Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is known as the most sensitive marker for detecting prostate carcinoma (CaP). Nevertheless, PSA testing lacks sufficient sensitivity and specificity to be considered the perfect tumor marker for the detection of early prostate cancer. PSA exists in the serum in several molecular forms; free PSA and complexed PSA (PSA complexed to alpha-1-antichymotrypsin or a-2-macrogloburin or inter-alpha -trypsin inhibitor). It has been suggested that analysis of level of free to total PSA ratio improves specificily of PSA assays in the early detection of prostate carcinoma. We measured free PSA and total PSA of 367 healthy men aged from 30 to 79 years old using radioimmunoassay (PSA-RIACT and FPSA-RIACT kit) in order to know the normal range of PSA, free PSA and free PSA to total PSA ratio. The mean free to total PSA ratio in normal Korean men is 0.31+/-0.14 and there is no correlation with patient age.
Aged ; Humans ; Male ; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 ; Prostate ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Radioimmunoassay ; Reference Values ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Leiomyosarcoma of the prostate is a rare malignant tumor. It originates from the smooth muscles of the prostatic gland and is usually found during old ages. Prognosis is usually poor especially in childhood. We report a case of leiomyosarcoma of the prostate measured 320gm in 64 years old man.
Humans ; Leiomyosarcoma* ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Smooth ; Prognosis ; Prostate*

No abstract available.
Shock*

PURPOSE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of topiramate monotherapy in children with recent-onset seizures. METHODS: An open-label, randomized, parallel group trial compared the efficacy and tolerability of topiramate monotherapy versus oxcarbazepine monotherapy in 54 children with newly diagnosed epilepsy. RESULTS: Of the 54 patients treated with topiramate (N=25) or oxcarbazepine (N=29), 51 patients completed the full study period of 16 weeks. In topiramate group, 64% became seizure free, 20% demonstrated a greater than 50% degree in seizure frequency, and 4% got worsened in seizure frequency. In oxcarbazepine group, 59% became seizure free, 24% experienced a greater than 50% reduction in seizure frequency. The efficacy was not statistically different between the two groups. Adverse events were usually only mild to moderate and the tolerability of therapy was similar between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Topiramate monotherapy was highly effective in controlling seizures of children with newly diagnosed epilepsy (seizure free rate : 64%).
Child* ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Seizures*

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial factors exert a significant influence on primary headaches. However, little has been known about the agreement concerning the extent and nature of psychological processes on migraine and tension-type headache (TTH). METHODS: Fifty-five patients with primary headache were enrolled to participate in the study and 33 headache-free control subjects. A depression scale (BDI), an anxiety scale (STAI), a psychopathology scale (SCL-90-R), a stress coping scale (MCS), and a quality-of-life scale (WHOQOL-BREF) were administered to all the participants. RESULTS: The headache sufferers turned out to have various emotional problems, used more inefficient stress coping strategies and lead poor quality of life compared with those who had no headache. No distinctive psychological symptom was found between the two diagnosis groups, but the migraine group showed higher obsessive-compulsive symptoms than the TTH group, and the latter group showed higher levels of trait anxiety than the former. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the primary headache sufferers have various psychosocial problems. Accordingly, individual treatment approach focusing on the psychological symptoms is needed for the efficient management of headache.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Headache ; Humans ; Migraine Disorders* ; Psychology ; Psychopathology ; Quality of Life ; Tension-Type Headache*

PURPOSE: To analyze the clinical features of peripheral neuropathy in Korean children. METHODS: A total of 62 children with acute flaccid paralysis, longstanding weakness of extremities, or abnormal electrophysiological studies, suggestive of peripheral neuropathy, were evaluated retrospectively from the hospital records. The subjects were recruited at the pediatric neurology and endocrine clinic, Kyungpook National University Hospital from 2000 to 2002 and they all went through neurological examination and electrophysiological studies with or without nerve biopsy. RESULTS: Thirty nine children(Male 24:Female 15; Mean age 7.6+/-4.3 years) were found to have clinical peripheral neuropathy. Inflammatory neuropathy(5 children with Guillain Barre syndrome, 1 children with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, 12 children with Bell's palsy; 46%) was the most common, followed by hereditary neuropathy(4 children, 10%), Chemotherapy induced neuropathy(3 children, 8%), metachromatic leukodystrophy(2 children, 5%), trauma(2 children, 5%), diabetic neuropathy(1 children, 3%) and so on. Thirty two children had motor neuropathy(82%), six children had combined motor and sensory neuropathy(15%), two had pure sensory(5%), but nobody had autonomic neuropathy. With respect to the type of involvement, polyneuropathies constitute 59%(23 children), mononeuropathy simplex accounted for 38%(15 children), mononeuropathy multiplex was found in 3%(1 child). Based on electrophysiological studies and biopsy results, demyelinating neuropathy was seen in 22 children(56%), axonal neuropathy in 12 children(31%), combined neuropathy in 5 children(13%). Eighteen children(46%) were completely or almost completely recovered from the illness. CONCLUSION: Inflammatory neuropathy was the most common among the acquired neuropathies and hereditary motor sensory neuropathy was the most common among the genetic neuropathies. Treatable neuropathies took up 46%. Potentially preventable neuropathies accounted for 36%. Early diagnosis and early intervention may have significant impacts on the prognosis of peripheral neuropathy in children.
Axons ; Bell Palsy ; Biopsy ; Child* ; Drug Therapy ; Early Diagnosis ; Early Intervention (Education) ; Extremities ; Guillain-Barre Syndrome ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hospital Records ; Humans ; Mononeuropathies ; Neurologic Examination ; Neurology ; Paralysis ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases* ; Polyneuropathies ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of auditory brainstem response(ABR) as a screening tool in children with speech and language disorders. METHODS: Between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2001, 139 patients with chief complaints of speech and language delay were recruited from the pediatric neurology clinic, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea. They had ABR on entry and the clinical data were then analyzed. RESULTS: Fifteen out of 139 cases(10.8%) showed abnormal findings; seven had pervasive developmental disorders, four had developmental language disorders, and four were noted to have other conditions. Among them, seven cases were noted to have conductive hearing loss and eight had sensoryneuronal hearing loss. We also evaluated the normal values in children at the ages of 18 months to seven years. The mean latency of wave I and V were 1.40+/-0.13 and 5.57+/-0.26 respectively. Interpeak latency of I-V was 4.18+/-0.24. CONCLUSION: Based on these findings, ABR has proved to be a highly sensitive and specific index of hearing impairment. It should be used as a screening tool in children with speech and language disorders.
Brain Stem* ; Child ; Daegu ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Loss, Conductive ; Humans ; Korea ; Language Development Disorders ; Language Disorders ; Mass Screening ; Neurology ; Reference Values

PURPOSE: The study was aimed to investigate immunogenetic peculiarities of neuroinflammatory CNS diseases in Korean children. METHODS: A total of 16 children with neuroinflammatory CNS diseases(9 males and 7 females; mean age 7.5+/-4.2 years) were consecutively recruited. Genomic typings were performed on their HLA DRB/HLA DQB genes using PCR-SSOP/SSP techniques with Gel immunoelectrophoresis. RESULTS: The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*14(38%), HLA-DRB1*15(25%), HLA-DRB3* 02(50%), HLA-DQB1*05(56%) and DQB1*06(44%) were significantly increased compared with a control group. The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*15(50%) and HLA-DQB1*06(63%) were significantly increased in children with ADEM and HLA-DRB3*0202(100%), HLA- DRB1*1302(67%), HLA-DRB3*0301(67%), and HLA-DQB1*0301(67%) in children with multiple sclerosis. HLA-DRB1*1401, HLA-DRB3*0202, and HLA-DQB1*0502 were found in children with acute necrotizing encephalopathy. CONCLUSION:HLA-DRB1*14, HLA-DRB1*15, HLA-DRB3*02, HLA-DQB1*05 and DQB1*06 may be associated with the susceptibility to neuroinflammatory CNS diseases in Korean children. The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*1501, HLA-DRB5*0101, HLA-DRB3* 0301, and HLA-DQB1*0602 in Korean children with multiple sclerosis were not as high as those in western children. However, HLA-DRB3*0202 was seen in all the children with multiple sclerosis. Our data may provide further evidence that the immunogenetic backgrounds of neuroinflammatory CNS diseases in Korean children are distinctly different from those in Westerns. However, further studies are needed.
Central Nervous System Diseases* ; Child* ; Encephalomyelitis, Acute Disseminated ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoelectrophoresis ; Immunogenetics ; Male ; Molecular Typing* ; Multiple Sclerosis

Transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder in children and adolescents is extremely rare. In patients younger than 20, bladder cancer tends to express a well-differentiated histology and behave in a more indolent fashion. Younger patients appear to have a more favorable prognosis because they present more frequently with superficial and low-grade tumors, We report two cases of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder in patient younger than 20 years old.
Adolescent ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Child ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder* ; Young Adult*

NF-kappaB activation has been implicated as a key signaling mechanism for pancreatic beta-cell damage. Sulfuretin is one of the main flavonoids produced by Rhus verniciflua, which is reported to inhibit the inflammatory response by suppressing the NF-kappaB pathway. Therefore, we isolated sulfuretin from Rhus verniciflua and evaluated if sulfuretin could inhibit cytokine- or streptozotocin-induced beta-cell damage. Rat insulinoma RINm5F cells and isolated rat islets were treated with IL-1beta and IFN-gamma to induce cytotoxicity. Incubation of cells and islets with sulfuretin resulted in a significant reduction of cytokine-induced NF-kappaB activation and its downstream events, iNOS expression, and nitric oxide production. The cytotoxic effects of cytokines were completely abolished when cells or islets were pretreated with sulfuretin. The protective effect of sulfuretin was further demonstrated by normal insulin secretion of cytokine-treated islets in response to glucose. Treatment of mice with streptozotocin resulted in hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia, which was further evidenced by immunohistochemical staining of islets. However, the diabetogenic effects of streptozotocin were completely prevented when mice were pretreated with sulfuretin. The anti-diabetogenic effects of sulfuretin were also mediated by suppression of NF-kappaB activation. Collectively, these results indicate that sulfuretin may have therapeutic value in preventing beta-cell damage.
Animals ; Benzofurans/*pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Cell Line ; Cytokines/*adverse effects ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/drug therapy/*prevention & control ; Flavonoids/pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Hypoglycemic Agents/pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Insulin-Secreting Cells/*drug effects ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; NF-kappa B/*metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rhus/chemistry