OBJECTIVE: Human papillomaviruses are associated with the majority of cervical cancers. There is a wide effort focused on searching for the target of the involvement of p53-independent HPV-16E6 interacting proteins. We identified Cdc7 (cell division cycle 7-related protein kinases) as a binding partner of E6 and investigated its biological function in cervical cancer cells. METHODS: The baits, E6, fused to the LexA-BD subunit using pBTM116 vector were used to screen an oligoneucleotide primed human HeLa cDNA library cloned in pGAD10 vector. Yeast two-hybrid screens were performed. Immunoprecipitation assay was performed to determine whether E6-Cdc7 interaction occurred. Cells treated with siRNA were analysed by flow cytometry. RESULTS: We have delinated the interactions of E6 with five proteins, namely the IRF-3 (interferon regulatory factor-3), PRKCL?1 (protein kinase C-like 1), PIST (PDZ/coiled-coil domain binding gene), BARD1 (BRCA1 assocated ring domain 1), and Cdc7. The in vitro result of the interaction between E6 and Cdc7 was confirmed by immunoprecipitation experiments. Down-regulation of Cdc7 by small interfering RNA in HeLa cell lines causes an abortive S phase, leading to cell death. CONCLUSION: We have identified the new protein of interaction with HPV E6, Cdc7 kinase. It has been implicated in S phase signaling of cell cycle and the inhibition of Cdc7 induced cell death. But, further investigation is needed to know the biologic function of Cdc7 kinase in cervical carcinogenesis.
Carcinogenesis ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Death ; Clone Cells ; Down-Regulation ; Flow Cytometry ; Gene Library ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Immunoprecipitation ; Phosphotransferases ; RNA, Small Interfering ; S Phase ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; Yeasts

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Most reports about coronary angiographic findings in acute myocardial infarction were done after thrombolytic therapy or several days after onset of symptom. The aim of this study is to evaluate coronary angiographic findings in patients with AMI within 24 hours after onset of symptoms and without thrombolytic therapy. Also we evaluated the correlation between the risk factors and severity of coronary artery disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 70 patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to Kyungpook National University Hospital (KNUH) from November 1997 to January 1999, and evaluated the clincial and coronary angiographic findings. We analyzed risk factors of coronary artery disease: age, total cholesterol, tiglyceride, high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, diabetes and family history of CAD. Coronary angiography was done immediately after the arrival at emergency room (door-to- angiography time). Exclusion criteria were delayed arrival (more than 24 hours after symptom onset), previous history of anticoagulation or medication of antiplatelet agents. RESULTS: 1) Among 70 patients (M/F: 53/17), 59 patients had Q wave myocardial infarction (QMI) (84%), 11 patients had non-Q wave-MI (NQMI) (16%). 2) The mean age was 61+/-12.2 years (range: 26 to 82 years). 3) The mean time from the onset of chest pain to angiography was 6.2+/-4.7 hours. 4) Twenty eight patients (40%) had one-vessel disease, 25 (36%) had two-vessel disease and 17 (24%) had three-vessel disease. 5) The location of infarct related arteries were as follows: LAD in 33 (47%), LCX in 13 (19%) and RCA in 24 (34%). 6) The mean diameter stenosis of infarct related artery (IRA) was 95+/-10.9%. According to the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) classification of IRA, type B lesion occurred most commonly in 56 patients (80%). 7) Thrombus was observed in 44 patients (63%) with QMI versus 3 patients (27%) with NQMI (p=0.006). 8) Calcifications of the wall of coronary arteries were observed in 28 patients (40%) and correlated with ages of patients. 9) History of cigarette smoking was present in 73%, hypertension in 31% and hypercholesterolemia in 15% of patients. The mean number of risk factor for each patient was 1.3. 10) Multivessel disease was significantly more frequent in patients who had two more risk factors. 11) The frequency of cigarette smoking was greater and the level of plasma triglyceride were higher in patients under 50 years of age. 12) One patient died during coronary angiography and another 2 patients died at 5 and 8 days after coronary angiography due to cardigenic shock. CONCLUSION: In immediate coronary angiographic findings in patients with AMI, multivessel disease and thrombus, and severe stenosis of IRA were observed more frequently than other studies after thrombolytic therapy or after several days of delay. Multivessel disease was significantly more frequent in the patients who had two or more risk factors of atherosclerosis.
Angiography ; Arteries ; Atherosclerosis ; Chest Pain ; Cholesterol ; Classification ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Heart ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Lipoproteins ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Plasma ; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors ; Risk Factors ; Shock ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Thrombolytic Therapy ; Thrombosis ; Triglycerides

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The intracoronary stent may be useful in the preventing of abrupt closure and coronary restenosis after coronary angioplasty, and recently primary stenting has been one of therapeutic modalities. We assessed the clinical and angiographic results of primary NIR stenting in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between November 1997 to January 1999, 55 stentings with NIR stents were done in 51 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Angiographic follow-up was available at 7+/-2.3 days in 35 patients. RESULTS: 1) Among 51 patients (M/F: 37/14), 44 patients had Q-wave MI (86%), 7 patients had non-Q-wave MI (14%). 2) The mean age was 61+/-12.4 years (range: 26 to 82 years). 3) The mean time from the onset of chest pain to the arrival at emergency room was 4.6 +/- 4.2 hours. The mean door-to-balloon time was 93+/-46 minutes 4) Treated vessels were as follows: 28 in LAD, 17 in RCA, 10 in LCX. 5) The indications for stent implantation were suboptimal angiographic results after PTCA in 38 lesions (69%), dissection in 9 lesions (16%), abrupt vessel closure in 1 lesion and elective in 7 lesions (13%). 6) Single stent implantation was done in 47 patients. Overlapping stents were done in 4 patients. 7) A procedure related complication occurred in one patient, peri-stent dissection without flow limitation. 8) Full expansion of the stent failed in three lesions with coronary calcifications and the residual stenosis was 35, 40, 50% in each case. In these cases, in-stent thrombus was not demonstrated in follow up angiography. 9) The minimal lumen diameter increased from 0.11+/-0.39 to 2.96+/-0.40 mm. 10) Angiographic follow-up on 38 stents in 35 patients demonstrated in-stent thrombus in 3 stents, in-stent restenosis in 1 stent. But in-stent flow limitations were not found in these 4 cases and TIMI III flow were maintained. Patients with Q-wave MI and coronary thrombus on initial angiography were more prone to subacute thrombosis. CONCLUSION: The NIR stent could be used successfully in primary coronary stenting in acute myocardial infarction. The present study shows relatively low risk of subacute stent thrombosis. The rate of restenosis needs to be confirmed by long term study.
Angiography ; Angioplasty ; Chest Pain ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Restenosis ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Stents* ; Thrombosis

A congenital cystic adenoid malformation of the lung(CCAM) is characterized by an anomalous fetal development of the terminal respiratory structures, resulting in the adenomatoid proliferation of the bronchiolar elements and cystic formation. CCAM has been detected on the fetus, premature babies and stillborn as well as infants and children. An adult presentation of CCAM is extremely rare. When cystic lesions occur with a repeated infection, an evaluation of the cystic lesions requires a differential diagnosis of CCAM, sequestration, a lung abscess, a pneumatocele and a bronchogenic cyst. The definite treatment of CCAM is the surgical removal of the involved lobe. We report a case of a CCAM in a 24-year-old female with a brief review of the relevant literature.
Adenoids ; Adult* ; Bronchogenic Cyst ; Child ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Fetal Development ; Fetus ; Humans ; Infant ; Lung Abscess ; Lung* ; Young Adult

Solid-psudopapillary tumor is an uncommon pancreatic neoplasm of low malignant potential that most frequently affect young woman. Solid-psudopapillary tumor are histologically, clinically, and prognostically quite distinct from the more common ductal adenocarcinoma. Recently, we experienced a 36-year-old male who was suspected to have extrapancreatic tumor based on atypical radiologic imaging study, young age, and male sex, and finally diagnosed as solid-psudopapillary tumor on immunohistochemical stain examination. We report this case with review of the relevant literatures.
Adult ; Antigens, CD56/metabolism ; Carcinoma, Papillary/*diagnosis/pathology/surgery ; Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Male ; Neprilysin/metabolism ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology/surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Vimentin/metabolism

To evaluate the seroprevalence against circumsporozoite protein (CSP) of Plasmodium vivax in sera of Korean patients, the central repeating domain (CRD) of CSP was cloned and analyzed. From the genomic DNA of patient's blood, 2 kinds of CSPs were identified to belong to a VK210 type, which is the dominant repeating of GDRA(D/A)GQPA, and named as PvCSPA and PvCSPB. Recombinantly expressed his-tagged PvCSPA or PvCSPB in Escherichia coli reacted well against sera of patients in western blot, with the detecting rate of 47.9% (58/121), which included 15 cases positive for PvCSPA, 6 cases positive for PvCSPB, and 37 cases for both. The mixture of PvCSPA and PvCSPB was loaded to a rapid diagnostic test kit (RDT) and applied with the same set of patient sera, which resulted in detection rates of 57.0% (69/121). When the protein sequences of PvCSPA were compared with those of P. vivax in endemic regions of India and Uganda, they were compatibly homologous to PvCSPA with minor mutations. These results suggested that the recombinant PvCSPA and PvCSPB loaded RDT may be a milestone in latent diagnosis which has been a hot issue of domestic malaria and important for radical therapy in overlapped infections with P. falciparum in tropical and subtropical areas. During the biological process of malarial infection, exposure of CSP to antigen-antibody reaction up to 57.0% is the first report in Korea.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Antibodies, Protozoan/*blood/immunology ; Antibody Formation ; Antigens, Protozoan/immunology ; Base Sequence ; Humans ; India ; Malaria, Vivax/*diagnosis/*epidemiology/immunology ; Merozoite Surface Protein 1/genetics/*immunology ; Plasmodium vivax/genetics/immunology ; Protozoan Proteins/genetics/*immunology ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Recombinant Proteins/diagnostic use/immunology ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Uganda

An epidemiological study was performed to know the recent infection status of Paragonimus westermani metacercariae (PwMc) in freshwater crayfish, Cambaroides similis, from 2 streams in Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea. Crayfish were collected from creeks in Bogil-do (Island), Wando-gun, and in a creek near Daeheung Temple in Haenam-gun. The infection rate of crayfish with PwMc in Bogil-do was 89.8%, and the metacercarial burden was 37 PwMc per the infected crayfish. Crayfish in a creek near Daeheung Temple were larger and twice heavier than those in Bogil-do. Of them, 96.5% were infected with PwMc. An average of 140 metacercariae was found in the infected crayfish, almost quadruple to those of Bogil-do. There was a strong correlation between the number of PwMc and body weight of the crayfish. These results suggest that P. westermani metacercariae are still prevalent in crayfish of the 2 regions in Jeollanam-do, Korea.
Astacoidea* ; Body Weight ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Fresh Water* ; Incidence* ; Jeollanam-do* ; Korea* ; Metacercariae* ; Paragonimus westermani* ; Paragonimus* ; Republic of Korea ; Rivers

The objective of this study is to select a simple and easy measurable food behavior checklist for the development of Nutrition Quotient (NQ) for children, which reflects children's diet quality, as well as to evaluate the validity of the items in the food behavior checklist. The first 36 items in the checklist were established by an expert review, modifying the preliminary 50 items in the checklist, which had been selected by a literature review and the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. 341 children in 5th and 6th grades at an elementary school participated in a one-day dietary record survey, and later responded to 36 food behavior questions of the checklist. Pearson's correlation coefficients between the responses to the food behavior checklist items along with the mean nutrient intakes of the children were calculated. From the result, in which responses of food frequency and food behavior items showed certain association with the dietary record data, a second checklist with 22 items was selected. A survey was conducted by using the second checklist. 1,393 children in the 5th and 6th grades at 12 elementary schools in metropolitan cities, such as Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Daegu, Daejeon, and Incheon, participated in the survey. Further, an exploratory factor analysis was performed. After the analysis, 19 items (10 items from food frequency and 9 items from food behavior) were finalized as the food behavior checklist items for the NQ. The final 19 food behavior checklist items were composed of 5 factors: 'Balance', 'Diversity', 'Moderation', 'Regularity', and 'Practice'. This study is a significant first trial to establish a comprehensive system for evaluating children's food habit and diet quality. This checklist might need continuous modification and revision reflecting the change of children's dietary life and the social environment.
Checklist ; Child ; Diet ; Diet Records ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Nutrition Surveys ; Social Environment

BACKGROUND: When patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are first referred to a hospital from primary health care clinics, physicians have to decide whether to administer an oral hypoglycemic agent (OHA) immediately or postpone a medication change in favor of diabetes education regarding diet or exercise. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of diabetes education alone (without alterations in diabetes medication) on blood glucose levels. METHODS: The study was conducted between January 2009 and December 2013 and included patients with DM. The glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels were evaluated at the first visit and after 3 months. During the first medical examination, a designated doctor also conducted a diabetes education session that mainly covered dietary management. RESULTS: Patients were divided into those who received no diabetic medications (n=66) and those who received an OHA (n=124). Education resulted in a marked decrease in HbA1c levels in the OHA group among patients who had DM for <1 year (from 7.0%±1.3% to 6.6%±0.9%, P=0.0092) and for 1 to 5 years (from 7.5%±1.8% to 6.9%±1.1%, P=0.0091). Those with DM >10 years showed a slightly lower HbA1c target achievement rate of <6.5% (odds ratio, 0.089; P=0.0024). CONCLUSION: For patients who had DM for more than 5 years, higher doses or changes in medication were more effective than intensive active education. Therefore, individualized and customized education are needed for these patients. For patients with a shorter duration of DM, it may be more effective to provide initial intensive education for diabetes before prescribing medicines, such as OHAs.
Blood Glucose ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diet ; Education* ; Health Educators ; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated ; Humans ; Primary Health Care

Seroepidemiological changes of Toxoplasma gondii infection among the residents of the islands of Gangwha-gun, Incheon for 2 years were surveyed and evaluated by ELISA using a crude extract antigen. In 2010, sera of 919 adult residents in Gyodong-myeon and 313 adults in Samsan-myeon were collected and checked for IgG antibody titers, which showed 14.5% (133 sera) and 19.8% (62 sera) positive rates, respectively. In 2011, sera of 955 adults in Gyodong-myeon and 341 adults in Samsan-myeon were examined, which showed an increase of positive rates to 23.8% (227 sera) and 31.7% (108 sera), respectively. Totally, the seroprevalence of the first year was 15.8% and it increased rapidly to 25.8% in the second year. The positive rates of both sexes increased simultaneously with the significant ratio of males to females by 1.7-2.2 fold (P<0.05). In both myeons, 661 sera were collected every year and showed changes in optical density (OD) in 177 sera; newly found as positives in 73 persons (11.0%), negative conversion in 10 persons (1.5%), and maintained or increased in 94 persons (14.2%). This rapid increase in the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Gangwha islands may be due to in part peculiar changes in the toxoplasmic environment of the islands and presumably the consumption of the pork bred domestically within the islands or imported from high endemic nations. It is necessary to find out symptomatic toxoplasmic patients and confirm the risk factors for further infection in the islands of Gangwha-gun.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Animals ; Antibodies, Protozoan/*blood ; Antigens, Protozoan/diagnostic use/isolation & purification ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G/blood ; Islands/epidemiology ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Mice ; Middle Aged ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Toxoplasma/*immunology ; Toxoplasmosis/*epidemiology