No abstract available.
Molecular Biology

The terminal differentiation of malignant melanoma cells is known to be induced by activating cAMP signaling pathway with alpha-MSH or cAMP analogues. However, sustained activation of cAMP signaling system that induces the differentiation of melanoma cells, also induces the desensitization of the pathway at the receptor level. Nevertheless, the adaptation of adenylate cyclase (AC) expression by sustained activation of cAMP signaling system has not been clearly understood. This study was performed to examine whether the sustained activation of cAMP system induce changes in the expression AC isoforms as an adaptation mechanism. Treatment of B16/F10 murine melanoma cells with 100 mM forskolin for 6 days resulted in differentiation, melanin accumulation and increased expression of tyrosine hydroxylase mRNA. In the forskolin-treated melanoma cells, change in expression of various AC isoform at the transcription level was detected by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Expression of AC isoform mRNA: ACI, III, VI, VII, and IX increased to the level of 196-392% of the control whereas the level of ACII was decreased by 30%. The cAMP concentration was increased both in basal and alpha-MSH stimulated cells, but the AC activity was decreased in the forskolin treated cells. Thus, these results suggest that sustained activation of cAMP system induces differential expression of AC isoforms, which results in increase of cAMP accumulation.
Adenylate Cyclase/*genetics ; Animal ; Cell Differentiation ; Cyclic AMP/*metabolism ; Forskolin/*pharmacology ; Isoenzymes/genetics ; Melanoma, Experimental/*enzymology/*pathology ; Mice ; Signal Transduction

No abstract available.
Humans ; Inpatients*

This study was attempted to know the recent changes of the patterns of diseases among Korean children living inurban and rural areas. 21,498 sick-children, who admitted to the thirteen general hospitals which located in urban and rural areas during past five years from Jan. 1994 to Dec. 1978, were analysed for this purpose. 13,759 sick-children(64.0%) were male, others were female and the ratio of sex was 1,8 : 1. 13,210 sick-children(61.4%)wers lived in large cities(over 500,000 population), 23.9% and 14.7$ of total sick-shildren were lived in small and medium sized cities(50,000~500,000 population) and rural areas respectively. There was a tendency to increase year by year in total number of sick children who admitted to the hospitals with the various kinds of diseases. The seasonal incidence of diseases was highest in summer, 27.9% of sick-children were admitted during summer season and the next season was fall. According to the classification of dieases in childhood (by WHO), the main diseases of sick-childen admitted at thirteen hopitals in this study were classified as respiratory tract diseases(6,044 cases, 28.1%), infection and parasitic diseases(5,605 cases, 26.1%) and neonatal disease(4,013 cases, 18.1%). Thr major ten leading causes of admission were as follows; pneumonia(13.6%), diarrheas(12.4%), prematurity(8.6%), neonatal jaundice(8.2%), URI(5.2%), bronchiolitis(3.6%), nephritis(3.3%), bacterial meningitis(3.1%), viral hepatitis(2,8%), pleurisy and empyema(2.4%). The characteristic patterns of diseases in each different resident areas were noted as follows; In large city the incidence of diseases such as intussusception, typhoid fever and hyperbilirubinemia were high comparing to other areas unexpectively. The occurrence of Japanese B encephalitis, tetanus neonatorum, poliomyelitis, septicemia, meningitis and tuberculosis were come into notice in rural areas. Diarrheal disease, prematurity, pyelonephritis and pertussis were still common in small and medium sized cities. The leading diseases in each age groups were; in neonatal period, prematurity(34.9%), hyperbilirubinemia(32.9%) and pneumonia(8.0%); in infancy, diarrheal diseases(28.2%), pneumonia(19.6%) and bronchiolitis(12.5%); in preschool period, pneumonia(16.2%), diarrheas(13.4%) and URI(6.8%); in school period, glomerulonephrithis(11.0%), pneumonia(9.7%) and viral hepatitis(8.1%); in adolescence, glomerulonephritis(11.5%), viral hepatitis(10.5%) and pneumonia(7.6%).
Child ; Adolescent ; Male ; Female ; Infant, Newborn ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; Incidence

A 2.5-year-old female patient who has a prior history of partial seizures was admitted by generalized tonic-clonic status epilepticus secondary to tapering of phenobarbital. Tonic-clonic status epilepticus was refractory to phenytoin, phenobarbital, valproic acid, diazepam, and pentobarbital. After 4 days of unsatisfactory control of seizure activity, isoflurane was administered for 4 hours. Inspired isoflurane concentration of 1.3% were required to control seizures. Heart rate and blood pressure were supported with infusions of dopamine and fluid. After discontinuation of isoflurane, the patient developed partial seizures but seizure activity was controlled with anticonvulsants. She was discharged alive from the hospital after weaning of the ventilator.
Anesthesia, General* ; Anticonvulsants ; Blood Pressure ; Diazepam ; Dopamine ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Isoflurane ; Pentobarbital ; Phenobarbital ; Phenytoin ; Seizures ; Status Epilepticus* ; Valproic Acid ; Ventilators, Mechanical ; Weaning

An oculogyric crisis which was resolved after intravenous injection of diazepam 10 mg developed in a 16-year-old girl after an oral dose of 400 mg of albendazole. Although ocular side effects of albendazole are rare, it can induce an alarming oculogyric crisis in some sensitive subjects. The mechanism of the oculogyric crisis is unclear.
Adolescent ; Albendazole* ; Diazepam ; Female ; Humans ; Injections, Intravenous

OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of malaria is increasing in recent years and also multidrug resistant malaria is increasing around the world and there is an increasing concern about imported malaria in nonendemic areas. Now many drugs are tried to find out effect on multidrug resistant malaria. We performed this study to investigate the thrapeutic effect of halofantrine in the treatment of chloroquine resistant imported malaria. METHODS: From Feb. 1992 to May 1995, we experienced 35 patients infected with malaria and treated 14 patients among 35 patients with halofantrine. RESULTS: 1) All 14 patients were sailor with a mean age of 39.4 years and infected with malaria. 2) The majority of patients were infected with malaria at Africa. 3) 10 patients were infected with Plasmodium falciparum and the remainder were undetermined. 4) In the 11 cases of chloroquine resistant malaria treated with quinine plus tetracycline combination therapy or Fansidar, 4 cases could not be tolerable due to side effects and resistance to the therapy, we substituted halofantrine for above regimens. 5) In the 10 cases, treated after May 1994, halofantrine was the first choice of treatment because they were the cases of malaria infected in the mid-Africa where the prevalence of chloroquine resistant malaria is high. 6) With halofantrine, all 14 cases were treated with minimal side effects suc4 as nausea, vomiting, anorexia, abdominal pain and fatigue. CONCLUSION: We think halofantrine is a simple and effective regimen against chloroquine resistant malaria and consider this agent as an alternative therapeutic regimen on chloroquine resistant malaria.
Abdominal Pain ; Africa ; Anorexia ; Chloroquine* ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Malaria* ; Military Personnel ; Nausea ; Plasmodium falciparum ; Prevalence ; Quinine ; Tetracycline ; Vomiting

BACKGROUND: Hyperhomocysteinemia has been known to be associated with cerebrovascular disease. It is toxic to vascular endothelial cell and promotes arteriosclerotic detachment. There was no study of the homocysteine level in ischemic stroke patients in Korea except case report. Therefore we measured total plasma homocysteine level in ischemic stroke patients and evaluated association with other stroke risk factors. METHODS: We measured total plasma homocysteine level in 44 patients with ischemic stroke and 16 age-matched normal controls, and analyzed its relationship to other stroke risk factors. Total plasma homocysteine level was determined by using a radioenzymatic method. RESULTS: Total plasma homocysteine level was 12.12 5.11 micromol/L in patients and 9.40 1.93 micromol/L in controls. It was 13.03 5.78 micromol/L in lacunar infarction and 9.96 1.57 micromol/L in territory infarction. The total plasma homocysteine level of the patients with hypertension, DM, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, smoking, alcohol, previous stroke, carotid bruit was not different statistically from those without them. CONCLUSIONS: Total plasma homocysteine level was significantly higher in the ischemic stroke patients than that of controls. Lacunar infarction showed significantly higher level of total plasma homocysteine compared to territory infarction.
Cerebral Infarction* ; Endothelial Cells ; Heart Diseases ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Hyperhomocysteinemia ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Infarction ; Korea ; Pilot Projects* ; Plasma* ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stroke ; Stroke, Lacunar

Pegylated-interferon plus ribavirin is the standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C. Sustained virological response (SVR) rates of up to 80% are reported in genotype 2 and 3 chronic hepatitis C cases. Obesity, a modifiable risk factor, may have a deleterious effect on antiviral treatment. We performed this study to examine the efficacy and safety of pegylated-interferon and ribavirin therapy in Korean patients with genotype 2 and 3 chronic hepatitis C and to investigate the risk factors for nonresponse to antiviral treatment. A total of 121 patients were treated with peginterferon alpha-2a 180 mcg/week plus ribavirin 800 mg/day for 24 weeks. The end-of-treatment virologic response (ETVR), the SVR, the end-of-treatment biochemical response (ETBR), the sustained biochemical response (SBR), and the adverse events were analyzed. The ETVR and SVR were 94.1% and 89.1%, respectively. The ETBR was 80.2% and the SBR was 96%. Multivariate analysis showed that a body mass index of 25 and over was the only independent factor that affected the SVR (odds ratio=10.5, 95% confidence interval: 2.006-54.948, p=0.005). Twenty patients (16.5%) dropped out at the end of treatment, and 7 (5.8%) patients discontinued treatment because of treatment-related adverse events. Our study showed that combination therapy with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin as an initial treatment for genotype 2 and 3 chronic hepatitis C is very effective and safe, and that body mass index is an independent risk factor for nonresponse to antiviral treatment in patients with genotype 2 and 3 chronic hepatitis C.
Body Mass Index ; Genotype ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; Multivariate Analysis ; Obesity ; Polyethylene Glycols ; Recombinant Proteins ; Ribavirin ; Risk Factors

Brainstem lesions may produce a cheiro-oral syndrome infrequently. The cheiro-oral syndrome in pontine lesion is due to involvement of ventral trigeminothalamic tract and the medial part of the medial lemniscus. The cheiro-oral syndrome rarely associates with internuclear ophthalmoplegia. A 58-year-old hypertensive man complained of dizziness, diplopia, and dysesthesia in the right hand and ipsilateral perioral region. On neurologic examination, there was left internuclear ophthalmoplegia. Others were unremarkable. Brain MRI demonstrated a small round lesion in the paramedian tegmentum of the left upper pons and lower midbrain, which involved ventral trigeminothalamic tract, medial part of medial lemniscus and medial longitudinal fasciculus. We report a case of brainstem infarction with a rare combination of cheiro-oral syndrome and internuclear ophthalmoplegia.
Brain ; Brain Stem Infarctions* ; Brain Stem* ; Diplopia ; Dizziness ; Hand ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mesencephalon ; Middle Aged ; Neurologic Examination ; Ocular Motility Disorders ; Paresthesia ; Pons