No abstract available.
B-Lymphocytes* ; Herpesvirus 4, Human* ; Humans*

No abstract available.
B-Lymphocytes* ; Herpesvirus 4, Human* ; Humans*

Synthetic genes encoding the gag p24 and the part of the envelope protein gp41 of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) were cloned and overexpressed as fusion proteins in Escherichia coli, using an expression vector carrying 77 promoter and the poly-histidine leader sequence. The overexpressed p24 fusion protein was purified by centrifugation, Ni-affinity chromatography and CM-sepharose chromatography The overexpressed gp41 fusion protein was purified by centrifugation, C4 chromatography and DEAE-sepharose chromatography. The purified fusion proteins showed a high level of purity and immunoreactivity in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blot analysis. These results suggest that this prokaryotic expression-purification method is suitable for obtaining a large amount of the viral antigen which may be useful for screening of antibodies to HIV-1 in human blood samples.
Antibodies ; Blotting, Western ; Centrifugation ; Chromatography ; Clone Cells ; Electrophoresis ; Escherichia coli ; Genes, Synthetic ; HIV* ; HIV-1* ; Humans* ; Mass Screening

A case report of a 19-year-old girl with the juvenile form of Pompe's disease, who underwent thoracic epidural anesthesia, is presented. Pompe's disease, glycogen storage disease type II, is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by the lysosomal accumulation of glycogen. Patients with the juvenile form are distinguished by involvement of limb-girdle, and respiratory muscles without cardiac or nervous system manifestations. She had been managed with nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) and nightly ventilatory support. She had scoliosis with vertebral rotation and showed respiratory muscular weakness. In order to prevent postoperative respiratory complication and to achieve cardio- pulmonary stability, we chose the thoracic epidural block to perform appendectomy. Epidural injection of 0.8% lidocaine gave good sensory block without motor block and maintained cooperative state throughout the operation. Postoperatively, she remained well, but with NIPPV.
Anesthesia, Epidural* ; Appendectomy ; Female ; Glycogen ; Glycogen Storage Disease Type II* ; Humans ; Injections, Epidural ; Intermittent Positive-Pressure Ventilation ; Lidocaine ; Muscle Weakness ; Nervous System ; Respiratory Muscles ; Scoliosis ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Gangwon-do* ; Humans ; Norovirus* ; Sequence Analysis*

There are many different approaches to ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus block (US-SCBPB), and each has a different success rate and complications. The most commonly performed US-SCBPB is the corner pocket approach in which the needle is advanced very close to the subclavian artery and pleura. Therefore, it may be associated with a risk of subclavian artery puncture or pneumothorax. We advanced the needle into the central part of the neural cluster after penetrating the sheath of the brachial plexus in US-SCBPB. We refer to this new method as the "central cluster approach." In this approach, the needle does not have to advance close to the subclavian artery or pleura. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of the central cluster approach in US-SCBPB.
Brachial Plexus* ; Needles ; Pleura ; Pneumothorax ; Punctures ; Subclavian Artery ; Ultrasonography

Peripheral neuroepithelioma (PNE) of soft tissue is a malignant neuroectodermal tumor arising from peripheral (nonautonomic) nerve. It may occur in both children and adults, and are highly aggressive neoplasms that rapidly give rise to metastatic disease and death. We exprienced a case of peripheral neuroepithelioma of soft tissue in the upper arm in a 18-year-old female. Cytologic features revealed small round cells with scanty cytoplasm occurring both singly and in clusters. The clusters frequently tended to form Homer-Wright rosettes. The cells had a round to oval nucleus with fine chromatin and in- conspicuous nucleoli in a hemorrhagic background.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Arm ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ; Child* ; Chromatin ; Cytoplasm ; Female ; Humans ; Neuroectodermal Tumors ; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive, Peripheral ; Urinary Bladder

PURPOSE: The major source of acute peripheral arterial occlusion has been embolization from the heart. However overall improvement in medical care have increased life spans, resulting in significant increase in the incidence of systemic atherosclerosis and thrombotic occlusion of peripheral vessels. Recently, occlusion from in situ thrombosis has surpassed occlusion from embolization as the major cause of acute arterial occlusion. The introduction of the balloon catheter technique in 1963 dramatically simplified the technical aspect of surgical therapy for acute arterial occlusion and it became the main modality of the therapy. Recently, numerous reports have documented increased identification of intraluminal defects after arterial surgery using angioscopy as compared with those using intraoperative arteriography, and for this reason, the use of intraluminal angioscopy has grown in popularity. METHODS: We analyzed clinical characteristics and treatment results in patients with acute arterial occlusion. The variables studied include location, etiology, time interval from occurrence of occlusion to performance of thromboembolectomy. RESULTS: There were 41 men and 4 women and most prevalent age group was in 7th decades. The causes of acute arterial occlusion were embolism in 21 cases (46.7%), thrombosis in 24 cases (53.3%). The primary source of embolism was heart in 20 cases as a result of ischemic heart disease (n=11, 52.4%) and atrial fibrillation (n=9, 42.9%). Two patients in embolic group died of cardiogenic shock and were in shorter duration group (<24 hours). Iliac arterial occlusion group was associated with highest amputation rate (23.1%). Amputation rates were 12.5% for thromboembolectomy performed within 24 hours of onset of symptoms, and 17.4% when performed after 48 hours. We used angioscopic technique in limited cases of 5 patients to detect residual thrombus, intimal flap and other intraluminal defects. CONCLUSION: To improve outcome, early diagnosis and early treatment are essential. Direct visualization of the arterial lumen with angioscopy during thromboembolectomy procedure would provide a more reliable method of assessing luminal morphologic characteristics than angiography alone.
Amputation ; Angiography ; Angioscopy ; Atherosclerosis ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Catheters ; Early Diagnosis ; Embolism ; Female ; Heart ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lower Extremity* ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Phenobarbital ; Shock, Cardiogenic ; Thrombosis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to compare the lipid distributions and risk factors in an angiographically normal coronary artery group to those of microvascular and coronary artery diseased groups of Koreans, and to find the effects of the variable risk factors on the serum lipid levels according to the coronary atherosclerosis status. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 1,198 patients (563 males and 635 females), having undergone a coronary angiography (CAG) using Judkins method, were included. According to their coronary angiographic findings, they were divided into normal CAG (n=568), microvascular disease (n=230) and coronary atherosclerosis (n=400) groups. RESULTS: The mean value of the total cholesterol in the patients with normal coronary artery was 175 mg/dl, which progressively increased to 182 mg/dl and 198 mg/dl in the patients with microvascular disease and coronary atherosclerosis, respectively. The frequencies of the risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis also progressively increased in the patients with microvascular disease and coronary atherosclerosis. The mean values of the serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and lipoprotein(a), progressively increased from the patients with normal angiographic findings to those with microvascular disease and coronary atherosclerosis, and the results were statistically significant. The results for the patients with microvascular disease were in between those of the patients with normal angiographic findings and those with coronary atherosclerosis. CONCLUSION: The correlation between coronary atherosclerosis and the serum cholesterol levels has, until now, been studied epidemiologically, and this is the first study to angiographically elucidate the positive relationship between coronary artery disease and the serum cholesterol levels. Our data showed lower ranges of lipid distributions compared to those of the ATP III guideline.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Cholesterol ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels ; Humans ; Lipoprotein(a) ; Male ; Risk Factors* ; Triglycerides

BACKGROUND: Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia(CEP) presents with profound systemic symptoms, including fever, malaise, night sweats, weight loss, and anorexia together with localized pulmonary manifestations such as cough, wheeze, and sputum. It is an illness occurring predominantly in women. The chest radiogragh shows fluffy opacities that often have a characteristic peripheral configuration. The hallmark of CEP is the peripheral blood eosinophilia and a prompt response to oral corticosteroid therapy. We investigated characteristics of eleven patients of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia, reported in Korea. METHOD: There were eleven reports of CEP from 1980 to 1996, including three cases experienced in our hospital. The journals were analysed in respects of clinical history, laboratory, and radiographic findings. RESULTS: 1) Male vs. female ratio is 3 : 8. The peak incidence occurred in forty and fifty decades. The atopic diseases were present in 6 cases. Asthma was the commonest manifestation. 2) The presenting symptoms were as follows: cough, dyspnea, sputum, weight loss, fever, general weakness, night sweats, urticaria with the descending incidence. 3) Peripheral blood eosinophilia was present in all patients(mean; 38.4%) and serum Ig E level was elevated in nine patients(mean; 880IU/ml). CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia is based on classic symptoms, including fever, night sweats, weight loss with a typical roentgenogram of peripheral pulmonary infiltrates and peripheral blood eosinophilia, and that is confimed by lung biopsy and/or bronchoalveolar lavage. Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia is responsive to corticosteroid promptly and recommended at least 6 months of therapy to prevent relapse.
Anorexia ; Asthma ; Biopsy ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Dyspnea ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils* ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Lung ; Male ; Pulmonary Eosinophilia* ; Recurrence ; Sputum ; Sweat ; Thorax ; Urticaria ; Weight Loss