No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant, Newborn*

OBJECTIVES: To prevent progression to fatal asthma it is essential to assess the severity of asthma and treat adequetely. But there was no objective index to evaluate the severity of airway inflammation in asthmatic patients, So we evaluated that serum ECP concentration is a objective parameter of airway inflammation in patients with acute severe asthmatic attack. METHODS: We measured the parameters of asthamtic severtity(clinical parameter, FEV1, arterial blood gas, peripheral blood eosinophil counts, and serum ECP levels) before and after antiasthmatic treatment in 9patients with acute severe asthmatic attack, And we compared serum ECP concentrations of severe asthmatic patients with those of control patients with mild to moderate severity. RESULTS: 1) The serum ECP levels in patients with acute asthmatic attacks compared to patients with mild to moderate, asthmatic severity were significantly increased. 2) The serum ECP levels and pheriperal blood eosinophil counts 2hours after antiasthmatic treatment were significantly lower than the value before treatment, but the total scores of clinical parameter, FEV1, and scores of arterial blood gases were not significantly different from the basal values, CONCLUSION: It is suggested that the serum ECP level is a objective parameter as a response to antiasthmatic treatment as well as a severity of airway inflammation in patients with acute asthmatic attack.
Asthma ; Eosinophil Cationic Protein* ; Eosinophils ; Gases ; Humans ; Inflammation

The authors performed cycloplegic refraction in premature infants at the 6 months and 3 years of age to evaluate the incidence and degree of myopia and the changes of refractive errors according to the development, disease course and cryotherapy of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). In 180 eyes of 99 infants at the 6 months of age, the incidences of myopia were not different between eyes with no ROP and eyes with spontaneously regressed ROP (36.3%, 25.5%), and the degrees of myopia were low in both groups (-1.76D, - 2.25D). In eyes with regressed ROP after cryotherapy, the incidence of myopia was high (75.5%) but the degree of myopia low (-3.0:3D). In eyes with cicatrical ROP, cryotreated or not, both of the incidence and the degree of myopia were high(93.9%, -5.50D). It is suggested that the incidence of myopia is increased after cryotherapy but the degree of myopia occurring after cryotherapy is low. In eyes with spontaneously regressed ROP, the degrees of refractive errors did not change from 6 months to 3 years of age, whereas in eyes cryotreated or with cicatrical ROP, the degrees of refractive errors were progressively changed to myopic side.
Cryotherapy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature* ; Myopia* ; Refractive Errors ; Retinopathy of Prematurity

No abstract available.
Animals ; Female ; In Situ Hybridization ; Mice* ; Ovary*

Apert syndrome is an uncommon congenital disorder characterized by malformation of the skull in association with symmetrical syndactyly of both hands and feet. This syndrome is autosornal dominant. The original description was presented by Apert in 1906. Since then more than 200 cases have been reported in the world. Recently, we experienced a case of newhorn male infant with congenital anomalies of the skull and extremities. Molecular biologically, he was found to have Ser252Try mutation in the FGFR2 exonIIIa. A brief review of literature was made.
Acrocephalosyndactylia ; Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities ; Extremities ; Fibroblast Growth Factors* ; Fibroblasts* ; Foot ; Hand ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 2* ; Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor* ; Skull ; Syndactyly

We have synthesized a novel platinum(II) coordination complex containing cis-1,2-diaminocyclohexane (DACH) as a carrier ligand and 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) as a leaving group. In addition, nitrate was added to improve the water-solubility. A new series of (Pt(cis-DACH)(DCE)) cntdot 2NO3(PC) was evaluated for its cytotoxic activity on T-24 and J-82 human bladder carcinoma cells and normal primary cultured kidney cells. PC has demonstrated high levels of cytotoxicity against T-24 and J-82 cells. The cytotoxicity of PC against rabbit proximal renal tubular cells, human renal cortical cells and human renal cortical tissues, determined using the MTT assaying technique, the (3H)-thymidine uptake and glucose consumption tests, was found to be quite less than those of cisplatin. Based on these results, this novel platinum(II) coordination complex appears to be better for improving antitumor activities with low nephrotoxicity and is a valuable lead in the development of new clinically available anticancer chemotherapeutic agents.
Cell Line* ; Cisplatin ; Glucose ; Humans* ; Kidney* ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder*

No abstract available.
Cholera* ; Korea*

Background: Bats have been considered natural reservoirs for several pathogenic human coronaviruses (CoVs) in the last two decades. Recently, a bat CoV was detected in the Republic of Korea; its entire genome was sequenced and reported to be genetically similar to that of the severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV). Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare the genetic sequences of SARSCoV, SARS-CoV-2, and the two Korean bat CoV strains 16BO133 and B15-21, to estimate the likelihood of an interaction between the Korean bat CoVs and the human angiotensinconverting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. Methods: The phylogenetic analysis was conducted with the maximum-likelihood (ML) method using MEGA 7 software. The Korean bat CoVs receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein was analyzed by comparative homology modeling using the SWISS-MODEL server. The binding energies of the complexes were calculated using PRODIGY and MM/GBGA. Results: Phylogenetic analyses of the entire RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, spike regions, and the complete genome revealed that the Korean CoVs, along with SARS-CoV and SARSCoV-2, belong to the subgenus Sarbecovirus, within BetaCoVs. However, the two Korean CoVs were distinct from SARS-CoV-2. Specifically, the spike gene of the Korean CoVs, which is involved in host infection, differed from that of SARS-CoV-2, showing only 66.8%–67.0% nucleotide homology and presented deletions within the RBD, particularly within regions critical for cross-species transmission and that mediate interaction with ACE2. Binding free energy calculation revealed that the binding affinity of Korean bat CoV RBD to hACE2 was drastically lower than that of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Conclusions These results suggest that Korean bat CoVs are unlikely to bind to the human ACE2 receptor.

PURPOSE: The usefulness of fast spin-echo MR imaging for the diagnosis of meniscal tear of the knee is amatter of debate. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of diagnosis of meniscal tears by fastspin-echo MR imaging and the role of gadolinium enhancement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between October 1994 andDecember 1996, 68 consecutive patients with arthroscopically proven meniscal tears participated in this study. AllMR examinations performed on a 1.5-T MR imager with an extremity knee coil. All patients underwent sagittal andcoronal MR imaging, using a fast spin-echo sequence with echo train length(ETL) 8. Sagittal and coronal fatsuppressed T1-weighted MR images were obtained after gadolinium infusion. RESULTS: In 68 cases ofarthroscopically-proven meniscal tears, MR sensitivity to tear was 93% (63/68) for fast spin-echo alone and 96%(65/68) for combined fast spin-echo and fat-suppressed gadolinium enhanced T1-weighted MR images. MR sensitivityto medial meniscus tear was 98% (40/41) for fast spin-echo alone and 98% (40/41) for combined fast spin-echo andfat-suppressed gadolinum-enhanced T1-weighted MR images. MR sensitivity to lateral meniscus tear was 85% (23/27)for fast spin-echo alone and 93% (25/27) for combined fast spin-echo and fat-suppressed gadolinium-enhancedT1-weighted MR images. CONCLUSION: Fast spin-echo MR imaging with adequate imaging parameters is suitable for thediagnosis of meniscal tears, and additional fat-suppressed gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted MR imaging may increasediagnostic sensitivity to such tears.
Diagnosis* ; Extremities ; Gadolinium ; Humans ; Knee* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Menisci, Tibial

Botryomycosis is a rare, chronic and suppurative di- sease that is often mistaken clinically and histologically for a fungal infection, because the histologic feature shows a cluster of bacteria found within an eosinophilic matrix or capsule, giving the appearance of granules mimicking the sulfur granules of actinomycosis. Staphy- lococcus aureus is the most common organism cultured from lesions of botryomycosis, but other bacteria have also been isolated and implicated, including Psudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli, Proteus spp., Bacillus spp.. In some case, multiple pathogenic bacteria were found on cul ture. This disease has two patterns of organ involve ment. The more common type is cutaneous type, which involves the skin, subcutaneous soft tissue, muscle and bone. The other is visceral type which involves the lungs, liver, tongue, orbit, bowel, brain, kidney or pros tate. We report a case of brain and pulmonary botry omycosis in a 60 year-old man, who have early lung cancer. Botryomycosis was diagnosed by brain mass removal, PCNA and bronchoscopy, and lung cancer was detected incidentally by bronchoscope. The patient was treated with the Penicillin G after operation of brain mass, and right pneumonectomy was done.
Actinomycosis ; Bacillus ; Bacteria ; Brain ; Bronchoscopes ; Bronchoscopy ; Eosinophils ; Humans ; Kidney ; Liver ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Middle Aged ; Oceans and Seas ; Orbit ; Penicillin G ; Pneumonectomy ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; Proteus ; Skin ; Sulfur ; Tongue