PCR is known to be the most sensitive method for diagnosing Trichomonas vaginalis infections. This study aimed to compare the sensitivity of a PCR assay for trichomoniasis (HY-PCR) developed in Hanyang University with the use of a Seeplex Ace Detection Kit®, using urine collected from four Korean men with prostatic disease. Overall, HY-PCR was more sensitive than the Seeplex Kit. The use of Chelex 100 is recommended for DNA isolation in order to increase the sensitivity of the PCR test.
DNA ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prostatic Diseases ; Trichomonas vaginalis ; Trichomonas

BACKGROUND:Genetic factors, environment, chronic infection, and autoimmune disorders are considered to be involved in the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis. Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Ethnic and regional diversity of differentialy expressed genes has become research hotspot because of family aggregation and ethnic diversity of ankylosing spondylitis.
OBJECTIVE:To screen differentialy expressed genes in Xinjiang Uygur and Han patients with ankylosing spondylitis by microarray screening and compare differences in gene expressions.
METHODS: Uygur and Han patients with active ankylosing spondylitis in department of rheumatology of our hospital were randomly colected with five patients for each. In addition, three healthy volunteers were selected as controls. RNA from peripheral blood was extracted and used for microarray hybridization after probe preparation to screen differentialy expressed genes in ankylosing spondylitis samples and the microarray results were verified by semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Twenty differentialy expressed miRNAs were screened in Uygur and Han patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (P < 0.05). From relationship analysis of target genes and miRNAs, 15 target genes corresponding to the 79 miRNAs involved in human leucocyte antigens and interleukins which linked to human immunity system were found. These findings suggest that differentialy expressed genes can be screened from Uygur and Han patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

BACKGROUND:Because the geographical environment and diet cause obesity and osteoarthritis in Xinjiang Uygur local patients, the number of patients became more. At present, more and more patients received artificial knee replacement. How to master and further apply the technology of soft tissue balance during artificial knee replacement in patients of different physical fitness and nations becomes the focus of many scholars. OBJECTIVE:To analyze the clinical efficacy of soft tissue balance in Xinjiang Uygur patients with knee valgus in total knee replacement. METHODS:A total of 60 cases (72 knees) with severe knee osteoarthritis with a certain degree of knee valgus were subjected to total knee replacement through anterior lateral approach and individualized soft tissue balance from February 2009 to December 2010. Folow-up mode was the clinic visit. X-ray was used to measure tibiofemoral angle (i.e., the supplementary angle of the included angle between anatomic axis of femur and tibia). Clinical score and functional score of American knee society knee score were applied to assess knee joint function. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:A total of 57 patients were folowed up for 6-35 months. The tibiofemoral angle decreased from 27.9° preoperatively to 5.6° postoperatively. Clinical score of American knee society knee score elevated from 16.7 points preoperatively to 87.5 postoperatively. Functional score of American knee society knee score elevated from 7.9 points preoperatively to 85.2 postoperatively. Significant differences in preoperative and final folow-up scores were detected (P < 0.01). Valgus deformity was corrected and joint stability was good in 57 patients after replacement. These findings indicate that in patients with severe knee osteoarthritis and valgus deformity, to select individualized treatment of soft tissue balance can effectively correct soft tissue imbalance and get more satisfactory clinical results.

PURPOSE: The biggest problem of wound healing is a possible occurrence of lesion. Especially, in the case of patients who have a skin injury around exposed body parts, if their treatment period drag on for long time, they can suffer from after-effects and the costs can be passed on to a society. Therefore, in this research, we investigated the need to develop the effective medicine and appliances for the patients by examining which therapy methods are being applying to the skin damage and what is the advantage and limit by evaluating the patient's satisfaction level. METHODS: We carried out an online and offline survey targeting medical teams in order to analyze device for wound care. A total of 125 medical teams applied to the research, and investigate the level of customer satisfaction. RESULTS: The moist dressings are the most used method for wound healing. When it comes to the level of customer satisfaction, biological dressing product also has a high satisfaction level. However its high cost tends to limit the use. CONCLUSION: This research reached a conclusion that it is need to develop a low cost and high efficiency wound care product considering the fact that its high cost and low efficiency induced economic problems. Generally, it is needed to develop a product for skin regeneration based on biological technologies, not a product just for damage cure.
Bandages ; Biological Dressings ; Human Body ; Humans ; Methods ; Regeneration ; Skin ; Wound Healing ; Wounds and Injuries*

PURPOSE: Fiber-optic bronchoscopy is widely used for early diagnosis of inhalation injury. The aim of the study was to ascertain whether a correlation could be shown between bronchoscopic and pathologic grading. METHODS: One hundred seventy patients who underwent bronchoscopy with suspicious inhalation injury were review retrospectively from January 2008 to December 2009. The patients were divided into four groups (normal, mild, moderate, severe) according to bronchoscopic and pathologic findings respectively. RESULTS: Diagnosis of an inhalation burn was confirmed in 142/170 patients, of whom upon initial assessment an inhalation trauma was suspected. Bronchoscopic grading was noted: mild (n=109), 56 ALI (51.4%), 18 ARDS (16.5%); moderate (n=31), 22 ALI (71.0%), 13 ARDS (41.9%); severe (n=2), 2 ALI (100%). Pathologic grading was noted: mild (n=131), 77 ALI (58.8%), 27 ARDS (20.6%); moderate (n=4), 2 ALI (50%), 1 ARDS (25%); severe (n=1), 1 ALI (100%). Consistency of two groups was not significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Any burn patient highly suspicious for inhalation injury should receive an early bronchoscopy for diagnosis and treatment. Fiber-optic bronchoscopy is a safe and effective method for early diagnosis of inhalation injuries. The consensus of classification about inhalation injury will be developed.
Bronchoscopy ; Burns ; Burns, Inhalation ; Consensus ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.

Thyroid carcinogenesis is accompanied by loss of thyroid-specific functions and refractory to radioiodine and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression therapy. Redifferentiating agents have been shown to inhibit tumor growth and improve the response to conventional therapy. Polyphenol phytochemicals (PPs) in fruits and vegetables have been reported to inhibit cancer initiation, promotion, progression and induce redifferentiation in selected types. In this study we examined PPs induce redifferentiation in thyroid cancer cell lines. We investigated the effects of genistein, resveratrol, quercetin, kaempferol, and resorcinol on the F9 embryonal carcinoma cell differentiation model. The thyroid cancer cell lines, TPC-1, FTC-133, NPA, FRO, and ARO, displayed growth inhibition in response to genistein, resveratrol, quercetin. We further demonstrated that genistein decreased the dedifferention marker CD97 in NPA cells and resveratrol decreased CD97 in FTC-133, NPA, FRO cells and quercetin decreased CD97 in all cell lines. We observed increased expression of differentiation marker NIS in FTC-133 cells in response to genistein, and resveratrol but no change in NPA, FRO, ARO cells. Quercetin increased or induced NIS in FTC-133, NPA, FRO cells. These findings suggest that PPs may provide a useful therapeutic intervention in thyroid cancer redifferentiation therapy.
Antigens, CD/metabolism ; Antineoplastic Agents/*pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Embryonal/*drug therapy/metabolism ; Cell Differentiation/*drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/*drug effects ; Flavonoids/*pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Genistein/pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Humans ; Kaempferols/pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Models, Biological ; Phenols/*pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Quercetin/pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Resorcinols/pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Stilbenes/pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Symporters/metabolism ; Thyroid Neoplasms/*drug therapy/metabolism

BACKGROUND: Inpatient smoking cessation programs have been known to be quite effective for smoking cessation, but it was rarely conducted among Koreans. This study was to investigate the effect of inpatient smoking cessation program among Korean smokers. METHODS: From March 1 to April 30, 2008, we carried out a randomized controlled trial for inpatient smoking cessation program among 70 smokers who were 18 years of age or over and admitted to a university hospital in Seoul, Korea. For the intervention group, a trained doctor conducted the systematic educational program for smoking cessation of 30 minutes to an hour. For the control group, they were advised with a 3-minute explanation for smoking cessation. We assessed the abstinence rates of study participants at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after discharge. RESULTS: In 3 months after the discharge, the abstinence rate for the intervention group was 37.1% while that of the control group was 14.3%. In simple logistic regression analysis, the smokers among the intervention group were 3.5 times more likely to abstain than those in the control group. After controlling for confounding factors, the smokers among the intervention group was 11.4 times more likely to abstain than those in the control group. CONCLUSION: For Korean smokers, the inpatient smoking cessation program showed a higher success rate of abstinence compared to simple advice and limited counselling.
Humans ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Smoking Cessation

PURPOSE: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the allergic disease which appears during infancy. This study aimed to find associations between clinical parameters, allergen sensitization and severity of AD in chidren under 2 years. METHODS: Two hundred fifteen patients (123 boys, 92 girls) under 2 years with severe AD who visited the department of pediatrics of Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital and Asan Medical Center were enrolled. We checked the severity scoring of atopic dermatitis (SCORAD), total eosinophil count, eosinophil ratio, eosionphil cationic protein (ECP), total IgE and specific IgE to 12 allergens [egg white, milk, soybean, peanut, wheat, fish, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (D.p), Dermatophagoides farinae (D.f), dog, cat, cockroach, alternaria]. Atopic AD was defined as serum total IgE 200 IU/mL or specific IgE positive. RESULTS: The mean of SCORAD was 69.0. Atopic AD was 161 (75%). There were no differences in age between atopic and non-atopic AD. However, SCORAD, IgE, eosinophil, and ECP were the higher in atopic AD. Sensitization to food allergen was the highest in egg white (76.4%), followed by milk (58.4%) and aeroallergens such as D.f (49.1%) and D.p (46.6%). The more the number of sensitized food allergens, the higher the SCORAD appeared. However, it did not show any relationships with the number of sensitized aeroallergens. CONCLUSION: The percentage and severity were higher in atopic AD than non-atopic AD. The number of sensitized to food allergen affect the severity. Therefore, understanding the sensitization to food allergens may be more helpful in predicting severity than sensitization to aeroallergen. In cases of positive reaction to aeroallergens, it is necessary to observe the development of respiratory allergic disease.
Allergens ; Animals ; Cats ; Child ; Cockroaches ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Dermatophagoides farinae ; Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus ; Dogs ; Egg White ; Eosinophils ; Heart ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Milk ; Pediatrics ; Soybeans ; Triticum

PURPOSE: Severe burn patients are easily exposed to infection due to immune compromise and loss of skin barrier. But in spite of advances in burn treatment, complication due to infection has significant influence in mortality and morbidity. Broad spectrum antibiotics are used empirically to reduce bacterial infection in severe burn patients but results in suppression of normal flora and mucosal damage in intestine which facilitates fungal growth. We investigated the incidence, frequent onset time, characteristics of patients with candidemia and found appropriate time for use of antifungal agents and treatment of infection. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of patients who were admitted to Hangang sacred heart hospital burn ICU between January 2007 and December 2008. RESULTS: In 2007 395 patients were admitted to BICU and 66 patients (16.7%) had fungal infection. In 2008 331 patients were admitted to BICU and 77 patients (23.3%) had fungal infection. Fungus was isolated in blood culture in 22 patients (5.6%) and 7 patients (2.1%) in 2007 and 2008 respectively. 20 patients out of 28 patients with candidemia received ventilator care (p=0.037), mean stay in ICU was 52.2 days in patients with positive blood culture compared with 36.5 days in patients with negative blood culture (p=0.049). Mortality in candidemia patients was 42.9% (p=0.022) which was high. CONCLUSION: Candidemia frequently occurs in patients receiving ventilator care, and as stay in ICU lengthens financial burden increases and results in higher mortality and morbidity. Lowering morbidity through strict infection control and monitoring is needed.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Antifungal Agents ; Bacterial Infections ; Burns ; Candida ; Candidemia ; Fungi ; Heart ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infection Control ; Intestines ; Medical Records ; Skin ; Ventilators, Mechanical