Alterations in the expression of genes that control the cell cycle may be of critical importance in tumorigenesis and malignant transformation. The major regulatory events leading to cell proliferation occur in Gl phase of cell cycle, and the deregulated expression of Gl cyclins is related to oncogenesis. Cyclins Dl and E play important roles in the progression of cell through Gl phase of the cell cycle. Amplification and/or overexpression of the cyclin Dl gene and aberrant expression of cyclin E has been described in various forms of human cancer. However, the role of cyclins Dl and E in cervical cancer has been poorly defined. In this study, we examined the expression of cyclins Dl and E by Northern blot technique and the status of human papil- lomavirus(HPV) type 16 and 18 by polymerase chain reaction in 25 cases of cervical carcinoma to explore the relationship between cyclins Dl and E and cervical cancer. We found cyclin Dl expression showed down-regulated expression in cervical cancer but cyclin E expression was increased in cancer group. Other clinicopathological prognostic factors were not correlated with cyclins D1 and E expression. Further study based on larger numbers of cases with correlation of cyclins D1 and E status and survival data will be needed to elucidate the use of cyclin expressions as prognostic factor.
Blotting, Northern ; Carcinogenesis ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Proliferation ; Cyclin E ; Cyclins* ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

Tamoxifen is a nonsteroidal triphenylethylene delivative that has been widely used in the treatment of breast cancer. tamoxifen is indicated for the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer in women following total mastectomy or segmental mastectomy, breast irradiation and chemotherapy. tamoxifen has been shown to have significant benificial effect in the treatment of breast cancer patient as hormonal therapy. However ,there is mounting evidence that tamoxifen may affect other hormon sensitive organs, including the uterus and ovaries. An increased risk of endometrial polyps, endometrial hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma has been reported in tamoxifen treated women. We have met cases of endometrial polyp and endocervical polyp which were associated with tamoxifen use, after modified radical mastectomy for infilterating ductal carcinoma of breast . So we report these cases with the brief review of literatures.
Adenocarcinoma ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma, Ductal ; Drug Therapy ; Endometrial Hyperplasia ; Female ; Humans ; Mastectomy, Modified Radical ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Mastectomy, Simple ; Ovary ; Polyps* ; Tamoxifen* ; Uterus

Skip lesion is not uncommon feature in osteosarcoma and considered to be importantly associated with poor prognosis factor, and thus, should be excised with the main mass. The accurate pre-operative evaluation of the intramedullary extent of osteosarcoma is essential, because it determines the level of bone resection. Among the reliable detection methods, bone scan has a drawback of high rate of false negative results and regional MRI has a difficulty to cover the whole involved lesions without clinical suspicion. The authors report a case of osteosarcoma of the distal femur with a proximal skip lesion that was not detected by either regional MR imaging or by bone scan, but which was visualized by FDG-PET/CT.
Complement System Proteins ; Femur ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Osteosarcoma ; Prognosis

BACKGROUND: Treatment of diabetic foot infection remains difficult, due partly to defective neutrophil functions. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) increases neutrophil counts in peripheral blood and enhances neutrophil functions in healthy peoples and patients with hematologic diseases. We performed this study to evaluate neutrophil functions in diabetic patients with foot infections and the effect of rhG-CSF on neutrophil functions in vitro. METHODS: Twelve patients with diabetic foot infections and 12 normal volunteers were enrolled. Venous blood was collected in heparin-containing tubes, and neutrophils were isolated immediately. The isolated neutrophils were incubated with rhG-CSF (50 ng/mL) for 20 minutes. Assays of superoxide anion production of neutrophils were based on the reduction of ferricytochrome C. Assays of phagocytosis by neutrophils were done using Staphylococcus aureus and the weighted phagocytic index (WPI) was calculated by counting the number of phagocytosing neutrophils on the slides. RESULTS: Superoxide anion production of neutrophils in diabetic patients was 4.7 (unit: nmol/2105cells/30min), which was significantly lower than that of controls (7.6) (P<0.05). rhG-CSF increased the superoxide anion production of neutrophils to 9.8 in diabetic patients and to 15.6 in the controls (P<0.05). WPI in diabetic patients was 0.77, which was not significantly different from that of the controls (0.69). WPI was increased significantly by rhG-CSF in diabetic patients (0.88) and in controls (0.79). CONCLUSION: rhG-CSF enhanced neutrophil functions in vitro, which were evaluated by superoxide anion production and phagocytosis in diabetic patients with foot infections. These results suggest that rhG-CSF can be useful in the treatment of diabetic foot infections.
Cytochromes c ; Diabetic Foot ; Foot* ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Healthy Volunteers ; Hematologic Diseases ; Humans* ; Neutrophils* ; Phagocytosis ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Superoxides

PURPOSE: Tissue Doppler imaging(TDI) is recently being used for assessement of regional ventricular function in adults. However, data in neonates have not been established yet. The aim of this study is to establish reference values of TDI velocities and to investigate the effect of other factors on TDI velocites in the neonatal population. METHODS: Forty eight healthy neonates with anatomically normal hearts from July 2003 to August 2003 were enrolled. Blood was collected after 12 hours of birth and Troponin T(TnT) was measured. TDI of mitral and tricuspid annulus was obtained from apical four chamber views within three days. TDI measurements included peak early diastolic annular velocity, peak diastolic annular velocity with atrial contraction, peak systolic annular velocity and duration of systole. RESULTS: In neonates, peak systolic velocity and peak diastolic velocity were lower than those of children and adults. The ratio of peak early diastolic velocity to peak diastolic velocity with atrial contraction(e'/a') was lower compared with known data in children and adults. With faster heart rates, peak early diastolic velocity and peak systolic velocity of mitral septal annulus and peak early diastolic velocity of tricuspid lateral annulus were significantly increased. PFO, PDA and TR did not affect TDI parameters. CONCLUSION: Annular TDI parameters of neonates were different from those of children and adults. TDI is a simple, rapid tool for assessing global ventricular function and the data of this study can be used as reference values for ventricular dysfunction in the neonatal period.
Child ; Adult ; Male ; Female ; Infant, Newborn ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: To compare the diagnostic performance of a high-resolution picture archiving and communications system (PACS) workstation directly interfaced with computed radiography(CR) with laser-printed CR films in chest diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Chest radiographs with (n=91) and without (n=25) abnormalities were included. Atotal of 100 abnormalities from 91 radiographs consisted of irregular lines, pneumothoraces, nodules and consolidations (25 of each). Laser-printed hard copies with dynamic range compression (DRC) were produced. InPACS, soft copies of 1760 X 2140 X 10 bits CR images were displayed on 1536 X 2048 with 8 bit gray-scale monitors.The performance of four observers was compared between laser-printed hard copies and CR images displayed on a workstation according to receiver operating characteristic analysis. RESULTS: Overall, no significant difference sin observer performance were observed between laser-printed hard copies and CR images displayed on a workstation(p=.2454). Even though statistically not significant, the former was slightly superior to the latter for lesions of irregular lines, pneumothoraces, and consolidations, whereas for nodules, the latter was slightly better than the former. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic performance of a high-resolution PACS workstation in chest radiographs is acceptable and comparable to CR hard copies printed with DRC processing mode.
Radiographic Image Enhancement ; Radiography, Thoracic ; ROC Curve

Thallium-201 SPECT has shown varing uptakes in tumors, depending on their viability, the type, and degree of malignancy. The authors analyzed Thallium-201 SPECT in brain lesions quantitatively, to predict the degree of malignancy, to differentiate between high and low grade astrocytic tumor by thallium uptake, and to differentiate radiation necrosis from tumor recurrence. The thallium indices were 1.56+/-0.75 in the benign brain tumors and 2.5+/-1.13 in the malignant brain tumors(p<0.05). There was differences in thallium index between high(2.19+/-0.61) and low(1.87+/-0.81) grade astrocytic tumor, however it was not statistically significant(p=0.55). The diagnostic accuracy of thallium index in differentiating benign from malignant was 82.5% by a threshold of 1.5. The mean thallium index of radiation necrosis was lower than that of recurrence(1.33/2.22). In conclusion, Thallium-201 SPECT may be useful for the diagnosis and evaluation of brain tumors to predict the degree of malignancy.
Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Diagnosis* ; Necrosis ; Recurrence ; Thallium ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

PURPOSE: Gastric emptying scan (GES) is usually acquired up to 2 hours. Our study investigated whether a fraction of meal-retention in the stomach at 120 minutes (FR120) was predicted from the data measured for 90 minutes by using non-linear curve fitting. We aimed at saving the delayed imaging by utilizing mathematical models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-six patients underwent GES immediately after taking a boiled egg with 74 MBq (2 mCi) Tc-99m DTPA. The patients were divided into Group I (T1/2 < or=90 min) and Group II (90 min< T1/2< or=120 min). Group I (n=51) had 21 men and 30 women, and Group II (n=45) 15 men and 30 women. There was no significant difference in age and sex between the two groups. Simple exponential, power exponential, and modified power exponential curves were acquired from the measured fraction of meal-retention at each time (0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 min) by non-linear curve fitting (MATLAB (R) 5.3) and another simple exponential fitting was performed on the fractions at late times (60, 75, and 90 min). A predicted FR120 was calculated from the acquired functional formulas. A correlation coefficient between the measured FR120 and the predicted FR120 was computed (MedCalc (R) 6.0). RESULTS: Correlation coefficients (r) between the measured FR120 and the predicted FR120 of each mathematical functions were as follows: simple exponential function (Group I: 0.8858, Group II: 0.5982, p< 0.0001), power exponential function (Group I: 0.8755, Group II: 0.6008, p< 0.0001), modified power exponential function (Group I: 0.8892, Group II: 0.5882, p< 0.0001), and simple exponential function at the late times (Group I: 0.9085, Group II: 0.6832, p< 0.0001). In all the fitting models, the predicted FR120 were significantly correlated with the measured FR120 in Group I but not in Group II. There was no statistically significant difference in correlation among the 4 mathematical models. CONCLUSION: In the cases with T1/2 < or=90 min, the predicted FR120 is significantly correlated with the measured FR120. Therefore, FR120 can be predicted from the data measured for 90 minutes by using non-linear curve fitting, saving the delayed imaging after 90 minutes when T1/2 < or=90 min is ascertained.
Female ; Gastric Emptying* ; Humans ; Male ; Models, Theoretical* ; Ovum ; Pentetic Acid ; Radionuclide Imaging* ; Stomach

A halo nevus is a pigmented nevus surrounded by a depigmented zone. It usually occurs in childhood or adolescence. Depigmented zone may form around a variety of acquired melanocytic lesions of neuroectodermal origin, including nevocellular nevi, blue nevi, spindle and epithelioid nevi, primary and metastatic melanomas, and neurofibromas. The occurrence of a halo around congenital melanocytic nevi has rarely been reported. We report a case of halo congenital nevus in a 11-year-old girl.
Adolescent ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Melanoma ; Neural Plate ; Neurofibroma ; Nevus* ; Nevus, Blue ; Nevus, Halo ; Nevus, Pigmented

BACKGROUND: In this study, we assessed the 50% effective concentration (EC50) of sevoflurane for reducing a rocuronium-induced reaction, based on the Dixon's up-and-down method. We also assessed the 50 and 95% effective end-tidal concentration of sevoflurane (ETsev), based on the probit regression curve of the probability of nonwithdrawal reaction. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, double-blind study in 23 males and 24 females. After using 2.5% thiopental sodium (4 mg/kg), anesthesia was induced in the patients. The patients then inhaled sevoflurane with 5 vol% in 6 L/min of oxygen. When the target ETsev was achieved, a nurse injected the intubating dose of rocuronium (0.6 mg/kg) for 5-10 s under the free flow of intravenous fluid. After the nurse evaluated the response, the nurse recorded the maximum heart rate during 30 s and the mean arterial pressure after rocuronium injection. RESULTS: Based on Dixon's up-and-down method, the EC50 of sevoflurane was 2.5 alpha 0.5 vol% in males and 2.5 alpha 0.3 vol% in females. The probit regression curve of the probability of nonwithdrawal reaction showed that in males the 50% effective ETsev was 2.4 vol% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-3.1 vol%) and the 95% effective ETsev was 3.5 vol% (95% CI, 2.9-11.0 vol%); in females, the 50% effective ETsev was 2.4 vol% (95% CI, 2.1-2.7 vol%) and the 95% effective ETsev was 3.0 vol% (95% CI, 2.7-4.5 vol%). CONCLUSIONS: The inhalation of sevoflurane during the induction period may provide a simple and reliable means of reducing rocuronium-induced reactions without adverse hemodynamic changes. There was no significant difference between males and females.
Adult* ; Anesthesia ; Arterial Pressure ; Double-Blind Method ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Male ; Oxygen ; Prospective Studies ; Thiopental