In parentage testing DNA profiles are used to link the alleged father with paternity by matching their patterns. The probative value of a match is often calculated by multiplying together the estimated frequencies with which each particular VNTR or STR pattern occurs in a reference population. When this calculating method applies to the motherless case of paternity disputes, a calculation must usually be based on types determined for the child and the alleged father. In such case, the first consideration is to exclude a man from paternity of a child when the man did not have the child's paternal allele at some loci, or if the paternal allele cannot be determined, when the man had neither of the child s alleles. The second is to evaluate the DNA evidence when a man is not excluded by the paternal allele. This work is to provide theories of paternity analysis with three approach methods for the motherless case, and to evaluate their efficiency compared to the trio case when the man tested is not excluded. Consequently, the motherless case offers lower probability exclusion and questionable cumulative paternity index than those of the trio case as being typed with 14 STR loci(CSF1PO, TH01, TPDX, vWA, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, FGA, D21S11, FES/FPS, F13A1, D18S80, D17S5). Since the motherless case in paternity disputes is less efficient for paternity exclusion of the child, the use of genetic maker systems with the higher value of mean exclusion chance(MEC) and exact levels of the relative probability of paternity must be of importance considered in the analysis of such deficiency cases.
Alleles ; Child ; Dissent and Disputes ; DNA ; Fathers ; Humans ; Paternity*

When we intend to do the personal identification using DNA profiles, it will obviously be better to use as much information as possible. The power of identification is increased by using the genetic marker system such as VNTRs or STRs. Although STRs do not have many alleles per locus as VNTRs, these can be compensated by a large number of loci that are potentially usable. However, it will be more efficient to use a morphic loci. Therefore, prior to choose the genetic marker system of STRs for identification, it is essential to consider the statistical parameters of each STR locus, such as obs-H(observed heterozygosity), exp-H(expected heterozygosity), pM(probability of match), DI(discrimination index), PD(power of discrimination), MEC(mean exclusion chance), MEP(mean exclusion paternity), PIC(polymorphic information content) et al. In this article, we described the exact meaning of statistical parameters for the purpose of identification.
Alleles ; DNA ; Genetic Markers ; Humans

DNA analysis has become one of the most powerful tools in forensic inference for human identification and is now used worldwide. It is used to be statistical technique for the individual identification of a civil and criminal action. The purpose of this article is computerization of the statistical technique for the population study and DNA evidence analysis. The system using SAS/AF and SAS/SCL is the graphic user interface and the correspondence of the changed experimental circumstances.
Criminals ; DNA* ; Forensic Anthropology ; Humans

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Arterial stiffness and wave reflections increase with advancing age, and the systolic and pulse pressures are elevated. These changes in aortic stiffness and pulse wave velocity with aging may change the cardiac function. The diastolic function of the left ventricle declines with aging even in normal healthy subjects too. This investigation was designed to assess the correlations between the left ventricular diastolic function and arterial stiffness with using echocardiography including doppler tissue imaging (DTI) and an applanation tonometer. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The subjects were 100 healthy volunteers who had normal left ventricular systolic function and no major cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, obesity and smoking. The left ventricular diastolic function was assessed with the mitral inflow indexes and DTI, and the pulmonary venous return was measured by echocardiography. The central aorta blood pressure, the augmentation index (AIx) and the pulse wave velocity (PWV) were evaluated by using an applanation tonometer (SphygmoCoR system). RESULTS: With advancing age, the left mitral E/A ratio decreased (r=-.738, p<0.05) and the DTI early/late diastolic velocity (E'/A') ratio decreased (r=-.759, p<0.05), which showed a significant change of the left ventricular diastolic function. The Aix (r=.406, p<0.05) and PWV (r=.614, p<0.05) increased with aging. The PWV correlated significantly with the E/A ratio (r=-.593, p<0.05) and the E'/A' ratio (r=-.559, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study showed that increases of the large conduit vessel stiffness with aging are associated with a decline of the left ventricular diastolic function in healthy subjects.
Aging ; Aorta ; Atherosclerosis ; Blood Flow Velocity ; Blood Pressure ; Diastole ; Echocardiography ; Healthy Volunteers ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Obesity ; Pulse Wave Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Vascular Stiffness*

PURPOSE: Invasion of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) by papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland is rather infrequent. Tumor excision for this patients with invasion of the RLN has been categorized into two groups on the basis of completeness: (1) Resection of the RLN was required for complete excision, and (2) isolation of the RLN from thyroid cancer was mainly performed by sharp dissection to leave as little tumor as possible. Reconstruction of the nerve after complete tumor resection can be added as a supplementary procedure. This study was designed to analyze the clinical characteristics and surgical treatment of thyroid cancer invading the RLN. METHODS: At the Department of Endocrine Surgery of our hospital, 1,426 patients were diagnosed and operated on for papillary thyroid cancer during 36 months, from December 2004 to December 2006. Among them, 49 patients who revealed invasion of the recurrent laryngeal nerve were retrospectively evaluated for their age, gender, preoperative hoarseness and the operative method, change of their postoperative symptoms, radioiodine ablation, the laryngoscopic findings, recurrence and the prognosis. RESULTS: Of the 49 patients, 10 patients had preoperative hoarseness and 13 patients were treated by complete resection. We tried reconstruction of the recurrent laryngeal nerve with using the hypoglossi-recurrent nerve in one case, and with direct end-to-end anastomosis in two cases. The rest of the 36 patients were treated by shaving resection of thyroid and leaving the RLN intact. CONCLUSION: When a surgeon finds papillary carcinoma infiltrating a recurrent laryngeal nerve, regardless of the preoperative symptoms, preservation of the RLN and removal of as much tumor as possible will offer a good result.
Carcinoma, Papillary* ; Hoarseness ; Humans ; Methods ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve* ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms

PURPOSE: Bone turnover is increased in patients suffering with hyperthyroidism, and this results in osteoporosis. Especially after total thyroidectomy for the treatment of thyroid papillary cancer, it is necessary to pay attention to osteoporosis because we must treat these patients with suppressive thyroxine therapy. METHODS: Among the patients who underwent endocrine surgery of Chonnam National University, 110 cases had taken thyroxine for more than one year. We analyzed them on the basis of their medical record. The study consisted of women between 45 and 74 years of age who were treated with thyroxine for more than one year, who had total thyroidectomy performed for thyroid papillary carcinoma and who taken thyroxine for 12~142 months (mean: 53 months). We measured the bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and the femoral neck with using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. RESULTS: The bone mineral density of the lumbar spine and femur neck was significantly reduced with the increasing the duration of thyroxine medication. Yet this was not significant after adjusting by age. There was correlation between the TSH levels and bone mineral densities. CONCLUSION: After total thyroidectomy, it may be necessary to evaluate the bone mineral density of the patients who were treated with suppressive thyroxine and also to warn them about osteoporosis.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Bone Density* ; Bone Remodeling ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; Female ; Femur Neck ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism ; Jeollanam-do ; Medical Records ; Osteoporosis ; Spine ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroidectomy ; Thyroxine*

Gangliocytic paraganglioma is a rare tumor that is usually seen in the duodenum. This neoplasm generally behaves in a benign fashion, although instances of recurrence and lymph node metastasis have been described. We experienced a case of incidentally found gangliocytic paraganglioma treated with endoscopic resection. A 61-year-old man was referred because of submucosal tumor adjacent to the major papilla. Endoscopic biopsy revealed paraganglioma. Abdominal CT showed that there was no evidence of a duodenal mass or lymphadenopathy. This tumor was resected endoscopically by electrosurgical snare polypectomy. The excised tumor measured 1.0 cm in diameter. Histopathological examination revealed a benign gangliocytic paraganglioma and the resection margins were free of tumor. At the 6-month follow-up, the patient was still asymptomatic and no residual tumor was detected at the resection site.
Biopsy ; Duodenum ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Paraganglioma ; Recurrence ; SNARE Proteins

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of the Gamma Knife Surgery on the symptomatic control of brain metastasis from breast carcinoma. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients with brain metastases from breast cancer who underwent Gamma Knife Surgery at our hospital, between May 2004 and November 2007. Total 82 metastases were treated with 26 cycles of Leksell gamma knife. Freedom from local recurrence and survival time were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: 17 patients with 82 metastases were treated over 26 Gamma Knife Surgery sessions. The mean time to brain metastases was 41.7 months (8~84), median number was 2.0 (1~10), and median volume was 7.4 cm3 (0.6~25.4). Radiologic response occurred in 84.6%, and the rate of symptom relief was 73.1%. Local brain tumor recurrences were observed in 15.3% and intracranial distant recurrence occurred in 57.7% that occurred within 3.2 months. The median length of survival for all patients was 9.3 months (95% confidence interval, 4.23~9.37 months). CONCLUSION: Gamma Knife Surgery is an effective and feasible treatment for symptomatic control of brain metastases from breast cancer patients who have severe extracranial metastases and short life expectancy.
Brain ; Brain Neoplasms ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Freedom ; Humans ; Life Expectancy ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: Estrogen receptor (ER) is the key therapeutic target in breast cancer. ERbeta has recently been identified to be distinct from ERalpha. In contrast to ERalpha, the functions of ERbeta in breast cancer are still unclear. We sought to determine whether the expression of ERbeta can be used as a predictive marker for endocrine therapy for patients with ERalpha-negative breast cancer. METHODS: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor specimens from 52 patients with ER-/PR+ invasive breast cancer were immunostained for their ERbeta expression. These patients were treated with adjuvant tamoxifen. The results were correlated with various clinicopathological variables and the follow-up data. The expressions of p53 and HER-2/neu were also analyzed and correlated with the ERbeta status. RESULTS: An ERbeta expression was observed in 53.8% (28/52) of the breast cancer samples. There was no correlation between the ERbeta expression and the other clinicopathologic factors (age, tumor size, histologic type, nodal status, histological grade, stage, therapeutic modality, progesterone receptor (PR) expression, p53 expression and HER-2/neu expression). Recurrence was present in 7.7% (2/26) of the patients whose tumors had an ERbeta expression, as compared to the presence of recurrence in 36.4% (8/22) of the patients whose tumors had no ERbeta expression (p<0.05). The patients with ERbeta negative-tumors revealed lower disease free survival rate than those with ERbeta positive-tumors (p<0.05). Of the 52 patients, 10 (19.2%) were p53 positive, and 11 (21.2%) were HER-2/neu positive. No significant correlations were observed between ERbeta and p53 or HER-2/neu. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that ERbeta might be a predictive marker of a response to endocrine therapy in patients with ER-/PR+ invasive breast cancer, although this needs to be confirmed by additional studies.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Disease-Free Survival ; Estrogen Receptor alpha ; Estrogen Receptor beta ; Estrogens ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Progesterone ; Receptors, Progesterone ; Recurrence ; Tamoxifen