The 56-kilodalton protein genes of Orientia tsutsugamushi TA678, TA686, TA716, TA763 strains were amplified by PCR. The amplified products were sequenced and cloned into pIH821 vector. The recombinant proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli as fusion proteins with maltose binding protein. The recombinant proteins were purified and used for the sensitization of sheep RBCs and the reactivity of the recombinant 56-kDa proteins of Orientia tsutsugamushi TA 678, TA686, TA716 strains were analyzed with 40 sera from scrub typhus patients in Korea, 40 sera from scrub typhus in Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines. The 56-kDa protein coding DNA sequence of Orientia tsutsugamushi TA678, TA686, TA716 show 70 to 88% homology with other known strains and four variable regions are also observed. 39 of 40 sera from scrub typhus patients in Korea showed the strongest reactivity to the recombinant protein of Boryong strain and one sera showed the strongest reactivity to the recombinant protein of Gilliam strain. 14 of 40 sera from patients in Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines showed the strongest reactivity to the recombinant protein of TA686 strain and 12 sera showed the strongest reactivity to the recombinant protein of TA716 strain. No serum from patients in Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines showed the strongest reactivity to the recombinant protein of Boryong strain.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Base Sequence ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Clinical Coding ; Clone Cells ; Cloning, Molecular* ; Escherichia coli ; Hemagglutination Tests* ; Hemagglutination* ; Humans ; Korea ; Malaysia ; Maltose-Binding Proteins ; Orientia tsutsugamushi* ; Philippines ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Recombinant Proteins ; Scrub Typhus ; Sheep ; Thailand

BACKGROUND: Oncogenes and EGF-Receptor(EGFR) may be involved n different stages of the multistep carcinogenesis process. A specific pattern of karyotypic abnormalities in solid tumors can be detected by cytogenetic methods. OBJECTIVE: This study is intnded to observe the cytomolecular kiologic chracterization of c-myc, erb B and EGFR genes in squasnous cell carcinoma(SCC) of the skin and cervix. METHODS: We have eytogenet,ically examined the short-term culturs from SCC. The rearrangement, amplification or expressi.on of erb B, c-myc, and EGFR genes were studied by Southern blot, analysis of genomic DNA and by slot blot analysis of tota! RNA extracted from biopsies of normal skin and SCC tissues. EGFR expression was examined immunohistochemially using monoclonal antibodies and the localizat,ion of the c-myc oncogene mRNA by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: A remarkably structural aberration was del 6(q21-qter) counted 20 metaphases among 28 metaphases ana1yzed. In nunierical aberration, all chromosomes were lost or gained randomly. Amenploid including triploid and tetraploid were observed in 8 metaphases, 6 tumor cells contained marker chromosome. In Southern blot analysis, rearrangement and amglificaton of EGFR in primary squamous cell carcinoma of cervix uteri and skin respectively. In slot blot analysis, the levels of c-myc, erb B and EGFR mRNA increaaed respectively 3.5, 2.5 and 2.8 times in SCC when compared to normal tissues. In immunoperoxidase stain, EGFR was present, in SCC where keratinocytes with strong cyto-plasmic staining but no membr, line labelling, where as in normal skin the were primarily present in t,he membrane and cytoplasm of basal cells. In situ hybridization with c-myc cDNAs allowed detection of grains representative of biotin labelled cDNA-mRNA hybrids in the frozden section of SCC tissues. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that specific patterns of karyotypir abnormalites, rearrangement, or amplification of EGFR gene, and overexpression of oncogenes and EGFR gene may be associated with the carcinogenesis of SCC.
Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Biopsy ; Biotin ; Blotting, Southern ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Edible Grain ; Cervix Uteri ; Cytogenetics ; Cytoplasm ; DNA ; DNA, Complementary ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Female ; Genes, erbB-1 ; In Situ Hybridization ; Keratinocytes ; Membranes ; Metaphase ; Oncogenes ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger ; Skin ; Tetraploidy ; Triploidy

Nodular cystic fat necrosis, first described by Przyjemski and Schuster, is a peculiar form of encapsulated necrosis of subcutaneous fat characterized by totally or near-totally encapsulated necrosis of fatty tissue in which clusters of nonviable adipocytes are surrounded by condensed fibrous tissue. We report two cases of nodular cystic fat necrosis associated with history of trauma about the site of the lesion. Each lesion was a subcutaneous movable nodule on buttock (case 1) and shin (case 2) which has evolved over months. Both cases showed possible relation to multiple intramuscular injection or direct trauma injury. Pathologically, encapsulated nodule showed a characteristic feature of nodular cystic fat necrosis which composed of the ghosts of anucleated adipocytes showing fairly well-preserved outline.
Adipocytes ; Adipose Tissue ; Buttocks ; Fat Necrosis* ; Injections, Intramuscular ; Necrosis ; Subcutaneous Fat

We evaluated the clinical effects of Nicorandil in 27 patients (17 male and 10 female) with ischemic heart disease (17 patients of stable effort angina, 3 patients of unstable effort angina, 6 patients of spontaneous angina, 1 patient of variant angina) in terms of the effect on the anginal pain, electrocardiographic changes and side effects. The results obtained were as follows; 1. The pulse rate was not changed by the drug administration and blood pressure were decreased slightly by Nicorandil in a daily dose of 15 mg divided into 3 dose, but these decrease were not significant in statistical meaning. 2. Improvement in EKG changes was observed in 9 patients (69%) among the 13 patients who showed abnormal EKG initially. 3. Anti-anginal effect of nicorandil were excellent in 14 patients, good in 8 patients, fair in 3 patients and so the rate of global improvement was 82%. 4. Nicorandil had side effects in 7 patients, headache (4 patients), palpitation, ocular pain, edema, but these were transitory and tolerable except of one case who could not be continued because of severe headache.
Angina Pectoris* ; Blood Pressure ; Edema ; Electrocardiography ; Headache ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Nicorandil*

No abstract availble.
Abdominal Pain/*diagnosis ; Aged ; Animals ; Ascariasis/*diagnosis/parasitology ; *Ascaris lumbricoides ; Duodenal Diseases/*diagnosis/*parasitology ; Duodenoscopy ; Female ; Humans

Recent development and advances in arthroscopic surgical techniques for Anterior Cruciate Ligament(ACL) reconstruction have led to the single-incision techniques. Several potential pitfalls in the classic single-incision techniques were found and it has become necessary to develop a new, simpler method to overcome these problems. Seventy-five cases of arthroscope-assisted ACL reconstruction were prospectively studied. The radiologic results were compared between the group in which femoral tunnel preparation was performed by the tibia tunnel(classic technique, 35 cases) and the group in which the anteromedial portal was employed(modified technique, 40 cases). Significantly better results were obtained at the angle formed by the bone graft and the interference screw, the angle between the femoral tunnel axis and the anatomic axis of the femur, and the angle between the femoral tunnel axis and tibial tunnel axis in the modified technique(P<0.05). This study presents a modified arthroscope-assisted ACL reconstruction technique that uses the anteromedial portal for femoral tunnel preparation and insertion of interference screw. In the modified ACL reconstruction technique, the femoral tunnel preparation and femoral graft fixation were accomplished in the same direction and the femoral tunnel preparation was performed regardless of the tibial tunnel preparation, this allows the surgeon to handle the arthroscope freely and advance more posteriorly to get a better view of the posterior cortex.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament ; Arthroscopes ; Arthroscopy ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Femur ; Knee ; Prospective Studies ; Tibia ; Transplants

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influences of age and height on pulmonary function in cervical spinal cord injury patients and to suggest the reference value of Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) with respect to each level of injury. METHOD: One hundred eighteen subjects with complete cervical spinal cord injury underwent PFT. Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (FEV1) were measured and percentages of normal predictive values were also calculated. RESULTS: Age, height and injury level were determinants of FVC and FEV1. But only injury level affected the percen-tages of FVC and FEV1 predictive values. The mean FVC of C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 tetraplegic subjects were 1.78 L, 2.00 L, 2.20 L, 2.74 L, 2.94 L respectively. The mean FEV1 of C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 tetraplegic subjects were 1.64 L, 1.83 L, 2.08 L, 2.59 L, 2.74 L respectively. CONCLUSION: Age and height should be considered when interpreting PFT of tetraplegic patients. The reference values suggested would help to evaluate the severity of pulmonary function loss in complete cervical spinal cord injury patients.
Forced Expiratory Volume ; Humans ; Male ; Quadriplegia ; Reference Values ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Spinal Cord* ; Vital Capacity

Cancer may be a disease of genes, arising from genetic damage of diverse sorts-recessive and dominant mutations, large rearrangement of DNA and gene translocation on chromosomes, all leading to distorisions of either the expression or biochemical function of genes. The search for these genetic damage in neoplastic cells now is the most important in cancer research. It has been found that the cancer relevant genes were located on the specific regions of chromosomes. To determine whether epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR), P53 and bcr genes located in chromosomes 7, 17 and 22 are altered, we examined 12 neuroepithelial tumor with Southern blot analysis(five low grade astrocytoma, two high grade astrocytoma, two medulloblastoma, on oligodendroglioma, one ependymoma, one choroid plexus papilloma). The loss of heterozygosity(LOH) of EGFR gene was detected in two cases of medulloblastoma. The rearrangement of EGFR gene was detected in a case of ependymoma. The LOH of P53 gene was found in a case of choroid plexus papilloma and low grade astrocytoma. The rearrangement of P53 gene was founs id a case of oligodendroglioma. The LOH of bcr gene was observed in two cases of medulloblastoma and low grade astrocytoma. The rearrangement of bcr gene was observed in two cases of high grade astrocytoma. These results suggested that tumorigenesis and tumor development in the neuroepithelial tumor may invlove specific gene changes in chromosomes 7, 17 and 22.
Astrocytoma ; Blotting, Southern ; Carcinogenesis ; Choroid Plexus ; DNA ; Ependymoma ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Genes, erbB-1 ; Genes, p53 ; Loss of Heterozygosity ; Medulloblastoma ; Neoplasms, Neuroepithelial* ; Oligodendroglioma ; Papilloma, Choroid Plexus

Propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol) is a hypnotic drug with a very rapid onset and offset of action. It has increasingly been used in gastrointestinal endoscopy. Administration of propofol by nurses or endoscopists is commonly referred to as non-anesthesiologist-administered propofol (NAAP). There have been a lot of studies on the safety of NAAP compared with those by anesthesiologists. Safety results of those studies are summarized in this review.
Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal* ; Propofol*

In the last decade Computed Tomography(CT) has played a critical role in the diagnostic evaluation of the patients with focal brain injury. But it is apparent from pathologic studies that CT underestimates the severity of the many forms of cerebral injury such as primary brain stem injury, non-hemorrhagic cortical contusion and diffuse axonal injury(DAI). Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI), however, has been shown to be highly sensitive in detecting diffuse brain injury(DBI). Among the consecutive 13 cases of DBI patients in this series for 10 months, twelve patients were verified as MR evidence of injury in prospective studies. The anatomical distribution of the injuries were 11 cases of corpus callosal lesion, 6 cases of lobar white matter lesion, 1 case of primary brain stem lesion. The sensitivities of MR imaging in detecting the primary lesion were 76.9%(10/13) in T1WI and 92.3%(12/13) in T2WI. In DBI, patients with callosal injuries had higher incidence(8/12) than lobar white matter and primary brain stem lesion, the corpus callosal atrophy by midsaggital MR imaging and behavioral seguellae in survivous of severe head injury implicate the corpus callosal injury and degeneration. More accurate detection and delineation of traumatic lesions with MR should permit more accurate prediction of neurologic and cognitive recovery and assist in optimizing form of treatment.
Atrophy ; Axons ; Brain ; Brain Injuries* ; Brain Stem ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Prospective Studies