Asphyxia is the most important perinatal cause of neurologic morbidity in infants. Recently, elevated levels of CK-BB have been demonstrated in serum after asphyxic insult in infants. To evaluate the possibility of using serial measurements of CK-BB activity as a diagnostic method and a predictor of neurologic outcome in asphyxiatic infants. We studied CK-BB activity in serum of asphyxiated infants (16 preterm babies, 41 term babies) and healthy infants (11 preterm babies, 12 term babies) from birth (cord) to 5 days of serially. The results were as follows 1) Serum CK-BB activites (cord 76.0IU/L, 12 hours 34.1 IU/L, 1 day 22.4 IU/L, 2 days 8.2 IU/L) of asphyxiated preterm infants were much higher than those (cord 4.4IU/L, 12 hours 2.4IU/L, 1 day 1.6 IU/L, 2 days 1.1 IU/L) of healthy preterm infants, but there were no significant differences (P values>0.05). 2) Serum CK-BB activities (cord 59.0 IU/L, 12 hours 23.6 IU/L, day 17.6 IU/L) of asphyxiated term infants were significantly higher than those (cord 2.4 IU/L, 12 hours 2.7 IU/L, 1 day 0.4 IU/L) of healthy term infants (P values<0.05) 3) There were no significant differences in serum CK-BB activities between asphyxiated preterm infants who showed late neurologic deficits (P values>0.05) 4) Serum CK-BB activity (131.7 IU/L) at birth (cord) of asphyxiated term infants who showed late neurologic deficits was significantly higher than that (49.8 IU/L) of asphyxiated term infants who did not show late neurologic deficits (P value<0.05) In conclusion, it is suggested that serial measurement of CK-BB activity in serum of asphyxiated term infants from birth (cord) to 1 day of age is an available test for diagnosis of neonatal asphyxia and for a prediction of neurologic outcome of neonatal asphyxia.
Asphyxia ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Infant* ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Parturition

The gene ftsH encodes a membrane-bound and ATP-dependent protease that is involved in a variety of cellular functions including heat-shock and stress response. Streptococcus pneumoniae DNA encompassing most part of the ftsH gene was cloned in Escherichia coli and sequenced. Due to the unsuccessful cloning as seen in other pneumococcal promoters, the 5'-end of the gene including the upstream promoter region was amplified by inverse polymerase chain reaction and then sequenced by cyclic sequencing. The amino acid sequence that is deduced from the 1,959 bp-long ftsH gene is very similar to FtsH of several gram-positive bacteria and E. coli within the region responsible for the AAA (ATPase associated with diverse cellular activities) function. Except for the N-terminal domain that contains a short extracellular region between two mernbrane-spanning segments, pneumococcal FtsH shows striking sequence similarity to that of a closely related species Lactococcus lactis within the conserved cytoplasmic domain where two ATP-binding motifs, the AAA Signature motif, and a zinc-binding motif are found.
Amino Acid Sequence ; ATP-Dependent Proteases ; Base Sequence* ; Clone Cells* ; Cloning, Organism* ; Cytoplasm ; DNA ; Escherichia coli ; Gram-Positive Bacteria ; Lactococcus lactis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Streptococcus pneumoniae* ; Streptococcus* ; Strikes, Employee

Over the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the incidence of multifetal pregna-ncies, primarily because of the introduction of ovarian stimulants for ovulation induction and assisted reproductive technology ( ART ) in infertile patients. It is well established that multifetal pregnancies are associated with an increased frequency of the maternal complications and gre-ater perinatal morbidity and mortyality. The adverse outcome of multifetal pregnancies is dire-ctly proportional to the number of fetuses, primarily as an consequence of prterm delivery. Re-duction in the number of fetuses in multifetal pregnancies has been proposed as a way to impr-ove the perinatal outcome in this situation. Therefore, selective fetal reduction ( SFR ) is sugges-ted as a therapeutic option for continuation of pregnancy with fetuses mature enough to survi-ve. In this paper, we report our infertility clinic experiences with 6 patients who carried mult- ifetal pregnancies including 1 quintuplet, 1 quadruplet, and 4 triplets. from January, 1991 to May, 1996, transabdominal SFR was accomplished by fetal intrathoracic KCl injection at 9~10 weeks of gestation. After the prcedure, 4 patients remained as twin pregnancies, and 2 patients as single pregnancy. There have been 3 sets of twin deliveries and the 2 sets of single delivery. One case was aborted. Two patients were delivered after 37 weeks of gestation, 2 patients were at 35 weeks, and 1 patient at 24 weeks. All babies have been healthy after birth in patients after 35 weeks gestation. There was no fetal anomaly related to the procedure in the 6 cases. We concluded that transabdominal SFR is a rather safe and useful procedure that may improve the outcome of multifetal pregnancies.
Fetus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infertility ; Ovulation Induction ; Parturition ; Pregnancy Reduction, Multifetal* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Quadruplets ; Quintuplets ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Triplets ; Twins

Hemangiopericycic maningioma is clinically and pathologically similar to peripheral Hemangiopericytoma and now tends to be terned as hemangiopericytoma of central nervous system. The authors studied 3 cases of hemangiopericytic meningioma obtained from 3 patients, 1 case of meningotheliomatous meningioma, angioblastic meningioma and transitional meningioma, and 2 cases of peripheral hemangiopericytoma, which had operated from November 1988 to May 1989 at the department of neurosurgery, Pusan Inje University Hospital. The authors analysed and compared the immunohistochemical finding and light microscopic apearance. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1) Classic maningioma (meningotheliomatous meningioma, transitional meningioma and angioblastic meningioma) shows reactivity to both EMA and vimentin. 2) Hemangiopercicytic meningioma and peripheral hemangiopericytoma are reactive only to vimentin, so the two tumors are suggested as same type of tumor. 3) One of 3 cases of hemangiopericytic meningioma shows whorling and interlacing bundles of spindle cells, the peculiar light microscopic features of transitional meningioma, suggesting transitional or mixed form of hemangiopericytic meningioma and transitional meningioma.
Meningioma

Hemangiopericycic maningioma is clinically and pathologically similar to peripheral Hemangiopericytoma and now tends to be terned as hemangiopericytoma of central nervous system. The authors studied 3 cases of hemangiopericytic meningioma obtained from 3 patients, 1 case of meningotheliomatous meningioma, angioblastic meningioma and transitional meningioma, and 2 cases of peripheral hemangiopericytoma, which had operated from November 1988 to May 1989 at the department of neurosurgery, Pusan Inje University Hospital. The authors analysed and compared the immunohistochemical finding and light microscopic apearance. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1) Classic maningioma (meningotheliomatous meningioma, transitional meningioma and angioblastic meningioma) shows reactivity to both EMA and vimentin. 2) Hemangiopercicytic meningioma and peripheral hemangiopericytoma are reactive only to vimentin, so the two tumors are suggested as same type of tumor. 3) One of 3 cases of hemangiopericytic meningioma shows whorling and interlacing bundles of spindle cells, the peculiar light microscopic features of transitional meningioma, suggesting transitional or mixed form of hemangiopericytic meningioma and transitional meningioma.
Meningioma

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Humans ; Mothers*

Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the usefulness of the quantitative assessment of clock drawing test (CDT) combined with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) compared to that of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) or the MMSE alone for screening of dementia in Parkinson disease (PD) in patients with a low educational level. Methods: A representative sample of 91 PD patients was administered MMSE, MoCA and CDT. The discriminative validity of the MMSE, MoCA, and a MMSE+CDT combination for dementia screening was determined by estimating the sensitivity and specificity of each test and by testing integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). Results: The mean age and educational years were 69.0 (years) and 7.3 in the study population. The best screening cut-off points for the MMSE, MoCA, and MMSE+CDT were 25/26, 21/22 and 41/42. In a group of patients with educational years ≤6,
Dementia

Prenatal chromosome analysis of amniotic cells at 18 weeks of gestation showed a male fetus to carry a large 15p+ derivative chromosome inherited from his mother. Extra genetic material on the short arm of chromosome IS was silver-negative with Ag-NOR (nucleolus organizer regions) stain, but stained darkly with C-banding method like the distal heterochromatic segment of the Y long arm. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using two DNA probes (DYZ1 and D15Zl) showed a red fluorescent signal on 15p+ In addition to a green chromosome 15 centromere signal, confirming 15p to be from the distal Yq heterochromatin.
Arm ; Centromere ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 15 ; DNA Probes ; Fetus ; Fluorescence ; Heterochromatin ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization ; Male ; Mothers ; Pregnancy

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant* ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight*