Excretory/secretory proteins (ESP) from Toxoplasma gondii were analyzed to define the function in the penetration process into host cells. Whole ESP obtained at 37 degrees C were composed of 15 bands with molecular mass of 110, 97, 86, 80, 70, 60, 54, 42, 40, 36, 30, 28, 26, 22, and 19 kDa. Five ESP of 86, 80, 42, 36, and 28 kDa were reacted with monoclonal antibodies (mAb), named as Tg386 (microneme), Tg485 (surface membrane), Tg786 (rhoptry), Tg378, and Tg556 (both dense granules), respectively. The ESP was released by a temperature-dependent/-independent manner and all at once whenever ready to pour out except Tg786. Each ESP was not exhausted within the parasite but the amount was limited. Tg786 was released continuously with increment, whereas Tg378 and Tg556 were ceased to release after 3 and 4 hr. Dense granular Tg378 and Tg556 were released spontaneously and constitutively before the entry into host cells also. The entry of T. gondii was inhibited by all the mAbs differentially. And the parasite deprived of ESP was inhibited to enter exponentially up to 90.1%. It is suggested that ESP play an essential function to provide appropriate environment for the entry of the parasite into host cells.
Animals ; *Antibodies, Monoclonal ; *Antibodies, Protozoan ; Antigens, Protozoan/*analysis/physiology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Temperature ; Toxoplasma/*chemistry/pathogenicity

The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of anxiety for the mothers of leukemic children and to provide the fundamental data for the better performance of caring to them. The subject were 292 mothers : 100 mothers whose children had a leukemia, 80 mothers whose children had taken a tonsillectomy, 112 mothers whose children with medical disease except cancer. The data were collected through the state-Trait Anxiety Inventory of Spilberger and analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test. The results were as follows ; 1. The state anxiety mean score of mothers with leukemic children was 54.16. 2. The state anxiety of mothers with leukemic children was higher than that of the rest (F=8.00, P=0.0004). 3. There was no significant difference in anxiety of mothers with leukemic children in relation to leukemic children's and their mother's general characteristics.
Anxiety* ; Child* ; Humans ; Leukemia ; Mothers* ; Tonsillectomy ; Child Health

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to evaluate what kind of crystalloid solution could function as the best buffer and correct the metabolic acidosis most effectively in rabbits with hemorrhagic shock. METHODS: Twenty eight rabbits were bled until mean arterial pressure(MAP) became 70% of control. Thirty minutes after hemorrhagic shock fluid resuscitation was started with either plasmalyte or Hartmann's solution or 0.9% normal saline until MAP returned to 90% of the control. Hemodynamic and blood gas study, plasma lactate and electrolyte concentration were measured before, during, and 30 minutes after recovery from shock. RESULTS: The amount of shed blood to reduce MAP to 70% of control ranged 76~87 ml. And the volume for fluid resuscitation was 274~324 ml. There was no statistically significant difference among the three groups. The pH decreased during shock in all group and still decreased after resuscitation in Hartmann's solution and normal saline. But it increased significantly after resuscitation in plasmalyte. Lactate was increased in all group during shock and decreased by 22 and 23 mg/dl after resuscitation in plasmalyte and normal saline. But it still increased by 40 mg/dl in Hartmann's solution. Serum potassium level decreased significantly after resuscitation with normal saline. Serum calcium level decreased significantly after resuscitation with plasmalyte and normal saline. CONCLUSION: With the above results the plasmalyte which has pH closer to that of normal blood might be able to avoid the metabolic acidosis and maintain acid-base equilibrium effectively after fluid resuscitation in acute hemorrhagic shock.
Acid-Base Equilibrium ; Acidosis ; Calcium ; Hemodynamics ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Lactic Acid ; Plasma ; Potassium ; Rabbits* ; Resuscitation* ; Shock ; Shock, Hemorrhagic*

Concepts regarding the evaluation and management of the infertile male have evolved during the past decade primarily because of the development of new methodology. Nevertheless, the causes of male infertility is often obscure, and the clearly defined causes are infrequent or rare. Testicular biopsy findings are basic and very important in evaluating the causes of infertility. The testis biopsy findings of 30 azoospermic patients were evaluated and it was observed in aspect of testicular size and past history. Following results were obtained. 1. Among the 91 patients who underwent semenalysis, 30 cases (33%)were azospermia. 2. In testicular biopsy findings hypospermatogenesis was the most frequent finding and the more severe hypospermatogenesis was the more atrophic the seminiferous tubule is and showed frequent Leydig cell hyperplasia. 3. Testicular biopsy findings revealed no specific correlation between small testis and normal testis patients. 4. In aspect of past history 2 epididymal tubercu1osis patients showed normal biopsy findings which suggest obstruction of sperm route and one cryptorchism and one varicocele patients showed hypospermatogenesis. 5. By testicular biopsy most of the cause of infertility was testicular and 3 cases were posttesticular.
Azoospermia ; Biopsy* ; Cryptorchidism ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Infertility ; Infertility, Male ; Male ; Oligospermia ; Seminiferous Tubules ; Spermatozoa ; Testis* ; Varicocele

The antigenic domain of the major surface protein (Nc-p43) of Neospora caninum was examined by polymerase chain reaction of its gene fragments and recombinant expression as GST fusion proteins. The fragments of Nc-p43 were as follow: a total open reading frame (OFR), T; OFR without signal sequence and C-terminal hydrophobic sequence, S; N-terminal 2/3 parts of S, A; C-terminal 2/3 parts, P; N-terminal 1/3 part, X; middle 1/3 part, Y; and C-terminal 1/3 part, Z, respectively. The DNA fragments were cloned into pGEX-4T vector. Recombinant plasmids transformed into Escherichia coli of BL21 pLysS (DE3) strain were induced to express GST or GST fused fragments of Nc-p43 such as 69 kDa protein for T, 66 kDa for S, 52 kDa for A, 53 kDa for P, and 40 kDa proteins for X, Y, and Z, respectively in SDS-PAGE. The Nc-p43 fragments of T, S, and P reacted with a bovine serum of neosporosis while those of A, X, Y, and Z together with GST did not in the western blot. These findings suggest that the antigenic domain of Nc-p43 of N. caninum may be localized in the C-terminal 2/3 parts. Together with A19 clone in SAG1 of Toxoplasma gondii (Nam et al., 1996), the P fragment of Nc-p43 could be used as efficient antigens to diagnose and differentiate those infections with both species.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Biological Markers/analysis ; Blotting, Western ; Cells, Cultured ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Coccidiosis/diagnosis ; Neospora/*immunology ; Protozoan Proteins/*analysis/genetics/immunology ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Vero Cells/parasitology

PURPOSE: We evaluated the importance of redistribution and 24 hour reinjection images in Tl-201 SPECT assessment of myocardial viability after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed dipyridamole stress-4 hour redistribution-24 hour reinjection Tl-201 SPECT in 43 patients with recent AMI (4-16 days). The myocardium was divided into 16 segments and perfusion grade was measured visually with 4 point score from 0 to 3 (absent uptake to normal uptake). A perfusion defect with stress score 2 was considered moderate. A defect was considered severe if the stress score was 0 or l (absent uptake or severe perfusion decrease). Moderate defect on stress image were considered viable and segments with severe defect were considered viable if they showed improvement of 1 score or more on redistribution or reinjection images. We compared the results of viability assess-ment in stress-redistribution and stress-reinjection images. RESULTS: On visual analysis, 344 of 688 segments (50%) had abnormal perfusion. Fifty two (15%) had moderate perfusion defects and 292 (85%) had severe perfusion defects on stress image. Of 292 severe stress defects, 53 were irreversible on redistribution and reversible on reinjection images, and 15 were reversible on redistribution and irreversible on reinjection images. Two hundred twenty four of 292 segments (76.7%) showed concordant results on stress-redistribution and stress-reinjection images. Therefore 24 hour reinjection image changed viability status from necrotic to viable in 53 segments of 292 severe stress defect (18%). However, myocardial viability was underestimated in only 5% (15/292) of severe defects by 24 hour reinjection. CONCLUSION: The 24 hour reinjection imaging is useful in the assessment of rnyocardial viability. It is more sensitive than 4 hour redistribution imaging. However, both redistribution and reinjection images are needed since they complement each other.
Complement System Proteins ; Dipyridamole ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Myocardium ; Perfusion ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

The goal of this study was to develop a method to measure the degree of hope of mothers whom their children have cancer. Data collection was held on 144 mothers who had their children diagnosed as cancer, and were treated in C hospital and S hospital located in Seoul. The data was collected from January to August of the year 1999, and collected data was then computerized for T-test, factor analysis and ANOVA. The results are as follows: 1) The measurement method used to measure the degree of hope was divided into 7 categories and composed of 35 questions in total. The level of confidence was 0.90. The 7 categories were named 'gaining insight into life' , 'realizing oneself's own role in life' , 'attempting a change in life' , 'taking in destiny' , 'having trust in the treatment being held out by the medical faculty' , 'recognizing or escaping from reality''obtaining support from religion' respectively. 2) The average score of mothers with cancer children was 3.22. The 6th category 'recognizing or escaping from reality' , had the highest score and the 1st category of 'gaining insight into life' the lowest. 3) The degree of hope did not have any differences according to the general characteristics of the children with cancer and the characteristics of the disease. However there was a difference following the characteristics of the mothers with cancer children. Mothers with jobs tend to have scored higher compared with mothers without any occupation.
Child* ; Data Collection ; Hope* ; Humans ; Mothers* ; Occupations ; Seoul ; United Nations ; Child Health

This study was done to present a criterion in selection of the most proper light sources and materials by measuring metamerism index(MI) of the light curing composite resins with spectrocolorimeter. Metamerism is defined when two objects appear to be the same color in one illuminant but different in another. This is due to the fact that they have different spectral curves that fail to match under the second illuminant. In this study, A1 & A3 shade of five light curing composite resins (Esthet-X, Filteck Z250, Filteck A110, Charisma, Vitalescence) were chosen based on Vita shade. Five samples were made for shade of each product with Teflon mold (diameter: 15mm, thickness: 2mm). Metamerism index of each samples on a Barium sulfate plate (L*=96.54, a*=0.19, b*=0.01) prepared for sample fixation were measured with spectrocolorimeter(Miniscan XE plus, Model 4000s, Hunter Lab, USA) by applying standard light source D65, C, Fcw, TL84 and A. Standardization was done with reference standard (X=80.8, Y=85.7, Z=90.8) and light trap. The results were as follows. 1. Different resins with same Vita shade showed recognizable color difference(DeltaE*>2). 2. All composites had MI below accepted value 0.5 between standard illuminant(D65, C, & A) and below 1.5 under fluorescent condition (Fcw & TL84). 3. MI value between D65 and A showed higher value than MI value between other source of light(p<0.01). 4. All resins except Z250 showed MI value that A3 is higher than A1 between D65 and A(p<0.05).
Barium Sulfate ; Composite Resins* ; Fungi ; Polytetrafluoroethylene

BACKGROUND: There have been few reports suggesting involvement of mast cell and neutrophil to induce bronchoconstriction in aspirin-sensitive asthrna. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate mast cell and neutrophil activation in pathogenesis of aspirin-sensitive asthma. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We observed changes of serum NCA and MPO levels during L-ASA bronchoprovocation test in 14 subjects with aspirin-sensitive asthma. RESULTS: Serum NCA was significantly increased at 30 min(p=0.01) after the inhalation of L-ASA and then, no significant changes were noted at 240 min (p=0.14). NCA was significantly higher in subjects with late asthmatic responses than in those without it (p=0.04). Serum MPO level tended to increase at 30 min with no statistical significance (p=0.08), and then it significantly decreased at 240 min (p=0.05). There was no significant correlation between serum NCA and MPO level (r=0.22, p=0.58). CONCLUSION: These results support the view that NCA derived from mast cell may contribute to neutrophil recruitment into the airway in aspirin-sensitive asthmatic patients.
Asthma ; Bronchoconstriction ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Mast Cells ; Neutrophil Activation ; Neutrophil Infiltration ; Neutrophils*

This study is the descriptive survey for the purpose of providing the basic data that establishes the strategy to promote adolescent's hope by the examining of self-esteem, academic achievement, family functioning and hope of adolescents and the investigating of the factors influencing the hope in adolescents. The subjects for this study were 456 students of the first and second year of man's senior high school that located in Seoul. The data were gathered from 16th to 31st of the October 2000. For the survey tool, it was used that the Family Assessment Device(FAD) of Epstein, Baldwin & Bishop(1983), the Self-Esteem Inventory(SEI) of Coopersmith(1975), the class record order and Hinds & Gatusso(1991)'s Hopefulness Scale for Adolescents(HSA). The collected data was analyzed by statistics methods as the descriptive and frequency analysis, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients and Stepwise multiple regression of SAS program. The results of this study were following : 1. The mean score of self-esteem of young people was 51.06 +/- 6.83 and the mean grade was 2.04. The high academic achievement was 29.2%, middle grade was 52.7%, and low grade was 18.1%. The mean score of the family functioning was 38.30 +/- 6.98 and the mean grade was 2.25. The mean score of hope was 84.26 +/- 16.45 and the mean grade was 3.51. 2. The hope in adolescents was significantly different according to their father's school career. The mean score of the group that the father's school career was below junior high school was 77.32. That was significantly lower than the mean score 84.59 of the group that the father's school career was above college and the mean score 85.18 of senior high school group(F=4.04, P= 0.0183). 3. The self-esteem was represented the positive correlation with family functioning(r=0.43) and the all of the 4 subscales(r=0.31, 0.41, 0.39, 0.30). And, it was highly ranked as much as family functioning was good. The academic achievement was represented the positive correlation with self-esteem(r= 0.15). Also, the positive correlation was shown between the affective responsiveness, role recognition and emotional support as the subscales of family functioning and academic achievement(r=0.11, 0.12). And so, academic achievement was high as much as self- esteem was high and affective responsiveness and role recognition and emotional support were good. The hope was represented positive correlation with self-esteem and academic achievement(r=0.42, 0.26), and with the whole of family functioning(r=0.15) and the 4 subscales(r=0.13, 0.16, 0.11, 0.13). So, hope was high as much as self-esteem was high, academic achievement was high and family functioning was good. 4. The influencing factors on the hope of adolescents were self-esteem(17.63%), academic achievement(3.41%), father's school career(0.84%). These factors made it possible to explain 21.88% of hope.
Adolescent* ; Hope* ; Humans ; Seoul ; Child Health