodic acid-Schiff stain demonsirated glycogen in the cytoplasm of the tumor cells. Electron microscopy showed large aggregates of glycogen in the cytoplasm of the neoaplastic cells. Immunohistochemical stains revealed positive staining for vimentin, glial fibrillary acid potein, and neuron specific enolase, stains for S-100, Factor VIII, and cytokeratin were negative.
Biopsy ; Coloring Agents ; Cytoplasm ; Extremities ; Factor VIII ; Female ; Fingers ; Glycogen ; Hand ; Humans ; Keratins ; Microscopy, Electron ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; Sarcoma* ; Sarcoma, Ewing ; Vimentin

Ewing's sarcoma is a highly malignant, small, round cell tumor that usually affects long bones. The acral part of the extremities is a very rare primary site for this neo plasm. A fifteen-year-old girl was seen for a lobulated, dome-shaped, 2.7cm diameter, denuded mass on the distal phalanx of the right middle finger which had increased in size over a 14-month period. The radiological featuies of the hand showed a cortical brick of distal phalanx and surrounding soft tissue mass. Histologically, the biopsy specimen showed sheets of small round to oval cells with scanty cytoplasm, that were closely packed and separated into lobules by trands of fibrous tissue. A periodic acid-Schiff stain demonsirated glycogen in the cytoplasm of the tumor cells. Electron microscopy showed large aggregates of glycogen in the cytoplasm of the neoaplastic cells. Immunohistochemical stains revealed positive staining for vimentin, glial fibrillary acid potein, and neuron specific enolase, stains for S-100, Factor VIII, and cytokeratin were negative.
Biopsy ; Coloring Agents ; Cytoplasm ; Extremities ; Factor VIII ; Female ; Fingers ; Glycogen ; Hand ; Humans ; Keratins ; Microscopy, Electron ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; Sarcoma* ; Sarcoma, Ewing ; Vimentin

No abstract available.
Aeromonas hydrophila* ; Aeromonas* ; Animals ; Histamine Release* ; Histamine* ; Mast Cells* ; Rats*

BACKGROUND: Midazolam relaxes airway smooth muscle. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of flumazenil or verapamil on the relaxation effects of midazolam in tracheal smooth muscle of guinea pig. METHODS: After isolating guinea-pig tracheal preparations, the maximal tracheal tones were induced by 2 10(-7) M carbachol. When tracheal tones stabilized, midazolam was added cumulatively (10(-6), 3 10(-6), 10(-5), 3 10(-5), 10(-4) M, n=14) with or without flumazenil (10(-6) M, n=15) and verapamil (10(-5) M, n=13) to obtain the concentration-relaxation curves, and then the ED50 and ED95 calculated. RESULTS: Midazolam decreased maximal tracheal smooth muscle tones in concentration-dependent manners. Pretreatment with flumazenil had no effect on the midazolam-induced relaxation. Verapamil enhanced the relaxation effect of midazolam. CONCLUSIONS: Midazolam relaxes airway smooth muscle and has synergistic effect with calcium channel blocker, verapamil.
Animals ; Calcium Channels ; Carbachol ; Flumazenil* ; Guinea Pigs ; Midazolam* ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Relaxation* ; Verapamil*

BACKGROUND: Not much of the fund is invested in the intensive care unit (ICU) in Korean hospitals since the cost of ICU care is set too low compared to the other medical fields as well as to the other part of the world. This study is designed to support the base of an ICU standard guideline in Korea. METHODS: The questionnaire were sent to 73 ICUs and 24 neonatal ICUs (NICU) of 30 hospitals. Twenty-two of them were teaching hospitals and 8 of them were general hospitals. RESULTS: The ratios of ICU bed number to total bed number were 5.0% and 6.0% in teaching hospital and general hospital respectively. The ratios of NICU bed to total bed were 3.4% and 2.0% in teaching hospital and general hospital respectively. Intensivists were kept in 24.6% of ICU and 36.4% of NICU. Residents were kept in 43.1% of ICU and 45.5% of NICU. The utilization of ICU service was 90% for teaching hospital and 86% for general hospital. The utilization of NICU was 89% for teaching hospital and 3% of general hospital. Nurse to patient ratios varied widely. Most ICUs in teaching hospital showed the nurse to patients ratio of 1 : 4 which was about 32% of total ICU. Most NICUs in teaching hospital showed the nurse to patients ratio of 1 : 5 which was around 20% of total NICU. Most of the ICUs were equipped with central piping system for oxygen and compressed air supply, vacuum system and all the necessary medical gadgets such as mechanical ventilators, ECG monitors, defibrillators, pulse oximeters and infusion pumps. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of medical personnel as well as medical equipments were varied widely. The variation existed between teaching hospital and general hospital as well as within the teaching hospitals. We need to establish a standard, which grades the level of ICU according to the number of keeping physician, nurse-patients ratio, and the types of medical equipments they have.
Compressed Air ; Defibrillators ; Electrocardiography ; Financial Management ; Hospitals, General ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Infusion Pumps ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Korea* ; Oxygen ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Vacuum ; Ventilators, Mechanical