No abstract available.

Dendritic cell (DC)s are protessional antigen presenting cells and they have been used for antitumor immunotherapy or cell vaccines. However therapy using DC is restricted because the number of DC available from tissue is very low. Flt3 ligand (FL) has been known as a hematopoietic growth factor that increases proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells, and recently it showed inducibility of dendritic cell (DC)s and signiticant antitumor effects in vivo. Thus FL will be frequently used for DC induction and antitumor immunotherapy in future. Here we constructed FL plasmid and studied its in vivo effect. FL plasmids were made by cloning of partial FL cDNA into pcDNA3 plasmid, and gene expression and protein producibility of FL plasmid were confirmed in Renca cells transfected with FL plasmid. Mice were injected with FL plasmid (100ug/mouse) three times and 20 days later mouse spleens were harvested for staining and RT-PCR. There were lots of blastogenic cells in the spleen of mice treated with FL plasmid. FL plasmid also induced DEC205, IL-12 and GM-CSF gene expression in mouse splenocyte. All these data suggest FL plasmid may be used for induction of DC and antitumor therapy as DNA adjuvant.
Mice ; Animals

This study was designed to investigate the mole- cular mechanism of chemokine induction by lipopoly-saccharide(LPS) of E. coli. Chemokine gene expression was evaluated by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) assay using RNAs isolated either from kidneys of LPS-injected inice or from the mesangial cells stimulated with LPS, IFN-r or TNF-a. LPS was shown to induce interferon gamma(IFN- 7 ) inducible protein 10 (IP-10) and monokine induced by interferon gamma (MIG) in kidney. IP-10 gene expression was induced by LPS and IFN-r, but MIG gene expression was induced by IFN-r in mesangial cell. Chemokines induced by LPS increased splenocyte migration. Sodium salicylate, wortmanin and piperazine blocked LPS mediated chemokine induction suggesting the activation of nuclear factor-a B pathway. It is concluded from this study that mesangial cells are the target of LPS in the renal failure resulting from the systemic infections. LPS induces chemokines directly and/or indirectly in the mesan- gial cells, and these chemokines may associated with renal inflammation.
Chemokines ; Gene Expression* ; Inflammation ; Interferons ; Kidney ; Mesangial Cells* ; Renal Insufficiency ; RNA ; Sodium Salicylate

No abstract available.
Cerebral Hemorrhage* ; Eclampsia* ; Female ; Pregnancy

No abstract available.
Animals ; Interleukin-4* ; Mice*

Pulmonary endometriosis is a rare disease which is characterized by hemoptysis during menstruation (catamenial hemoptysis). We report a case of pulmonary endometriosis in a 33-year-old housewife. She has had regular menses with moderate flow and minimal dysmenorrhea. She had undergone curettage in May 1995 for artificial abortion. In July 1995, she experienced the first episode of hemoptysis. A chest CT scan revealed a 2.0 1.0 cm sized ill-defined soft tissue density in the periphery of anterior segment of the left upper lobe with a surrounding irregular ground-glass opacity. A left upper lobectomy was done under the diagnosis of pulmonary endometriosis. Cut section of the resected lung showed a round red-brownish solid lesion, measuring 2.0x1.0cm in cross. Microscopically a focus of the endometrial tissue, which was composed of endometrial glands and stroma, was found in the lung parenchyme and many hemosiderin laden macrophages were seen in the surrounding alveoli. The postoperative course was favorable with no further episodes of hemoptysis.
Adult ; Curettage ; Diagnosis ; Dysmenorrhea ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Hemoptysis ; Hemosiderin ; Humans ; Lung ; Macrophages ; Menstruation ; Rare Diseases ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVE: Immune hemolytic jaundice is caused by the destruction of antibody-sensitized erythrocytes and is associated with antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxic effects mediated by Fc receptor-bearing cells of the reticuloendothelial system. Intravenous immune globulin(IVIG) may have exerted its effect through Fc receptor blockade. We studied the effect of high-dose intravenous immune globulin(HDIVIG) in neonatal hemolytic jaundice unresponsive to phototherapy. METHODS: We selected only those with Coombs test(+) immune hemolytic jaundice who had admittcd at the NICU of the Dcpartment of Pediatzics of Dongsan Medical Center, Keimyung University between January 1995 and December 1998. They were unresponsive to phototherapy. Ten newborn infants(9 ABO incomplatibilities, l minor group incompatabillity due to anti-E) received HDIVIG therapy combined with phototherapy. IVIG was given as a dose of lg/kg for 6 hours, and serial hemoglobin, reticulocyte count, and bilirubin levels were evaluated. If the serum bilirubin level went up and reached the level above 22mg/dl, we conducted exchange transfusion for the patient. RESULTS: HDIVIG induced a significant decrease of serum billirubin levels in 8(80%, group I, HDIVIG responsive poup) of 10 cases and only 2 cases(group II, HDIVIG unreponsive group) required exchange tnnsfusions. No side effect was observed after HDIVIG therapy. CONCLUSION: We suggest HDIVIG may be effective in the treatment of phototherapy-resistant hyperbilirubinemia due to blood group incompatibility. More studies are needed to confirm the optimal dosage and therapeutic indication of HDIVIG in the therapy of neonatal immune hemolytic jaundice.
Bilirubin ; Blood Group Incompatibility ; Erythrocytes ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia ; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous ; Infant, Newborn ; Jaundice* ; Mononuclear Phagocyte System ; Phototherapy* ; Receptors, Fc ; Reticulocyte Count

No abstract available.
Anesthesia* ; Humans

PURPOSE: Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis(HSPN) accompanied by nephrotic syndrome(NS) is known to have a poor prognosis and effective treatment is still controversial, even though both corticosteroids and immunosuppresant have been used for therapy. Cyclosporine A(CsA) is a well known immunosuppresant and widely used in renal transplantation and glomerular diseases especially steroid resistant. The aims of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of CsA and to compare CsA with previously reported our data of rifampin(RFP) and azathioprine(AZA) in children with HSPN accompanied by NS. METHODS: 37 HSPN patients with NS confirmed by renal biopsy were selected. Of these, 17 patients were treated with CsA(5 mg/kg/day) for 6-8 months, 7 children were treated with RFP(10-20 mg/kg/day) for 9-12 months and 13 patients were treated with AZA(2 mg/kg/day) for 8 months. Along with these regimens, low dose oral prednisolone(0.5-1 mg/kg, qod) was also used. Sequential renal biopsy was done in all patients 1 month after termination of treatment. RESULTS: Complete remission rate of nephrotic syndrome was 5S.8% in CsA, 57.1% in RFP and 38.4% in AZA group after 17, 22, 11 months of mean follow-up period. Overall remission rate including partial remission was 88.2% in CsA, 85.7% in RFP and 84.6% in AZA group. Disappearance rate of hematuria was 58.8% in CsA, 57.1% in RFP and 46.2% in AZA group. Improvement of grade of clinical status was observed in 17 out of 17 CsA, 7 out of 7 RFP and 10 out of 13 AZA group. Improvement of pathologic class on sequencial renal biopsy was shown in 5 CsA(29.4%), none RFP(0%) and 2 AZA group(12.4%). Improvement on histologic immune-deposition was seen in 15 CsA(88.2%), 6 RFP(85.9%) and 4 AZA group(30.8%). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, Both CsA and RFP treated groups showed better result in complete remission rate of nephrotic syndrome and significant inprovement of histologic immune-deposition compared with AZA treated group(p=0.004). So, we recommend CsA and RFP rather than AZA for immunosuppresant treatment in HSPN with nephrotic syndrome.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Breast* ; Child ; Cyclosporine ; Diagnosis* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Prognosis ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch

The primary goal in the treatment of the nail bed avulsion injury is complete regrowing of the nail plate without any deformity. There are many procedures for treatment of the nail bed avulsion injury as a split-thickness skin graft, full-thickness nail bed graft, reverse dermal graft or split-thickness nail bed graft. From February, 1984 to June, 1985 at In-Chon Gill Hospital, 13 cases of nail bed avulsion injury were treated with split-thickness nail bed grafts. The intact residual part of the injured nail bed or the toe nail bed was served as a donor site. The results were as followings; 1. The incidence of nail bed avulsion injury of all hand injuries was 9.7%. 2. The main cause of injury was the industrial accident and more prevalent in the left hand. 3. The good result was obtained in the split-thickness nail bed graft for the nail bed avulsion injury, but in nail root portion, the poor result was noticed. 4. The average time for normal nail appearance is six months.
Accidents, Occupational ; Animals ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Gills ; Hand ; Hand Injuries ; Humans ; Incheon ; Incidence ; Skin ; Tissue Donors ; Toes ; Transplants