BACKGROUND: The risk of rubella infection is higher among hospital employees than others because of more exposure to rubella viruses. Because rubella infection during pregnancy can cause congenital rubella syndrome, special preventive measures should be taken for female employees in the hospital. METHODS: 309 employees in Soonchunhyang Kumi Hospital, aged from 18 to 45 years old, were included this study. Rubella IgG antibody was detected by the method of MEIA (microparticle enzyme immunoassay). And non-immunized employees were received by Wister RA 27/3 rubella vaccination and rechecked rubella antibody titers at 2 months later after vaccination. RESULTS: Among 309 subjects, 276(89.3%) were positive for rubella IgG antibody. The overall mean titer of rubella antibody was 72 IU/mL (SD: 67 IU/mL). The rubella antibody in titer decreased gradually with aging. The seroconversion rate after vaccination was 100%(28/28). CONCLUSIONS: The authors recommend that the employees susceptible to rubella or all employees in the hospital should be vaccinated for preventing rubella.
Aging ; Cross Infection* ; Female ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Middle Aged ; Pregnancy ; Rubella Syndrome, Congenital ; Rubella Vaccine ; Rubella virus* ; Rubella* ; Vaccination*

Drowning is one of the most common causes accidental death worldwide, but its diagnosis remains a challenging task in forensic pathology. Several authors have suggested that diatom analysis be conducted via an enzymatic digestion method that uses proteinase K to provide objective evidence for drowning; we employed this method in our study because of its superior applicability as compared to the conventional disorganization methods. The purpose of this study was to examine the reclaiming ratio of diatoms from experimentally drowned animal organs, which could be influenced by diatom morphology. The authors injected 3 diatoms species (Cyclotella striata, Navicula incerta, and Pleurosigma angulatum) into a rat's airway and compared the detection rate to investigate the factors that influence the sensitivity of diatom analysis. The results are as follows: (1) Average reclaiming ratio in the lungs was 81.07 for Navicula incerta, 48.26 for Cyclotella striata, and 5.35 for Pleurosigma angulatum. (2) The detection rates from the closed organs in 15 experimental animals were highest in the kidney (73%, 11/15), followed by the heart (67%, 10/15), brain (60%, 9/15), and liver (53%, 8/15). (3) Two Cyclotella striata was detected in the kidney of postmortem control group which suggest the possibility of contamination during laboratory procedure. In conclusion, the authors propose that diatom size could be a significant influencing factor for diatom extraction from the organs of drowned bodies; therefore, the results of diatom analysis must be interpreted after considering the diatom population of the drowning medium at the scene and the possibility of contamination during the laboratory procedure.
Animal Structures ; Animals ; Brain ; Diatoms ; Digestion ; Drowning ; Endopeptidase K ; Forensic Pathology ; Heart ; Kidney ; Liver ; Lung

BACKGROUND: Disinfection is essential for the prevention of hospital infection. HICLO-S (Soosan environment Co., Yongin, Korea), one of the electrolyzed oxidized water was recently developed as a disinfectant. This is not costly and does not cause any clinical problems and environmental pollution. We evaluated the disinfective activity of HICLO-S against several clinical isolates of bacteria and yeasts. METHODS: 25 strains of bacteria and two strains of yeast were exposed to HICLO-S (30 & 50 ppm HICLO-S) disinfectant for the various periods (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 15, 20 minutes). After the exposure to HICLO-S disinfectant, 0.01 mL of mixture of microorganisms and HICLO-S was inoculated into brain-heart infusion broth or onto Sabouraud dextrose agar and incubated at 35degrees C for 48hours. RESULTS: All strains of bacteria and yeast were killed within 30 seconds after an exposure to 30 ppm of HICLO-S. All of three strains of spore forming Bacillus subtilis were killed within 4 minutes after an exposure to 30ppm of HICLO-S, but all of three strains were killed within 30 seconds in 50 ppm of HICLO-S. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that HICLO-S disinfectant was effective for the disinfection of commonly isolated bacteria and yeast from hospital, but less effective against spore-forming bacteria. It may be recommended that HICLO-S should he used for the effective disinfection of skin, instruments and hospital floors.
Agar ; Bacillus subtilis ; Bacteria ; Cross Infection ; Disinfection ; Environmental Pollution ; Glucose ; Gyeonggi-do ; Skin ; Spores ; Water ; Yeasts

Twelve albino rabbits were treated with cryoretinopexy on the left eye and surface diathermy coagulation on the right eye at the equatorial region in two parallel rows concentric with the limbus. Cryopexy was applied for 10 seconds with Krwawicz's probe (the diameter of the tip was 1.5 mm) after cooling with dry ice and alcohol mixture. Diathermy coagulation was performed with 40 mA currents for 2 seconds with needle electrode without perforating the sclera. After the treatment, ERG was recorded with varying length of intervals up to 30 days. The light stimulus was given by 100 watts incadenscent lamp and the illumination at the eye was 800 lux, its duration being 20 msec. Only the sizes of the b-potentials after 30 minutes of dark adaptation were considered. The patterns of the b-potential changes after cryopexy were roughly divided into 3 types. The first type was seen in 5 eyes, and it consisted of abrupt reductions, followed by slight augmentations, never reaching the pre-treatment level of b-wave even after 30 days. The second type (seen in 3 eyes) showed initial slight decreases followed by marked increases and remained supernormal at the end of 30 days. The third type(4 eyes) showed marked increases from the early post-operative days and returned to the original level after 30 days. These changes were demonstrated graphically in figures 3, 4 and 5. By diathermy coagulation, the same kinds of patterns were observed. The same animal, however, did not show the same pattern as with the cryopexy. The final b-potential after 30 days were 105.4% of the pre-operative value by cryopexy and 82.7% by diathermy coagulation. Thus the cryopexy produced less severe changes in ocular tissues than the diathermy coagulation. The histological observations performed also supported this conclusion.
Animals ; Dark Adaptation ; Diathermy* ; Dry Ice ; Electrodes ; Lighting ; Needles ; Rabbits* ; Sclera

No abstract available.
Lymphocytes*

The following case report concerns a rare bone metastasis of malignant melanoma occurring in the 4th and 5th lumbar spines and adjacent iliac crests and sacrum. A 42-year-old woman was admitted with a 6 months history of severe lumbago ar right flank pain radiating to right lower extremity. Preoperative X-ray studies revealed stag horn stone in the right renal pelvis as spondylolisthesis of the 5th lumbar spine with bilateral isthmic defects. On physical examinations, dark brown colored nevus was noted at lower lumbar regio which was removed and subjected for biopsy. Surgical exploration demonstrated a melanoma metastasis to have invaded the spine process, lamina and transverse processes of the 5th lumbar spine, adjacent L4 and sacru and iliac crests. Surrounding soft tissues, however, were apparently normal. Postoperatively course of the patient seemed to follow a rapidly terminal clinical cours.
Adult ; Animals ; Biopsy ; Female ; Flank Pain ; Horns ; Humans ; Kidney Pelvis ; Low Back Pain ; Lower Extremity ; Melanoma ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nevus ; Physical Examination ; Sacrum ; Spine ; Spondylolisthesis

Malignant melanoma is rare in Asian and one of the poorer prognostic disease. Approximately 25% of all patients with malignant melanoma has been occured at the site of pigmented leasion. Primary location of melanome on palm is known to be 1.3% which is rarer than that of the other site. This report is a case of 65 year old man who has a walnut sized bluish-black tumor(4*5*3cm) on left palm which developed from the brownish black spot. According to the patients statement the spot was started since childhood and gradually increase in size since last 5 years. The mass, however, was rapidly growing with superficial ulceration since 3 months previously. No metastatic skin leasion was found around the tumor mass and left upper extremity. There were no palpable tymphnodes in the left axillary and epitrochlear area. Skin biopsy specimen showed findings consistent with malignant melanoma and cell composition was predominant in the fusiform cell than the cuboidal cell, and exillary lymphnode showed only dermatopathic changes. Bone X-ray of left hand and chest X-ray showed no abnormal findings and metastatic sign. B-E(bellow elbow) smputations on left foream was performed. During postoperativ he has had general and no metastatic signs.
Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Biopsy ; Hand ; Humans ; Juglans ; Melanoma* ; Skin ; Thorax ; Ulcer ; Upper Extremity

Atopic dermatitis is one of the common dermatoses characterized by its chronicity with an uncertain prognosis and usually occurs in patients with a personal or familial history of atopy. There is a dearth of information on the incidence and clinical manifestation of atopic dermatitis in Korea. This study was aimed to elucidate the relative frequency of atopic dermatitis on the hospital base during 1973~1981 period, and to investigate the clinical manifestation hy analysing 333 patients with atopic dermatitis seen from March, 1981 to July, 1982 at the Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University Hoapital. (countinued..)
Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Dermatology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Prognosis ; Seoul ; Skin Diseases

This report offers descriptive data about the drugs utilized in outpatient department (OPD) of Yeungnam University Hospital (YUH) in the period of March to August in 1985. The data in this report were produced by the computerized totalization of the number of mentions of individual drugs included in the prescriptions. The 100 drug entries that were most frequently recorded are listed in rank order. The listing is arbiturarily restricted to the drugs that were prescribed as single preparations, the drugs of basis of compound preparations and the drugs of adjuvant or corrective of compound preparations that have significant therapeutic effects either by generic names. And in addition, the listing also involves the compound preparations used in relatively large frequency, and the individual components of which have the unique pharmacological actions each other by proprietary names. And all routes of administrations were allowed. The 10 drugs most frequently named are diazepam, aluminum compounds, acetaminophen, isoniazid, metoclopramide, polaramine®, carboxymethylcystein, ephedrine, codeine and caroverine in order. The 521, 855 drug mentions listed as above are described by the chief therapeutic usage that each is intended to apply generally. The drugs which account the largest proportion of total mentions were those acting on the central nervous system (20.57%), including tranquillizers and sedative hypnotics (11.71%), analgesic antipyretics (5.55%), antidepressants (2.15%) etc. Gastrointestinal drugs and smooth muscle preparations (18.64%) included antacids and antiulcer drugs (9.24%), antiemetics (3.57%), spasmolytics (3.14%) and others. Respiratory drugs (16.11%) included expectorants and cough preparations (10.99%) and bronchodilators (5.12%). Chemotherapeutic agents (15.12%) included the antiTbc drugs (7.09%) most frequently, and the penicillins (3.33%) accounted the largest proportion among the antibiotics. Cardiovascular drugs (5.64%) included cardiac drugs and coronary vasodilator (4.12%) and antihypertensives and vasodilators (1.06%). And antiinflammatory drugs (4.33%), vitamins of single preparations (3.76%), hormones and their antagonists (3.29%), common cold preparations (3.12%), diuretics (2.81%), drugs supporting liver function (2.02%), drugs affecting autonomic nervous system (1.89%) including antiglaucomas, atropine and cerebral vasodilators, antihistamine drug (1.02%) and disinfectants (0.74%) were following in order. The data in the report were compared to those reported by H. Koch, et al. in United States (US), 1981 as “Drugs Most Frequently Used in Office Practice : National Ambulatory Medical Case Survey, 1981.” Cardiovascular drugs prescribed in YUH were much less in proportion than in US (10.56%), but gastrointestinal drugs accounted the larger proportion than in US (3.72%). Expectorants and preparations in YUH also accounted the larger proportion than in US (2.74%). In conclusion, in the period of March to August, 1985, OPD of YUH prescribed the CNS drugs including diazepam most frequently, and gastrointestinal, respiratory and chemotherapeutic drugs in next orders. It is supposed that the eating habits of Koreans and a unique atmospheric condition in Taegu as a basin were some important factors that affected the proportions of drugs acting on gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts.
Acetaminophen ; Aluminum Compounds ; Antacids ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Antidepressive Agents ; Antiemetics ; Antihypertensive Agents ; Antipyretics ; Atropine ; Autonomic Nervous System ; Bronchodilator Agents ; Cardiovascular Agents ; Central Nervous System ; Codeine ; Common Cold ; Cough ; Daegu ; Diazepam ; Disinfectants ; Diuretics ; Eating ; Ephedrine ; Expectorants ; Gastrointestinal Agents ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Isoniazid ; Liver ; Metoclopramide ; Muscle, Smooth ; Outpatients ; Parasympatholytics ; Penicillins ; Prescriptions ; Respiratory System ; Therapeutic Uses ; United States ; Vasodilator Agents ; Vitamins

The objective of this study was to establish a good methodology to isolate single smooth muscle cells that are alive and respond properly to pharmacological agents. Canine urinary bladders were employed as the source of single cells, and acetylcholine, atropine and imipramine were used as indicators of pharmacological responsiveness. Imipramine, an antidepressant drug exhibited the anticholinergic and calcium antagonizing properties on rat detrusor muscle. To establish a control value for a further experiment to elucidate the mechanism of action of imipramine on detrusor muscle, we measured the concentration-response of single cells to acetylcholine in the presesnce of imipramine by length of the cells and compared the result with the response in the presence of atropine. Tiny chops of smooth muscle taken from anesthetized canine urinary bladder were incubated in collagenase solution at 36℃ for 17-20 minutes. The collagenase solution included collagenase 1.2 mg/ml, soybean tryspin inhibitory 0.08 mg/ml, bovine serum albumin 2% in 10 ml Krebs-Henseleit buffer solution aerated with a consistent breeze of 95/5% O2/CO2 to maintain the pH at 7.4. After washing with plain K-H solution on 450 mesh, cells were dissociated from the digested tissue for 12-15 minutes. Cell suspension was transfered in 5 ml test tubes and acetylcholine was added for the final concentration to be 10⁻¹⁴~10⁻⁹M. To find the optimal time to fix the cells to determine the contractile responses, 1% acrolein was added 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 seconds after the administration of ACh. The length of cells fixed by acrolein were measured by microscaler vis CCTV camers on phaes-contrast microscope. The average length of 50 cells from a slide glass was taken as the value of a sample at the very concentration point. Single cells were isolated from canine detrusor. The length of untreated cells varied from 82 µm to 94 µm. The maximal response to actylcholine 10E-9M was accomplished within 5 seconds of exposure, and the shortening was 19±3%. Atropine reduced the contraction of the cells concentration-dependently. Lmipramine which exerts a cholinergic blocking action on some smooth muscles also reduced the contraction concentration-dependently and by a similar pattern as atropine. These findings document that imipramine may exerts a cholinergic blocking activity in the single smooth muscle cells isolated from canine urinary bladder.
Acetylcholine ; Acrolein ; Animals ; Atropine ; Calcium ; Collagenases ; Glass ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Imipramine* ; Muscle, Smooth ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Rats ; Serum Albumin, Bovine ; Soybeans ; Urinary Bladder