BACKGROUND: Rotavirus activity in Korea has been reported beginning in October, peak in November, continuing in winter and ending in spring. But the peak month and the incidence of rotavirus seems to be changed recently. So we investigated the trends of rotavirus activity for the last 10 years in Hanyang University Hospital (HUH). Also latex agglutination test was compared with automated enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay for the detection of rotavirus in stool specimens. METHODS: Stool specimens (3,636 from HUH, 1989-1998; 1,171 from Hanyang University Kuri hospital, HUKH, 1996-1998) from pediatric patients with acute diarrhea were tested for rotavirus,. Sixty specimens were tested by latex agglutination test (Sliders Rota-kit 2, bioMerieux Vitek, France) and enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay (VIDAS Rotavirus, bioMerieux Vitek, France) according to the instructions from the manufacturer. RESULTS: The annual incidence of rotavirus diarrhea from 1989 to 1998 was 47%, 32%, 33%, 25%, 26%, 24%, 24%, 17%, 17%, 14%, respectively. Positive rate of rotavirus was 25% for the 10year period in HUH, 20% for the recent 3 years in HUKH. Peak month was November (46%) in the first 5 year, but November incidence decreased to 17% in the last 5 year, and the peak moved to January, February, and March (34%, 35%, 33%, respectively). Epidemic period was from October to February during the first 5 year, but from December to April during the last 5 year period. The agreement rate of the two methods was 90% and VIDAS Rotavirus showed significantly higher sensitivity compared to Sliders Rota-kit 2. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of rotavirus diarrhea decreased gradually for the last 10 years and the peak month of rotavirus activity was changed from November to January, February, and March. The VIDAS Rotavirus was more sensitive than the Sliders Rota-kit 2 for the detection of rotavirus in stool.
Diarrhea ; Epidemiology ; Gastroenteritis* ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Latex Fixation Tests ; Rotavirus*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Microscopy, Electron* ; Muscle Fibers, Skeletal* ; Muscle, Skeletal* ; Rats*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Muscle Fibers, Skeletal* ; Muscle, Skeletal* ; Rats*

PURPOSE: Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer in Korean women, and recently its incidence has rapidly increased. The purpose of this study was to show the survival rate and prognostic factors for breast cancer in Korean women. METHODS: Nine hundred and eighty nine consecutive breast cancer patients, first diagnosed at the Dongsan Medical Center, Keimyung University between January 1990 and December 2001, were included in this study. RESULTS: The peak incidence occurred in the 40's age group, and the average age at diagnosis was 48.1 years old. Forty four patients (4.4%) were in stage 0, 218 (22.0%) in stage I, 572 (57.9%) in stage II, 112 (11.4%) in stage III, and 22 (2.2%) in stage IV. The 5 and 10 year disease free and overall survival rates were 73.8 and 68.8 and 79.7% and 65.4%, respectively. A univariate analysis of the prognostic factors showed that age, tumor size and number of metastatic lymph nodes were statistically significant. A multivariate analysis showed that the the number of metastatic lym, ph nodes was the most significant factor for the time to recurrence and overall mortality. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the peak age of the breast cancer patients in Korea was younger than that seen in Western countries, and the survival rates were similar, despite our patients being comprised of a smaller proportion of early breast cancers. The age at time of diagnosis, tumor size, and number of axillary lymph nodes involved were confirmed to have independent influence on the overall survival and disease free survival rates.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Diagnosis ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Incidence ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate*

PURPOSE: The stati of estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) have been established as useful prognostic and predictive factors in the clinical management of women with breast cancer. This study was designed to correlate the presence of hormonal receptors with the established clinicopathological parameters, including age, tumor size, nodal status, stage, p53 and c-erbB-2 stati and to assess the prognostic significance of the hormonal receptors stati. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted of all the breast cancer patients with known ER and PR stati between 1983 and 2002 at the Dongsan Medical center. The clinical features and pathological and immunohistochemistry reports were reviewed, and the ER and PR stati compared with the clinicopathological factors using independent sample T-tests, cross-tabulation, chi-square tests, and a one way ANNOVA. A survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier method and log rank tests. RESULTS: Of 893 patients, 443 (49.6%) and 435 (48.5%) were ER-positive and PR-positive, respectively. The ratios of the patients with ER+PR+, ER+PR-, ER-PR+ and ER-ER- were 37.1, 12.5, 11.6 and 38.7%, respectively. The ER status was not related to the age, tumor size, nodal status, stage and c-erbB-2 status. The ER-negative patients had significantly more frequent overexpression p53 gene than the ER-positive patients (P=0.000). The PR status was not related to the age, nodal status, stage and c-erbB-2 status, but the average tumor size was larger in the PR-negative than the PR-positive patients (P=0.02). The PR-negative patients also had significantly more frequent overexpression p53 gene than the PR-positive patients (P= 0.000). The ER-positive or PR-positive patients had a better prognosis than the ER-negative and PR-negative patients (P=0.000). CONCLUSION: The hormonal receptors stati were not definitely related to the clinicopathological factors including the age, tumor size, lymph node status, stage, c-erbB-2 status, with the exception of p53 overexpression. A positive hormonal receptor status was a good prognostic factor.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Equidae* ; Estrogens ; Female ; Genes, p53 ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymph Nodes ; Prognosis ; Receptors, Progesterone ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: Microdeletion syndromes not detectable by conventional cytogenetic analysis have been reported to occur in approximately 5% of patients with unexplained mental retardation (MR). Therefore, it is essential to ensure that patients with MR are screened for these microdeletion syndromes. Mental retardation syndrome multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MRS-MLPA) is a new technique for measuring sequence dosages that allows for the detection of copy number changes of several microdeletion syndromes (1p36 deletion syndrome, Williams syndrome, Smith-Magenis syndrome, Miller-Dieker syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome, Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome, Alagille syndrome, Saethre-Chotzen syndrome, and Sotos syndrome) to be processed simultaneously, thus significantly reducing the amount of laboratory work. METHODS: We assessed the performance of MLPA (MRC-Holland, The Netherlands) for the detection of microdeletion syndromes by comparing the results with those generated using FISH assays. MLPA analysis was carried out on 12 patients with microdeletion confirmed by FISH (three DiGeorge syndrome, four Williams syndrome, four Prader-Willi syndrome, and one Miller-Dieker syndrome). RESULTS: The results of MLPA analysis showed a complete concordance with FISH in 12 patients with microdeletion syndromes. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of these results, we conclude that MLPA is an accurate, reliable, and cost-effective alternative to FISH in the screening for microdeletion syndromes.
*Chromosome Deletion ; Classical Lissencephalies and Subcortical Band Heterotopias/genetics ; DiGeorge Syndrome/genetics ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence/*methods ; Laboratories, Hospital ; Mental Retardation/*diagnosis/genetics ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques/*methods ; Prader-Willi Syndrome/genetics ; Williams Syndrome/genetics

PURPOSE: A fibroadenoma is a very common benign breast tumor, which has been reported to be present in 7 to 13% of patients examined in breast clinics. This study was carried out, at a university hospital in Daegu, Korea, to find the clinical manifestations and characteristics of fibroadenomas in Korean women. METHODS: Four hundred and sixty-four patients, with pathological diagnosis of fibroadenomas, who underwent excisional biopsies, between January 1996 and December 2001, were included in this study. Clinical manifestations, diagnoses, including the sonographic findings, and the clinical characteristics, including the mean age of the patients at the time of diagnosis, tumor siz and location, and the solitary or multiple nature of the tumor, were analysed. RESULTS: The most common symptom was a palpable mass in the breast. In the majority of patients (81.5%), a mass was the only symptom, but the breast mass was associated with breast pain in only 8.8% of patients. Diagnosis was usually made from the characteristic clinical and sonographic findings. Frozen section examinations were rarely necessary for the differentiation from a carcinoma. The mean age of the patients was 34 years, but 34% of the women were aged 40 or older. Left sided fibroadenomas were slightly more common than those of the right. Bilateral tumors were found in 9.3% of patients. The most common locations of the breast tumors were the upper outer quadrant, followed by the center and upper inner quadrant. The mean size of the tumor was 2.35 cm. CONCLUSION: The clinical manifestations in Korean women were similar to those in Western reports, but the age at diagnosis was older in this study.
Biopsy ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Daegu ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fibroadenoma* ; Frozen Sections ; Humans ; Korea ; Mastodynia ; Ultrasonography

Elevated plasma homocysteine is an independent risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. Exercise is generally believed to reduce the plasma homocysteine levels and therefore, being beneficial for cardiovascular disease(CVD). However, there is a possibility that athletes undergoing strenuous training and competition which increase oxidative stress may suffer from increased plasma homocysteine levels. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of endurance training on the plasma concentrations of B vitamins and homocysteine in 23 male adolescent field hockey players. Data collection and blood sampling was performed during the training period and non-training period. Following the training period, significant changes in energy and vitamin B6 intakes were observed in these subjects. Plasma vitamin B2, pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) and homocysteine levels were significantly higher during the training period than non-training period, whereas no difference was observed in plasma folate and vitamin B12 levels. Positive correlation was observed between plasma folate and folic acid intakes. When energy, B vitamin intakes were adjusted there was a significant negative correlation between plasma homocysteine levels and plasma riboflavin, folate and vitamin B12 levels. In conclusion, it is suggested that athletes with oxidative stress by strenuous exercise may need B vitamins since riboflavin, folic acid and vitamin B12 were shown to be negatively correlated with plasma homocysteine in athletes during the training period.
Adolescent* ; Athletes ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Data Collection ; Folic Acid ; Hockey* ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Male* ; Oxidative Stress ; Plasma* ; Pyridoxal Phosphate ; Riboflavin ; Risk Factors ; Vitamin B 12 ; Vitamin B 6 ; Vitamin B Complex ; Vitamins*

BACKGROUND: Skin organ culture is widely used as a tool to investigate skin biology or skin disease. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to develop an ideal skin organ culture model for evaluation of melanin pigmentation. METHODS: An air-liquid interface and submerged method were used. The histology of the cultured skin was studied with H&E stain. To examine the epidermal pigmentation, Fontana-Masson stain and NKI/beteb stain were performed. Pigment modifiers (arbutin, LY294002) were applied to the culture medium for 3 days as an air-liquid interface culture. RESULTS: The general architecture of the skin was well maintained for 5 days. The melanin pigment decreased during culture without change of the number of melanocytes. As expected from previous reports, the effect of pigment modifiers (arbutin, LY294002) on cultured skin was demonstrated. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that this skin organ culture model is useful in evaluating the melanin pigmentation
Biology ; Melanins* ; Melanocytes ; Organ Culture Techniques* ; Pigmentation* ; Skin Diseases ; Skin*

Foreign body aspiration is most likely to occur in children and in adults aged above 60 years, causing a respiratory emergency, such as airway closure. It is diagnosed based on a history of aspiration, presenting symptoms, and radiographic findings. The treatment may include removal of the foreign body via bronchoscopy or surgery. Here, we report a rare case of bronchial aspiration of a foreign body, confirmed with clinical and radiographic examinations, in a 57-year-old patient. The patient was transferred for treatment; however, spontaneous passage of the foreign body to the gastrointestinal tract led to its removal from the bronchus.
Adult ; Bronchi ; Bronchoscopy ; Child ; Emergencies ; Foreign Bodies ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Respiratory Aspiration