Clinical Efficacy of Beta-hCG at Second Trimester as the Marker to Predict Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension / 대한산부인과학회잡지

No abstract available.

Efficacy of Recombinant Human Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (rhG-CSF) and Recombinant Human Granulocyte Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor (rhGM-CSF) in Neutropenic Children with Malignancies / 대한소아혈액종양학회지

PURPOSE: Current intensive anticancer therapy may cause myelosuppression with an increased risk of severe infections. As a result, the administration of chemotherapy in cancer patients might be delayed often. Hemopoietic growth factors, which are responsible for the differentiation and functional regulation of granulocytes and monocytes, have been cloned and are available as rhG-CSF and rhGM-CSF. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and side effects of rhG-CSF and rhGM-CSF in children with cancer who received chemotherapy. METHODS: The study included 55 children ranging in age from 2 to 18 years who received chemotherapy for cancer and had absolute neutrophil count (ANC) under 500/muL. The growth-factors were administered subcutaneously starting in doses of 5~10 mug/ kg/day. The ANC was determined by complete blood counts starting on the first day of administration and every other day thereafter until the ANC rose above 1,000/muL. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the mean days for increase of the mean ANC value >500/muL (5.0+/-2.9 vs 5.7+/-4.2 days) and >1,000/muL (5.9+/-3.2 vs 6.4+/-4.8 days) after rhG-CSF and rhGM-CSF respectively. Side effects of rhG-CSF and rhGM-CSF were fever, myalgia, bone pain, elevation of ALT and rGT and abdominal pain in order and there was no difference between two growth factors. Also the numbers of transfusion of packed RBCs (0.7+/-0.8 vs 0.7+/-0.8) and platelets (0.8+/-1.0 vs 0.6+/-0.9) were not different after the two growth factors. CONCLUSION: It seems to be that rhG-CSF and rhGM-CSF are comparable in clinical effects and side effects when used for granulocytopenia in children with cancer.

Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Children with Leukemia and Malignant Lymphoma / 대한소아혈액종양학회지

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis(Tbc) has been known to be prevalent and associated with high mortality in adult patient with cancer due to cancer itself or immunosuppressive therapy but to be rare in children with cancer. Little about Tbc in children with cancer has been reported in this country. To investigate the incidence, treatment, timing of diagnosis, clinical symptoms and response to the treatment of Tbc in children with cancer, this study was undertaken. METHODS: From 1983 until 1997, 252 children treated for cancer at the Department of Pediatrics of Yeungnam University Hospital were studied for developing pulmonary Tbc while receiving anticancer therapy by reviewing the medical records. The incidence, onset, clinical symptoms and the response to the therapy of pulmonary Tbc in these children with cancer were studied. RESULTS: Among 252 children with cancer, 8(3.2%) children developed pulmonary Tbc which included 5 of 128(3.9%) children with ALL, 3 of 25(12%) children with malignant lymphoma. These 3 malignant lymphoma included 2 of total 3(66.7%) Hodgkin's lymphoma and 1 of 1(100%) lymphoepithelioma of the study population. Incidence of pulmonary Tbc in children with cancer per 100 person year for the first year was 2.9, for the second year was 1.4. Among 8 children with pulmonary Tbc, five were male and 3 were female with male to female ratio of 1.67:1. Mean age of them was 13.2(5~18) years old. The onset of pulmonary Tbc was average 7.1(2~14) months after starting anticancer therapy. No one had pulmonary Tbc on diagnosis of cancer. Coughing, sputum, cold sweating, mild fever, loss of appetite, weight loss were the clinical symptoms on diagnosis of pulmonary Tbc. Chest X-ray showed findings compatible with the active pulmonary Tbc in all cases but sputum examination for acid fast bacilli by direct smear, culture or polymerase chain reaction were all negative. They were treated with isoniazid and rifampin for average 22.7+/-7.2(16.5~23.6) months with combination of streptomycin or kanamycin for first one month. All patients started to show signs of improvement clinically within several days and radiologically within few weeks after starting anti-Tbc therapy and eventually recovered from pulmonary Tbc completely. CONCLUSIONS: It seems to be important to recognize that incidence of pulmonary Tbc is higher in children with cancer, especially in those with leukemia and malignant lymphoma, especially Hodgkin's whose cellular immunity is suppressed, than immunocompetent children. Thus when these patients shows symptoms of coughing, sputum, cold sweating, mild fever, fatigue, loss of appetite or weight loss, chest X-ray and studies for Tbc are indicated for prompt diagnosis and treatment for pulmonary Tbc in children with cancer.

Immunochemical Study on the Changes of Carbonic anhydrase-II and Iron-binding Proteins in the Demyelinationand and Remyelination model Mouse induced with Cuprizone / 대한해부학회지

O1igodendrocytes are known to be responsible for the synthesis and maintenance of myelin sheath in the central nervous system, and their functional disturbance leads to defect in myelination. But, the fine mechanism of myelination by oligodendrocytes is not yet known, and iron metabolism in central nervous system is suspected to be related with myelination process by oligodendrocytes. Carbonic anhydrase-II[CA-II], transfe-rrin, and ferritin are known to be present at oligodendrocytes and suspected to play a role in iron metabolism of central nervous system. In this study, demyelination and remyelination of ICR mouse brains were induced using cuprizone, the copper-chelating agent, and immunohistochemical changes of CA-II-, transferrin-, and ferritin-immunoreactive oligodendrocytes at corpus callosum were observed. During demyelination by cuprizone feeding, the numbers of CA-II- and transferrin-immunoreactive oligodendrocytes were decreased. Especially, the decrease ratio of CA-II-positive cells was great. In contrast, the number of ferritin-positive oligodendrocytes was increased during demyelination by cuprizone feeding. Cessation of cuprizone feeding leaded remyelination and the numbers of CA-II-, transferrin-, and ferritin-immunoreactive oligodendrocytes were returned to normal level. In conclusion, the derangement of iron metabolism in oligodendrocytes may be related to demyelination mechanism of central nervous system, and the CA-II is suspected to have an important role in iron metabolism of oligodenrocytes in relation to demyelination and remyelination induced with cuprizone.