BACKGROUND: Detection of causative allergens in respiratory allergy patients is important for diagnosis and selection of treatment modality. Allergen sensitization depends on the genetic susceptibility and environmental exposure to allergens. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In this study, we tried to find causative inhalant allergens in respiratory allergy patients who underwent skin prick test with common 55 inhalant allergens and RAST at Chungbuk National University Hospital in Chungbuk district. We also evaluated the changes of causative allergens because the environment here may be quite different, since the main population lives in the urban area and industrialization began later than in the other cities and districts. RESULTS: The major allergen was house dust mite, and its sensitivity rate did not change annually. Other indoor allergens such as cockroach, and animal dander including cat and dog showed similar trends. But the sensitization rate to tree and weed pollen except grass had significantly increased since 1995. Among pollens, the increase of sensntization to weed pollen was more marked. Ratio of sensitization rate to double or triple kinds of allergens also increased. CONCLUSION: Taken together, house dust mite is still the major allergen, but rate to pollen sensitization, especially to weed pollen has increased rapidly and significantly. It is suggested that causative allergens in repiratory allergy patients has begun to shift to pollen recently.
Allergens* ; Animals ; Cats ; Chungcheongbuk-do* ; Cockroaches ; Dander ; Diagnosis ; Dogs ; Environmental Exposure ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Poaceae ; Pollen ; Pyroglyphidae ; Skin

No abstract available.
Schizophrenia*

No abstract available.
Bender-Gestalt Test* ; Hallucinations*

Evaluation and management of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) deficient knee pose several problems. For acute injuries, the essential factors are diagnosis of the ACL rupture and associated injuries, and selection of the appropriate method of the management. Until recently, the frequency of complete disruption of the ACL was though to be less than that of the medial collateral ligament. However, there is little doubt that the ACL is the most frequently torn ligament in the knee. Diagnosis may be made with a combination of tests: Anterior drawer, valgus or varus stress test, Lachman, and pivot shift. If the patients is unable to relax because of pain or fear, examination under the anesthesia should be performed. Treatment can be surgical or nonsurgical. Since the ACL is vital to normal knee function, surgical intervention is advisable in the majority of cases of acute disruption. Authors analyzed the records of 58 cases of acute knee ligament injuried patients treated at the department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kang-Nam St. Marys Hospital, Catholic Medical College and Center, from November 1982 to January 1984, with follow-up range from 6 to 20 months. 1. Among 58 cases, 41(71%) had anterior cruciate ligament injury and 39(67%) had medial collateral ligament injury. 2. The causes of injury were mostly traffic accident (77%) and majority of the patients was in their twenties and thirties of age. 3. Among 41 cases of ACL Injury, 5 had isolated anterior cruciate injury, 27 cases (66%) had associated medial collateral injury, 9 (22%) had associated lateral collateral injury, and 7 (17%) had associated posterior cruciate ligament injury. 4. Meniscal injury was found only in 6 cases (15%); 4 medial and 2 lateral menisci. 5. Majority of anterior cruciate injured patients (71%) had more than 5mm joint openning than normal side in valgus or varus stress radiogram with the knee in extension. 6. In all cases of anterior cruciate ligament injured patients, the Lachman test was positive under the general anesthesia, hut anterior drawer test was positive in 80%. 7. In about 90% of the cases, the anterolateral rotatory instability (ALRI) test was positive and this finding was accentuated when the lateral collateral ligament was torn. 8. Among 41 cases, 16 (39%) had failure at the insertion site, 7 (17%) had tibial spine avulsion, and 9 patients each (22%) had tear at the ligament substance level and had grade II sprain. 9. In twenty-three, primary repair was done, in 9, primary intra-articular recopstruction was performed and 9 were treated conservatively. The result was from fair to excellent almost in all cases.
Accidents, Traffic ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Anterior Cruciate Ligament ; Clinical Study ; Collateral Ligaments ; Diagnosis ; Exercise Test ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Joints ; Knee ; Lateral Ligament, Ankle ; Ligaments ; Menisci, Tibial ; Methods ; Posterior Cruciate Ligament ; Rupture ; Spine ; Sprains and Strains ; Tears

No abstract available.
Humans

Pneumonia is the 12th leading cause of death among Korean population in 2005. In spite of sophisticated diagnostic assessments and treatment techniques, the management of the pneumonia is still challenging. Furthermore, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms poses difficulties to the selection of optimal antimicrobial agents. The empirical antibiotic regimen for the community-acquired pneumonia is based on the epidemiologic characteristics of the causative pathogens, for example, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus after influenza outbreak, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with chronic obstructive lung diseases. The most important and frequent etiologic organism is S. pneumonia according to a prospective multicenter study by investigators including the author, followed by K. pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, and M. pneumoniae in decreasing order. Still we need a nation-wide surveillance system of the community-acquired pneumonia because we are not certain about the etiology in almost half the cases of community-acquired pneumonia.
Anti-Infective Agents ; Cause of Death ; Chlamydophila pneumoniae ; Epidemiology* ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Lung Diseases, Obstructive ; Moraxella (Branhamella) catarrhalis ; Pneumonia* ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Research Personnel ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Streptococcus pneumoniae

No abstract available.
Adrenocortical Carcinoma* ; Cushing Syndrome ; Humans ; Infant* ; Male* ; Puberty, Precocious

r-Glutamyltranspeptidase (r-GT) from a rat hepatoma induced by 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (3'-Me DAB) was purified 833 fold. The purified enzyme had a specific activity of 15.0 U/mg protein with an overall yield of 3.8%. The molecular weight of native r-GT was estimated as about 350,000 daltons, whichs a multicomplex of a single polypetide having a M W of 59,000. Anti r-GT rabbit antiserum cross-reacted with kidney r-GT as well as liver r-GT. Tryptic digestion of r-GT followed by separation with Con A sepharose column chromatography resulted in two major glycopeptides. A tumor associated antigen was prepared by the conjugation of a tryptic glycopeptide of r-GT to keyhole limpets hemocyanin and an antibody against this antigen cross-reacted preferentially with r-GT in rat hepatoma tissue.
Animal ; Antigens, Neoplasm/isolation and purification ; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental/*enzymology/immunology ; Male ; Molecular Weight ; Rats ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase/immunology/*isolation and purification

We investigated trends of obesity prevalence among adult Koreans. Data from 110,280,952 participants who underwent medical examination provided by the National Health Insurance System from 2002–2013 were analyzed. The prevalence of moderate obesity (body mass index [BMI] 25.0–29.9 kg/m2) was slightly increased from 2002 (30.7%) through 2010 (33.1%) and reached a plateau since 2010 among men but continuously decreased from 22.5% in 2002 to 20.9% in 2013 among women. However, severe obesity (BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m2) was rapidly increased and the prevalence in 2013 (4.2%) was almost doubled the prevalence in 2002 (2.5%). We observed a steep rise of severe obesity as well as potentially right shifting of the obese category.
Adult ; Body Mass Index* ; Female ; Humans ; Korea* ; Male ; National Health Programs* ; Obesity ; Obesity, Morbid ; Prevalence

Serum immunoglobulins from Israeli carp (I. carp) were purified using affinity chromatography. Fish were immunized with purified mouse IgG, and the specific fish antibodies purified from the immune serum on a mouse IgG-immobilized agarose gel. Rabbit anti-carp Ig (Raclg) antibodies were produced following hyperimmunization with mlgG specific I. Carp Ab. SDS-PAGE analysis under reducing condition showed that I. carp Ig (clg) were composed of two u-like heavy chains with about 82 and 50 kD, respectively and one light chain with about 25 kD. On immunoblotting analysis, however, Raclg failed to react with light chain. When both protein A and protein G purified normal clg were compared with mlgG specific clg, no significant structural differences among them were observed. To investigate if there is any homology between other fish Ig molecules, cross-reactivity of Raclg against Ig molecules from 6 different fish sera and mouse control serum was checked on immunoblotting analysis. As a result, Raclg responded to only carp and tilapia Ig molecules, indicating that both tilapia and carp are very closely associated, especially, in the genetic basis of immunoglobulin structure. In flow cytometry study, Raclg appeared to recognize 45.8% of carp Ig+, 14.5% of catfish Ig+ and <5% of tilapia Ig+ cells. The result suggest the heterogeniety between receptor immunoglobulins on B-like lymphocytes and soluble immunoglobulins in serum. It is crucial to obtain pure fish immunoglobulins to produce reagent antibodies as tools for the study of their specific immune response.
Animals ; Antibodies ; Carps* ; Catfishes ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Flow Cytometry ; Immunoblotting ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulins* ; Lymphocytes ; Mice ; Sepharose ; Staphylococcal Protein A ; Tilapia