Pneumocystis carinii is a pulmonary pathogen of immunocompromised humans or other mammals. Its infection results from activation of organisms involved in latent infection or from new infection through the air. Almost all children are known to be infected within 2 to 4 years of birth, though prenatal transplacental transmission has not yet been demonstrated. In this study we observed experimental P. carinii infection in neonatal rats, thus investigating the possibility of transplacental vertical transmission by Diff-Quik staining of the lung impression smears and in-situ hybridization for lung sections. The positive rate of P. carinii infection in immunosuppressed maternal rats was 100%, but that in normal maternal rats was 0%. Cystic forms of P. carinii were observed in three of six 1-week old neonatal rats born of heavily infected mothers, but none of them was positive by in-situ hybridization. Five weeks after birth, cystic forms were detected in four neonatal rats. In the lobes of the lungs, no predilection site of P. carinii was recognized. Counts of cystic forms on smears and the reactivity of in-situ hybridization in the lungs of neonatal rats were significantly lower than in maternal rats. The present findings suggest that P. carinii is rarely transmitted through the placenta and proliferates less successfully in the lungs of neonatal rats than in mothers.
Animal ; Animals, Newborn/microbiology* ; Disease Transmission, Vertical* ; Female ; Immunocompromised Host ; Lung/microbiology ; Male ; Opportunistic Infections/transmission* ; Opportunistic Infections/complications ; Pneumocystis carinii/isolation & purification ; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii/transmission* ; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii/complications ; Pregnancy ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

No abstract available.

An autopsy case of holoacardius hemisomus acephalus is reported. She weighed 2,190 gm and the height was 38 cm. The head and upper extremities were absent, while the vertebrae and lower extremities were relatively well developed, but severely edematous. The heart, lungs, stomach, liver, spleen, and pancreas were missing, but the lower abdominal organs including kidneys, adrenal, urinary bladder, and genital organs were present. The intestine was blind-ended at jejunal level but opened into a normal anus. The umbilical cord had two arteries and one vein.

No abstract available.
Child* ; Gangwon-do* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Facial Nerve* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Paralysis*

A 4-year-old boy presented with a cervical enterogenous cyst manifesting as right arm pain. Neurological examination revealed weakness of his right upper extremities and increased deep tendon reflexes. This isolated, cervical intraspinal enterogenous cyst was treated successfully by posterior laminectomy, intradural exploration, and subtotal resection. He made a good recovery without additional neurological deficits. A brief overview is given of this rare cyst, together with their clinical, pathological, radiological features and associated findings.
Arm ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; Laminectomy ; Male ; Neurologic Examination ; Reflex, Stretch ; Spine* ; Upper Extremity

We studied the chronic renal allograft dysfunction in Korean renal transplants from 1 year after transplantation to 5 years. We evaluated renal function by simply using the reciprocal serum creatinine level and sought to find factors affecting the value of the reciprocal serum creatinine and graft survival, and changes of the slope of reciprocal serum creatinine. We also estimated the reciprocal serum creatinine from demographic parameters and routine laboratory results. This study included 114 patients, 87 male and 27 female who underwent renal transplantations and had functioning allografts for more than 18 month after transplantation. The results were as follows. 1) The reciprocal serum creatinine level decreased slowly and linearly. 2) There were many factors related to the reciprocal creatinine, including blood urea nitrogen, serum uric acid level, age of donors, sex of recipients, presence of acute rejecton, age of recipient, serum phosphorus, white cell count in blood, cyclosporine level in blood, hemoglobin level, posttransplantation period. We could derive the estimated reciprocal serum creatinine from data of the patients. 3) The age of the recipient and cyclosporine level at 1 year after transplantation affected the slope of the reciprocal serum creatinine during follow-up time. 4) There were 16 graft loss, including 3 functioning graft loss and 13 graft loss due to chronic allograft dysfunction. 5) Besides creatinine and BUN level at 1 year, higher blood pressure and proteinuria and lower hemoglobin levels at 1 year after transplantation were related to the graft loss from chronic allograft dysfunction. 6) There were more chronic allograft loss in patients who had lower actuarial reciprocal serum creatinine than estimated reciprocal serum creatinine. Because follow-up time was relatively short and there were only mild increases in serum creatinine level in our study, follow up of our patients for a longer-term period is required to find other factors affecting the renal allograft dysfunction.
Allografts* ; Blood Pressure ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Cell Count ; Creatinine ; Cyclosporine ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Kidney Transplantation ; Male ; Phosphorus ; Proteinuria ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants ; Uric Acid

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the morbidity in very low birth weight infants (VLBWI) and low birth weight infants (LBWI) in Korea and compare these data with similar data from Japan and the USA. METHODS: The analysis of morbidity in VLBWI in Korea was based on a 2012 survey of morbidity in LBWI in Korea. These findings were compared with the morbidity of VLBWI and LBWI in Japan and the USA. RESULTS: Morbidities in LBWI included jaundice (58.5%), respiratory distress syndrome (RDS; 37.0%), apnea (22.2%), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA; 22.0%), and small for gestational age (SGA; 19.2%). The research findings concerning LBWI morbidity found, high prevalence rates for neonatal jaundice, RDS, PDA, SGA, apnea, and sepsis. Compared with VLBWI morbidity of Japan and the USA, intraventricular hemorrhage, RDS, PDA, and sepsis were more prevalent in Korea, whereas bronchopulmonary dysplasia, necrotizing enterocolitis, and retinopathy of prematurity occurred at similar frequencies in all 3 countries. CONCLUSION: This study provides a recent nationwide summary of disease-specific morbidity in VLBWI and LBWI in Korea. Based on this study, future research and surveys are needed to identify the disease-specific mortality and survival rates in the field of neonatal intensive care.
Apnea ; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent ; Enterocolitis, Necrotizing ; Epidemiology ; Gestational Age ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant* ; Infant, Low Birth Weight* ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Intensive Care, Neonatal ; Japan* ; Jaundice ; Jaundice, Neonatal ; Korea ; Mortality ; Prevalence ; Retinopathy of Prematurity ; Sepsis ; Survival Rate

The laryngeal mask airway (LMA) is widely used as an adjunctive airway device composed of a tube with a cuffed mask-like projection on the distal end. The LMA is simple to use and less invasive to pharynx and larynx than endotracheal tube. The LMA is inserted blindly into the hypopharynx, forms a low pressure seal around the laryngeal inlet. It is minimally stimulating the airway. Microscopic mucosal injuries are common during laryngeal mask airway (LMA) insertion but macroscopic injuries are rare and few have been reported with the ProSeal LMA. This report describes a case of the tearing of the lingual frenulum incidentally caused by insertion of the ProSeal LMA in a child.
Bays ; Child ; Humans ; Hypopharynx ; Laryngeal Masks ; Larynx ; Pharynx

A total of 542 children under 10 years of age, admitted to the Seoul National University Children's Hospital, was examined for antibody titers of Toxoplasma gondii using indirect latex agglutination (ILA) test. Among them, 7.7% showed positive titers higher than 1:32, without significant difference between males (7.3%) and females (8.5%). The seropositive rate increased with age although the statistical significance was negligible (0.05 < P < 0.1). By residential areas, the prevalence appeared higher among children from southern provinces (Kyongsang-do and Cholla do) than those from other areas, but the statistical significance was also very low (0.05 < P < 0.1). When the seropositive cases were analyzed by coincidental diseases, the prevalence was significantly higher in patients with congenital diseases than in patients with non-congenital diseases (P < 0.05). The results showed that the seropositive rate of toxoplasmosis in children examined was not high compared with other endemic countries. Some correlations are suggested between toxoplasmosis and congenital anomalies in Korea.
Animal ; Antibodies, Protozoan/blood* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Human ; Infant ; Korea/epidemiology ; Latex Fixation Tests ; Male ; Prevalence ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Toxoplasma/immunology* ; Toxoplasmosis/epidemiology*