We report a case of a 44 year old femele with unilateral aldosterone-proudcing adrenal adenoma characterized by hypertension, plasma aldosterone excess, and low plasma renin, commonly but not invariably with hypokalemia. She also had asymmetric septal hypertrophy of left ventricle established with two-dimensional echocardiography. The electrocardiogram showed inverted T wave and prominent U wave with high QRS voltage on precordial leads. In the case of this patient, we are not sure whether asymmetric septal hypertrophy was caused by secondary hypertension and chronic aldosterone excess of primary aldosteronism, or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy per se, so further long=term follow-up is required to determine it. Following the successful unilateral adrenalectomy, however, the systemic pressure fell down to the normal level and electrolyte abnormalities were corrected immediaterly within a few days and the modest regression in septal hypertrophy was noted in one year, suggesting that the promary aldosteronism contributes to the development or porgression of asymmetric septal hepertrophy.
Adenoma ; Adrenalectomy ; Adult ; Aldosterone ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic* ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism* ; Hypertension ; Hypertrophy ; Hypokalemia ; Plasma ; Renin

No abstract available.
Constriction, Pathologic* ; Dilatation*

Actinomycosis is relatively rare infection which is produced by an anaerobic organism, actinomycetes, normally residing in the mouth, bowel and female genital tract. This disease is characterized by chronic inflammatory induration with abscess and multiple sinus formation. In most cases, the onset of this is preceded by an inflammatory or traumatic history on abdomen but diagnosis can't be made until operation. Recently this disease is treated with antimicrobial therapy and wide surgical excision. We experienced a case of omental actinomycosis and report it with brief review of literatures.
Abdomen ; Abscess ; Actinobacteria ; Actinomycosis* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Mouth ; Omentum

PURPOSE: We evaluated the feasibility of extracting pure left ventricular blood pool and myocardial time-activity curves (TACs) and of generating factor images from human dynamic N-13 ammonia PET using factor analysis. The myocardial blood flow (MBF) estimates obtained with factor analysis were compared with those obtained with the user drawn region-of-interest (ROI) method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Stress and rest N-13 ammonia cardiac PET imaging was acquired for 23 min in 5 patients with coronary artery disease using GE Advance tomograph. Factor analysis generated physiological TACs and factor images using the normalized TACs from each dixel. Four steps were involved in this algorithm: (a) data preprocessing; (b) principal component analysis; (c) oblique rotation with positivity constraints; (d) factor image computation. Area under curves and MBF estimated using the two compartment N-13 ammonia model were used to validate the accuracy of the factor analysis generated physiological TACs. The MBF estimated by factor analysis was compared to the values estimated by using the ROI method. RESULTS: MBF values obtained by factor analysis were linearly correlated with MBF obtained by the ROI method (slope=0.84, r=0.91). Left ventricular blood pool TACs obtained by the two methods agreed well (Area under curve ratio: 1.02 (0~1 min), 0.98 (0~2 min), 0.86 (1~2 min)). CONCLUSION:: The RESULTS of this study demonstrates that MBF can be measured accurately and noninvasively with dynamic N-13 ammonia PET imaging and factor analysis. This method is simple and accurate, and can measure MBF without blood sampling, ROI definition or spillover correction. KW: N-13 ammonia, PET, Myocardial blood flow, Factor analysis
Ammonia* ; Area Under Curve ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Factor Analysis, Statistical* ; Humans ; Principal Component Analysis

Corpus callsoum (CC) is the largest commissural fiber connecting the cerebral hemispheres. The gender difference in the size or the shape of CC is a long standing dispute. Some reported that adult female CC had more bulbous splenium and larger area considering brain size, but others failed to replicate this findings. There is no definite consensus on sexual dimorphism of CC yet, although extensive studies on sexual dimorphism has been expected to provide a clue to explain sociopsychological differences between male and female. This variable results are attributed to limited number of subjects, measured parameters, and method of measurement. We have employed comprehensive analytic parameters with large subjects to understand gender differences on CC of healthy Korean adults. We have analyzed the magnetic resonance image (MRI) in adults free from neurological disorders. The subjects were composed of 108 young people (3rd decade; male : 51, female : 57). Total area, its 5 sub-areas, linear parameters including height, length, and width and five specific angles of the CC were measured on the midsagittal MR images with NIH Image program (R) (Ver 1.6). The gender differences were observed in the area of splenium and length in the group. The male CC have larger splenium and longer length than female. The angle between neural axis and base of corpus callosum in female was significantly larger than that of male. This study reports not only gender difference of adult CC, but Korean adult standard morphometric data of CC research. These results might serve a useful basic data for various research in the fields of neuroanatomy, neuroradiology, and neuropsychiatry.
Adult* ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Brain ; Cerebrum ; Consensus ; Corpus Callosum* ; Dissent and Disputes ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Nervous System Diseases ; Neuroanatomy ; Neuropsychiatry

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Choledochal Cyst* ; Humans

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of strip meniscometry test for dye eye syndrome (DES) by measuring the correlation between strip meniscometry and conventional test measurements. METHODS: All subjects were examined using the Schirmer test, tear breakup time (TBUT) and strip meniscometry using SMTube (Echo Electricity Co., Ltd., Fukushima, Japan). Tear meniscus height (TMH), tear meniscus depth (TMD) and tear meniscus area (TMA) were measured using Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography. The DES group (n = 46 eyes) was compared with the normal group (n = 30 eyes) and correlation was assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Strip meniscometry measurement was significantly correlated with Schirmer score (r = 0.6080, p < 0.01), TBUT (r = 0.5980, p < 0.01), TMH (r = 0.6210, p < 0.01), TMD (r = 0.6080, p < 0.01) and TMA (r = 0.6370, p < 0.01). Strip meniscometry was significantly lower in the DES group (4.58 ± 1.94 mm) than the normal group (7.07 ± 2.61 mm, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Strip meniscometry was significantly correlated with other conventional test measurements for dry eye syndrome. Strip meniscometry is less time consuming and a less invasive method than the Schirmer test. Strip meniscometry could be an efficient tool to evaluate patients with dry eye syndrome in a clinical setting.
Diagnosis* ; Dry Eye Syndromes* ; Electricity ; Humans ; Methods ; Tears ; Tomography, Optical Coherence

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationships among the grade of cervical pathology, HPV infection status, p16 expression, and p53 expression in cervical neoplasia. METHODS: From July of 2002 to June of 2003, authors did HPV typing with HPV Oligonucleotide Microarray DNA Chip (Biomed, Seoul, Korea), p16 and p53 immunochemical staining in cervical tissues obtained from conization or hysterectomy RESULTS: 41 patients were enrolled in this study. There were 16 normal (WNL) patients, 9 CIN patients, 8 microinvasive cancer (MIC) patients, and 8 invasive cervical cancer (ICC) patients. The HPV infection rate in WNL, CIN, MIC and ICC were 0%, 100%, 50% and 50% retrospectively. The expression rate of p16 was 13% in WNL, 67% in CIN, 50% in MIC and 100% in ICC. That of p53 was 0% in WNL, 67% in CIN, 75% in MIC and 100% in ICC. With regard to p16 staining in HPV negative cases, negative staining was 67%, weakly positive was 13% and strongly positive was 21%. But in HPV-infected cases, negative staining of p16 was 29%, weakly positive was 53% and strongly positive was 18%. With regard to p53 staining in HPV negative cases, without HPV infection, negative staining was 62%, weakly positive was 33% and strongly positive was 4%. But in HPV infected cased, negative staining of p53 was 18%, weakly positive was 53% and strongly positive was 29%. Finally, in p16 negative cases, negative staining of p53 was 62%, weakly positive was 38% and strongly positive was 0%. But in p16 weakly positive cases, with weakly positive p16, negative staining of p53 was 33%, weakly positive was 42%, and strongly positive was 25%. In p16 strongly positive cases, negative staining of p53 was 13%, weakly positive was 50% and strongly positive was 38%. CONCLUSION: There were significant associations among grades of cervical pathology, HPV infection, p16 and p53 expression. Thus there might be some possibilities that expression of p16 and p53 induced by E7 and E6 proteins of HPV can impact on the tumorigenesis.
Carcinogenesis ; Conization ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Negative Staining ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Seoul ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

Primary germ cell tumors of the mediastinum are rare, accounting 1-5% among all germ cell tumors and 10% of all neoplasms in this area. Approximately 85% of these tumors occur in men with a mean age 29 years. These tumors are mainly found in the anterior mediastinum and appear grossly as large lobulated masses. They are frequently invasive at the time of diagnosis and almost 90% of patients are symptomatic. Primary nonseminomatous germ cell tumor arising in the posterior mediastinum is very rare. We report a case of 37- year old male arising from the posterior mediastinum. Serum tumors markers including alpha-fetoprotein and beta-hCG which are usually elevated in germ cell tumor were not elevated. He was found to have a primary mediastinal embryonal carcinoma with pulmonary metastasis at open exploration. He was treated with debulking surgery and cisplatin-based chemotherapy, died of sepsis after 15 months postoperatively.
alpha-Fetoproteins ; Carcinoma, Embryonal* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Mediastinum* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal ; Sepsis

Conventional tests for the identification of mycobacteria may frequently result in erroneous identification and underestimate the diversity within the genus Mycobacterium. However, this problem can be overcome by molecular approach like as 16S rRNA gene (rDNA) or RNA polymerase gene (rpoB) sequence analysis. In this study, a molecular approach analyzing partial sequence of 16S rDNA and rpoB gene was applied to mycobacteria other than M tuberculosis (MOTT) isolates that had not been definitely identified by conventional physical and biochemical tests. Among the eighteen isolates included in this study, twelve isolates could be identified to the species level and six were identified to the complex level. Compared with the results by 16S rDNA analysis, the rpoB analysis could di6erentiate some of the strains into the subspecies level.
DNA, Ribosomal* ; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases ; Genes, rRNA ; Mycobacterium ; Sequence Analysis* ; Tuberculosis*