To elucidate iron utilization patterns of Staphylococcus aureus according to the growth, we checked the residual iron concentration and the production of siderophores at the indicated times while culturing S. aureus ATCC 6538 and 25923 strains in brain heart infusion broth. By using streptonigrin susceptibility test and investigating growth curves in three culture media of which iron concentration is 0.2, 20, 45 uM, respectively, we found out that iron metabolism of 6538 strain was more active than that of 25923 strain. In point of tendency of iron consumption, 6538 strain steeply consumed iron just before the onset of stationary phase, but 25923 strain did gradually iron throughout the growth phase. Nevertheless, total amount of iron consumed by each strain during the growth was almost no difference between the strains. CAS diffusion assay in detecting siderophores showed that siderophore production followed iron consumption. These results suggest that the siderophores play significant role in iron utilization in vitro.
Brain ; Culture Media ; Diffusion ; Heart ; Iron* ; Metabolism ; Siderophores ; Staphylococcus aureus* ; Staphylococcus* ; Streptonigrin

The content of meconium in amniotic fluid(AF) is important for assessing the risk of several perinatal problems such as asphyxia, meconium aspiration syndrome and various perinatal infections. This estimate is usually performed subjectively by visual inspection. The purpose of this study is to develop the objective method for quantitative measurement of meconium content in AF. Absorption spectra and meconium-crit of the solutions with various concentrations of meconium were measured. EfFects of filtration and blood contamination on the measurement of meconium content were also estimated by the same methods. Optical densities(OD) were correlated with concentrations of meconium in the whole range of scanned wavelengths. A specific peak of meconium was not available but the highest OD around 410 nm was shown. OD were linearly related to the concentrations of meconium. Meconium-crits were also well-correlated with the concentrations of meconium. Filtration of AF as well as blood contamination in AF severely affected the measurement of meconium content in AF. From the results of this study, both the spectrophotometric method and meconium-crit couid be objective methods for measuring meconium content. Both methods had merits and shortcomings. Filtration and blood contamination should be avoided for the measurement of meconium content in AF. We hope that both or either one of the two methods will be clinically used.
Absorption ; Amniotic Fluid* ; Asphyxia ; Female ; Filtration ; Hope ; Infant, Newborn ; Meconium Aspiration Syndrome ; Meconium*

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to evaluate the functional results of an anterior extrasphincteric anorectoplasty (AEA) guided by an illuminating intrarectal indicator, in which a transperineal positioning of the anal canal was performed without cutting the perineal sphincter muscle. METHODS: Point A which would be a anal orifice in future was designated 0.3 mm anterior to the anal dimpling site. A semicircular incision was made in the front of the anus. The flap, which included from the anal skin to the upper margin of the external anal sphincter, was everted posteriorly. A quarter of the frontal upper rim of the external anal sphincter was exposed, and the center of the uppermost portion was designated as point B. From point A toward point B, a spinal needle was inserted through the anal sphincter, and needle's tract was dilated under direct identification of the sphincter muscle by electronic stimulation. An illuminating intrarectal indicator with a laparoscopic light source was pushed through the distal stoma of a sigmoid colostomy toward its distal lumen so that the blind rectal pouch was perineally exposured. On the blind pouch, a cruciate incision was made, and it was anastomosed to the anus. RESULTS: From 1991 to 2000, 11 patients with imperforate anus of high and intermediate type were operated by our method. In one case, the urethral injury was found intraoperatively and was immediately repaired. One case of anal stenosis was improved after serial Hegar dilatation. The postoperative bowel function in the Kirwan's clinical assessment at 12 th month was grade I in 9 cases and grade II in 2 case. Conclusion: This AEA with an illuminating intrarectal indicator shows acceptable clinical results and could be considered to be an effective surgical option for anorectal malformations.
Anal Canal ; Anus, Imperforate ; Colon, Sigmoid ; Colostomy ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Dilatation ; Humans ; Needles ; Skin

Wrestlers has frequently injured on his ear by friction or hitting. If the ear injury like hematoma did not treat appropriately, it should be deform to disfigured outer shape. We analyzed the incidence and characteristics of ear deformity with elite wrestlers. We took the photo with elite 58 male wrestlers' ears. We surveyed the carrier of elite player, duration of training time, ear injury history, treatment history and satisfactory scale of his ear shape. The characteristics of ear shape were classified by Yotuyanagi classification. 44 wrestlers has deformity of his ear in elite wrestlers (76%, 44/58). Right side ear deformity is 50 cases, bilaterally involvement is one case. Microtia was 11 (24%), ear protrusion was 15 (33%) cases. Yotuyanagi type IB was 13 (29%) cases that deformity extending from helix to antihelix. Type IIA was 12 (27%) cases that deformity with a substantial change with good structural integrity in outline of the ear. Acute ear injury was treated with simple icing (33 cases, 56%), aspiration and compression (6 cases, 10%). 34 wrestlers (77%) dissatisfied his own ear shape. 10% of acute ear injuries treat appropriately in domestic elite male wrestlers. 76% of the wrestlers has an ear deformity and dissatisfaction.
Classification ; Congenital Abnormalities* ; Ear Deformities, Acquired ; Ear* ; Friction ; Hematoma* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Prevalence*

BACKGROUND: In recent years, lung cancer has been one of most common cause of death in Korea. Despite many physician's high degree of pessimism about the gains made in treatments progressive improvement in the survival of lung cancer by treatment has occurred, particulary in the early stages of the disease. However, a lot of patients refuse treatment or give up in the fight against the disease. This study was done to evaluate factors ifluencing the compliance to therapy and to lead in the establishment of special programs to enhance compliance in patients with lung cancer. METHODS: The medical records of 903 patients, whose ECOG(Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) performance status was 3 or less and whose medical record was relatively satisfactory, among 1141 patients diagnosed with lung cancer between January 1989 and December 1996 were reviewed retrospectively. Compliance was classified into three groups based on the degree of compliance with physicians practice guideline : (a) complaints ; (b) patients who initially complied but gave up of themselves midway during the course of treatment ; (c) noncompliants who refused the treatment. RESULTS: The overall compliance rats was 63.9%, which was progressively increased from 57.3-61.3% in 1989 and 1990 to 64.2-67.5% in 1995 and 1996. Age, education level and occupation of patients bore statistically significant relationship with the compliance but sell marital status and smoking history did not. The compliance was significantly higher in patients without symptoms than with, and was also significantly higher in patients with good performance status. The compliance was significantly high in patients with NSCLC(non-small cell lung cancer) compared to SCLC(small cell lung cancer), but after exclusion of stage l and ll, among NSCLC, which had higher compliance to surgery there was no significant difference of compliance by histology. The compliance was significantly lower in advanced stage. CONCLUSION: To enhance the compliance, special care including education programs about therapy including complicantion and prognosis are necessary, especially for educationally and economically disadvantaged patients.
Animals ; Cause of Death ; Compliance* ; Education ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Marital Status ; Medical Records ; Occupations ; Prognosis ; Rats ; Retrospective Studies ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Vulnerable Populations

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to describe the usefulness of intraoperative mobile CT scans in the reduction of zygomatic arch fracture. Method: Two patients with zygomatic arch fractures were selected who were indications of closed reduction by Gilles' approach. After the reduction was done in the operating room with zygomatic arch elevator, intraoperative CT scan was done to check the extent of reduction. Additional reduction was performed according to the obtained images from the intraoperative mobile CT scan. Examination of the preoperative CT, intraoperative CT after the reduction, and postoperative plain X-ray films were done for documentation and analysis. RESULTS: Reduction was carried out successfully to the patients without any complications. Both patients were satisfied with the postoperative cosmetic and functional outcome. Revisional surgery was not necessary during the 6 months follow up. CONCLUSION: The advantage of this method is that it is easier to obtain three dimensional relationships of the fracture site. Furthermore, the operator is less exposed to radiation hazards compared to other methods that obtain intraoperative images such as the C-arm. In conclusion, intraoperative mobile CT scan can be a useful surgical aid in the reduction of zygomatic arch fractures.
Cosmetics ; Elevators and Escalators ; Humans ; Imidazoles ; Nitro Compounds ; Operating Rooms ; X-Ray Film ; Zygoma

Sarcoma is a malignant tumor originated from bone, cartilage, fat tissue, nerve, blood vessel, bone marrow, endothelium, etc. and for this reason it exhibits considerable variation not only clinical but histologic appearance. Osteosarcoma occurs chiefly in young persons and in patients older than 40 years it is usually associated with Paget's disease, irradiated bone, multiple hereditary exostosis or polyostotoc fibrous dysplasia and sometimes with preceding trauma. Radiographically it is divided into three forms: an osteoblastic or sclerosing type, an osteolytic type, and mixed type. Histologically it is divided into osteoblastic type, chondroblastic type, fibroblastic type. The treatment of osteosarcoma is radical excision, combined chemotherapy but the prognosis is poor and overall 5-year survival rate is 20-40%. We present two different type sarcomas of 22-year-old male and 56-year-old male patients which we performed surgical excision, combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Blood Vessels ; Bone Marrow ; Cartilage ; Chondrocytes ; Drug Therapy ; Endothelium ; Exostoses ; Fibroblasts ; Humans ; Male ; Mandible* ; Middle Aged ; Nerve Tissue ; Osteoblasts ; Osteosarcoma* ; Prognosis ; Sarcoma ; Survival Rate ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: Primary colonic lymphomas are very rare disorders and the most common location of a colonic lymphoma is the cecum. However, the prognosis for patients with a primary cecal lymphoma is not well understood clear. This study was undertaken to assess the prognosis for patients with a primary cecal lymphoma. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of our patients, who were categorized into two groups, cecal lymphoma (10 cases) and non-cecal lymphoma (10 cases), was performed from January 1985 to December 2001. The prognostic factors were analyzed. RESULTS: The most common presenting symptoms and signs of cecal lymphomas were abdominal pain (80.0%), nausea/ vomiting (80.0%), and abdominal mass (40.0%). The preoperative biopsy- proven diagnostic rate of cecal lymphoma was 10.0%. The mean size of cecal lymphomas was significantly smaller than that of non-cecal lymphomas (6.2 cm vs. 10.0 cm). Histologically, 9 (90.0%) of the primary cecal lymphomas were classified as intermediate-grade lymphoas, and 1 (10.0%) as a high-grade lymphoma. three (30.0%) of the cecal lymphomas were Stage IE, 5 (50.0%) were Stage IIE1, and 2 (20.0%) were Stage IVE. Tumor resection and chemotherapy was used for 8 (80.0%) of the cecal lymphomas. Two regimens of chemotherapy were used: CHEP-Bleo (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and epirubicin, prednisone, and bleomycin) and COP-BLAM (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone, bleomycin, doxorubicin, procarbazine). The median survival time for patients with a cecal lymphoma was 56 months, but that survival time was not significantly different from the survival time for patients with non-cecal lymphoma. CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis for patients with a primary cecal lymphoma appears to be similar to that for patients with a non-cecal lymphoma. However, the number cases in our study was very small, the more cases are needed to establish a general prognosis for patients with a primary cecal lymphoma.
Abdominal Pain ; Bleomycin ; Cecum ; Colon ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy ; Epirubicin ; Humans ; Lymphoma* ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Prednisone ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Vincristine ; Vomiting

BACKGROUND: It has long been suggested that neutrophils and their products are implicated as the central mediators of the acute lung injuries. Contrary to the dominant role of neutrophils in ARDS, many cases of ARDS has occurred in the setting of severe neutropenia without pufrnonary neutrophil infiltration. Therefore it is certain that effector cell(s) other than neutrophil play an important role in the pathogenesis of ARDS. This experiment was performed to define the mechanism of ARDS in the setting of neutiopenia, 1) by comparing the severity of endotoxin-induced lung injury, 2) by measurement of hydrogen peroxide production and cytokine concentration in the bronchoalveolar lavage cells and fluids obtained from different rats with and without cyclophosphamide-pretreatment. METHOD: The male Sprague-Dawleys were divided into the normal control (NC)-, endotoxin (ETX)-, and cyclophosphamide (CPA)-group in which neutropenia was induced by injecting cyclophosphamide intraperitoneally. Acute lung injury was evoked by injecting lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into a tail vein. The bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed at 3 and 6 hour after administration of LPS to measure the change of cell counts and concentrations of protein and cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Hydrogen peroxide (HPO) production from BAL cel]s was measured at 6 hour after LPS administration by phenol red microassay with and without zymosan stimulation. RESULTS: The results were as follows. A change of leukocyte counts in the peripheral blood after treatment with CPA More than 95% of total leukocytes and neutrophils were reduced after CPA administration, resulting in severe neutropenia. A change of BAL cells In the ETX-group, the number of total cells (p<0.01) and of macrophage and neutrophll (p<0.05) were increased at 3 and 6 hour after LPS administration compared to those of NC- group. In the CPA-group, the number of total leukocyte and macrophage were not changed after LPS administration, but neutrophil counts were significantly reduced and jt took part in less than 0.1% of total BAL cells (p<0.01 vs NC-group). BAL cells in this group were almost all macrophages (99.7%). A change of protein concentration in the BALF In the ETX-group, protein concentration was increased at 3 hour and was more increased at 6 hour after LPS administration (p<0.05 and <0.01 vs NC-group, respectively). In the CPA-group, it was also significantly elevated at 3 hour after LPS administration (p<0.05 vs NC-group) , but the value was statistically not different from that of ETh-group. The value measured at 6 hour after LPS administration in the CPA-group became lower than that of ETX-group (p<0.05), but showed still a higher value compared to that of NC-group (p<0.05). A change of cytokine concentration in the BALF TNF-alpha and IL-6 were elevated in the ETX- and CPA-group compared to those of NC-group at both time intervals. There was no statistical difference in the values of both cytokines between the ETX- and CPA-groups. Measurement of hydrogen peroxide production from BAL cells There was no intergroup difference of HPO production from resting cells. HPO production after incubation with opsonized zymosan was significantly elevated in all groups. The percent increment of HPO production was highest in the ETX-group (89.0%, p<0.0008 vs NC-group ), and was 42.85 in the CPA-group (p = 0.003 vs NC-group ). Conclusion Acute lung injury in the setting of neutropenia might be caused by functional activation of resident alveola r macrophages.
Acute Lung Injury* ; Animals ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; Cell Count ; Cyclophosphamide ; Cytokines ; Humans ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; Interleukin-6 ; Leukocyte Count ; Leukocytes ; Lung Injury ; Macrophages* ; Male ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophil Infiltration ; Neutrophils ; Phenolsulfonphthalein ; Rats* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Veins ; Zymosan

PURPOSE: To investigate the accuracy of Orbscan system in measuring corneal thickness before refractive surgery, the authors conducted a comparative study of Orbscan system and ultrasonic pachymeter in their agreement and repeatability. METHODS: 84 patients (168 eyes) who were examined between December, 2000 and March, 2001 were divided into two groups: those who exceeded -6.00 D, and those who did not. Orbscan and ultrasonic pachymeter were employed. Correlation and regression were analyzed to assess their agreement. The repeatability was measured by analyzing mean, standard deviation, and 95% confidence interval of each method. RESULTS: The average central corneal thickness was 542.3+/-34.2micro meter by Orbscan system, and 528.6+/-29.7micro meter by ultrasonic pachymeter. Correlation coefficient was nearly 1 between them, and therefore we obtained statistically significant linear regression equation. In the analysis of repeatability, 95% confidence interval of Orbscan system was -17.2micro meter~+11.8micro meter which was superior to the interval of ultrasonic pachymeter (-23.2micro meter~+14.4micro meter). CONCLUSION: Orbscan system measurements of corneal thickness was greater than ultrasonic pachymeter measurements by 9 to 19 m. Because Orbscan system also showed superiority in repeatability, it may be a useful method in the clinical field.
Humans ; Linear Models ; Refractive Surgical Procedures ; Ultrasonics