BACKGROUND: The influencion the environment on a culture is expressed via four routes. (1) the nature of the substrate or phase on or in which the cells grow (2) the physicochemical and physiological constitution of the medium, (3) the constitution of the gas phase, and (4) the incubation temperature. Melanization is closely related to the constitution and amounts of amino acids in the medium. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate whether there are some differences of proliferation and melanization in cultured B,F, mouse melanoma cells according to different culture media. METHODS: We examined the color of cell pellet, cell morphology, electron microscopic findings, cell counts and melanin conlensin BgF mouse melanoma cells cultured in Dulbeccos modified Eagles medium(DMEM), F-10, MCDB 153, Minimal essential medium(MEM), and RPMI 1640, respectively. RESULTS: 1. The color of cell pellet., ringed from dark gray to light brown. The order of the darkness was DMEM, MEM, RPMI 1640, MCDB 153, and F-10 medium. 2. Most Bg, mouse melanoma cells had an epithelioid morphology, but a few cells in MCDB 153 medium showed dendrites. On the 4th day after culture, the cells in F-10 medium were larger than those in the other media. 3. In the electron microscopic. findings, BF, mouse melanoma cells in DMEM and MEM con tained numerous stage IV nelanosomes, however, those in RPMI 1640 and MCDB 153 medium contained a few, and those in F-10 medium did few. 4. The number of BF, mouse melanoma cells were 1.42 + 0.06 x 10", 1.42 + 0.12 x 10", l. 17 + 0.08 x 10, 0.73 0.06 x 10, 0.32 0.01 x 10, in RPMI 1640, DMEM, MEM, F 10, and MCDB 153 medium, respectively. 5. In the MTT assay, the order of the optical density of B,F, mouse melanoma cells in various media was as followings, DMEM, RPMI 1640, MEM, F-10, and MCDB 153. 6. Compared with the melanin contents of B;F, mouse melanoma cells in DMEM, they were 77.97% in MEM, 67.91% in RPMI 1640 and MCDB 153 medium, and 55.94% in F-10 medium. CONCLUSION: The phenotypic changes of BF, mouse melanoma cells were induced by various culture rnedia and were reversilvle. Since the phenotypes of cells can be changed by the culture media, researchers should choose the appropriate culture medium for the cells.
Amino Acids ; Animals ; Cell Count ; Constitution and Bylaws ; Culture Media ; Darkness ; Dendrites ; Eagles ; Melanins ; Melanoma* ; Mice* ; Phenotype

In 1968, Hardy and Anderson first described the term hypereosinophilic syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by persistent and prolonged eosinothila, with primarily hematologic, cardiac, neurologic and derrnatologic abnormalities. Cutaneous mmestations occur in 27-57% of patients. Two types of skin lesions have been noted: (1) erythrritous pruritic papules and nodules or (2) urticaria and angioedema. We report a case of hypereosinophilic syndrome with a vesicle eruption which is a rare skin lesion in tbis syndrome, in a 17 year old man. Diagnosis of hyprcsinophilic syndrome was established by clinical findings, rearked blood eosinophilia without a Brown cause, bone marrow aspiration and biopsy, liver scan and ultrasonography, and histopatholcgie findings of the skin.
Adolescent ; Angioedema ; Biopsy ; Bone Marrow ; Diagnosis ; Eosinophilia ; Humans ; Hypereosinophilic Syndrome* ; Liver ; Skin ; Ultrasonography ; Urticaria

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Immunosuppression* ; Prognosis* ; Transplantation*

During the period from May to October 1969, the authors carried out a series of tests with the aim to ascertain the present status of susceptibility of adult cockraoches to various insecticides. The tests on the susceptibility of cockroaches to dieldrin, D.D.V.P., Diazinon; Dibrom, Malathion and lindane were performed with the topical application and the residual film methods under the conditions of 26 degrees C and 80% of relative humidity. The insects tested were collected from Seoul City and were reared at the laboratory. Some of the important results so far obtained can be summarized as follows: The median lethal doses (LD(50)) of the five insecticides against female adult cockroaches were: 0.4 ug/roach or 4.02 ug/body weight (gm) by Dieldrin, 0.29/roach or 2.88 ug/body weight (gm) by D.D.V.P., 0.29 ug/roach or 2.96 ug/body weight (gm) by Diazinon, 0.54 ug/roach or 5.37 ug/body weight (gm) by Dibrom, and 2.96 ug/roach or 29.60 ug/body weight (gm) by Malathion. And those against male adult cockroaches were: 0.18 ug/roach or 3.29 ug/body weight (gm) by Dieldrin, 0.27 ug/roach or 4.89 ug/body weight (gm) by D.D.V.P., 0.16 ug/roach or 2.91 ug/body weight (gm) by Diazinon, 0.49 ug/roach or 8.97 ug/body weight (gm) by Dibrom, and 1.32 ug/roach or 24.19 ug/body weight (gm) by Malathion. The level of susceptibility of adult cockroaches to the insecticides tested was 1.0-1.6 times higher as compared with the results obtained on the Japanese Takashi strain. The median knockdown times (LT(50)) of the female adult cockroaches by insectcides at 1% concentration of 3 mg per square centimetre were 1.82 hours by Malathion, 1.36 hours by Diazinon, 0.56 hours by Lindane, 0.50 hours by Dibrom, and 2.56 hours by D.D.V.P. A marked difference was seen to exist between the males and the females. The female cockroaches were more resistant than the male to Dieldrin, Diazinon and Malathion.
parasitology-arthropoda-cockcroach-Blattella germanica ; chemotherapy ; Dieldrin ; D.D.V.P. ; Diazinon ; Dibrom ; Malathion ; lindane ; resistance

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to develop the decision tree models to classify the characteristics of those who had not undergone the health screening tests provided by the National Health Insurance Corporation. METHODS: Total of 5,102,761 subjects of health screening services in the year of 2002 was used. The data was divided into two data-sets (disease VS. non-disease group). The target variable was whether they took the health screening services. The number of input variables was 25 in total. RESULTS: The decision trees were classified into fourteen different types of non-examinees in the non-disease group and nineteen in the disease group. The ROC curve areas in the non-disease and disease groups were .761 and .714, respectively. CONCLUSION: The different types of non-examinees classified by the decision tree models would facilitate the foundation for the further analysis of individual characteristics and the effective health screening service management in future.
Data Mining ; Decision Trees* ; Mass Screening* ; National Health Programs ; ROC Curve

The T cell responses to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) were analyzed in acute hepatitis patients, chronic active hepatitis (CAH) patients and asymptomatic carriers. Neither proliferative responses nor substantial cytokine production of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in response to HBsAg was detected. For further studies, HBsAg- reactive T cell lines were prepared from PBMC of the hepatitis patients and asymptomatic carriers. No proliferative response of the T cell lines was observed. Interestingly, however, T cell lines obtained from acute hepatitis patients were found to produce IFN-r, but not IL- 4, in response to HBsAg stimulation, whereas T cell lines obtained from CAH patients and carriers were not. Results of this study suggest that HBsAg-reactive T cells producing Thl type cytokines may play an important role in the viral clearance during acute infections, while defects in those T cells may be responsible for the viral persistency.
Cell Line ; Cytokines ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens* ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Humans ; T-Lymphocytes*

The clinical and pathological features of solitary fibrofolliculoma are presented. Solitary fibrofolliculoma is very rarely encountered and to our knowledge, only 7 cases have been reported in the Western literature and no cases have been published in Korea. We experienced a case of solitary fibrofolliculoma occurring in a 56-year-old female, who had a 1.0 cm-sized and slowly growing nodule on her chin. A brief review of the literature, was made especially in relation to the pathological findings and histogenesis of solitary fibrofolliculoma.
Female ; Humans

Boric acid(H BO) is a weak topical anti infective agent. It can cause acute borism due to the internal absorption. Although the frequency is very rare, boric acid can also induce contact dermat.itis after topical spplication. We present allergic contact dermatitis to boric acid. The patch test results showed a positive reaction to 2% boric acid solution.
Absorption ; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact* ; Patch Tests

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using epididymal and testicular sperm in patients with azoospermia. METHODS: From March, 1993 to May, 1999, a retrospective clinical analysis was done of a total of 140 cycles in 112 patients who underwent ICSI. Subjects were divided into three group: ejaculated-ICSI group included 42 cycles in 34 patients with ejaculated sperm who underwent ICSI due to severe oligospermia and past history of failed or poor fertilization in the previous in vitro fertilization and embryo tranfer (IVF-ET) cycles, microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (MESA-ICSI) group included 50 cycles in 42 patients with congenital absence of the vas deferens (CAVD) or unreconstructable obstructive azoospermia and testicular sperm extraction and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (TESE-ICSI) group included 48 cycles in 36 patients with no spermatozoa which can be retrieved from epididymis or non-obstructive azoospermia. RESULTS: Normal two-pronuclear fertilization rates were similar in three groups: 64.4% for ejaculated-ICSI group, 59.4% for MESA-ICSI group and 60.4% for TESE-ICSI group. The pregnancy rates were 26.2%, 26.0% and 25.0% respectively. There were no significant differences in the fertilization, cleavage, and clinical pregnancy rates among ICSI cycles using ejaculated, epididymal and testicular sperm. CONCLUSION: Epididymal and testicular sperm obtained in azoospermic patients can fertilize oocyte successfully and may lead to be similar fertilization rates and clinical pregnancy rates to ejaculated sperm.
Azoospermia ; Embryonic Structures ; Epididymis ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Humans ; Male ; Oligospermia ; Oocytes ; Pregnancy Rate ; Retrospective Studies ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic* ; Sperm Retrieval ; Spermatozoa* ; Vas Deferens