Epidemiological studies are important in both the prevention and treatment of mycobacterial infections. This study was initiated to establish the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) method, which are not yet extensively studied. The most apprpriate restriction endonucleases included Dral, AsnI, and XbaI. The optimal PFGE condition was different according to the enzymes used. Two stage PFGE was performed, in case of DraI first stage was performed with 10 seconds of initial pulse and 15 seconds of findA pulse, while the second stage was performed with 60 seconds of initial pulse and 70 seconds of final pu',se. The electrophoresis time for DraI-PFGE was 14 hours for each stage. Electrophoresis was performed for 22 hours, in case of XbaI, with 3 seconds of initial pulse and 12 seconds of final pulse. Electrophoresis was performed for 22 hours, in case of AsnI, with 5 seconds of initial pulse and 25 seconds of final pulse. In all cases the voltage of the electrophoresis was maintained constantly at 200 voltage. Standard mycobacterial strains, which included Mycobacterium bovis BCG, M. tuberculosis, and M. fortuitum, could not be differentiated by PFGE analysis. PFGE analysis was performed to differentiate 9 clinically isolated M. fortuitum strains using AsnI. All M. fortuitum strains showed different genotypes except 2 strains. Cluster analysis divided M. fortuitum strains into 2 large groups. PFGE analysis was performed to further differentiate M. fortuitum isolates using XbaI. The undifferentiated 2 M. fortuitum strains showed different PFGE patterns with Xba I. Cluster analysis of the XbaI-PFGE patterns showed more complex grouping than AsnI-PFGE patterns, which showed that XbaI-PFGE analysis was better than AsnI-PFGE in M. fortuitum genotyping. The top dissimilarity values of AsnI-PFGE and XbaI-PFGE were 0.74 and 0.75, respectively. This value was higher than that of arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR) analysis and lower than that of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. This suggested that PFGE can be used as a supportive or alternative genotyping method to RFLP analysis.
DNA Restriction Enzymes ; Electrophoresis* ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Genotype ; Mycobacterium bovis ; Mycobacterium* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Tuberculosis

No abstract available.
Humans* ; Melanocytes* ; Tretinoin*

No abstract available.
Enterobacteriaceae* ; Starvation*

The DNA fragment containing the phoA of Klebsiella pneumoniae was cloned into pACYC184. The size of the insert. was 4.0 kb and the restriction map showed it contained 3 Pstl sites and 4 PvuLI sites. The nucleotide sequence of the phoA region was determined, which showed strong (80%) sequence similarity with that of Escherichia coli. This suggested that these two species are phylogenetically very close to each other.
Base Sequence ; Clone Cells* ; Cloning, Organism* ; DNA ; Enterobacteriaceae* ; Escherichia coli ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Operon*

No abstract available.
Diagnosis* ; DNA* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction*

No abstract available.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Neurons* ; Neuropeptides*

A 28-year-old woman had a 13-month history of skin-colored, well-circumscribed, hyperkeratotic plaques on both heels. Histological examination showed hyperkeratosis and acanthosis in the epidermis. Special stain for elastic tissue revealed marked fragmentation, diminution and thickening of elastic fibers in the dermis. We report a rare case with the lesions of acrokeratoelastoidosis on both heels.
Adult ; Dermis ; Elastic Tissue ; Epidermis ; Female ; Heel ; Humans

Eight bacterial strains were examined whether they have phoP/phoQ genes which were known to be involved in the intracellular survival of Salmonella typhimurium. The phoP/phoQ operon were known to sense the stimuli of the genes involved in the adaptation of the environment. Using 514-basepairs EcoRV DNA fragment of phoP region of Salmonella typhimurium as a probe, dot blot hybridization were performed. Chromosomal DNAs of Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marscescens, Enterobacter cloacae, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, and Listeria monocytogenes were examined by DNA hybridization assay. Against our expectation, intracellular pathogen, L. monocytogenes, did not have similar DNA sequences to phoP/phoQ of S. typhimurium, while E, coli, S. dysenteriae, and E. cloacae showed the positive signal even though they were not intracellular pathogens. This result suggested that the phoP/phoQ operon was absent in intracellular pathogenic bacterias other than S. typhimurium. Rather it was found in phylogenetically closer bacterias to S. typhimurium, which were not able to survive in intracellular environment. Some different mechanism, which is not dependent on phoP/phoQ operon, could be involved in the intracellular survival of L. monocytogenes.
Bacteria* ; Base Sequence ; Cloaca ; DNA ; Enterobacter cloacae ; Escherichia coli ; Klebsiella ; Listeria monocytogenes ; Operon ; Pneumonia ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Salmonella typhimurium ; Serratia ; Shigella dysenteriae

PURPOSE: The aim of this presentation is to analyze the factors influencing on retrograde insertion of double-J catheter in urethral obstruction due to malignancy and to predict the possibility of stunting with double-J catheter. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 43 patients who had underwent retrograde double-J catheter insertion for urethral obstruction secondary to pelvic malignancy, from January 1993 to April 1997, was performed to evaluate the success rates of double-J ureteral stenting according to the factors such as age, sex, presence or absence of flank pain, degree of hydronephrosis, renal function, stage of tumor, laterality of ureter, past history of radiotherapy, operation and chemotherapy. RESULTS: According to the degree of hydronephrosis, the success rate was 100, 73.7 and 50% in grade I II and III, respectively(p<0.05). According to the renal function, the success rate was 81.3% in the group with normal renal function and 45.5% in the group with abnormal venal function(p<0.05) According to the stage of disease, the success rate was 100, 70.7 and 58.3% in stage I, II and III, respectively. According to the absence or presence of flank pain, the success rate was 56.3% in the group with flank pain and 81.5% in the group without flank pain. According to the past history of radiotherapy, the success rate was 65.6% in the group treated with radiotherapy and 90.9% in the group not treated with radiotherapy. The age, sex, laterality of ureter, past history of operation and chemotherapy were not significantly correlated to the success rates. CONCLUSIONS: The factors influencing on double-J ureteral slanting were the degree of hydronephrosis, renal function, absence or presence of flank pain, stage of disease and past history of radiotherapy Further study will be needed to demonstrate the accurate timing of urethral stenting with doublets ureteral catheter.
Catheters* ; Drug Therapy ; Flank Pain ; Humans ; Hydronephrosis ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents ; Ureter* ; Ureteral Obstruction* ; Urethral Obstruction ; Urinary Catheters

This study was conducted to clarify the relationship of body fat percent with serum lipid level and blood pressure in adults. The study subjects were 472 men and l89 women who visited Multiphasic Health screening center of Yeungnam university Hospital in Taegu from May 20 to September 30, 1994. The relationship of serum lipid and blood pressure with BMl, Katsura index, atherogenic index, which calculated from the health screening data and body fat percent measured by impedance fat meter(model SIF-819) were analyzed. Three groups were classified as Group I(men: body fat percent > or= 20, women: body fat percent > or= 25, Group II (men: 15 < or = body fat percent <20, women: 20 < or = body fat percent<25, Group III(men: body fat percent <15. women: body fat percent<20) In this study, Group I accounted for 3.2%in men, 3.7%in women. Weight was significantly different among three groups in both sexes(p<0.01) and height was not significantly different among three groups. In men, serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein. atherogenic index were significantly different(p<0.01). In women, serum total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein were significantly different(p<0.05 but there was no differences in triglyceride and high density lipoprotein among three groups. BMl and Katsura index were significantly different among three groups in both sexes(p<0.01). In men, body fat percent was positively correlated with weight, BMl, Katsura index, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein, atherogenic index and systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and negatively correlated with high density lipoprotein. In women, body fat percent was positively correlated with age, height, weight, BMl, Katsura index, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein and atherogenic index, and negatively correlated with high density lipoprotein. But there was no significant correlation between body fat percent and blood pressure in women. In multiple regression analysis for total cholesterol, fat percent, age and BMl were significant independent variables in men(p<0.05, R2=0.1286), and body fat percent and age in women(p<0.05, R2=0.3399). In case of LDL/HDL ratio, only BMl was a significant independent variable in men(p<0.01, R2=0.0954), and body fat percent, age and BMl in women(p<0.05, R2=0.3164). In multiple regression analysis, age, low density lipoprotein and total cholesterol were significant independent variables on systolic blood pressure in men(p<0.05, R2=0.1297), age and total cholesterol in women(p<0.055, R2=0.1705). On diastolic blood pressure, only age was a significantly independent variable in men(p<0.01, R2=0.0972) and women(p<0.01, R2=0..1218). From the result of this study, it could concluded that body fat percent was significantly associated with other obesity indices and serum lipid, but had no significant association with blood pressure. To establish the relationship of body fat percent with blood pressure, further study which consider other variables that may have an effect on blood pressure should be performed.
Adipose Tissue* ; Adult* ; Blood Pressure* ; Cholesterol ; Daegu ; Electric Impedance ; Female ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Triglycerides