December 19, 1995 is the 80th anniversary of Alois Alzheimer's death. Recently, dementing illness including Alzheimer's disease has become the center of public interest in Korea. However, there are not much information about him or historical background of Alzheimer's disease. It is even misunderstanding. It seems to be meaningful to introduce the lifetime of the Alois Alzheimer and the historical background of Alzheimer's disease, especially in the anniversary of his death.

Since Lebert stated, in 1851, that fibroblastic and sarcomatous tumors of the intracranial cavity had different survival times, many neuropathologists tried to set up histopathological grading system predicting the prognosis of the tumor of the nervous system. Especially, the histological assessment of the aggressiveness of meningiomas has not always been useful in conforming the biological characteristics of these tumors, and the definition of malignancy is still subject to controversy. However, metastases from meningioma to remote sites have always been considered rarities. The authors experienced a case of metastatic meningioma, hemangiopericytic type, with a history of recurrence. A forty years old male patient received a craniotomy to remove a mass in right parasagittal region, in June 1981. He had suffered from Jacksonian type of seizure started from left foot throuth leg, thigh, and arm to face. During operation, a well defined mass was noted in left parasagittal region with cleavage plane. The tumor was completely removed with cauterization of invasion site. In microscopic examination, the mass had typical findings of hemangiopericytic type of meningioma. In September 1987, he received a repeat operation to remove a recurred tumor mass in vertex, at age of forty-six. The removed tumor revealed same histologic features as those seen in primary tumor. In January 1990, at age of forty-nine, he noted pain and tenderness on the right iliac crest and the left iliac tuberosity, Plain pelvis AP x-ray ad Pelvis CT scan revealed osteolytic expansile mass lesions involving both iliac bones, the body of second sacral vertebra, and the right superior ramus of the pelvic bone. An open biopsy of the iliac bone was performed. The microscopic findings of the bone lesion were same as reccruent lesion of the brain.
Male ; Humans ; Biopsy ; Meningioma ; Neoplasm Metastasis

Ubiquitin-positive neuritic threads (UNTS) in the hippocampal CA 2-3 region are reported to occur exclusively in association with so-called diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD). hi order to assess the association between the occurrence of Lewy bodies (LBs) and that of the UNTs, an immunohistochemical study on the hippocampus including the parahippocampal gyrus with antiubiquitin antibody (Chemicon Co., California, U.S.A.) was perfon-ned in four groups of patient's brains. All brains were selected from the large pool of brains referred to the Neuropadiology Laboratory of the University of Minnesota for studies of Alzheimer's disease. Group 1 consisted of 34 cases (20 male and 14 female) with LBs widespread in the frontal and temporal cortex and the brain stem nuclei (basal nucleus, substantia nigra, locus ceruleus and dorsal vagal nucleus) associated with varying degrees of degeneration of the substantia nigra; 21 (11 male and 10 female) combined with and 13 (9 male and 4 female) without Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Group 2 included 12 cases (9 male and 3 female) in which LBs were observed only in the brain stem nuclei; 7 with and 4 without AD pathology. Group 3 consisted of 30 cases (9 male and 21 female) without LBs but with AD pathology and degeneration of the substantia nigra. Group 4 included 23 cases (11 male and 12 female) with neither LBs nor AD pathology but with degeneration of the substantia nigra. Ages of the patients varied among the groups. In the 46 cases in the first two groups with LBs. The mean age in the 28 cases with AD pathology was 77.3+/-8.9 and in the 18 cases without AD pathology it was 71.6+/-8.8 (P<0.05). In the 53 cases in groups 3 and 4 without LBs, which served as the controls, the mean ages were 80.8+/-7.7 and 74.0+/-9.7 respectively. UNTs were encountered in all (100%) of 34 cases of group I with widespread LBs which met the histological criteria of DLBD regardless of combined AD pathology. In 12 cases of group 2 with LBs confined to the brain stem, UNTs occurred in 3 (25%), 1 with and 2 without AD pathology. hi the group 3 cases with only AD pathology, UNTs occurred in 4 (13%) of 30 cases, while no UNTs were encountered in the 23 cases of group 4 without AD pathology or LBs. In conclusion, UNTs in the hippocampal CA 2-3 region occur invariably but not exclusively in association with widespread LBs, frequently when LBs are confined to the brain stem, and infrequently with AD pathology. It seems, therefore, that the UNTs are closely related to LBs and increase in ftequency as LBs spread beyond the brain stem with time, but the pathogenesis of the UNTs is little understood.
Female ; Male ; Humans

No abstract available.
Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic*

Agenesis of the dorsal pancreas is one of the rare congenital anomalies of the pancreas. Six cases of them have been reported. We have experienced an autopsy case of agenesis of the dorsal pancreas associated with fetal death in the uterus. Grossly, the body and tail of the pancreas and uncinate process were not found and those were partially replaced by adipose tissue. No abnormality was noted in the other organs. Microscopically, pancreatic tissue with autolytic change was identified only in the head portion of the pancreas.

The trichofolliculoma is a rare tumor of the hair follicle occuring most often on the head and neck. We have experienced a case of 24-year-old female who had a small, dome-shaped, tan brown firm nodule on the nose. Under the clinical impression of a granuloma, an excisional biopsy of the nodule was done. Microscopically the lesion was composed of a large central cystic hair follicle with many srhall but well differenciated secondary hair follicles branching from the wall. Well developed secondary hair follicles were often grouped and were surrounded by a prominent stroma.
Female ; Humans ; Biopsy

For the prevention and treatment of the disease, a variety of plants and materials from plants have been used throughout history in the countries over the world. People have a preconceived idea that the medicinal herb is a panacea with a wide safety margin. It seems to be generous to apply traditional medicine to treat patients in most countries, because it has been used for a long time. However, some serious circumstances have been reported after using herbs. Chinese herb nephropathy is well-known toxicity of the medicinal herb. Of course, it is not easy to clarify the causal relation between the herbs and side effect of them. There also has been many problems using medicinal herbs in Korea. Even though the most important thing is the toxicity of the medicinal herbs, only sporadic cases have been reported. No significant cumulative data have been produced until this time. The cause of the side-effect includes toxicities of herb itself and metabolites of herbs, contaminants such as residual pesticides, heavy metals, and adulterated toxic substances etc. To keep the public health in using medicinal herbs, it is very important to establish a system to control the medicinal herbs, including standardization of medicinal herb in producing and distribution, and a system to monitor developing toxicity of the medicinal herbs. For the consistency of the result of monitoring, we can find a way to study the efficacy of the medicinal herbs, and suggest a guideline for using medicinal herbs safely.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Korea ; Medicine, Traditional ; Metals, Heavy ; Pesticides ; Plants, Medicinal* ; Public Health

Hemangioma of the kidney is a relatively uncommon tumor, which is most commonly located in the tip of the papilla. This lesion is usually small and has been found incidentally at postmorten examination. About 200 cases of renal hemangioma have been reported since Virchow's original report in 1876. In renal hemangioma, cavernous hemangioma is the most common type. They can create diagnostic problem for the clinician and the radiologist. We experienced a case of renal cavernous hemangioma in the medulla of the upper pole. The patient was a twenty-seven-year-old male who had gross hematuria and right flank pain. A nephrectomy was performed. An ill-defined mass, 4.5x3.0x1.5 cm, was observed around the pelvis. Microscopically, the tumor mass was hemangioma of the cavernous type.
Male ; Humans ; Hemangioma

Neurosarcoidosis without systemic manifestation is vary unusual condition. Solitary lesion in the spinal dura is exceptional. The diagnosis of the neurosarcoidosis is very difficult, because the efficacy of Kveim test is low in neurosarcoidosis. The histologic examination is considered as confirmative diagnostic tool. The authors reported a case of neurosarcoidosis involving the dura of the cervical spine, in a fifty-nine year old female who had suffered from mid-back pain for six months and paraparesis for two weeks. There was a dumbbell shaped mass in the D4-5 dura. It showed tan gray color with rubbery consistency. With histological examination, it revealed diffuse non-caseating granuloma. Occasionally asteroid bodies were observed within the cytoplasm of the multinucleated giant cells. After operation, she was treated with steroid, and she has been well about nine month period.
Female ; Humans

Though the primary carcinoma of the vermiform appendix is rare, the secondary carcinoma of the vermiform appendix is extremely rare. About fourty cases have been reported through the world. The breast is most common primary site, and adenocarcinoma is most common form. The metastatic carcinoma of the vermiform appendix, from squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix, were extremely rare. The authors experienced a case of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the vermiform appendix, in thirty-two years old housewife. She was diagnosed with carcinoma of the uterine cervix on December, 1983, and treated with a radical hysterectomy on February, 1984, at Chicago, and with a radiation therapy. She had been suffered from palpable masses on left axilla and left neck region, and and coughing and chest pain. After an excision biopsy, on August, 1984, she showed intestinal obstruction sign including abdominal distension with abdominal pain. A right-sided hemicolectomy was performed on November, 1984. During gross examination, the wall of the distal portion of the vermiform appendix was moderatery thickened, and showed homogeneous light yellow cut surface. On microscopic examination, there were clusters of tumors that had negative stained preparations. On electron microscopic examination, the secretory granules were not found, and the characteristics of squamous cells, including intercellular spaces, desmosomes and tonofibrils, were noted.
Adenocarcinoma ; Neoplasm Metastasis