No abstract available.
Dermatitis, Atopic ; Pyroglyphidae

PURPOSE: Regional lymph node (LN) metastases are detected in 57-85% of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and are associated with increased tumor recurrence. However, the management of lymphatic disease in patients with PTC has been ongoing source of debate. We have prospectively assessed the usefulness and accuracy of sentinel LN (SLN) biopsy for the detection of LN metastases in patients with PTC on preoperative imaging using single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) and 99mTc phytate. METHODS: We prospectively assessed 39 patients with PTC who had risk factors for recurrence or with the necessity of intraoperative LN sampling for suspicious LN metastases on preoperative imaging from August 2010 to March 2011. The patients underwent preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and SPETC/CT and intraoperative SLN biopsy (SLNB). RESULTS: 99mTc lymphoscintigraphy and SPECT/CT localized SLN in 38 patients (97.4%), with the gamma probe identifying 2.15 mean SLNs in the lateral neck of the 39 patients. Skip metastasis was found in one patient, and lateral compartment LN metastasis in 17 (43.5%). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of SLNB for lateral compartment LN metastasis were 88.2%, 100%, and 94.8%, respectively. SLNB was more accurate and useful for lateral than for central compartment LN metastasis. CONCLUSION: SPECT/CT improved SLN detection and anatomical localization compared with lymphoscintigraphy. SLNB in patients with risk factors for recurrence or the necessity of intraoperative LN sampling for suspected LN metastases on preoperative imaging was accurate in detecting LN metastases and may help in deciding whether to perform lateral compartment dissection in patients with PTC.
Biopsy ; Carcinoma ; Factor IX ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Lymphoscintigraphy ; Neck ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nitriles ; Phytic Acid ; Prospective Studies ; Pyrethrins ; Recurrence ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: Various endoscopic thyroidectomy procedures have been designed to minimize visible cervical scarring. However, endoscopic thyroidectomy is a technically challenging procedure that is performed by a limited surgeon. Robotic systems aida surgeon in performing minimally invasive head and neck surgery by offering superior visualization and dexterity. This study reports the initial experience of one surgeon with robotic thyroidectomy to assess the technical feasibility and safety of the approach. METHODS: One hundred four thyroid cancer patients (97 females, 7 males; mean age of 39.8±8.1 years) underwent robotic thyroidectomy using gasless transaxillary approach between November 2008 and October 2009 in Ajou University Hospital. All the procedures were completed successfully using the da Vinci surgical system without open conversion. Patient characteristics, postoperative clinical results, complications, and pathologic details were assessed. RESULTS: Total thyroidectomy was performed in 25 (24.0%) patients, subtotal thyroidectomy in 13 (12.5%) patients, and unilateral lobectomy in 66 (63.5%) patients. All patients underwent ipsilateral central compartment neck dissection, and two patients underwent selective lymph node (LN) dissection. The mean operation time was 134.5±47.2 min (range 61~310 min), in which the actual time for the thyroidectomy with lymphadenectomy (console time) was 56.4 min. (range 31~270). The mean number of LN resected was 3.9 (range 0~28). There were no serious complications. The mean hospital stay was 2.9±0.9 days (range 2~7). CONCLUSION: Robotic thyroidectomy is a feasible, safe, and cosmetically excellent procedure. The application of robotic technology for thyroid surgeries could be an alternative to endoscopic or conventional open thyroidectomy.
Cicatrix ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Neck ; Neck Dissection ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroidectomy*

PURPOSE: Gallbladder carcinoma is the most common malignancy of the biliary tract in Koreans. However the exact histopathological characteristics and its carcinogenesis are not well understood. Fascin is an actin bundling protein, and it induces membrane protrusions and increased cell motility in various transformed cells. The expression of fascin is known to be greatly increased in various human neoplasms, but its expression in gallbladder carcinoma is unknown. METHODS: A total 110 cases of gallbladder carcinoma, six cases of carcinoma in situ and 10 cases of chronic cholecystitis were immunohistochemically studied to evaluate the expression of fascin in the light of its relationship with various prognostic factors. RESULTS: Seventy eight gallbladder carcinomas (70.9%) showed positive staining for fascin, but none of the chronic cholecystitis and carcinoma in situ was positive. Fascin was strongly stained in the cytoplasm of the cancer cells. The adjacent normal mucosa was negative for fascin staining. There was a significant correlation between lymph node metastasis (P=0.039) and the presence of residual tumor (P=0.016) but there was no significant correlation between age, gender, tumor invasion, histologic difference, neural invasion, lymphatic invasion, stage and recurrence. The 5-year overall survival rate of the fascin positive and negative groups were 48.5% and 53.8%, respectively (P=0.236). On the multivariate analysis, a fascin expression was not significant. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that a fascin expression is strongly associated with neoplastic progression in gallbladder carcinomas and fascin positive gallbladder carcinomas show more aggressive behavior.
Actins ; Biliary Tract ; Carcinoma in Situ ; Carrier Proteins ; Cell Movement ; Cholecystitis ; Cytoplasm ; Gallbladder ; Humans ; Light ; Lymph Nodes ; Membranes ; Microfilament Proteins ; Mucous Membrane ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate

The plasmepsins are the aspartic proteases of malaria parasites. Treatment of aspartic protease inhibitor inhibits hemoglobin hydrolysis and blocks the parasite development in vitro suggesting that these proteases might be exploited their potentials as antimalarial drug targets. In this study, we determined the genetic variations of the aspartic proteases of Plasmodium vivax (PvPMs) of wild isolates. Two plasmepsins (PvPM4 and PvPM5) were cloned and sequenced from 20 P. vivax Korean isolates and two imported isolates. The sequences of the enzymes were highly conserved except a small number of amino acid substitutions did not modify key residues for the function or the structure of the enzymes. The high sequence conservations between the plasmepsins from the isolates support the notion that the enzymes could be reliable targets for new antimalarial chemotherapeutics.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Aspartic Endopeptidases/*genetics ; Base Sequence ; Cloning, Molecular ; Conserved Sequence ; DNA, Protozoan/chemistry/genetics ; Human ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Plasmodium vivax/*enzymology/genetics/isolation & purification ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Alignment ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PURPOSE: No tumor-specific markers for gastric cancer are currently known, although various tumor markers have been utilized. CEA, CA19-9 and AFP are the most commonly used tumor markers for gastric cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic significance of the preoperative CEA, CA19-9 and AFP levels in patients with gastric cancer. METHODS: A total of 366 patients who underwent curative surgery for gastric cancer were analyzed. The clinicopathologic characteristics and disease-free survival rate of the patients were compared between the positive and negative CEA, CA19-9 and AFP groups of patients, respectively. Also, the prognostic significance of each tumor marker was assessed by multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The CEA, CA19-9 and AFP levels were elevated in 14.2%, 7.9% and 19.1% of the patients, respectively. Serosal invasion and advanced cancer were more frequently found in the groups of patients who were positive for CEA and CA19-9 (P<0.05). More lymph node metastasis and an advanced tumor stage were found in the group of patients who were positive for CA19-9 (P<0.05). On univariate analysis, the disease-free survival rate was significantly lower in the CA19-9 positive group (P<0.05). Serosal invasion and lymph node metastasis were the only significant prognostic factors on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: CEA, CA19-9 and AFP have proved unhelpful for the early detection of gastric cancer due to the low positive rate. CEA and AFP have no prognostic significance and only CA19-9 can be useful for estimating the severity of gastric cancer and as a limited prognostic factor for gastric cancer patients.
Biomarkers, Tumor ; Disease-Free Survival ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Stomach Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Adenoviruses (Ads) are a worldwide cause of endemic and epidemic respiratory infections, particularly in children, young adults and immunocompromised patients. They are responsible for 5% of the acute respiratory infections in children under the age of 4 years and account for about 10% of all cases of childhood requiring hospitalization in this age group. In this study, we report the characteristics of adenoviruses isolated from children with respiratory illness in Busan, 1999~2000. METHODS: A total of 765 children with acute respiratory illness from ten local clinics were studied. Isolation of Ads was performed by inoculating throat swab from patients into Hep-2 cells. The virus propagation was confirmed by the presence of cytopathic effect and adenoviruis specific PCR. Typing of isolated viruses was determined by sequencing analysis of hexon gene. RESULTS: Ads were isolated from throat swab of 17 (2.2%) out of 765 children. The epidemic of Ads infection was concentrated on winter months (December, January, and February). Seventeen Ad isolates showed four serotypes, with Ad3 being the most frequent strain. The distribution of Ads serotypes were eleven (64.7%) Ad3 strains, three (17.6%) Ad5 strains, two (11.8%) Ad2 srtains, and one (5.9%) Ad1 strain. CONCLUSION: Acute respiratory infections by adenoviruses in children were occurred particularly in winter season in Busan. More extended and systematic surveillance of adenovirus infection among populations is required to elucidate the extent of epidemic and disease burden of adenovirus infection.
Adenoviridae Infections ; Adenoviridae* ; Busan* ; Child* ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Pharynx ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Seasons ; Young Adult

The ultimate goal of periodontal therapy is directed to arresting the progression of the disease, and regenerating the fibrous attachment. In order to achieve such treatment aim, the plaque and calculus must be eliminated and the physiological conditions of the root surface must be changed to facilitate the attachment and migration of the new fibroblasts, The method of changing the proper root surface conditions to promote the healing of periodontal tissue involves mechanical procedures, such as scaling and root planing, and chemical procedures such as tetracycline-HCl. However, the formation of a long junctional epithelium was most frequently observed type of healing. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine in vitro the influence of surface conditioning of dentin by TC-HCl on human gingival epithelial cell attachment. Human gingival epithelial cells were obtained from healthy retromolar pad area(under the age 23 years). Seventy two teeth extracted from severe periodontitis were used as study material. To evaluate the epithelial cell attachment to dentin, the prepared specimen was divided to four groups. For the control group, only scaling and root planing were carried out, and for the test group, 1 to 3, the concentration of the TC-HCl was 50, 125 and 250mg/ml, respectively. After cell cultivation time of 1-, 3-. 24 hour, for the indirect quantitative assessment of gingival epithelial cell attached to dentin sample, the absorbance of epithelial cell unattached to dentin was measured. The results were as follows; 1. There was no statistically significant difference between scaling and root planing group and TC-HCl 50mg/ ml, 125mg/ml and 250mg/ml group about absorbance of unattached epithelial cell to dentin sample(p>0.5). 2. As time passes, the absorbance of unattached gingival epithelial cell to dentin sample was decreased statistically significant(p<0.05). 3. There was no statistically significant difference among the TC-HCl group(p>0.05) We concluded that there was similar effect on gingival epithelial cell attachment between TC-HCl conditioning on root surface and only scaling and root planing treatment
Calculi ; Dentin ; Epithelial Attachment ; Epithelial Cells* ; Fibroblasts ; Humans ; Periodontitis ; Root Planing ; Tooth

Following acute myocardial infarction (AMI), early use of beta-blockers (BBs) reduced the incidences of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) and death in the pre reperfusion era.However, some studies have reported a worsening of clinical outcomes and therefore, this study used a porcine model of AMI to evaluate the efficacy of bisoprolol on VAs and mortality. Twenty pigs were divided into two groups with one group using oral bisoprolol which was given for 3 hours before the experiment and then maintained for 7 days. A loop recorder was implanted, AMI was induced by balloon occlusion for 60 min, and then, reperfusion. One week later, the echocardiography and loop recorder data were analyzed in the surviving animals. Bisoprolol did not increase the heart rate (62.9±14.5 vs 79.0±20.3; p=0.048), lower the rate of premature ventricular contractions (PVC) (0.8±0.8 vs 11.0±12.8; p=0.021) or tend to lower recurrent VA (0.6±0.5 vs 1.1±1.1;p=0.131) during coronary artery occlusion. After reperfusion, bisoprolol did reduce VA in the early AMI period (0.1±0.3 vs 4.2±4.6; p=0.001) and it was not associated with the extent of myocardial recovery. In this porcine model, early oral bisoprolol might help reduce the incidences of PVC and recurrent VA and determine whether effects are more pronounced during the early AMI period. Our results suggest that bisoprolol might help reduce lethal VA and cardiac death following AMI in this reperfusion era.

Plasmodium vivax is more challenging to control and eliminate than P. falciparum due to its more asymptomatic infections with low parasite densities making diagnosis more difficult, in addition to its unique biological characteristics. The potential re-introduction of incidence cases, either through borders or via human migrations, is another major hurdle to sustained control and elimination. The Republic of Korea has experienced re-emergence of vivax malaria in 1993 but is one of the 32 malaria-eliminating countries to-date. Despite achieving successful nationwide control and elimination of vivax malaria, the evolutionary characteristics of vivax malaria isolates in the Republic of Korea have not been fully understood. In this review, we present an overview of the genetic variability of such isolates to increase understanding of the epidemiology, diversity, and dynamics of vivax populations in the Republic of Korea.
Asymptomatic Infections ; Diagnosis ; Epidemiology ; Genetic Variation ; Human Migration ; Incidence ; Korea ; Malaria ; Malaria, Vivax ; Parasites ; Plasmodium vivax ; Plasmodium ; Population Characteristics ; Republic of Korea