Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor worldwide and its incidence continues to rise each year. Recent development of molecular biologic method has led to advances in determining the etiologic factors of lung cancer and the establishment of cell lines has provided a lot of information on the through chemosensitivity, radiation biology studies, cytogenetics, and molecular biologic studies, which permits improved treatment for lung cancer. We established a small cell lung cancer cell line, designated JePa-1, obtained from malignant pericardial effusion of small cell lung cancer patient and characterized its morphologic and molecular biologic features. the JePa-1 cell line grew relatively slowly (doubling time 45hrs) as very loosely adherent floating aggregates growing in small clumps with distinct cell outlines and intertwined cords. Also JePa-1 cell line secreted antidiuretic hormones. Electronmicroscopic examination revealed that JePa-1 cell line and xenografts contained electron dense core granules, characteristic of being of neuroendocrine origin. To investigate the tumorigenic capacity, the JePa-1 cell line was injected into SCID and nude mice. Tumors taken from xenografts were observed in 3 out of 4 of the SCID mice and 2 out of 4 of the nude mice. The histologic characteristics of the xenografts were similar to those of the cell line and the original cytologic finding of the pericardial fluid, suggesting small cell carcinoma. The results of immunohistochemical markers showed reactivity for Rb protein, c-myc, TGF-alpha, TGF-beta , EGFR, keratin, NSE, chromogranin, and EMA. The DNA ploidy and the index of the JePa-1 cells was tetraploid and 2.13, respectively. The positive rate for the Rb, c-myc and K-ras proteins of the JePa-1 cell line were 98.9%, 99.3%, and 99.7% respectively as determined by flow cytometry. Cytogenetic analysis using the G-banding technique showed 65 chromosomes with various numerical and structural abnormalities. On examination of the expression of TGF-alpha, TGF-beta , and EGFR by PCR, only the EGFR was positive Through the establishment of JePa-1 cell line, we report in this paper the characterization of a small cell lung cancer such as morphologic and immunocytochemical features, growth characteristics in culture, hormone production, expression of oncoprotein and several growth factors, tumorigenicity, chromosomal abnormalities, and DNA ploidy and index. The JePa-1 cell line will be valuable in vitro studies for the etiology, treatment and the prognostic factors in small cell lung cancer.
Animals ; Carcinoma, Small Cell ; Cell Line ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Cytogenetic Analysis ; Cytogenetics ; DNA ; Flow Cytometry ; Heterografts ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Incidence ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Mice, SCID ; Pericardial Effusion ; Ploidies ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Radiobiology ; Retinoblastoma Protein ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma* ; Tetraploidy ; Transforming Growth Factor alpha ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; Vasopressins

Lobular carcinoma of the male breast is very rare, because of the absence of lobules in the normal male breast. Herein, a case of lobular carcinoma of the male breast with cellular features of signet ring cells is described. A 57-year-old man presented with a left breast mass. Histologic examination showed classic invasive lobular carcinoma with in situ component. Most infiltrating tumor cells had a prominent signet ring cell appearance. The patient was phenotypically male and had fathered children. There was no history of predisposing factors to breast lesion, such as hormone use or gynecomastia.
Breast* ; Carcinoma, Lobular* ; Causality ; Child ; Fathers ; Gynecomastia ; Humans ; Male* ; Middle Aged

Lobular carcinoma of the male breast is very rare, because of the absence of lobules in the normal male breast. Herein, a case of lobular carcinoma of the male breast with cellular features of signet ring cells is described. A 57-year-old man presented with a left breast mass. Histologic examination showed classic invasive lobular carcinoma with in situ component. Most infiltrating tumor cells had a prominent signet ring cell appearance. The patient was phenotypically male and had fathered children. There was no history of predisposing factors to breast lesion, such as hormone use or gynecomastia.
Breast* ; Carcinoma, Lobular* ; Causality ; Child ; Fathers ; Gynecomastia ; Humans ; Male* ; Middle Aged

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the scintigraphic findings and diagnostic accuracy of double-phase Tc-99m sestamibi scan in primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism (HPT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 16 cases of primary (18 lesions) and 11 cases of secondary HPT (44 lesions) who underwent Tc-99m-sestamibi scan before the surgical intervention. Scan was performed using LEM camera (Siemens, Germany) after the injection of 740MBq of Tc-99m sestamibi. Routine image consisted of baseline and 3-hour delayed images and each image was obtained using both parallel and pine hole collimator. The study population was 27 patients (male/female=5/22, age: 49.1+/-10.8). RESULTS: Eighteen lesions of primary HPT consisted of 13 adenomas and 5 hyperplasias, while all lesions of secondary HPT were hyperplasias. Among the case of primary HPT, we could detect all the lesions of 13 adenomas but only 2 lesions of 5 hyperplasias (40%) could be detected by double phase scintigraphy. Three cases of primary lesion showed decreased uptake in delayed images compared with baseline. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and accuracy of primary and secondary HPT were 58.8% (10/17), 83.3% (10/12), 83.3% (10/12), 75.9% (22/29), and 37.5% (15/40), 50% (2/4), 88.2% (15/17), 38.6% (17/44), respectively. Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and accuracy were 43.9% (25/57), 75% (12/16), 86.2% (25/29), and 53.4% (39/73). There were no statistical difference between the weight of primary and secondary HPT lesion (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Tc-99m sestamibi scan is fairly good modality to detect parathyroid lesion in patient with primary HPT before the surgical intervention. However, since some of cases may reveal decreased uptake in delayed image, a careful attention to the findings of baseline images may be helpful. Still the low accuracy of sestamibi scan in diagnosis of secondary HPT prohibits routine use of it for this disease.
Adenoma ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hyperparathyroidism, Primary ; Hyperparathyroidism, Secondary* ; Hyperplasia ; Parathyroid Glands ; Radionuclide Imaging* ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

The use of external fixator is popular in the treatment of open tibial fracture, severe comminuted fracture and segmental fracture, which minimizes further soft tissue injury and provides rigie fixation. The purpose of this study was to determine the complications and effectiveness of external fixation for treating the fractures of tibia. 33 patients with tibial fracture had been treated with external fixator from April 1993 to April 1994 at the orthopaedic department of Kang Dong Catholic General Hospital. We analysed 23 cases(21 patients) which could be followed up more than 12 months. The results were as follows; 1. Average duration with external fixator was 15.1 weeks. 2. Average time of bone union was 22.9 weeks. 3. 6 cases of pin tract infection were developed and they were treated with curettage and drainage, local antibiotics therapy, pin translation, or removal of external fixator. 4. The delayed union were developed in 5 cases, angulation deformity in 1 case, chronic osteomyelitis in 2 cases and soft tissue defect in 1 case. 5. Secondary operations caused by delayed union, valgus deformity, skin defect and bone exposure, were performed in 6 cases. 6. The use of external fixator provided good result in open fracture, intraarticular comminuted fracture, segmental fracture, and multiple injury, but chronic osteomyelitis and articular stiffness were developed in some cases.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Curettage ; Drainage ; External Fixators ; Fractures, Comminuted ; Fractures, Open ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Multiple Trauma ; Osteomyelitis ; Skin ; Soft Tissue Injuries ; Tibia ; Tibial Fractures

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate an association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and altered immunity in North Korean defectors who were more likely to develop medical conditions and other stress-related psychiatric disorders. METHODS: Twenty-four North Korean defectors with PTSD and twenty-two controls without PTSD were recruited from the resettlement and training center for North Korean defectors in South Korea. Peripheral T lymphocyte subsets, natural killer (NK) cells, NK cell activity and plasma hormones (ACTH and cortisol) were obtained from all subjects. We also applied the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) for all subjects. RESULTS: We found NK cell activity was relatively lower than number of NK cells in North Korean defectors with PTSD. Subjects with PTSD had higher HAM-D and HAM-A scores than controls. However, there were no statistical differences in ACTH, cortisol, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD4/CD8 ratio, CD19 and CD56 between the two groups. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest North Korean defectors with PTSD show higher levels of depression, anxiety and impaired or weak immune function in NK cells.
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Hydrocortisone ; Killer Cells, Natural ; Plasma ; Republic of Korea ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets

Myotonic dystrophy is a multisystemic disorder inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. The characteristic clinical features include the presence of myotonia, atrophy of the muscles of the face and the sternocleidomastoids and numerous nonmusclar manifestations such as cataracts, frontal baldness, gonadal dysfunctions and cardiac abnormalities. We experienced one case of myotonic dystrophy with prolonged atrial flutter in 30-year-old male who was admitted because of palpitation. We present this case with reviewing literatures.
Adult ; Alopecia ; Atrial Flutter* ; Atrophy ; Cataract ; Gonads ; Humans ; Male ; Muscles ; Myotonia ; Myotonic Dystrophy*

Adrenal cortical carcinoma is classified clinically as functioning and nonfunctioning and the latter is though to be extremely rare and causes generally mass effect or symptoms due to metastasis because of insufficient steroid secretion. We report a case of nonfunctioning adrenal cortical carcinoma, which is thought to be heterotopic origin.
Adrenocortical Carcinoma* ; Neoplasm Metastasis

BACKGROUND: Moyamoya disease is a chronic cerebrovascular disorders in which stenosis of the major arteries of the circle of Willis at the base of the skull progresses to occlusion. We observed two kinds of collateral pathways from the extracranial to the intracranial arteries. Also we evaluated clinlcal and neuroimaging features of moyamoya disease to give on aid in diagnosis. METHODS: We analysed 17 patients with moyamoya disease through the medical record and neuroimaging (conventional angiography and/or MR angiography) review. Six out of 17 patients were children(< OR =15 years) and the other 11 patients were adults(15 years). There were 8 males and 9 females. RESULTS: In our result, moyamoya disease was more common in the adult. There was bimodal age distribution, so average age of onset in children was 8-year-old and in adult 37-year-old. Common clinical features are seizure (66%), TIA (17%), and psychotic behavior (17%) in childrens and hemorrhages (73%), infarction (18%), seizures (9%) in adults. According to angiographic staging classification of Suzuki et al. (1967), our cases showed distribution of stage I (13%), stage II (8.8%), stage III (65.3%), stage IV (4.3%), stage V (4.3%), stage VI (4.3%). In collateral vessels of moyamoya disease, there were 7 cases of ethmoidal moyamoya, 3 of vault moyamoya and 1 of mixed form. It is interesting that there were five cases of unilateral moyamoya disease and one case had pseudoaneurysm. CONCLUSION: According to our results, we may say that seizures are common in the children and hemorrhages are in the adult. Unilateral moyamoya were mainly occurred in the adult. Ethmoidal collaterals were common among collaterals and stage III had a more cases than others in our neuroimaging data. These clinical and neuroimaging data may help interpretation and diagnosis of moyamoya disease.
Adult ; Age Distribution ; Age of Onset ; Aneurysm, False ; Angiography ; Arteries ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; Child ; Circle of Willis ; Classification ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Infarction ; Male ; Medical Records ; Moyamoya Disease* ; Neuroimaging* ; Seizures ; Skull

Myelin is a specialized structure of the nervous system that both enhances electrical conductance and insulates neurons from external risk factors. In the central nervous system, polarized oligodendrocytes form myelin by wrapping processes in a spiral pattern around neuronal axons through myelin-related gene regulation. Since these events occur at a distance from the cell body, post-transcriptional control of gene expression has strategic advantage to fine-tune the overall regulation of protein contents in situ. Therefore, many research interests have been focused to identify RNA binding proteins and their regulatory mechanism in myelinating compartments. Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) is one such RNA binding protein, regulating its target expression by translational control. Although the majority of works on FMRP have been performed in neurons, it is also found in the developing or mature glial cells including oligodendrocytes, where its function is not well understood. Here, we will review evidences suggesting abnormal translational regulation of myelin proteins with accompanying white matter problem and neurological deficits in fragile X syndrome, which can have wider mechanistic and pathological implication in many other neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Axons ; Cell Body ; Central Nervous System ; Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein* ; Fragile X Syndrome ; Gene Expression ; Myelin Proteins* ; Myelin Sheath* ; Nervous System ; Neuroglia ; Neurons ; Oligodendroglia ; Risk Factors ; RNA-Binding Proteins ; White Matter