The retinal degeneration (RD) is a general cause of blindness. To study its pathophysiology and evaluate the effects of new therapeutic agents before clinical trials, it is essential to establish reliable and stable animal models. This study evaluated a RD animal model in which blindness was induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU), a potent retinotoxin leading to apoptosis of photoreceptors. MNU was applied to the Sprague-Dawley rats by a single intraperitoneal injection in different doses (40, 50, and 60 mg/kg). The retinal functions were examined at 1 week after MNU injection by electroretinogram (ERG). Afterwards, each retina was examined by hematoxylin and eosin stain and immunohistochemistry with anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein antibody. Upon MNU injection of 40, 50 and 60 mg/kg, the ERG amplitude of a-waves showed significant reductions of 7, 26, and 44%, respectively, when compared to that of normal a-waves. The b-wave amplitudes were about 89, 65, and 58% of normal b-waves in the response to scotopic light stimulus. At 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks after MNU injection (50 mg/kg), all scotopic ERG components decreased progressively. In addition, degeneration of retinal neurons was observed in a time- and dose-dependent manner after MNU injection. Taken together, functional reduction following RD induced by MNU correlates with morphological changes. Thus, this RD rat model may be a useful model to study its pathophysiology and to evaluate the effects of new therapeutic agents before clinical trials.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Blindness ; Electroretinography ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Hematoxylin ; Immunohistochemistry ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Light ; Methylnitrosourea ; Models, Animal ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Retina ; Retinal Degeneration ; Retinal Neurons ; Retinaldehyde

BACKGROUND: Many studies of the effect of catechins, a major substance in green tea, on sarcopenia have been conducted using animal models or as in vitro experiments, revealing that they increase muscle mass, inhibit proteases, and promote satellite cell proliferation. No study has been conducted targeting human subjects relative to the correlation between green tea and sarcopenia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between green tea intake and sarcopenia in menopausal women using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008–2011).METHODS: This study included 3,473 menopausal women after excluding those diagnosed with gastric cancer and other cancers. The frequency of green tea intake was determined based on the Food Frequency Questionnaire, and the value acquired from calibrating the extremity muscle mass measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry with weight was used as the muscle mass. Sarcopenia was defined using values less than two standard deviations as cut-offs after determining the mean and standard deviation of the muscle mass in the group of young and healthy women.RESULTS: In menopausal women, the odds ratio of the group drinking a cup or less and two or more cups of green tea to that of the group not drinking green tea was 1.170 (0.891–1.536), and the 95% confidence interval was 1.530 (0.744–3.146). A significant linear trend was not observed in the result (P for trend 0.148).CONCLUSION: There was no significant correlation between green tea intake and sarcopenia in menopausal women in Korea.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Catechin ; Cell Proliferation ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Drinking ; Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Korea ; Models, Animal ; Nutrition Surveys ; Odds Ratio ; Peptide Hydrolases ; Sarcopenia ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Tea

Morules, or morule-like features, can be identified in benign and malignant lesions in various organs. Morular features are unusual in pulmonary adenocarcinoma cases with only 26 cases reported to date. Here, we describe two cases of pulmonary adenocarcinoma with morule-like features in Korean women. One patient had a non-mucinous-type adenocarcinoma in situ and the other had an acinarpredominant adenocarcinoma with a micropapillary component. Both patients showed multiple intra-alveolar, nodular, whorled proliferative foci composed of atypical spindle cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm. Targeted next-generation sequencing was performed on DNA extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples of the tumors. Results showed unusual epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations, which are associated with drug resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors, revealing the importance of identifying morule-like features in pulmonary adenocarcinoma and the need for additional study, since there are few reported cases.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Approximately 10%–15% of the CRC cases have defective DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Although the high level of microsatellite instability status is a predictor of favorable outcome in primary CRC, little is known about its frequency and importance in secondary CRC. Immunohistochemical staining (IHC) for MMR proteins (e.g., MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2) has emerged as a useful technique to complement polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses. METHODS: In this study, comparison between the MMR system of primary CRCs and paired liver and lung metastatic lesions was done using IHC and the correlation with clinical outcomes was also examined. RESULTS: Based on IHC, 7/61 primary tumors (11.4%) showed deficient MMR systems, while 13/61 secondary tumors (21.3%) showed deficiencies. In total, 44 cases showed proficient expression in both the primary and metastatic lesions. Three cases showed deficiencies in both the primary and paired metastatic lesions. In 10 cases, proficient expression was found only in the primary lesions, and not in the corresponding metastatic lesions. In four cases, proficient expression was detected in the secondary tumor, but not in the primary tumor. CONCLUSIONS: Although each IHC result and the likely defective genes were not exactly matched between the primary and the metastatic tumors, identical results for primary and metastatic lesions were obtained in 77% of the cases (47/61). These data are in agreement with the previous microsatellite detection studies that used PCR and IHC.

No abstract available.
Humans ; Recurrence

No abstract available.
Adenocarcinoma ; Thymoma