No abstract available.
Arteriovenous Fistula* ; Child* ; Embolization, Therapeutic* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Blood Pressure* ; Child* ; Gwangju* ; Humans

Bronchial mucoepidermoid carcinoma is very rarely encountered in children. We report a case of bronchial mucoepidermoid carcinoma in a 10-year-old boy who presented with persistent cough and atelectasis. Bronchoscopic examination showed a tumor mass occluding the right bronchus intermedius, and the mass was removed by bronchoscopy. The results of the pathological examination revealed low-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma. He underwent right middle and lower lobectomy with bronchoplasty, and there was no metastasis. He remains symptom-free without recurrence of bronchial tumor during the follow-up period of 12 months.
Bronchi ; Bronchoscopy ; Carcinoma, Mucoepidermoid* ; Child* ; Cough ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Recurrence

PURPOSE: We studied the incidence and clinical course of BCG lymphadenitis to investigate the BCG related problem. SUBJECT AND METHODS: Three hundred and eighty-six infants received BCG vaccine (Pasteur-1173p2) in the Well Baby Clinic, Dept. of Pediatrics, Chonnam University Hospital from May 1993 and April 1994. Among them, twenty three infants developed regional lymphadenitis. We investigated the clinical course in twenty six infants with BCG lymphadenitis (three infants were transferred from the Public Health Center and they also had taken same BCG preparations). According to the lymph node size, we divided them into three groups (A : below 1cm, 5 infants; B : 1 to 2cm, 10; C : above 2cm, 11), and evaluated the clinical outcome. RESULTS: 1) The incidence of BCG lymphadenitis was 6.0% (23/386), the differences according to sex or age at vaccination were not observed. 2) Twenty three of twenty six infants (88.5%) showed one lymph node (left axillary 19 infants, left cervical 3 infants, left supraclaviclar 1 infant), but three (11.5%) showed multiple lymph node involvement. 3) Eight (30.8%) showed spontaneous improvement, but eighteen (69.2%) received single or double antituberculous medication at the beginning or after a period of observation. Two infants were treated by incision and drainage. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of BCG lymphadenitis was relatively higher (6.0%) than previous reports, and the two thirds of the cases received antituberculous medication and or surgical treatment. Further prospective study according to the recent recommendation by the Korean Health Administration should be needed.
BCG Vaccine ; Drainage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Jeollanam-do ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphadenitis* ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Mycobacterium bovis* ; Pediatrics ; Public Health ; Vaccination

PURPOSE: We conducted the immunoassay of pertussis according to ages, in order to evaluate protective immunity against pertussis in Korean populations. METHODS: Healthy subjects were enrolled at four university hospitals in Korea. The subjects were grouped as seven age groups (every 10 years). Antibodies against pertussis toxin (PT) in sera were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Geometric mean concentrations (GMC) of antibodies and the ratios of the subjects with seroprotective antibody levels were determined. The subjects with antibody titers > or =24.0 EU/mL were considered to seroprotective as the manufacturer's protocol. RESULTS: Total 1,605 subjects (age: 2 months-65 years) participated in this study, and their GMC was 56.16+/-50.54 EU/mL. Among seven age groups, age group <11 year showed the highest GMC (64.78+/-53.24 EU/mL) (P<0.001). In the analysis of the ratios of the subjects with seroprotective antibody titers, 68.2% of the subjects were proven to seroprotective, and age group <11 year also showed the highest ratio (76.5%) (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We found that adolescences or adults (age group > or =11 year) showed lower levels of antibody against pertussis and lower ratio of the subjects with seroprotective antibody titers than children (age group <11 year).
Adult ; Antibodies ; Child ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Immunization ; Immunoassay ; Korea ; Pertussis Toxin ; Whooping Cough

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Lamivudine is highly effective in suppressing hepatitis B virus replication and hepatitis B induced necroinflammatory activity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the virological and biochemical responses to lamivudine by patients with HBV associated chronic liver disease. In particular we stressed the importance of lamivudine therapy by patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. METHODS: We conducted a one-year trial of lamivudine in 80 patients with HBV associated chronic liver disease (chronic hepatitis 44, cirrhosis 36). We classified these patients according to the severity of hepatic dysfunction as chronic B hepatitis (Group A) or liver cirrhosis (Group B). These patients were treated for 12 months with 100 mg daily doses of lamivudine. RESULTS: The seroconversion rate of HBeAg was 23.5% in group A patients and 26.7% in group B patients. The negative conversion of HBV-DNA was sustained for one year in 79.5% of patients in group A and 86.1% in group B. The normalization rates of serum ALT were 90.9% in group A and 88.9% in group B patients. No serious side effect after discontinuance of the treatment was found. There were 12 ALT breakthrough cases and all of them showed mutation of YMDD motif. However, they did not deteriorate clinically in spite of ALT elevation and HBV-DNA reappearance. The Child-Pugh scores improved even in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. CONCLUSION: One-year lamivudine treatment resulted in excellent virological and biochemical improvements and was well tolerated in the patients with HBV associated chronic liver disease, even in decompensated cirrhosis. We conclude that lamivudine is relatively safe in chronic hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis treatment.
Fibrosis ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Lamivudine* ; Liver Cirrhosis* ; Liver Diseases ; Liver*

A 17-year-old girl presented with polyuria (7 L/day) and polydipsia for one year. Initial urine osmolality was 113mOsm/kg H₂O. Following 6 h of fluid restriction, serum plasma osmolality reached 300mOsm/kg H₂O, whereas urine osmolality was 108mOsm/kg H₂O. Urine osmolality was increased by 427% from 108 to 557mOsm/kg after vasopressin challenge. The patient was diagnosed with central diabetes insipidus, possibly derived from the atypical occupation of a Rathke's cleft cyst at the pituitary stalk following magnetic resonance imaging with enhancement. She was discharged with desmopressin nasal spray (10 µg); urine output was maintained at 2-3 L/day, and urine osmolality was >300 mOsm/kg. Additional pituitary image studies and evaluation of hypopituitarism should be included in the differential diagnosis of patients with central diabetes insipidus.
Adolescent* ; Deamino Arginine Vasopressin ; Diabetes Insipidus, Neurogenic* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female* ; Humans ; Hypopituitarism ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Occupations ; Osmolar Concentration ; Pituitary Gland ; Plasma ; Polydipsia ; Polyuria* ; Vasopressins

Pheochromocytomas are catecholamine-producing tumors that typically cause hypertension. They are rare tumors that can pose problems in diagnosis and detection. Although they usually present classic symptoms, they can at times present symptoms that mimic other clinical conditions. Especially, children have fewer malignant tumors, non-extra-adrenal tumors, and tumors with greater bilaterality and multiplicity. The diagnosis of pheochromocytomas is based upon clinical suspicion and biochemical study. Radiologic localization is obtained before operation because of the variable location of this tumor. The treatment of choice is surgical resection. We reports a case of asymptomatic pheochromocytoma that was treated with tumor excision. To prevent intraoperative and postoperative complications, precise preoperative diagnosis and localization, as well as adequate preoperative management, are necessary.
Child ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Pheochromocytoma* ; Postoperative Complications

Breeding of robust industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with high ethanol tolerance is of great significance for efficient fuel ethanol production. Zinc finger proteins play important roles in gene transcription and translation, and exerting control on the regulation of multiple genes. The sequence and localization of the zinc finger motif can be designed and engineered, and the artificial zinc finger protein can be used to regulate celluar metabolism. Stress tolerance of microbial strains is related to multiple genes. Therefore, it is possible to use artificially-designed zinc finger proteins to breed stress tolerant strains. In this study, a library containing artificial zinc finger protein encoding genes was transformed into the model yeast strain S288c. A recombinant strain named M01 with improved ethanol tolerance was obtained. The plasmid in M01 was isolated, and then transformed into the industrial yeast strain Sc4126. Ethanol tolerance of the recombinant strain of Sc4126 were significantly improved. When high gravity ethanol fermentation using 250 g/L glucose was performed, comparing with the wild-type strain, fermentation time of the recombinant strain was decreased by 24 h and the final ethanol concentration was enhanced by 6.3%. The results of this study demonstrate that artificial zinc finger proteins are able to exert control on stress tolerance of yeast strains, and these results provide basis to construct robust industrial yeast strains for efficient ethanol fermentation.
Adaptation, Physiological ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance, Fungal ; genetics ; Ethanol ; pharmacology ; Fungal Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Industrial Microbiology ; Mutation ; genetics ; Peptide Library ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; growth & development ; Zinc Fingers

Nitric oxide (NO) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) may induce vascular relaxation by increasing the production of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), an important mediator of vascular tone during sepsis. This study aimed to determine whether regulation of NO and the ANP system is altered in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced kidney injury. LPS (10 mg.kg-1) was injected in the tail veins of male Sprague-Dawley rats; 12 hours later, the kidneys were removed. Protein expression of NO synthase (NOS) and neutral endopeptidase (NEP) was determined by semiquantitative immunoblotting. As an index of synthesis of NO, its stable metabolites (nitrite/nitrate, NOx) were measured using colorimetric assays. mRNA expression of the ANP system was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. To determine the activity of guanylyl cyclase (GC), the amount of cGMP generated in response to sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and ANP was calculated. Creatinine clearance decreased and fractional excretion of sodium increased in LPS-treated rats compared with the controls. Inducible NOS protein expression increased in LPS-treated rats, while that of endothelial NOS, neuronal NOS, and NEP remained unchanged. Additionally, urinary and plasma NOx levels increased in LPS-treated rats. SNP-stimulated GC activity remained unchanged in the glomerulus and papilla in the LPS-treated rats. mRNA expression of natriuretic peptide receptor (NPR)-C decreased in LPS-treated rats, while that of ANP and NPR-A did not change. ANP-stimulated GC activity reduced in the glomerulus and papilla. In conclusion, enhancement of the NO/cGMP pathway and decrease in ANP clearance were found play a role in the pathogenesis of LPS-induced kidney injury.
Animals ; Atrial Natriuretic Factor ; Creatinine ; Guanosine Monophosphate ; Guanylate Cyclase ; Humans ; Immunoblotting ; Kidney ; Male ; Neprilysin ; Neurons ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; Nitroprusside ; Plasma ; Rats ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, Peptide ; Relaxation ; RNA, Messenger ; Sepsis ; Sodium ; Veins