PURPOSE: In colon cancer, the most frequent genetic alteration is found in p53 tumor suppressor gene residing on the short arm of chromosome 17. In order to investigate the significance of wild-type p53, we transfected wild type p53 into human colon cancer cell lines and analysed tbeir biologic effects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For analysis of p53 status in cell lines, polymerase chain reaction-single stranded confonnation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP), PCR-direct sequencing and Western blot analysis were employed. Transient transfection with liposome-p53 complex was followed by cell biologic assay. RESULTS: We found that twelve of fifteen human colon cancer cell lines showed mutation of p53 by PCR-SSCP method. These results almost corresponded to p53 protein accumulations assessed by Westem blot using PAbl801. After transfection with lipafect- AMINE and wild type p53 complex on p53 mutant type cell line (LS1034), viability was reduced to 17.9%, and invasiveness was reduced to 37.3%. Morphologically, wild type p53 transfected cells showed lumen formation and apoptosis after induction of differentiation by Matrigel. CONCLUSION: Wild type p53 transfection into p53 mutated colon cancer ceil line resulted in restoration of tumor suppressor effect of p53, and this model would be one of the experimental systems for p53-based gene therapy.
Apoptosis ; Arm ; Biological Assay ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Line* ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17 ; Colon* ; Colonic Neoplasms* ; Genes, p53* ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Genetic Therapy ; Humans* ; Liposomes ; Transfection*

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of video feedback training for the parents of autistic spectrum disorder children. METHOD: Ten Autistic spectrum disorder children and their mothers participated in this training. Twenty minutes play times were videotaped including free play time and chosen play time. After one session, watching videotape, the researcher analyzed the relation of the children and their mother and had a feedback training with the mother of child. RESULTS: The child's responses to the mother's start actions had significant differences (p<0.05). The language responses of children increased in the organized environment of chosen play. Language responses increased but negative actions and no responses reduced when mother encouraged child centered play rather than mother engaged in children's play directly. In log sector model, mother's responses according to the play type had meaningless difference (p0.05). But in division analysis mother's responses to child's start action had meaningful difference in pre/post treatment and play type. CONCLUSION: The effects of video feedback training of autistic spectrum disorder children's parents were positive. Through this investigation the interaction and the communication with autistic spectrum disorder children and their parents are influenced positively.
Child ; Humans ; Language Development* ; Mothers ; Parents* ; Videotape Recording

BACKGROUND: Many studies have reported the association between several anti-neuronal antibodies and neurologic diseases. However, there is no useful autoantibody screening test for neurologic diseases unlike the antinuclear antibody test for rheumatologic diseases. Hence, we investigated the clinical utility of the autoimmune target (AIT) test as screening test for autoantibodies in neurologic diseases. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the results of the AIT test for 375 serum samples of patients diagnosed with several neurologic diseases such as motor neuron disease (MND), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease (PD), encephalopathy (EC), polyneuropathy (PN), cerebral ischemic attack, encephalitis, myelitis, epilepsy, and stroke. RESULTS: The overall positive rate of the AIT test in aforementioned diseases was 77.9%. The positive rates for MND, ALS, PD, EC, PN, and the others were 81.3%, 83.9%, 84.8%, 59.3%, 73%, and 75%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate high positive rates in the AIT test. We believe that the AIT test has potential application for autoantibody screening in the neurologic diseases. We look forward to last as the study about relations between the results of the AIT test and the specific antibodies for neurologic diseases.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ; Antibodies ; Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Autoantibodies ; Brain Diseases ; Encephalitis ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Motor Neuron Disease ; Myelitis ; Parkinson Disease ; Polyneuropathies ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke

BACKGROUND: Anti-streptolysin O (ASO) test is usually used to diagnose group A streptococcal infection-related diseases, such as rheumatic fever, reactive arthritis, and various infectious diseases. Despite the recent declining incidence of these diseases, ASO test is still frequently performed as a screening test to diagnose rheumatic diseases. This study re-evaluated the clinical usefulness of ASO test in systemic rheumatic diseases (SRD). METHODS: ASO tests was performed in 825 patients between April and October in 2010. ASO levels were compared between SRD and non-SRD groups of patients. The results of ASO, C-reactive protein (CRP), and rheumatoid factor (RF) were compared among 6 subgroups of SRD: rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, Behcet disease, Sjogren's syndrome and others. RESULTS: Positive results in ASO test (>200 IU/mL) were observed in 15.3% (126/825) of the patients tested. None of the ASO positive patients was, however, diagnosed with rheumatic fever or reactive arthritis. There were no statistically significant differences in the mean value (P=0.688) or positive rate (P=0.835) of ASO test between SRD and non-SRD groups. Positive rates of ASO test were also not statistically significant different among six subgroups of SRD patients (all P>0.05), whereas those of CRP and RF tests were significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: The usefulness of ASO test is very low for diagnosing SRD, although it is frequently carried out as a screening test. We suggest that ASO test must be performed selectively when diseases from group A streptococcal infection are suspected.
Arthritis, Reactive ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Behcet Syndrome ; C-Reactive Protein ; Communicable Diseases ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Mass Screening ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Rheumatic Fever ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Sjogren's Syndrome ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing ; Streptococcal Infections

BACKGROUND: Measurements of serum anti-thyroglobulin antibody (anti-Tg) and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-TPO) are important for the diagnosis of autoimmune thyroid diseases. Although ELISA is most commonly used for the detection of anti-thyroid autoantibodies, other methods like particle agglutination assay (PA) or radioimmunoassay (RIA) are still being used in clinical laboratories. There are few studies about the comparison between PA and ELISA, and we evaluated the validity of these assays in this study. METHODS: We have used three methods, PA (Fujirebio Inc.), ELISA-1 (Zeus Scientific Inc.), and ELISA-2 (Orgentec Diagnostika) for the measurements of titers or concentrations of anti-thyroid autoantibodies. A total of 212 patients belonging to six different disease groups were tested: 40 patients for anti-Tg only, 64 for anti-TPO (or anti-microsome) only, and 108 for both antibodies. All test results were compared with each other in six disease groups. RESULTS: Concordance of positive or negative results was obtained in 78.5-97.3% of the samples tested, and positive rates of three methods were similar in autoimmume thyroid disease group. In the comparable concentration range, the correlation coefficients were 0.328-0.820 between the two ELISAs or between ELISA and PA. CONCLUSIONS: Positive or negative decisions by three assay systems have high concordance rates, and antibody levels measured by three methods correlate well in the comparable concentration range. The ELISA-1 shows less non-specific reactions, better discrimination in low level of autoantibodies, and the highest positive rate in autoimmume thyroid disease group.
Agglutination ; Antibodies ; Autoantibodies ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Peroxidase ; Radioimmunoassay ; Thyroid Diseases

Embryos of most mammalian species grown in vitro would undergo developmental arrest at the approximate time of genomic activation. Stage-specific cell block and the resulting rapid loss of embryo viability in conventional culture media have limited the duration for which embryos may be cultured prior to transfer. As a result, embryos are usually transferred to the uterus at the 4-to 8-cell stage to avoid the loss of viability associated with long-term in vitro culture. Early transfer has led to asynchrony of the endometrium-trophectoderm interaction at the time of implantation and a resultant reduction in the rate of implantation. To overcome these problems, a variety of co-culture systems has been devised in which embryos can develop for a longer period prior to embryo transfer. Vero cells, derived from African green monkey kidney, share a common embryologic origin with cells from the genital tract. In addition, they are potentially safe to use, since they are highly controlled for viruses and other contaminants. Therefore, co-culture using Vero cells has been widely utilized to enhance embryo viability and development, although not without controversies. We thus designed a series of experiments to demonstrate whether Vero cells do indeed enhance mouse embryo development as well as to compare the efficacy of co-culturing mouse 1-cell embryos on Vero cell monolayer in both Ham's F-10 and human tubal fluid (HTF) culture media. 1-cell stage ICR mouse embryos were cultured either in the presence of Vero cells (Group A) or in conventional culture medium alone (Group B). In Ham's F-10 significantly more 3-to-8cell embryos developed in group A than group B (59.8 versus 10.0%; F<0.01). In contrast, there was no significant difference in embryonic development both group A and group B in HTF. However, significant differences were noted only in later embryonic stage (13 and 0%; p<0.05 of group A and B respectively, hatching or hatched). In Ham's F-10, we also could observe the beneficial effect of Vero cell on hatching process (70.7 and 42.1%; p<0.05 of group A and group B respectively).
Animals ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Coculture Techniques* ; Culture Media ; Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Development* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Pregnancy ; Uterus ; Vero Cells*

The use of antibiotics in suppurative otitis media has greatly diminished the incidence of its complications. However, incomplete antibiotic therapy has altered the clinical course of middle ear disease to more insidious. Among the complications of suppurative otitis media, Bezold's abscess is a subperiosteal abscess of the temporal bone due to a mastoiditis with extravasation through the inner bony table into the digastric fossa. It has become rare, but the variety of its clinical presentations may embarrass clinicians. In the last two years, we treated two cases of Bezold's abscess different in clinical presentations each other and we report our cases with a review of literatures.
Abscess* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Ear, Middle ; Incidence ; Mastoid ; Mastoiditis ; Otitis Media, Suppurative ; Temporal Bone

Bile canalicular antibody (BCA) was first reported in 1969. Many studies of BCA were performed in the 1970s and 1980s and revealed that BCA has a highly positive rate in chronic active hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). These studies suggested that BCA can be useful in the diagnosis of these liver diseases. However, BCA is almost negative in patients with alcoholic hepatitis. We report a case of BCA in a 50-yr-old woman with a history of heavy alcohol consumption. The patient's serum levels of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase were increased, leading to a diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis. The patient was evaluated for liver disease. Anti-mitochondria antibody, anti-smooth muscle antibody, and anti-liver kidney microsomal antibody tests were conducted, yielding negative results. However, during this testing process, the patient's serum was incidentally found to be positive for BCA at a titer of 1:160. This is the first case report of BCA in Korea.
Alanine Transaminase ; Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholics* ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Bile* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hepatitis, Alcoholic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Humans ; Kidney ; Korea ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary ; Liver Diseases

Subglottic stenosis is more likely to develop secondary to endotracheal intubation if one or more traumarelated risk factors are involved. Subglottic stenosis have been dealt with many medicosurgical procedures such as dilatation, stent, laryngofissure with or without skin of mucosal graff, and segmental resection. We report longterm failure of expandable metallic stent in the treatment of subglottic tracheal steno$is in 4 cases which had been presented with respiration difficulty due to framework problem of subglottic trachea after surgical operation.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Dilatation ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Respiration ; Risk Factors ; Skin ; Stents* ; Trachea ; Tracheal Stenosis*

PURPOSE: The treatments for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction range from minimally invasive to more invasive methods. Initially, clinicians select lacrimal sac massage with topical antibiotics application or early lacrimal sac probing. We studied if the characteristics of infants improved after lacrimal sac massage with topical antibiotic application. METHODS: Two hundred thirty-four eyes of 204 patients diagnosed with congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction from March 2001 to January 2007 were included. Excluded were infants who had obvious epiblepharon or eyelid abnormalities, tumors of the lacrimal system, or a history of trauma. Neonates less than 1 month were also excluded to rule out neonatal conjunctivitis. At the first visit, we recorded birth profile information such as gestational age, birth weight and height, onset time of symptoms, and post-conceptional age. We compared the results between the successful treatment group and failure group after lacrimal sac massage and topical antibiotic application. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-three eyes showed improvement after conservative treatment (52.6%), and the infants included in the success group visited earlier and had lower PCA (P<0.05). No other factors evaluated in this study contributed toward the improvement in symptoms observed. CONCLUSIONS: When considering treatment for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction, an evaluation of factors related to birth should be performed. According to the results, infants with the characteristics of favorable outcome should be treated conservatively, while those patients who do not have the characteristics for favorable outcome should be treated by early probing to achieve an effective and satisfactory outcome.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Birth Weight ; Conjunctivitis ; Eye ; Eyelids ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Massage ; Nasolacrimal Duct ; Parturition ; Passive Cutaneous Anaphylaxis