Cutaneous Disorders Associated with Castleman's Disease.

Castleman's disease is a rare disease of the lymph nodes and related tissues, presenting as angiofollicular or giant lymph node hyperplasia. Although various skin manifestations have been reported to occur in Castleman's disease, a comprehensive study of cutaneous disorders in Castleman's disease is lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate Castleman's disease-associated cutaneous disorders.

Acute Gastritis and Splenic Infarction Caused by Epstein-Barr Virus.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection can be presented with various clinical manifestations and different levels of severity when infected. Infectious mononucleosis, which is most commonly caused by EBV infection in children and adolescents, is a clinical syndrome characterized by fatigue, malaise, fever, sore throat, and generalized lymphadenopathy. But rarely, patients with infectious mononucleosis may present with gastrointestinal symptoms and complicated by gastritis, splenic infarction, and splenic rupture.

Recurrent wheeze and its relationship with lung function and airway inflammation in preschool children: a cross-sectional study in South Korea.

Background: Relationship between recurrent wheeze and airway function and inflammation in preschool children is not fully known.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between recurrent wheeze and airway inflammation, lung function, airway hyper-reactivity (AHR) and atopy in preschool children.

Design: Observational study, comparing forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV), forced vital capacity (FVC) and mid-forced expiratory flow (FEF), dose-response slope (DRS), exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) and atopic sensitisation between children with recurrent wheeze and those without.

Effects of long-pulsed 1,064-nm neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser on dermal collagen remodeling in hairless mice.

Background: Nonablative lasers are used for dermal collagen remodeling. Although clinical improvements have been reported using various laser devices, the mechanism of dermal collagen remodeling remains unknown.

Objective: To investigate the effects of energy fluences of the long-pulsed neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) nonablative laser on dermal collagen remodeling and evaluate the dermal collagen remodeling mechanism.

Prevalence of atopic dermatitis among Korean adults visiting health service center of the Catholic Medical Center in Seoul Metropolitan Area, Korea.

The point prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) among Korean adults visiting the Health Service Center for health check-ups was assessed. AD was diagnosed based on the questionnaires filled by patients and through physical examination by dermatologists. A total of 3,563 persons completed the questionnaires, and 2,032 persons were examined by the dermatologists.

IL-18 downregulates collagen production in human dermal fibroblasts via the ERK pathway.

Excessive accumulation of collagen contributes to the fibrotic process. Several experimental studies have shown that IFN-gamma is effective in preventing fibrogenesis. IL-18, originally identified as an IFN-gamma-inducing factor, is a key mediator of inflammation and host defense responses.

Inheritance and expression of transgenes through anther culture of transgenic hot pepper.

Anther cultures have been developed from transgenic donor peppers carrying HPT/J1-1. Eight out of sixteen plants produced from an anther culture set pepper fruits. Southern blot analysis of donors revealed two independent plants with a single copy of the integrated transgene.

Production of herbicide-resistant sweet potato plants transformed with the bar gene.

Herbicide-resistant sweet potato plants were produced through biolistics of embryogenic calli derived from shoot apical meristems. Plant materials were bombarded with the vectors containing the beta-glucuronidase gene (gusA) and the herbicide-resistant gene (bar). Selection was carried out using phosphinothricin (PPT).

Either soluble or plastidic expression of recombinant protoporphyrinogen oxidase modulates tetrapyrrole biosynthesis and photosynthetic efficiency in transgenic rice.

Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (Protox) is the last shared enzyme of the porphyrin pathway. As a continuation of our previous work in which the transgenic rice plants expressing the Bacillus subtilis Protox in the cytoplasm or the plastid showed resistance to diphenyl ether herbicide, this study was undertaken to identify the effects of tertapyrrole biosynthesis in these transgenic rice plants. The transgenic plants either targeted into plastids or expressed in cytoplasm showed higher Protox activity than wild-type plants did.