BACKGROUND: The maximal removal rate of indocyanine green (ICG Rmax), which has been used as a useful indicator of quantitative assessment of the hepatic function, has some disadvantages such as high cost, requirement of multiple sampling, and long turn-around time. This study was designed to clarify that the measurement of the lidocaine metabolite, monoethylglycinekylidide (MEGX) test, can replace the ICG Rmax. And in healthy adults, MEGX forma pion was measured and compared according to methods of measurement and serf. METHOD: In 18 patients to whom ICG Rmax test was requested, ICG Rmax test was carried out at two doses of 0.5 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg and MEGX formation after 15 minute of 1 mg/kg lidocaine Injection was measured by fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) method. The correlation between them was analyzed, To 25 healthy volunteers included in this study as normal control, lidocaine was given intravenously at, a dose of 1 mg/kg and MEGX forma pion was measured IS and 30 minute later (MEGX15, MEGX30) using both high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and FPIA methods. RESULT: Patient group resealed significant correlation between ICG Rmax and MEGX15 (r=0.7674, p<0.001) and also between ICG Rl5 and MEGX15 (r=0.5612, p=0.008). There was significant difference between MEGX15 of 9 patients with chronic liver diseases and those of normal controls (22.24+/- 13.18 and 35.40+/- 14.43 ng/mL, respectively) (p=0.01). In normal controls, the correlation between methods was significant (p=0.001) and the values measured by FPIA method was significantly higher than that by HPLG (p(0.001). Of the normal controls, male group had higher MEGX15 values than female group in both methods (in HPLC method 33.89+/-15.95 and 22.53+/- 8.36, and in FPIA method 41.48+/-16.61 and 28.81+/-7.88 ng/mL, respectively), and in female group MEGX30 values was significantly elevated compared to MEGX15 (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Inferred from the fact that the correlation between ICG Rmax and MEGX was good, MEGX test can be considered a replacement for ICG Rmax. In healthy adults, it is considered that there is serf-related difference In the rate of lidocaine metabolism so we should pay attention to it in interpreting the MEGX results.
Adult ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Female ; Fluorescence Polarization Immunoassay ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Indocyanine Green* ; Lidocaine ; Liver Diseases ; Male ; Mesons ; Metabolism

Osteoporosis associated with pregnancy and lactation is a rare disease that can cause osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF).Patients usually complain of severe back pain, which is easily mistaken for pain due to pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation, making a rapid diagnosis and treatment difficult. The authors diagnosed OVCF related to pregnancy and lactation through a physical examination, simple radiography, whole-body bone scan, magnetic resonance image, bone marrow density, and blood tests in a 29-year-old female patient and a 31-year-old female patient who presented with low back pain. This paper reports two cases of symptom improvement through a teriparatide injection, wearing thoracic lumbar sacral orthosis and taking calcium and vitamin D with a review of the literature.

No abstract available.
Pulmonary Artery*

We investigated population densities of mosquitoes infected with sporozoites in three highly epidemic areas of Josan-ri and Jangpa-ri (Paju City) and Dongjung-ri (Yeoncheon County) in Korea. Anopheline mosquitoes were collected from both indoors and outdoors by human baiting collection method during the period of the first week of June to the second week of September 1999. Total 13,296 female mosquitoes were collected and 8,650 (65.1%) were Anophelines. Thirty seven percent (3,199) of the Anopheline mosquitoes were captured outdoors and 63.9% (5,531) indoors. Employing a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), we analyzed a total of 7,820 Anopheline mosquitoes and found that 7 Anopheline mosquitoes were infected with sporozoites. The positive rate in Josan-ri was 0.14% (5/3,500) and 0.15% (2/1,370) in Jangpa-ri. The total positive rate in all three surveyed areas was 0.09% (7/7,820). The mosquitoes infected with the sporozoites were detected on June 28th (n=2), July 5th (n=1), July 19th (n=1), August 9th (n=1), September 6th (n=1), and the last one on September 13th (n=1). They were all classified as Anopheles sinensis, which showed positive reaction in ELISA test. Therefore it might be concluded that A. sinensis plays an important role in re-emerging malaria transmission in Korea.
Animals ; Culicidae/*parasitology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Human ; Korea/epidemiology ; Malaria, Vivax/epidemiology/parasitology/transmission ; Plasmodium vivax/*isolation & purification ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Despite the major advances in diagnostic technology and improvements in antimicrobial selection and monitoring accompanied by parallel advances in surgical techniques, the morbidity and mortality of infective endocarditis(IE) still remain high. Because of this high mortality rate, it is worthy of investigating the clinical features of IE and it's complications thoroughly. The main causes of mortality in IE are congestive heart failure and septic embolization. In 9% of active IE, acute myocardial infarction(AMI) developed. AMI caused by coronary artery obliteration by occlusion or embolization is a rare but recognized complication of aortic valve endocarditis with annular abscess. We reported a case of aortic valve endocarditis with aortic root abscess which was complicated by AMI and death.
Abscess* ; Aortic Valve ; Coronary Vessels ; Endocarditis ; Heart Failure ; Mortality ; Myocardial Infarction*

OBJECTIVE: To find out the distinctive topographic EEG profiles of subject with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder comparing with age & sex matched control. METHOD: The quantitative electroencephalographies(QEEGs) of 20 drug-naive ADHD patients without any other psychiatric diagnosis were analyzed and compared to age and sex-matched controls using spectral analysis. RESULTS: 1) Slow waves(delta and theta) bipolar relative powers of the diverse areas in both hemispheres increased in drug-free ADHD patients, compared to controls. 2) Delta and theta bipolar relative powers of localized centro-temporal areas in left hemispheres increased in drug-free ADHD patients compared to controls. 3) Interhemispheric coherence and asymmetry are increased in diverse areas in ADHD patient compared to controls. CONCLUSION: We confirmed QEEG abnormalities in pure ADHD patients, especially in frontal and parietal areas. These results are compatible with other structural and functional imaging studies of ADHD.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Electroencephalography ; Humans ; Mental Disorders ; Rabeprazole

Objective: The risk of suicide is assessed by identifying the relationship between alcohol-use patterns and suicidal ideation in Korean employees. Methods: The study involved 13,858 employees who underwent workplace mental health screening at the Workplace Mental Health Institute of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital over a 6-year period between 2014 and 2019. Analysis was performed separately for Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Korea (AUDIT-K) items related to the frequency/volume of alcohol consumption (items 1 to 3, AUDIT-C) and those regarding alcohol dependence/related problems (items 4 to 10, AUDIT-D/P). Subjects were then classified into three groups on the basis of the presence or absence of clinical depression and suicidal ideation. The groups’ sociodemographic factors and clinical features of depression, anxiety, and alcohol-use patterns were analyzed with a chi-square test as well as one-way analysis of variance, followed by a post hoc test using the Bonferroni correction. Results: AUDIT-K and AUDIT-D/P scores were significantly associated with the presence or absence of clinical depression as well as the presence or absence of suicidal ideation (p<0.05). However, no significant differences were found among the three groups with regard to the AUDIT-C score (p=0.054). Conclusion Identifying or treating alcohol dependence/related problems can help lower the occurrence of mental health problems, and suicidal ideation in particular, in employees and reduce social costs.

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between long working hours and suicidal ideation. METHODS: Data based on the fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Health and Nutrition Examination Survey_(2007~2009) pertaining to a total of 4,539 full-time workers were analyzed. Working hours were divided into four groups (<40 hours/week, 40~51 hours/week, 52~60 hours/week, >60 hours/week). The relationship between working hours and suicidal ideation was then analyzed after adjusting for general and occupational characteristics using a multivariate logistic regression model. RESULTS: Working 40-51 hours/week showed the lowest suicidal ideation(9.5%), whereas working 52~59 hours/week, over 60 hours/week and less than 40 hours/week showed suicidal ideations of 14.8%, 15.7% and 17.2% respectively. Even after adjusting for general and occupational characteristics, employees working 40~51 hours/week had the lowest suicidal ideation. Working 52~59 hour/week, over 60 hours/week and less than 40 hours/week showed an odds ratios of 1.413(p-value: 0.058), 1.380(p-value: 0.020) and 1.164(p-value: 0.358) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that working long hours, especially over 60 hours per week, is related to suicidal ideation.
Korea ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Suicidal Ideation ; Suicide

Plasmodium falciparum liver stage antigen-1 (PfLSA-1) is one of the few antigens expressed exclusively in liver stage parasites. In this study, we evaluated the antibody responses against recombinant PfLSA-1 in naturally infected individuals in Myanmar. High levels of antibody responses (70.7%) were detected in 82 serum samples from 116 infected individuals, and IgG responses to PfLSA-1 principally composed of responses of IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses. These results show that PfLSA-1 elicits effective antibody responses in individuals infected with P. falciparum, and thus it could be not only an attractive candidate protein for vaccine development, but also a useful antigen for serodiagnosis of the infection.
Animals ; Antibodies, Protozoan/*blood/immunology ; Antigens, Protozoan/*immunology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G/blood ; Malaria, Falciparum/blood/epidemiology/*immunology ; Myanmar/epidemiology

Benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis (BRIC) is a rare desease, which usually manifests between the age of 10 and 20. Its main clinical feature is multiple recurrent episodes of cholestasis without extrahepatic bile duct obstruction. We report here a case of nonfamilial benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis. The patient has experienced recurrent jaundice with pruritus since childhood. Main bile duct obstrution was excluded by abdominal CT and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Other causes of cholestasis were not found. Hepatic histology revealed bile plug which were mainly concentrated in the centrilobular region, and increased number of mononuclear cells in the portal triad, but hepatic parenchyma showed no inflammation and necrosis. In the last anicteric period, she was healthy and the liver function test and biopsy specimen were normal.
Bile ; Bile Ducts ; Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic ; Biopsy ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Cholestasis ; Cholestasis, Intrahepatic* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Jaundice ; Liver Function Tests ; Necrosis ; Pruritus ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed