Treatment of oral cancers with chemotherapeutic agents are evaluated as an effective method for remission to reduce cancer proliferation nowadays. But, minimization of side-effects such as bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal toxicity and renal damage is another problem to be solved. Thus, a possible approach to develop a clinically applicable chemotherapeutic agents is to screen anticancer activity among traditional medicinal plants which have been used for thousands of years with very low side-effects in orient. In this study we focused on screening anti-oral cancer activities among 14 traditional medicinal plant extracts that revealed anticancer activities on other solid tumors. The results were as follow: 1. Methanol extract of Lepidium apetalum showed the highest anti-oral cancer activity against A253 cells. At concentration of 4 microgram/ml, the cell viability was 48% under our experimental condition. IC50 value obtained was 4 microgram/ml. 2. Methanol extract of Coptis japonica and Solanum nigrum were effective on KB cells. Cell viability observed were 62% and 67% at concentration of 4 microgram/ml, and IC50 values were 12 microgram/ml and 10 microgram/ml respectively. 3. When the methanol extract of Lonicera caerule was combined with 2 microgram/ml of cisplatin, the anticancer activity was synergistically increased. One hundred microgram/ml of Lonicera caerule showed 92% (alone) or 59% (combined with cisplatin) cell viabilities. IC50 value of Lonicera caerule extract against KB cells was reduced from 301 microgram/ml to 126 microgram/ml when combined with 2 microgram/ml of cisplatin. 4. Medicinal plant extracts effective on both A253 and KB cells were Coptis japonica, Lepidium apetalum, Solanum nigrum, Caesalpiniae Lignum, Curcuma aromatica.
Bone Marrow ; Caesalpinia ; Cell Survival ; Cisplatin ; Coptis ; Curcuma ; Humans ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; KB Cells ; Lepidium ; Lonicera ; Mass Screening ; Methanol ; Mouth Neoplasms ; Plants, Medicinal* ; Solanum nigrum

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for detection of the pathogenic Yersinia pestis from other Yersinia spp. was developed. Five Y. pestis strains, ninety-two other Yersinia species and twenty-four Enterobacteriaceae strains were collected in Korea and from other countries. Oligonucleotide primers were designed from pathogenic gene of antiphagocytic protein capsule gene (fra 1) and plasminogen activator gene (pla). The 428 bp DNA fragment was amplified from five Y. pestis which contained the fra I gene. No product was amplified from other Yersinia species and other strains of the Enterobacteriaceae. The 439 bp DNA fragment was amplified from three K pestis which contained the pla gene. No product was amplified from two Y. pestis, other Yersinia species and other strains of the Enterobacteriaceae. These showed that the designed primers were specific for detection of Y. pestis among other Yersinia species and Enterobacteriaceae strains. Amplification was successful whether the template was derived from purified DNA or from aliquots of boiled bacterial suspension. The detection limits were 100 pg of DNA and 100 colony forming units (CFU) for fra I and 100 pg DNA and 10 CFU for pla, respectively. Our results prove that the PCR method using specific primers for Y. pestis is a rapid and convenient procedure for routine clinical detection and identification of Y. pestis.
DNA ; DNA Primers ; Enterobacteriaceae ; Korea ; Limit of Detection ; Plasminogen Activators ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Stem Cells ; Yersinia pestis* ; Yersinia*

Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma is a rare cause of spinal cord compression. Recently, at our hospital, the author et al had the opportunity of observing case with spontaneous cervical epidural hematoma in a 28 years old woman who had suddenly felt a strong pain in interscapular area. Rapidly after she noticed weakness in her legs and one day later she was completely paraplegia. The MRI of spine was done. There show tubular like low signal intensity at posterior epidural space of C7 level and ghigh signal intensity of cord at C7 level due to cord compression effect. In this article, we are adding one more rare case of spontaneous cervical spinal epidural hematoma confirmed by MRI.
Adult ; Epidural Space ; Female ; Hematoma ; Hematoma, Epidural, Spinal* ; Humans ; Laminectomy ; Leg ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Paraplegia ; Spinal Cord Compression ; Spine

No abstract available.
Adenoma* ; Kidney*

No abstract available.
Adenoma* ; Kidney*

OBJECTIVE: Patients with brain disorder manifest hypermetabolism, increased energy expenditure, and increased protein loss. Nutritional support can prevent loss of immunocompetence, and can decrease morbidity and mortality associated with brain disorder. Thus, we aimed to determine the nutritional status by measuring body mass index (BMI) in patients with brain disorder during the first 6 months and identify factors related to malnutrition in this study. METHOD: We enrolled 244 patients from January 2008 to December 2009. The patients were classified into two groups: BMI under 18.5 were categorized as malnourished, while BMI over 18.5 as not malnourished. Extracted data includes demographic characteristics, type of brain disorder, functional independence measure (FIM) and Korea mini-mental status exam (K-MMSE) scores, history of diabetes mellitus (DM), and laboratory data. Feeding method was classified into oral and enteral tube feeding. RESULTS: The prevalence of malnourished patients was 13.1% (32 out of 244 patients). There was significant difference of total lymphocyte count (TLC) between the two groups. And there was no significant difference of correlation in other parameters. Analysis of feeding method showed that 11.4% of oral feeding patients were malnourished, compared to 17.4% of tube feeding patients who were categorized as malnourished. The tube feeding group tends to be more malnourished. CONCLUSION: The results of this study can be a guide for active rehabilitation of patients with brain disorder, and further studies regarding functional outcome and complications related to early nutritional status is needed.
Body Mass Index ; Brain Diseases* ; Brain Injuries ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Energy Metabolism ; Enteral Nutrition ; Feeding Methods ; Humans ; Immunocompetence ; Korea ; Lymphocyte Count ; Malnutrition ; Mortality ; Nutritional Status* ; Nutritional Support ; Prevalence ; Rehabilitation ; Stroke

Background and Objectives: Autophagy is known to be associated with pathogen infection. However, the expression of autophagy-related proteins has not been studied in chronic otitis media without cholesteatoma (COM) or with cholesteatoma (CholeOM). This study aimed to determine whether there is a difference between COM and CholeOM in autophagy-related gene mRNA expression. Subjects and Methods: For 47 patients with chronic otitis media, the inflammatory tissues were classified into granulation tissue (COM) or cholesteatoma (CholeOM) according to biopsy results. Results: PI3K mRNA expression (COM vs. CholeOM, mean±SD, 0.009±0.010 vs. 0.003±0.004; p=0.004) was lower, whereas Beclin-1 mRNA expression (0.089±0.107 vs. 0.176±0.163; p=0.034) was higher in the CholeOM group. Expression of PI3K mRNA in the CholeOM group was lower than that in the COM subgroups with presence of bacteria (0.022±0.019 vs. 0.001±0.001; p=0.001), otorrhea (0.049±0.068 vs. 0.003±0.004; p=0.004), and hearing loss over 40 dB (0.083±0.130 vs. 0.003±0.004; p=0.005). Conclusions The data suggested that different autophagy proteins play important roles in chronic otitis media according to the presence or absence of cholesteatoma.

Since its earliest description in the 18th century, meningioma has been considered a relatively indolent benign tumor which can be completely removed. Some grow very quickly, however, recur more frequently and with each recurrence, may change their biology to a more malignant form. A meningioma rarely metastasizes to the extracranium; the most frequent extracranial metastatic sites include the lung, musculoskeletal system and lymph node. The authors report a rare case of meningotheliomatous meningioma which occurred in the left parasagittal area and invaded the superior sagittal sinus; after surgery, it showed multiple recurrences and regrowth, and finally metastasized to the left thoracic cage. The authors also reviw the literature.
Biology ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Meningioma* ; Musculoskeletal System ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Recurrence ; Superior Sagittal Sinus

Granulomatosis with polyangiitisis [(GPA) or Wegener granulomatosis] is a multi-system disease characterized by granuloma formation and necrotizing vasculitis. GPA classically shows involvement of the respiratory tracts and the renal system. However, locoregional disease is common and may include otologic manifestations. Although otologic involvement can occur during the course of GPA, no report has described facial palsy with sudden sensorineural total deafness with vertigo as the presenting feature of GPA. This case describes a patient with multiorgan involving resistant form of GPA initially presenting with bilateral profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss and left facial paralysis with vertigo. The condition responded well to treatment with rituximab.
Deafness ; Facial Paralysis* ; Granuloma ; Hearing Loss, Bilateral ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; Hearing Loss, Sudden* ; Humans ; Respiratory System ; Rituximab ; Vasculitis ; Vertigo

A 39 years old healthy male patient with intracranial brain stem tuberculoma manifested hydrocephalic symptoms due to obstruction of aqueduct of sylvius is presented. Surgical excision was undertaken for obtaining histologic diagnosis and resolving hydrocephalus, which made postoperative neurologic deficits. CT and Magnetic resonance(MR) imaging of intracranial tubercuroma were studied for approaching nonsurgical diagnosis of tuberculoma. MR imaging of tuberculoma shows low intensity on T2-weighted imaging with Magnevistring enhancement. The MR imaging feature of the tuberculoma were found to be distinct from those abscess, metastasis and glioma. Antituberculous chemotherapy is thought to be better than surgical approach in managing brain stem tuberculoma if radiologic diagnosis was obtained.
Abscess ; Adult* ; Brain Stem* ; Brain* ; Cerebral Aqueduct ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Glioma ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Tuberculoma