Metacercariae of a kind of Levinseniella species were found from a brackish water crabs, Macrophthalmus japonicus de Haan, in the brackish area of Hyungsan river of Kyungpook province. Habitats were the epigastric and progastric regions of Macrophthalmus japonicus. One hundred and seventy five crabs out of 178 examined (98.3 per cent) were infested with metacercariae of Levinseniella species. The infested number of metacercariae in each crabs was average 100 ea. The excystation of metacercaria has not developed in vitro (both saline and tyrode's solution). Many eggs were observed in the metacercariae maintained for 24 or 48 hours in the water-bath. No differences were observed between semi-adult fluke from rat host and those maintained for 24 or 48 hours in vitro.
parasitology-helminth-trematode ; Levinseniella ; Macrophthalmus japonicus ; crab ; epidemiology ; tyrode's solution ; saline

21 patients of urethral injury was made for diversion of urine by suprapubic cystostomy as initial treatment. In our experience suprapubic cystostomy at the time of injury followed 9-17 weeks later by perineal urethroplasty resulted in a low incidence of complication. The following results were obtained. 1. The most common cause of urethral injury was traffic accident. 2. The most common clinical symptom was external urethral bleeding. 3. Among the 13 cases of complete urethral injury, posterior urethral injury was in 11 cases. 4. Of 7 patients with fractured pelvis most had posteriorurethral injuries, except for 1 case of falling inwhich . the injury involved the anterior urethra. 5. Normal micturation was in 2 cases who were performed suprapubic cystostomy alone. 6. Duration from urethral injury from urethroplasty was 9-17 weeks. 7. Urethral stricture and incontinence after urethroplasty were in 1 case each.
Accidents, Traffic ; Cystostomy ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Pelvis ; Urethra ; Urethral Stricture

A giant hydronephrosis caused by ureteropelvic junction stricture in a 16-month-old male infant was presented. After the size and volume of giant hydronephrosis were estimated by retrograde pyelography, nephrectomy was performed. We report this case with review of literatures.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Humans ; Hydronephrosis* ; Infant ; Male ; Nephrectomy ; Urography

Renal agenesis is a relatively rare congenital anomaly. The frequent difficulty in establishing a definite diagnosis of renal agenesis is emphasized. Recently we experienced 2 cases of renal agenesis in 24-year-old male patients, so we report these 2 cases of renal agenesis with review of literatures.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Young Adult

Diagnostic ultrasound was a simple, rapid, harmless, and painless method to visualize ultrascrotal contents, it provided information that was difficult to obtain on clinical examination. We recently tested the effectiveness of diagnostic ultrasound in 41 men with scrotal masses. In general, ultrasound was highly effective in differentiating and characterizing testicular and extratesticular masses. The following results were obtained. 1. The ultrasonic examination revealed 37 extratesticular lesions, 3 testicular lesions and 1 indeterminate lesion. Of the extratesticular lesions 22 were believed to be cystic but represented 18 hydroceles and 4 spermatoceles. 15 lesions were thought to be solid that represented epididymitis. 2. The accuracy rate the scrotal ultrasound, given a complete clinical history, was 97% in this series. 3. The tumor showed decreased echogenicity within the testicle, which was enlarged. The characteristic appearance of hydrocele, spermatocele were sonolucent cystic mass. The epididymis was enlarged in 11 patients with epididymitis, the echogenicity within testicle was decreased in 5 patients with epididymitis.
Epididymis ; Epididymitis ; Humans ; Male ; Spermatocele ; Testis ; Ultrasonics ; Ultrasonography

Polypeptide antigen as isolated from adult worms of Clonorchis sinensis by means of diluted HCl-extraction method. Preliminary intradermal examination with those polypeptide antigen(CPT) were performed on patients of clonorchiasis, paragonimiasis and metagonimiasis and the result of the intradermal test with CPT antigen were compared with those of Clonorchis protein fraction(CPF) and Veronal buffer saline extraction (VBS) antigen. The result of the examination were summerized as follows: When 0.05 ml (1 microgram) of CPT was injected intradermally, the positive intradermal reaction appeared in 42.7 per cent (37 of 82) on the patients of clonorchiasis. The sizes of the wheal and erythema with CPT antigen was smaller than that of CPF and VBS antigen. Intradermal reaction with CPT antigen was carried out for other parasitic diseases, such as paragonimiasis and metagonimiasis. The result indicated that CPT antigen may be showed no cross reactions. Clonorchiasis pateints who with negative reaction to CPT antigen, reacted negatively to CPF and VBS antigens.
parastiology-helminth-trenmatoda ; Paragonimus ; Clonorchis sinensis ; Metagonimus ; clonorchiasis ; paragonimiasis ; metagonimiasis ; immunology ; skin test ; erythema ; Clonorchis protein fraction ; Veronal buffer saline extraction ; antigen

The effects of intracellular and extracellular pH on the inwardly rectifying K+ (IRK) channel of the bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) were examined using whole-cell patch-clamp technique. The IRK current, efficiently blocked by Ba2+ (200microM), is the most prominent membrane current in BAECs, which mainly determines the resting membrane potential. The expression of Kir2.1 was observed in BAECs using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. Intracellular alkalinization, elicited by the extracellular substitution of NaCl with NH4Cl (30 mM), significantly augmented the amplitude of IRK current. On the contrary, the amplitude of IRK current was attenuated by the Na-acetate (30 mM)-induced intracellular acidification. The changes in extracellular pH also closely modulated the amplitude of IRK current, which was decreased to 40.2+/-1.3% of control upon switching the extracellular pH to 4.0 from 7.4. The extracellular pH value for half-maximal inhibition (pK) of IRK current was 5.11. These results demonstrate that the activity of IRK channel in BAECs, probably Kir2.1, was suppressed by proton at both sides of plasma membrane.
Cell Membrane ; Endothelial Cells* ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration* ; Membrane Potentials ; Membranes ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Protons

The introduction of metagenomics into the field of virology has facilitated the exploration of viral communities in various natural habitats. Understanding the viral ecology of a variety of sample types throughout the biosphere is important per se, but it also has potential applications in clinical and diagnostic virology. However, the procedures used by viral metagenomics may produce technical errors, such as amplification bias, while public viral databases are very limited, which may hamper the determination of the viral diversity in samples. This review considers the current state of viral metagenomics, based on examples from Korean viral metagenomic studies-i.e., rice paddy soil, fermented foods, human gut, seawater, and the near-surface atmosphere. Viral metagenomics has become widespread due to various methodological developments, and much attention has been focused on studies that consider the intrinsic role of viruses that interact with their hosts.
Atmosphere ; Bacteriophages ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; DNA Viruses ; Ecology ; Ecosystem ; Humans ; Korea ; Metagenomics ; Seawater ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Soil

BACKGROUND: Mutated or deregulated expression of C-erbB-2 causes this gene to function as a potent oncogene. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a crucial angiogenic molecule in lung cancer. Both C-erbB-2 and VEGF can promote growth, proliferation and metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this study was to investigate evaluate the relationship between the expressions of the C-erbB-2 and VEGF genes using immunohistochemistry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-five patients with NSCLC were involved (60 squamous cell carcinoma and 35 adenocarcinoma). The formalin-fixed paraffin embedded specimens were immunohistochemically stained for C-erbB-2 and VEGF using the avidin-biotin complex method. RESULTS: Positive C-erbB-2 expression was observed more often in adenocarcinomas than squamous cell carcinomas (p<0.05). Although the immunohistochemical expressions of C-erbB-2 and VEGF in non-small-cell lung cancer showed increased tendencies at an advanced stage, the correlation between early and advanced cancers was insignificant. In adenocarcinomas, the expressions of VEGF and C-erbB-2 were significantly (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The overexpression fo C-erbB-2 was significantly higher in adenocarcinomas than squamous cell carcinomas, and correlated with the expression of VEGF in adenocarcinomas of the lungs.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Oncogenes ; Paraffin ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*

BACKGROUND: Although upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy is highly sensitive for the detection of esophago-gastroduodenal lesions, pain and discomfort during the procedure cause examinees to experience stress and anxiety. Moreover, there have been only a few studies on relief of pain and discomfort during UGI endoscopy through preparatory interventions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between a preparatory education program and the discomfort and retching experienced by examinees during endoscopy. METHODS: A total of 306 examinees who visited a health promotion center and underwent non-sedated endoscopy from May 13 to July 3, 2009 were included in this study. After they were assigned to experimental (n = 154) and control groups (n = 152), their discomfort and retching were measured with a visual analogue scale. The preparatory education program consisted of cognitive intervention, behavioral intervention and information. RESULTS: The preparatory education program relieved discomfort during endoscopy in male subjects, in subjects aged 60 and over, or in subjects with previous endoscopic experience with statistical significance (P < 0.05). It also relieved retching during endoscopy in subjects aged 60 and over with statistical significance (P = 0.023). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the preparatory education program significantly relieved the discomfort of examinees during endoscopy (P = 0.028). CONCLUSION: We found that the preparatory education program used in this study could significantly relieve the discomfort caused by endoscopy, particularly in subjects aged 60 and over, or in male subjects with a high incidence of stomach cancer in Korea.
Aged ; Anxiety ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Stomach Neoplasms