No abstract available.
Diagnosis* ; Echocardiography*

To evaluate the establishment of Mungyong Saejae Natural Ecology Park located in the northwestern Gyongbuk Province, a scientific survey for the mushroom flora of the park was carried out from May to December of 1999. A checklist of the Aphyllophorales collected from the park was prepared. The list included 67 species of 44 genera belonging to nine families in the Aphyllophorales. Among them, seven species, Antrodia malicola, Ceriporia purpurea, Oligoporus leucospongia, Perenniporia tephropora, Phanerochaete xerophila, Sistotrema diademiferum and Vuilleminia comedens, were confirmed as new to Korea and are registered here as unrecorded species along with descriptions and microscopic drawings.
Agaricales ; Antrodia ; Checklist ; Ecology ; Humans ; Korea ; Phanerochaete ; Polyporales*

BACKGROUND: We previously demonstrated that a GRE/TRE composite sequence, which is located between 200 bp and 220 bp relative to the transcriptional start site of rat TRH gene, is responsible for the dexamethasone (DEX)- and TPA-induced transcriptional activation, and the transcriptional activation by DEX is mediated by interaction between glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and a TRE-binding transcriptional factor such as c-Jun. However, a non-specific binding with the transciption factors can not be excluded as the mutants used in the previous report could not inhibit the binding of GR and c-Jun completely, and it remains unclear which one of the two TRE-like sequences is critical for the interaction of the two transcription factors. METHODS: Luciferase expressing plasmids that contain a part of rat TRH promoter including the composite GRE sequence or its mutants were transfected into HeLa cells by Fugene 6. After the cells were incubated overnight with DEX or/and TPA, the luciferase activity was measured in a chemiluminometer. A gel retardation assay was performed after binding of the labeled composite sequence or its mutants with GR and c-Jun. RESULTS: DEX and TPA increased the transcriptional activity of the wild type composite sequence by 3 folds and 4 folds, respectively, and the combined stimulation increased the activity by 10 folds. The mutants of which all 6 nucleotides of the GRE half site were replaced and removed almost did not bind to GR and eould not enhance the transcriptional activity at all in response to DEX. The GRE-deleted mutant bound to c-Jun with a remarkably lower affinity and showed a lower response to TPA, whereas the GRE-replaced mutant bound to c-Jun with a similar affinity and showed a similar response to TPA compared to those of the wild type. In response to the combined simulation with DEX and TPA, the mutants showed 30-40% of the trancriptional activity of the wild type. Basal transcriptional activity of all the TRE mutants was significantly lower than that of the wild type. While they almost could not bind to c-Jun, their binding affinity to GR was comparable to that of the wild type. Whereas the DEX- and TPA-induced transcriptional activity of 5 TRE mutant was 10% and 15% of that of the wild type, it responded to those agents in a similar pattern as the wild type. The 3 TRE mutant and the mutant of both TRE sites did not respond to DEX and TPA. The GRE-deleted mutant hardly formed the DNA-protein complex as did the wild type, while the GRE -replaced mutant could form the complex in a less amount with nuclear extract of HeLa celL CONCLUSION: These results suggest that GRE/TRE composite sequence of rat TRH gene specifically binds to GR and c-Jun, providing a site for interaction between the two transcription factors, and that both TRE sites play an important role in basal transcription, and that the 3 TRE site is more critical in the interaction between GRE and TRE for DEX-induced transcriptional activation. (J Kor Endocrinol 14:278-292, 1999)
Animals ; Dexamethasone ; Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Luciferases ; Mutagenesis, Site-Directed* ; Nucleotides ; Plasmids ; Rats* ; Receptors, Glucocorticoid ; Response Elements* ; Transcription Factors ; Transcriptional Activation

BACKGROUND: We previously demonstrated that the promoter of rat TRH gene has GRE half site (TGTTCT) between -210 bp and -205 bp flanking with similar sequences of TPA response element (TRE), TAGTCA, at a distance of several base pairs from the GRE half site. It promps us to hypothesize that this composite GRE/TRE sequence can provide a site for interaction between glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and c-Jun. Thus, we investigated whether the composite sequence mediates transcriptional regulation induced by dexamethasone (DEX) and 12-O-tetradecanoyl phobol-13-acetate (TPA), and whether it binds GR and c-Jun. METHODS: A luciferase expressing plasmids that contain a part of rat TRH promoter including the composite sequence or their mutants were transfected into HeLa cells by Fugene 6. After the cells were incubated overnight with DEX and TPA, the luciferase activity was measured in a chemiluminometer. A gel retardation assay was performed after binding of the labeled composite sequence or its mutants with GR and c-Jun. RESULTS: DEX increased the transcriptional activity of the plasmid containing the wild type GRE by 2.5 folds, and TPA increased the transcriptional activity by 4 folds. The simultaneous stimulation with DEX and TPA synergistically increased the transcriptional activity by 10 folds. Two mutants whose GRE half sits were altered showed no responses to DEX, and suppressed the TPA-induced or both agents-induced transcriptional activity by 50%. Two mutants whose TRE-like sites were altered suppressed the DEX-induced transcriptional activity by 20%, TPA-induced trarptional activity by 25%, and both agents-induced transcriptional activity by 50%. Gel retardation assay showed that the composite sequence fonned a complex with GR and its mutants bound to GR with remarkably less affinity. c-Jun also bound to the composite sequence to form two cornplexes with less affinity compared to the AP-1 consensus sequence. The mutants of the TRE-like sequence bound to c-Jun with a significantly lower affinity compared to that of the wild type. Simulateous binding of the composite sequence with GR and c-Jun did not form any larger complex. The complex of GR and the composite sequence was much smaller than that formed by c-Jun, suggesting that GR binds to the composite sequence as a monomer. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the composite sequence of GRE half site and TRE-like site on the promoter of rat TRH gene provides binding sites for GR and c-Jun, which mediate the interaction between two signal transduction pathways. (J Kor Soc Endocrinol 14:265-277, 1999)
4-Acetamido-4'-isothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic Acid ; Animals ; Base Pairing ; Binding Sites ; Consensus Sequence ; Dexamethasone ; Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Luciferases ; Plasmids ; Rats ; Receptors, Glucocorticoid ; Response Elements ; Signal Transduction ; Transcription Factor AP-1

No abstract available.
Reference Values*

A 53-year-old man had skin-colored linear serpiginous plaque within brownish patch on his left thigh for one year. He habitually drank natural spring water for 3 years. We diagnosed this case as sparganosis infiltrated within dermis by histologic and parasitologic diagnosis. The skin lesion mimicked the cutaneous larva migrans by showing dermal migration of sparganum to pro-duce itchy linear serpiginous plaque. We report an interesting case of sparganosis mimicking cutaneous larva migrans.
Dermis ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Larva Migrans* ; Middle Aged ; Natural Springs ; Skin ; Sparganosis* ; Sparganum ; Thigh ; Water

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the expression of uPA and uPAR in eutopic endometrium of advanced stage endometriosis and control patients. METHODS: The 33 endometriosis patients and 32 controls were enrolled. Endometrial samples were obtained from 65 premenopausal women aged 29~44 years, undergoing laparoscopic surgery or hysterectomy for non-malignant lesions. Sufficient samples were collected from 33 patients with endometriosis stage III and IV and 32 controls without endometriosis confirmed by laparoscopic surgery. The mRNA expression of uPA and uPAR from eutopic endometrium were analyzed by RT-QC PCR. RESULTS: The mRNAs of uPA and uPAR were expressed in eutopic endometrium from endometriosis and normal controls throughout the menstrual cycle. Uterine endometrium from women with endometriosis expresses significantly (p<0.05) higher levels of u-PA mRNA than endometrium from normal women without endometriosis in the proliferative phase. There were no significant differences in expression of uPAR in eutopic endometrium between controls and endometriosis patients. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that eutopic endometrium from endometriosis patients may be more invasive and prone to peritoneal implantation because of greater u-PA mRNA expression than endometrium from women without endometriosis. Thus, increased proteolytic activity may be one etiology for the invasive properties of the endometrium resulting in the development of endometriosis.
Endometriosis* ; Endometrium* ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Laparoscopy ; Menstrual Cycle ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Proteolysis ; RNA, Messenger* ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator

No abstract available.
Lymphangioma* ; Orbit*

A pathological fracture occurs spontaneously or with minimal trauma. The underlying pathological changes may be subtle and the diagnosis not obvious. The two goals in the treatment of pathologic fracture in weight bearing long bones are to provide relief of pain by secure fixation of the fracture and to permit early smbulation and a prompt return to prefracture status. Thirteen cases of pathological fracture were treated during the period from June, 1986 to February, 1988 at Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital. The results are as follows. 1. Most patients were over 45 of age. 2. Malignancy was the common cause. 3. Most frequent involved site was femur. 4. Occured by trivial trauma such as slip down injury. 5. Satisfactory result by curettage, open reduction and internal fixation, bone graft or bone cement augmentation.
Clinical Study ; Curettage ; Diagnosis ; Femur ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Heart ; Humans ; Transplants ; Weight-Bearing

Fourtyone patients fo gallbladder and bile duct diseases were studied clinically and sonographically.Tweentynine (Seventyone percent) patients were distributed between age fourty to fiftynine and male to femaleratio was 1:1.4. The order of frequency of biliary tract disease was cholelithiasis, acalculous cholecystitis, CBDstone and CBD cancer. Sonographic findings of cholelithiasis were strong echo with posterior shadowing, faintinternal echoes without shadowing, gallbladder wall thickneing and anechoicity of the gallbladder wall. Instead ofsmall proportion of gallbladder distension and wall anechoicity, faint internal echoes without shadowing were seenin ten of nineteen cases of cholelithiasis. On choledocholithiasis, meniscus sign at the junction of the stone andgallbladder wall was identified in most cases and was helpful to differentiation stone from malignancy. The degreeof CBD dilatation was more severe in malignancy than in CBD stones and ascaris in CBD. Sonographic examination wasuseful in detection of gallbladder and bilicary tree pathology and the cause of biliary tract obstruction could beidentified.
Acalculous Cholecystitis ; Ascaris ; Bile Duct Diseases ; Biliary Tract Diseases ; Biliary Tract ; Choledocholithiasis ; Cholelithiasis ; Dilatation ; Gallbladder ; Humans ; Male ; Pathology ; Shadowing (Histology) ; Trees ; Ultrasonography