Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of the head and neck are malignant tumors with their ability to invade and metastasis, which can affect the prognosis. The molecular pathogenesis of SCC of the head and neck is still not clear. Further understanding of the molecular alteration in SCC of the head and neck will be enable to provide more accurate and useful prognostic markers and more effective treatments. Maspin, a member of the serpin family of protease inhibitors, is known to have tumor-suppressor functions. However, association between its expression level and survival has not been demonstrated in Head and Neck cancer. Using the immunohistochemical technique to examine the expression levels of maspin in 30 cases of SCC in head and neck, the results showed that 73.3% of the cases expressed low to intermediate levels of maspin and 26.6% of the cases expressed high levels of maspin. The clinicopathological features of the SCC cases were also compared with the maspin expression level, and the results were that high maspin expression was significantly associated with the absence of lymph node metastasis. More importantly, higher maspin expression was significantly associated with better results of disease free survival time period, so it is suggested that high maspin expression may be a favorable prognostic marker for SCC of the head and neck.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Head* ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Neck* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Protease Inhibitors

"Mirror-writing" is the simultaneous process of reversing individual letters and composing word strings in reverse direction. It is reported that the lesions which cause "mirror-writing" are left parietal lobe, left basal ganglia, right supplementary motor area, left supplementary motor area, left cingulate gyrus, and left angular gyrus. To explain this phenomenon, several theories have been proposed such as the motor, the visual dominance, the supplementary motor area, the visio-spatial, the visual word- form, the hemisaptial factor or directional and the reflected graphemic representation hypotheses. With reviewing some of literatures, we present a case of "mirror- writing" of posterior corpus callosum lesion which is not included in the aforementioned those.
Basal Ganglia ; Corpus Callosum* ; Functional Laterality ; Gyrus Cinguli ; Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery* ; Parietal Lobe ; Posterior Cerebral Artery*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Chronic sinusitis has been closely related to bronchial asthma. Patients with both sinusitis and asthma have showed somewhat different mucosal appearance and pathology, compared to those without asthma. We investigated histopathological features of these patients. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: 19 sinusitis patients with asthma who had undergone endoscopic sinus surgery from April, 1995 through September, 1997, and 53 patients without asthma who had undergone surgery from January, 1997 through July, 1997 were evaluated. We compared the following 7 parameters of sinus mucosal histopathology between the asthma and non-asthma group by reviewing histopathological slides: basement membrane thickening, goblet cell hyperplasia, subepithelial edema, submucous gland formation, eosinophilic infiltration, lymphocyte infiltration, polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration. We also compared preoperative disease extent, evaluated by degree of polyposis and OMC CT findings, and presence of allergy, which might affect the sinus mucosal pathology. RESULTS: There revealed no statistical difference between two groups on presence of allergy, preoperative polyposis, and OMC CT scores. However, the asthma group showed significant basement membrane thickening, goblet cell hyperplasia, and eosinophilic infiltration, which was statistically significant. No difference was found between subepithelial edema, submucous gland formation, lymphocyte infiltration, and polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration. CONCLUSION: Significant histopathological features such as basement membrane thickening, goblet cell hyperplasia, and eosinophil infiltration characterized chronic sinusitis with asthma; however, there were no differences owing to the presence of allergy or the extent of preoperative disease. Adequate preoperative management, close attention during surgery and careful follow-up would be necessary.
Asthma* ; Basement Membrane ; Edema ; Eosinophils ; Goblet Cells ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Hypersensitivity ; Lymphocytes ; Neutrophils ; Pathology ; Sinusitis*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Neuronal dissociation culture is an important tool for the study of neuronal cell survival and apoptosis. To establish the culture methods, the cultured cells should be proved to have the same characteristics as the spiral ganglion neurons in vivo. This study was aimed to establish the culture systems for the spinal neuronal cells and to characterize the cultured cells using different neuronal marker. Materials and Methods: Dissociated spiral ganglion cells were harvested from Sprague Dawley rats in postnatal 5 or 6 days and cultured for 48 hours. To prepare in vivo section, the harvested cochlea was embedded in paraffin and sectioned in 4 nm thickness. Both cultured cells and paraffin sections were labeled with several monoclonal antibodies (NSE, NF-200, NF-160, S-100) and compared by the immunohistochemical and immunoflourescent staining methods. RESULTS: Each of the antibodies was used to stain both cultured cells and paraffin sections. NSE was used to stain the nuclei of neuronal cells. Either NS or NR was used to stain both neuronal perikarya and neurite. The Schwann cells were stained by S-100. There was no significant difference in the immunostaining pattern between cochlea tissue and dissociated cells of spiral ganglion. CONCLUSION: A dissociated culture system for the spiral ganglions was established. In the culture system, the dissociated spiral ganglion neurons preserve the neuronal characteristics. This dissociation culture system can be used for the study of neuronal cell biology.
Animals ; Antibodies ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Apoptosis ; Cell Survival ; Cells, Cultured ; Cochlea ; Neurites ; Neurons ; Paraffin ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Schwann Cells ; Spiral Ganglion*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The sense of smell is indispensable for men to appreciate food flavors and avoid potential dangers, such as spoiled foods, smoke, and gases. Despite these important roles, there have been only a few studies investigating the cause and nature of olfactory disorders. In this study, we investigated clinical aspects of olfactory disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The demographic, medical, and chemosensory data of 497 patients who visited clinics complaining of smell loss were retrospectively analyzed with medical charts and a questionnaire. The statistical analyses were performed using ANOVA and chi-square test to compare several variables of data. RESULTS: Nasal and paranasal sinus disease, upper respiratory tract infection, idiopathic, and head trauma were the major causes of smell loss. The onset of smell loss, the distribution of gender and age, the incidence and severity of olfactory loss with gustatory dysfunction differed among causal groups. The association of olfactory score with allergies in nasal diseases was not noted in this study. In addition, the presence of intranasal polyp affected the severity of olfactory dysfunction, but we could not see this effect in patients who had the history of sinonasal surgery. CONCLUSION: We recommend that physicians have to consider many clinical aspects including the cause and nature of olfactory loss to treat patients with chemosensory dysfunction effectively.
Craniocerebral Trauma ; Gases ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Incidence ; Male ; Nose Diseases ; Olfaction Disorders ; Paranasal Sinus Diseases ; Polyps ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Retrospective Studies ; Smell ; Smoke