BACKGROUND/AIMS: The status of tumor suppression gene can be assessed indirectly by analyzing the loss of heterozygosity. Hepatoblastoma is a malignant liver tumor in childhood. To find the molecular carcinogenetic mechanism of hepatoblastoma, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of p73, APC and p53 was studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hepatoblastoma tissues from thirty-three cases were collected by lobectomy or tumorectomy. On H- stained sections, normal and tumor cells were microdissected separately and LOH analysis was perfomed using 8 markers: six of p73, one of APC and one of p53. RESULTS: Number of cases showing at least one LOH in six p73 markers was four out of twenty- six (15.4%): each LOH frequencies in D1S160, D1S170, D1S199, D1S228, D1S243 and D1S253 were in order of 7.7%, 0%, 9.1%, 0%, 12.5% and 0%. LOH frequency of APC was 41.7% and that of p53 was 13.3%. CONCLUSION: Low LOH frequency of p73 related markers indicates that p73 gene may not be implicated in carcinogenesis of hepatoblastoma.
Carcinogenesis ; Hepatoblastoma* ; Liver ; Loss of Heterozygosity*

Impetigo herpetiformis is a rare pustular eruption that may be seen in late pregnancy. It is associated with severe maternal and fetal complications in case of misdiagnosis and delayed treatment. The patient was a 25-years-old multigravida with psoriasis in her past history. At 20weeks gestation, she had been developed erythematous scaly annular patchs with papules and pustules on inner thigh. At 37weeks' gestation, the patient was suffered from a severely pruritic pustular rash with fever and leukocytosis. The skin of the affected areas was biopsied and showed intraepidermal pustular abscess with a neutrophilic infiltrate. Treatment commenced with intravenous fluids, antibiotics, systemic prednisone, steroid creams, and phototherapy(UVB) under the careful fetal well being monitoring. Cesarean section was done due to fetal distress, and a normal healthy male infant was delivered, following which the patient's condition improved rapidly.
Abscess ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cesarean Section ; Diagnostic Errors ; Exanthema ; Female ; Fetal Distress ; Fever ; Humans ; Impetigo* ; Infant ; Leukocytosis ; Male ; Neutrophils ; Prednisone ; Pregnancy* ; Psoriasis ; Skin ; Thigh

No abstract available.
Female ; Humans ; Prevalence*

BACKGROUND: An epidemiologic study was performed after the outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) from December 2006 to May 2007. METHODS: A retrospective case-control study was performed using the medical records of the patients. The case and control patients were compared for age, gender, total length of stay in MICU, prior carbapenem use, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACH II) score, presence of central line, effect of mechanical ventilation, and sputum suction. Environmental and hand-washing studies were performed during the outbreak. RESULTS: Ten CRAB-affected patients and 29 controls were enrolled in this study. Univariate analysis showed that the age, total length of stay in MICU, presence of central line, and prior carbapenem use were associated with the CRAB outbreak. However, multivariate analysis showed that only prior carbapenem use was associated with the CRAB outbreak (odd ratio: 8.67, P=0.01). The outbreak disappeared after implementing a combined infection control strategy, including the sequential disinfection of MICU and strict compliance with cross-transmission prevention protocols. CONCLUSION: The use of carbapenem was associated with an increased risk of CRAB infection. This study suggests that the MICU contamination and infection transmission by health-care workers played a major role in the CRAB outbreak. Novel strategies such as restricted use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, strict hand hygiene, strict isolation of the patients, and MICU disinfection may be required to prevent the CRAB outbreak.
Acinetobacter ; Acinetobacter baumannii ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; APACHE ; Case-Control Studies ; Compliance ; Disease Transmission, Infectious ; Disinfection ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Hand Hygiene ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Critical Care ; Intensive Care Units ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Multivariate Analysis ; Respiration, Artificial ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sputum ; Suction

No abstract available.
Mass Screening*

To identify the neonates at the risk of having meconium aspiration syndrome, the perinatal characteristics and finding of fetal heart rate monitorings in 366 neonates who had meconium-stained amniotic fluid were retrospectively reviewed. The results were as follows; 1) Overall incidence of MAS was 0.7%. 2) Mortality rate of MAS was 5.8%. 3) The mean Apgar scores at 1-and 5-minute were significantly different in the two groups with and without meconium aspiration sydrome (MAS)(p<0.001). 4) PROM, postterm delivery and IUGR were the major obstetric risk factors associated with MAS. 5) Although severe variable decelaeration and decreased variability on FHR monitoring were present more often in the group with MAS, it showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. 6) The presence of above findings on monitoring and thick meconium in amniotic fluid should alert clinicians to the possibility of a fetus that requires intervention.
Amniotic Fluid ; Female ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; Fetal Heart* ; Fetus ; Heart Rate, Fetal* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Meconium Aspiration Syndrome* ; Meconium* ; Mortality ; Pregnancy ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the level of knowledge and the attitudes of Korean adults toward sexuality of elderly people. METHODS: This was a descriptive study using a convenience sample of 241 adults. The questionnaire had 34 items for knowledge and 26 items for attitudes. RESULTS: The result showed that, related to sexuality of elderly people, the level of knowledge was average and attitudes were conservative. The level of knowledge was significantly higher in groups that were highly educated and of low economic status (p<.05). Attitudes toward sexuality of elderly people were significantly more conservative in female, older, less educated, and high economic status group. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest a need for more education for Korean adults regarding sexuality in elderly people.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Analysis of Variance ; Female ; *Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; *Intergenerational Relations/ethnology ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Prejudice ; *Sexuality/ethnology ; Socioeconomic Factors

The present study was aimed at investigating the effect of cyclosporine A (CsA) on the renal renin-angiotensin systems. In rats chronically treated with CsA, the intrarenal expression of various genes of the renin-angiotensin system was assessed by Northern blot analysis. Along with the increases in plasma and renal renin activities, chronic CsA-treatment differentially affected the renal expression of renin-angiotensin system. The treatment with CsA for one week did not significantly alter the expression of either type 1 angiotensin II receptor (AT1A) or angiotensinogen gene, but increased the renin mRNA level. The three-week-treatment caused increases in the expression not only of renin but also of AT1A and angiotensinogen genes. Supplementation with L-arginine kept the expression of renin mRNA normal in the one-week-treated, but failed to prevent the alterations of the gene expression in the three-week-treated. Feedback control among components of the renin-angiotensin system also influences angiotesinogen. In the liver, the expression of angiotensinogen mRNA was decreased by the CsA-treatment for either one- or three-weeks. In conclusion, chronic CsA-treatment is associated with a differential expression of various genes for the renin-angiotensin system. L-Arginine may be effective in maintaining the normality of renin-angiotensin system only during early period after beginning the use of CsA.
Angiotensinogen ; Animals ; Arginine ; Blotting, Northern ; Cyclosporine* ; Gene Expression ; Liver ; Plasma ; Rats ; Receptors, Angiotensin ; Renin ; Renin-Angiotensin System* ; RNA, Messenger

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: Keywords describe the medical concepts of articles in the medical literature. They provide many benefits to those creating databases, to indexers who are cross-indexing scientific articles, and to users by providing easy access to sources. Hence, it is important for authors to choose keywords that are accurate and that correspond to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). The objectives of this study were to investigate whether English keywords used in the Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine (KJEM) coincide with MeSH terms, and to understand the major errors in MeSH term selection. METHODS: To analyze how accurately authors of KJEM use MeSH terms, keywords provided by authors (author terms) were compared with terms listed in the corresponding MeSH browser. We analyzed keywords from 356 articles of the KJEM that were published between 2005 and 2006 and between 2008 and 2009. We investigated frequently used keywords and what percentage of keywords agree with MeSH terms using the MeSH browser. RESULTS: A total of 1,153 author terms were used as keywords in the 356 KJEM articles. There were on average 5.91 authors and 3.24 keywords per article. The keywords that appeared most frequently (in descending order) were cardiac arrest, emergency medical services, ultrasonography, emergency department (medicine), and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The number of terms in precise agreement with MeSH headings was 584 (50.7%); 260 terms (22.5%) were not found in the MeSH browser;60 terms (5.2%) had only a trivial difference from MeSH terms; 203 terms (17.6%) including entry terms, and 46 terms (4.0%) matched MeSH subheadings. CONCLUSION: Many keywords used in the KJEM did not agree with MeSH terms. We conclude that medical authors should be educated in the proper use of MeSH terms in their research and subsequent publication.
Abstracting and Indexing as Topic ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medical Services ; Emergency Medicine ; Heart Arrest ; Medical Subject Headings ; Publications