Secondary Science Teachers' Views about Purposes of Practical Works in School Science

The purpose of this paper was to examine views of secondary school science teachers about purposes to use practical works in school science. The instrument to survey consisted eighteen items, which were categorized into four components as follows: 'Scientific inquiry', 'Scientific knowledge', 'Science-related attitude', and 'STS (science-technology-society)'. Subjects were 152 secondary school science teachers (male 70 and female 82; middle school 50 and high school 102), who are teaching in 42 schools of 8 provinces. On the survey, science teachers were asked to answer on 5-point Lickert scale (from 1 to 5) how they thought of using practical works on purposes with domains of science objectives in school. They had positive views about using practical works for improving scientific inquiry process skills, science-related attitudes, and perceptions about STS literacy, and acquiring scientific knowledge. They would have the most willingness of using practical works for 'Scientific Inquiry' among domains of science objectives in school

Long-Term Survival in a Patient With Ruptured Hepatocellular Carcinoma

A 57-yr-old woman previously diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B was admitted via the emergency room because she suddenly developed epigastric pain with abdominal distension. On computed tomography (CT), a round enhancing mass was found on the left hepatic lobe with ascites in the peritoneal space. Bloody ascites were found upon tapping the ascites, and this led to the diagnosis of ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The patient was immediately treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) including 50 mg of adriamycin and 10 mL of lipiodol, and then we performed left lateral segmentectomy 20 days later. To prevent recurrence of HCC by any micrometastasis, the patient subsequently received 8 cycles of adjuvant systemic chemotherapy (a regimen of epirubicin (50 mg/m2), cisplatin (60 mg/m2) and 5-fluorouracil (200 mg/m2)) at monthly intervals. After this, the patient has been regularly followed up and she shows no signs of tumor recurrence 7 years later. This case suggests that surgical resection and subsequent adjuvant systemic chemotherapy with using an ECF regimen may provide long-term survival for patients ruptured HCC

A Case of Left Atrial Metastasis From Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Life-Saving Palliative Resection Using Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with metastasis to the heart is uncommon. We report a rare case of left atrial metastasis of HCC which was resected palliatively as a live-saving procedure with the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. Despite chemoembolization, which was undertaken 11 times, cardiac metastasis occurred. Moreover, the right and left atria and left ventricle were involved simultaneously. The severe dyspnea improved dramatically after surgery. Following this, the patient underwent systemic chemotherapy and lived a life without recurrence of symptoms associated with mitral valve obstruction

Lack of Association between Hepatitis B Virus Infection and Polymorphism of Mannose-Binding Lectin Gene in Korean Population

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) plays an important role in immune defense. This study was undertaken to investigate the association between hepatitis B virus infection and polymorphisms of MBL gene. We assessed the single nucleotide polymorphism at codon 54 in exon 1 of MBL in patients with hepatitis B virus infection and HBsAg negative controls in Korean population. A total of 498 enrolled subjects was classified into four groups. Group 1; Clearance, Group 2; Inactive healthy carrier, Group 3; Chronic hepatitis, Group 4; Liver cirrhosis. MBL gene polymorphisms at codon 54 led to three genotypes (G/G, G/A, A/A). When we divided subjects into clearance group (group 1) and persistence group (group 2-4), G/G genotype and A-allele carrier were observed in 55.6% and 44.4% in clearance group, 64.8% and 35.2% in persistence group (p=0.081), respectively. When hepatitis B virus persistent cases were divided into inactive healthy carrier (group 2) and disease progression group (group 3 and 4), MBL gene polymorphisms at codon 54 were not related to disease progression (p=0.166). MBL gene polymorphism at codon 54 was not associated with the clearance of hepatitis B virus infection nor progression of disease in chronic hepatitis B virus infection

Clinical Significance of Monitoring Circulating CD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells in Kidney Transplantation during the Early Posttransplant Period

The CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells (Tregs) play an important role in immune tolerance in experimental transplantation but the clinical significance of circulating Tregs in the peripheral blood is undetermined. In 50 kidney transplant (KT) recipients, 29 healthy controls and 32 liver transplant (LT) recipients, the frequency of Tregs was measured with flow cytometry before and after transplantation. In the KT recipients, IL-10 secretion was measured with an enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay. The median frequency of circulating Tregs before KT was similar to that in healthy controls but significantly lower than that in LT patients before transplantation. The frequency of Tregs was significantly decreased in patients with subclinical acute rejection compared with those without subclinical acute rejection. Calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) and anti-CD25 antibody decreased the frequency of Tregs but mTOR inhibitor did not. The frequency of donor-specific IL-10 secreting cells did not correlate with the number of Tregs. The frequency of circulating Tregs in KT recipients is strongly affected by CNIs and anti-CD25 antibody, and a low frequency of Tregs is associated with subclinical acute rejection during the early posttransplant period

Hepatitis B Virus Genotype C Prevails Among Chronic Carriers of the Virus in Korea

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major causative agents of chronic liver diseases in Korea. HBV has been classified into 8 genotypes by a divergence of >8% in the entire genomic sequence, and have distinct geographic distributions. There are limited data on the relevance between HBV genotypes and clinical outcomes in Korea. To investigate the clinical feature relating to HBV genotype in Korea, a total 120 serum samples with HBsAg (65 from Seoul and 55 from the other city in Korea) were obtained from each 30 chronic HBV carriers with asymptomatic carrier (ASC), chronic hepatitis (CH), liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV genotype was determined by either enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using monoclonal antibodies against genotype-specific epitopes in the preS2-region or the direct sequencing of small S gene. HBV genotypes were determined in 105 (87.5%) of 120 samples. HBV genotype C was identified in all HBV carriers with ASC, CH, LC, and HCC. Genotypes A, B, D, E, F and G were not detected in any of them. Genotype C HBV prevails predominantly among chronic carriers of the virus in Korea, irrespective of their clinical stages of liver disease and geographic origin