A case of recurrent urinary tract infection by cysteine-requiring Escherichia coli in a 5-years-old child with congenital vesicoureteral reflux is described. This bacterium was not grown on MacConkey agar plate for overnight culture, and after 48hrs, tiny colonies were observed. These colonies were not identified by VITEK2 and Walkaway 96i without cysteine supplementation. The isolate was susceptible for cefotetan, ciprofloxacin and imipenem, and resistant for piperacillin/tazobactam, cephalothin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, amikacin, gentamicin, and tobramycin.

Arcanobacterium haemolyticum was usually isolated from respiratory infection. Occasionally, the cases were reported to cause pharyngotonsillitis, cellutitis, and abscess. A. haemolyticum is V form gram-positive bacilli (coryneform bacilli), which isoften considered to be non-pathogenic normal flora or contaminants in respiratory, skin and wound infection. In order to discriminate from normal flora, incubation for at least 48 hours is recommended. We describe a case that A. haemolyticum was isolated from cellulitis with group G ${\beta}$-hemolytic Streptococcus, Klebsiella pneumoniae ssp. pneumoniae, and Prevotella disiens.

Epidermophyton floccosum was known to be a frequently isolated dermatophyte agent of dermatophytosis in Korea, which regularly responsible for a small percentage of tinea cruris, tinea pedis, tinea corporis and onychomycosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate epidemiologic aspects of E. floccosum isolated in 71 patients from January 1998 to December 2007. The incidence of E. floccosum. was 0.07% out of a total of 107,026 dermatophytosis. The ratio of male to female patients was 6.9:1. Involved tinea were tinea cruris 44 (62.0%), tinea pedis 20 (28.2%), tinea corporis 2 (2.8%), tinea manus 2 (2.8%), tinea unguium 2 (2.8%), tinea faciale 1 (1.4%).

HbA1c is the major fraction of glycated hemoglobin, and used primarily to identify the average plasma glucose concentration over prolonged periods of time, mostly 2-3 months. It is used as markers for the diagnosis and monitoring of diabetic patients and increasingly used a marker in health screening check up for general populations. In this study, HbA1c was measured with Cobas integra 800 (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany), using immunoturbidimetry principles. We established the reference interval for HbA1c with Cobas integra 800 and evaluated its significance. The study subjects were 36,140 (male 57.5%, and female 42.2%) who visited the Health Promotion Center of a tertiary care center in Seoul for health checkup from January to September, 2008. HbA1c levels were measured with immunoturbidimetric method. Statistical evaluation was done with SPSS. Comparison between male and female was checked with Mann-Whitney test, and among age groups with Kruskal-Wallis test. Reference interval for HbA1c was from 4.8% to 6.1%. There was no significant difference between male and female with Mann-Whitney test (P=0.539). There was significant difference among age groups with Kruskal-Wallis test (P<0.05). Reference interval for HbA1c with Cobas integra 800 was 4.8~6.1%, which was different from conventional one, 4.4-6.4%. Establishment of reference interval for each principle is needed.

In order to provide basic data for the prevention of adverse effects of lead on health, we examined lead levels in the blood of 30 handicapped workers employed in manufacturing electronic components in Seoul from 2002 to 2008. The average lead level in the blood of all the subjects was $4.79{\pm}4.32{\mu}g/dL$ in females, $2.64{\pm}2.31{\mu}g/dL$ in males, and $3.88{\pm}3.75{\mu}g/dL$ in total. Lead levels examined in this study were significantly lower than other investigators study have reported. The average lead level from personal exposure of the subjects was $1.44{\pm}0.91mg/m^3$ in the workplace. The relation between blood lead levels and personal exposure was a simple linear regression; it's equation was "Lead level in blood = 6.04 - 1.92 lead level by personal exposure".

It would be one of the most important tests that determination of semen in crime scene as a matter of significant evidences. Recently, it has been developed for the identification of semen in forensic specimens which was used simply, easily and reproductively. In this study, Prostate-Specific-Antigen (PSA) Rapid Test kit was evaluated for the forensic identification of semen and compared with one step semen inspection forensic rapid test kit. The sensitivity and specificity of the rapid PSA kit were examined in addition to the stability of PSA. The positive band of rapid PSA kit shown even with 1,000,000-fold diluted semen, which was at least 100 timed higher than qualitative one step semen inspection forensic rapid test kit. PSA was detected in urine from normal male adult, however, it was not detected in urine from young boys and female body fluids. It was shown that PSA was very stable to resist boiling for 20 minutes and the effect of bacteria. In crime scene investigation, rapid PSA kit is expected to help to identify semen easily in the evidences.

This study was undertaken to examine the effect of oxidants on membrane transport function in renal epithelial cells. Hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) was used as a model oxidant and the membrane transport function was evaluated by measuring $Na^+$-dependent phosphate ($Na^+$-Pi) uptake in opossum kidney (OK) cells. $H_2O_2$ inhibited $Na^+$-Pi uptake in a dose-dependent manner. The oxidant also caused loss of cell viability in a dose-dependent fashion. However, the extent of inhibition of the uptake was larger than that in cell viability. $H_2O_2$ inhibited $Na^+$-dependent uptake without any effect on $Na^+$-independent uptake. $H_2O_2$-induced inhibition of $Na^+$-Pi uptake was prevented completely by catalase, dimethylthiourea, and deferoxamine, suggesting involvement of hydroxyl radical generated by an iron-dependent mechanism. In contrast, antioxidants Trolox, N,N'-diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine, and butylated hydroxyanisole did not affect the $H_2O_2$ inhibition. Kinetic analysis indicated that $H_2O_2$ decreased Vmax of $Na^+$-Pi uptake with no change in the Km value. Phosphonoformic acid binding assay did not show any difference between control and $H_2O_2$-treated cells. $H_2O_2$ also did not cause degradation of $Na^+$-Pi transporter protein. Reduction in $Na^+$-Pi uptake by $H_2O_2$ was associated with ATP depletion and direct inhibition of $Na^+$-$K^+$-ATPase activity. These results indicate that the effect of $H_2O_2$ on membrane transport function in OK cells is associated with reduction in functional $Na^+$-pump activity. In addition, the inhibitory effect of $H_2O_2$ was not associated with lipid peroxidation.