Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait with variable expressivity. This is characterized by multiple basal cell carcinomas, skeletal abnormalities, ectopic calcification, palmoplantar pits, central nervous system abnormalities, and multiple odontogenic keratocysts of the jaw. We report a case of nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome occurring in 14 year old girl, she had multiple basal cell carcinomas, spina bifida in the cervical vertebrae, forked ribs, hypertelorism, ectopic calcification of falx cerebri, palmoplantar pits, medulloblastoma, meningioma and sclerosing stromal tumor of the ovary. Her father had the same clinical features.
Adolescent ; Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome* ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Central Nervous System ; Cervical Vertebrae ; Fathers ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertelorism ; Jaw ; Medulloblastoma ; Meningioma* ; Odontogenic Cysts ; Ovary* ; Ribs ; Spinal Dysraphism

We have now construted a novel recombinant baculovirus Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) producing polyhedra with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry1Ac crystal protein. The recombinant polyhedra produced by the recombinant baculovirus, Btrus, in insect cells was characterized. The recombinant baculovirus has two independent transcription units in opposite orientations with two promoters, p10 or polyhedrin gene promoter each initiating transcription of either native polyhedrin or fusion protein with polyhedrin and Bt Cry1Ac crystal protein. Suprisingly, this recombinant baculovirus stably produced recombinant polyhedra which were nearly similar to those of wild-type AcNPV. The immunogold staining experiment showed that the recombinant polyhedra were assembled with polyhedrin and Bt Cry1Ac crystal protein, and contained virus paticles. Insecticidal toxicity of recombinant polyhedra of Btrus to the fall webworm, Hyphantrea cunea, was strikingly improved in comparison with the wild-type AcNPV.
Bacillus thuringiensis* ; Bacillus* ; Baculoviridae* ; Insects ; Nucleopolyhedrovirus

OBJECTIVES: Chigger mites are vectors for scrub typhus. This study evaluated the annual fluctuations in chigger mite populations and Orientia tsutsugamushi infections in South Korea.METHODS: During 2006 and 2007, chigger mites were collected monthly from wild rodents in 4 scrub typhus endemic regions of South Korea. The chigger mites were classified based on morphological characteristics, and analyzed using nested PCR for the detection of Orientia tsutsugamushi.RESULTS: During the surveillance period, the overall trapping rate for wild rodents was 10.8%. In total, 17,457 chigger mites (representing 5 genera and 15 species) were collected, and the average chigger index (representing the number of chigger mites per rodent), was 31.7. The monthly chigger index was consistently high (> 30) in Spring (March to April) and Autumn (October to November). The mite species included Leptotrombidium pallidum (43.5%), L. orientale (18.9%), L. scutellare (18.1%), L. palpale (10.6%), and L. zetum (3.6%). L. scutellare and L. palpale populations, were relatively higher in Autumn. Monthly O. tsutsugamushi infection rates in wild rodents (average: 4.8%) and chigger mites (average: 0.7%) peaked in Spring and Autumn.CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrated a bimodal pattern of the incidence of O. tsutsugamushi infections. Higher infection rates were observed in both wild rodents and chigger mites, in Spring and Autumn. However, this did not reflect the unimodal incidence of scrub typhus in Autumn. Further studies are needed to identify factors, such as human behavior and harvesting in Autumn that may explain this discordance.
Globus Pallidus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mites ; Orientia tsutsugamushi ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rodentia ; Scrub Typhus ; Trombiculidae

Surgical resection of colorectal cancer metastasis to the liver results in a 5-year survival rate of around 40%. Liver metastasis from other cancers such as neuroendocrine carcinoma and genitourinary tumors are also treated effectively with combined liver resection. However, hepatic metastasectomy for liver tumor from gastric cancer hasn't been considered as a standard treatment, and the benefit for this treatment has not been established. We report here on two cases of gastrectomy and combined liver resection for synchronous liver metastasis without any evidence of other metastatic lesions, and these two patients have survived for more than 7 years without evidence of disease recurrence. In conclusion, for patients with hepatic metastasis from gastric cancer, combined surgical resection of the liver metastasis should be considered as a treatment option when metastasis to other sites can be excluded.
Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Liver* ; Metastasectomy ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Recurrence ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

Owing to global climate change, the global resurgence of vector-borne infectious diseases and their potential to inflict widespread casualties among human populations has emerged as a pivotal burden on public health systems. Tsutsugamushi disease (scrub typhus) in the Republic of Korea is steadily increasing and was designated as a legal communicable disease in 1994. The disease is a mite-borne acute febrile disease most commonly contracted from October to December. In this study, we tried to determine the prevalence of tsutsugamushi disease transmitted by chigger mites living on rodents and investigated their target vector diversity, abundance, and distribution to enable the mapping of hotspots for this disease in 2015. A total of 5 species belonging to 4 genera (109 mites): Leptotrombidium scutellare 60.6%, L. pallidum 28.4% Neotrombicula tamiyai 9.2%, Euschoengastia koreaensis/0.9%), and Neoschoengastia asakawa 0.9% were collected using chigger mite collecting traps mimicking human skin odor and sticky chigger traps from April to November 2015. Chigger mites causing tsutsugamushi disease in wild rodents were also collected in Hwaseong for the zoonotic surveillance of the vector. A total of 77 rodents belonging to 3 genera: Apodemus agrarius (93.5%), Crocidura lasiura (5.2%), and Micromys minutus (1.3%) were collected in April, October, and November 2015. The most common mite was L. pallidum (46.9%), followed by L. scutellare (18.6%), and L. orientale (18.0%). However, any of the chigger mite pools collected from rodent hosts was tested positive for Orientia tsutsugamushi, the pathogen of tsutsugamushi disease, in this survey.

The seasonal abundance of hard ticks that transmit severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus was monitored with a collection trap method every April to November during 2015–2018 and with a flagging method every July and August during 2015–2018 in Ganghwa-do (island) of Incheon Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea. This monitoring was performed in a copse, a short grass field, coniferous forest and broad-leaved forest. A total of 17,457 ticks (8,277 larvae, 4,137 nymphs, 3,389 females, and 1,654 males) of the ixodid ticks comprising 3 species (Haemaphysalis longicornis, H. flava, and Ixodes nipponensis) were collected with collection traps. Of the identified ticks, H. longicornis was the most frequently collected ticks (except larval ticks) (94.26%, 8,653/9,180 ticks (nymphs and adults)), followed by H. flava (5.71%, 524/9,180) and Ix. nipponensis (less than 0.04%, 3/9,180). The ticks collected with collecting traps were pooled and assayed for the presence of SFTS virus with negative results. In addition, for monitoring the prevalence of hard ticks, a total of 7,461 ticks (5,529 larvae, 1,272 nymphs, 469 females, and 191 males) of the ixodid ticks comprising 3 species (H. longicornis, H. flava, and Ix. nipponensis) were collected with flagging method. H. longicornis was the highest collected ticks (except larval ticks) (99.53%, 1,908/1,917 ticks (nymphs and adults)), followed by H. flava (1.15%, 22/1,917).
Climate Change ; Coniferophyta ; Female ; Fever ; Forests ; Humans ; Incheon ; Ixodes ; Ixodidae ; Larva ; Methods ; Nymph ; Poaceae ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea ; Seasons ; Thrombocytopenia ; Ticks

BACKGROUND: Although several hospital-based stroke studies were published, there has not been any reliable data representing the clinical characteristics of stroke in Korea. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of patients with ischemic stroke registered in the Korean Stroke Registry (KSR), which is the largest prospective hospital-based nation-wide stroke registry in Korea. METHODS: The KSR provided standardized protocols for collecting data, which includes the data of demographics, subtypes of stroke, risk factors, and neurological outcome at discharge. The brain imaging studies, including CT or MRI, were performed in all cases. RESULTS: KSR registered 10,811 patients of acute ischemic stroke between Nov. 2002 and Jun. 2004. The large-artery atherosclerosis was the most common subtype (37.3%), followed by small vessel occlusion (30.8%). Hypertension (65.4%) was the most common risk factor, followed by smoking (34.5%) and diabetes (28.3%). Although most of the hypertensive and diabetic patients had been diagnosed before the stroke, less than 45.4% and 32.5% of them were under regular control. The steno-occlusive lesion of extracranial carotid artery was only 29.3% and the ratio of intra- to extracranial artery disease was more than 2 in KSR. Only 20.5% of patients were admitted within 3 hours after stroke onset and 2.1% were treated with intravenous thrombolysis. In-hospital case-fatality was 5.2%, which is relatively comparable to those of previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: The KSR provided informative data in understanding the clinical characteristics of ischemic stroke in Korea. Further analysis of KSR will facilitate clinical trials and development of guidelines for the management of stroke patients.
Arteries ; Atherosclerosis ; Carotid Arteries ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; Demography ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neuroimaging ; Prospective Studies* ; Registries ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stroke*

Objective: To understand the situation and genotype distribution of spotted fever group rickettsia (SFGR) in the border area of Tumen River Basin in free ticks in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture (Yanbian Prefecture), Jilin Province. Methods: From April to September, 2017, ticks were collected using flagging method from Hunchun, Tumen, Helong and Longjing cities in the Tumen River basin of Yanbian Prefecture. Outer membrane protein A (ompA) was detected by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), then, the species were identified by gene sequencing and analyzed systematically. The positive rate of pools and MIR(minimum infection rate per 100 ticks,MIR) of SFGR were calculated, and the difference of positive rate of pools among ticks with different characteristics was compared by Chi-square test. Results: A total of 3 079 ticks were collected and divided into 536 pools. The positive rate of pools of SFGR nucleic acid was 39.7% (213 pools). The MIR of SFGR was 6.9%.The positive rate of pools of SFGR in Dermacentor silvarum, Haemaphysalis concinna, Haemaphysalis japonica, Haemaphysalis longicornis and Ixodes persulcatus were 80.4% (41/51), 14.0% (25/179), 20.2% (18/89), 78.9% (101/128) and 25.9% (21/81), and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). There was statistical difference in the positive rate of pools of SFGR in developmental stages of ticks (P<0.001); the positive rate of pools of female adults, male adults, nymph and larvae were 36.4% (95/261), 34.2% (67/196), 56.3% (40/71) and 7/8, and the MIR was 7.9%, 7.7%, 4.9% and 3.5%. The five genotype was detected which was Candidatus Rickettsia longicornii, Rickettsia raoultii, Rickettsia heilongjiangensis, Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae,Rickettsia monacensis and have 98%-100% homology with known gene sequences. Candidatus Rickettsia longicornii, Rickettsia raoultii, Rickettsia heilongjiangensis and Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae showed close evolutionary relationship with known specie (have 98%-100% homology with known gene sequences); Rickettsia monacensis showed Far from evolutionary relationship with known species (have 98% homology with known gene sequences). Conclusion SFGR infection of ticks is common in the border areas of the Tumen River Basin. There was high diversity in SFGR species and tick species in the areas surveyed.