To determine relationships of supposed risk factors to positives for HBsAg and Anti-HBs and also relationships of subjective symptoms to positives for HBsAg and Anti-HBs, study of 658 people working in the hospital, university, bank and other office was performed. Positive rate for HBsAg was about 7.9% and positive rate for Anti-HBs was about 20.0%. Odds ratio of HBsAg was high and significant in individuals who are married and who have previous hepatitis B(P<0.001), medical personnel in family, more than 4 people in a room.(0.01 Odds ratio of Anti-HBs was also significant in individuals who have previous hepatitis B, liver disease in family, more than 4 people in a room.(0.01 Epidemiologic Studies* ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens* ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors ; Vaccination

Castleman's disease (angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia) is a large benign tumor. Most of the lesion are located in mediastinum, but some presents as an isolated retroperitoneal mass radiographically indistinguishable from retroperitoneal malignancy. We report a case of the hyaline-vascular variant of Castleman's disease presenting as a palpable abdominal mass.
Giant Lymph Node Hyperplasia* ; Lymph Nodes ; Mediastinum

Constitutional interstitial deletions of 5q are rare conditions and phenotypic correlations are not well defined in the literature. We report a case of a male infant with constitutional interstitial deletion 5q15q22. The infant showed hypertelorism, cleft palate and bilateral undescended testis. He also had atrial septal defect and small patent ductus arteriosus, and showed no response in brain stem audoimetry. Our report gives weight to the previously reported cases that karyotype-phenotype correlation may be speculated in 5q deletion.
Brain Stem ; Cleft Palate ; Cryptorchidism ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; Humans ; Hypertelorism ; Infant ; Male

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of oral hygiene with 0.1% chlorhexidine or with normal saline on the incidence of pathogens in the oral cavity of patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU). METHOD: A quasi experimental design with non-equivalent control group and non-synchronized design was used. For the study 46 patients were recruited from a university hospital (24 for the experimental group, 22 for the control group). patients in the experimental group received mouth care with 0.1% chlorhexidine gluconate and those in the control group received mouth care with normal saline twice a day for 7 days in a row. Oral samples were taken for bacterial cultures on admission day, the 4th day and the 7th day for both groups. RESULTS: The incidence of oral pathogens decreased in the experimental group, and increased in the control group. There was no significant difference in the incidence of oral pathogens between the two groups. However oral hygiene using 0.1% chlorhexidine gluconate decreased the incidence of oral pathogens significantly for patients who already had pathogenic bacteria in their mouths on the admission day. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that mouth care with 0.1% chlorhexidine is effective for decreasing the incidence of oral infection for ICU patients who have oral infections.
Bacteria ; Chlorhexidine* ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Intensive Care Units ; Mouth ; Oral Hygiene* ; Research Design

In this study, trends in the sales of antimicrobials for use in livestock facilities and fisheries from 2003 to 2012 were investigated with regard to antimicrobial group, antimicrobial usage, and animal species. The overall amount of antimicrobials sold each year from 2003 to 2007 was 1,500 tons, after which they decreased, with the lowest sales being 936 tons in 2012. The total volume of antimicrobials used for feed additives decreased markedly by 94% from 2003 to 2012, which was mainly attributed to banning of feed additives. However, antimicrobial consumption through self prescription by farmers for disease prevention and treatment increased by 25% from 2003 to 2012. The largest volume of antimicrobials sold was for use in pigs (48~57%), followed by poultry (18~24%), fisheries (11~25%), and cattle (5~8%). Tetracycline was the highest selling antimicrobial, followed by penicillins and sulfonamides, although the overall sale of all three antimicrobials gradually decreased over the study period. This study demonstrated that the total consumption of antimicrobials has gradually decreased since 2008. Nevertheless, usage by nonprofessionals increased, which can ultimately cause emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Thus, early establishment of veterinary prescription guidelines for prudent use of antimicrobials is urgently needed in Korea.
Animals ; Cattle ; Commerce* ; Fisheries* ; Korea ; Livestock* ; Penicillins ; Poultry ; Prescriptions ; Sulfonamides ; Swine ; Tetracycline

Various cell types in higher multicellular organisms are genetically homogenous, but are functionally and morphologically heterogeneous due to the differential expression of genes during development, which appears to be controlled by epigenetic mechanisms. However, the exact molecular mechanisms that govern the tissue-specific gene expression are poorly understood. Here, we show that dynamic changes in histone modifications and DNA methylation in the upstream coding region of a gene containing the transcription initiation site determine the tissue-specific gene expression pattern. The tissue-specific expression of the transgene correlated with DNA demethylation at specific CpG sites as well as significant changes in histone modifications from a low ratio of methylated H3- lysine 4 or acetylated H3-lysine 9, 14 to acetylated H4 to higher ratios. Based on the programmed status of transgene silenced in cloned mammalian ear-derived fibroblasts, the transgene could be reprogrammed by change of histone modification and DNA methylation by inhibiting both histone deacetylase and DNA methylation, resulting in high expression of the transgene. These findings indicate that dynamic change of histone modification and DNA methylation is potentially important in the establishment and maintenance of tissue-specific gene expression.
Transgenes/*genetics ; Swine ; Organ Specificity/genetics ; Methylation ; Lysine/*metabolism ; Histones/*metabolism ; Histone Deacetylases/metabolism ; Gene Silencing ; *Gene Expression ; Fibroblasts ; Ear ; *DNA Methylation ; Cells, Cultured ; Animals, Genetically Modified ; Animals ; Acetylation

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have recently been identified and characterized in humans. Moreover, MSC secrete cytokines that can support hematopoietic progenitor growth. In the present study, we evaluated whether the efficacy of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is improved by their co-transplantation with MSC, and whether this is positively correlated with the dose of infused MSCs. Accordingly, irradiated NOD/SCID mice were transplanted with 1x10(5) human CD34+ cells in the presence or absence of culture expanded MSCs (1x10(6) or 5x10(6)). We evaluated human hematopoietic cell engraftment by flow cytometry and assessed MSC tissue distributions by fluorescence in situ hybridization. We found that CD45+ and CD34+ cell levels were significantly elevated in a dose-dependent manner in cotransplanted mice 4 weeks after transplantation. The engraftments of CD33+ and CD19+ cells also increased dose-dependently. However, the engraftment of CD3+ cells did not increase after co-transplantation with MSCs. Human Y chromosome+ cells were observed in multiple tissues and were more frequently observed in mice co-transplanted with 5x10(6) rather than 1x10(6) MSCs. These results suggest that MSCs are capable of enhancing hematopoietic cell engraftment and distribution in multiple organs in a dose-dependent fashion.
Animals ; Antigens, CD34/*biosynthesis ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Fetal Blood/*metabolism ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells/*cytology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred NOD ; Mice, SCID ; Microscopy, Fluorescence/methods ; Stem Cell Transplantation/*methods