Two species of the lichen genus Dirinaria (Tuck.) Clem. are recognized in the South Korean lichen mycota, viz: D. applanata and D. picta. Descriptions of each species with their morphological, anatomical, and chemical characteristics together with molecular analysis and a key to known Dirinaria species are presented. D. picta is recorded from South Korea for the first time.
Lichens* ; Republic of Korea*

Primary Pulmonary leiomyosarcomas are rare tumors. These tumors may arise at any level of the lung in which smooth muscle fibers are found. The highest incidence of sarcoma is during the fourth decade whereas for bronchogenic carcinoma the maximum incidence is during the sixth and seventh decades. Leiomyosarcomas are aggressive and progressive. Treatment is mainly surgical. The chemotherapy is ineffective and the effectiveness of radiotherapy depends on the total dose of irradiation. Prognosis and significant survival rate are related to the size of the lesion. We report one patient with primary pulmonary leiomyosarcoma involving the right lower lung.
Carcinoma, Bronchogenic ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Leiomyosarcoma* ; Lung ; Muscle, Smooth ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Sarcoma ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: Proliferation and survival of dentate granule cells are influenced by epileptic seizures. Dentate granule cells might play an important role in the pathogenesis of temporal lobe epilepsy. However, most studies have used the rat model. We investigated the neurogenesis of dentate granule cells by the kainic acid (KA)-induced seizure model in ICR mice. METHODS: Seizures were chemically induced by intraperitoneal injections of KA (30 mg/kg) and seizure behavior grades were evaluated. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU, 50 mg/kg) was subsequently administered once a day for 6 consecutive days, starting at 24 hours after KA or saline treatment. Mice were sacrificed 7 days after KA administration. The number of BrdU-positive cells in the hippocampus were counted in every seventh section in a series of 30 micrometer coronal sections. We examined the long-term fate of BrdU-labeled cells after KA-induced seizures by double-labeled immunofluorescence with confocal microscopy, 28 days after the last injection of BrdU. RESULTS: After KA administration, every seizure behavior was graded II or more. Quantitative analysis of BrdU labeling revealed a significantly increased proliferation rate of neural precursor cells after seizures. BrdU-positive cells were increased at least 2-fold in KA injection (83.38+/-44.33, n=5) compared to the controls (35.61+/-17.87, n=6). Most of the newborn cells migrated into the granule cell layer from the subgranular zone after KA-induced seizures (n=6, respectively). The majority of these mitotic cells (89%) were differentiated into neurons. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that mitotic activity in the about hippocampus was enhanced after KA-induced seizures in ICR mice, and that the majority of all BrdU-positive cells showed the phenotypic differentiation to neuronal cells.
Animals ; Bromodeoxyuridine ; Epilepsy ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Kainic Acid ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Models, Animal ; Neurogenesis* ; Neurons ; Seizures*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among the levels of total serum cholesterol level, blood pressure, body mass index, and lifestyle. METHOD: This study was designed as a descriptive correlation study. Subjects were 972 adults participated voluntarily living in GyeongNam. The height, weight, blood pressure and fasting serum cholesterol were measured. Body mass index was caculated. Information on general characteristics (age, gender, education, job, family history) and life style(cigarette, alchol, sleeping time, regular exercise, meal pattern, peppery, salty, sweetness, vegetable diet, meat diet) were collected using a questionnaire by interviewing method. RESULT: The mean value of total serum cholesterol was 197+/-36.4mg/dl(mean; 189.4+/-36.7, women; 202.1 +/-35.1). By simple analysis, the serum total cholesterol according to general characteristics features was statistically significant in age(F= 6.765, p=000) and gender (t=5.372, p=.000). Total serum cholesterol levels increased significantly with increasing BMI. The serum total cholesterol according to life style features was statistically significant in cigarette(chi2 =12.12, p=.016), exercise(chi2=6.335, p=.042), salty taste(chi2=18.801, p=016), vegetable diet(chi2=19.488, p=012). The most affecting factor which total serum cholesterol factor was BMI(beta=.151, p=.000). CONCLUSION: The significant risk factors relating to serum total cholesterol were age, gender, BMI, smoking, and exercise. Therefore, for the reduction of serum total cholesterol level, it is recommended that nursing intervention for the prevention of obesity, change of life style should be implemented.
Adult ; Blood Pressure* ; Body Mass Index* ; Cholesterol* ; Climacteric ; Diet ; Education ; Fasting ; Female ; Humans ; Life Style* ; Meals ; Meat ; Nursing ; Obesity ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Statistics as Topic ; Vegetables

This meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of the supportive nursing intervention and analyze its components in 14 studies carried out from Jan. 1980 to Jun. 1997. The supportive nursing intervention studies divided into three types according to the components of conceptual definitons.; (1)supportive nursing behavior, (2)social support, and (3)combination of social support and supportive nursing behavior. The various terms referred to the supportive nursing intervention didn't have the clear differentiating conceptual and operational definitions and the logical relationship among them. The effects of supportive nursing intervention were measured by the 23 dependent variables using self-report and the 5 dependent variables using physiological indices. The dependent variables were measured more than two were role behavior compliance, anxiety, depression, health belief, knowledge about the disease, helplessness and stressful behavior response. The average effects of the supportive nursing intervention ranged from 0.218 to 2.745 for the d index. The three variables of them, which were anxiety, depression and stressful behavior response, were homogeneous statistically by homogeniety test. Results of the meta- analysis indicated that the supportive nursing intervention had moderate to large effects on anxiety(d=0.41), depression (d=0.66) and stressful behavior response (d=0.86).
Anxiety ; Compliance ; Depression ; Intervention Studies ; Logic ; Nursing ; Child Health

PURPOSE: This cross-sectional study was designed to explore the relationship among social support, experienced stressful life events and health behaviors of Korean undergraduate students, and validate the mediator effect of social support. METHOD: One thousand four hundred fifty-three undergraduate students were randomly selected from five universities located in the middle area of Korea. RESULT: The health behaviors of Korean undergraduates tend to have unhealthy patterns. In the case of the students living without family, experiencing more stressful life events and perceiving lower social support, health behaviors are poor. The relationship between perceived social supports, the frequency of the experienced stressful life events and the score of health behavior patterns is statistically significant. After controlling the effect of social support, the correlation coefficient between the frequency of experienced stressful life events and the score of health behavior patterns was slightly lower. The score of health behaviors between the group with an extremely high score of social support and the group with an extremely low score were statistically significantly different. CONCLUSION: Future studies need to be pursued to develop various strategies such as a health education programs and counseling programs for health maintenance and health promotion of undergraduates.
Counseling ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Health Behavior* ; Health Education ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Korea

PURPOSE: A structural equation model was analysed to explore the determinants of health behaviors of university students in Korea. METNOD: Nine hundred sixty nine university students were selected by random cluster sampling from five universities located in the central area of Korea. DATA COLLECTION: The data was collected by questionnaires about demographic characteristics, stressful life events, perceived social support, perceived health status and health behaviors. RESULTS: 1. Gender showed indirect effect on health behaviors. 2. Living together with(out) family had a direct effecton health behaviors: students living with family showed more positive health behaviors. 3. Stressful life events had an indirect effect on health behaviors via perceived health status;a higher score of stressful life events was the predictor for negative health behaviors. 4. A higher score of perceived health status predicted positive health behaviors. RECOMMENDATION: Each university should be encouraged to develop a health behavior control program and health promotion program for their own university students. It would be more effective to develop health programs separately according to the demographic or social characteristics of the students. It is also necessary for the Ministry of Education to reform the School Health Act and school health policy to strengthen a health promotion program for university students. In conclusion, following studies should identify and promote the validity and reliability of perceived health status and health behaviors measurements.
Adult ; Attitude to Health ; Female ; *Health Behavior ; Health Status ; Humans ; Korea ; Life Change Events ; Male ; Social Support ; *Students/psychology ; Universities

Acute gastroenteritis (AGE), which is one of the most common diseases worldwide, primarily occurs in infants and young children in both developed and developing countries. To investigate the prevalence of AGE in Korea, 6,788 stool specimens collected from hospitalized patients with AGE in Seoul, Korea from March 2004 to June 2007 were analyzed by enzyme immunoassay, reverse transcription-PCR, DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Enteric viruses and bacteria were detected in 2,955 (43.5%) and 1,389 (20.5%) specimens, respectively. Among the enteric viruses detected, rotavirus (19.7%) and norovirus (18.9%) were the predominant causative agents, followed by adenovirus (2.5%) and astrovirus (2.4%). Staphylococcus aureus was the most commonly observed bacteria (8.0~19.2%). The epidemic peaks of the enteric viruses were October to December for norovirus, January to May for rotavirus, and August to October for adenovirus. The seasonal activity of rotavirus was shifted from winter to late spring. However, astrovirus did not display seasonal activity in this study. Although viral AGE primarily occurred in patients younger than 5 years of age, the incidence of viral AGE in children aged 6 to 14 years was significant. The results of this study will contribute to the currently available epidemiological data and improve public health and hygiene via amelioration of diagnostic methods and longitudinal surveillance.
Adenoviridae ; Aged ; Bacteria ; Child ; Developing Countries ; Gastroenteritis ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Incidence ; Infant ; Korea ; Norovirus ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Rotavirus ; Seasons ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Staphylococcus aureus

BACKGROUND: Oxytocin is a nonapeptide hormone secreted from posterior pituitary gland and has a very similar structure to vasopressin. The aquaporin-2 (AQP2) water channel is predominantly expressed in the kidney and plays a key role in regulation of water permeability of mammalian collecting duct, exerted by both short-term and long-term vasopressin action. We speculated that oxytocin may be involved in some part of vasopressin-independent urinary concentrating mechanism by regulating AQP2 trafficking in the kidney. METHODS: This study was undertaken to investigate whether and how the acute stimulation of oxytocin induces changes in AQP2 localization in the kidney. Immunohistochemistry and semiquantitative immunoblotting of AQP2 were carried out from Sprague-Dawley rat kidneys after a single intraperitoneal injection of oxytocin with or without pretreatment of a vasopressin-2 receptor (V2R) antagonist. RESULTS: Urinary cAMP excretion was increased by oxytocin administration. Immuno- histochemistry of inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) revealed that AQP2 was shifted from diffuse cytoplasmic localization in controls to the apical and basolateral membrane domains in oxytocin-treated rats. This pattern of AQP2 redistribution was noted in connecting tubule, cortical collecting duct and outer medullary collecting duct as in IMCD, although the tendency to basolateral localization was somewhat less. Semiquantitative immunoblotting of membrane fractions of whole kidney homogenates was also used to assess redistribution of AQP2. The band density ratio of the plasma membrane-rich fraction over cytoplasmic vesicle-rich fraction was higher in oxytocin-treated rats than in controls (3.64+/-0.60 vs. 1.09+/-0.14, P<0.05). Regarding the receptor pathway of oxytocin action in the kidney, we found that pretreatment with a V2R antagonist (OPC-31260) blocked redistribution of AQP2 which was induced by oxytocin. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, oxytocin induces a V2R-mediated redistribution of AQP2-containing cytoplasmic vesicles to both apical and basolateral plasma membrane domains in rat kidney. Oxytocin may be one of the factors that accounts for vasopressin-independent AQP2 targeting in the kidney.
Animals ; Aquaporin 2* ; Aquaporins ; Cell Membrane ; Cytoplasm ; Cytoplasmic Vesicles ; Immunoblotting ; Immunohistochemistry ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Kidney* ; Membranes ; Oxytocin* ; Permeability ; Pituitary Gland, Posterior ; Plasma ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Vasopressins ; Water

According to recent studies, the immunogenetic factors are thought to be account for a part of the etiopathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid disease. In Korea, there was one report on the relationship between HLA DR5, DR8, B13 and autoimmune thyroid disease. There were also several reports on a familial hereditary transmission of autoimmune thyroid disease in other countries but not in Korea. We describe the occurrence of autoimmune thyroid disease that affected three members of a family through three generations. This is the first report on familial hereditary transmission of autoimmune thyroid disease in Korea. We report on an 80-year-old woman who presented with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, her 53-year-old daughter who had Graves' disease, and her 29-year-old grand-daughter who had Graves' disease. In order to identify the immunogenetic influence in these cases, HLA haplotypes & thyroid autoantibody were studied. HLA DRB3*02 was obseved in each of the patents. HLA DQB1*0301, DR11, DQB1*05031 and DR14 were observed in the two cases. However, HLA B13, DR5 and DR8 were not observed. The patients are currently undergoing follow-up using PTU, methimazole and synthyroid medication.
Adult ; Aged, 80 and over ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graves Disease ; Haplotypes ; HLA-B13 Antigen ; Humans ; Immunogenetics ; Korea ; Methimazole ; Middle Aged ; Nuclear Family ; Thyroid Diseases* ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroiditis