No abstract available.
Humans

High Mobility Group I(HMG-I) proteins are nuclear proteins that are required for induction of the human IFN-beta gene by virus and for the regulation of the tumor necrosis-beta factor and rRNA genes. Proteins I and Y result from alternative splicing of a single functional gene named HMGI(Y). In several studies, elevated expressions of the HMGI proteins (HMGI, HMGY, and HMGI-C) have been used as markers in thyroid cancer, but not in adenomas, goiters, and normal thyroid tissues and cells. Here, we try to demonstrate the elevated expression of the HMGI(Y) proteins in thyroid carcinomas by using semi-quantified RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription and Polymerase Chain Reaction). In cases of thyroid carcinomas 4 of 5(80%) were positive, in 10 cases of adenomas, goiters, and normal thyroid tissues, 1(10%) was positive. These results suggest that the semi-quantified RT-PCR is useful preoperative diagnostic tool for differentiating thyroid tumors.
Adenoma ; Alternative Splicing ; Genes, rRNA ; Goiter ; HMGA1a Protein ; Humans ; Nuclear Proteins ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVE: Thyroid nodule is frequent and occurs in about 5+ACU- of the general population. In contrast, thyroid cancer is much less frequent and occurs in about 5-10+ACU- of thyroid nodules. Distinguishing between benign and malignant lesions is an important task that is best accomplished by fine needle aspiration. Recently, Chiappetta et al. reported that the expression of the high mobility group (HMG) I(Y) proteins correlates with the malignant phenotype of human thyroid neoplasia, and suggested that the detection of the HMG I(Y) proteins might be a valid tool for an easy and sensitive discrimination assay between benign and malignant neoplastic thyroid disease. METHODS: We evaluated the expression of the HMG I(Y) mRNA in 39 frozen thyroid tissues from patients with thyroid nodule by semiquantitative RT-PCR. RESULTS: The expression of the HMG I(Y) mRNA was low in all of 10 normal thyroid tissues. In all of 3 adenomatous goiters, 6 follicular adenomas and 2 Hurthle cell adenomas, the HMG I(Y) mRNA expression level was low. In 11 of 13 papillary carcinomas and all of 5 follicular carcinomas, the HMG I(Y) mRNA expression level was high. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that there is a correlation between the expression of HMG I(Y) and the malignant phenotype of thyroid cancer, suggesting that these proteins may be useful as a marker in thyroid cancer.
Biopsy, Needle ; Comparative Study ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; High Mobility Group Proteins/analysis+ACo- ; Human ; Male ; Probability ; RNA, Messenger/analysis+ACo- ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroid Neoplasms/genetics+ACo- ; Thyroid Neoplasms/diagnosis+ACo- ; Thyroid Nodule/genetics+ACo- ; Thyroid Nodule/diagnosis+ACo- ; Tumor Markers, Biological/analysis+ACo-

PURPOSE: Gynecomastia can cause severe emotional phobia for breast cancer in elderly male and physical distress in young men. To select the appropriate cosmetic surgical approach for gynecomastia, I evaluated the usefulness of performing ultrasound-guided vacuum-assisted device excision of it. METHODS: Twenty-two cases of gynecomastia in 18 male were treated by vacuum-assisted biopsy device excision from November 2005 to June 2007. Their age range was 14-72 years old (mean, 34). The vacuum-assisted biopsy device excision was performed by 11G needle in 7 cases and 8G needle in 15 cases. I checked the number of extracted tissue pieces, the duration time of the procedure, immediate complications, and breast ultrasound after 3 months. RESULTS: The mean number of extracted tissue pieces was 69, and the average procedure duration was 25 minutes. There were no significant immediate complications such as bleedings and skin necrosis, and there were no clinically serious complications on 3 months follow-up examinations. During operation under local anesthesia, all patients tolerated the procedure. After vacuum-assisted biopsy device procedure, the cosmetic results were good to excellent for all the patients. CONCLUSION: Vacuum-assisted biopsy device excision was an effective surgical option, especially for small and glandular gynecomastia. I suggest this is a useful alternative procedure to surgery and liposuction, or it could be used effectively as a co-operative procedure with liposuction.
Aged ; Anesthesia, Local ; Biopsy ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Cosmetics ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gynecomastia ; Humans ; Lipectomy ; Male ; Necrosis ; Needles ; Phobic Disorders ; Skin

By means of hospital-based data over 8 years we sought to evaluate the clinical indications and incidence of emergency peripartum hysterectomy by demographic characteristic and reproduction history. From the obstetric record of all deliveries at Chung Goo Hospital between Jan. 1, 1990, and Nov. 31, 1997, we identified all women undergoing emergency cesarean hysterectomy, calculated incidence rates, conducted statistical tests of linear trends and heterogenety, and observed the clinical indicatons preceding the onset of this procedure. There were 16731 deliveries during this period, Cesarean hysterectomy was performed in 24 of 5993 cesarean sections(0.40%) and in 10 of 10738 vaginal deleveries(0.09%), so more frequently after cesarean section than vaginal delivery. The age of patients varied from 22 to 40 years old. The higher the age and the parity of patients, the higher incidence of cesarean hysterectomy was noted. The most common indication of cesarean hysterectomy was uterine atony(52.94%) followed by placental disorders(41.18%), uterine myoma with pregnancy(2.9%) and uterine rupture (2.9%). All patients who had hysterectomy received transfusion from 1 pint to 57 pints. The postoperative complications were bladder injury, febrile morbidity, disseminated intravascular coaguolopathy and wound disruption. There were three maternal deaths, the cause was disseminated intravascular coaguolopathy and amniotic embolism. The data identifiy uterine atony as the primary cause for gravid hysterctomy. The data also illustrated how the incidence of emergency peripartum hysterectomy increases significantly with increasing parity, especially when influenced by a current placenta previa or a prior cesarean section. Maternal morbidity remained high.
Adult ; Cesarean Section ; Embolism ; Emergencies ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy* ; Incidence ; Leiomyoma ; Maternal Death ; Parity ; Peripartum Period* ; Placenta Previa ; Postoperative Complications ; Pregnancy ; Reproduction ; Urinary Bladder ; Uterine Inertia ; Uterine Rupture ; Wounds and Injuries

The purpose of this study was to develop the CORE Program for sex offenders and to determine its effectiveness. The CORE Program was designed with an aim to achieve cognitive restructuring, improve the ability to empathize in interpersonal relationships, and enhance self-esteem and intimacy. We conducted this program over 48 sessions for 28 sex offenders. The effectiveness of the program was evaluated using the Interpersonal Responsiveness Index (IRI), Self-esteem Questionnaire (SEQ), UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLALS), Coping Using Sex Inventory (CUSI), Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (RMAS), and Wilson's Sex Fantasy Questionnaire (WSFQ). The data were analyzed using paired t-tests. Our results showed no significant changes in the SEQ, UCLALS, and IRI scores after the treatment program. However, the scores for the CUSI, RMAS, and WSFQ significantly improved after this program. In this paper, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the CORE Program for sex offenders. We also discuss the limitations of our study and provide suggestions for future research. Our findings indicate that this treatment program should be provided to sex offenders for preventing recidivism.
Criminals ; Fantasy ; Humans ; Loneliness ; Paraphilic Disorders ; Rape ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: Breast cancer ranks as the second most frequent cancer in women in Korea, and the rate is gradually increasing. Compared to European countries and USA., the Korean breast cancer occurs at a younger age (mean age: 47) than in western countries (mean age: 60). We suppose that there is some biological differences between Korean and western breast cancer. This study was designed to determine the target chemotherapy agents for use on individual patients and define target patients for chemotherapy during the post-op period. Additionally, we desired to acquire primary data for further proteomic analysis of patients. METHODS: Twenty-one patients with breast cancer were entered in this study. Tumor specimens were taken and informed consent was obtained for use of the samples in drug sensitivity testing. MTS[3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5- (3-carboxy methoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt] assay was able to be preformed in 16 patients (success rate, 76.2 percent). We used four drugs including Adriamycin, Epirubicin, 5-FU, and Taxol. RESULTS: In the axillary lymph node negative group, 5-FU (56.62%) and Taxol (53.85%) were sensitive drugs. There were no sensitive drugs in the p53 over-expression group. In the wild p53 group, 5-FU was the only sensitive drug. 5-FU was sensitive in both the ER and PR positive groups. Taxol was sensitive in the c-erbB2 low expression group. CONCLUSION: We obtained the results for chemosensitivity of breast cancer of Korean women. 5-FU and Taxol were relatively sensitive drugs, however we believe further data should be collected and added to obtain complete chemosensitivity results.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy ; Epirubicin ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; Humans* ; Informed Consent ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Paclitaxel

No abstract available.
Herpesvirus 3, Human* ; Korea* ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length*

Spinal epidural abscesses were evaluated using Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 19 surgically and clinically confirmed cases, including 13 with tuberculous spondylitis and 6 with pyogenic spondylitis. We observed rim enhancement patterns in 10 patients and diffuse enhancement patterns in 9 patients. The spread patterns were localized to ventral or dorsal epidural space and encircled entire epidural space. We conclude that rim enhancement indicates abscess and diffuse enhancement indicates granulation tissue and fibrosis. Tuberculous epidural abscess spreads to ventral epidural space and pyogenic epidural abscess encircles entire epidural space.
Abscess ; Epidural Abscess* ; Epidural Space ; Fibrosis ; Granulation Tissue ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Spondylitis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spectrum of MR characteristics of cystic acoustic neurinomas and to correlate with pathologic findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the MR findings of 12 patients with cystic acoustic neurinomas. The signal intensity and enhancement pattern of the cystic components as well as the location relative to the tumors were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 30 cysts were found in 15 acoustic neurinomas;28 were intratumoral cysts and the remaining two were extratumoral cysts. The signal intensity of all 28 intratumoral cysts was higher than that of CSF on Tl-weighted images, and isointense to CSF on T2-weighted images, while the signal intensity of the two extratumoral cysts was same as CSF on both Tl-weighted and T2-weighted images. Rim enhancement was seen in 27 of 28 intratumoral cysts but in none of the two extratumoral cysts. CONCLUSION: We concluded that intratumoral cyst was due to tumoral necrosis, hemorrhage or degenerative change and extratumoral cyst due to secondary arachnoid cyst formation.
Acoustics* ; Arachnoid ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Necrosis ; Neuroma, Acoustic* ; Retrospective Studies