BACKGROUND: The recently developed nucleic acid amplification methods may provide us with very sensitive, specific and rapid tests for the detection of M. tuberculosis. So the aim of this study was to compare the commercial Amplicor M. tuberculosis kit and our in-house polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the conventional culture and direct AFB staining method. Materials and METHODS: Among the total of 2,340 clinical specimens, 1,314 sputum samples were tested for the presence of M. tuberculosis by Amplicor PCR and 1,026 sputum samples were tested by in-house PCR performing with resin matrix preparation and DNA extraction, synthesized primer pair, detection using agarose gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: One hundred-seventeen specimens were positive by Amplicor PCR, 105 were positive by in-house PCR, 185 were positive by culture. The sensitivity of the Amplicor PCR for all of the specimens and for smear-positive and smear-negative specimens was 92.9%, 97.9% and 88.2%, respectively after discrepant analysis. The sensitivity of the in-house PCR for all of the specimens and for smear-positive and smear-negative specimens was 80.0%, 93.6% and 65.5%, respectively after discrepant analysis. The specificity of the Amplicor PCR and in-house PCR for all of the specimens was 97.9% and 99.0%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Amplicor PCR was more sensitive than in-house PCR, but there was another problems such as high false positive rate and high cost. So PCR may certainly become very useful in microbiological laboratories if PCR method is selected according to the laboratory conditions.
DNA ; Electrophoresis, Agar Gel ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Mycobacterium* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sputum* ; Tuberculosis

This retrospective descriptive study was conducted to survey the needlestick injuries(NSI) in nurses and doctors. Thc subjccts of this study wcrc 351 nurscs and 199 doctors of four teaching hospitals. Pusan. The data was gathered from March, 18 to April 9. 1988 and analyzed though SPSSWIN progra n for frequency, percentile and X2-test. According to the results of the study, 85.5% of subjects had experienced NSI (94.4% of the nurses and 73.9% of the doctors). The ratio of the experience of NSI in nurses was significantly higher than that of doctors(X2=53.54, P=.00). Most needle-stick injuries occured during the administration of intravenous injection(36.7%) in nurses, on the other hand percutaneous venipuncture for blood sampling(35.3%), suturing(27.2%) in doctors. The most ccmmon situation of these NSI was recapping contaminated needles after treatment. Only 12.0% of nurses and 38.6% of doctors reported wearing gloves when the NSI happened. 26.1% of subjects reported that they could not identify the source patient after MI. The major reason of NSI were preeeived to be carelessness%1.4%). Of these NSI, 54.6% occured in :usy or emergency situations. Among the management for NSI, exam(8.6%), mefication(9.8%) and counseling(11.7%) and reporting(2,6%. is lower than bleeding(80.3%) from the wound, deaning( 63.3%), disinfection(91.3%) and reviewing the clinical records of the patients (82.3%). In conclusion, nurses and doctors are at a high-risk of needlestick injuries but substantially they are not good at preventing and managing NSI. So efforts to reduce NSI should be directed not only at improving procedural skills for intravenous catheter insertions, but also in increasing use of barrier protection such as gloves, and so on. Also immunization and educational efforts should be made along with better designs of needles to reduce the risk of NSI. Continuing prevention and training programs for NSI are needed in order to avoid unwanted infection.
Busan ; Catheters ; Dronabinol ; Education ; Emergencies ; Hand ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Immunization ; Needles ; Needlestick Injuries* ; Phlebotomy ; Retrospective Studies ; Wounds and Injuries

No abstract available.
Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular* ; Tetralogy of Fallot*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide* ; Calcitonin* ; Rats* ; RNA, Messenger*

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the BACTEC MGIT 960 system(Becton Dickinson Microbiology Systems, Sparks, Md, USA), which is a fully automated, noninvasive and nonradiometric fluorescent indicator broth detection system for the growth and detection of mycobacteria with a capacity to incubate and continuously monitor 7 ml MGIT(Mycobacterium growth indicator tube) culture tube. METHODS: We studied 1,690 specimens(1,258 respiratory and 432 non-respiratory specimens). Processed specimens with 2% NaOH-NALC(final NaOH concentration: 1%) were inoculated into MGIT and solid media(3% Ogawa, Japan). Polymerase chain reaction was performed for the discrimination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from Mycobacterium other than tuberculosis(MOTT). RESULTS: From all culture system, a total of 181 isolates of mycobacteria were recovered. The greatest number of isolates of mycobacteria was recovered with MGIT 960 system(174, 96.1%), followed by solid media(73, 40.3%). 108 isolates(59.7%) were recovered with MGIT only and 7(3.9%) recovered with solid media only( P value < 0.0001). From a total of 1,617 AFB smear negative specimens, 101(6.3%) were recovered with MGIT 960 system and 34(2.1%) recovered with solid media. The mean times to detection were average 11.1 days for MGIT 960 system and 31.6 days for solid media(P value < 0.0001). Contamination rates for each system were 14.9% for MGIT 960 and 2.6% for solid media. CONCLUSIONS: The newly introduced MGIT 960 system is easy to use and has advantages of high detection rate and rapid recovery than solid media, but there are some problems such as high contamination rate and high cost in the management of this liquid system.
Discrimination (Psychology) ; Mycobacterium ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

No abstract available.
Pulmonary Artery*

The purpose of this study were to identify nurse's recognition and performance and to represent the factors of hindrance in the IV therapy management. The subjects were 420 nurses who worked at five general hospitals in Pusan. The data were collected using a questionnaire and the period of data collection was from January 1 to January 31, 1998. The instrument for this study was made by author oneself on the basis of guidelines Simmons et al., CDC' Stanley' and Kurdi' guideline, Clinical Nurses's Association' that consist of 68 items for 5 fields ; pre-injection, just before-injection, needle-injection, during injection, post-injection field. Cronbach Alpha coefficient of recognition and performance in the IV therapy management was .93 and .87. The data were analyzed by a SPSS program using frequency, percent, paired t-test, t-test and oneway ANOVA. The results obtained were as follows : 1. The mean score of recognition in IV therapy management was significantly higher than that of performance(t=5.86, P<.001). 2. The items of lower than mean score of each fields in performance were the identification of drugs, hands washing, patient methods of the injection site and the rubber stopper in bottle, the use of disposable gloves, mask and eye goggles at the chemotherapy preparation, use of tape and armboard, changing the IV tubing, labeling the dressing over the injection site, observation and recordings of patient's condition after medication and confirmation of the needle length at the needle removal. 3. The factors of hindrance on IV therapy were "having no time", "insufficiency of goods", "unknowing of methods", "no disadvantage", and "factors of doctor's doing". the most important factor was "have no time", especially item of hands showed high frequency in the following items ; "insufficiency of goods" in the use of disposable gloves, mask and eye goggles at the chemotherapy preparation, "unknowing of methods" in the certification of drugs compatibility, "no disadvantage" in the labeling the dressing over the injection site, and "factors of doctor's doing" in the changing the subclavian catheter dressing and checking the glucose level during the TPN infusion. In conclusion, there is necessity of educational program which can improve the nurse's knowledge of drugs, disinfection methods, comfort of patient and recordings in IV therapy management and financial aids such as setting up the sink, giving of paper for reducing the factors of hindrance for IV therapy management.
Bandages ; Busan ; Catheters ; Certification ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Disinfection ; Drug Therapy ; Eye Protective Devices ; Glucose ; Hand ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Masks ; Needles ; Rubber

Although approximately 13% of neurilemmomas occur in the extracranial head and neck region, those originating in the trachea or at the base of the tongue are rare. We report the CT and MR imaging findings of two cases of neurilemmoma, one arising in the trachea and the other at the base of the tongue.
Head ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neck ; Neurilemmoma* ; Tongue ; Trachea

No abstract available.
Holoprosencephaly* ; Prune Belly Syndrome*

Colloid cyst is a congenital lesion which is thought to be derived from the primitive neuroepithelium, and is most frequently located in the anterior half of the third ventricle. Colloid cysts rarely occur in the pituitary gland, and we describe a case of pituitary colloid cyst, including the CT, MRI and pathologic findings.
Colloid Cysts* ; Colloids* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pituitary Gland* ; Third Ventricle