Primary malignancy of the thymus gland in myasthenia gravis remains rare, especially metastasis of the malignancy to a distant organ. We have presented a case of myasthenia gravis with invasive thymoma and its meatastasis to the diaphragm. The literature concerned with this aspect is reviewed.
Diaphragm ; Humans ; Myasthenia Gravis ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Thymoma* ; Thymus Gland

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Hypercalciuria*

No abstract available.
Asthma* ; Child* ; Eosinophils* ; Humans

Erythropoietic protoporphyria, sometimes also called erythrohepitic protoporphyria or simple protoporphyria, is a heritable detect of heme synthesis in which the last enzyme of the heme synthetic pathway, ferrochelatase(or heme synthetase), is functioning subopt,imally. A 23-year-old male has experi nced erythema and edema on the fae and hands during or immediately after sun exposure, since 3 years of age. The skin lesions have been accompanied by severe itching, a buring sensation and pain. Severe episodes were followed hy head iche and vomiting. We have seen a case of erythropoietic protoporphyria presenting clinically and histo athologically, wit.h a skin lesion on the sun exposured area, and free erthrocyte protoporphyrin serologically.
Edema ; Erythema ; Hand ; Head ; Heme ; Humans ; Male ; Protoporphyria, Erythropoietic* ; Pruritus ; Sensation ; Skin ; Solar System ; Vomiting ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of service orientation on the organizational commitment and management performance of public health center workers. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A convenience sample of 280 workers was recruited from six public health centers in J province, South Korea. Data were collected by self-report questionnaires, including general characteristics, service orientation, organizational commitment, and management performance. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical regression using the SPSS 22.0 program. RESULTS: The service orientations explained 34.1%of the variance in organizational commitment and explained 31.4% of the variance in management performance. The service orientation was a significant predictor of organizational commitment and management performance. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that better strategies for service orientations will be helpful to enhance organizational commitment and management performance in the public health center.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Korea ; Public Health*

BACKGROUND: High glucose upregulates MCP-1 expression in rat glomerular mesangial cells and in human peritoneal mesothelial cells. However, the role of high glucose-induced MCP-1 on the development and progression of diabetic renal injury and peritoneal injury during peritoneal dialysis(PD) using high glucose PD solutions are not clear. Since MCP-1 was shown to upregulate transforming growth factor-beta1(TGF-beta1) and collagen expression in lung fibroblasts, the present study investigated the effects of MCP-1 on fibronectin secretion by mouse mesangial cells(MMC), human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMC), and human peritoneal fibroblasts(HPFB). METHODS: Synchronized cells were stimulated by different concentrations of MCP-1(0.1-100 ng/mL) or TGF-beta1(0.1-10 ng/mL) for 48 hours. Fibronectin protein secreted into the media was analyzed by Western blot analysis. RESULTS: MCP-1 up to 100 ng/mL did not affect fibronectin secretion by MMC. TGF-beta1 10 ng/mL, however, increased fibronectin secretion by MMC 2.8 fold that of control. MCP-1 up to 100 ng/mL did not affect fibronectin secretion by HPMC. But, TGF-beta1 0.1 ng/mL increased fibronectin secretion by HPMC 1.8 fold compared to control. On the other hand, MCP-1 increased fibronectin secretion by HPFB in a dose-dependent manner. MCP-1 at 1-10 ng/mL significantly increased fibronectin when compared to M199 control. 100 ng/mL MCP-1 further increased fibronectin secretion by HPFB compared to 0.1-10 ng/mL MCP-1. CONCLUSION: These results suggest a possible role for MCP-1 in the development and progression of peritoneal fibrosis and support the view that in addition to recruiting inflammatory cells MCP-1 may play a role in tissue fibrosis in other organs.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Chemokine CCL2* ; Collagen ; Fibroblasts* ; Fibronectins* ; Fibrosis ; Glucose ; Hand ; Humans* ; Lung ; Mesangial Cells ; Mice ; Monocytes* ; Peritoneal Fibrosis ; Rats ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1

Purpose: To report a case of optic neuritis caused by anti-aquaporin 4 (AQP4) and anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody double-seropositive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).Case summary: An 86-year-old female presented with a 10-day history of blurred vision in her right eye. The initial best-corrected visual acuity in the right eye was limited to hand motion, while the left eye had a visual acuity of 0.9; a relative afferent pupillary defect was observed in the right eye. Fundus examination showed normal optic disc appearance, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) indicated normal retinal nerve fiber layer thickness. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed enhancement and swelling of the right optic nerve, and signs of myelitis. The patient tested positive for anti-AQP4 and anti-MOG antibodies, leading to a diagnosis of NMOSD, and high-dose intravenous steroids and immunoglobulins were administered. Two months after the initial visit, fundus examination and OCT revealed optic disc atrophy in the right eye, with no improvement in visual acuity. After additional immunosuppressive treatment for 2 months, the anti-MOG antibody test returned negative. The patient continued on oral steroids and immunosuppressive agents for 12 months, during which no improvement in visual acuity was observed, with no recurrence of optic neuritis. The left eye remained unaffected throughout the 2-year follow-up period. Conclusions Cases of double-seropositive NMOSD are rare, with unclear treatment protocols and prognosis. In this case, despite treatment with steroids and immunosuppressants, the patient's optic nerve atrophy did not improve, with no recurrence of optic neuritis during the 2-year follow-up period.

The HUMACTBP2 locus was investigated to collect population genetic data in the Korean population and to evaluate the applicability for the forensic field. An Automatic fluorescent-based sequencer (377 automatic DNA sequencer, ABI) was used to detect amplified fragments of the HUMACTBP2 locus electrophoresed on 4% denaturing polyacrylamide sequencing gels. ACTBP2 allelic ladder consisting of different sizes of 18 alleles was constructed and employed as an internal size standard in combination with a GS-350 size standard for precision of allele-band sizing. By utilizing different fluorescent dyes, both the allelic ladders and samples were able to be analyzed in the same lane by 99% orecision of allele-band sizing. Among the Korean population (n=224), 26 alleles in the range of 239-313 bp are determined. allele No. 6 is found 45 times (0.100) which is mostly frequent, and the rest of allele is distributed with their relative frequency of 0.002-0.100. The comparison between observed and expected numbers of homozygous and heterozygous individuals confirms that ACTBP2 locus is in the state of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium among the Korean population. The heterozygosity is 0.9389+/-0.0034(93.89%), and the power of discrimination(PD) and power of exclusion(PEX) are calculated to be 0.991(99.1%)and 0.890(89.0%), respectively, showing the high informativeness for individual identification. Thus, these results mean that the HUMACTBP2 locus can effectively be used for the forensic application.
Alleles ; DNA ; Fluorescent Dyes ; Gels ; Genetic Variation*

Intensive insulin therapy effectively delays the onset and slows the progression of nephropathy in patients with IDDM. TGF- 0 has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. We evaluated the effects of different level of glucose control with insulin therapy on the progression of diabetic nephropathy in age-matched control rats(C) and 3 groups of streptozotocininduced diabetic rats', high blood glucose diabetic rats without insulin therapy(HG), rnoderate glucose diabetic rats with insulin therapy(MG), and normal glucose diabetic rats with intensive insulin treatment (NG). Glomerular volume(VG) was measured using Image-Pro morphometric software, glomerular TGF- Bl mRNA expression by in situ hybridization, and glomerular expression of TGF-8 and type IV collagen proteins by immunohistochemical staining. VG was significantly higher in HG than in other groups in 12 weeks. Kidney weight(KW) was the highest while the body weight the lowest in HG of all groups in 12 weeks. Daily urine albumin excretion (UAE) increased with time in all groups but was significantly larger in HG than in all other groups in 12 weeks. MG also had significantly larger UAE than C in 12 weeks. There was no difference in VG, KW, and UAE between NG and C. Glomerular TGF-Bl mRNA expression was significantly higher in HG than in all the rest of the groups in 4 and 12 weeks. Glomerular expression of TGF-B and type IV collagen proteins was proportional to the levels of blood glucose, being the highest in HG in 12 weeks. There was little or no expression of TGF-0 1 mRNA and protein or type IV collagen protein in NG. Thus these results support the view that high blood glucose is the prerequisite for glomerular injury in diabetes mellitus and that the glomerular injury in diabetes mellitus is mediated, in part, by TGF-01 and suppressed by glucose control.
Animals ; Blood Glucose* ; Body Weight ; Collagen Type IV ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 ; Diabetic Nephropathies* ; Glucose ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization ; Insulin* ; Kidney ; Rats ; RNA, Messenger

No abstract available.
Nephrotic Syndrome*