Plasmodium vivax reemerged in 1993. It has been sustained for more than 25 years and become one of the important indigenous parasitic diseases in northern and western parts of the Republic of Korea near the demilitarized zone. In particular, relapse is a significant concern for the control of malaria, as short- and long-term incubation periods vary among those infected in Korea. In this study, the prevalence of asymptomatic carriers was examined among residents of high endemic areas of vivax malaria during nonseasonal transmission of mosquitoes. Blood samples from 3 endemic regions in northwestern Korea were evaluated by microscopic examination, rapid diagnostic testing, and nested PCR to identify asymptomatic patients carrying malaria parasites in the community. However, no positive malaria case among residents of endemic areas was detected. Additionally, serological analysis was carried out to measure antibodies against 3 antigenic recombinant proteins of P. vivax, merozoite surface protein 1-19, circumsporozoite surface protein-VK210, and liver-stage antigen (PvLSA-N), by the protein array method. Interestingly, seropositivity of sera between previous exposure and samples without exposure to malaria was significantly higher using the PvLSA-N antigen than the other antigens, suggesting that PvLSA-N can be used as a serological marker to analyze the degree of exposure for malaria transmission in endemic areas. This indicates a very low asymptomatic carrier prevalence during the nonmalaria season in the endemic areas of Korea.

Plasmodium vivax reemerged in 1993. It has been sustained for more than 25 years and become one of the important indigenous parasitic diseases in northern and western parts of the Republic of Korea near the demilitarized zone. In particular, relapse is a significant concern for the control of malaria, as short- and long-term incubation periods vary among those infected in Korea. In this study, the prevalence of asymptomatic carriers was examined among residents of high endemic areas of vivax malaria during nonseasonal transmission of mosquitoes. Blood samples from 3 endemic regions in northwestern Korea were evaluated by microscopic examination, rapid diagnostic testing, and nested PCR to identify asymptomatic patients carrying malaria parasites in the community. However, no positive malaria case among residents of endemic areas was detected. Additionally, serological analysis was carried out to measure antibodies against 3 antigenic recombinant proteins of P. vivax, merozoite surface protein 1-19, circumsporozoite surface protein-VK210, and liver-stage antigen (PvLSA-N), by the protein array method. Interestingly, seropositivity of sera between previous exposure and samples without exposure to malaria was significantly higher using the PvLSA-N antigen than the other antigens, suggesting that PvLSA-N can be used as a serological marker to analyze the degree of exposure for malaria transmission in endemic areas. This indicates a very low asymptomatic carrier prevalence during the nonmalaria season in the endemic areas of Korea.

Noise in the knee joint is a common symptom that often leads to outpatient clinic visits. However, there have been no previous review articles regarding noise around the knee despite its high prevalence. We will review the noise characteristics according to sound nature and onset as well as factors for differentiation between physiological and pathological noises. In addition, we will describe causes of the physiological and pathological noises and management of noise in the knee. An appropriate review of the characteristics of noise, its pathophysiology, and factors for differentiation between physiological and pathological noises can facilitate patient guidance. It is important to differentiate between physiological noise and pathologic noise. In most cases, noise after surgery is simply the perception of noise that had been present previously due to emotional concerns. Minor problems associated with surgery, such as postoperative noise, can decrease patient satisfaction, especially among patients with high expectations. Following surgical principles and providing accurate information about physiological noise can decrease the risk of both pathological noise and patient dissatisfaction. In total knee arthroplasty, every attempt should be made to avoid patellar crepitus and clunk by using modern prostheses with proper patellofemoral conformity and by avoiding surgical errors.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; Knee* ; Medical Errors ; Noise* ; Patient Satisfaction ; Prevalence ; Prostheses and Implants

BACKGROUND: Research on next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based HLA typing is active. To resolve the phase ambiguity and long turn-around-time of conventional high resolution HLA typing, this study developed a NGS-based high resolution HLA typing method that can handle large-scale samples within an efficient testing time. METHODS: For HLA NGS, the condition of nucleic acid extraction, library construction, PCR mechanism, and HLA typing with bioinformatics were developed. To confirm the accuracy of the NGS-based HLA typing method, the results of 192 samples HLA typed by SSOP and 28 samples typed by SBT compared to NGS-based HLA-A, -B and -DR typing. RESULTS: DNA library construction through two-step PCR, NGS sequencing with MiSeq (Illumina Inc., San Diego, USA), and the data analysis platform were established. NGS-based HLA typing results were compatible with known HLA types from 220 blood samples. CONCLUSION: The NSG-based HLA typing method could handle large volume samples with high-throughput. Therefore, it would be useful for HLA typing of bone marrow donation volunteers.
Bone Marrow ; Computational Biology ; Gene Library ; Histocompatibility Testing ; HLA-A Antigens* ; Methods* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Statistics as Topic ; Volunteers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cigarette smoking is a risk significant factor in coronary artery disease (CAD) and vasospastic angina (VSA). However, it is largely unknown whether smoking adds to any long-term clinical risk in VSA patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 2797 patients without significant CAD underwent acetylcholine (Ach) provocation test between November 2004 and October 2010. Patients were divided into three groups, based on the presence of coronary artery spasm (CAS) and smoking habits (non-CAS group: n=1188, non-smoking CAS group: n=1214, smoking CAS group: n=395). All CAS patients were prescribed with anti-anginal medications for at least 6 months. The incidence of major clinical outcomes and recurrent angina of these groups were compared up to 3 years. RESULTS: There were considerable differences in the baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics among the three groups, but there was no difference in the endpoints among the three groups (including individual and composite hard endpoints) such as death, myocardial infarction, de novo percutaneous coronary intervention, cerebrovascular accident, and major adverse cardiac events. However, there was a higher incidence of recurrent angina in both the non-smoking CAS group and smoking CAS group, as compared to the non-CAS group. In multivariable adjusted Cox-proportional hazards regression analysis, smoking CAS group exhibited a higher incidence of recurrent angina compared with the non-CAS group (hazard ratio [HR]; 2.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 1.46-4.14, p=0.001) and non-smoking CAS group (HR; 1.76, 95% CI; 1.08-2.87, p=0.021). CONCLUSION: Cigarette smoking CAS group exhibited higher incidence of recurrent angina during the 3-year clinical follow-up compared with both the non-CAS group and non-smoking CAS group. Quitting of smoking, paired with intensive medical therapy and close clinical follow-up, can help to prevent recurrent angina.
Acetylcholine ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Myocardial Infarction ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Smoke ; Smoking* ; Spasm ; Stroke ; Tobacco Products*

A 56-year-old female was referred to our hospital due to a mass measuring 5 cm in size in the left pelvic cavity, which was found incidentally during a health examination by ultrasonography. Exploratory laparotomy was performed and the mass was located at the left retroperitoneal parametrium without invasion of the uterus and ovary. The pathology report confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. Even after further studies, we did not find any other primary lesion. Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA chip test (HPV 9G DNA Membrane Kit, Biometrixtechnology Inc.) showed that the surgical specimen was positive for HPV 18. She received adjuvant chemotherapy and would receive radiation therapy for the possibility of occult gynecologic cancer. Retroperitoneal squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary is extremely rare and little is known about it. It is reported that HPV may be associated with the disease. Hence, the result of HPV test could have an impact on finding a suspicious primary lesion and treatment modality in this case.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; DNA ; Female ; Human papillomavirus 18 ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Membranes ; Middle Aged ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Ovary ; Pathology ; Retroperitoneal Neoplasms ; Ultrasonography ; Uterus

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to apply a new surgical procedure that allows for the successful monitoring of intraurethral pressure (IUP) changes in the cystometry of awake Sprague-Dawley rats. METHODS: Twenty-six female Sprague-Dawley rats were grouped according to the catheterization method (bladder only; bladder and urethra; or bladder, urethra, and abdomen). Using an arbitrarily determined initial point of the first phase among four rat micturition phases on the simultaneous curves as a reference point, we compared the time differences to the points on an intravesical pressure (IVP) and those on IUP or a detrusor pressure (DP) curve from intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). RESULTS: In awake rat, the start of urethral flow on IUP curve corresponded to the initial point of the second phase, which is same to the results on the anesthetized rat. However, certain results, such as micturition pressure (MP) and intraluminal pressure high-frequency oscillations (IPHFOs), differed between awake and anesthetized rats. Most MP values were checked after the end of urethral flow on the IUP curve, which is due to the peculiar methodology such as transvesical catheterization. Urethral flow was not completely interrupted during the IPHFOs, which suggests the presence of urethral wall tension against the flow during voiding. After removal of the superimposed effects of IAP from IVP, the DP curve clearly showed a peculiar shape, highlighting the possibility of using IAP in place of IUP to detect the flow starting point on the IVP curve. CONCLUSIONS: Awake rat cystometry results have been interpreted based on those in anesthetized rats. However, our awake cystometry data were substantially different in terms of voiding time compared to those of anesthetized rats. This discovery warrants careful interpretation of the voiding parameters in awake rat cystometry.
Animals ; Catheterization ; Catheters ; Female ; Humans ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Urethra ; Urinary Bladder ; Urination ; Urodynamics

Treatments for patient with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) agents. However, owing to the well-known nephrotoxicity of NSAIDs and some DMARDs, the use of these drugs is limited in AS patients with renal insufficiency. As the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of anti-TNFalpha agents in patients of end stage renal disease, especially those receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD), have not been investigated well, little is known about treating them with anti-TNFalpha agents. We described the safety and efficacy of etanercept, a soluble fusion protein comprising the TNF receptor 2 in linkage with the Fc portion of immunoglobulin G, in a 40-year-old male AS patient receiving PD.
Adult ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; Antirheumatic Agents ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Male ; Metabolism ; Necrosis ; Peritoneal Dialysis* ; Pharmacokinetics ; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor ; Renal Insufficiency ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Etanercept

Castleman's disease is a rare atypical lymphoproliferative disorder. Although HHV-8 has been reported to be a cause of Castleman's disease, the etiology and pathogenesis of the disease remains mostly unknown. We experienced a 51-year-old female patient who was concurrently diagnosed with Castleman's disease and systemic lupus erythematosus. Castleman's disease has been rarely reported in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Thus, we report the case and briefly discuss relevant articles.
Female ; Giant Lymph Node Hyperplasia ; Herpesvirus 8, Human ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders

OBJECTIVE: To assess the technical success and complication rates of the radiologic placement of central venous ports via the internal jugular vein. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 1254 central venous ports implanted at our institution between August 2002 and October 2009. All procedures were guided by using ultrasound and fluoroscopy. Catheter maintenance days, technical success rates, peri-procedural, as well as early and late complication rates were evaluated based on the interventional radiologic reports and patient medical records. RESULTS: A total of 433386 catheter maintenance days (mean, 350 days; range 0-1165 days) were recorded. The technical success rate was 99.9% and a total of 61 complications occurred (5%), resulting in a post-procedural complication rate of 0.129 of 1000 catheter days. Among them, peri-procedural complications within 24 hours occurred in five patients (0.4%). There were 56 post-procedural complications including 24 (1.9%, 0.055 of 1000 catheter days) early and 32 (2.6%, 0.074 of 1000 catheter days) late complications including, infection (0.6%, 0.018 of 10000 catheter days), thrombotic malfunction (1.4%, 0.040 of 1000 catheter days), nonthrombotic malfunction (0.9%, 0.025 of 1000 catheter days), venous thrombosis (0.5%, 0.014 of 1000 catheter days), as well as wound problems (1.1%, 0.032 of 1000 catheter days). Thirty six CVPs (3%) were removed due to complications. Bloodstream infections and venous thrombosis were the two main adverse events prolonging hospitalization (mean 13 days and 5 days, respectively). CONCLUSION: Radiologic placement of a central venous port via the internal jugular vein is safe and efficient as evidenced by its high technical success rate and a very low complication rate.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Catheterization, Central Venous/*methods ; Female ; Fluoroscopy ; Humans ; *Jugular Veins ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications/epidemiology ; *Radiography, Interventional ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; *Ultrasonography, Interventional