No abstract available.
Humans* ; Interleukin-10*

No abstract available.
Emergencies* ; Emergency Medical Services*

Vast array of microbes colonize to each anatomical environment of human body. Culture based methods are important in investigating the microbial structure, but they are extremely biased in their evaluation of microbial diversity by selecting particular population of microbiota. Recent advance in molecular technology has allowed sophisticated analysis of complex human microbiota by culture-independent methods. Here, we will discuss features of tools for human microbiota studies including Roche-454 and Illumina platform. We will also briefly discuss features of some strategies that are commonly applied to these platforms including 16S rRNA targeting and shotgun sequencing. New platforms such as PacBio and Oxford Nanopore are also introduced.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Colon ; Human Body ; Humans ; Metagenome ; Nanopores

Much has been learned of the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of the toxic shock syndrome (TSS) since the initial description in 1978 by Dr. James K, Todd. The clinical illness is defined by the criteria listed in the case definition formulated for epidemiologic studies. With the advent of widespread recognition of TSS, there have been numerous published reports describing the clinical and laboratory findings, primarily in menstruating females. And there have been also reported about six cases in Korea. Moreover, TSS is uncommon in the prepubertal age group and no case report in infant in Korea. We experienced two cases of TSS in infants aged 11/2 yrs and 9 months associated with respiratory infection-pneumonia, pyopneumothorax and localized skin abscess that were confused with Kawasaki disease (KD). The diagnosis was made on the basis of clinical features and laboratory findings, and the cases met the Centers of Disease Control case definition of TSS. And thus we report these cases and review related literatures.
Abscess ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Infant* ; Korea ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Shock, Septic* ; Skin

Thirty consecutive patient seen in a pediatric out patient and emergency department, in whom the diagnosis of intussusception was considered, had an ultrasound examination of the abdomen before the barium enema. The peak age was 5~12 month (range 4~34 month). Intussusception was detected by ultrasonography in all 25 cases proved by barium enema (sensitivity 100%). Normal findings on ultrasonography correlated with a negative barium enema results in 5 of 5 cases (negative predictive value=100%). No intussusception was missed by ultrasonography. To determine which patient would most benefit from ultrasonography, we divided patients into either a high risk group (100% intussusception) or a low risk group (37.5% intussusception) on the basis of clinical symptoms. We conclude that ultrasonography can be used as a rapid sensitive screening procedure in the diagnosis or exclusion of childhood intussusception. Probability of surgical reduction was associated with size of of total thickness and external rim thickness.
Abdomen ; Barium ; Child* ; Diagnosis* ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Enema ; Humans ; Infant* ; Intussusception* ; Mass Screening ; Ultrasonography*

To evaluate the isolation rate of acid-fast bacilli on Ziehl-Neelsen stain from biopsy specimens of extrapulmonary tuberculosis proven by chronic granulomatous inflammation, 286 cases of extrapulmonary tuberculosis were reviewed and the results are as follows : 1) Mean age was 27.3 years old and lymphatic tuberculosis was more prevalent in the female but others were more common in the male. 2) The most common site of extrapulmonary tuberculosis was pleura (103 cases ; 36%) followed by lymph nodes (87 cases ; 30.4%), gastrointestinal tract (27 cases ; 9.4%), skin and soft tissue (23 cases ; 8.0%), bone (19 cases ; 6.6%), urinary tract (14 cases ; 4.6%), larynx (9 cases ; 3.2%) and breast (5 cases ; 1.8%) in order of frequencies. 3) Of 286 cases, 30.4%, (87 cases) of the biopsy specimens showed acid fast bacilli on microscopy. The isolation rate according to the sites was slightly higher in breast and lymph nodes as 3 of 5 cases (60.0%) and 35 of 87 cases (40.2%) respectively, and followed by 3 of 9 cases (33.3%) in the larynx, 4 of 13 cases (30.8%) in the urinary tract, 5 of 19 cases (26.3%) in the bone, 7 of 27 cases (25.9%) in the gastrointestinal tract, 26 of 103 cases (25.2%) in the pleura, and 4 of 23 cases (17.4%) in the skin and soft tissue, in order of frequencies. 4) The prevalence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis associated with pulmonary tuberculosis on chest X-ray was 85 of 286 cases (29.7%).
Biopsy ; Breast ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Larynx ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Microscopy ; Pleura ; Prevalence ; Skin ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; Urinary Tract

OBJECTIVE: New antidepressant, nefazodone is classified as a serotonin -2 antagonist/reuptake inhibitor like old antidepressant, trazodone. Nefazodone, however, differs from trazodone in that it lacks anti-histaminergic properties and in that it has some norepinephrine reuptake inhibitory properties. These differences may account for the differences between the two drugs in the side effect profiles. This study was conducted to compare the acute effects of nefazodone on the psychomotor performance with those of trazodone. METHODS: The subjects were 12 healthy male volunteers aged between 20-40 years. A single, oral starting dose of nefazodone or trazodone was administered in a double-blind, randomized latin-square design with a 1-week interval between each drug switch. Psychomotor performances were assessed at 1 hour before and at 2 hours after administration of nefazodone 50 mg, nefazodone 100 mg or trazodone 50 mg. The measures of psychomotor performance included Vienna Determination Unit for complex choice reaction time, Critical Flicker Fusion Test, and Grooved Pegboard Test. RESULTS: In the Vienna Determination Unit, when 'within drug effect' (pre- vs. post-medication) was analyzed, nefazodone 100 mg decreased complex choice reaction time in both subtest 2 and subtest 3. Nefazodone 50 mg also decreased the reaction time in subtest 3 but not in subtest 2 which was more difficult and demanding task than subtest 3. On the other hand, no significant changes in the reaction time were observed with trazodone 50 mg in either subtest 2 or subtest 3. When 'between drug effect' was analyzed, however, the differences between drugs were not found to reach statistically significant level. No significant 'between drug effect' or 'within drug effect' was observed in Critical Flicker Fusion Test and Grooved Pegboard Test. CONCLUSION: Although the differences between nefazodone and trazodone did not reach statistically significant level, the results on the complex choice reaction time suggest that al least a single starting dose of nefazodone up to 100 mg does not impair psychomotor performances and it might have a less detrimental effect than trazodone on the psychomotor performance.
Administration, Oral* ; Flicker Fusion ; Hand ; Healthy Volunteers* ; Humans ; Male ; Norepinephrine ; Psychomotor Performance* ; Reaction Time ; Serotonin ; Trazodone* ; Volunteers

PURPOSE: To measure the orbital volume from facial CT scans using a semi-automatic computer program. METHODS: Axial and coronal slices of 35 facial CT scans were used to measure the orbital volume. The cross-sectional area was determined from each slice using a semi-automated computer program (MATLAB 2009a). Next, the orbital volume was calculated from serial reconstruction of the cross-sections. RESULTS: The measured value in males was 26.34 +/- 3.09 cm3 in the right orbit and 26.30 +/- 3.21 cm3 in the left orbit from axial scans, and 26.58 +/- 2.76 cm3 in the right orbit and 26.59 +/- 2.75 cm3 in the left orbit from coronal scans. In females, the values were 23.84 +/- 2.29 cm3 in the right orbit and 23.89 +/- 2.33 cm3 in the left orbit from axial scans, and 24.06 +/- 2.90 cm3 in the right orbit and 24.10 +/- 2.82 cm3 in the left orbit from coronal scans. There was high positive correlation (r = +0.832, p = 0.0001) in measured orbital volume between axial and coronal scans. CONCLUSIONS: The orbital volume measurement from facial CT scans using a semi-automatic computer program is very useful. This method should prove useful in further studies examining the correlation of orbital volume variation in many ophthalmologic disorders.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Orbit* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed*

PURPOSE: This study was performed to examine the effects of image filter on observer performance by counting the number of holes at each wedge step on a radiographic image. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An aluminum step wedge with 11 steps ranged in thickness from 1.5 mm to 16.5 mm in 1.5 mm increments was fabricated for this study. Each step had 10 notched holes with 1.0 mm diameter on the bottom of the step wedge which were ranged in depths from 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm in 0.1 mm increments. Digital radiographic raw images of the aluminum step wedge were acquired by using CCD intraoral sensor. The images were processed using several types of noise reduction filters and kernel sizes. Three observers counted the number of holes which could be discriminated on each step. The data were analyzed by ANOVA. RESULTS: The number of holes at each step was decreased as the thickness of step was increased. The number of holes at each step on the raw images was significantly higher than that on the processed images. The number of holes was different according to the types and kernel sizes of the image filters. CONCLUSION: The types and kernel sizes of image filters on observer performance were important, therefore, they should be standardized for commercial digital imaging systems.
Aluminum ; Noise ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; Radiography, Dental ; Task Performance and Analysis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the cross-sectional association of the obesity with the knee osteoarthritis (OA) in a rural population. METHOD: We studied the cross-sectional asssociation between the obesity and the knee OA by analysis of data (Juam-Study based data) from an epidemiologic survey of a population of 1,100 adults who resided around the Juam lake in Chonnam. The recruited sampling were 475 adults above 40 years old. We diagnosed knee OA by typical clinical features such as bony swelling, crepitus and pain on movement and divided the subjects into non-OA group (143 males:148 females) and OA group (60 males:124 females). There is no difference in the mean ages of two groups. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated from a weight and height (kg/m2) and body fat percent (BFP) was measured by bioelectric impedance fatness analyzer (BIA). We defined obesity as a BMI over 30 kg/m2 in both sex or a BFP over 25% in male and over 30% in female. The BMI and BFP were 23.2 +/- 3.2 kg/m2, 24.0 +/- 7.5% in non-OA group and 23.5 +/- 3.4 kg/m2, 26.0 +/- 7.0% in OA group and were compared in two groups. RESULTS: 1) Prevalence odds ratio (POR) for risk factors of knee OA was high in seventh decade, female, a high cholesterol group, and a high BFP group, and was not high in BMI group. 2) There was no association between BMI and knee OA. 3) There was no association between BFP and knee OA. CONCLUSION: We were not able to prove the cross-sectional association between obesity and knee OA. The results suggested that knee OA was a heterogeneous disorder and more possibly influenced by multiple other factors, such as age, sex, and various metabolic abnormalities than obesity itself.
Adipose Tissue ; Adult ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol ; Electric Impedance ; Female ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do ; Knee* ; Lakes ; Male ; Obesity* ; Odds Ratio ; Osteoarthritis, Knee* ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Rural Population*