A case of acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis (Sweet's syndrome) characterized by tender erythematous plaques on the face, neck, and limbs was reported. This 43-year-old male patient has been suffering from fever and sore throat prior to development of skin lesions. Positive laboratory findings were polymorphonuclear leukocytosis and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The symptoms well responded to corticosteroid therapy.
Adult ; Blood Sedimentation ; Extremities ; Fever ; Humans ; Leukocytosis ; Male ; Neck ; Pharyngitis ; Skin ; Sweet Syndrome*

The purpose of this study was to investigate the morphologic changes of the bile canaliculi and its associated structures of the liver induced by common bile duct ligation(CBDL) in the rat. The canalicular surface and lateral surface of the dry-fractured hepatocytes was studied with scanning electron microscopy at 1~6 weeks post ligation. The first week after CBDL, the bile canaliculi were dilated. The microvilli were increased in number and the lumens contained granular materials After 2 weeks or more, the bile canaliculi were dilated to a variable degree, and with irregularity, measuring from 1.5 to 5 micrometer in diameter, and in the advanced stage, the canaliculi showed blunting and the disappearance of microvilli. Some canaliculi had sprouting side branches. At 4~6 weeks post-ligation, the lateral surface of the hepatocytes also showed some irregularity and a tortuous appearance, and numerous small sized microvillous projections were formed. The tubular structures of the proliferated SER distributed adjacent to the lateral surface of the hepatocytes, and the direct connection of a tubular structure and the cytoplasmic membrane was observed. These results suggest that the deformity and loss of microvilli of bile canaliculi reflect the disturbance of bile secretion from the hepatocytes. And prolonged obstruction of bile flow may result in bile excretion via the lateral surface of hepatocytes.
Rats ; Animals

No abstract available.
Diagnosis* ; Hemoglobinuria*

We report a case of primary cardiac angiosarcoma in a 35 year-old woman. She presented with dyspnea, facial edema and neck vein distension during 1 month. The oval round large mass(8x4 cm) filling the right atrium infiltrated into the entire thickness of the lateral wall and extended to the vena cava and ventricle. The interatrial septum and pericardium seemed to be intact. Despite the surgical excision and adjuvant chemo-and radiotherapy, the patient died 8 months later due to tumor recurrence. The histologic findings of tumor varied from benign looking capillary proliferation mimicking granulation tissue to sarcoma composed of spindle cells. But anastomosing vascular channels lined by anaplastic polygonal cells and intracytoplasmic lumen containing red blood cells were characteristic findings. These tumor cells showed positive reaction to endothelial cell antigen and factor VIII-related antigen. The intercellular junctional complex and vascular channels formed by cytoplasmic process of tumor cells were identified by the ultrastructural study.
Female ; Humans

No abstract available.
Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive*

Microcystic meningioma is a rare variant of meningiomas. This unusual variant was originally described by Masson, who labeled it "humid". The computed tomographic scan or magnetic resonance images of these tumors resemble those of a glial or metastatic tumor with cystic or necrotic changes. There is no definitive method for differentiating cystic meningiomas from these more common tumors. But immunohistochemically, they share a similar pattern of positive staining for epithelial membrane antigen and vimentin with other meningiomas. Our case was a 34-year-old woman with a tumor mass on the right frontal area. She was admitted to hospital because of generalized tonic seizure. Grossly all of the tumor could be removed, and histopathologically this tumor was revealed to be a microcystic meningioma.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Meningioma* ; Mucin-1 ; Seizures ; Vimentin

Radilogy plays an important role in evaluating patients with suspected adrenal gland pathology. Morphologicdelineation of adrenal gland is especially valuable in patients with clinical and/or biochemical evidence of adisturbance in adrenal function. Many diagnostic radiologic methods are avilable for demonstrating adrenallesions. CT overcomes many of the disadvantages of these other radiologic techniques. The high degree of spatialand density resolution allows precise demonstration of the normal adrenal glands as well as detection of bothsmall and large tumors in almost all patients. So CT of adrenal gland is an excellet nonivasive screening methodand definitive imaging technique. The authers have investigated the capability of CT to image the nomral size,location and shape of both glands. Knowledge of the range of normal is useful for optimal interpretation of CTscans in patients with suspected aderenal pathology. We reviewed CT scan of 150 cases without evidence of adrenaldisease. The following results were obtained: 1. There were 90 male and 60 female patients. 2. Their ages rangedfrom 20 to 60 years. 3. On CT, both gland were shown in 135 (90.0%), the right in 143(95.3%), the left in142(94.6%). 4. In the shape of adrenal glands, most of right adrenal gland was linear or comet shaped; 68(47.6%),most of left adrenal gland was inverted-Y shaped: 103(72.6%). 5. In the length of adrenal glands, theright was2.5+-0.77cm, the left was 2.9+-0.75cm. 6. In the width of adrenal glands, the right was 3.2+-0.74cm, the left was2.7+-0.57cm. 7. In the thickness of adrenal glands, the right was 0.5+-0.14cm, the left was 0.6+-0.16cm.
Adrenal Glands ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Pathology ; Pheniramine ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) was first described by Finney as postoperative diphtheritic enteritis in 1893 and was known to be associated with antibiotics by Reiner et al in 1952. Most cases of antibiotic-associated PMC are now associated with cytotoxigenic C. difficile. The association of PMC several antibiotics is well docamented; however, its association with clindamycin appeared to be most striking. We experienced a male patient who developed tarry stool, abdominal pain and diarrhea after having recieved clindamycin for two weeks. The PMC diagnosed by colonofiberscopy with biopsy and C. difficile was identified by tissue-culture study. The patient was treated by oral vancomycin and healed. Described here a case of PMC with some review of literature.
Abdominal Pain ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Biopsy ; Clindamycin ; Clostridium difficile* ; Clostridium* ; Diarrhea ; Enteritis ; Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous* ; Humans ; Male ; Strikes, Employee ; Vancomycin

Ceramides are the main lipid component maintaining the lamellae structure of stratum corneum, as well as lipid second messengers for the regulation of cellular proliferation and/or apoptosis. In our previous study, psoriatic skin lesions showed marked decreased levels of ceramides and signaling molecules, specially protein kinase C-alpha (PKC-alpha) and c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in proportion to the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) scores, which suggested that the depletion of ceramide is responsible for epidermal hyperproliferation of psoriasis via downregulation of proapoptotic signal cascade such as PKC-alpha and JNK. In this study, we investigated the protein expression of serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) and ceramidase, two major ceramide metabolizing enzymes, in both psoriatic epidermis and non-lesional epidermis. The expression of SPT, the ceramide generating enzyme in the de novo synthesis in psoriatic epidermis, was significantly less than that of the non-lesional epidermis, which was inversely correlated with PASI score. However, the expression of ceramidase, the degradative enzyme of ceramides, showed no significant difference between the lesional epidermis and the non-lesional epidermis of psoriatic patients. This might suggest that decreased expression of SPT protein is one of the important causative factors for decreased ceramide levels in psoriasis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Amidohydrolases/*biosynthesis/metabolism ; Apoptosis ; Cell Proliferation ; Ceramidases ; Ceramides/chemistry ; Child ; Epidermis/metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/metabolism ; Male ; Models, Biological ; Protein Kinase C-alpha/metabolism ; Psoriasis/*blood/diagnosis ; Serine C-Palmitoyltransferase/*biosynthesis

Disseminated Fusarium infection has rarely been encountered in neutropenic cancer patients. The clinical features include fever, positive blood cultures, severe myalgias, disseminated ecthyma gangrenosum-like skin lesions, ocular symptoms and multi-organ-system involvement. The mortality rate reported so far exceeded 70% despite antifungal treatments. We report here the first two cases of disseminated fusarial infections in Korea. The first patient contracted pneumonia during severe neutropenic period following consolidation chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia(AML). Fusarium oxyshrum was cultured from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. The patient remains free of fungemia after successful antifungal treatment of high-dose amphotericin B and terbinafine. The second patient had relapsed AML and suffered from disseminated fusarial infection involving lungs with characteristic skin lesions. The patient succumbed to refractory leukemia and the fungal infection. A brief review of the literature ensues with the case report.
Amphotericin B ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; Child* ; Consolidation Chemotherapy ; Ecthyma ; Fever ; Fungemia ; Fusariosis ; Fusarium ; Humans ; Korea ; Leukemia* ; Lung ; Mortality ; Myalgia ; Pneumonia ; Skin