Although vitiligo is a common disorder with well-known clinical features, its etiology is still vague. It has been suggested that immunologic factors are important in the pathophysiology of vitiligo. And the association of HLA antigens with vitiligo has been reported. Authors examined HLA phenotypes in thirty-nine patients, T lymphocytes in thirty- three patients, B lymphocytes in thirty-one patients, and quantitation of IgG, IgA, IgM and IEP(immunoelectrophoresis) in twenty-five patients with vitiligo in this study. T3 and T4 were investigated in twelve patients, CBC in thirty-nine and urinalysis in thirty-five patients with vitiligo for screening of associated diseases ; thyroid disease, anemia and diabetes mellitus. The results are as follows; The frequency of HLA A9, Bw15 and Bw22 was significantly decreased in vitiligo patients compared to control group(p=0. 003, 0. 02, 0. OR) 2. There were no significant differences in the results of total and active lymphocytes and B lymphocytes in vitiligo patients compared to the control group. The results of quantitation of IgG, IgA, IgM and IEP showed within normal lirnits except one, an increased IgG, 2,200rng/100ml (normal: 500 1,500) and polyclonal gammopathy. 4. Among twelve vitiligo patients, one showed increased TR, 355ng/100ml (normal: 80 220) and T4, 17. 3pg/100ml (normal: 5 13). 5. CBC and urinalysis were within normal limits in all patients.
Anemia ; B-Lymphocytes* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; HLA Antigens* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Immunologic Factors ; Lymphocytes ; Mass Screening ; Phenotype ; T-Lymphocytes ; Thyroid Diseases ; Urinalysis ; Vitiligo*

Crohn's disease is a chronic and insidious condition characterized by an inflammatory process that may extend across all layers of the entire gastrointestinal tract. The common sites involved by Crohn's disease are the terminal ileum and ascending colon. Crohn's disease limited to the appendix is uncommon. Since its first report in 1953 by Meyerding and Bertram, 156 cases of appendiceal Crohn's disease have been documented in the world literature. We experienced a case of Crohn's disease limited to the appendix in a-35year-old female who were performed an ileocecectomy.
Appendix* ; Colon, Ascending ; Crohn Disease* ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Ileum

Colorectal varix (CRV) is a rare cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding and usually associated with portal hypertension from liver cirrhosis or portal venous obstruction. Idiopathic CRV have no identifiable underlying cause and can only be diagnosed after the cause of portal or mesenteric vein circulation have been excluded. We report a case of idioipathic CRV presented with rectal bleeding for a week. Colonoscopy revealed markedly dilatated tortuous, and bluish veins in the rectum as well as coexistent adenomatous polyp and internal hemorrhoid. Despite extensive investigation, there was no evidence of portal hypertension or any other cause. Family history was also negative. Although blood transfusions were required, the patient remained asymptomatic without further rectal bleeding.
Adenomatous Polyps ; Blood Transfusion ; Colonoscopy ; Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhoids ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Mesenteric Veins ; Rectum ; Varicose Veins* ; Veins

An increasing number of primate genomes are being sequenced. A direct comparison of repeat elements in human genes and their corresponding chimpanzee orthologs will not only give information on their evolution, but also shed light on the major evolutionary events that shaped our species. We have developed REPEATOME to enable visualization and subsequent comparisons of human and chimpanzee repeat elements. REPEATOME (http://www.repeatome.org/) provides easy access to a complete repeat element map of the human genome, as well as repeat element-associated information. It provides a convenient and effective way to access the repeat elements within or spanning the functional regions in human and chimpanzee genome sequences. REPEATOME includes information to compare repeat elements and gene structures of human genes and their counterparts in chimpanzee. This database can be accessed using comparative search options such as intersection, union, and difference to find lineage-specific or common repeat elements. REPEATOME allows researchers to perform visualization and comparative analysis of repeat elements in human and chimpanzee.
Genome ; Genome, Human ; Humans* ; Pan troglodytes* ; Primates

We report a case of a 41-year-old man undergoing hemodialysis who presented with a sudden fever and dyspnea. He developed a severe pericardial effusion due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which was identified in both blood and pericardial fluid cultures. He was successfully treated with intravenous vancomycin for 6 weeks. Although such cases are very rare in Korea, the current case describes a primary purulent pericarditis without any other potential infectious foci.
Adult ; Dyspnea ; Fever ; Humans ; Korea ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Pericardial Effusion ; Pericarditis* ; Renal Dialysis* ; Vancomycin

BACKGROUND: Kidney transplantation (KT) is the treatment of choice for end-stage renal disease patients. The spouse is a major donor in living KT. Clinical outcomes of spousal donor KT are not inferior to those of living related donor KT. In this study, we compared clinical outcomes between ABO-compatible (ABOc) and ABO-incompatible (ABOi) spousal donor KTs. METHODS: Thirty-two cases of spousal donor KT performed from January 2011 to August 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. Twenty-one ABOc KTs and 11 ABOi KTs were performed. We investigated patient survival, graft survival, acute rejection, graft function, and complications. RESULTS: During follow-up, patient and graft survival rates were 100% in both groups. There were no significant differences in the incidence of delayed graft function, acute rejection, and the change in graft function between the 2 groups. Medical and surgical complications were not significantly different between the groups. CONCLUSION: The clinical outcomes of ABOc and ABOi spousal donor KTs were equivalent. In ABOi KT, an emotionally motivated spousal donor KT may be a good alternative to the problem of the absolute shortage of kidney donations.
Blood Group Incompatibility ; Delayed Graft Function ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graft Rejection ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Incidence ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Kidney* ; Retrospective Studies ; Spouses ; Tissue Donors* ; Transplants

D2GSNP is a web-based server for the selection of single nucleotide polymorph isms (SNPs) within genes related to human diseases. The D2GSNP is based on a relational database created by downloading and parsing OMIM, GAD, and dbSNP, and merging it with positional information of UCSC Golden Path. Totally our server provides 5,142 and 1,932 non-redundant disease genes from OMIM and GAD, respectively. With the D2GSNP web interface, users can select SNPs within genes responding to certain diseases and get their flanking sequences for further genotyping experiments such as association studies.
Databases, Genetic ; Humans* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*

Malakoplakia is a rare chronic inflammatory process, most commonly affecting the urinary tract. This entity was first described by Michaelis and Gutman in 1902. As of 1995, only 85 cases of malakoplakia of the gastrointestinal tract has been reported. The common sites of colonic involvement are the rectum, sigmoid, and right colon, in descending order of frequency. The most common disease associated with malakoplakia is colorectal carcinoma. Surgical resection is the treatement of choice for cases associated with carcinoma or complications. But in other cases, medical treatment could be attempted. Antimicrobial drugs, such as trimethoprime-sufamethoxazole, rifampin, or as recently suggested, ciprofloxacin can be used. We report a case of rectal malakoplakia treated by ciprofloxacin with a review of literatures.
Anti-Bacterial Agents* ; Ciprofloxacin ; Colon ; Colon, Sigmoid ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Malacoplakia* ; Rectum* ; Rifampin ; Urinary Tract

Exposure to early stressful adverse life events such as maternal and social separation plays an essential role in the development of the nervous system. Adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats that were separated on postnatal day 14 from their dam and litters (maternal social separation, MSS) showed hyperactivity and anxiolytic behavior in the open field test, elevated plus-maze test, and forced-swim test. Biologically, the number of astrocytes was significantly increased in the prefrontal cortex of MSS adolescent rats. The hyperactive and anxiolytic phenotype and biological alteration produced by this MSS protocol may provide a useful animal model for investigating the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders of childhood-onset diseases, such as attention deficient hyperactive disorder.
Adolescent ; Animals ; Astrocytes ; Humans ; Models, Animal ; Nervous System ; Neurobiology ; Phenotype ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Tetrahydroisoquinoline (THI) alkaloids can be considered as cyclized derivatives of simple phenylethylamines, and many of them, especially with 6,7-disubstitution, demonstrate relatively high affinity for catecholamines. Two -OH groups at 6 and 7 positions are supposed to be essential to exert beta-receptor activities. However, it is not clear whether -OH at 6,7 substitution of THIs also shows alpha-adrenoceptor activities. In the present study, we investigated whether -OH or -OCH3 substitutions of 6,7 position of THIs differently affect the alpha1-adrenoceptor affinity. We synthesized two 1-naphthylmethyl THI alkaloids, 1-beta-naphthylmethyl-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline HBr (YS 51) and 1-beta-naphthylmethyl-6, 7-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline HCl (YS 55), and their pharmacological actions on alpha1-adrenoceptor were compared. YS 51 and YS 55, concentration-dependently relaxed endothelium-denuded rat thoracic aorta precontracted with phenylephrine (PE, 0.1 micrometer) in which pEC50 were 5.89+0.21 and 5.93+ 0.19, respectively. Propranolol (30 nM) did not affect the relaxation-response curves to YS 51 and YS 55. Concentration-response curves to PE were shifted to right by the pretreatment with YS 51 or YS 55. The pA2 values of YS 51 and YS 55 showed 6.05 + 0.24 and 5.88 + 0.16, respectively. Both probes relaxed KCl (65.4 mM)-contacted aorta and inhibited CaCl2-induced contraction of PE-stimulated endothelium-denuded rat thoracic aorta in Ca2+-free solutions. In isolated guinea pig papillary muscle, 1 and 10 micrometer YS 51 increased contractile force about 4- and 8- fold over the control, respectively, along with the concentration-dependent increment of cytosolic Ca2+ ions. While, 10 micrometer YS 55 reduced the contractile force about 50 % over the control and lowered the cytosolic Ca2+ level, in rat brain homogenates, YS 51 and YS 55 displaced (3H)prazosin binding competitively with Ki 0.15 and 0.12 micrometer, respectively. However, both probes were ineffective on (3H)nitrendipine binding. Therefore, it is concluded that two synthetic naphthylmethyl-THI alkaloids have considerable affinity to alpha1-adrenenoceptors in rat aorta and brain.
Alkaloids* ; Animals ; Aorta ; Aorta, Thoracic ; Brain ; Cardiovascular System* ; Catecholamines ; Cytosol ; Guinea Pigs ; Ions ; Papillary Muscles ; Phenethylamines ; Phenylephrine ; Propranolol ; Rats