No abstract available.
Physiology* ; Prognosis* ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Respiratory Insufficiency*

BACKGROUND: It is well known that when macrophages are stimulated with endotoxin, they produce a wide variety of cytokine mediators, including TNF-α and IL-1β. However, there is an alterationnin the macrophages responsiveness when they are challenged with repeated bouts of endotoxin, termed 'endotoxin tolerance' which is regarded as a self-protective phenomenon from continuous stimulation. In this study, endotoxin tolerance in the peripheral blood monocytes of sepsis patients was evaluated. METHODS: Fourteen patients with organism-documented sepsis were included. The severity of illness was evaluated by APACHE IIscore. Peripheral blood monocytes were isolated from the patients and diluted to 1×105/well. After stimulation with endotoxin(LPS of E. coli O114:B4, 100 ng/ml), they were incubated at 37℃ in 5% CO2 incubator for 24 hours. Supernatant was collected for the measurement of TNF-αand IL-1β with ELISA method. Peripheral blood monocytes of seven healthy volunteers were used as control. RESULTS: The APACHE IIscore(mean±SD) of the patients at the time of blood sampling was 12.2±5.7. The primary infection foci were urinary tract infection, pneumonia, subacute bacterial endocarditis, and catheter related infection, etc. The causative organisms were gram negative rods(10 cases), gram positive cocci(6 cases) with two cases of mixed infection. Serum TNF-α could be measured in 4 cases with 29.9±27.7 pg/ml. Serum IL-1β was measureable in only one patient. The TNF-α level of supernatant of cultured peripheral blood monocytes was 2,703±2,066 pg/ml in patients and 2,102±1,914 pg/ml in controls. The IL-1β level of supernatant was 884±1,050 pg/ml in patients and 575±558 pg/ml in controls. There was no difference of TNF-α and IL-1β level between patients and controls. CONCLUSION: We cannot prove the phenomenon of endotoxin tolerance in this study. Future study needs to be focused on the more severe sepsis patients who were taken for sampling earlier. Addition of serum to the culture medium could be an another valuable option for the success of this study.
APACHE ; Catheters ; Coinfection ; Endocarditis, Subacute Bacterial ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Incubators ; Macrophages ; Monocytes ; Pneumonia ; Sepsis* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha* ; Urinary Tract Infections

Over the past several decades, entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) have remained the first-line antiviral agents in several international guidelines. These two antiviral agents have shown similar short to intermediateterm efficacy, including virologic, biochemical, serologic, and histologic responses. However, huge controversies regarding the antiviral efficacy of ETV and TDF in preventing the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still exist. In this review, we summarized recent studies that compared the treatment efficacy of ETV and TDF in terms of HCC development.

Over the past several decades, entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) have remained the first-line antiviral agents in several international guidelines. These two antiviral agents have shown similar short to intermediateterm efficacy, including virologic, biochemical, serologic, and histologic responses. However, huge controversies regarding the antiviral efficacy of ETV and TDF in preventing the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still exist. In this review, we summarized recent studies that compared the treatment efficacy of ETV and TDF in terms of HCC development.

BACKGROUND: Endobronchial tuberculosis is one of the serious complications of pulmonary tuberculosis. Without early diagnosis and proper treatment of endobronchial tuberculosis, bronchostenosis can leave and lead to the collapse of distal lung parenchyme, bronchiectasis, and secondary pneumonia accompanied with moderate to severe dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, and localized wheezing. Therefore steroid therapy has been tried to prevent bronchostenosis. But the effect of steroid therapy on the endobronchial tuberculosis is not definite at present. We tried to elucidate the effect of steroid on the treatment of endobronchial tuberculosis for prevention of bronchoste- nosis. METHODS: We observed the initial and sequential bronchoscopic findings, pulmonary function tests and simple chest roentgenograms in 58 patients diagnosed as endobronchial tuberculosis and admitted to Chung-Ang university hospital from 1988 to 1992. The patients in nonsteroid group (n=39) were treated with anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy only and steroid group(n=17) with combined steroid therapy. Sequential bronchoscopic findings, pulmonary function tests, and chest roentgenograms were comparatively analyzed between the two groups. RESULTS: 1) The endobronchial tuberculosis was highly prevalent in young females especially in third decade. 2) Both actively caseating type and the stenotic type without fibrosis was the most common in the bronchoscopic classification. 3) The sequential bronchoscopic findings in steroid group 2 months after treatment showed no significant improvements compared with nonsteroid group. 4) There was no significant difference between the two groups in the sequential bronchoscopic improvements according to bronchoscopic types. 5) We did not find any significant difference in improvements on follow-up pulmonary function tests and simple chest roentgenograms between the two groups 2 month after treatment. 6) There was no significant adverse effect of steroid during the treatment. CONCLUSION: Combined steroid therapy provably would not influence outcome of the treatment of endobronchial tuberculosis.
Bronchiectasis ; Classification ; Cough ; Drug Therapy ; Dyspnea ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Lung ; Pneumonia ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Respiratory Sounds ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

No abstract available.
Aneurysm, False* ; Portal Vein*

BACKGROUND: The common whelk (Buccinum undatum) is one of the largest and most common snails in the North Atlantic. In Korea and Japan, common whelk is a popular eatable shellfish. Although shellfish has been known as the one of the most common causes of food allergy, there has been no published report on allergenecity and clinical significance of this sea snail. In this study, we determined the sensitization rate to common whelk and its relationship with other food allergens in allergy patients. METHOD: We carried out the skin prick test (SPT) with commonly consumed foodstuffs in Korea including common whelk in 1700 patients over 1 year. The specific IgE to common whelk were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ELISA inhibition test using sensitized sera was conducted. RESULTS: SPT to common whelk was positive (> or =2+) in 83 (4.9%) patients studied. Twenty-four (38.7%) of 62 SPT-positive patients had high serum specific IgE to common whelk. ELISA inhibition test showed significant inhibitions by abalone as well as by common whelk and, minimal inhibition were noted by shrimp. Significant correlation was also noted in specific IgE levels between common whelk and abalone (r=0.58, P<.05). CONCLUSION: IgE-sensitization rate to common whelk was 4.9% in allergy patients. Further studies are needed to evaluate the clinical significance of sensitized patients to common whelk, and to confirm a cross reactivity with abalone.
Allergens* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Immunoglobulin E ; Japan ; Korea ; Shellfish ; Skin ; Snails

BACKGROUND: Shrimp is one of the major causative crustacean food allergen. An investigation has been reported that tropomyosin belonged to muscle protein is a major allergen within shrimp. But there have been a few investigations on shrimp allergen in Korea. The aim of this study is to evaluate skin reactivity and specific IgE sensitization to Metapenaeus joyneri which is one of the major shrimp in this country, and to identitify IgE binding components and evaluate allergenic relationship with other species. METHODS: We performed skin prick test with M. joyneri extract in 1,738 patients. ELISA was performed for detection of serum specific IgE antibody. To evaluate the cross allergenecity between M. joyneri and other crustaceans (crab, lobster, crayfish), Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dpt), triton shell, abalone and buckwheat. ELISA inhibition tests were performed with each four patient's sera showing high specific IgE antibody. To identify IgE binding components, SDS-PAGE followed by IgE-Immunoblot were applied. RESULTS: 211 patients (12.2%) showed positive responses (A/H >or=2+) on skin prick test. Serum specific IgE antibodies were detected in 61 patients (37.2%) of 164 sensitzed patients. ELISA inhibition test using four patient's sera showed significant inhibitions by M. joyneri. and other crustaceans including lobster, crab and crayfish, partial inhibitions were noted by Dpt, triton shell, buckwheat and abalone. SDS-PAGE and IgE-imunoblot with patients' individual sera sensitized to M. joyneri showed 12 IgE binding components (31, 32, 38-44, 57, 70, 81 kDa) and two (31, 32 kDa) were bound to IgE in more than 50% of sera tested. Five (43, 44, 57, 70 and 81 kDa) were bound to IgE in more than 25% of sera tested. CONCLUSION: Specific IgE was detected in 37.2% of allergy patients sensitized to M. joyneri. Twelve IgE binding components and two (31, 32 kDa) major allergens were indentified. Cross allergenecity was noted with other crustaceans.
Allergens ; Antibodies ; Astacoidea ; Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fagopyrum ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunoglobulin E* ; Korea ; Muscle Proteins ; Neptune ; Penaeidae ; Skin ; Tropomyosin

Despite global efforts to control porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection, the virus continues to cause economic problems in the swine industry worldwide. In this study, we attempted to generate and characterize a panel of stable BHK cell lines that constitutively express the nucleocapsid (N) protein of type 1 or type 2 PRRSV. The established BHK cell lines were found to react well with N-specific antibodies as well as the hyperimmune serum of pigs raised against each genotype of PRRSV. Taken together, the data implicate a potential usefulness for the newly generated stable cell lines as a diagnostic reagent for PRRSV serology.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral/analysis/immunology ; Blotting, Western/veterinary ; Cell Line ; Cricetinae ; Female ; Genotype ; Nucleocapsid Proteins/genetics/*immunology ; Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome/diagnosis/*immunology ; Porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus/genetics/*immunology ; Swine ; Transfection/veterinary

Of the various endocrine tumors affecting the pancreas, insulinomas and gastrinomas are the most common. In order to facilitate surgery, the localization of tumor is important. However, at the first time of presentation, the localization of tumor was often difficult by CT or ultrasonography because the tumor was relatively too small. The introduction of endoscopic ultrasonography has allowed high-resolution imaging of the pancreas that distinguishes structures as small as 2 to 3 mm in diameter. Thus, it has became easier to detect the lesion site of pancreatic endocrine tumor by endoscopic ultrasonography. We report the 5 patients who had pancreatic insulinoma which were detected and localized by endoscopic ultrasonography.
Endosonography* ; Gastrinoma ; Humans ; Insulinoma* ; Pancreas ; Ultrasonography