BACKGROUND: Airway obstruction due to blood clot occurs unusually but in a variety of clinical settings. Initial efforts for removal of the endobronchial blood clot involve flexible bronchoscopic evaluation with saline lavage and suctioning and then forceps extraction. If unsuccessful, further options include rigid bronchoscopy, Fogarty catheter dislogement of the clot, and topical thrombolytic agents. The several successful uses of endobronchial streptokinase or urokinase to dissolve an endobronchial blood clot have been previously reported, but not yet in Korea. Herein we describe a 51-year old man with superior vena cava thrombosis secondary to Behcet's disease who experienced life threatening airway obstruction after hemoptysis due to a large organized blood clot in left main bronchus. Urokinase(260,000 U), injected through a fiberoptic bronchoscope, totally dissolved the clot. No complications occured.
Airway Obstruction ; Bronchi ; Bronchoscopes ; Bronchoscopy ; Catheters ; Fibrinolytic Agents ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; Streptokinase ; Suction ; Superior Vena Cava Syndrome ; Surgical Instruments ; Therapeutic Irrigation ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator*

Angiosarcomas are rare tumors that are derived from vascular endothelial cells. They may occur in various sites, including the skin, breast, visceral organs and deep soft tissues. The pleura usually a metastatic site from angiosarcomas. However, thirty one cases of primary pleural angiosarcomas have been reported worldwide. Here, we report a 61-year-old man with a primary angiosarcoma of the pleura with a brief review of the literature.
Breast ; Endothelial Cells ; Hemangiosarcoma* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pleura* ; Skin

PURPOSE: Curcumin (Cur) has been reported to induce apoptosis in human renal carcinoma Caki cells. Dimethoxycurcumin (DMC), one of several synthetic Cur analogues, has been reported to have increased metabolic stability over Cur. We determined whether DMC, like Cur, induces apoptosis in Caki cells and also compared the apoptosis-inducing activity of DMC with that of Cur. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Caki cells were treated with DMC possessing four methoxy groups, Cur possessing two methoxy groups, or bis-demethoxycurcumin (BMC), which lacks a methoxy group. Cell viability was measured by using a methyltetrazolium assay. Flow cytometry and the caspase-3 activity assay were used to detect apoptosis. The release of cytochrome-c (Cyt c) was detected by Western blot analysis. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was measured by flow cytometry. RESULTS: DMC, Cur, and BMC reduced cell viability and induced apoptosis, but the potency varied; DMC was the most potent compound, followed by Cur and BMC. ROS production, Cyt c release, and caspase-3 activity were increased, again in the order DMC>Cur>BMC. N-Acetylcysteine, a potent antioxidant, inhibited ROS production, Cyt c release, caspase-3 activation, and apoptosis induction in DMC-treated cells. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that DMC, like the original form of Cur, may induce apoptosis in human renal carcinoma Caki cells through the production of ROS, the release of mitochondrial Cyt c, and the subsequent activation of caspase-3. In addition, DMC is more potent than Cur in the ability to induce apoptosis.
Acetylcysteine ; Antineoplastic Agents ; Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Survival ; Chlorobenzenes ; Curcumin ; Cytochromes ; Cytochromes c ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Reactive Oxygen Species

Pulmonary surfactant prevents alveolar collapse by reducing alveolar surface tension and aids gaseous exchange in the lung. Since inadequate production of pulmonary surfactant is a key etiological process in ARDS, surfactant may play an important role in pathogenesis of ARDS. To provide a clue for establishing pathological mechanism of post-traumatic or neurogenic ARDS, we studied the influence of the vagal innervation on pulmonary surfactant metabolism. A total of 20 S-D rats (about 230 gm wt. each) were divided into two conditions: normal control and vagotomized groups. The vagotomized rats were subdivided into 3 hours, 8 hours and 24 hours groups. To preserve the superior cervical cardiac branches, both vagus nerves were cut at the lowest part of the carotid triangle. Cannula for adequate respiration and suction was fitted into the trachea. The lung tissue were processed for H&E, Masson's trichrome, Immunohistochemistry using anti-surfactant protein A (SP-A) and .anti-prosurfactant protein C (ProSP-C). The results were as follows; 1. The lungs of the vagotomized rats showed alveolar edema, fibrosis with infiltration of inflammatory cells and hyaline membrane formation. 2. In the lungs of the vagotomized rats, SP-A and ProSP-C immunoreactivity was decreased in proportion to postoperation time. Consequently, it can be postulated that autonomic disturbances caused by vagal interruption may induce ARDS-like pulmonary damage by modulating alveolar surfactant protein metabolism and by evoking the secondary inflammatory processes.
Animals ; Catheters ; Edema ; Fibrosis ; Hyalin ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lung ; Membranes ; Metabolism ; Protein C ; Pulmonary Surfactants ; Rats ; Respiration ; Staphylococcal Protein A ; Suction ; Surface Tension ; Trachea ; Vagotomy* ; Vagus Nerve

OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose of this study was a replication of the effectiveness and tolerability of risperidone in the treatment of patients with acute mania in very larger cohort in naturalistic treatment setting to extend the data on the effect and tolerability of risperidone in the treatment of patients with acute mania to Asian population. METHODS: A total of 909 patients with DSM-IV criteria of bipolar disorder current manic and hypomanic episode, entered this large, open, multicentre study. The Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) and Simpson-Angus Rating Scale (SARS) were measured at baseline and weeks 1, 3 and 6, for the assessment of effectiveness and extrapyramidal symptom (EPS). RESULTS: This study showed statistically significant reduction of scores on the YMRS and CGI-s (mean change=-23.5+/-11.8, p<0.0001;mean change=-2.7+/-1.5, p<0.0001, respectively) from the baseline to the endpoint (week 6). Number of patients with 50% reduction or more in the YMRS and CGI-s scores was 693 (77.8%) and 630 (70.7%) at endpoint, respectively. There were no statistically significant increments of scores on SARS. Risperidone was generally well tolerated. CONCLUSION: The present larger open study demonstrates that risperidone add-on therapy is effective and tolerable in treatment of bipolar disorder, replicating results in various controlled and uncontrolled studies from Western countries.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bipolar Disorder* ; Cohort Studies ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Humans ; Risperidone*

OBJECTIVES: This study is aimed to test the association between the coding sequence functional polymorphism (I105 V) of glutathione S-transferase P gene (GSTP1) and schizophrenia. METHODS: Two hundred fourteen (214) patients with schizophrenia according to the DSM-IV criteria and one hundred ten (110) healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Patients and controls were biologically unrelated age and sex- matched native Koreans. Genotyping for the GSTP1 polymorphism was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: Genotype and allele distributions of the GSTP1 polymorphism in patients with schizophrenia were not significantly different from those of the controls. Comparisons of clinical variables also were not different according to genotype and allele distribution. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that the GSTP1 polymorphism may not confer susceptibility to development of schizophrenia, at least in the Korean population.
Alleles ; Clinical Coding ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Genotype ; Glutathione Transferase* ; Glutathione* ; Humans ; Schizophrenia*