This study examined the prevalence of oral microbes in the saliva of oncological patients and healthy subjects. PCR was used to assess the frequency of oral microbes including 3 cariogenic bacteria, 5 periodontopathic bacteria and 4 Candida species in the saliva of 104 oncological patients and 52 healthy subjects. Among these microorganims, Streptococcus mutans, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Candida albicans were most frequently detected in both groups. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of cariogenic bacteria between the patient and healthy groups, whereas significant differences in the frequency of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia were observed between the two groups (p < 0.05). The prevalence of all five periodontopathogens was higher in the healthy group than in the patient group. The prevalence of C. albicans in patients was significantly higher than that of healthy group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, there were significant differences in the prevalence of P. gingivalis, T. forsythia and C. albicans between the oncological patient group and healthy group.
Bacteria ; Candida ; Candida albicans ; Forsythia ; Fusobacterium nucleatum ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Porphyromonas gingivalis ; Prevalence ; Saliva ; Streptococcus mutans

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Early detection of polyp is important for the prevention of colorectal cancer (CRC). There have been few studies to investigate the relationship between colorectal adenoma and family history of CRC (FHCRC) in Korea. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between colorectal adenoma and FHCRC. METHODS: Between March 2009 and September 2010, 225 patients with adenomatous polyps were included. Their medical records with clinical history and size, numbers, histology of polyps were reviewed. Immunohistochemical staining using Bcl-2, Bax, p-AKT, NF-kappaB, and beta-catenin antibodies were performed. We compared the histology of adenoma and expression of immunohistochemical staining according to the existence of FHCRC. RESULTS: The incidence of colorectal adenoma increased in case of FHCRC (p=0.029). In patients with FHCRC, the mean age of patients was 49 years old and younger than patients without FHCRC. In addition in patients with FHCRC, the incidence of advanced adenoma was significantly higher than in patients without FHCRC (p=0.001). The expression of Bax was significantly lower in patients with FHCRC than without FHCRC (p=0.046). CONCLUSIONS: There was a tendency for polyp to develop in their younger ages and to be more advanced adenomas in patients with FHCRC. The low expression of Bax, tumor suppressor gene, might be associated with the development of polyps in patient with FHCRC. Therefore, patients with FHCRC may be better to start screening colonoscopy earlier than patient without FHCRC.
Adenoma/*diagnosis/epidemiology/metabolism ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Colonoscopy ; Colorectal Neoplasms/*diagnosis/epidemiology/metabolism ; *Family Health ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Transcription Factor RelA/metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein/metabolism ; beta Catenin/metabolism

We report one family with bilateral renal hypoplasia and ocular coloboma in two consecutive generations. Ophthalmological examination revealed optic disc coloboma and decreased visual acuity. Fragments spanning exon 1-12 of the PAX2 gene were amplified from genomic DNA using PCR primers. The PCR products were purified and directly sequenced. No definite mutation was detected in the PAX2 genes in these patients, but two coding region single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified. This result suggests that the optic disc coloboma with bilateral renal hypoplasia might be genetically heterogenous or other genes could be responsible.
Clinical Coding ; Coloboma ; DNA ; Exons ; Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Visual Acuity

Biphenotypic acute leukemia (BAL) is a subtype of leukemia of ambiguous lineage in the World Health Organization classification system. About one third of the cases have the Philadelphia chromosome, and some cases are associated with other structural abnormalities involving 11q23. BAL is known to have a poor prognosis in both children and adults. According to the previously reported BAL cases with positive BCR-ABL fusion gene, most of the BCR-ABL mRNA transcript type was e1a2. So, we describe here a 30-year-old adult BAL case with the karyotype 46,XY,t(9;22)(q34;q11.2) resulting in a very rare b3a2 type of BCR-ABL mRNA transcript.
Adult ; Child ; Classification ; Humans ; Karyotype ; Leukemia ; Leukemia, Biphenotypic, Acute* ; Philadelphia Chromosome ; Prognosis ; RNA, Messenger* ; World Health Organization

BACKGROUND: After a zealous advocates of granulocyte transfusion therapy (GTX) in the 1970s and early 1980s, the use of GTX has diminished strikingly because of the several problems of GTX and the introduction of new antimicrobial agents and recombinant hematopoietic growth factors. Recently, GTX offers renewed interest because several investigators reported the transfusion efficacy of granulocytes collected by stimulating normal donors with recombinant human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). METHODS: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of GTX, thirteen patients with neutropenia- related infections at Chonnam University Hospital from March 1997 to February 1998 were treated with dexamethasone- or G-CSF-stimulated granulocyte transfusions apheresed from normal donor. RESULTS: Patients received a mean number of 2.4 transfusions (range, 1-7) and a mean dose of 5.5x1010 granulocytes (range, 0.2-19.6). Six patients (46.2%) had favorable responses. Favorable responses occurred among patients with more fungal infection than bacterial infection (71.4 vs 28.6%, P<0.05) and more increment of absolute neutrophil count at 1 hour after transfusion (P<0.05). Adverse reactions of GTX were pulmonary edema in 2 patient (15.4%) and transient hypoxia in 1 patient (7.7%). One patient (7.7%) with pulmonary edema died of severe pulmonary reaction. Two of 20 donors received by G-CSF complained of mild myalgia and bone pain. CONCLUSION: G-CSF- or dexamethasone-stimulated GTXs were well tolerated and may be clinically beneficial for neutropenia-related infection, particularly in fungal infection, that is refractory to antimicrobial therapy.
Anoxia ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Bacterial Infections ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Granulocytes* ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Jeollanam-do ; Myalgia ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Pulmonary Edema ; Research Personnel ; Tissue Donors

PURPOSE: To evaluate the incidence and clinical features of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Korea. METHODS: Web-based (www.armd-nova.or.kr) registration was conducted for AMD patients aged 50 or more who were newly diagnosed by retinal specialists in Korea from August 20, 2005 to August 20, 2006. Patient data including ophthalmologic examination, fundus photography, fluorescein angiogram and/or indocyanin green angiogram (ICG), past medical history, behavioral habit, combined systemic diseases were up-loaded. RESULTS: Among finally enrolled 1,141 newly diagnosed AMD patients, 690 patients (60.5%) were male and 451 patients (39.5%) were female. The average age of AMD patients was 69.7+/-8.0. Early AMD was observed in 190 patients and 951 patients had late AMD. Classic choroidal neovascular membrane (CNVM) was observed in 18.6% of exudative AMD patients and 63.4 % had occult CNVM. Subfoveal CNVM was observed in 80.4% of the patients with CNVM. Among the 580 exudative AMD eyes that performed indocyanin green angiography (ICG), 184 eyes (31.7%) had polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) and 36 eyes (6.2%) showed retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP). Age, male gender, smoking, diabetes and hypertension significantly increased the risk of the AMD among Koreans. CONCLUSIONS: Because of the low rate of participation by retinal specialists, definite incidence of AMD was not obtainable. However, the estimated 1-year AMD incidence in the Pusan area of Korea is at least 0.4%. In contrast to Western people, 31.7% of exudative AMD cases were revealed to be PCV and 6.2% were revealed to be RAP. This discrepancy between ethnic groups should be considered in the diagnosis and treatment modality selection of Korean AMD patients.
Aged ; Angiography ; Choroid ; Ethnic Groups ; Eye ; Female ; Fluorescein ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Korea ; Macular Degeneration ; Male ; Membranes ; Photography ; Retinaldehyde ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Specialization