BACKGROUND: Astrocytes are the major glial cells involved with the chemical homeostasis and mechanical supports of central nervous system. Recently, astrocytes were found to actively synthesize and secrete many immunologically active cytokines and express receptors for these mediators, which proposed their autocrine and paracrine roles in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative or autoimmune diseases, I.e., multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, etc. The identification of various chemical mediators secreted by astrocytes and receptors expressed on astrocytes seems to be crucial for understanding their pathogenetic roles in these diseases. Our investigation was conducted to test the expression of interleukin-2 receptor alpha Subunit (IL-2Ralpha) on primary cultured astrocytes, which has not been studied yet. METHODS: Astrocytes were obtained from the surgical specimen of a patient with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. Neuropathological examination of the specimen revealed hippocampal sclerosis only with normal lateral temporal neocortex from which cultured astrocytes were obtained. All experiments were performed within 2 months after starting primary culture. Cultured astrocytes were incubated with IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, TGF-beta And TNF-alpha For 24 hours. RT-PCR was performed to investigate the transcription of IL-2R. RESULTS: RT-PCRs for the IL-2Ralpha Showed constitutional expression on the adult cultured astrocytes, which was increased by IL-1, IL-2, IL-6 and TNF-alpha But decreased by treatment of TGF-beta. CONCLUSIONS: Adult astrocytes expressed IL-2Ralpha Constitutively, which were upregulated by IL-1, IL-2, IL-6 and TNF-alpha. These findings suggest the immunocompetence of astrocytes, which may be important in the pathogenesis of many neurological diseases.
Adult* ; Alternative Splicing ; Alzheimer Disease ; Astrocytes* ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Central Nervous System ; Cytokines ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Humans* ; Immunocompetence ; Interleukin-1 ; Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit ; Interleukin-2* ; Interleukin-6 ; Multiple Sclerosis ; Neocortex ; Neuroglia ; RNA, Messenger ; Sclerosis ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

PURPOSE: Current treatment of glioblastoma after surgery consists of a combination of fractionated radiotherapy and temozolomide. However, it is difficult to completely remove glioblastoma because it has uncertain boundaries with surrounding tissues. Moreover, combination therapy is not always successful because glioblastoma has diverse resistances. To overcome these limitations, we examined the combined effects of chemotherapy and knockdown of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used ten different anti-cancer drugs (cisplatin, cyclophosphoamide, doxorubicin, epirubicin, etoposide, 5-fluorouracil, gemcitabine, irinotecan, mitomycin C, and vincristine) to treat glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells. Knockdown of MKP-1 was performed using siRNA and lipofectamine. The basal level of MKP-1 in GBM was analyzed based on cDNA microarray data obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. RESULTS: Anti-cancer drug-induced cell death was significantly enhanced by knockdown of MKP-1, and this effect was most prominent in cells treated with irinotecan and etoposide. Treatment with these two drugs led to significantly increased phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in a time-dependent manner, while pharmacological inhibition of JNK partially inhibited drug-induced cell death. Knockdown of MKP-1 also enhanced drug-induced phosphorylation of JNK. CONCLUSION: Increased MKP-1 expression levels could be the cause of the high resistance to conventional chemotherapeutics in human GBM. Therefore, MKP-1 is an attractive target for overcoming drug resistance in this highly refractory malignancy.
Apoptosis ; Camptothecin ; Cell Death ; Dacarbazine ; Deoxycytidine ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Resistance ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; Dual Specificity Phosphatase 1 ; Epirubicin ; Etoposide ; Fluorouracil ; Gene Expression ; Glioblastoma ; Humans ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; Lipids ; Mitomycin ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphotransferases ; Protein Kinases ; RNA, Small Interfering

Brown tumors are erosive bony lesions caused by the chronic excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone. Since the introduction of routine calcium measurement, the diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism has usually been made in asymptomatic patients, and as a result, brown tumors are rarely observed as an initial manifestation of hyperparathyroidism. The authors report a case of a 32-year-old woman who presented with right cheek swelling. A CT scan showed erosive bone tumors of the mandible. These lesions were finally diagnosed as brown tumors associated with secondary hyperparathyroidism due to chronic renal failure. Brown tumor as a result of hyperparathyroidism is a relatively rare clinical finding in otorhinolaryngology, thus, the authors illustrate this case with a brief review of the literature.
Adult ; Calcium ; Cheek ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperparathyroidism ; Hyperparathyroidism, Secondary ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Mandible ; Otolaryngology ; Parathyroid Hormone

There is increasing evidence that airway epithelial cells, when exposed to various gas-derived air pollutants, play an important role in airway inflammation by releasing inflammatory cytokines. However, there is little information on air pollutant-induced cytokine expression at the tissue level and on the role of sulfur dioxide (SO2), one of the major ambient air pollutants, in cytokine production. We studied whether or not a low concentration of sulfur dioxide induces an increase in tissue expression of interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). After exposing surgically obtained normal human nasal turbinates to 0.05 ppm SO2 for one hour, we conducted specific immunohistochemical staining to assess the tissue expression of each cytokine. We found that the percent expression of IL-8 and GM-CSF in the surface epithelium was significantly higher in each SO2-exposed tissue than in the matched control tissue. However, there was no significant difference in the number of submucosal IL-4-positive cells between exposed and control specimens. These results suggest that exposure to a low concentration of SO2 increases airway inflammation, apparently by inducing an increase in the expression of GM-CSF and IL-8.
Air Pollutants ; Colony-Stimulating Factors ; Cytokines ; Epithelial Cells ; Epithelium ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-4* ; Interleukin-8* ; Mucous Membrane* ; Nasal Mucosa ; Sulfur Dioxide* ; Sulfur* ; Turbinates*

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Discrepancies between objectively measured sleep and subjective sleep perception in patients with insomnia have been reported. However, few studies have investigated sleep-state misperception in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We designed this study to 1) delineate the factors that could affect this discrepancy and 2) infer an underlying mechanism in patients with OSA. METHODS: We recruited patients who visited our sleep clinic for the evaluation of their snoring and/or observed OSA. Participants completed a structured questionnaire and underwent overnight polysomnography. On the following day, five sessions of the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) were applied. We divided the patients into two groups: normal sleep perception and abnormal perception. The abnormal-perception group included patients whose perceived total sleep time was less than 80% of that measured in polysomnography. RESULTS: Fifty OSA patients were enrolled from a university hospital sleep clinic. Excessive daytime sleepiness, periodic limb movement index (PLMI), and the presence of dreaming were positively associated with poor sleep perception. REM sleep near the sleep termination exerted important effects. Respiratory disturbance parameters were not related to sleep perception. There was a prolongation in the sleep latency in the first session of the MSLT and we suspected that a delayed sleep phase occurred in poor-sleep perceivers. CONCLUSIONS: As an objectively good sleep does not match the subjective good-sleep perception in OSA, physicians should keep in mind that OSA patients who perceive that they have slept well does not mean that their OSA is less severe.
Dreams ; Extremities ; Humans ; Polysomnography* ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Sleep, REM ; Snoring

We correct a typo in the title.

It is well established that excessive sodium intake is related to a higher incidence of chronic diseases such as hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease and gastric cancer. Although the upper limit of the current sodium intake guideline by WHO is set at 2,000 mg/day for adults, sodium intake of Koreans is well over 4,700 mg/capita/day implying an urgent need to develop and implement sodium intake reduction policy at the national level. This study investigated the cost-effectiveness of the sodium intake reduction policy, for the first time, in Korea. Analyses were performed using most recent and representative data on national health insurance statistics, healthcare utilization, employment information, disease morbidity/mortality, etc. The socioeconomic benefits of the policy, resulting from reduced morbidity of those relevant diseases, included lower medical expenditures, transportation costs, caregiver cost for inpatients and income losses. The socioeconomic benefits from diminished mortality included reductions in earning losses and welfare losses caused by early deaths. It is estimated that the amount of total benefits of reducing sodium intake from 4.7 g to 3.0 g is 12.6 trillion Korean Won; and the size of its cost is 149 billion Won. Assuming that the effect of sodium intake reduction would become gradually evident over a 5-year period, the implied rate of average return to the sodium reduction policy is 7,790% for the following 25 years, suggesting a very high cost-effectiveness. Accordingly, development and implementation of a mid-to-long term plan for a consistent sodium intake reduction policy is extremely beneficial and well warranted.
Adult ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Caregivers ; Chronic Disease ; Coronary Disease ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Delivery of Health Care ; Employment ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Inpatients ; Korea ; National Health Programs ; Sodium ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stroke ; Transportation

Posttraumatic pseudoaneurysm of the internal carotid artery (ICA) is uncommon but potentially becomes a fatal cause of epistaxis. Because the onset of delayed bleeding from the time of injury is variable, a prompt diagnosis of cavernous ICA pseudoaneurysm is often a clinical challenge. Optimal management demands rapid recognition and prompt treatment to give the best functional outcome. Although there are many reports of posttraumatic pseudoaneurysm, most of those cases were presented with epistaxis. We experienced a case of 24-year old female who visited our hospital with complaints of rhinorrhea after traffic accident. During exploration of nasal cavity and sinuses for repairing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage, a huge pseudoaneurysm of left ICA was found in sphenoid sinus. She was successfully treated with endovascular embolization techniques that included detachable balloons. The clinical and radiologic findings in this case are presented.
Accidents, Traffic ; Aneurysm, False* ; Balloon Occlusion ; Carotid Artery, Internal* ; Cerebrospinal Fluid Rhinorrhea* ; Cerebrospinal Fluid* ; Diagnosis ; Epistaxis ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidental Findings ; Nasal Cavity ; Sphenoid Sinus ; Young Adult

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes and microvesicles, are cell-derived lipid bilayer membrane particles, which deliver information from host cells to recipient cells. EVs are involved in various biological processes including the modulation of the immune response, cell-to-cell communications, thrombosis, and tissue regeneration. Different types of kidney cells are known to release EVs under physiologic as well as pathologic conditions, and recent studies have found that EVs have a pathophysiologic role in different renal diseases. Given the recent advancement in EV isolation and analysis techniques, many studies have shown the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of EVs in various renal diseases, such as acute kidney injury, polycystic kidney disease, chronic kidney disease, kidney transplantation, and renal cell carcinoma. This review updates recent clinical and experimental findings on the role of EVs in renal diseases and highlights the potential clinical applicability of EVs as novel diagnostics and therapeutics.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes and microvesicles, are cell-derived lipid bilayer membrane particles, which deliver information from host cells to recipient cells. EVs are involved in various biological processes including the modulation of the immune response, cell-to-cell communications, thrombosis, and tissue regeneration. Different types of kidney cells are known to release EVs under physiologic as well as pathologic conditions, and recent studies have found that EVs have a pathophysiologic role in different renal diseases. Given the recent advancement in EV isolation and analysis techniques, many studies have shown the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of EVs in various renal diseases, such as acute kidney injury, polycystic kidney disease, chronic kidney disease, kidney transplantation, and renal cell carcinoma. This review updates recent clinical and experimental findings on the role of EVs in renal diseases and highlights the potential clinical applicability of EVs as novel diagnostics and therapeutics.