BACKGROUND: Fosinopril is a new phosphorous containing angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor. To assess the antihypertensive efficacy and safety of fosinopril, the clinical trial was done in patients with mild to moderate hypertension. METHODS: In 30 patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension, we administered fosinopril 10-20mg once daily for 10 weeks and checked their blood pressure every 2 weeks. RESULTS: The blood pressure decreased from 158+/-12.3/103.4+/-4.2mmHg to 139+/-7.5/88.4+/-5.9mmHg at the end of treatment(p<0.05). Heart rate did not change significantly during therapeutic period. Of 30 patients, the efficacy of fosinopril therapy disclosed 25 patients(83.7%) with normal diastolic pressure of more than 10mmHg decline of diastolic blood pressure. But two patients had no effects and three patients were not followed up. The adverse reactions due to fosinopril were reported in 3 patients(10%) with dry cough, 2 patients with palpitation(6.7%) and 1 patient with weakness(3.3%), but there were no patients who discontinued fosinopril due to adverse effect. CONCLUSION: Fosinopril has an excellent antihypertensive effect at low dosage as a first line antihypertensive agent or as a substituting agent for other antihypertensives in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension.
Antihypertensive Agents ; Blood Pressure ; Cough ; Fosinopril* ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A

Lipomas are among the most common of all benign neoplasma and occur more frequently over the back, between the shoulders, and on the back of the neck. They are usually subcutaneous in origin, and characteristically multilobulated masses of fatty tissue that vary from small nodules to large masses weighing several kilograms.A mass in the anterior part of the neck may be initially thought to be thyroid nodules and then other cervical masses should be considered. Ultrasonographic examination of benign lipoma demonstrates solid and echogenic mass and may differentiate nonthyroid from thyroid masses. When lipoma is clinically suspected, the use of CTs can establish the correct diagnosis without the use of thyroid hormone suppression or the need for urgent surgery.We experienced a case of anterior cervical mass in a 51-year-old male patient presenting a non-tender and soft mass rapidly growing for recent several months and moved with swollowing, and diagnosed his case as benign lipoma using ultrasonography, computed tomographic scan, and fine niddle asperation biopsy and therefore when we encounter patients with anterior neck mass, we should consider benign lipoma mimicking thyroid nodule.
Adipose Tissue ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Lipoma ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Shoulder ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Nodule ; Ultrasonography

No abstract available.
Eosinophilic Granuloma* ; Eosinophils*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatocarcinogenesis of microscopically altered foci could be shown to be progressed into a trabecular pattern of hepatocellular carcinoma. And it is reported that down-regulation of TGF beta II receptor and up-regulation of TGF alpha and c-myc reveal the progression of diethylnitrosamine-induced foci into liver cell cancer. Up-regulation of TGF beta II receptor, however, causes apoptosis of foci. To determine characteristic morphology and growth kinetics of putatively precancerous y glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) positive foci and hyperplastic nodules, a stereological quantification was attempted in the Peraino's neonatal rat model initiated by diethylnitrosamine and promoted by phenobarbital. MATERIALS/METHODS: Fifteen Sprague-Dawley rats were I.p. injected with 0.15 pmole/g of body weight of diethylnitrosamine mixed in corn oil at one day after birth. From weaning at 4 weeks of life, the rats were continuously fed 0.035% phenobarbital in drinking water and sacrified 5 rats at each time point of 8 weeks, 16 weeks, and 32 weeks. Teklad standard diet was fed after weaning. The livers obtained were fixed in freshly prepared, cold ethanol-acetic acid (99:1 vo1%). For the GGT histochemical staining, Rutenberg's method was modified, and counterstained with H & E or toluidine blue. For the stereological analysis GGT positive foci and nodules were traced in 200 consecutive tissue sections and quantified the 3 dimensional volumes by computer assisted planimetry. Either spheroidal or non-spheroidal morphology was determined by parabola 2nd degree equation ' y=ax+bx+c (sphere a=-P,). RESULTS: Thirty nine (55.71%) out of 70 representative lesions were nonspheroidal. Especially at 8 weeks, the 28 out of 40 GGT positive foci were irregular, nonspheroidal shape. Later times, however, GGT positive foci and reprogrammed nodular lesions were become spheroidal. Lilliefors probabilities test for spheroidal frequency was statistically significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Stereologically non-spheroidal characteristics of the early GGT positive foci limit growth kinetic estimation by 3 dimensional volume quantitation but permit in later times in spheroidal, GGT positive foci and reprogrammed nodules showing fade-out of GGT activity. In other words, GGT positive foci may be clonally selected for growing into hyperplastic nodules and hepatocellular carcinoma or regressed by apoptosis.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Body Weight ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Corn Oil ; Diet ; Diethylnitrosamine ; Down-Regulation ; Drinking Water ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase* ; Kinetics ; Liver ; Models, Animal ; Parturition ; Phenobarbital ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley* ; Tolonium Chloride ; Up-Regulation ; Weaning

BACKGROUND: We studied the epidemics of respiratory viral infections in Korea and examined various respiratory tract specimens for the presence of respiratory viruses, since the accuracy of rapid detection method depends, in part, on the source of the specimens. METHODS: Over a 24-month period, from March 1997 through February 1999, a total of 1,574 clinical specimens were submitted for the detection of respiratory viruses. A shell vial technique with commercially available monoclonal antibodies directed against respiratory viruses was used to detect respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, influenza virus, and parainfluenza virus in clinical specimens, which included throat swab, nasopharyngeal aspirate, tracheal aspirate, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. RESULTS: Overall positive rate of respiratory viruses was 73/1574 (4.6%). Respiratory viruses were predominantly found between December and February. High incidences were observed among those younger than 2 years and those older than 50 years. The numbers of viral isolates were 3/69 (4.3%) for throat swab, 26/459 (5.7%) for nasopharyngeal aspirate, 11/315 (3.2%) for tracheal aspirate, and 30/528 (5.7%) for BAL fluid. CONCLUSIONS: Nasopharyngeal aspirate and BAL fluid appear to permit increased detection of the respiratory viruses compared with throat swab or tracheal aspirate. However, throat swab may be good specimen for the detection of influenza virus and parainfluenza virus.
Adenoviridae ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; Incidence ; Korea ; Orthomyxoviridae ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; Pharynx ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; Respiratory System ; Respiratory Tract Infections*

BACKGROUND: A high proportion of currently isolated gram-negative bacilli are resistant to beta-lactams by producing beta-lactamases. beta-lactam and beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations have been successfully used to overcome the resistance. In this study, in vitro antimicrobial activity of a new combination, cefatrizine-clavulanic acid, was determined against gram-negative bacilli isolated from community-acquired urinary track infections. METHODS: Nonduplicate strains of Enterobacteriaceae, isolated in 2003 from urine specimens of outpatients and inpatients of less than 3 hospital days at Severance Hospital, were tested by the NCCLS agar dilution method. RESULTS: Of a total of 204 isolates, 144 (71%) were Escherichia coli and 30 (15%) were Klebsiella spp. MIC50 and MIC90 of cefatrizine for E. coli were 2 microgram/mL and 16 microgram/mL, respectively. MIC90s of both cefaclor and cefoxitin were also 16 g/mL. MIC50 and MIC90 of cefatrizine-clavulanic acid for E. coli were 1 microgram/mL and 4 microgram/mL, respectively, which were 1/2-1/4 of those of cefaclor and cefoxitin. For Klebsiella spp., MIC90 of cefatrizine was 4 microgram/mL with an MIC range of 1->128 microgram/mL, whereas that of cefatrizine-clavulanic acid was 2 microgram/mL with an MIC range of 0.5-32 microgram/mL. In vitro activity of cefatrizine-clavulanic acid was higher than that of cefatrizine. CONCLUSIONS: Improved in vitro activity of cefatrizine-clavulanic acid against isolates of E. coli and Klebsiella spp. from community-acquired urinary track infection suggested that the combination is useful for an empirical treatment of the infection.
Agar ; beta-Lactamases ; beta-Lactams ; Cefaclor ; Cefatrizine ; Cefoxitin ; Enterobacteriaceae ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Klebsiella ; Outpatients

Common clinical manifestations in patients with IgG subclass deficiency include recurrent respiratory tract infection, recurrent otitis media and sinopulmonary infection by virus or bacteria. The administration of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has been regarded as the most effective therapy in these patients. We experienced a 22-year-old patient with IgG3 subclass deficiency and recurrent fungal infection of oral cavity and lips. IVIG was given at 0.2g/kg/dose twice a month for 6 months. After treatment with IVIG, the patient improved clinically.
Bacteria ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G* ; Immunoglobulins ; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous ; Lip ; Mouth* ; Otitis Media ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Young Adult

Epidemiological data of Bordetella pertussis infection among adolescents and adults are limited in Korea. Patients (> or = 11 yr of age) with a bothersome cough for less than 30 days were enrolled during a 1-yr period at 22 hospitals in Korea. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and for bacteriologic culture. In total, 490 patients were finally enrolled, and 34 (6.9%) patients tested positive for B. pertussis; cough duration (14.0 days [7.0-21.0 days]) and age distribution were diverse. The incidence was the highest in secondary referral hospitals, compared to primary care clinics or tertiary referral hospitals (24/226 [10.6%] vs. 3/88 [3.4%] vs. 7/176 [4.0%], P = 0.012), and the peak incidence was observed in February and August (15.8% and 15.9%), with no confirmed cases between March and June. In the multivariate analysis, post-tussive vomiting was significantly associated with pertussis (odds ratio, 2.508; 95% confidence interval, 1.146-5.486) and secondary referral hospital showed a borderline significance. In conclusion, using a PCR-based method, 6.9% of adolescent and adult patients with an acute cough illness had pertussis infection in an outpatient setting. However, hospital levels and seasonal trends must be taken into account to develop a better strategy for controlling pertussis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Bordetella pertussis/*genetics ; Child ; DNA, Bacterial/*analysis ; Demography ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Odds Ratio ; *Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Seasons ; Vomiting/etiology ; Whooping Cough/*epidemiology/microbiology/pathology ; Young Adult