The infant kidney is more vulnerable to infections than the adult kidney. It is common that acute pyelonephritis (APN) during infancy and early childhood manifests growth retardation of kidney, ultimately leading to chronic renal failure. However, little is known about the pathogenesis of renal growth retardation in APN in youth. To understand the mechanism underlying the cortical lesions, urinary tract infection was induced in infant rats. To induce ascending APN, saline solution containing Escherichia coli (ATCC No. 25922) 107 bacteria/ml was infused into the bladder through the 16 gage silicone cannula in three-week-old weaning Sprague Dawley rats (weight 50~60 g, n=66). In the normal control group (n=20), saline was infused. Experimental groups were divided according to the treatment into the APN group (APN without any treatment, n=23) and TRX group (APN with ceftriaxone treatment, n=23). After performing the histopathologic examination, including inflammatory score, fibrosis score, and tubular atrophy score, we measured the apoptosis index in the tubular cells of noninflammatory cortical area at post-infection week 1 and 3 by the in situ TUNEL method. Kidney weight was significantly decreased in the APN group compared with the normal group at postinfection week 1 and 3. In the APN group, tubulointerstitial inflammation with heavy neutrophilic infiltration was found mainly in the upper and lower poles of the kidney in both the first and third week groups. Fibrosis was dominant in the third week of the APN group. However, inflammation and fibrosis were not significantly improved by TRX treatment. The apoptotic index of tubular cells was significantly increased in noninflammatory cortical area in the first week of both APN and TRX groups. It decreased near the normal control value in the third week. TGF-beta1 protein expression was localized in the inflammatory area. There was no TGF-beta1 expression in the tubules of the noninflammatory area. These findings suggest that renal growth retardation in experimentally induced APN in infant rats is related not only with the inflammatory reaction itself but also with the increased apoptosis of tubular cells in noninflammatory area. Ceftriaxone alone does not eliminate the inflammation nor prevent growth retardation effectively.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Animals ; Apoptosis* ; Atrophy ; Catheters ; Ceftriaxone ; Escherichia coli ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Infant* ; Inflammation ; Kidney ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Neutrophils ; Pyelonephritis* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Silicones ; Sodium Chloride ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Tract Infections ; Weaning

There are increasing interest and need for information on health care consumer with the significance of hospital marketing and strategic planning being increasingly emphasized. This study was conducted to investigate the criteria for selection of medical facilities according to the characteristics of health care consumer by the types of medical services on a sample of 1,500 population aged 20 years and above. Major findings are as follows; 1. When considering the criteria for selection of medical facilities into two factors, namely, quality or convenience factors, convenience factor was the major contributor for outpatient and dental services whereas it was quality factor for inpatient services. 2. Females and those residing in large cities selected medical facilities based on convenience factor in the outpatient services. In the case of inpatient service, persons who considered their present health status to be good and whose ages were 50 years old and above choose medical facilities based on quality factor. 3. Persons who considered medical facilities to be profit-making tended to choose medical facilities based on convenience factor for outpatient services. There were no differences in the cases of inpatient and dental services. 4. There was no significant difference on the criteria for selection of medical facilities according to the decision maker for selection or trust on medical facilities. On the use of health service information, selection of medical facilities was based on qPality factor for those who made more use of the information in the cases of outpatient and dental services. 5. Analysis using the logistic regression model on the criteria for the selection of medical facilities with the characteristics of health care consumer as independent variables was performed. The selection of medical facilities was significantly related with residential area, sex, and use of information on medical facilities for outpatient services and with age, average monthly income, and perception of health status for inpatient services. For dental services significant association with residential area and use of information on medical facilities was seen. The results of this study, despite some limitations, can be used as baseline data for marketing and strategic planning of hospital management.
Delivery of Health Care ; Female ; Health Services ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Logistic Models ; Marketing ; Middle Aged ; Outpatients ; Patient Selection

No abstract available.
Mycobacterium*

There is room for debate in appropriate diagnosis and treatment due to physiological and anatomical differences in pediatric facial bone fractures from that of adult's. The objectives of this article is to analyze for our clinical cases and to suggest the appropriate management of facial bone fracture in children. The study included 56 children who had treatment for the craniofacial fractures form March, 1990 to February, 1998. Their ages ranged from 3 to 15. There were 38 males and 18 females. Physical examination, simple x-rays, ultrasonograms and routine CT scans were used for diagnosis. Materials were classified into 28 nasal bone fractures, 4 nasoethmoidal fractures, 6 orbital fractures, 8 mandible fractures, and 10 zygoma fractures. Patients were treated with conservative treatment in 9 cases, with closed reduction in 28 cases and open reduction only, and 14 patients with open reduction and internal fixation using microplates and screws. 3 patients needed autogenous calvarial bone graft. Plates and screws were removed in postoperative 3-6 months. All patients had successful union of fractured bones without no specific complications, and normal bony growths were noticed during the 7 years follow up. We conclude that surgeons should be careful in diagnosis and management for the pediatric facial fracture due to anatomical variations and differences in fracture aspects. First, it is mandatory for surgeous to get accurate diagnosis and identify children's fracture and displacement through routine CT check up along with physical examination. Second, it is important to perform the minimally invasive technique or conservative treatment for the children with mild displacement so that it reduces the incidence of growth retardation which may be caused by extensive operation. However, application of rigid fixation is necessary in case of extensive bony displacement or bony defects because of poor coorporation in postoperative care. Third, plates and screws which were used for the internal fixation should be removed at 3-6 months after the surgery. Fourth, if bone graft is needed, it is better to use autogenous graft than allogeneous graft. Fifth, care for dentition and follow up for growth are necessary for growing children.
Child ; Dentition ; Diagnosis ; Facial Bones* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Mandible ; Nasal Bone ; Orbital Fractures ; Physical Examination ; Postoperative Care ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Transplants ; Ultrasonography ; Zygoma

No abstract available.
Immunocompromised Host* ; Kluyvera* ; Sepsis*

No abstract available.
Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic*

Infantile form of histiocytosis X is commonly presented as multiorgan desseminated form such as Letterer-Siwe disease. Lymph node involvement of histiocytosis X is usually accompanied by adjacent bone or skin lesion. Solitary nodal eosinophilic granuloma without evidence of other organ involvement is very rare. A case herein report is a 11 month-old female infant presented with fever and palpable both inguinal lymph nodes. There was neither skin lesion nor hepatosplenomegaly. Laboratory evaluation was within normal range except increased alkaline phosphatase and many neutrophils in urine. Radiologic examination revealed no remarkable bone lesions. And she showed good clinical outcome without evidence of other organ involvements. On microscopic examination of inguinal lymph node it was replaced by infiltration of histiocytes mainly along the sinusoid. Some of histiocytes showed morphologic features of "histiocytosis X cell" having nuclear grooves or multilobulation. Multinulceated giant cells were frequently see. Numerous eosinphils were also infiltrated and showed multifocal microabscess formation. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that majority of histiocytes were postitive for S-100 protein but multinucleated histriocytes, phagocytic histiocytes and those around the abscess were positive for macrophage marker, suck as CD68 and alpha-1-antichymotrypsin. Interestingly some histiocytes showed positivity for both S-100 protein and macrophage marker. These results suggest that histiocytosis X is proliferative disorder of phenotypically heterogenous population of histiocytes in contrast to the theory that it is a proliferative disorder of Langerhans cells.
Infant ; Male ; Female ; Humans

No abstract available.
C-Reactive Protein* ; Female ; Obstetric Labor, Premature* ; Pregnancy ; Tocolysis*

Service diversification is recognized as an important strategy against turbulent environmental change. This study is designed to find out the trend of service diversification in Korean health care organizations and also to identify factors associated with the degree of service diversification. Data were collected from 69 hospitals out of 71 hospitals with over 300 beds. Important findings are summarized below. 1. Types of diversification are closely related to hospital size. Large hospitals have a tendency to provide sophisticated service requiring specialized skills and equipment, while small hospital have concentrated their efforts on health screening programs. 2. The more competitive and bigger hospitals are, the greater number of services that provide. Also, hospitals operating rational management information systems provide more services. Contrary to the expectation, hospitals with a low performance during last 3 years showed more service diversification. 3. A trend of more diversification was observed in hospitals whose chief executive officer used a prospector strategy. 4. A multiple regression analysis revealed that bed size, competitive environment, degree of rational management, and the growth pattern were significantly associated with teh service diversification.
Delivery of Health Care ; Health Facility Size ; Hospital Bed Capacity ; Management Information Systems ; Mass Screening

Neonatal hepatitis(NH) and congenital extrahepatic biliary atresia(BA) are two major causes of neonatal cholestasis. The method of therapeutic trials for each disease is essentially different. Nonetheless it is very difficult to differentiate these diseases histologically, since most of the hepatic changes are mutual in both of them. This study is to aimed to find out major differences between the two by scoring various histological parameters. A total of 63 consecutive liver biopsies taken from 54 patients with suggested NH and BA were examined by applying morphometric scoring system. The detailed clinical histories, laboratory data including serology for HBsAg and TORCH infection and radiologic operative findings were reviewed. Among 54 patients, 27 were diagnosed as NH and 20 as BA. In two cases, features of both diseases were coexistent. The pathological diagnosis was not compatible with the final diagnosis in 5 cases(10.7%). In all of these 5 cases, biopsy had been performed at the age of one to two months. The seropositivity for TORCH was 59.3%(16.27) in NH, but 25.0%(5/20) in BA. Serum AST, ALT and alpha-fetoprotein values were higher in NH, and total bilirubin in BA. Of various histological parameters, scores of portal fibrosis, bile duct and ductular proliferation and bile thrombi were much higher in BA, and at the age of less than 2 months, extramedullary hemopoiesis(EMH) was found much more frequently in NH. Giant cell transformation of hepatocytes(GCT) was more commonly observed in NH. The numbers of GCT and EMH were particulary plentiful when the patients' sera were positive for HBsAg or TORCH. These results indicate that portal fibrosis, biliary proliferation and bile thrombi are the three major histologic features of BA, and therefore erroneous histological diagnosis may ensue when scores of those features are low as in some early BA.
Infant, Newborn ; Humans ; Biopsy