• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• 제49권4호
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• pp.519-527
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• 2021

In this study, the hemolysis of Enterococcus faecalis BMSE-HMP strains, isolated from human breast milk, was investigated, and the anti-hemolytic and antimicrobial effects on multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria were investigated. The enzyme activity of E. faecalis BMSE-HMP 4 strains was measured, and it was found that the activities of esterase and esterase lipase were the highest. In addition, no hemolytic reaction was observed in any of the isolates. Subsequently, the anti-hemolytic activity against MDR strains causing hemolysis was evaluated. E. faecalis BMSE-HMP002 had the highest anti-hemolytic activity against Staphylococcus aureus CCARM 3855 at 75.71 ± 10.00%. The anti-hemolytic activity against Escherichia coli DC 2 CCARM 0238 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa CCARM 0223 showed that the activity of BMSE-HMP001 was highest at 76.92 ± 2.99% and 87.93 ± 1.93%, respectively. Examination of the antimicrobial effects against the MDR bacteria Staphylococcus spp., Escherichia spp., Pseudomonas spp., Salmonella spp., Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp., and E. faecalis BMSE-HMP strains showed antimicrobial effects against both gram-positive and gram-negative strains. Breastfeeding delivers enterococci into the intestinal tract of newborns by lactation, and its usefulness is attracting attention as it has been reported that enterococci have a potential effect on neonatal immune development. In this study, the hemolytic and antimicrobial effects of E. faecalis BMSE-HMP strains on MDR bacteria were investigated, to confirm their potential as useful lactic acid bacteria. Additional studies on the antibiotic resistance and toxicity of the E. faecalis BMSE-HMP strains, isolated in this study, are necessary to prove it safe for use.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.84-90
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• 2023

Purpose: Infants aged ≤90 days with fever are susceptible to severe infections. This study aimed to analyze the clinical features of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in this particular age group. Methods: Infants aged ≤90 days who were diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and hospitalized between March 1, 2020, and May 1, 2022 were included. Medical records of patients were retrospectively reviewed. Results: A total of 105 infants with COVID-19 were included; 27 (25.7%) neonates aged <28 days, and 48 (45.7%) and 30 (28.6%) infants aged 28-59 days and 60-90 days, respectively. Five (4.7%) patients remained asymptomatic and 68 (62.8%) were febrile, with a median fever duration of 2 days. The most common symptoms were respiratory including cough (66.6%), nasal stuffiness (51.4%), and rhinorrhea (40.9%). Blood cultures were performed in 10 infants but no organisms were detected. Cultures of bag-collected urine specimens from 8 infants were grown, resulting in positive growth for 2 without pyuria. Nine (8.6%) infants were treated with empirical antibiotics for a median duration of 2.3 days (range, 1-7 days). All 105 infants showed improvement without any complications, and there were no fatal cases. Conclusions: In this study, most infants aged ≤90 days with COVID-19 presented with mild symptoms and none of those evaluated had documented bacterial co-infection. The favorable prognosis among young infants with SARS-CoV-2 may aid clinicians in tailoring their approach to evaluation and management during outbreaks.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.29-36
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• 1976

Introduction Recently, changes in the patterns and concepts of maternity care, in both developing and developed countries have been accelerating. An outstanding development in this field is the number of deliveries taking place in hospitals or maternity centers. In Korea, however, more than 90% of deliveries are carried out at home with the help of untrained relatives or even without helpers. It is estimated that less than 10% of deliveries are assisted by professional persons such as a physician or a midwife. Taking into account the shortage of professional person i11 rural Korea, it is difficult to expect widespread prenatal, postnatal, and delivery care by professional persons in the near future, It is unrealistic, therefore, to expect rapid development of MCH care by professional persons in rural Korea due to economic and sociological reasons. Given these conditions. it is reasonable that an educated village women could used as a "maternity aid", serving simple and technically easy roles in the MCH field, if we could give such a women incentive to do so. The midwife and physician are assigned difficult problems in the MCH field which could not be solved by the village worker. However, with the application of the village worker system, we could expect to improve maternal and child hoalth through the replacement of untrained relatives as birth attendants with educated and trained maternity aides. We hope that this system will be a way of improving MCH care, which is only one part of the general health services offered at the local health centre level. Problems of MCH in rural Korea The field of MCH is not only the weakest point in the medical field in our country hut it has also dropped behind other developing countries. Regarding the knowledge about pregnancy and delivery, a large proportion of our respondents reported having only a little knowledge, while 29% reported that they had "sufficient" knowledge. The average number of pregnancies among women residing in rural areas was 4.3 while the rate of women with 5 or more pregnancies among general women and women who terminated childbearing were 43 and 80% respectively. The rate of unwanted pregnancy among general women was 19.7%. The total rate for complications during pregnancy was 15.4%, toxemia being the major complication. The rate of pregnant women with chronic disease was 7%. Regarding the interval of pregnancy, the rates of pregnancy within 12 months and within 36 months after last delivery were 9 and 49% respectively. Induced abortion has been increasing in rural areas, being as high as 30-50% in some locations. The maternal death rate was shown 10 times higher than in developed countries (35/10,000 live births). Prenatal care Most women had no consultation with a physician during the prenatal period. Of those women who did have prenatal care, the majority (63%) received such care only 1 or 2 times throughout the entire period of pregnancy. Also, in 80% of these women the first visit Game after 4 months of gestation. Delivery conditions This field is lagging behind other public health problems in our country. Namely, more than 95% of the women deliveried their baby at home, and delivery attendance by a professional person occurred only 11% of the time. Attendance rate by laymen was 78% while those receiving no care at all was 16%. For instruments used to cut the umbilical corn, sterilized scissors were used by 19%, non-sterilized scissors by 63% and 16% used sickles. Regarding delivery sheets, the rate of use of clean sheets was only 10%, unclean sheets, vinyl and papers 72%, and without sheets, 18%. The main reason for not using a hospital as a place of delivery was that the women felt they did not need it as they had previously experience easy deliveries outside hospitals. Difficult delivery composed about 5% of the total. Child health The main food for infants (95%) was breast milk. Regarding weaning time, the rates within one year, up to one and half, two, three and more than three years were 28,43,60,81 and 91% respectively, and even after the next pregnancy still continued lactation. The vaccination of children is the only service for child health in rural Korea. As shown in the Table, the rates of all kinds of vaccination were very low and insufficient. Infant death rate was 42 per 1,000 live births. Most of the deaths were caused by preventable diseases. Death of infants within the neonatal period was 83% meaning that deaths from communicable diseases decreased remarkably after that time. Infant deaths which occurred without medical care was 52%. Methods of improvement in the MCH field 1. Through the activities of village health workers (VHW) to detect pregnant women by home visiting and. after registration. visiting once a month to observe any abnormalities in pregnant women. If they find warning signs of abnormalities. they refer them to the public health nurse or midwife. Sterilized delivery kits were distributed to the expected mother 2 weeks prior to expected date of delivery by the VHW. If a delivery was expected to be difficult, then the VHW took the mother to a physician or call a physician to help after birth, the VHW visits the mother and baby to confirm health and to recommend the baby be given proper vaccination. 2. Through the midwife or public health nurse (aid nurse) Examination of pregnant women who are referred by the VHW to confirm abnormalities and to treat them. If the midwife or aid nurse could not solve the problems, they refer the pregnant women to the OB-GY specialist. The midwife and PHN will attend in the cases of normal deliveries and they help in the birth. The PHN will conduct vaccination for all infants and children under 5, years old. 3. The Physician will help only in those cases referred to him by the PHN or VHW. However, the physician should examine all pregnant women at least three times during their pregnancy. First, the physician will identify the pregnancy and conduct general physical examination to confirm any chronic disease that might disturb the continuity of the pregnancy. Second, if the pregnant woman shows any abnormalities the physician must examine and treat. Third, at 9 or 10 months of gestation (after sitting of the baby) the physician should examine the position of the fetus and measure the pelvis to recommend institutional delivery of those who are expected to have a difficult delivery. And of course. the medical care of both the mother and the infants are responsible of the physician. Overall, large areas of the field of MCH would be served by the VHW, PHN, or midwife so the physician is needed only as a parttime worker.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.60-75
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• 1998

The parents have much expectation upon the pregnancy and child birth, and in most cases, they expect the healthy parturient child. However, we can be placed on the high-risk conditions which have the physical, social and immature infant, due to the unexpected results, among the new-born. Accordingly, these high-risk newborn and premature infants will be mostly in NICU, which the concentrated medical treatment can be given, upon their conditions. After their birth and during these periods, they will be divided from the parents, and the nurse will accomplish the bringing-up activities which they can take care of the infant, expected by the parents after their birth. The hospitalization of high-risk newborn including these premature infants is the shocking experience to the parents of family, and thus they can feel the fear and uneasiness, and these reactions of parents are troubled in the behavior at the usual days, and cause the disorder and spiritless status, and these results break the supporting ability of parents, and cause the obstruction. Also, the unavoidable division between the parents and the children as like hospitalization of children can make the parents to feel the alienation emotionally, and this causes the results which the pride on the bringing-up ability of baby gets to be lost. These problems can cause the difficulties on the bonding or the parenting in the further days, and can be related to the neglect and abuse of children. Also, it is gradually increased to study and report which the emotional division by the physical division between the mother and the baby obstructs the normal affection course between the parent and the infant. The stress caused by the birth and the hospitalization of high-risk newborn, as like this, is important in the points which it can uncertainly affect the potential energy for the relationship of parent-child who are finally healthy. Accordingly, the significance and purpose of this study are to understand the contents and degree of stress which the parents of high-risk newborn including the immature child can be experienced from the hospitalization of ICU for their new borns, and thus to offer the basic program to the nursing intervention program for these. The subject of this study is the mother of newborn in NICU of 10 General Hospitals located at the 3one of Pusan, Korea from September 1997 to October 1997, and thus makes the subject of 95 person of parents who agreed to take part in the study and it is descriptive study related to the stress of mother having the newborn in NICU. The method is based on the preceding study related to the stress of mother having the experience of child hospitalization and chronic disease child, and then acquires the advice of specialists group as like 5 nursing professors, and then is amended and supplemented. Total number of questions is 43 items and consists of 5 factors as like medical treatment &nursing procedures, disease status & prognosis, role of parents, communication & inter-personal relationships, hospital environment, and is 5 point Likert Scale. The reliability of this study method is very highly shown to be Cronbach α=0.95. The collected data is analysed as Average, Frequency, Standard Deviation, T-test, ANOVA, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, Duncan multifulrange test by use of SPSS /PC (V7.5). The results of this study is summarized as under. 1. Every characteristics of subject is which the party of mother is 28.70age(±7.48) in the average ages, 51% in the high-school graduate, 38.5% in the christianity, total monthly income is 212.55 thousand won(±1.971), 74.5% in the housewife, 72.9% in the parents and children together living and the number of children to be 1.48person(± 0.6) in average, the recognition on the prognosis of baby is 74.0% in 'Don't know', the relationship with the husband after the hospitalization of babyis 37.3% in 'More Intimate', the relationship with the family of husband to be 48% in 'No-change', and the degree which is consulted with the husband about the baby is 55% in 'very frequently' and the visiting number per week is 4.59(±1.63) in average and the accompanying person in the time of visiting is which the number of husband is 56.3% and thus is the highest. The characteristics of baby is which the age is 21.88days(±16.47) after the birth in average, the sex to be 50 person in the female 52.1% and the order of birth to be 54.2% in the first chid, and the weight in the birth to be 2770gm(±610) and the height in the birth to be 46.26cm(±7.62) in aver age. The medical diagnosis is 37.5% in the premature infant, the career of hospitalization is 96.9% in 'None', and the operation plan is 90.6% in 'None' and the execution of operation is 88% in 'None' and the nursing of incubator is 55.2% in 'Yes', and the method of feeding is 50.5% in 'Oral' and the contents of feeding is 46.9% in the 'Milk'. 2. The total stress degree of subject is almost highly shown to be as 3.36(±0.86). If it is compared upon each cause, 'stress on disease status & prognosis' is highest 3.79(±1.28), and it is in the order of 'stress on medical treatment & nursing procedures' 3.70(±0.93), 'stress on hospital environment' 3.14(±0.86), 'stress on role of parents' 3.18(±0.92) and 'stress on communication & inter personal relationship' 2.62(± 0.77) 3. As the results of checking the notworthiness of stress degree upon each variable of subject, the variable showing the noted difference was the birth weight(γ=-0.16, P=0.04), birth height(γ=-0.23, P=0.03), nursing in the incubator(F=8.93, P=0.04), feed method(F=2.94, P=0.04). That is to say, it is shown which the smaller the birth weight is, the higher the stress degree of mother is noteworthily. Also, the smaller the birth height baby is, the higher the stress of mother is. In the incubator, it os shown which the mother whose baby is nursing in the incubator is higher in the stress degree than other mothers. Upon the feeding method of baby, that is to say, TPNis the highest, and it is shown in the order of NPO, Tube feeding, and P.O. feeding. When we review the above-mentioned results, as the status is serious, it is thought which we include the supporting nursing for coping with the stress of parents in the setting-up od nursing plan for the baby in the NICU.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.171-179
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• 2006

Changes in the chicken testis from hatching to adulthood were studied in Korean native chickens of 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28, 32, 44, 52 and 64 weeks (n=13 chickens per group) of age. The present study was to investigate in more detail the post-hatching development of testis in Korean native chickens. Testes of chickens were fixed by whole body perfusion using a fixative containing 2.5% glutaraldehyde in cacodylate buffer, processed and embedded in Epon-araldite. Using $1{\mu}m$ sections stained with methylene blue-azure II, qualitative and quantitative(stereological) morphological studies were performed. Sperm production was measured by routine technique. The average volume of a testis of 1 week old Korean native chickens was determined as 0.015 g and the parameter increased linearly from 1 week to 21 weeks days (28.9 g), and did not change from 21 weeks to 64 weeks. The volume density of the seminiferous tubules increased with age from 32.6% at week 1 to 92.89% at week 64. The volume density of the interstitium represents 67.4% of the testicular parenchyma at week 1. This proportion progressively diminished during development to reach a value of 7.11% at week 64. Total sperm production per testis increased significantly from 18 weeks to 28 weeks and remained unchanged. Sperm production per 1 g testis increased significantly from 18 weeks to 28 weeks, did not change significantly from 28 weeks to 52 weeks, and declined significantly at 64 weeks of age. The average diameter of the seminiferous tubules gradually increased with age from 1 week $(42.4{\mu}m)$ to 21 weeks $(412.8{\mu}m)$. The length of the seminiferous tubules was 0.34 m at 1 week, increased significantly in subsequent age groups and reached 72.2 m by weeks 64. The stage of germ cell development in seminiferous tubules was classified as 1) spermatogonia $(1\sim8\;weeks)$, 2) spermatogonia and spermatocytes $(10\sim12\;weeks)$, 3) spermatogonia, spermatocytes and round spermatids $(14\sim16\;weeks)$, and 4) speramatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa $(18\sim64\;weeks)$. These results clarified the pattern of changes in the testicular development in Korean native chickens from hatching to adulthood as 1) neonatal-prepubertal $(1\sim12\;weeks)$, 2) puberty$(14\sim18\;weeks)$, and adult$(21\sim64\;weeks)$.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.70-83
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• 1999

The birth of a premature infant is distressing for its parents. The parents of a premature infant experience stress according to the infant's physical appearance and behavior, the environment of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) , and the alteration in the parental role. Especially, a mother of a premature infant feels distressed even after the discharge of the infant : therefore, she has difficulties in maternal role performance. The main purpose of this study is to identify the effects of the planned infant care information program in order to lower the stress level for mothers of premature infants caused by the birth and hospitalization in NICU of premature infants, to reduce the maternal role strain, and to promote the maternal role performance after the infants' discharge. This study employed two methods of research at the same time : quasi -experimental non-equivalent pre and post test to compare : non-equivalent post test to compare. The total number of subjects was 19 who were assigned to the research program : 12 mothers of premature infants at the NICU at the Ch university hospital and 7 at the NICU at the Y general hospital located in Chounju city. The data were collected for 79 days from August 18 to November 5, 1998. The questionnaire method was applied for the data collection, and the measures used in this study were Parental Stressor Scale : NICU(Miles, 1993), the Maternal Role Strain Measures ( Hobbs, 1968 ; Steffensmeier, 1982) , and Self Confidence Scale (Pharis, 1978). Research procedure is as follows : after preliminary examination, the experimental subjects, the mothers of premature infants at the Nl CU at Ch university hospital were provided with slide films and information developed by the researcher based on existing documents and data. It took two 60-minute sessions a week for two weeks, and the mothers' stress level was measured using the same instrument twice one week and two week after the infants' hospitalization. The stress level of the contrast subjects, the mothers at Y general hospital was measured during the same period. The experimental subjects were provided with booklets on matters that require attention after the infants' discharge and on developmental project, and they were educated to play the maternal role in person for 2-3 hours a week : breast-feeding, burping a baby, and changing diapers. One week after the infants' discharge, the maternal role strain and the maternal role performance were examined in two groups of the subjects. The analysis of collected data was done using descriptive statistics including real numbers, percentages, averages, and standard deviations. Mann-Whitney test ; x² test ; Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance ; ANCOVA Spearman's rho correlation coefficients. The results on this study were as follows. (1) The examination of the same quality showed that there were no differences in the general and obstetrical characters between the two groups. However, in terms of the characters of premature infants. just right after their birth, the infants at the contrast group weighed more than those at the experimental group(U=16.5, p=.02), and the former was in mother's womb longer than the latter(U=15.5, p=.02). (2) The stress level of the mothers provided with the plannned nursing intervention program became lower as time passed compared to the others'(F=16.61, p=.00) Even when the influence of weight at birth and the length of gestation was removed among the premature infants' characters, the mothers' stress levels made a statistical difference 2 weeks after the infants' hospitalization depending on treatment (F=8.00, p=.01) (3) The maternal role strain of the mothers provided with the planned nursing intervention program was lower than the others'(U=2.0, p=.00). Even when the influence of weight at birth and the length of gestation was removed among the premature infants' characters, the maternal role strain levels made a statistical difference 2 weeks after the infants' hospitalization, depending on treatment(F=14.72, p=.00). (4) The maternal role performance level of the mothers provided with the planned nursing program was higher than the others'(U=.0, p=.00). Even when the influence of weight at birth and the length of gestation was removed among the premature infants' characters, the mothers' stress levels made a statistical difference 2 weeks after the infants' hospitalization, depending on treatment(F=8.00, p=.01). (5) The correlation between a mother's stress level 2 weeks after her infant's hospitalization, the maternal role strain and the maternal role performance were compared : the stress and the maternal role strain were statistically irrelevant to each other(r=.33, p=.12) : the stress was found to be in inverse proportion to the maternal role performance(r=-.53, p=.02). The maternal role strain was in inverse proportion to the maternal role performance as well(r=-.50, p=.00). In conclusion, for the mothers provided with the planned nursing intervention program, their stress level was getting lower as time passed during the infants' hospitalization, their maternal role strain reduced when they took care of their infants after their discharge, and their maternal role performance level was high compared to the other mothers. Besides, the lower the stress level of mothers of premature infants was during the infants' hospitalization, the higher the maternal role performance after their discharge was. The lower maternal role strain was, the higher the maternal role performance was as well. These results of the study suggested that the nursing intervention program for the mothers of premature infants developed by the researcher would be effectively applied to nursing practice, and it would be a foundation for the development of this kind of program.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제45권5호
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• pp.596-602
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• 2002

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to analyze the association of peripheral neutrophil count with the development of respiratory failure in preterm infants. Methods : A retrospective study was conducted from January 1993 to December 1999 on 44 preterm infants, who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of St. Francisco hospital. Preterm infants(birth weight 500 to 1,350 gm) who had a complete blood count obtained within 2 hours after delivery. Patients in the lowest of neutrophil count(early neutropenia, < $1.0{\times}10^9/L$) were compared with patients in the remaining group. Results : Low neutrophil count were transient in early neutropenia group. The concentration the circulating neutrophil count rose from $0.85{\pm}0.11{\times}10^9/L$ at average of 2 hours after delivery to $5.3{\pm}2.7{\times}10^9/L$ at 24 hours after delivery in the early neutropenia group and from $3.6{\pm}1.6{\times}10^9/L$ to $5.8{\pm}3.2{\times}10^9/L$ in the non-neutropenia group during the same time period. Compare to the non-neutropenia group, the neutropenia group had a lower birth weight($1,046.50{\pm}180.76gm$ Vs $1,156.70{\pm}124.99gm$), a lower Apgar score(1 min : $3.41{\pm}1.18$ Vs $4.30{\pm}1.46$, 5 min : $5.41{\pm}0.87$ Vs $6.15{\pm}0.95$), and a higher incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia(27.27% Vs 7.0%). Patients who had early neutropenia were more likely to require mechanical ventilation, supplemental oxygen and hospital stay. Also, main effect factors for the two groups were birth weight(Odds ratio=5.457, 95% CI=1.551-27.525), initial peripheral blood white cells(odds ratio=8.308, 95% CI=2.054-52.699), and bronchopulmonary dysplasia(odds ratio=0.099, 95% CI=0.017-0.397). Conclusion : A low count of neutrophil in the systemic circulation of premature infants within 2 hours of birth is associated with more severe respiratory distress.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제45권10호
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• pp.1204-1212
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• 2002

Purpose : Early surfactant therapy with either gentle ventilation, high-frequency ventilation or aggressive weaning of mechanical ventilation are principles for the treatment of respiratory distress syndrome(RDS). We studied to determine the accessibility of noninvasive nasal continuous positive airway pressure(CPAP) rather than mechanical ventilation by invasive intubation after early surfactant therapy. Methods : The study group consisted of 14 infants who were born and diagnosed with moderate respiratory distress syndrome and received early surfactant therapy with nasal CPAP of PEEP 5-6 cm $H_2O$ within two hours after birth in the Fatima neonatal intensive care unit for two years from January 1999 to August 2001. The control group consisted of 15 infants who were diagnosed with the disease and could be weaned from mechanical ventilator within five days after birth during the same period. Results : The characteristics, the severity of clinical symptoms and laboratory findings in the two groups at birth showed no significant difference. Neither did the interim analysis of laboratory data in two groups. Of 14 infants in the study group who received nasal CPAP after early surfactant therapy, only two infants showed weaning failure with this therapy. In the response cases, duration of CPAP was five days and mean airway pressure was $5.4{\pm}0.5cm$ $H_2O$. Two had the complication of CPAP with abdominal distension. Final complications and outcomes in the two groups showed no signifcant difference(P>0.05). Conclusion : The clinical courses in the two groups showed no significant difference. Therefore, we suggest that early surfactant therapy with noninvasive nasal CPAP is a simple and safe method rather than aggressive weaning after invasive mechanical ventilation in moderate respiratory distress syndrome.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• 제1권1호
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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.