Comparison of the MGIT (Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube) with Ogawa media for recovery of Mycobacteria / 대한임상미생물학회지

BACKGROUND: It takes long time to cultivate Mycobacterium tuberculosis on solid media from clinical specimens. Although there is progress in the detection of tuberculosis using liquid media, Ogawa media is broadly used in Korea. In the 1990s, the BACTEC 460 system (Becton Dickinson, Sparks, MD, USA) was used in some laboratories in Korea, but at present, it is not used because of the accumulation of radioactive waste and the risk of cross-contamination. The BACTEC MGIT 960 system (Becton Dickinson, Sparks, MD, USA) is one of the new systems using liquid media. MGIT system uses oxygen-quenching fluorescence sensor technology instead of radioactive material. We evaluated MGIT for the sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by comparison with Ogawa media. METHODS: A total of 232 sputum specimens were collected from patients admitted to the hospital. All specimens were processed by 4% NaOH and 0.5% NALC. After inoculation of MGIT with 0.5 mL and Ogawa with 0.3 mL of the processed specimen, the media were observed every 3 days until 6 weeks and 8 weeks, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 99 isolates of mycobacteria were recovered from 232 specimens. Ninety nine isolates were detected with MGIT, as contrasted with 64 detected with Ogawa media. The mean times to detection of the Mycobacterium species were 12.6 days for MGIT, 23.7 days for Ogawa media. Contamination rates were 5.1% for MGIT, 5.6% for Ogawa media. CONCLUSION: From our study, we conclude that MGIT is a superior method for recovery rate and time to detection of Mycobacteria to Ogawa media.

Clinical features of hepatocellular carcinoma with reference to ages in Korean patients / 대한내과학회지

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) has characteristic differences in both viral profiles and the most frequently occurring age in each country. It also has clinically distinct features between adult patients of the age under 65 and senile patients over 65 years. Herein we investigate differences in clinical features of the patients with HCC of the three different age groups : young patients (group 1) below 45 years of age; most frequently occurring age (45 - 65 year) (group 2); and elderly patients (group 3) above 65 years of age. METHODS: The 371 HCC patients hospitalized and followed-up from 1986 to February 1997 have been analyzed. At the time of diagnosis there was no significant difference among the three groups in alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, sex, family history of liver disease, mean values of aminotransferases, Child-Pugh class, tumor location, TNM stage, tumor size, varix grade, metastasis, abdominal pain, ascites, encephalopathy, fever, or jaundice. RESULTS: In the younger group HCC showed (1) a high incidence of HBsAg positivity (group 1, 95.3%; group 2, 78.6%; group 3, 25%; p400 ng/mL) showed no differences among the three age groups (p=0.23766). (6) The overall survival rates did not differ statistically among the three groups (mean survival: group 1, 12 months; group 2, 18 months; group 3, 15 months; p=0.4635, log rank test). CONCLUSION: These data support the younger patients with HCC are the most frequently associated with HBV contrarily to the elderly patients the more frequently associated with HCV or NBNC rather than HBV. This suggests, in turn, that the onset of HCC occurs one or two decades later in those with adult-acquired HCV than it does in lifelong HBV patients after neonatal vertical infection.

A Study on the Development of the Uveal Tract

The embryology of the various parts of the human body, especially that of the eye, has its years-long history. But in recent years, the embryological study of the eye didn't attract much attention of the investigators. Lately the author had an opportunity to obtain the eyeballs (54) in the gestational age irom at least 3 months to 10 months. The specimens used were sectioned for tissue microscopy and stained when necessary. I studied the developmental process of the uveal tract, such as ciliary body, ciliary process and ciliary muscle the marginal sinus and its relationship between pupillary muscles and pigmentation of the iris epithelial vessels of choroid and pupillary membrane. The result obtained are as follows: 1. The ciliary body appeared at the 12th week of embryonic life and the ciliary processes were formed at the 16th week of embryonic life. At the 36th week of embryonic life, the ciliary body was divided into the pars plana and pars plicata. Condensation of the ciliary muscle cells appeared at the 12th week and continued its development until birth. 2. The marginal sinus appeared at the 12th week of embryonic life and reached the maximum in its size at the 16th week, it disappeared completely at the 28th week of embryonic life. 3. At the 16th week of embryonic life, pigmentation of the iris pigment epithelium began from the outer wall of the marginal sinus and fully developed pigmentation at the 28th week, at the same stage, the mesodermal tissues, vessels and fibroblasts, growing into the muscle stump. 4. At the 12th week of embryonic life, small vessels made their appearance in the choroid By the 20th week of embryonic life, large vessels developed and the choroid showed a fully matured vascular appearance. 5. The pupillary membrane remained until the 32nd week and completely disappeared at the 36th week of embryonic life. These findings suggested that the size of marginal sinus closely related to development of the pupillary muscles and pigmention of the iris pigment epithelium.

Clinical Study on the Cryo-extraction of the Lens in Senile Cataract

The authors report the result of cryo-extraction of the lens in 50 eyes (44 cases) which were operated in B.N.D. Hospital from January 1978 to April 1980. The results are as follows: 1. The incidences of complication during operation were hyphema(8%), vitreous loss and rupture of the lens capsule(2%). Hyphema was the most common complication during operation. 2. The incidences of early postoperative complication were striate keratitis(26%), hyphema (2%), shallow anterior chamber(2%) and uveitis. 3. The incidences of late postoperative complication were vitreous prolapse into anterior chamber (6%), updrawn pupil(6%), macular edema(4%) and posterior synechia (2%), corneal degeneration with abnormal tissue growth into anterior chamber (2%), iris atrophy (2%) and vitreous opacity (2%). 4. The postoperative final visual acuity more than 0.5 were 37 eyes(74%) and less than 0.1 were 2 eyes(4%).

Follow-up Study of Trabeculectomy

In 1968, Cairns introduced the trabeculectomy operation and reported it to be a highly succesful form of surgery for the reduction of intraocular pressure in primary open-angle glaucoma. At the present time trabeculectomy is the treatment of choice for patients with primary open-angle glaucoma requiring surgery. In the period January, 1975. to March, 1978, 72 eyes of chronic simple, chronic angle-closure, secondary, and developmental glaucoma were operated by trabeculectomy and/or trabeculotomy in Busan National University Hospital. Follow-up study was achieved in 28 eyes(chronic simple glaucoms 17, chronic angle-closure glaucoma 4, secondary glaucoma 3, and developmental 4) of 72 eyes, and the duration of follow-up ranged from 1 year to 2 and 1/2 years(average 18 months). Our operative procedure, which was different from others, was made with 1/3 thickness of scleral flap, and made 2 knots with 8-0 nylon placed in free edge of scleral flap and 1/3 of all cases was not placed scleral flap sutures. We achieved success in 23 eyes (82.1% )of 28 eyes of all types of glaucoma and 14 eyes (82.4%) of 17 eyes of openangle glaucoma. The control of intraocular pressure in interrelationship to formation of filtering bleb was statistically significance(x2(0.05, 1)=3.84>5.46), and to scleral flap suture was not significance(x2(0,05, 1)=3.84>0.39). The complications during and after operation were delayed formation of anterior chamber, hyphema, posterior synechia, vitreous prolapse, choroidal detachment, and lens and vitreous opacity in order.

Clinical Study of Traumatic Cataract

The authors analyzed the results of operation in 88 eyes of traumatic cataract for recent 5 years at Busan National University Hospital. The follow up study was at least 3 months up to 3 years. The results were as follows; 1. The incidence of traumatic cataract was 8.2% of all ocular injuries. 2. The main cause of traumatic cataract was flying objects (44.8%) and sharp material(33.3%). 3. The major causes of decreased visual acuity after operation were corneal opacity (36.4). after cataract (22.8%). and vitreous opacity (21.6%).