Schwannomas are neurogenic tumors that arise from Schwann cells of the neural sheath. They are most often benign and solitary. Ancient schwannoma is a rare variant of schwannoma with a typical characteristics of a slow growing benign tumor. A case of ancient schwannoma which originated from the lingual nerve has not been reported in the literature yet. The clinical and histological aspects of this tumor are discussed and the literature regarding this rare entity is reviewed.
Lingual Nerve* ; Neurilemmoma* ; Schwann Cells

No abstract available.
Cyclic GMP* ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Gene Expression* ; Humans*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Even though substantial advances have been made in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in the past decade with the use of oral nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs), emergence of anti-viral resistance is the most important factor in treatment failure for chronic hepatitis B. Therefore, prevention and management of antiviral resistant HBV is major challenge in the era of oral NAs therapy. Recently, several guidelines for the management of antiviral resistant HBV have been published. Herein, I will discuss how to prevent and manage antiviral resistance.
Hepatitis ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Plant Extracts ; Treatment Failure

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Magnetic resonance angiography is helpful noninvasive evaluation of intracranial arteries and, in some patients, may spare invasive angiography which has potentially serious complication. However, it's diagnostic value in vertebrobasilar artery disease has not yet been evaluated. METHODS: MRA and axial brain MRI of 47 patients with acute cerebellar and/or brainstem ischemia, 26 patients with middle cerebral artery territory infarction, and 40 age matched normal controls were reviewed. Patients wit potential risks of cardiac embolization were excluded. MR Angiography was performed by three dimensional time-of-flight gradient-echo technique. Th diagnosis of vessel stenosis was made only when the lumen diameter was reduced by less than 50% on 3-D images to avoid overestimation of MR angiography. RESULTS: Forty-seven patients had cerebellar and/or brainstem infarction: with signal hyperintensities in T2-weighted MRI sequences. Pons was the most common infarcted site(28/47), followed by medulla (17/47), and cerebellum (11/47). The sensitivity of MR angiography in detecting vascular occlusive lesions of vertebrobasilar artery was 57.5% (28/47) in cerebellar and/or brainstem infarction patients, while 7 of 26 (26.9%) in middle cerebral artery territory infarction, and 2 of 40 (5%) in age matched control subjects showed occlusion or stenosis. MR angiography detected vascular occlusive lesions more frequently on vertebral arteries (25/47, 53.2%) than basilar artery (13/47, 27.7%). And occlusive or stenotic lesions of vertebral arteries were ipsilateral to ischemic lesion sites in 12 of 17 patients(70.6%), There was no difference between deep small lacunar stroke and perforator occlusion in pons. Absence of flow void on axial T2W imaging was seen only in 9 of 47 patients (19.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The results in this present study suggest that MR angiography is moderately sensitive diagnostic tool in vertebrobasilar occlusive disease although it has limitation in detection of smaller branches occlusion. Except vertebral arteries occlusion, absence of flow void in axial MR imaging is not a reliable findings.
Angiography ; Arteries ; Basilar Artery ; Brain ; Brain Stem Infarctions* ; Brain Stem* ; Cerebellum ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Infarction ; Ischemia ; Magnetic Resonance Angiography* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Cerebral Artery ; Pons ; Stroke, Lacunar ; Vertebral Artery

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is often associated with extrahepatic autoimmune disease, and autoantibodies such as anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) or anti-smooth muscle antibody (ASA). The presence of autoantibodies may make discrimination between chronic hepatitis C with autoimmune features and type 1 autoimmune hepatitis difficult. We studied the prevalence of autoantibodies in patients with chronic HCV infection and their clinical significance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ANA, ASA, anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA), anti-microsomal antibody (AmA), rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cardiolipin antibody (aCL) and lupus anti-coagulant (LA) were tested in 116 patients (80 chronic hepatitis C, 36 liver cirrhosis). Genotypes of HCV were determined in 25 patients by INNO LiPA. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of autoantibody was 65.5%. The most common autoantibody was aCL (34.5%), followed by ANA (25%), RF (18%), LA (15.5%), ASA (6.9%), anti-microsomal antibody (6%) and AMA (1%). The positive rate of either ANA or ASA was 30.2%, but both were positive in 1.7% only. There was no difference in the demographic features, biochemistry, HCV genotypes and disease status between autoantibody-positive and autoantibody-negative patients. CONCLUSIONS: Autoantibodies were commonly found in patients with chronic HCV infection. But, the presence of autoantibodies may be a non-specific finding in chronic hepatitis C infection without clinical significance.
Autoantibodies* ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Biochemistry ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Genotype ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis C, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Autoimmune ; Hepatitis, Chronic* ; Humans ; Liver ; Prevalence* ; Rheumatoid Factor

No abstract available.
Bacterial Proteins/blood ; Endopeptidases/blood ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary/*diagnosis/drug therapy/mortality ; Liver Function Tests ; Prognosis ; Severity of Illness Index ; Survival Rate ; Ursodeoxycholic Acid/therapeutic use

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Parotid Gland*

Over the past decade, advances in the antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B have enabled the sustained suppression of hepatitis B viral replication and the prevention of progressive liver disease. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) has been used to diagnose patients with hepatitis B virus infection. Recently, test for quantitative HBsAg titers are available and on-treatment HBsAg quantitations are used to predict treatment outcome. Serum HBV DNA levels have been shown to predict natural course of chronic hepatitis B infection. The HBV DNA levels have been reported to be positively correlated with the development of cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and related death. The baseline and on-treatment levels of HBV DNA are important factors for predicting treatment outcomes. In this article, we will discuss the role of HBV DNA and HBsAg quantitation during antiviral therapy.
Antiviral Agents/*therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/etiology ; DNA, Viral/*blood ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/*blood ; Hepatitis B virus/*genetics ; Hepatitis B, Chronic/complications/*drug therapy ; Humans ; Lamivudine/therapeutic use ; Liver Cirrhosis/etiology ; Liver Neoplasms/etiology ; Nucleosides/therapeutic use ; Pyrimidinones/therapeutic use