Hepatitis B Virus Infection Rate among Koreans

To explore the overall infection state of Hepatitis B virus(HBV) in Korea during the 1980's, the standard valuesl weighted mean values) of infection ratelllt), the acute infection rate(AIR), and the chronic carrier ratelCCR) of HBV were estimated through summerizing the serological data from previous articles. The data used in this analysis include some cross sectional and a few follow-up studies, and were limited to those tested by the methods of radio immunoassay(RIA), reverse passive hemagglutiuation( RPHA), passive hemagglutination(PHA), or enzyme immunoassay(EIA) in order to maximize the validity. Using the sensitivity and specificity of each test method, we corrected the serological positivities from all data as if they were tested by RIA only. The age and sex specific IRs, AIRs, and CCRs of HBV were estimated, and the age adjusted rate for each sex was also estimated on the basis of the age structure of the 1985 population census. The IRs for men and women are 61.3% and 52.8%, the AIRs are 3.3% and 2.9%, and the CCRs are 4.7% and 3.3%, respectively

Microstructure and gas-sensing properties of thick film sensor using nanophase SnO 2 powder

Abstract The object of the present work apply the nanophase SnO 2 powder synthesized by inert gas condensation method (IGC) to thick film hydrogen sensor and to study the effect of microstructural changes of sensors on the sensing properties. SnO 2 gas sensors were printed using nanophase SnO 2 powder without any doping element by a silk screen printing method and subsequently sintered. Among the thick film sensors manufactured at various temperatures, the highest sensitivity was obtained in the sensor sintered at 600 • C, which exhibited its maximum sensitivity of 96% at 250 • C against the hydrogen concentration of 2500 ppm. The results were discussed in viewpoint of the pore structure and the crystallinity of the sensors

Have different kinds of photon-pair sources the same indistinguishability in quantum silicon photonics?

In the same silicon photonic integrated circuit, we compare two types of integrated degenerate photon-pair sources (microring resonators or waveguides) by means of Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference experiments. Two nominally identical microring resonators are coupled to two nominally identical waveguides which form the arms of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. This is pumped by two lasers at two different wavelengths to generate by spontaneous four-wave mixing degenerate photon pairs. In particular, the microring resonators can be thermally tuned in or out of resonance with the pump wavelengths, thus choosing either the microring resonators or the waveguides as photon-pair sources, respectively. In this way, an on-chip HOM visibility of 94% with microring resonators and 99% with straight waveguides is measured. We compare our experimental results with theoretical simulations of the joint spectral intensity and the purity of the degenerate photon pairs. We verify that the visibility is connected to the sources' indistinguishability, which can be quantified by the overlap between the joint spectral amplitudes (JSA) of the photon pairs generated by the two sources. We estimate a JSA overlap of 98% with waveguides and 89% with microring resonators

Topical administration of EGF suppresses immune response and protects skin barrier in DNCB-induced atopic dermatitis in NC/Nga mice

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease characterized by a complex, heterogeneous pathogenesis including skin barrier dysfunction, immunology, and pruritus. Although epidermal growth factor (EGF) is essential for epithelial homeostasis and wound healing, the effect of EGF on AD remains to be explored. To develop a new therapy for AD, the anti-AD potential of EGF was investigated by inducing AD-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice using 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB). EGF was administrated to NC/Nga mice to evaluate its therapeutic effect on DNCB-induced AD. EGF treatment improved dermatitis score, ear thickness, epidermal hyperplasia, serum total immunoglobulin E level, and transepidermal water loss in NC/Nga mice with DNCB-induced AD. In addition, levels of skin barrier-related proteins such as filaggrin, involucrin, loricrin, occludin, and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) were increased by EGF treatment. These beneficial effects of EGF on AD may be mediated by EGF regulation of Th1/Th2-mediated cytokines, mast cell hyperplasia, and protease activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), which are triggers of AD. Taken together, our findings suggest that EGF may potentially protect against AD lesional skin via regulation of skin barrier function and immune response

Recent Changes in the Clinicopathologic Features of Korean Men with Prostate Cancer: A Comparison with Western Populations

Purpose : The aim of this study was to evaluate the recent changes in the clinicopathologic features of prostate cancer in Korea and to compare these features with those of Western populations. Materials and methods : We retrospectively reviewed the data of 1582 men undergoing radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer between 1995 and 2007 at 10 institutions in Korea for comparison with Western studies. The patients were divided into two groups in order to evaluate the recent clinicopathological changes in prostate cancer: Group 1 had surgery between 1995 and 2003 (n=280) and Group 2 had surgery between 2004 and 2007 (n=1302). The mean follow-up period was 24 months. Results : Group 1 had a higher prostate-specific antigen level than Group 2 (10.0 ng/mL vs. 7.5 ng/mL, respectively; p<0.001) and a lower proportion of biopsy Gleason scores ≤6 (35.0% vs. 48.1%, respectively; p<0.001). The proportion of patients with clinical T1 stage was higher in Group 2 than in Group 1. Group 1 had a lower proportion of organ-confined disease (59.6% vs. 68.6%; p<0.001) and a lower proportion of Gleason scores ≤6 (21.3% vs. 33.0%; p<0.001), compared to Group 2. However, the relatively higher proportion of pathologic Gleason scores ≤6 in Group 2 was still lower than those of Western men, even though the proportion of organ-confined disease reached to that of Western series. Conclusion : Korean men with prostate cancer currently present better clinicopathologic parameters. However, in comparison, Korean men still show relatively worse pathologic Gleason scores than Western men.ope

Warfarin-Induced Eosinophilic Pleural Effusion

A 29-year-old man suffering from dyspnea and eosinophilic pleural effusion after being on warfarin for pulmonary thromboembolism for a period of one month, was readmitted to our hospital. Etiology of pleural effusion other than warfarin was excluded. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of warfarin-induced pleural effusion reported in Korea

Ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus block in pediatric patients -A report of four cases-

Supraclavicular brachial plexus blocks are not common in pediatric patients due to the risk of pneumothorax. Ultrasonography is an important tool for identifying nerves during regional anesthesia. Directly visualizing the target nerves and monitoring the distribution of the local anesthetic are potentially significant. In addition, ultrasound monitoring helps avoid complications, such as inadvertent intravascular injection or pneumothorax. This paper reports four cases of pediatric patients who received ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus block for upper limb surgery