No abstract available.

An A to G mutation at nucleotide 3243 or 8344 of the mitochondrial genome has been associated with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus(IDDM) and noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus(NIDDM) in some patients whose family members are frequently affected in maternally inherited fashion. The hypothesis is entertained that defective oxidative phosphorylation system(OXPHOS) caused by mitochondrial DNA mutations would hamper the insulin secretion from pancreas beta islet cells, which requires large amount of ATP energy. Recently, a number of study have been reported to examine the frequecy of these mutations in diabetic populations. In this study, efforts have been directed to investigate the frequency of MELAS tRNALeu(3243) and MERRF tRNALys(8344) mutations in 53 Korean IDDM patients. Total genomic DNA extracted from patients' lymphocytes have been amplified using two sets of mitochondrial specific primers to cover the regions of nt 3243 or 8344. PCR-RFLP anlaysis using Apa I for MELAS(3243) or Ban II for MERRF(8344) were utilized to screen the presence of these mutations in 53 IDDM patients. Two positive controls have been directly sequenced to confirm the presence of these mutations. The results showed that none of IDDM patients(0/53) screened carried these mutations. In conclusion, mitochondrial DNA mutations of MELAS(3243) or MERRF(8344) may be very rare causative factor in developing IDDM, though a large number of IDDM patients are needed to be screened.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1* ; DNA ; DNA, Mitochondrial* ; Genome, Mitochondrial ; Humans ; Insulin ; Islets of Langerhans ; Lymphocytes ; Mass Screening* ; MELAS Syndrome* ; MERRF Syndrome* ; Oxidative Phosphorylation ; Pancreas ; RNA, Transfer*

No abstract available.
Molecular Biology* ; Transcription Factors*

No abstract available.
Hydrocortisone* ; Plasma*

No abstract available.
Diabetes Mellitus* ; Insulin* ; Molecular Medicine*

No abstract available.
Hypoparathyroidism*

After the synthesis of IL-15 cDNA from the total RNA of mouse spleen, it was inserted into the prokaryotic expression vector, pRseta, and eukaryotic expression vector, pcDNA3.0, respectively. Subsequently, the insertion of gene and open reading frame were confirmed by sequencing of each plasmid, respectively. Using pRseta- IL-15 plasmid, the recombinant IL-15 protein was induced by IPTG under BL21 (DE 3) host cells and recombinant IL-15 was expressed at 14.5 KDa with time. Then, IL- 15 was separated by His-tag affinity chromatography and analyzed by SDS-PAGE to yield soluble IL-15 at 14.5 KDa as monomer and 29.0 KDa as dimer. In order to inspect the function and contribution of IL-15, the in vitro experiment was established using mononuclear cells separated from the mouse spleen. After 48h exposure of PHA to mouse splenocyte and 24h treatment with recombinant IL-15, the effects of cytokine inductions inspected against IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-r, and GM-CSF. The results showed that comparing with the control, IL-6 increased, IL-2, IL-12 and IFN-r increased and similar, and GM-CSF decreased. In addition, the direct injection of pcDNA3.0-IL-15 plasmid into mice gave the similar results to in vitro studies. Namely, IL-6 and IL-12 increased, and IL-2, IFN-r and GM-CSF were similar or decreased. IL-10 was not induced in in vitro and in vivo experiments. These results suggested that the IL-15 induce the splenocyte activation and can be an important factor in proliferation and fuction recovery of weakened T-cell.
Animals ; Chromatography, Affinity ; DNA, Complementary ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-12 ; Interleukin-15* ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-6 ; Isopropyl Thiogalactoside ; Mice* ; Open Reading Frames ; Plasmids ; RNA ; Spleen ; T-Lymphocytes

Pigmented Bowen's disease (PBD) is a rare variant of Bowen's disease(BD). Most of the reported cases showed pigmented patches or thin plaques. Thus its clinical manifestations may simulated other various pigmented skin lesions. We experienced 2 cases of PBD in patients with multiple BD developed after taking Korean proprietary pills (KPP, "Hwan-Yak"), which were suspected to contain certain amount of arsenics. Both patients also showed arsenical keratosis on their palms and soles. The darker pigmentation of the PBL led us to differentiated them from melanoma.
Bowen's Disease* ; Humans ; Keratosis ; Melanoma ; Pigmentation ; Skin

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A*

PURPOSE: Most children who have been treated for craniopharyngioma eventually develop multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies as well as growth hormone deficiency(GHD). However, some of them may grow normally or even have accelerated growth velocity despite GHD postoperatively. This study was undertaken to evaluate several factors influencing change in growth velocity after surgery for craniopharyngioma in patients with GHD. METHODS: Fifteen patients operated on for craniopharyngioma had a pharmacological assessment of hypothalamic-pituitary function and at least two standard GH provocation tests. All patients had multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies including GHD after surgery. Patients were classified in two groups according to their growth rate during the first postoperative year. Group 1 consisted of 6 children with normal growth velocity or more than 2 standard deviation score(SDS) above the normal mean, and group 2 consisted of 9 children with decreased growth velocity more than 2 SDS below the normal mean. RESULTS: Height velocity was 8.3+/-.2 cm/year in group 1 and 2.8+/-.3 cm/year in group 2 during the first year. During the second year, height velocity was 4.4+/-.3 cm/year and 3.3+/-.4 cm/year, respectively. Body mass index(BMI) change between before and after surgery was 0.83+/-.4 kg/m2 in group 1 and 0.03+/-.3 kg/m2 in group 2 but there was no difference between both groups. However, BMI changes was correlated positively with height SDS change for 1 year following surgery in 15 patients(P<0.05, r=0.601). Prolactin levels before surgery were not significant difference between group 1 and group 2. However, there was a significant positive correlation between prolactin levels before surgery and height SDS change(P<0.01, r=0.671). Postoperative IGF-1 levels were low in all patients except one, who showed decreased growth rate. CONCLUSION: In this study, there were no significant differences in height velocity, BMI, prolactin, and IGF-1 levels between normal growth group and growth failure group after surgery. Further studies are needed to find out any other growth promoting factors related to growth without growth hormone.
Child* ; Craniopharyngioma* ; Growth Hormone* ; Humans ; Insulin ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Obesity ; Prolactin