• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1343-1352
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• 1997

Background : Heat-treated cells are known to be protected from lysis by TNF, which is considered to play a central role in the pathogenesis of sepsis-induced acute lung injury. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of heat shock response by heat-pretreatment on the acute lung injury of the rats induced by intratracheally administered TNF-$\alpha$, Methods : We intratracheally instilled either saline or TNF (R&D, 500ng) with and without heat pretreatment in Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 250~350 g. The heated rats were raised their rectal temperature to $41^{\circ}C$ and was maintained thereafter for 13 minutes at 18 h before intratracheal administration of saline or TNF. After 5 h of intratracheal treatment, lung leak, lung myeloperoxidase activity (MPO) and heat shock proteins were measured in rats. Lung leak index was defined as counts per minute of $I^{25}$ in the right lung divided by counts per minutes of $I^{25}$ in 1.0 ml of blood. All data are expressed as means ${\pm}$SE. Results : There is no difference in acute lung leak index ($0.099{\pm}0.024$ vs $0.123{\pm}0.005$) among the rats given saline intratracheally with and without heat pretreatment, but MPO activity showed a decreased tendency in heat-pretreated rats ($4.58{\pm}0.79\;U/g$) compared with heat-unpretreated rats ($7.32{\pm}0.97\;U/g$) (P=0.064). Rats administered TNF intratracheally with heat-pretreatment had decreased lung leak index ($0.137{\pm}0.012$) and lung MPO activity ($5.51{\pm}1.04\;U/g$) compared with those of heat-unpretreated and TNF-administered rats ($0.186{\pm}0.016$, $14.34{\pm}1.22\;U/g$) (P<0.05 in each). There were no significant difference of lung leak index and MPO activity between TNF-treated rats with heat-pretreatment and saline-treated rats with and without heat-pretreatment. Conclusion : The heat shock response attenuated neutrophil recruitment and acute lung leak induced by intratracheal instillation of TNF-in rats.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.110-116
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• 2014

Recently the number of the butterflies, Mellicta ambigua, had been decreasing rapidly, and already disappeared at many habitat. In this studies, we investigated ecological environment of Mellicta ambigua for preparing of primary research data recovering habitat, and studied on bionomical characteristics. Two different habitat, Jindo and Inje, were selected for investigation of ecological environment. We investigated four times during 3-month, from June to August in 2012. In Jindo, we observed more than 100 butterflies and a lot of host plants, Melampyrum roseum var. japonicum. But only 5 butterflies and only a few host plants, Veronicastrum sibiricum were observed in Inje. We could not observe the eggs, the larva and pupa on the host plants at all. For finding of bionomical characteritics, we reared butterflies at natural conditions. Collected 3-female butterflies from Jindo laid 465 eggs on the leaves of 3-host plants, Veronicastrum sibiricum. 120 ~ 186 eggs per each female were laid in the shape of cluster. An egg was globular shape, 0.6 mm diameter and 0.7 mm height. The egg periods were $9.96{\pm}0.4days$ after ovipositioning, and the hatchability was 95.% at natural condition. The larval periods were $4.1{\pm}0.6days$ (1st instar), $2.1{\pm}1.0days$ (2nd), $8.1{\pm}0.7days$ (3rd), $239.2{\pm}10.9days$ (4th), $12.3{\pm}1.3days$ (5th), $17.1{\pm}1.1days$ (6th), $10.5{\pm}1.0days$ (7th) each other. The larva of 4th instar overwintered in the nest that had been made into the leaf of host plant with secreted thread as a group until early March next year. In the early March next year, overwintered larva went around their nest in search of host plants, and went to other host plants, Veronica persica and Plantago asiatica, sometimes. The overwintered larva of Mellicta ambigua could grow up on two other host plants normally. In the following experiment, the butterflies of Mellicta ambigua laid eggs on the leaves of Plantago asiatica, but the 1st instar larva from eggs died all. The headwidth of each developmental larval stage were $0.28{\pm}0.02mm$ (1st), $0.45{\pm}0.02mm$ (2nd), $0.58{\pm}0.02mm$ (3rd), $0.75{\pm}0.03mm$ (4th), $0.89{\pm}0.05mm$ (5th), $1.23{\pm}0.06mm$ (6th), $2.13{\pm}0.11mm$ (7th). The pupal ratio was 92.0%. The pupal period were $9.1{\pm}1.6days$, and the emergence rate was 88.6%. As a result we determined that Mellicta ambigua can rear at natural conditions. But indoor-rearing is considered to be difficult and not useful industrially, because they have long term larval stage and only one life cycle per an year.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.279-292
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• 1991

The immune response to sheep red blood cell (sRBC) was monitored in the mice infected with Ascaris strum or Trichinella spiralis. The effects of the infection with T. spiralis or the injection with cyclophosphamide (CY) as an immunosuppression agent prior to challenge infection with the embryonated eggs of A. suum were monitored in mice by means of the level of infection with A. strum and cellular and humoral immune response to sRBC. following the oral administration of 1, 000 eggs of A. suum to mice, delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) and rosette-forming rate were gradually decreased and reached to the lowest levels at the 5th week and 6th week postinfection, respectively, and then returned to normal at the loth week. The hemagglutinin (HA) and hemolysin (HE) titers were gradually elevated and reached to peak at the 3rd week postinfection, and then returned to normal level. The appearance ratios of the eosinophils and mast cells were in peak at the 4th week and the 2nd week postinfection, respectively. Meanwhile the harvest ratio of A. suum larvae from the liver and lungs was 21.97% at the 1st week postinfection. Following the oral administration of 300 T. spiralis infective larvae, DTH and rosette-forming rate were gradually decreased with the lapse of time and reached the lowest values in the 30th and 21st day of postinfection, and then slightly increased and transiently decreased in the 70th and 80th day of postinfection, respectively. HA and HE titers were the lowest in the 21st and 90th day, whereas the ratios of eosinophils and mast cells were the highest on the 40th and 14th day posti nfecti on, ruts petit i vela. Following the intraperitoneal injection of CY, the body weight, the spleen weight, DTH, rosette-orming ratio, HA and HE titers, the number of WBC and the ratio of the mast cell were predominantly decreased in the 5th day, and then returned to the same value of the 1st day postinjection. The ratio of eosinophils was gradually decreased following to advance of days. At the 1st, 5th and loth days after intraperitoneal injection of CY of 400 mg/kg, a dose with 1, 000 eggs of A. suum was administered orally to mice, and harvest rate of the larvae at the 7th day postadministration was 7.07% in the 1st day, 14.94% in the 5th day, 10.1% in the loth day, 8.02% in control group. The effect of prior infection with infective larvae of T. spiralis upon immunological sequelae of a challenge infection of mice with embryonated eggs of A. suum in 30 or 70 days interval was checked. On the 37th day of prior infection with T. spiralis, that was the 7th day with A. suum postinfection, DTH and rosette-forming rate were drastically decreased, but the ratio of mast cells was highly increased and the ratio of eosinophils, HA and HE titers were fairly increased. On the other hand, the rate of larvae harvest was 9.3% in experimental group in contrast with 22.18% in control group. Meanwhile the effect of immune response to sRBC was similar to that of the former, but DTH and rosettt-forming rate were greatly decreased in the 77th day after prior infection with the 7th day after challenge infection in compariton with control. At that time, Ascaris larvae were harvested 8.3% in experimental group in comparison with 10.5% in control group.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.4 s.55
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• pp.785-799
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• 1996

We investigated the 1,004 workers who worked in a automobile factory to study the epidemiologic characterists of dermatoses due to cutting oils. Among the workers, 667(66.4%) answered the questionaire. They are belong to 5 departments of the factory-the Engine-Work(258 workers), Gasoline engine Assembly(210), Diesel engine Assembly(96), Power train Work(86), Power train Assembly(17). We measured the oil mist concentration in air of the departments and examined the workers who had dermatologic symptoms. The results were follows; 1) Oil mist concentration ; Of all measured points(52),9 points(17.2%) exeeded $5mg/m^3$- the time-weighed PEL-and one department had a upper confidence limit(95%) higher than $5mg/m^3$. 2) Dermatologists examined 213 workers. 172 of them complained any skin symptoms at that time - itching(32.5%), papule(21.6%), scale(15.7%), vesicle(12.5%) in order. The abnormal skin site found by dermatologist were palm(29.3%), finger & nail(24.6%), forearm(16.2%), back of hand(8.4%) in order. 3) As the result of physical examination, we found that 160 workers had skin diseases. Contact dermatitis was the most common; 69 workers had contact dermatitis alone(43.1%), 11 had contact dermatitis with acne(6.9%), 10 had contact dermatitis with folliculitis(6.3%), 1 had contact dermatitis with acne & folliculitis, and 1 had contact dermatitis with abnormal pigmentation. Others were folliculitis(9 workers, 5.6%), acne(8, 5.0%), folliculitis & acne (2, 1.2%), keratosis(1, 0.6%), abnormal pigmentation (1, 0.6%), and non-specific hand eczema (47, 29.3%). 4) The prevalence of any skin diseases was 34.0 pet 100 in cutting oil users, and 13.3 per 100 in non- users. Especially, the prevalence of contact dermatitis was 23.0 per 100 in cutting oil users and 23.0 per 100 in non-users. 5) We tried patch test(standard serise, oil serise, organic solvents) on 49 patients to differentiate allergic contact dermatitis from irritant contact dermatitis and found 20 were positive. 6) In a multivariate analysis(independant=age, tenure, kinds of cutting oil), the risk of skin diseases was higher in the water-based cutting oil user and both oil user than non-user or neat oil user(odds ratio were 2.16 and 2.78, respectively). And the risk of contact dermatitis was much higher at the same groups(odds ratio were 5.16 and 6.82, respectively).

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.32
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• pp.7-15
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• 2020

Purpose: In modern radiotherapy technology, several methods of image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) are used to deliver accurate doses to tumor target locations and normal organs, including CBCT (Cone Beam Computed Tomography) and other devices, ExacTrac System, other than CBCT equipped with linear accelerators. In previous studies comparing the two systems, positional errors were analysed rearwards using Offline-view or evaluated only with a Yaw rotation with the X, Y, and Z axes. In this study, when using CBCT and ExacTrac to perform 6 Degree of the Freedom(DoF) Online IGRT in a treatment center with two equipment, the difference between the set-up calibration values seen in each system, the time taken for patient set-up, and the radiation usefulness of the imaging device is evaluated. Materials and Methods: In order to evaluate the difference between mobile calibrations and exposure radiation dose, the glass dosimetry and Rando Phantom were used for 11 cancer patients with head circumference from March to October 2017 in order to assess the difference between mobile calibrations and the time taken from Set-up to shortly before IGRT. CBCT and ExacTrac System were used for IGRT of all patients. An average of 10 CBCT and ExacTrac images were obtained per patient during the total treatment period, and the difference in 6D Online Automation values between the two systems was calculated within the ROI setting. In this case, the area of interest designation in the image obtained from CBCT was fixed to the same anatomical structure as the image obtained through ExacTrac. The difference in positional values for the six axes (SI, AP, LR; Rotation group: Pitch, Roll, Rtn) between the two systems, the total time taken from patient set-up to just before IGRT, and exposure dose were measured and compared respectively with the RandoPhantom. Results: the set-up error in the phantom and patient was less than 1mm in the translation group and less than 1.5° in the rotation group, and the RMS values of all axes except the Rtn value were less than 1mm and 1°. The time taken to correct the set-up error in each system was an average of 256±47.6sec for IGRT using CBCT and 84±3.5sec for ExacTrac, respectively. Radiation exposure dose by IGRT per treatment was measured at 37 times higher than ExacTrac in CBCT and ExacTrac at 2.468mGy and 0.066mGy at Oral Mucosa among the 7 measurement locations in the head and neck area. Conclusion: Through 6D online automatic positioning between the CBCT and ExacTrac systems, the set-up error was found to be less than 1mm, 1.02°, including the patient's movement (random error), as well as the systematic error of the two systems. This error range is considered to be reasonable when considering that the PTV Margin is 3mm during the head and neck IMRT treatment in the present study. However, considering the changes in target and risk organs due to changes in patient weight during the treatment period, it is considered to be appropriately used in combination with CBCT.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.1148-1160
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• 2007

This study was performed to document the association between eating behaviors and major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Those who stated that they ate a daily breakfast for male and female were 88.6% and 96.0%, $1{\sim}2$ times a week were 9.1% and 2.0%, $3{\sim}4$ times a week were 2.3% and 2.0%, respectively. Those who stated that they were overeating of $0{\sim}1$ time a week for man and female were 80.7% and 89.9%, overeating of $2{\sim}3$ times a week were 19.3% and 10.1%, respectively. Those who said that they were regular of meal time for man and female were 38.6%, and 37.4%, sometimes irregular of meal time were 14.8% and 19.2%, irregular of meal time were 46.6% and 43.4%, respectively. Those who said that they were light of eating volume for man and female were 20.5% and 25.3%, moderate of eating volume were 69.3% and 61.6%, heavy of eating volume were 10.2% and 13.1%, respectively. Those who said that they were very fast of eating speed for man and female were 15.9% and 8.1%, fast of eating speed were 51.1% and 34.3%, moderate of eating speed were 4.5% and 20.2%, slow of eating speed were 17.0% and 14.1%, and very slow of eating speed were 11.4% and 23.2%, respectively. Higher frequency of breakfast a week resulted in higher serum total cholesterol and blood sugar for the daily eating group for both genders with women having high LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol. Both group had high HDL-cholesterol and low blood sugar with less number of overeating, with men having low triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol. With regular meal, both group had low triglyceride, total-cholesterol, atherogenic index, and blood sugar with women having low LDL-cholesterol. For both groups, the triglyceride, total-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, atherogenic index, and blood sugar had higher figures for overeating, with men having low HDL-cholesterol and women having high HDL-cholesterol. This study revealed that less number of overeating, regular mealtime, and less volume of food intake are effective in preventing and treating for the cardiovascular diseases.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.56-78
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• 1998

Objective: Chronic hepatitis B infection (CHB) occurs in 6% to 10% of population in Korea. In ethinic communities where prevalence of chronic infection is high such as Korea, transmission of hepatitis B infection is either vertical (ie, by perinatal infection) or by close family contact (usually from mothers or siblings) during the first 5 years of life. The development of chronic hepatitis B infection is increasingly more common the earlier a person is exposed to the virus, particularly in fetal and neonatal life. And it progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, especially in severe liver damage and perinatal infection. Histopathology of CHB is important when evaluating the final outcomes. A numerical scoring system which is a semiquantitatively assessed objective reproducible classification of chronic viral hepatitis, is a valuable tool for statistical analysis when predicting the outcome and evaluating antiviral and other therapies. In this study, a numerical scoring system (Ludwig system) was applied and compared with the conventional histological classification of De Groute. And the comparative analysis of cinical findings, family history, serology, and liver function test by histopathological findings in chronic hepatitis B of children was done. Methods: Ninety nine patients [mean age=9 years (range=17 months to 16 years)] with clinical, biochemical, serological and histological patterns of chronic HBV infection included in this study. Five of these children had hepatocelluar carcinoma. They were 83 male and 16 female children. They all underwent liver biopsies and histologic evaluation was performed by one pathologist. The biopsy specimens were classified, according to the standard criteria of De Groute as follows: normal, chronic lobular hepatitis (CLH), chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH), mild to severe chronic active hepatitis (CAH), or active cirrhosis, inactive cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). And the biopsy specimens were also assessed and scored semiquantitatively by the numerical scoring Ludwig system. Serum HBsAg, anti-HBs, HBeAg, anti-HBe, anti-HBc (IgG, IgM), and HDV were measured by radioimunoassays. Results: Male predominated in a proportion of 5.2:1 for all patients. Of 99 patients, 2 cases had normal, 2 cases had CLH, 22 cases had CPH, 40 cases had mild CAH, 19 cases had moderate CAH, 1 case had severe CAH, 7 cases had active cirrhosis, 1 case had inactive cirrhosis, and 5 cases had HCC. The mean age, sex distribution, symptoms, signs, and family history did not differ statistically among the different histologic groups. The numerical scoring system was correlated well with the conventional histological classification. The histological activity evaluated by both the conventional classification and the scoring system was more severe as the levels of serum aminotransferases were higher. In contrast, the levels of serum aminotransferases were not useful for predicting the degree of histologic activity because of its wide range overlapping. When the histological activity was more severe and especially the cirrhosis more progressing, the prothrombin time was more prolonged. The histological severity was inversely related with the duration of seroconversion of HBeAg. Conclusions: The histological activity could not be accurately predicted by clinical and biochemical findings, but by the proper histological classification of the numerical scoring system for the biopsy specimen. The numerical scoring system was correlated well with the conventional histological classification, and it seems to be a valuable tool for the statistical analysis when predicting the outcome and evaluating effects of antiviral and other therapies in chronic hepatitis B in children.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.69-87
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• 2003

Background : LB20304(gemifloxacin) is a new fluoroquinolone antibacterial agent with excellent activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive organisms. In vitro studies using clinical isolates have shown gemifloxacin to be highly active against penicillin-resistant strains of S. pneumoniae and in contrast to other reference quinolones, gemifloxacin retained good activity against clinical isolates of S. pneumoniae that were resistant to other members of the quinolone class. Therefore, gemifloxacin is thought to be effective in treating acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis(AECB). The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral gemifloxacin at doses of 160mg or 320mg once daily for 7 days for the treatment of AECB in Korean adult population. Methods : This was a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, parallel group Phase II study to assess the clinical and antibacterial efficacy and safety of oral gemifloxacin for the treatment of AECB. Treatment Group A (67 patients) took oral gemifloxacin 160mg once daily for seven days and treatment Group B (70 patients) took oral gemifloxacin 320mg once daily for seven days. Results : The demographic profiles of the two treatment groups were similar. The clinical response at follow-up was 84.2% in the gemifloxacin 160-mg group, and 88.7% in the gemifloxacin-320 mg group, showing no statistically significant difference between two treatment groups(p=0.49). The clinical response at the end of therapy was 96.5% in the 160-mg group, and 96.4% in the 320-mg group. The bacteriological response at the end of therapy and follow-up were 81.8% and 78.9%, respectively, in the 160-mg group, and 86.4% and 84.2%, respectively, in the 320-mg group, showing no statistically significant difference between two treatment groups(p=0.68 and 0.68, respectively). S. pneumoniae(12 isolates) and H. influenzae(10 isolates) were the most prevalent pathogens. The MICs were lower for gemifloxacin than other quinolones against these key pathogens, and for S. pneumoniae, the MICs for gemifloxacin were considerably lower(${\leq}0.03$ ug/mL) than those for other quinolones, beta-lactams and macrolides. In the period on-therapy plus 30 days post-therapy, a total of 18 patients(26.9%) in the gemifloxacin 160mg group and 22 patients(31.4%) in the 320mg group reported at least one adverse event(AE). The most frequently reported AE was abdominal pain(3/67 patients, 4.5%) in the gemifloxacin 160mg group and increased level of hepatic enzyme(5/70 patients, 7.1%) in the 320mg group. The overall AE profiles for the two treatment groups were similar. Two out of 67 patients(3.0%) in the gemifloxacin 160mg group and 1/70 patients(1.4%) in the 320mg group reported at least one serious AE, however, none of which was considered by the investigator to be of suspected or probable relationship to study medication. Conclusion : The results of this study showed that gemifloxacin at doses of 160mg or 320mg once daily for 7 days in the treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis(AECB) in adult Koreans was a very effective and safe treatment both clinically and bacteriologically.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.30-40
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• 2000

Purpose: During the first year of life, cow's milk protein is the major offender causing food allergy. Cow's milk allergy (CMA) affects 2~7% of infants, of which approximately one-half show predominantly gastrointestinal symptoms. We studied the clinical types of cow's milk allergy with predominantly gastrointestinal symptoms (CMA-GI) of childhood. Methods: The retrospective study was performed on 30 (male 22, female 8) patients who had diagnosed as CMA-GI during 2 years and 3 months from March 1995 to June 1997. Results: 1) Children with CMA-GI presented in the three types of clinical manifestation on the basis of time to reaction to milk ingestion: Quick (Q) onset (5 cases), Slow (S) onset (20 cases), Quick & Slow (Q&S) (5 cases). 2) Age on admission of the three groups was significantly different (p<0.05): (Q onset: $81.4{\pm}67.1$ days, S onset: $31.9{\pm}12.7$ days, Q&S: $366.0{\pm}65.0$ days). Although the body weight at birth was 10~95 percentile in all patients, body weight on admission was different: (Q onset: 10~50 percentile, S onset: below 10 percentile, Q&S: 10~25 percentile). S onset group was significantly different compared with other groups (p<0.05) and 90% of this one was failure to thrive below 3 percentile. 3) Peripheral leukocyte counts were as followings: (Q onset: $5,700{\sim}12,300/mm^3$, S onset: $10,000{\sim}33,400/mm^3$, Q&S: $5,200{\sim}14,900/mm^3$). Slow onset group was significantly different compared with other groups (p<0.05). Serum albumin levels on admission were as followings: (Q onset: $4.2{\pm}0.4\;g/dl$, S onset: $3.0{\pm}0.3\;g/dl$, Q&S: $4.0{\pm}0.3\;g/dl$). S onset group was significantly different compared with other groups (p<0.05) and 85% of this one was below 3.5 g/dl. 4) Although morphometrical analysis on small intestinal mucosa did not show enteropathy in Q onset and Q&S groups, all cases of S onset revealed enteropathy: 45% of this one showed subtotal villous atrophy, 55 % showed partial villous atrophy. 5) Allergic reaction test to other foods was not performed in S onset group because of ethical problem and high risk in general condition. In Q onset group, allergic reaction to one or two other foods: soy formula, weaning formula and eggs. Q&S goup revealed allergic reactions to several foods or to most of all foods except protein hydrolysate formula: eggs, potatos, some kinds of sea food, apples, carrots, beef and chicken. 6) Serum IgE level, peripheral eosinophil counts, milk RAST, soy RAST, skin test were not significantly different among groups. Conclusion: CMA-GI may present in three clinical ways on the basis of time to reaction to milk ingestion, typical clinical findings and morphologic changes in the small bowel mucosal biopsy specimens. This clinical subdivision might be helpful in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in CMA-GI. Early suspicion is mandatory especially in S onset type because of high risks with malnutrition and enteropathy.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.247-268
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• 1996

It has been known for a long time that gonadotropins and steroid hormones play a pivotal role in a series of reproductive biological phenomena including the maturation of ovarian follicles and oocytes, ovulation and implantation, maintenance of pregnancy and fetal growth & development, parturition and mammary development and lactation. Recent investigations, however, have elucidated that in addition to these classic hormones, multiple growth factors also are involved in these phenomena. Most growth factors in reproductive organs mediate the actions of gonadotropins and steroid hormones or synergize with them in an autocrine/paracrine manner. The insulin-like growth factor(IGF) system, which is one of the most actively investigated areas lately in the reproductive organs, has been found to have important roles in a wide gamut of reproductive phenomena. In the present communication, published literature pertaining to the intrauterine IGF system will be reviewed preceded by general information of the IGF system. The IGF family comprises of IGF-I & IGF-II ligands, two types of IGF receptors and six classes of IGF-binding proteins(IGFBPs) that are known to date. IGF-I and IGF-II peptides, which are structurally homologous to proinsulin, possess the insulin-like activity including the stimulatory effect of glucose and amino acid transport. Besides, IGFs as mitogens stimulate cell division, and also play a role in cellular differentiation and functions in a variety of cell lines. IGFs are expressed mainly in the liver and messenchymal cells, and act on almost all types of tissues in an autocrine/paracrine as well as endocrine mode. There are two types of IGF receptors. Type I IGF receptors, which are tyrosine kinase receptors having high-affinity for IGF-I and IGF-II, mediate almost all the IGF actions that are described above. Type II IGF receptors or IGF-II/mannose-6-phosphate receptors have two distinct binding sites; the IGF-II binding site exhibits a high affinity only for IGF-II. The principal role of the type II IGF receptor is to destroy IGF-II by targeting the ligand to the lysosome. IGFs in biological fluids are mostly bound to IGFBP. IGFBPs, in general, are IGF storage/carrier proteins or modulators of IGF actions; however, as for distinct roles for individual IGFBPs, only limited information is available. IGFBPs inhibit IGF actions under most in vitro situations, seemingly because affinities of IGFBPs for IGFs are greater than those of IGF receptors. How IGF is released from IGFBP to reach IGF receptors is not known; however, various IGFBP protease activities that are present in blood and interstitial fluids are believed to play an important role in the process of IGF release from the IGFBP. According to latest reports, there is evidence that under certain in vitro circumstances, IGFBP-1, -3, -5 have their own biological activities independent of the IGF. This may add another dimension of complexity of the already complicated IGF system. Messenger ribonucleic acids and proteins of the IGF family members are expressed in the uterine tissue and conceptus of the primates, rodents and farm animals to play important roles in growth and development of the uterus and fetus. Expression of the uterine IGF system is regulated by gonadal hormones and local regulatory substances with temporal and spatial specificities. Locally expressed IGFs and IGFBPs act on the uterine tissue in an autocrine/paracrine manner, or are secreted into the uterine lumen to participate in conceptus growth and development. Conceptus also expresses the IGF system beginning from the peri-implantation period. When an IGF family member is expressed in the conceptus, however, is determined by the presence or absence of maternally inherited mRNAs, genetic programming of the conceptus itself and an interaction with the maternal tissue. The site of IGF action also follows temporal (physiological status) and spatial specificities. These facts that expression of the IGF system is temporally and spatially regulated support indirectly a hypothesis that IGFs play a role in conceptus growth and development. Uterine and conceptus-derived IGFs stimulate cell division and differentiation, glucose and amino acid transport, general protein synthesis and the biosynthesis of mammotropic hormones including placental lactogen and prolactin, and also play a role in steroidogenesis. The suggested role for IGFs in conceptus growth and development has been proven by the result of IGF-I, IGF-II or IGF receptor gene disruption(targeting) of murine embryos by the homologous recombination technique. Mice carrying a null mutation for IGF-I and/or IGF-II or type I IGF receptor undergo delayed prenatal and postnatal growth and development with 30-60% normal weights at birth. Moreover, mice lacking the type I IGF receptor or IGF-I plus IGF-II die soon after birth. Intrauterine IGFBPs generally are believed to sequester IGF ligands within the uterus or to play a role of negative regulators of IGF actions by inhibiting IGF binding to cognate receptors. However, when it is taken into account that IGFBP-1 is expressed and secreted in primate uteri in amounts assessedly far exceeding those of local IGFs and that IGFBP-1 is one of the major secretory proteins of the primate decidua, the possibility that this IGFBP may have its own biological activity independent of IGF cannot be excluded. Evidently, elucidating the exact role of each IGFBP is an essential step into understanding the whole IGF system. As such, further research in this area is awaited with a lot of anticipation and attention.