We studied the usefulness of prostate specific antigen (PSA) as well as prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) as marker of prostatic cancer in twelve cases of advanced prostatic cancer including 4 or stage C and 8 of stage D, 50 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 50 cases of nonprostatic diseases as normal control. The positive rates of PSA were 100% for prostatic cancer, 20% for BPH and O% for nonprostatic diseases, and those of PAP were 75% for prostate cancer, 8% for BPH and 2% for nonprostatic diseases. These results indicated hat PSA is more sensitive than PAP but less specific than PAP in diagnosis of prostatic cancer. Serum PSP level was correlated with the weight of prostate in BPH patients. Serum PSA level determined during the follow-up after endocrine therapy for prostatic cancer reflected the clinical course of the patients. Because of its relatively low specificity, PSA alone may not be useful for early diagnosis of prostatic cancer. If in combination with other diagnostic modalities, it may be useful in early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of prostatic cancer within restricted limits.
Acid Phosphatase ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Prostate* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen* ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Sympathetic ophthalmia is a rare, diffuse, granulomatous inflammation of the entire uvea, usually bilateral, which occurs days, months, or years after penetrating ocular injury or intraocular surgery. This presented case was a 34 years old male patient injured his left eye suspecting a scleral laceration. The exciting eye(left) was eviscerated 8 days after injury and sympathetic eye(right) was developed sympathetic ophthalmia 8 weeks after injury. A brief review of the related literatures is presented.
Adult ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lacerations ; Male ; Ophthalmia, Sympathetic* ; Uvea

Maternal weight gain during pregnancy has been consistently associated with infant birth weight and pregnancy outcome. Our purpose was to determined the relationship between maternal weight gain pattern and birth weight. Consequently, maternal weight gain is monitored carefully and is encouraged during prenatal care in order to improve pregnancy outcome. Our study group included both 424 uncomplicated women and infant delivered at the Yeungnam University Hospital between 1993-1996. All recorded prenatal weight gain measurements were used to estimate maternal trimester weight gain, pattern of gain (based on low versus not-low gain at each trimester), and total gain at delivery. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between these weight gain measurements and fetal birth weight. Each kilogram of maternal gain in the first, second, and third trimesters was associatedwith statistically related to the increase in fatal birth weight by 31.3, 19.0, and 24.5g, respectively. When compaired with the pattern of gain that was not low in any trimester, patterns with low gain in the first trimesters were associated with significant decreases in birth weight, but no important change in birth weight was seen for the group whose gains were not low in the first trimester. The results suggest that specific patterns of maternal weight gain, particularly weight gain during the first trimester, are related to fetal birth weight.
Birth Weight* ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Linear Models ; Parturition* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnancy Trimester, First ; Pregnancy Trimester, Third ; Prenatal Care ; Weight Gain*

The authors have experienced a case of extrascleral extension of choroidal malignant melanoma. The patient has suffered from the ocular pain and proptosis of right eye. We performed Kronlein operation under the clinical impression of the retrobulbar mass and obtained the histopathological diagnosis of malignant melanoma. Fifteen days after the operation, we performed exenteration and the rotation flap of temporalis muscle was inserted into the right eye ball socket through the lateral wall of the orbit.
Choroid* ; Diagnosis ; Exophthalmos ; Humans ; Melanoma* ; Orbit

An example of lymphoblastic lymphosarcoma was found in a 7-year-old male brown bear (Ursus arctos) that died after having a 7-month history of depression, anorexia and watery diarrhea. Grossly the mesenteric lymph nodes were enlarged to approximately 4 to 6 times their normal size and histologically diagnosed as lymphoblastic lymphosarcoma. The small intestinal mucosa was corrugated and had severe mural thickening due to infiltrated neoplastic cells. Hepatic metastasis was also noted. This is the first reported case of lymphosarcoma in Ursidae in Korea. As an incidental finding, endogenous lipid pneumonia was noted in the lung.
Animals ; Animals, Zoo ; Fatal Outcome ; Intestinal Mucosa/pathology ; Intestine, Small/pathology ; Korea ; Liver/pathology ; Liver Neoplasms/secondary/veterinary ; Lung/pathology ; Lymph Nodes/*pathology ; Male ; Mesentery ; Pneumonia, Lipid/pathology/veterinary ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/diagnosis/pathology/*veterinary ; *Ursidae

Clival chordoma is a rare malignant tumor which arises from the remnants of notochord. Although it is a slow-growing tumor that rarely metastasize to other organs, it is regarded as clinically malignant because of local invasiveness and high recurrence rate. Furthermore, because its location is critical and surgical resection is difficult, it has poor prognosis. Neurosurgeons have traditionally taken the lead in managing tumor, however, with the development of endoscopic techniques and wide spread of usage in skull base surgery, the role of ENT surgeon has become bigger recently. We report a recent case of recurrent clival chordoma successfully removed by endoscopic extended transclival approach.
Chordoma* ; Cranial Fossa, Posterior ; Natural Orifice Endoscopic Surgery ; Notochord ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Skull Base

Nasal septal infection can result from progression of a fungal infection from the adjacent sinuses. Nasal septal fungal abscesses complicating nasal trauma, surgical procedures, sinus, and dental infections have previously been reported in a small number of cases. Adequate management involves early diagnosis, prompt empiric antifungal therapy, and surgical debridement in order to prevent the development of life-threatening complications. We report a rare case of nasal septum necrosis from Aspergillus infection in a 79-year-old man with diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure following endoscopic sphenoid sinus surgery due to an isolated sphenoid fungal ball.
Abscess ; Aged ; Aspergillosis* ; Aspergillus ; Bacterial Infections* ; Debridement ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Nasal Septum* ; Necrosis ; Sphenoid Sinus*

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune neuromuscular junction disorders mediated by various autoantibodies. Although most patients with MG require chronic immunosuppressive treatment to control disease activity, appropriate surveillance biomarkers that monitor disease activity or potential toxicity of immunosuppressants are yet to be developed. Herein, we investigated quantitative distribution of peripheral blood B cell subsets and transcriptional profiles of memory B cells (CD19+ CD27+) in several subgroups of MG patients classified according to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) Clinical Classification. This study suggests potential immunologic B-cell markers that may guide treatment decision in future clinical settings.
Americas ; Autoantibodies ; B-Lymphocyte Subsets ; B-Lymphocytes ; Biomarkers ; Classification ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Memory ; Myasthenia Gravis ; Neuromuscular Junction Diseases ; Transcriptome

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (Kennedy disease) is an X-linked, adult-onset motor neuron disease characterized by slow, progressive weakness of the bulbar and extremity muscles with CAG triplet repeat expansion in the androgen receptor gene. Hirayama disease (HD) is characterized by the juvenile onset of asymmetric weakness and amyotrophy of the hand and is most common in males in Asia. We report a patient with atypical Kennedy disease presenting with asymmetric hand weakness and atrophy typical of HD.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to determine the benefits of cognitive training in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and those with early Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: Eleven patients with aMCI and nine with early AD (stage 4 on the Global Deterioration Scale) participated in this study. Six participants with aMCI and six with AD were allocated to the cognitive training group, while five participants with aMCI and three with AD were allocated to a wait-list control group. Multicomponent cognitive training was administered in 18 weekly, individual sessions. Outcome measures were undertaken at baseline, and at 2 weeks and 3 months of follow-up. RESULTS: In the trained MCI group, there were significant improvements in the delayed-recall scores on the Seoul Verbal Learning Test at both the 2-week and 3-month follow-ups compared with baseline (baseline, 1.6+/-1.5; 2 weeks, 4.4+/-1.5, p=0.04; 3 months, 4.6+/-2.3, p=0.04). The phonemic fluency scores (1.0+/-0.8 vs. 5.0+/-1.8, p=0.07) and Korean Mini-Mental State Examination scores (18.8+/-0.5 vs. 23.8+/-2.2, p=0.07) also showed a tendency toward improvement at the 2-week follow-up compared to baseline in the trained AD group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence of the effectiveness of cognitive training in aMCI and early AD. The efficacy of cognitive training programs remains to be verified in studies with larger samples and a randomized design.
Alzheimer Disease ; Cognitive Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Memory ; Mild Cognitive Impairment ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Verbal Learning