Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inherited disorder caused by defective nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase enzyme and characterized by recurrent bacterial and fungal infections. Although liver abscess is a common manifestation of CGD, its management in CGD patients is not well-defined. In addition, the generalized guidelines for treating liver abscesses do not necessarily apply to CGD patients. Corticosteroids are commonly used to control granulomatous complications, such as inflammatory gastrointestinal and genitourinary lesions, in patients with CGD, Corticosteroids have also been used in combination with antimicrobials to treat refractory infections in patients with CGD. Because corticosteroids are capable of suppressing symptomatic inflammation, all potential infections must be adequately controlled prior to corticosteroid initiation. We report 3 typical CGD cases with liver abscesses refractory to conventional treatments that were successfully treated with the concomitant use of corticosteroid and antimicrobials. It remains unclear whether corticosteroid therapy is required for liver abscesses in CGD refractory to conventional treatments. However, based on our observations, use of corticosteroids in combination with optimal antimicrobials should be considered for refractory liver abscesses in CGD.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Granulomatous Disease, Chronic* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Liver Abscess* ; Liver* ; NADP ; Oxidoreductases

Histiocytosis-X is a term used to define three diseases with similar morphologic characteristics : Letterer-Siwe diseae, Hand-Schuller-Christian disease and Eosinophilic granuloma. In general, they differ in terms of their age of onset, severity of clinical course and site of involvement. Eosinophilic granuloma typically is seen in young adults. Eosinophilic granuloma is diagnosed in the presense of diffuse pulmonary infiltrate, bony involvement. However, the Pulmonary radiologic findings of eosinophilic granuloma are variable accordinary to stage of disease. therefore pathologic diagnosis of involving site is essential for confirmative diagnosis of eosinophilic grananuloma. Pathologically. the three disease are characterized by granulomatous infiltration of alveolar septa and bronchial walls and often involvement of bone. The hallmark of this disease is proliferation of the Langerhans' cell. The identifying feature is the X-body or Birbeck granule that is present in Langerhans' cells and histiocytic cells found in the lung of EG patient. We report a case of bilateral, recurrent and spontaneous pneumothoraces in a 21 year old man with pulmonary histiocytosis-X which is confined by eosinophilc granuloma in bone marrow biopsy and ultrastructural examination in cells obtained from BAL.
Age of Onset ; Biopsy ; Bone Marrow ; Diagnosis ; Eosinophilic Granuloma ; Eosinophils ; Granuloma ; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell* ; Humans ; Lung ; Pneumothorax* ; Young Adult

Actinomycosis is a bacterial infection that can affect virtually any site in the body. There are three major forms of actinomycosis: cervicofacial, abdominal and thoracic. Aspergillus spp. are ubiquitous in the environment in most countries of the world. Pulmonary aspergillosis is clinically classified by aspergilloma, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and invasive aspergillosis. Actinomyces and Aspergillus, each of them was often reported in case, but mixed infection of both organisms have not kern reported. We experienced a case of mixed infection of Actinomyces and Aspergillus involving the same area of the lung in a 62 year-old housewife presented with hemoptysis and solitary pulmonary nodule. Percutaneous needle aspiration and later surgical resection revealed sulfur granule mixed with Aspergillus hyphae in the same lesion. We report this case with a review of the literature.
Actinomyces* ; Actinomycosis ; Aspergillosis ; Aspergillosis, Allergic Bronchopulmonary ; Aspergillus* ; Bacterial Infections ; Coinfection* ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Hyphae ; Lung* ; Middle Aged ; Needles ; Pulmonary Aspergillosis ; Solitary Pulmonary Nodule ; Sulfur

PURPOSE: This study was done to evaluate quality of reports of non-randomized controlled quasi-experimental study articles published in the Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing (KJWHN). METHODS: A search was done for experimental studies assessing intervention effects among all articles published in the KJWHNfrom 2008 to 2013. Original articles were reviewed and analyzed according to the 22 checklist items of the guidelines for Transparent Reporting for Evaluations with Non-randomized Designs (TREND). RESULTS: Thirty-five articles on experimental studies were identified. The evaluation of the quality of reporting in these experimental studies found that there was a wide variety in the level of satisfying the TREND checklist. In particular, according to TREND topics, low levels of reporting quality were found for "title & abstract (only for information on how units were allocated to the intervention)", "outcomes in methods", "assignment in methods", "blinding in methods", "recruitment in results", "baseline data in results", "interpretation in discussion (especially intervention mechanism and success or barriers), "generalizability in discussion". CONCLUSION: Results indicate that adherence to TREND guidelines varied in experimental studies published in the KJWHN suggesting the recommendation that for higher levels of complete reporting, TREND guidelines be used in reports on experimental studies.
Checklist ; Female ; Humans ; Clinical Trial* ; Methods ; Nursing Research ; Nursing* ; Research Design ; Women's Health*

BACKGROUND: Detection of the viral load of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA is important for clinical decision making and for determining the prognosis of HIV-infected patients. The aim of the study is to compare the performance of real-time RT-PCR (COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1, CAP/CTM, Roche Diagnostics) and the Nucleic Acid Sequence Based Amplification (NucliSens EasyQ HIV-1, NucliSens, BioMerieux) methods for testing Korean HIV-infected patients. METHODS: Among the specimens that were requested to undergo HIV-1 RNA viral load detection from 2005 to 2006, 153 specimens were selected based on the status of the specimens. The CAP/CTM and NucliSens tests were performed according to the manufacturer's instruction. RESULTS: HIV-1 RNA was detected by both tests in 93 specimens. Among the remainder, CAP/CTM detected HIV-1 RNA in 10 specimens, while the same specimens showed results lower than the detection limit with using the NucliSens. Though the results were appropriately correlated (r=0.85, P<0.0001), the mean differences between the two test results were -0.1321 log(10) IU/mL on the Bland-Altman test. CONCLUSION: The methodologic difference or the presence of a HIV subtype may affect the agreement between the two tests. The standardization of methods and the establishment of a linear range for the individual laboratory results may be helpful to obtain accurate test results.
Decision Making ; HIV ; HIV-1 ; Humans ; Limit of Detection ; Prognosis ; RNA ; Self-Sustained Sequence Replication ; Viral Load

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify content of prenatal education and to examine differences in prenatal education, knowledge, and attitude of nulliparous South Korean women. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was used with 134 conveniently recruited nulliparous women. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: Average number of institutional prenatal education programs was 5.96 at clinics, 4.31 at health care centers, and 0.49 at hospitals. Women participated in an average 5.78 out of the 35 prenatal education contents: 15 types of prenatal and delivery, 10 postpartum self-care, and 10 parenting. Score for knowledge was 7.57out of 10. Women who participated in prenatal education (n=72) reported significantly higher scores in knowledge (t=2.71, p=.008) than women who did not participate (n=62). The average score for attitude was 7.22 out of 10. Nulliparous women over 36 weeks of gestational age had significantly higher scores for attitude (t=2.38, p=.019) than women under 36 weeks. There were significant positive correlations between newborn care knowledge and postpartum care self-efficacy (r=.26, p=.026), and newborn care knowledge and parenting confidence (r=.25, p=.034). CONCLUSION: Results indicate that policy is needed to increase participation in prenatal education and to establish strategies for health care centers and hospitals to provide prenatal education.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Delivery of Health Care ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Parenting ; Parents ; Postnatal Care* ; Postpartum Period* ; Prenatal Education* ; Self Care

PURPOSE: This research was aimed to analyze the reports of qualitative researches published in Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing (KJWHN). METHODS: Twenty qualitative researches using in-depth interviews or focus groups published in KJWHN during from 2002 to 2011 were selected for analysis. Selected reports were analyzed by consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ), which were a reporting guideline for qualitative researches, and consisted of thirty two items and three domains, i.e., (1) research team and reflexivity, (2) study design, and (3) data analysis and reporting. RESULTS: Personal characteristics related to credentials, gender and interviewer's bias or assumption were less reported than other items in the 1st domain. In the 2nd domain, descriptions such as a presence of non-participants, pilot test for interview guide development, and transcript return to participants were less reported than other items. In the 3rd domain, items related to number of data coder, participants checking of the finding, and clarity of minor themes were less reported than other items. CONCLUSION: It could be concluded that COREQ is a useful guideline for reporting of qualitative studies. From these results, we suggest that full items of COREQ should be considered and described when researchers report qualitative research.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Qualitative Research ; Reflex ; Statistics as Topic ; Women's Health

OBJECTIVES: Synapsin III near VCFS region on chromosome 22q affects. It could be an interesting candidate gene for schizophrenia. D22S280 is a highly polymorphic genetic marker residing in synapsin III. We examined association of D22S280 marker on synapsin III with Korean patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: The subjects were 46 male Korean patients with schizophrenia and 60 male normal controls. Using polymerase chain reaction, gel electrophoresis, ABI 310 genetic analyzer, and GeneScan Collection 3.1 software, we confirmed genotypes of D22S280 marker. We examined Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and case-control association using SAS/Genetic 9.1.3. RESULTS: Genotypes of both schizophrenia and control groups were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. We could not find any significant statistical differences in allele-wise(chi-square=10.4, df=6, p=0.098) and genotype-wise (chi-square=22.1 df=19, p=0.258) analyses of D22S280 marker between schizophrenia and normal controls. Individual allele analyses with df=1 showed significant differences in A1(p=0.025) and A7(p=0.034) allele, which were not significant following Bonferroni corrections(A1 : p=0.177, A7 : p=0.235). CONCLUSION: We couldn't find any association between schizophrenia and the synapsin III gene. Given the small number of subjects studied, further investigations are needed.
Alleles ; Case-Control Studies ; Electrophoresis ; Genetic Markers ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Schizophrenia* ; Synapsins*

OBJECTIVES: EEG coherence could imply the connectivity between two different areas of the brain, which is known to be important in the pathophysiology of bipolar I disorder(BPD I) and schizophrenia. The authors investigated EEG coherence in patients with BPD I and schizophrenia to examine the connectivity of the neural circuit. METHODS: EEGs were recorded in 15 schizophrenia and 14 bipolar disorder patients, and 14 age-matched normal control subjects from 16 electrodes with linked-ear reference. Spectral parameters and coherence were calculated for the alpha bandwidth(8-13Hz) by a multi-channel autoregressive model using 20 artifact-free 2-seconds epochs and the differences were compared among three groups by two different statistical methods; F-test and Kruskal-Wallis test. Furthermore, when there were significant differences among three groups, Scheffe's multiple comparison tests were provided and Jonckheere-Terpstra tests for the ordered alternative were given. RESULTS: In the intra-hemispheric comparison, left frontal coherence was increased in order of control, BPD I and schizophrenia. In the inter-hemispheric comparison, 1) inter-prefrontal coherence in BPD I was significantly higher than in normal controls, and 2) inter-prefrontal coherence in schizophrenia was significantly lower than in controls. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that 1) both schizophrenia and BPD I are diseases having the abnormality of neural circuit connectivity in both frontal and prefrontal lobes, and 2) the abnormality is more severe in schizophrenia than in BPD I. Furthermore, the data support that a common pathogenetic process may reside in both schizophrenia and BPD I.
Bipolar Disorder* ; Brain ; Electrodes ; Electroencephalography* ; Humans ; Schizophrenia*

PURPOSE: Recent reports suggest that many professionals, including emergency physicians, suffer from job stress and psychosocial stress. Emergency physicians also report a high premature attrition rate. Our goal was to investigate the levels of job and psychosocial stress and the relationship between these stresses and abandonment of their own specialty. METHODS: Data was collected using a cross-sectional mail survey with a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included 49 questions in scales relating to job stress, job satisfaction and plans for their remaining years in their specialty. Three hundred and forty-two emergency physicians participated in this study and completed the questionnaire RESULTS: Among the 342 questionnaires, 132(48.4%) were returned. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed statistically significant differences in job stress and psychosocial stress between academic emergency physicians and clinical emergency physicians. The average scores for job stress, job satisfaction and psychosocial stress among emergency physicians were, respectively, 3.35+/-0.57, 2.93+/-0.50 and 2.33+/-0.78. Mean levels of job stress and psychosocial stress were higher among academic emergency physicians. Job satisfaction and occupational commitment were also higher among academic emergency physicians. Variables such as patient load, working hours per week, and night shifts proved unimportant. Of clinical emergency physicians, 54% planned on leaving their specialty within ten years. CONCLUSION: Job stress and psycosocial stress of academic emergency physicians were higher, but job satisfaction and occupational commitment were higher. Job stress and psycosocial stress of clinical emergency physicians were lower, but premature attrition rate were higher.
Emergencies ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Multivariate Analysis ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Weights and Measures