Integration of IEEE 1451 and HL7 Exchanging Information for Patients’ Sensor Data

HL7 (Health Level 7) is a standard developed for exchanging incompatible healthcare information generated from programs or devices among heterogenous medical information systems. At present, HL7 is growing as a global standard. However, the HL7 standard does not support effective methods for treating data from various medical sensors, especially from mobile sensors. As ubiquitous systems are growing, HL7 must communicate with various medical transducers. In the area of sensor fields, IEEE 1451 is a group of standards for controlling transducers and for communicating data from/to various transducers. In this paper, we present the possibility of interoperability between the two standards, i.e., HL7 and IEEE 1451. After we present a method to integrate them and show the preliminary results of this approach.     

Neurochemical changes in the rat prefrontal cortex following acute phencyclidine treatment: an in vivo localized 1H MRS study

Acute phencyclidine (PCP) administration mimics some aspects of schizophrenia in rats, such as behavioral alterations, increased dopaminergic activity and prefrontal cortex dysfunction. In this study, we used single‐voxel ¹H‐MRS to investigate neurochemical changes in rat prefrontal cortex in vivo before and after an acute injection of PCP. A short‐echo time sequence (STEAM) was used to acquire spectra in a 32‐µL voxel positioned in the prefrontal cortex area of 12 rats anesthetized with isoflurane. Data were acquired for 30 min before and for 140 min after a bolus of PCP (10 mg/kg, n = 6) or saline (n = 6). Metabolites were quantified with the LCModel. Time courses for 14 metabolites were obtained with a temporal resolution of 10 min. The glutamine/glutamate ratio was significantly increased after PCP injection (p < 0.0001, pre‐ vs. post‐injection), while the total concentration of these two metabolites remained constant. Glucose was transiently increased (+70%) while lactate decreased after the injection (both p < 0.0001). Lactate, but not glucose and glutamine, returned to baseline levels after 140 min. These results show that an acute injection of PCP leads to changes in glutamate and glutamine concentrations, similar to what has been observed in schizophrenic patients, and after ketamine administration in humans. MRS studies of this pharmacological rat model may be useful for assessing the effects of potential anti‐psychotic drugs in vivo. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phenotypic and Genotypic Correction of WASP Gene Mutation in Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome by Unrelated Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation

We present two cases of Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), in which nonsense mutations in the WASP gene were corrected phenotypically as well as genotypically by unrelated cord blood stem cell transplantation (CBSCT). Two male patients were diagnosed with WAS at the age of 5-month and 3-month and each received unrelated CBSCT at 16-month and 20-month of age, respectively. The infused cord blood (CB) units had 4/6 and 5/6 HLA matches and the infusion doses of total nucleated cells (TNC) and CD34+ cells were 6.24×10⁷/kg and 5.08×10⁷/kg for TNC and 1.33×10⁵/kg and 4.8×10⁵/kg for CD34+ cells, for UPN1 and UPN2, respectively. Complete donor cell chimerism was documented by variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) with neutrophil engraftment on days 31 and 13 and platelets on days 58 and 50, respectively. Immunologic reconstitution demonstrated that CBSCT resulted in consistent and stable T-, B-, and NK-cell development. Flow cytometric analysis for immunologic markers and sequence analysis of the WASP gene mutation revealed a normal pattern after CBSCT. These cases demonstrate that CBs can be an important source of stem cells for the phenotypical and genotypical correction of genetic diseases such as WAS.     

Gastric Choristoma of the Oropharynx

Heterotopic gastric mucosa tissue is also called gastric choristoma, and this type of lesion can be found anywhere in the alimentary tract. However, gastric choristoma in the pharynx is very rare; only 10 cases of pharyngeal gastric choristoma have been reported in the English medical literature. A 32-yr-old woman was referred to our institution for the evaluation of a large mass that originated from the posterior wall of the oropharynx. The mass did not cause any symptoms except for the occasional sensation of a foreign body. Gadolinium-enhanced T1 weighted imaging showed a 5 cm-sized mass with central enhancement and hypointense portions, yet the radiological diagnosis was not clear. Transoral mass excision was performed with using electrocautery for making the diagnosis and for treating the mass. The microscopic analysis revealed gastric choristoma.     

Changes in the Cytokine Profile and Reduced Function of Lymphocyte Subpopulations in Subacute Tetrachloromethane Poisoning

Experiments on outbred albino rats showed that subacute poisoning with tetrachloromethane in a total dose of 1.0 LD₅₀ appreciably decreased blood concentrations of cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10), reduced the IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio in comparison with the control, and suppressed the immune reactions, which attests to greater damage to Th1 compared to Th2 lymphocytes. Translated from Byulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 147, No. 1, pp. 55-57, January, 2009     

Genotypic distribution of rotavirus strains causing severe gastroenteritis in Gyeonggi province,South Korea,from 2003 to 2005

Rotavirus was present in 1,367 of 7,060 stool samples (19.4%) collected in Gyeonggi province of South Korea from 2003 through 2005. The predominant genotypes were confirmed as G4/P2A[6] (19.0%) followed by G3/P1A[8] (15.6%), G2/P1B[4] (9.3%), and G1/P1A[8] (6.5%). The predominant types of rotavirus by year were G3/P[8] in 2003, G4/P[6] in 2004, and G1/P[8] in 2005. The prevalent rotavirus genotypes changed constantly from 2003 to 2005. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.