• 제목/요약/키워드: laboratory activities

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Studies on Ancylostomiasis I. An Experimental Study on Hookworm Infection and Anemia (구충증(鉤蟲症)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究) 제1편(第1篇) 구충(鉤蟲)의 감염(感染) 및 구충성빈혈(鉤蟲性貧血)에 관(關)한 고찰(考奈))

  • Lee, Mun-Ho;Kim, Dong-Jip;Lee, Jang-Kyu;Seo, Byong-Sul;Lee, Soon-Hyung
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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    • 제1권1호
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    • pp.55-66
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    • 1967
  • In view of its prevalence in the Far East area, a more detailed knowledge on the hookworm infection is one of the very important medical problems. The present study was aimed to; determine the infectivity of the artificially hatched ancylostoma duodenale larvae in man after its oral administration, evaluate the clinical symptomatology of such infection, determine the date of first appearance of the ova in the stool, calculate the blood loss per worm per day, assess the relation-ships between the ova count, infectivity(worm load), blood loss and severity of anemia. An erythrokinetic study was also done to analyse the characteristics of hookworm anemia by means of $^{59}Fe\;and\;^{51}Cr$. Materials and Methods Ten healthy male volunteers(doctors, medical students and laboratory technicians) with the ages ranging from 21 to 40 years were selected as the experimental materials. They had no history of hookworm infection for preceding several years, and care was taken not to be exposed to reinfection. A baseline study including a through physical examinations and laboratory investigations such as complete blood counts, stool examination and estimation of the serum iron levels was done, and a vermifuge, bephenium hydroxynaphoate, was given 10 days prior to the main experiment. The ancylostoma duodenale filariform larvae were obtained in the following manner; The pure ancylostoma duodenale ova were obtained from the hookworm anemia patients and a modified filter paper method was adopted to harvest larger number of infective larvae, which were washed several times with saline. The actively moving mature larvae were put into the gelatine capsules, 150 in each, and were given to the volunteers in the fasting state with 300ml. of water. The volunteers were previously treated with intramuscular injection of 15mg. of chlorpromazine in order to prevent the eventual nausea and vomiting after the larvae intake. The clinical symptoms and signs mainly of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, appearance of the ova and occult blood in the stool etc. were checked every day for the first 20 days and then twice weekly until the end of the experiment, which usually lasted for about 3 months. Roentgenological survey of the lungs was also done. The hematological changes such as the red blood cell, white blood cell and eosinophil cell counts, hemoglobin content and serum iron levels were studied. The appearance of the ova in the stool was examined by the formalin ether method and the ova were counted in triplicate on two successive days using the Stoll's dilution method. The ferrokinetic data were calculated by the modified Huff's method and the apparent half survival time of the red blood cells by the modified Gray's method. The isotopes were simultaneously tagged and injected intravenously, and then the stool and blood samples were collected as was described by Roche et al., namely, three separate 4-day stool samples with the blood sample drawing before each 4-day stool collection. The radio-activities of the stools ashfied and the blood were separately measured by the pulse-height analyser. The daily blood loss was calculated with the following formula; daily blood loss in $ml.=\frac{cpm/g\;stool{\times}weight\;in\;g\;of\;4-day\;stool}{cpm/ml\;blood{\times}4}$ The average of these three 4-day periods was given as the daily blood loss in each patient. The blood loss per day per worm was calculated by simply dividing the daily blood loss by the number of the hookworm recovered after the vermifuge given twice a week at the termination of the experiment. The iron loss in mg. through the gastrointestinal tract was estimated with the daily iron loss in $mg=\frac{g\;Hgb/100ml{\times}ml\;daily\;blood\;loss{\times}3.40}{100}$ 3.40=mg of iron per g Hgb following formula; Results 1. The respiratory symptoms such as cough and sputum were noted in almost all cases within a week after the infection, which lasted about 2 weeks. The roentgenological findings of the chest were essentially normal. A moderate degree of febril reaction appeared within 2 weeks with a duration of 3 or 4 days. 2. The gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, epigastric fullness, abdominal pain and loose bowel appeared in all cases immediately after the larvae intake. 3. The reduction of the red blood cell count was not remarkable, however, the hemoglobin content and especially the serum iron level showed the steady decreases until the end of the experiment. 4. The white blood cells and eosinophil cells, on the contrary, showed increases in parallel and reached peaks in 20 to 30 days after the infection. A small secondary rise was noted in 2 months. 5. The ova first appeared in the stool in 40. 1 days after the infection, ranging from 29 to 51 days, during which the occult blood reaction of the stool became also positive in almost cases. 6. The number of ova recovered per day was 164, 320 on the average, ranging from 89,500 to 253,800. The number of the worm evacuated by vermifuge was in rough correlation with the number of ova recovered. 7. The infectivity of ancylostoma duodenale was 14% on the average, ranging from 7.3 to 20.0%, which is relatively lower than those reported by other workers. 8. The mean fecal blood loss was 5.78ml. per day, with a range of from 2.6 to 11.7ml., and the mean blood loss per worm per day was 0.30ml., with a range of from 0.13 to 0.73ml., which is in rough coincidence with those reported by other authors. There appeared to exist, however, no correlation between the blood loss and the number of ova recovered. 9. The mean fecal iron loss was 2.02mg. per day, with a range of from 1.20 to 3.89mg., which is less than those appeared in the literature. 10. The mean plasma iron disappearance rate was 0.80hr., with a range of from 0.62 to 0.95hr., namely, a slight accerelation. 11. The hookworm anemia appeared to be iron deficiency in origin caused by continuous intestinal blood loss.

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A Study on the Establishment of Acceptable Range for Internal Quality Control of Radioimmunoassay (핵의학 검체검사 내부정도관리 허용범위 설정에 관한 고찰)

  • Young Ji, LEE;So Young, LEE;Sun Ho, LEE
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • 제26권2호
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    • pp.43-47
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    • 2022
  • Purpose Radioimmunoassay implement quality control by systematizing the internal quality control system for quality assurance of test results. This study aims to contribute to the quality assurance of radioimmunoassay results and to implement systematic quality control by measuring the average CV of internal quality control and external quality control by plenty of institutions for reference when setting the laboratory's own acceptable range. Materials and Methods We measured the average CV of internal quality control and the bounce rate of more than 10.0% for a total of 42 items from October 2020 to December 2021. According to the CV result, we classified and compared the upper group (5.0% or less), the middle group (5.0~10.0%) and the lower group (10.0% or more). The bounce rate of 10.0% or more was compared by classifying the item of five or more institutions into tumor markers, thyroid hormones and other hormones. The average CV was measured by the overall average and standard deviation of the external quality control results for 28 items from the first quarter to the fourth quarter of 2021. In addition, the average CV was measured by the overall average and standard deviation of the proficiency results between institutions for 13 items in the first half and the second half of 2021. The average CV of internal quality control and external quality control was compared by item so we compared and analyzed the items that implement well to quality control and the items that require attention to quality control. Results As a result of measuring the precision average of internal quality control for 42 items of six institutions, the top group (5.0% or less) are Ferritin, HGH, SHBG, and 25-OH-VitD, while the bottom group (≤10.0%) are cortisol, ATA, AMA, renin, and estradiol. When comparing more than 10.0% bounce rate of CV for tumor markers, CA-125 (6.7%), CA-19-9 (9.8%) implemented well, while SCC-Ag (24.3%), CA-15-3 (26.7%) were among the items that require attention to control. As a result of comparing the bounce rate of more than 10.0% of CV for thyroid hormones examination, free T4 (2.1%), T3 (9.3%) showed excellent performance and AMA (39.6%), ATA (51.6%) required attention to control. When comparing the bounce rate of 10.0% or more of CV for other hormones, IGF-1 (8.8%), FSH (9.1%), prolactin (9.2%) showed excellent performance, however estradiol (37.3%), testosterone (37.7%), cortisol (44.4%) required attention to control. As a result of measuring the average CV of the whole institutions participating at external quality control for 28 items, HGH and SCC-Ag were included in the top group (≤10.0%), however ATA, estradiol, TSI, and thyroglobulin included in bottom group (≥30.0%). Conclusion As a result of evaluating 42 items of six institutions, the average CV was 3.7~12.2% showing a 3.3 times difference between the upper group and the lower group. Cortisol, ATA, AMA, Renin and estradiol tests with high CV will require continuous improvement activities to improve precision. In addition, we measured and compared the overall average CV of the internal quality control, the external quality control and the proficiency between institutions participating of six institutions for 41 items excluding HBs-Ab. As a result, ATA, AMA, Renin and estradiol belong to the same subgroup so we require attention to control and consider setting a higher acceptable range. It is recommended to set and control the acceptable range standard of internal quality control CV in consideration of many things in the laboratory due to the different reagents and instruments, and the results vary depending on the test's proficiency and quality control materials. It is thought that the accuracy and reliability of radioimmunoassay results can be improved if systematic quality control is implemented based on the set acceptable range.

Oestrogenic Activity of Parabens In Vitro Estrogen Assays (에틸, 프로필, 이소프로필, 부틸, 이소부틸 파라벤의 In Vitro 검색시험 연구에서의 내분비독성)

  • Lee Sung-Hoon;Kim Sun-Jung;Park Jung-Ran;Jo Eun-Hye;Ahn Nam-Shik;Park Joon-Suk;Hwang Jae-Woong;Jung Ji-Youn;Lee Yong-Soon;Kang Kyung-Sun
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • 제21권2호
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    • pp.100-106
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    • 2006
  • The use of underarm and body care cosmetics with oestrogenic chemical excipients (particularly the parabens) and the hypothesized association with breast cancer incidence, particularly in women. It is noted that the type of cosmetic product is irrelevant (e.g. antiperspirant/deodorant versus body lotion, moisturizers or sprays versus creams) and attention must focus on issues of actual exposure to chemicals through continued dermal application of body care products and the endocrine/hormonal activity and toxicity of the chemicals in the formulations. To evaluate the estrogenic activities of parabens such as ethylparaben, butylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben and isopropylparaben, we used recombinant yeasts containing the human estrogen receptor [Saccharomyces cerevisiae ER+LYS 8127], human breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines and human estrogen receptor ${\alpha}\;and\;{\beta}$. In E-screen assays, isopropylparaben is the most estrogenic paraben, and in ER competition assay, isobutylparaben is the most estrogenic paraben. We evaluated isopropylparaben was most active in the recombinant yeast assay, followed by propylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylparaben and butylparaben. Results from this study demonstrate that parabens are observed in human endocrine system. Therefore, we have shown that the parabens is induced the estrogenic activities similar to $17{\beta}$-estradiol and Bisphenol-A.

Screening of Potato Cultivars for Infestation by Selatosomus puncticollis Mot.(Coleoptera: Elasteridae) and Analysis of Factors Assiciated with Resistance (청동방아벌레(Selatosomus puncticollis Mot.) 유충에 의한 감자 품종별 피해도 검정과 저항성 관련요인 분석)

  • Kwon, Min;Park, Cheon-Soo;Hahm, Young-Il;Ahn, Yong-Joon
    • Korean journal of applied entomology
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    • 제39권3호
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    • pp.157-163
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    • 2000
  • In a previous report, 50 potato cultivars were screened for infestation levels by the coppery click beetle (Selatosomus puncticollis Motschulsky) in the field. Subsequently, we selected 10 potato cultivars (Anco, Atlantic, Bintje, Dejima, Denali, Jopung, Irish Cobbler, Namsuh, Shepody, and Superior) to evaluate feeding preferences by wireworms, and to analyze some factors associated with resistance. The injury rates and number of holes in potato tubers damaged by larvae of S. puncticollis were checked in the field and laboratory. Additionally, some of their chemical characters (contents of glycoalkaloids, total-nitrogen, Ca, K, Mg, sugars, and starch) were quantified. And finally correlation analysis was conducted to see whether there is a possible relationship between these characteristics and the damage level. The tuber injury rates by S. puncticollis larvae were generally high showing 19% to 73% of damage level. The highest number of tuber hole damaged by S. puncticollis larvae was found on cv. Namsuh, but generally fewer on cvs. Anco, Atlantic, Bintje, Denali and Superior. No activities for $\alpha$-chaconine, $\alpha$-solanine and $\alpha$-tomatine at a concentration of 2,500 ppm were found to S. puncticollis larvae. The contents of glycoalkaloids in tuber were different depending on cultivars. In tubers, cv. Superior contained the highest level of 18.8 mg%, but cv. Irish Cobbler had the lowest level of 6.39 mg%. Concentrations of reducing sugars and total free sugars in tubers of cv. Namsuh were 0.71 % and 2.95%, but 0.26% and 1.77% in those of cv. Dejima, respectively. For the content of potato starch, cvs. Bintje, Dejima and Irish Cobbler showed higher level, but cvs. Jopung and Shepody lower. The highest contents of total nitrogen, Ca, K and Mg in tuber were found on cvs. Anco, Atlantic, Anco and Jopung, respectively. From correlation analyses, injury rate by S. puncticollis larvae was correlated with total nitrogen content (r = -0.71435*) and total sugar content in tuber (r = 0.78018*). Such information will become essential in developing integrated pest management programs and also in breeding new potato cultivars resistant to the wireworms.

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Studies on Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Characteristics of R-plasmids and Antigens of High-level Gentamicin Resistant Enterococcus faecalis (Gentamicin 고도내성 Enterococcus faecalis균주의 항균제감수성, R-플라스미드 및 항원의 특성연구)

  • Kang, Hyun
    • Biomedical Science Letters
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    • 제1권1호
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    • pp.55-72
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    • 1995
  • Forty gentamicin-resistant isolates of Enterococcus faecalis were selected from various clinical materials, determined their antimicrobial susceptibility, and studied there R-plasmid characteristics and polypeptide patterns. All of the isolates were susceptible to vancomycin. The MICs($\mu$/ml) of antimicrobial agents to the isolates were as follows; the MIC of gentamicin was 128 and $\geq$2040, ampicillin 1 and 1, chlorarmphenicol 2 and 8, erythromycin 32 and 256, and vancomycin 1 and 2. E. faecalis HL-1 strain had 8 plasmid DNA elements, HL-2 and HL-3 strains had 6, HL-4 had 7, HL-5 had 4, and HL-6 had 5. The 51.7 Kb of gentamicin resistance plasmid DNA was conjugally transferred from two strains of E. faecalis HL-1 and HL-6 to S. aureus SK 982. The plasmid transfer frequency between S. aureus SK 982 and E. faecalis HL-1 or E. faecalis HL-6 was 6.3$\times10^{-4} and 3.7$\times10^{-5}$, respectively. Plasmid curing ratio after the treatment of ethidium bromide(10$\mu$/ml) to E. faecalis tarnsconjugants R-1 and R-6 were about 51% and 67%, respectively. The tetracycline gene was located in 2.15 Kb plasmid of E. faecalis HL-1, but it was not found in the E. faecalis HL-6 by Southern blot analyses. The antigenic components of E. faecalis HL-1, HL-6, R-1 and R-6 strains were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting. The E. faecalis strains had 7 to 16 polypeptide bands, however their major proteins were 97.8 and 26.8 Kd. At the Immunoblotting, 97.8, 95.8, 74.8, 63.5, 33.7 and 26.8 Kd polypeptides of the strains showed major antigenic activities with patient's sera infected intra-abdominally with an E. faecalis strain.

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Distributions and Pollution History of Heavy Metals in Nakdong Estuary Sediments (낙동강 하구역 퇴적물 중금속의 분포와 오염의 역사 추정)

  • Cho, Jin-Hyung;Park, Nam-Joon;Kim, Kee-Hyun
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • 제5권4호
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    • pp.285-294
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    • 2000
  • In order to determine the horizontal and vertical distributions of metals and prospect the recent metal pollution history in Nakdong Estuary, we took surface and core sediments. Maximum value of organic matter occurs at the upstream site located 4 km from Nakdong barrage, and the concentration of trace metals (Zn, Cu, and Pb etc.) decrease seaward in the estuary. The sedimentation rates, based on $^{210}$Pb$_{ex}$ and $^{137}$Cs activities, were 0.34 cm/yr in inside of barrage (core 1) and 0.25 cm/yr in Changrim (core 4). Sediment mixing layer does not exist in core 1, where anoxic condition is known to be prevail. The topmost sediment layer of core 4 (<3.5 cm) is severely mixed. At sites 1 and 4, concentrations of Cu slowly increased during the period of 1920-1970, rapidly increased during 1970-1990, and followed by slight decrease after 1990. Zn contents increased in early 1960s and peaked in 1993, and followed by decrease after 1990s. Pb has increased continuously since early 1970s. At the downstream of the barrage, Cu and Zn have increased in the topmost layer. The trend of increase of Cu is evident after 1950 (11 cm in sediment depth). Overall trend of heavy metal concentration clearly indicates the pollution has been increasing after the construction of the barrage.

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Effect of Temperature on the Nitrogen Removal of Municipal Wastewater in a Pilot-scale Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor with Waste-tire Media (폐타이어 담체를 이용한 파일럿 규모 유동상 생물막 공정에서 하수의 질소제거에 미치는 온도 영향)

  • Park, Woon-Ji;Ahn, Johng-Hwa;Lee, Chan-Ki
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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    • 제30권5호
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    • pp.507-516
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    • 2008
  • This research was conducted to elucidate the effect of temperature on the nitrogen removal of municipal wastewater with waste-tire media. The experiments were carried out in laboratory-scale batch reactor and pilot-scale moving bed biofilm reactor filled at a 0.15 filling ratio with waste-tire media, respectively. In batch tests, specific nitrification rate(SNR) with media was 3.4 mg NH$_4^+$-N/g Mixed-Liquor Volatile Suspended Solid(MLVSS)$\cdot$hr, compared with 1.7 mg NH$_4^+$-N/g MLVSS$\cdot$hr without media. In pilot-scale test with media, total nitrogen removal efficiency increased from 53 $\pm$ 8% to 76 $\pm$ 5% as the temperature increased from 9$\sim$10$^{\circ}C$ to 20$\sim$24$^{\circ}C$. At the temperature of 9$\sim$10$^{\circ}C$, 10$\sim$20$^{\circ}C$, and 20$\sim$24$^{\circ}C$, the SNRs were 0.8 $\pm$ 0.5, 3.1 $\pm$ 1.9, and 3.4 $\pm$ 2.1 mg NH$_4^+$-N/g MLVSS$\cdot$hr and the specific denitrification rates(SDNR) were 0.6 $\pm$ 0.2, 1.1 $\pm$ 0.6, 1.4 $\pm$ 0.6 mg NO$_3^-$-N/g MLVSS.hr, respectively. The overall activities of biomass in anaerobic, anoxic, and oxic zones at 20$\sim$24$^{\circ}C$ increased to 22, 20, and 15%, compared with those at 9$\sim$10$^{\circ}C$, respectively. The activity distribution of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter also increased with the increase of temperature.

Changed in Feeding Behavior of Cacopsylla pyricola Foerster (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) and Activities of Several Insecticides (몇 가지 약제처리에 대한 꼬마배나무이(Cacopsylla pyricola Foerster)의 섭식행동 변화 및 살충효과)

  • Park, Min-Woo;Kwon, Hay-Ri;Yu, Yong-Man;Youn, Young-Nam
    • The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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    • 제20권1호
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    • pp.72-81
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    • 2016
  • Feeding behaviors of the pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola, and their changing feeding behaviors were recorded and analyzed with an electrical penetration graph (EPG) analysis against 5 insecticides. And their mortality against insecticides were carried out in the laboratory. General feeding behavior patterns of C. pyricola were changed by insecticide treatments. Especially, the type and frequency of waveforms differently occurred depending on a sort of insecticides treated. Total duration of transition to waveform PE1 and phloem ingestion (waveform PE2) were significantly different between treatment and non-treatment of insecticides. When 5 different insecticides were treated on pear leaves, difference of feeding patterns were recorded. In case of treatment of benfuracarb, total duration of non-probes (waveform Np) was appeared higher than any other insecticide. However, when flonicamid and deltamethrin were treatment, total duration of stylet penetration (waveform PA) and xylem ingestion (waveform PG) were appeared higher than other insecticide, respectively. As results feeding behaviour of C. pyricola after treated insecticides with time-based consumed rate of C. pyricola, the rate of non-probe (waveform Np) was longer than start penetration (waveform PA), penetration and ingestion in parenchyma cells (waveform PC1+PC2), ingestion at phloem (waveform PD+PE1+PE2) and xylem (waveform PG). As result of direct spray treatment to C. pyricola, mortality of C. pyricola against imidacloprid was higher than any other insecticide on 24 hours after treatment. However, all of insecticides showed 100% mortality of after 48 hours. On the other hand, when 5 insecticides sprayed on the pear leaves and then C. pyricola located on the treated leaves, benfuracarb showed the most toxicity against C. pyricola among insecticides. These result was consistent with the EPG results that showed relatively longer total duration time of waveform Np (non-probes) by benfuracarb treatment.

Ultrastructure of nasal cilia in children with recurrent or persistent respiratory diseases (반복 지속성 호흡기 질환 소아에서 비강 섬모의 미세구조 검사의 의의)

  • Shin, Su-A;Yang, Seung;Oh, Jae-Won;Lee, Ha-Baik;Park, Cheol-Eon;Kwan, Jung-Kyun
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • 제49권4호
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    • pp.410-416
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    • 2006
  • Purpose : Ciliary abnormalities of the respiratory system usually accompany recurrent or persistent respiratory diseases such as paranasal sinusitis, bronchiectasis, rhinitis, and/or otitis media, since they cause certain derangements in ciliary cleaning activities. This disease is usually inherited by autosomal recessive trait, but may also be found to be acquired or transient in rare cases after heavy exposure to pollutants, cigarette smoking or severe infection. We performed this study in children with frequently recurrent or persistent respiratory diseases to clarify if the ciliary abnormalities are preceding factors. Methods : We enrolled 17 children with suspected respiratory ciliary abnormalities. The indications for evaluation of ciliary ultrastructure were recurrent or persistent respiratory infections. Children with immunologic abnormalities were excluded. From August 2000 to July 2003, we performed a biopsy on nasal mucosa and examined the structure of ciliary status by using an electron microscope. Results : Of the subjects, there were seven males and 10 females, aged 2 to 10 years. Out of the 17 subjects, 12 cases of chronic paranasal sinusitis, nine chronic coughs, nine frequent upper respiratory infections, seven cases of recurrent otitis media, four cases of recurrent pneumonia, and four cases of bronchial asthma were found. Out of the 17 cases on which histologic examinations were conducted, four cases showed pathologic findings, including one case of inner dynein arm defect, one of microtubular transposition, one of supernumerous tubules, and one singlet, respectively. Conclusion : It is essential for differential diagnosis and effective treatment to identify the abnormalities of ultrastructure of nasal cilia in children with symptoms of frequently recurrent or persistent respiratory diseases, if immunodeficiency or respiratory allergy could be excluded.

Biogeochemical Studies on Tidal Flats in the Kyunggi Bay: Introduction (경기만 부근 갯벌의 생지화학적 연구: 서문)

  • Cho, B.C.;Choi, J.K.;Lee, T.S.;An, S.;Hyun, J.H.
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • 제10권1호
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    • pp.1-7
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    • 2005
  • Tidal flats have been regarded to carry out transformation and removal of land-derived organic matter, and this purifying capability of organic matter by tidal flats is one of very important reasons for their conservation. However, integral biogeochemical studies on production and decomposition of organic matter by benthic microbes in tidal flats have been absent in Korea, although the information is indispensable to quantification of the purifying capability. Our major goals in this multidisciplinary research were to understand major biogeochemical processes and rates mediated by diverse groups of microbes dominating material cycles in the tidal flats, and to assess the contribution of benthic microbes to removal of organic matter and nutrients in the tidal flats. Our study sites were Ganghwa and Incheon north-port tidal flats that had been regarded as naturally well reserved and organically polluted, respectively. Our research group measured over 3 years primary production, biomass and community structure of primary producers, abundance and production of bacteria, enzyme activities, distribution of protozoa and protozoan grazing rates, rates of denitrification and sulfate reduction, early sediment diagenesis, primary production and respiration based on oxygen microelectrode. We analyzed major features of each biogeochemical process and their interactions. The results are compiled in the following articles in this special issue: An (2005), Hwang and Cho (2005), Mok et at. (2005), Na and Lee (2005), Yang et at. (2005), and Yoo and Choi (2005).