BACKGROUND/AIMS: Transfection of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome requires the cloning of tandem HBV sequences inserted into a plasmid vector, which is usually screened for by the restriction enzyme digestion of plasmid minipreparation from at least a dozen of bacterial colonies. The aim of this study was to develop a simple alternative screening method for bacterial colonies harbouring tandem HBV sequences by a PCR. METHODS: A set of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer was designed to detect the bacterial colonies harbouring "head to tail" dimeric HBV DNA. PCR which amplifies the head to tail junction site of two tandem HBV molecules was performed. RESULTS: PCR products with appropriate size (1.2kb) were obtained. The accurate detection by PCR screening technique was confirmed by enzyme digestion. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that PCR screening technique is a simple and rapid method for the identification of bacterial colonies containing tandem HBV sequences.
Clone Cells ; Cloning, Organism ; Digestion ; DNA ; Genome ; Head ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans* ; Mass Screening* ; Plasmids ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Transfection

The repair of striated muscle after acute trauma occurs simultaneously by the regeneration of disrupted muscle and formation of connective scar. But, there had been no attention concerning effects of local anesthetics on the degeneration and regeneration process of the injured muscle. The author induced a constant contusion injury on the calf of rats. Lidocaine and/or epinephrine was intramuscularly injected at the site of injury. Morphological and histochemical observation was conducted and the results were as follows: 1. Traumatized striated muscle showed evidences of the healing process for upto 90 days. 2. Morphological and histochemical changes in the traumatized muscle became more severe after the injection of lidocaine and/or epinephrine. 3. Formation of collagenous scar tissue significantly increased after injection of lidocaine and/or epinephrine. Injection of lidocaine or epinephrine developed similar amount of scar after 15 days. 4. Cross section area of the regenerated muscle fibers decreased in the injection groups than in the control groups. Atrophy was significant on day 90 in all types of fiber after injection of the mixture of lidocaine and epinephrine, and in type B after injection of epinephrine. In conclusion, injection of the lidocaine and epinephrine inhibited regeneration of the traumatized striated muscle. Mixture of the drugs showed more inhibitory effect than a single drug.
Anesthetics, Local ; Animals ; Atrophy ; Cicatrix ; Collagen ; Contusions ; Epinephrine ; Lidocaine ; Muscle, Striated ; Rats ; Regeneration

No abstract available.
Spondylitis, Ankylosing*

No abstract available.
Classification*

Previous studies implied association of osteoporosis with estrogen deficiency, immobilization and low calcium absorption only through epidemiological studies. There have been only a few experimental studies verifying the etiologic factors of osteoporosis in vivo condition. Authors conducted an experimental study using white rats(Sprague Dawley) in order to find out what the endocrinological and biochemical changes of experimentally induced osteoporosis are and how they behave with or against each other. White rats, eighty five in number of 3 to 6 months females and weighing 220±12.7gm were divided into four groups. They consisted of Group I(n=10) for control, Group II(n=25) for bilateral oophorectomy, Group III(n=25) for bilateral division of sciatic nerve and hip spica cast immobilization, and Group IV(n=25) for bilateral oophorectomy and bilateral division of sciatic nerve plus hip spica cast immobilization. Blood samples were taken preoperatively and postoperatively at six weeks to check Estradiol and Osteocalcin levels there of. And then, rats were sacrified immediately after the second sampling to retrieve femora for bone mineral density measurement and torsional stress test. Estradiol levels before operation were 21.4±13.3pg/ml for Group I, 31.6±3.1pg/ml for Group II, 25.6±4.5pg/ml for Group III and 33.7±4.5pg/ml for Group IV, respectively. There were no significant differences observable among the groups. Estradiol levels at six weeks postoperatively were 42.3±18.8pg/ml for Group I, 5.4±2.7pg/ml for Group II, 40.8±5pg/ml for Group III and 6.2±2.3 pg/ml for Group IV, respectively. Apparent reductions in group II and IV were proved of statistical significance. Osteocalcin levels preoperatively were 1.2±0.6ng/ml for Group I, 1.7±0.4ng/ml for Group II, 1.5±0.1lng/ml for Group III and 1.5±0.1.lng/ml for Group IV, respectively. At six weeks postoperatively they were 1.6±0.1lng/ml for Group I, 1.7±0.3ng/ml for Group II, 1.8±0.3ng/ml for Group III and 1.2±0.1lng/ml for Group IV, respectively. The differences and changes among the groups and measurements were not of statistical significance. Bone mineral contents at six weeks postoperatively were 0.248±0.03g for Group I, 0.177±0.03g for Group II, 0.226±0.04g for Group III and 0.092±0.01g in Group IV, respectively. Low values of Group II and IV compared to those of Group I and III were of statistical significance.(P=0.0001) Torsional strength of bones at six weeks postoperatively were 4.0±0.2N/m for Group I, 1.5±0.1N/m for Group II, 1.5±0.1N/m for Group III and 1.4±0.1N/m for Group IV, respectively. Decreases of experimental groups(II, III, IV) compared to that of control group(I) were of statistical significance, but differences among the experimental groups were not of significance(p>0.05). For above observations, it was possible to conclude that osteoporosis measurable by bone mineral content and torsional stress test was caused by oophorectomy and immobilization in vivo, the former of which was more rapid and profound than the latter during early phase. When both factors, i.e., oophorectomy and immobilization are exerated simultaneously. the resultant osteoporosis was found in higher degree than either factor only, but not at incremental degree as one may expect.
Absorption ; Animals ; Bone Density ; Calcium ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Estradiol ; Estrogens ; Exercise Test ; Female ; Hip ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Osteocalcin ; Osteoporosis ; Ovariectomy ; Rats ; Sciatic Nerve

BACKGROUND: A novel technique for the repair of tears of the upper subscapularis tendon—intraarticular knotless fixation—has been introduced recently. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and structural outcomes of arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation for the treatment of upper subscapularis tendon tears. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and radiological outcomes of 27 patients who underwent arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation for upper subscapularis tendon tears. Finally, a total of 10 patients who could participate in at least a 6 month follow-up of magnetic resonance imaging evaluation and in a least 1-year follow-up on an outpatient basis were enrolled in our study. The mean age at the time of operation was 60.7 years, and the mean duration of follow-up was 14.7 months. Two patients had concomitant tears of the supraspinatus tendon and 8 patients had concomitant tears of the supraspinatus and the infraspinatus tendons. RESULTS: The clinical and radiological outcomes improved after the patients had undertaken arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation. The mean visual analogue scale score for pain during motion improved from 6.7 preoperatively to 1.4 at the final follow-up (p<0.001). The mean Constant score improved from 59.3 preoperatively to 79.6 at the final follow-up, and the mean the University of California at Los Angeles score, from 21.7 to 30.2, respectively (p<0.001 and p<0.001). The upper subscapularis tendon tear was healed in every patient except one (90%), for the patient had suffered from a postoperative trauma that resulted in a retear. CONCLUSIONS: We found that arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation gives good clinical and structural outcomes for the repair of upper subscapularis tendon tears. Arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation provided such a reliable and efficient restoration of the subscapularis tendon footprint that we anticipate it will become a widely-used procedure for upper subscapularis tendon tears.
Arthroscopy ; California ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Outpatients ; Retrospective Studies ; Shoulder ; Tears* ; Tendons* ; Treatment Outcome

The study presents the application of STR polymorphisms to male identification in the cases of a serial rapist in Korea. Since October 2000 a rapist from Cheongju city (a town located in central district) committed at least 36 rapes. DNA profiles obtained from semen stains, buccal cells and tongue tissue left at the scenes of crime and vaginal swabs of victims gave information that one and the same man had committed all the rapes. The Y-chromosome haplotype (12 loci) obtained was used for the identification process of rapist in mixed genotypes including victim's alleles. The crime scene data were referred from investigating police authorities described the relationship of victim to the offender, victim's age, time and place of sexual assault and rape locations. The behavioural analysis of crime scenes showed more similarities than differences for related crimes. These components were usually assessed in terms of proximity in time and space. Certain crime scene aspects of a serial rapist help identify components of offender spatial behaviour. As a result of this work, future research on the geography of rape and behavioural aspects of rapist will be directed towards those aspects of offences, which have been identified as relevant to the distance between an offender's base, and the site where he approached his victim.
Alleles ; Chungcheongbuk-do ; Coloring Agents ; Crime* ; Criminals ; DNA ; Genotype ; Geography ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Korea ; Male* ; Police ; Rape ; Semen ; Tongue

No abstract available.

The authors retrospectively reviewed the high resolution computed tomographic scans of 19 patients who had hematogenous or lymphangitic metastatic lung lesions. In all patients, the histologic diagnosis for primary cancers and the radiographic manifestations of pulmonary metastasis were established. Certain characteristic findings of metastatic lung tumors on HRCT scans were evident: uneven thickening of bronchovascular bundles, multiple small nodules, thickening of interlobular septum, and the presence of polygonal lines. The nodules are more predominent in hematogenous metastasis. The prevalent site of nodules is cortical portion of lung.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Lung ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Retrospective Studies

Many investigators have reported that collagen gel contraction reflects the mechanism of wound contraction. In 1995, Tsai et al. reported that hypertrophic scar-derived fibroblasts in a connective tissue model possessed the greatest contraction potency when compared with those of normal skin and normal oral mucosa-derived CTMs. In this study, we studied the effect of collagen gel contraction by growth factors such as epidermal growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor-bata1, and transforming growth factor-bata3, Skin fibroblasts used in this study were obtained from the explant of rat skin culture. Fibroblasts were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum. Growth factors were added per FPCL in the desired concentrations and we measured the collagen gel diameters in growth factor-treated FPCL on day 1,2,3, and 4 respectively after starting incubation. We examined the effects of EGF, PDGF, TGF-bata1, TGF-bata3 and the effects of combinations of TGF-bata1 + EGF, TGF-bata1 + PDGF, and TGF-bata1 + TGF-bata3 to contract a collagen gel. EGF has little influence on collagen gel contraction. TGF-bata1 and TGF-bata3 increase the collagen contraction. TGF-bata1 enhanced the contractility of collagen gel according to the concentrations. While TGF-bata3 alone had stimulatory contraction effects at low dose, high doses of TGF-bata3 decreased the potency of collagen gel contraction. A combination of TGF-bata1 and EGF minimally decrease TGF-bata1 activity. A combination of TGF-bata1and PDGF had an effect similar to TGF-bata1 activity. A combination of TGF-bata1 and TGF-bata3 decreased TGF-bata1 activity. According to reports that FPCL contraction is equivalent to the process of wound contraction, growth factors which enhance gel contraction may be related to wound contraction and wound healing. TGF-bata1 is reported to enhance scar formation in fetal wound. EGF accelerates wound healing and inhibits the promotion of hypertrophic scar formation. Compared to the effect of collagen gel contraction in this study, the combination of TGF-bata1 and TGF-bata3 that inhibited the promotion of collagen gel contraction are thought to diminish the formation of scar tissue. As well, EGF that has not enhanced collagen gel contraction is thought to diminish the production of scar tissue. We will study the interactive effects of TGF-bata3, EGF and TGF-bata1 on the contraction of collagen gels in the future.
Animals ; Cicatrix ; Cicatrix, Hypertrophic ; Collagen* ; Connective Tissue ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Fibroblasts ; Gels ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins* ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor ; Rats ; Research Personnel ; Skin ; Wound Healing ; Wounds and Injuries*