Fungi have been recognized as a significant cause of external otitis and it may be the primary pathogen or be part of a mixed infection. In the immunocompromised host, fungus is capable of producing infection in inner ear or middle ear. Otomycoses are most frequently caused by Aspergillus spp. and Candida sap. There are few reports that Aspergillus species other than A. fumigatus, A. niger and f. flavus have caused chronic otitis media. We report two cases of chronic otitis media caused by Aspergillus ferrous in Korea. One case is a 7-year-old girl who had recurrent serous otorrhea and otalgia for 4 years, was reattended otolaryngology clinics with otorrhea of 3 days durations and another is a 6-year-old girl who had serous otorrhea for 2 months and 3 day fever, was attended otolaryngology clinics with them. Microscopic appearance and colony morphology from ear discharge cultures revealed A. ferrous. The infection responded well to topical ketoconazole therapy. This report should help to raise medical personnel's awareness of such human opportunistic fungal ear infections.
Aspergillus* ; Candida ; Child ; Coinfection ; Ear ; Ear, Inner ; Ear, Middle ; Earache ; Female ; Fever ; Fungi ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Ketoconazole ; Korea ; Niger ; Otitis Externa ; Otitis Media* ; Otitis* ; Otolaryngology ; Otomycosis

No abstract available.
Benzalkonium Compounds* ; Dermatitis, Contact*

PURPOSE: We studied to evaluate the effect of percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD) in liver abscess. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data (presence of fever, WBC count), radiological findings (computed tomography, ultrasonography and abscessogram) and correlated them with treatment period. Percutaneous drainage of liver abscess were performed in 19 patients under fluoroscopy guide during recent three years. RESULTS: Eighteen patients (95%) were cured, and one patient underwent surgery because of peritonitis caused by PCD procedure. Average treatment period was 17 days. CONCLUSION: In the treatment of liver abscess, PCD is thought to be safe and effective.
Catheters* ; Drainage* ; Fever ; Fluoroscopy ; Humans ; Liver Abscess* ; Liver* ; Peritonitis ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography

Two hundred twenty premature infants who were inhalated 02 and under 2500mg birth weight or under 37 weeks of gestational age were examined from January 1990 to June 1991. We performed clinical analysis and results were as follows. 1. Thirty one infants (14.1 %) were diagnosed as retinopathy of prematurity. 2. Male patients were 17 (54.8%) and female patients were 14 (46.2%). There was no significant difference in incidence between male and female (X2=0.01, p>0.05). 3. The first examination was performed at 2.4 weeks cf life in average, and the retinopathy of prematurity was diagnosed at 4.8 weeks in average. 4. Stage 2 was detected in 10 patients (32.3%) and stage 3 was detected in 6 patients (19.4%). 5. Plus sign was found in 2 patients (19%) with stage 2 and 6 patients (100%) with stage 3. 6. The incidence of retinopathy of prematurity was highly associated with low birth weight (<1200gm), small gestational age (<30 weeks), and oxygen concentration (>or=60%). 7. Other associated possible risk factors were hyperbilirubinemia, idiopathic respiratoty distress syndrome, anemia, apnea and transfusion.
Anemia ; Apnea ; Birth Weight ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Male ; Oxygen ; Retinopathy of Prematurity* ; Risk Factors

Dihydropyridine (DHP) calcium channel blockers (CCBs) have been widely used to treat of several cardiovascular diseases. An excessive shortening of action potential duration (APD) due to the reduction of Ca2+ channel current (I(Ca)) might increase the risk of arrhythmia. In this study we investigated the electrophysiological effects of nicardipine (NIC), isradipine (ISR), and amlodipine (AML) on the cardiac APD in rabbit Purkinje fibers, voltage-gated K+ channel currents (I(Kr), I(Ks)) and voltage-gated Na+ channel current (I(Na)). The concentration-dependent inhibition of Ca2+ channel currents (I(Ca)) was examined in rat cardiomyocytes; these CCBs have similar potency on I(Ca) channel blocking with IC50 (the half-maximum inhibiting concentration) values of 0.142, 0.229, and 0.227 nM on NIC, ISR, and AML, respectively. However, ISR shortened both APD50 and APD90 already at 1 microM whereas NIC and AML shortened APD50 but not APD90 up to 30 microM. According to ion channel studies, NIC and AML concentration-dependently inhibited I(Kr) and I(Ks) while ISR had only partial inhibitory effects (<50% at 30 microM). Inhibition of I(Na) was similarly observed in the three CCBs. Since the I(Kr) and I(Ks) mainly contribute to cardiac repolarization, their inhibition by NIC and AML could compensate for the AP shortening effects due to the block of I(Ca).
Action Potentials ; Amlodipine ; Animals ; Antihypertensive Agents ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Calcium Channel Blockers* ; Calcium Channels* ; Calcium* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Ion Channels ; Isradipine ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; Nicardipine ; Purkinje Fibers ; Rats

No abstract available.
Dendritic Cells*

No abstract available.
Cicatrix* ; Hepatitis C, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic* ; Humans ; Interferons ; Ribavirin*

This study examined the effectiveness of two commonly used dietary assessment methods (the 24-hour recall and the food frequency questionnaire) in the epidemiological investigations of health-related habits and degenerative diseases. This cross sectional project in the Seoul area was conducted for the purpose of establishing cohort subjects and collecting reliable nutrient intake data for a further large-scale cross sectional study. The subjects were 91 volunteers from the Seoul area with a mean age of 53.5 +/- 9.6 for the males and 52.2 +/- 8.9 for the females. The subjects had a rela-tively high educational background, were from high socioeconomic levels, and were greatly concerned about healthrelated life styles. There was a significantly negative correlation between their smoking and their nutrient intake. Their drinking habits, their self-estimated health status and their concern or stress about being healthy did not have any influence on their nutrient intakes. Skipping meals was the most undesirable dietary habit influencing their nutrient intakes, and the next was their irregularity of eating meals. The subjects who liked legumes and fish had higher intakes of iron and niacin and those who liked milk and dairy products had higher intakes of calcium, vitamin B2 and fat. The subjects who considered themselves not to be healthy consumed higher amounts of fish and shell-fish, and those who considered themselves to be healthy consumed higher amounts of vegetables. The smokers consumed less fruits than non-smokers, but there was no correlation between their drinking and consumption of the food groups. There was no correlation between their food consumption frequency and their skipping meals or meal irregularity. There were positive correlations between their food likes and food consumption frequency for foods such as meat, milk and dairy products, seaweeds and fruits. Therefore, their smoking, skipping meals and meal irregularity appeared to greatly influence their nutrient intakes. Significant correlations were found between their health-related habits and their food group preferences and food frequencies. This implies that simple surveying methods using criteria such as smoking, skipping meals and meal irregularity, food group preferences and eating frequencies can be used as useful tools in the assessment of nutritional statuses.
Calcium ; Cohort Studies ; Dairy Products ; Drinking ; Eating ; Fabaceae ; Female ; Food Habits ; Fruit ; Humans ; Iron ; Life Style ; Male ; Meals ; Meat ; Milk ; Niacin ; Nutritional Status ; Riboflavin ; Seoul* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Vegetables ; Volunteers

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is an uncommon association with idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often leading to a variety of serious complications. A total of 41 resected cases of IBD were examined to elucidate the pathologic features of intestinal CMV infection which was assessed by histologic examination and confirmed by immunohistochemistry with CMV antibody. Six cases were positve for CMV antibody; five cases in 19 ulcerative colitis (UC, 26.3%) and one case in 22 Crohn's disease (CD, 4.5%). Of 7 cases of the steroid-treated UC group, five cases were superinfected with CMV (71.4%) but none in 12 cases of the steroid-untreated UC group. All of the five CMV-positive cases in UC showed deep ulceration and transmural inflammation, while none of 10 UC cases without above features were CMV positive. Fibrinoid necrosis and thrombi were found in 83.3% of the CMV infected group, while none in the CMV-negative group of UC cases (p=0.01). We conclude that IBD, particularly UC, is susceptible to the CMV infection when steroid hormone is administered, and that deep colonic ulceration, transmural inflammation and fibrinoid necrosis of vasculature may suggest superinfection of CMV in UC patients. It seems that deep colonic ulceration may be the consequence of an ischemic change following vascular luminal occlusion or vasculitis by CMV infection.
Colitis, Ulcerative ; Colon ; Crohn Disease ; Cytomegalovirus Infections* ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Inflammation ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases* ; Necrosis ; Phenobarbital ; Superinfection ; Ulcer ; Vasculitis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify symptom cluster experienced by patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on gefitinib treatment. In addition, this study assessed the patterns in severity of the symptom cluster and differences in quality of life (QOL) and function among subgroups by the severity of symptom cluster. METHODS: This study was conducted as a secondary analysis of symptoms of 72 patients from a mother study. Factor analysis was used to identify symptom clusters measured with EORTC QLQ-C30 and LC13 symptom related items. RESULTS: Three symptom clusters were identified: cluster 1 was comprised of fatigue, anorexia and dysphagia; cluster 2 of dyspnea, cough and insomnia; and cluster 3 of pain, constipation and nausea/vomiting. These three symptom clusters were improved one week after gefitinib administration. The group with more severe symptom clusters showed significantly lower QOL and function than the group with less severe symptom clusters. CONCLUSION: Since symptom clusters experienced by the patients with advanced NSCLC influenced on the QOL and function, it is important for nurses to understand and observe their symptom clusters. In addition, there is an necessity to develop nursing interventions to effectively care patients with the symptom clusters.
Anorexia ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Constipation ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mothers ; Quality of Life ; Quinazolines