• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.716-722
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• 2005

Purpose : A full view of the spectrum of all bacterial diseases in healthy children is essential to the establishment of public health priorities. Accurate information on the relative importance of the various pathogens in terms of the age of the affected patients, the site of infection and the case fatality rate are valuable to the clinician in choosing antimicrobial treatments. Methods : Fifty-nine episodes of bacteremia were analysed. Data were collected at Ilsan Paik Hospital from January 2000 to December 2003. Analysis of each collected episode included isolating pathogen from blood culture, diagnosis, hospital course, isolating pathogens from other tissue sites, and studying results of antimicrobial sensitivity tests. Results : Fifty-nine cases of community-acquired bacteremia were reviewed. The most common pathogen was Staphylococcus aureus(11 cases, 18.6 percent), followed by Salmonella(10 cases, 16.9 percent), E. coli(7 cases, 11.9 percent), Streptococcus pneumoniae(five cases, 8.5 percent), Streptococcus viridans(5 cases 8.5 percent). The most common diagnosis was bacteremia without an indentified focus(61 percent), followed by meningitis(12 percent), bacteremia with enteritis(10.2 percent) and bacteremia with urinary tract infection(8.5 percent). Salmonella was still an important causative agent of bacteremia. The relative importance of Haemophilus influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae was lower than in other studies. The most common organism responsible for bacteremia without an identified focus was Staphylococcus aureus. The case-fatality was 3.4 percent for all cases of bacteremia. Conclusion : We reviewed the etiology of community-acquired bacteremia. These data may be useful in the establishment of public health priorities and serve as a reference for selection of antibiotics in the empirical therapy of suspected invasive bacterial infection.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.347-352
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• 1998

A study was carried out on the elelctrochemical characteristics of chemically modified electrodes (CMEs) by cyclic voltammetry. Fabrication of CMEs was made by coating with mixed valence (mv) inorganic-metal polymeric films on the glassy carbon electrode surface by potential cycling. Anodic oxidation behavior of methanol and L-ascorbic acid was studied by using CMEs working electrode. Deposition of films such as mv ruthenium oxo/ruthenium cyanide film (mv Ru-O/CN-Ru), mv ruthenium oxo/ferrocyanide film (mv Ru-O/$Fe(CN)_6$), and mv ruthenium oxo/ruthenium cyanide/Rhodium film (mv Ru-O/CN-Ru/Rh) was obtained to coat by scan rate of 50 mV/sec within the specified potential range (-0.5V ~ +1.2V). Film thickness was controlled by the repeat of the potential cycling. Anodic oxidation behavior of methanol was as follow. Calibration graph by using mv Ru-O/CN-Ru film showed linearly from 10 mM to 80 mM MeOH with slope factor of $-7.552{\mu}A/cm^2$. Although slope factor by using mv Ru-O/$Fe(CN)_6$ film was $-5.13{\mu}A/cm^2$, yet linear range of calibration graph could be extended from 10 mM to 100 mM MeOH. Anodic oxidation behavior of L-ascorbic acid was studied by mv Ru-O/CN-Ru film on the glassy carbon electrode and the glassy carbon electrode with Rh film, Glassy carbon electrode modified with Ru polymeric film was showed better sensitivity than the Rh-glassy carbon modified electrode (mv Ru-O/CN-Ru/Rh). Calibration graph was linear from 0.1 mM to 5 mM L-ascorbic acid by using glassy carbon electrode modified with Ru polymeric film. Solpe factor and relative coefficient are $-84.78{\mu}A/mM$ and 0.998, respectively.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.1224-1229
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• 2003

Purpose : Bacterial meningitis is a serious disease, especially in the neonatal period, and it carries a significant degree of mortality and morbidity. Group B streptococcus(GBS) is a common cause of neonatal bacterial meningitis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical manifestations, treatment results and complications of GBS meningitis. Methods : We analyzed 29 cases retrospectively who had been admitted to the pediatric ward or NICU in Asan Medical Center from May 1990 to January 2002. They had proven GBS in culture or latex agglutination test in CSF. Results : The male to female ratio was 1 : 1.9. There were two cases of early onset type and 27 cases of late onset type. All cases had normal birth weight with full term at delivery. The perinatal predisposing factors were premature rupture of membrane(two cases), and maternal colonization(two cases). The most common presenting symptoms were fever and irritability. Associated diseases were GBS sepsis(21 cases). There was relatively high sensitivity to penicillin derivatives. There were abnormal brain CT or MRI findings in 16 cases(64%), such as infarction, encephalomalatic change, effusion, hydrocephalus, hemorrhage and abscess. The intensive care unit admission rate and the incidence of DIC were higher in the group with complications. Two cases were discharged against advice. Conclusion : We recommend early detection and active treatment in Group B streptococcal meningitis to improve the prognosis.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.265-270
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• 2003

Purpose : To characterize the infants under 3 months of age with urinary tract infections(UTIs), and especially patients with bacteremia or meningitis Methods : Hospital records of all the infants under 3 months of age discharged from our hospital for 69 consecutive months with the diagnosis of initial episode of UTI were reviewed. UTI was defined when patients had fever with pyuria, and had urine culture results of ${\geq}10^5$ colony forming units/mL from a bag specimen. Patients with previously known urologic abnormality or immunodeficiency were excluded. Nosocomial infections were also excluded from the study. Results : The male:female ratio was 35 : 6. Of the urine cultures, 40(97.6%) yielded single pathogen, one yielded two pathogens. Escherichia coli was the predominant isolate from the urine. Five patients(12%) also had bacteremia. Pathogens isolated from the blood cultures were E. coli(4) and Enterococcus faecalis(1). No patient had culture-positive meningitis or cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis. Clinical or laboratory findings between patients with and without bacteremia were not different significantly. The rate of vesicoureteral reflux(VUR) was 44%. The sensitivity of ultrasound for detection of VUR was 38%; specificity was 50%. Conclusion : Clinical and laboratory data were not helpful for identifying patients with bacteremia at the time of presentation. Consequently, blood cultures need to be obtained from all febrile infants under 3 months of age with UTIs. A large-scale study including the indication of lumbar puncture for infants with a febrile UTI and study of evaluation and treatment of infants under 3 months of age with UTIs are required.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.590-598
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• 2005

An adequate method to identify chromium separation, Cr(III) and Cr(VI), in water samples were studied by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC) coupled with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectometer(ICP-MS) equipped with Dynamic Reaction Cell(DRC). The characteristic distribution of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in the raw water taken at the six water intake stations in Seoul, was analyzed by the method developed by the authors. The chromium species separated by HPLC was isocratically conducted by using tetrabutylammonium phosphate monobasic(1.0 mM TBAP), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid(0.6 mM EDTA) and 2% v/v methanol as the mobile phase. 5% v/v methanol was used as flushing solvent. A reactive ammonia($NH_3$) gas was used to eliminate the potential interference of $ArC^+$. Several Parameters such as solvent ratio, pH, flow rate and sample injection volume were optimized for the successful separation and reproducibility. Although it has been reported thai the separation sensitivity of Cr(III) is superior to that of Cr(VI), the authors observed Cr(VI) was more sensitive than Cr(III) when ammonia($NH_3$) gas was used as the reaction gas. It took less than 3 minutes to analyze chromium species with this method and the estimated detection limits were $0.061\;{\mu}g/L$ for Cr(III) and $0.052\;{\mu}g/L$, for Cr(VI). According to the results from the analysis on chromium species in the raw water of the six intake stations, the concentrations of Cr(III) ranged from 0.048 to $0.064\;{\mu}g/L$(ave. $0.054\;{\mu}g/L$) while that of Cr(VI) ranged from 0.014 to $0.023\;{\mu}g/L$(ave. $0.019\;{\mu}g/L$). Recovery ratio was very high($90.1{\sim}94.1%$). There were two or three times more Cr(III) than Cr(VI) in the raw water.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.75-88
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• 2005

Ameloblastoma is the most commonly occurring odontogenic tumor in oral cavity. Although most are benign epithelial neoplasm, they are generally considered to be locally aggressive and destructive, exhibiting a high rate of recurrence. The biological behavior of this neoplasm is a slowly growing, locally invasive tumor without metastasis, therefore malignant neoplasm, changed its histological appearance to carcinoma or showed distant metastasis, is only defined clinically. In this study, we identified the differentially expressed genes(DEGs) in stages under benign or malignant ameloblastoma compared with normal patient using ordered differential display(ODD) reverse transcription(RT)-PCR and $GeneFishing^{TM}$ technology. ODD RT-PCR is rather effective when the investigation of samples containing very small amounts of total RNA must be accomplished. ODD RT-PCR used the means of amplification with anchored T-primer and adaptor specific primer. bearing definite two bases at their 3' ends and so this method could display differential 3'-expressed sequence taqs(ESTs) patterns without using full-length cDNAs. Compared with standard differential display, ODD RT-PCR is more simple and have enough sensitivity to search for molecular markers by comparing gene expression profiles, However, this method required much effort and skill to perform. $GeneFishing^{TM}$ modified from DD-PCR is an improved method for detecting differentially expressed genes in two or more related samples. This two step RT-PCR method uses a constant reverse primer(anchor ACP-T) to prime the RT reaction and arbitrary primer pairs(annealing control primers, ACPs) during PCR. Because of high annealing specificity of ACPs than ODD RT-PCR, the application of $GeneFishing^{TM}$ to DEG discovery generates reproducible, authentic, and long(100bp to 2kb) PCR products that are detectable on agarose gels. Consequently, various DEGs observed differential expression levels on agarose gels were isolated from normal, benign, and malignant tissues using these methods. The expression patterns of the some isolated DEGs through ODD RT-PCR and $GeneFishing^{TM}$ were confirmed by Northern blot analysis and RT-PCR. The results showed that these identified DEGs were implicated in ameloblastoma neoplasm processes. Therefore, the identified DEGs will be further studied in order to be applied in candidate selection for marker as an early diagnosis during ameloblastoma neoplasm processes.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.1-40
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• 2007

We test a model of investment-cashflow-growth opportunities relationship in order to estimate the sensitivities to investments. In this study, we use a new proxy variable for the value of growth opportunities(hereafter "VGO"), which is based on the seminal papers of M&M(1958:1961:1963) and Lee(2006;2007). The empirical findings on the sensitivities of cashflow and growth opportunities are as follows. First, when the traditional proxy variables for the growth opportunities such as Tobin's Q, MBR and sales growth are included with the new proxy VGO in the estimation, their coefficients are turned out to be insignificant. Second, only the new proxy variable VGO shows a statistically significant positive sensitibity to investment, which can be regarded that the growth opportunities hold the positive influences to investments. Third, the Tobin's Q can be decomposed into three factors such as the value of growth opportunities(VGO), the value of asset-in-place and valuation errors. It turns out that only the VGO shows a statistically significant positive relationship with investment among others. This means that the new variable VGO is a good proxy variable for the growth opportunities in the investment-cashflow sensitivity analysis. In sum, thanks to the above findings in this study, we can say that it will not be proper to choose a proxy variable for the growth opportunities from the traditional set of proxies such as Tobin's Q, MBR, or sales growth rate.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.730-739
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• 2000

Background : The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical manifestations and efficacy of treatment regimens in order to determine the adequate combination of anti-tuberculotic agents and duration of treatment for tuberculous lymphadenitis. Methods : We made a review of 373 patients with tuberculous lymphadenitis, who were admitted to four medical college hospitals in Taegu Korea from 1989 to 1998, and their diagnoses were confirmed histologically and bacteriologically. Results : The incidence of tuberculous lymphadenitis was 71.3% in women and 57.7% were between the ages of 20 and 39 years. The most common symptom was painless swelling. The most commonly involved lymph nodes were unilateral superficial cervical lymph node groups. Tuberculous lymphadenitis was accompanied with active pulmonary tuberculosis, commonly. The sensitivity of fine needle aspiration(FNA) in tuberculous lymphadenitis was 79.6%, and 92.2% of the patients had a strong positive reaction to the tuberculin skin test. The most commonly prescribed anti-tuberculotic regimen was the combination of INH, RMP, EMB, and PZA(62.6 %). Eighty percent of patient were treated for 9-12 months. There was no significantly difference in the recurrence rate of tuberculous lymphadenitis between the combinations of anti-tuberculotic agent, including INH and RMP, and between the durations of treatment, for a period of 6 months of more. Conclusion : The combination of FNA cytologic examination and tuberculin skin test may be helpful in the diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis. We propose that the combination of anti-tuberculotic agents, INH, RMP, EMB, and PZA, be prescribed to patients for 6 to 9 months.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.473-479
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• 2005

Background : Gefitinib targets the epidermal growth factor receptor r(EGFR), and Gefitinib has antitumor activity in patient with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, only 10 to 20 percent of patients show a clinical response to this drug, and the molecular mechanisms underlying patient sensitivity to gefitinib are unknown. PTEN (Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome Ten) plays a role for the modulation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway (PI3K), which is involved in cell proliferation and survival, so that it can inhibit cell cycle progression and induce G1 arrest. Therefore, we analyzed the relationship between PTEN expression and gefitinib's responsiveness in patients having advanced non small cell lung cancer that had progressed after previous chemotherapy. Methods : The expression of PTEN was studied by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded tumor blocks that were obtained from 22 patients who had been treated with gefitinib from JAN, 2001 to AUG. 2004. For the evaluation of the relationships between the PTEN expression, the clinical stage and the basal characteristics, those cases that showed the respective antigen expression in >50% of the tumor cells were considered positive. Results : The positive rate of PTEN staining was 55% of the total of 22 patients. There was a significant relationship between the increased expression of PTEN and the response group (p=0.039). However, there was no significant relationship between the expression of PTEN and other clinicopathologic characteristics. Conclusion: The expression of PTEN in patients with advanced non small cell lung cancer that has progressed after previous chemotherapy may play a role in gefitinib's responsiveness.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.95-109
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• 1993

In this study, the optimal configuration of arch structure has been tested by a decomposition technique. The object of this study is to provide the method of optimizing the shapes of both two hinged and fixed arches. The problem of optimal configuration of arch structures includes the interaction formulas, the working stress, and the buckling stress constraints on the assumption that arch ribs can be approximated by a finite number of straight members. On the first level, buckling loads are calculated from the relation of the stiffness matrix and the geometric stiffness matrix by using Rayleigh-Ritz method, and the number of the structural analyses can be decreased by approximating member forces through sensitivity analysis using the design space approach. The objective function is formulated as the total weight of the structures, and the constraints are derived by including the working stress, the buckling stress, and the side limit. On the second level, the nodal point coordinates of the arch structures are used as design variables and the objective function has been taken as the weight function. By treating the nodal point coordinates as design variable, the problem of optimization can be reduced to unconstrained optimal design problem which is easy to solve. Numerical comparisons with results which are obtained from numerical tests for several arch structures with various shapes and constraints show that convergence rate is very fast regardless of constraint types and configuration of arch structures. And the optimal configuration or the arch structures obtained in this study is almost the identical one from other results. The total weight could be decreased by 17.7%-91.7% when an optimal configuration is accomplished.