Twenty cases of gallbladder cancers were examined using 5 mm stepwise tissue sections. We analyzed the clinicopathologic findings of the early (stage 1, II) and advanced carcinoma (stage III, IV, V) and those of carcinoma with or without metaplasia in the tumor. We also performed CEA and p53 immunohistochemical staining and compared their findings with those of normal mucosa and preneoplastic lesions. The results were as follow: 1) All of the early carcinomas (n=5) were incidentally diagnosed after the resection for the gallstone. They were compared to advanced carcinoma (n=15) in the absence of the lymphatic or angioinvasion, recurrence, metastasis and death. 2) Metaplastic and non-metaplastic carcinoma did not reveal any difference of the clinicopathologic findings except age distribution. 3) CEA and p53 were positive in preneoplastic and malignant lesions. The extent of staining was related to the degree of the atypia. From the above results, an early detection of gallbladder cancer is very important for the prognosis of the patients. Since preoperative diagnosis is difficult, thorough pathologic examination of routinely resected gallbladder is necessary for the early diagnosis. CEA and p53 immunohistochemical staining may be helpful in the differential diagnosis of non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesion of the gallbladder.
Age Distribution ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Early Diagnosis ; Gallbladder Neoplasms* ; Gallbladder* ; Gallstones ; Humans ; Metaplasia* ; Mucous Membrane ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Recurrence

BACKGROUND: There is increasing concern in many countries about the problem of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Prevalence of primary drug-resistant tuberculosis is the optimal epidemiological indicator for long term monitoring of national tuberculosis control program. Our purpose was The purpose of our study is to assess clinical characteristics and socioeconomic status of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis. METHODS: We studied 68 cases with durg-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection diagnosed at the Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital from March, 1995 to February, 2000. RESULTS: Patients with primary drug-resistant tuberculosis(PDR) were younger(39.6±16.3 years vs. 48.2±16.5 years; p<0.05), had more population of less than more were under the age of 40 years aged-group(62.9% vs. 36.4%; p<0.05) and were more highly educated than those with acquired drug-resistant tuberculosis(ADR)(38.9% vs. 11.1%; p<0.05). In patients with ADR, the rates of familial history of tuberculosis and living in a rented house residence in a rented house were increased higher than compared with to those of patients with PDR. Patients with ADR had more involved lobes(2.0±0.8 vs. 1.4±0.7; p<0.01) and longer treatment duration than those with PDR(18.3±7.2 months vs. 10.6±6.3 months; p<0.05). Patients with ADR showed larger numbers of resistant were resistant to more number of drugs, lower hospitalization rate and higher rate of self-interruption of medication than those with PDR. In patients with PDR, mono-drug resistance was increased, whereas poly-and multi-drug resistances were decreased compared with those with ADR. Resistance to isoniazid was the highest among antituberculosis drugs, and resistance to isoniazid in patients with ADR was higher than that in patients with PDR(90.9% vs. 71.4%; p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with ADR were more likely to include more population be of lower socioeconomic class, and patients with PDR seem seemed to be young and socially active population. For control of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, proper isolation and prevention of patient with drug-resistant tuberculosis are needed.
Female ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Isoniazid ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Prevalence ; Social Class ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant*

No abstract available.
Peptic Ulcer Perforation* ; Peptic Ulcer*

The correlation of metaplasia to dysplasia and carcinoma in the gallbladder has attracted the attention of many investigators. We mapped and examined a total of 263 cholecystectomized gallbladders to analyze the mucosal changes in the carcinogenesis of the gallbladder. Stones were present in 59.7%, hyperplasia in 28.5%, metaplasia in 55.5% (gastric 37.6%, intestinal 17.9%), dysplasia in 17.1% (low grade 9.1%, high grade 8%) and carcinoma in 7.6%. Metaplasia was more frequently identified in the stone-positive group (62.4%) than in the stone-negative group (45.3%) (P<0.05). Especially, the incidence of intestinal metaplasia was significantly higher in the stone-positive group. Dysplasia and carcinoma were more frequent in the metaplasia-positive group (dysplasia 26.7%, carcinoma 11%) than in the metaplasia-negative group (dysplasia 5.1%, carcinoma 3.4%) (P<0.05). Their incidences were significantly higher in the intestinal metaplasia than in the gastric metaplasia. Forty four percent of the dysplasia-positive cases were associated with carcinoma in the adjacent mucosa but carcinoma was absent in the dysplasia-negative cases. Hyperplasia did not reveal any significant correlation with metaplasia, dysplasia and carcinoma. These results suggest that gallstone is causally related to the metaplasia in the gallbladder and the metaplasia-dysplasia- carcinoma sequence exists in the gallbladder.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Carcinogenesis ; Gallbladder* ; Gallstones ; Humans ; Hyperplasia* ; Incidence ; Metaplasia* ; Mucous Membrane ; Research Personnel

Pituitary apoplexy, the sudden infarction, necrosis or hemorrhage into a pituitary adenoma may be threatening life and is difficult to diagnose. With an advent of CT, early diagnosis of hemorrhage into the pituitary adenomais possible if one has familiarity with its characteristic CT changes. Two cases of pituitary apoplexy are reported with brief review of the literatures. One case had a history of radiation therapy for pituitary adenoma 7 years ago, and the other had no symptoms or sings of pituitary tumor prior to onset of disease.
Early Diagnosis ; Hemorrhage ; Infarction ; Necrosis ; Pituitary Apoplexy ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Recognition (Psychology)

No abstract available.
Prevalence* ; Thyroid Function Tests* ; Thyroid Gland*

No abstract available.
Humans

Nucleolar organizer regions are DNA loops encoding rihbosomal RNA production and detectable by the argyrophilia of their associated proteins(AgNORs). AgNOR numbers correlate with cellular proliferating activity. Many studies have shown a significnt difference in AgNOR counts between benign and malignant tumors. AgNOR counts were also helpful in differential diagnosis. For the evaluation of its diagnostic utility in gastric lesions, a silver staining technique was carried out in paraffin sections of 5 control cases, 5 benign peptic ulcers, 7 hyperplastic polyps, 10 tubular adenomas, 16 early gastric adenocarcinomas and 15 advanced gastric adenocarcinomas. The results were as follows. The mean numbers of AgNORs in early and advanced gastric adenocarcinomas(1.94 and 2.16) were significantly higher than those of normal foveolar epithelium(1.43) and epithelia of benign gastric ulcers(1.54), hyperplastic polyps(1.64) and tubular adenomas(1.79). In malignancy, there was increased variability in size and shape of AgNORs. There was little differences in mean AgNOR numbers between early and advanced gastric adenocarcinomas. Differentiation of the tumor made no difference in AgNOR numbers. From the above results, the AgNORs count, if its morphologic change are taken into consideration, is helpful in differentiation between malignant and non-malignant lesions.
Diagnosis, Differential ; Adenocarcinoma

Many oncogenes and tumor supressor genes have been identified and studied in colorectal carcinoma. Among them, p53 is a tumor supressor gene and its mutation is frequently noted in human tumors. E-cadherin is a cell adhesion molecule and associated with tumor differentiation. CD44 is a cell surface glycoprotein that plays a role in cell migration and metastasis. nm23 is a gene known to lower metastatic potential of tumors and has been proposed to be a metastasis supressor gene. Tumor angiogenesis is required for the expansion of the primary tumor and metastasis and its degree is related to the potential of malignancy. We studied the expression of p53, E-cadherin, nm23, CD44 and tumor angiogenesis in 36 cases of colorectal adenocarcinomas. They were compared with previously known prognostic factors such as the stage, tumor size, depth of invasion, differentiation, presence of lymphatic or venous invasion, the lymph node and distant metastasis. The results were as follows. 1) The expression of p53 was not significantly associated with any prognostic factors. 2) The expression of E-cadherin was significantly associated with tumor differentiation. In the well differentiated adenocarcinomas, its expression was higher than in the poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. 3) The expression of nm23 was also significantly associated with tumor differentiation. In carcinoma with lymph node metastasis, the expression of nm23 was reduced, but statistically it was not significant. 4) The expression of CD44 was higher in tumors with lymph node metastasis than in tumors without lymph node metastasis, but it was not statistically significant. 5) The degree of microvessel density was significantly associated with lymphatic invasion. According to the above results, the expression of E-cadherin and nm23 are related to the differentiation of the tumor and tumor angiogenesis is related to the lymphatic invasion of the colorectal adenocarcinoma.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Cadherins* ; Cell Adhesion ; Cell Movement ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Genes, vif ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; Microvessels ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Oncogenes ; von Willebrand Factor

BACKGROUND: Passive smoking is an important worldwide public health issue. In many Korean studies, parental smoking has been reported to be associated with reduced pulmonary function in children. But few studies have evaluated the effects of passive smoking on pulmonary function in adults. Therefore, we looked into this association in the study. METHODS: Participants in the study included non-smoking, healthy men (n=46) and women (n=326) from rural Korea enrolled from June to December 2006. Exposure to passive smoking was assessed by a self-administered questionnaire, and standardized pulmonary function tests were performed. RESULTS: There were significant reductions in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1, % of predicted) and forced mean expiratory flow rate 25-75% (%) among the men exposed to passive smoke compared with those not exposed (55.7 vs 75.8, P=0.010; 33.9 vs 58.6, P=0.029, respectively). There were significant reductions in FEV1 among men exposed at both workplace and home compared with men exposed only at either workplace or home (42.8 vs 49.3, 64.6; P=0.034). No significant difference in pulmonary function was found between women exposed to passive smoke compared those not exposed. There were, however, reductions in FEV1 and FEV1/forced vital capacity among the women exposed at workplace. Regression analysis showed that passive smoking negatively affected lung function, which were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, particularly at the workplace, adversely affects pulmonary function in adults.
Adult ; Child ; Female ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung ; Male ; Parents ; Public Health ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Tobacco ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution ; Vital Capacity ; Surveys and Questionnaires