• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.172-177
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• 2015

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the epidemic period of RSV infection and evaluate the appropriate time of palivizumab immunoprophylaxis. Methods: From January 1991 to July 2012, nasopharyngeal (NP) aspirates were obtained from patients who visited Seoul National University Children's Hospital for respiratory symptoms. NP samples were used to detect respiratory viruses. Among them, we analyzed the positive number and detection rate of RSV infection in two-week interval. The beginning of RSV season was defined when RSV positive number was more than 4 and RSV detection rate was over 10%. From January 2007 to March 2014, we analyzed the starting time of palivizumab immunoprophylaxis for the infants at high risk. Results: The RSV detection rate was 2,013/21,698 (9.69%) over 22 years. The median RSV season was from $2^{nd}-3^{rd}$ week of October to $1^{st}-2^{nd}$ week of February. The earliest starting week was the 3rd week of July in year 2001, and the latest end week was the 3rd week of May in year 1990. Palivizumab immunoprophylaxis was initiated most frequently at the 3rd week of October (18.7%). However, the percentage of starting palivizumab on the 1st week of September has increased from 3.8% in the year 2007 to 14.1% in 2013. Conclusions: The year to year variability of RSV season exists. The starting time of palivizumab immunoprophylaxis should be adjusted based on the season of RSV epidemic.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.154-163
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• 2015

Purpose: Osteoarticular infections in children and adolescents are important because it can cause functional compromise if appropriate treatment is delayed. Therefore, this study was designed to describe the clinical presentations and causative organisms of osteoarticular infections in children and adolescents in order to propose early diagnosis method and an appropriate empiric antimicrobial therapy. Methods: Forty-two medical records were reviewed retrospectively, which were confirmed as osteomyelitis (OM) or septic arthritis (SA) at Department of Pediatrics or Orthopedic Surgery in patients under 18 years old of Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital from March 2008 to March 2015. Results: We identified 21 cases of OM, 13 cases of SA and 8 cases of OM with SA. There were 31 males and 11 females and mean age was 7.1 years old. The most common symptoms were pain and tenderness of involved site. Major involved bones were femur (10 cases, 34.5%), tibia (7 cases, 24.1%) and major involved joints were hip (9 cases, 42.9%), and knee (5 cases, 23.8%). Increased serum C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were observed in 37 cases (88.1%) respectively. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 40 cases among 42 cases and was used to demonstrate osteoarticular infections and other adjacent infections. Nine cases (23.7%) among 38 cases and 20 cases (50.0%) among 40 cases were positive in blood culture and infected site culture respectively. The most common causative organism was Staphylococcus aureus, which was represented in 22 cases (75.9%), of which nine cases (40.9%) were resistant to methicillin. Conclusions: S. aureus was the most common causative organism of osteoarticular infections in children and adolescents and the proportion of MRSA was high in this study. Therefore, we recommend vancomycin as the first empiric antimicrobial therapy and suggest that further study is necessary to elucidate an appropriate guideline for treatment which takes into account MRSA proportion.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2017

Purpose: Acute bacterial gastroenteritis (ABG) can cause more severe symptoms than acute viral gastroenteritis in children. This study was aimed at determining the etiologic trends and to examine the clinical characteristics of ABG in children. Methods: We sent stool samples from the children with acute gastroenteritis who were treated at a secondary hospital located in Seoul, Korea between January 2011 and December 2014 to Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment to find the causative organisms. Clinical characteristics of patient were analyzed through a medical records review. Results: Out of 664 stool samples, 183 (27.6%) yielded bacterial pathogens. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common bacterial pathogen, found in 72 cases (39.3%), even though it was only tested for since 2012. The monthly isolation rate was the highest (24.6%) in August. The isolation rate of Campylobacter spp. by patient's age group was high (16.7%) in the 12- to 18-year-age group (P=0.04). In patients with bloody stool, Campylobacter spp. was the most commonly isolated (31.0%, P=0.04). When comparing C-reactive protein, the Salmonella spp.- or Campylobacter spp.-isolated group showed higher values than the S. aureus- or pathogenic Escherichia coli-isolated group ($5.7{\pm}0.6mg/dL$ vs. $2.1{\pm}0.3mg/dL$, P<0.01). Conclusions: S. aureus, Salmonella spp., pathogenic E. coli, and Campylobacter spp. were important pathogens of ABG among children. Considering the differences in pathogens found according to age, a clinical symptom and inflammation index might be helpful in assuming the causative organism.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.17-40
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• 1995

Rheumatoid arthritis is the one of the chronic diseases, one of its major symptoms is a chronic pain. Despite developing medical treatment and surgical techniques, it is suggested that to control the pain is the goal of the treatment. But pain is an inner experience and even those closest to the patient cannot truly observe its progress or share in its suffering. The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine's report on Pain and Disability concluded that there is no objective measure of pain-(exactly) no pain thermometer-nor can there ever be one, because the experience of pain is inseparable from personal perception and social influence such as culture. To explore chronic pain experience is to understand the process and property of the patient's perception of pain through the response to pain, the coping with pain, and the adaptation to pain. Therefore a qualitative study was conducted in order to gain an understanding of pain experience of patients with RA in korea. I used naturalistic inquiry as a research methodology, which had 5 axioms, the first is that realities are multiple, constructed, and holistic, the second is that knower and known are interactive, inseparable, the third is only time and context bound working hypotheses(idiographic statements) are possible, the forth is all entities are in a state of mutual simultaneous shaping, so that it is impossible to distinguish causes from effects and the last is that inquiry is value-bound. Purposive sampling was conducted as a sampling. 20 subjects who experienced pain over 10 years, lived in middle-sized city and big city in Korea, and 17 women and 3 men. The subject's age was from 32 to 62 (average 48.8), all were married, living with their spouse and children, except two-one divorced and the other widow before they became ill. I collected data using In depth structured interview. I had interviews two or three times with each subject, and the interviews were conducted at each subject's home. Each interview lasted about two hours an average. A recording was taken with the consent of the subject. I used inductive data analysis-such as unitizing and categorizing. unitizing is a process of coding, whereby raw data are systematically transformed and aggregated into units. Categorizing is a process wherby previously unitized data are organized into categories that provide descriptive or inferential information about the context or setting from which the units were derived. This process is used constant comparative method. The pain controlling process is composed of behavior of pain control. The behaviors of pain control are rearranging of ADL, hiddening role conflict, balancing treatment, and changing social relation. Rearranging of ADL includes diet management, sleep management, and the adjustment of daily life activities. The subjects try to rearrange their daily activities by modified style of motions, rearranging time span & range of activities, using auxillary facilities, and getting help in order to keep on the pace of daily life. Hiddening role conflict means to reduce conflicts between sick role and their role as a family member. In this process, the subjects use two modes, one is to control the pain complaints, and the other is to internalize the value which is to stay home is good for caring her children and being a good mother. To control pain complaints is done by 'enduring', 'understanding' the other family members, or making them undersood in order to reduce pain. Balancing treatment is composed of two aspects. One is to keep the pain within the endurable level, the other is to keep in touch with medical personnel in order to get the information of treatment and emotional support. Changing social relation is made by information seeking and sharing, formation of mutual support relation, and finally simplification of social relationships. The subjects simplify their social relationships by refraining from relations with someone who makes them physically and psychologically strained. In particular the subjects are apt to avoid contact with in-laws, and the change of relation to in-laws results in lessening the family boundary. In the course of this process, they confront the crisis of family confict result in family dissolution. This crisis is related to the threat of self-existence. Findings from this study contribute to understanding the chronic pain experience. To advance this study, we should compare this result with other cases in different cultural contexts. I think to interpret these results, korean cultural background should be considered. Especially the different family concept, more broader family members and kinship network, and the traditional medical knowledge influences patients' behavior.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.276-284
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• 2000

Purpose: We investigated the operative outcome after bypass surgery in patients selected using viability criteria on F-18 FDG PET. Materials and Methods: Rest-24hr delay redistribution imaging of Tl-201 SPECT and F-18 FDG PET were performed in 11 patients. Seven of these 11 patients (6 men, 1 woman) were evaluated to have viable myocardium by F-18 FDG PET. Changes in symptoms and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after operation were evaluated. Results: In seven of 11 patients, a significant amount of viable myocardium was found on F-18 FDG PET and Tl-201 SPECT. Severity of both chest pain and dyspnea improved markedly in all patients. Mean LVEF improved from 22% to 32%. Conclusion: F-18 FDG PET could be used to select the patients who will benefit from coronary artery bypass surgery.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.442-448
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• 2010

The objectives of this study were to analyze mutant lines of Chinese cabbage ($Brassica$ $rapa$ ssp. $pekinensis$) using gene tagging system (plasmid rescue and inverse polymerase chain reaction) and to observe the phenotypic characteristics. Insertional mutants were derived by transferring DNA (T-DNA) of $Agrobacterium$ for functional genomics study in Chinese cabbage. The hypocotyls of Chinese cabbage 'Seoul' were used to obtain transgenic plants with $Agrobacterium$ $tumefaciens$ harboring pRCV2 vector. To tag T-DNA from the Chinese cabbage genomic DNA, plasmid rescue and inverse PCR were applied for multiple copies and single copy insertional mutants. These techniques were successfully conducted to Chinese cabbage plant with high efficiency, and as a result, T-DNA of pRCV2 vector showed distinct various integration patterns in the transgenic plant genome. The polyploidy level analysis showed the change in phenotypic characteristics of 13 mutant lines was not due to variation in somatic chromosome number. Compared with wild type, the $T_1$ progenies showed varied phenotypes, such as decreased stamen numbers, larger or smaller flowers, upright growth habit, hairless leaves, chlorosis symptoms, narrow leaves, and deeply serrated leaves. The polyploidy level analysis showed the change in phenotypic characteristics of 13 mutant lines was not due to variation in somatic chromosome number. To tag T-DNA from the Chinese cabbage genomic DNA, plasmid rescue and inverse PCR were applied for multiple copies and single copy insertional mutants. Mutants that showed distinct phenotypic difference compared to wild type with 1 copy of T-DNA by Southern blot analysis, and with 2n = 20 of chromosome number were selected. These selected mutant lines were sequenced flanking DNA, mapped genomic loci, and the genome information of the lines is being recorded in specially developed database.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.50-55
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• 2013

The objective of this research was to investigate the impact of Ca fertilizer on the growth of mother plants, physiological disorders, and occurrence of daughter plants in propagation of 'Seolhyang' strawberry through plastic bag cultivation. To achieve this, chemicals of 1.125 mM $Ca(OH)_2$, 0.375 mM $MgCl_2$, 1.250 mM KCl were blended and designated to combined fertilizer (CF). Then, the effect was compared to the treatment of no Ca application (control) and a commercial fertilizer, CalMag (13-0-1.9-16-6:N-$P_2O_5$-$K_2O$-CaO-MgO), when those were applied every two weeks with controlled electrical conductivity (EC) of solution such as 0.6 or 1.0 $dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. The number of plants showing Ca deficiency symptoms was the highest in control treatment, but those decreased significantly in CF or CalMag treatments. The differences between CF and CalMag in appearance of Ca deficient plants were not significant when two fertilizers were applied with same EC. The fresh and dry weights of mother plants were the greater in the treatments of CF or CalMag than those of control treatment. The treatments of 1.0 $dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ of CF or CalMag were more effective than those of 0.6 $dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ on the fresh and dry weight of the mother plants. The runner lengths in the treatment of 1.0 $dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ of CF were the longest among the all treatments tested. The treatments of 1.0 $dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ were more effective than those of 0.6 $dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ of CF or CalMag in lengths and fresh and dry weight of runners. The fresh and dry weights of daughter plants were heavier in the treatments of CF than those of CalMag. Based on the above results, we concluded that the Ca deficiency in raising 'Seolhyang' strawberry can be lessened by the application of Ca containing fertilizers, but combined application of Ca, K and Mg was more effective than that of Ca alone for seedling production.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.169-178
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• 2003

This pot experiment was conducted to find out the effects of boron application($B_{0}$ ; control, $B_1$; 0.2, $B_2$; 2.0, B$_3$; 6.0, $B_4$; 15.0 boron me/pot) on the forage performance of pure and mixed cultures of orchardgrass and white clover. The third part was concerned with the changes in the contents and yields of nitrogen compounds(crude/pure protein and soluble N-compound) in forages. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. With no additional fertilization, especially nitrogen, in a pure culture, the $B_{0}$ and $B_4$ treatments on white clover decreased the amount of crude/pure protein, and showed nitrogen deficiency symptoms. However, the optimum boron application($B_2$) positively resulted in the increase of crude and pure protein, especially pure protein, and the content ratio of pure protein/soluble N-compounds. With additional fertilization, especially nitrogen, differences were not found among the boron treatments($B_{0}$, $B_2$, and $B_4$). 2. Owing to the decline of white clover as affected by the additional fertilization, especially nitrogen, in the grass-clover mixed cultures, the effects of B-application on these contents of white clover were different and relatively low, compared with the pure cultures. But the positive effect of $B_2$ treatment tended to be similar to the pure cultures. Also, it was recognized that the $B_2$ treatment resulted in the increase of their contents in orchardgrass, however, the effect was relatively minor compared with that of white clover. 3. The optimum B application(B$_2$) on white clover influenced relatively better on the yields of crude and pure protein than on the dry matter yields, especially with no additional fertilization. The effects of boron application on the contents and yields of crude and pure protein were different according to the forage species, whether it was a pure or mixed culture, and additional fertilization.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.70-82
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• 2015

This study was conducted to establish an efficient screening system to identify melon resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis. F. oyxsporum f. sp. melonis GR was isolated from infected melon plants collected at Goryeong and identified as F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis based on morphological characteristics, molecular analyses, and host-specificity tests on cucurbits including melon, oriental melon, cucumber, and watermelon. In addition, the GR isolate was determined as race 1 based on resistance responses of melon differentials to the fungus. To select optimized medium for mass production of inoculum of F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis GR, six media were tested. The fungus produced the most spores (microconidia) in V8-juice broth. Resistance degrees to the GR isolate of 22 commercial melon cultivars and 6 rootstocks for melon plants were investigated. All tested rootstocks showed no symptoms of Fusarium wilt. Among the tested melon cultivars, only three cultivars were susceptible and the other cultivars displayed moderate to high resistance to the GR isolate. For further study, six melon cultivars (Redqueen, Summercool, Superseji, Asiapapaya, Eolukpapaya, and Asiahwanggeum) showing different degrees of resistance to the fungus were selected. The development of Fusarium wilt on the cultivars was tested according to several conditions such as plant growth stage, root wounding, dipping period of roots in spore suspension, inoculum concentration, and incubation temperature to develop the disease. On the basis of the test results, we suggest that an efficient screening method for melon plants resistant to F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis is to remove soil from roots of seven-day-old melon seedlings, to dip the seedlings without cutting in s pore s uspension of $3{\times}10^5conidia/mL$ for 30 min, to transplant the inoculated seedlings to plastic pots with horticulture nursery media, and then to cultivate the plants in a growth room at 25 to $28^{\circ}C$ for about 3 weeks with 12-hour light per day.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.52-58
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• 2012

Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often have more aggravated symptoms in the supine position. We tried to investigate the clinical characteristics and the predictive factors for positional OSA. Polysomnographic data were reviewed for OSA patients (apnea hypopnea index, $AHI{\geq}5$) from April, 2008 to April, 2011 at the Asan Medical Center. Clinical data, comorbid medical condition data and questionnaires (SF-36, MFI-20, ESS, BDI, STAI) were assessed. All patients were classified into two groups: positional patients (PP) group and non-positional patients (NPP) group. PP was defined as a patient who had the AHI in the supine position was at least twice as high as that in the lateral position. The body position of patients was confirmed by sleep position sensor and video monitor. All patients had at least 30 minutes of positional and 30 minutes of non-positional sleep. We compared clinical, medical, polysomnographic data, and questionnaire results between two (PP and NPP) groups and investigated predictive factors for the PP group using binary logistic regression analysis. In total, 371 patients were investigated. 265 (71.4%) was categorized as PP group and 106 (28.5%) as NPP group. The mean age ($mean{\pm}SD$) was higher in the PP group ($52.4{\pm}9.8$) than in the NPP group ($49.5{\pm}11.9$) (p<0.05). Comparison of sleep parameters between the PP and the NPP group showed that the PP group had significantly lower BMI (PP: $26.1{\pm}3.2kg/m^2$; NPP: $27.8{\pm}4.3kg/m^2$, p<0.001), neck circumference (PP: $39.7{\pm}2.8cm$; NPP: $41.5{\pm}3.7cm$, p<0.001) and hypertension rate (PP: n=89/265 (33.5%); NPP: n=48/106 (45.2%), p=0.0240). In the PP group, the percentage of deep sleep (PP: $8.7{\pm}8.1%$; NPP: $5.6{\pm}7.0%$, P=0.001) and rapid eye movement (REM) (PP: $17.5{\pm}6.1%$; NPP: $14.0{\pm}6.9%$, p<0.001) were significantly higher whereas the percentage of light sleep (stage N1) was significantly lower than the NPP group (PP: $30.4{\pm}12.3$; NPP: $44.5{\pm}20.8%$, p<0.001). During the sleep, the AHI in the supine position (PP: $48.6{\pm}19.5$; NPP: $60.5{\pm}22.6$, p<0.001) and in the non-supine position (PP: $9.4{\pm}8.9$; NPP: $48.4{\pm}24.8$, p=<0.001) were significantly lower and the minimal arterial oxygen saturation in non-REM sleep was significantly higher in the PP group (PP: $80.3{\pm}7.6$; NPP: $75.1{\pm}9.9$, p=<0.001). There were no significant differences in all questionnaires including quality of life. The results of the binary logistic regression analysis showed that age, the amount of REM sleep(%) and AHI were significant predictive factors for positional OSA. The significant predictive factors for positional OSA were older age, higher percentage of REM and lower AHI. The questionnaire results were not significantly different between the two groups.