No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Recently new tumor marker, MG7-Ag has been introduced for screening of gastric cancer. In this study MG7-Ag and CEA in sera of 50 normal healthy Koreans and 48 patients with gastric cancer group were determined to elucidate the clinical usefulness for gastric cancer screening. Commercial Enzyme Immuno Assay kits were used for analysis of above two markers. Sensitivity of MG7-Ag and CEA in patient group were found to be 43.8% and 41.7%, respectively. When the two markers were used combind, sensitivity increased to 62.5%. The concentration of MG7-Ag in patients (9.2+11.7 U/mL) was five times higher than normal control group (1.81+1.63 U/mL). CEA was 31.2+46.5 ng/mL in patients and 2.24+0.98 ng/mL (MeanSD) in normal control group. From this results, combination assay of MG7-Ag and CEA is more useful in clinical laboratories for screening gastric cancer than using one marker.
Humans ; Mass Screening ; Stomach Neoplasms*

Tumors of umbilical cord, especially angiomyxoma, are extremely rare lesions. To our knowledge, five cases of angiomyxoma have been reported previously in the umbilical cord. Sonography two weeks after the finding of an elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein, detected a mass of the umbilical cord in a 27-year-old multiparous woman at 18(+3) weeks gestation. Previous sonogram was normal (11 weeks gestational age). At 26 weeks, a premature female infant was delivered by induction and a mass was located in the region of placental insertion of the cord. Section through the mass revealed rubbery myxoid appearance. Microcopically, numerous small vascular channels with thin walls were embedded in loose myxoid matrix. A case of angiomyxoma of umbilical cord with elevation of serum alpha-fetoprotein is presented together with a review of the literature. We hope that this case will help define the natural history of primary angiomyxoma of umbilical cord.
Infant ; Male ; Female ; Humans

Recently the alanine/valine (A/V) polymorphism of the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene, one of the key enzymes catalyzing remethylation of homocysteine, has been reported to its association with coronary artery disease. lhe homozygous of C677T mutation (VV genotype) correlates with increased plasma homocysteine levels as a result of the reduced activity and increased thermolability of MTHFR. We investigated whether this rnutation and homocysteine influence risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) in normal control subjects and CAD patients and two risk groups, A (>2 risk factors) and B (<1 risk factor). The MTHFR genotype and plasma homocysteine were determined by PCR followed by HinA digestion and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system, respectively. From this study, statistical significance of V mutation of MTHFR between four groups was not found. Homocysteine level was the highest in CAD patients and the lowest in risk group B. Plasma homocysteine level in VV genotype of CAD patients was significantly higher than in other two genotypes and normal control subjects. We concluded that homozygisty for the C677T mutation of MTHFR was not an independent risk factor of CAD but associated with a prediposition to increased plasma homocysteine levels in CAD patients.
Chromatography, Liquid ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Digestion ; Genotype ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Oxidoreductases ; Plasma ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Risk Factors ; Statistics as Topic

No abstract available.
Hepatitis E virus* ; Hepatitis E* ; Hepatitis* ; Korea*

Hypervariable tandem repetitive regions in human DNA are proving to be increasingly useful for genetic analysis in humans. We chose four single locus probes (SLP; MS1, MS43, MS8 and g3) for a validation test among Koreans. The specimens were from 216 unrelated individuals and 33 paternity inclusion families. Extracted DNA from EDTA blood was restricted by Hinfl and electrophoresed in 0.7% agarose gel, transferred and hybridized with chemiluminescent probes. Heterozygosity was over 90% by all of the probes. Total numbers of unassignable mutant bands from 33 paternity inclusion cases were 5, and the highest mutation rate was determined in probe MS1(0.045). The probability of having the same DNA band between two unrelated individuals was 5.7 x 10(-10) when four SLPs were used at the same time. The data presented here on allele frequencies and mutation rates provide preliminary data supporting the validity of these probes in paternity analysis and forensic investigators in the Korean population.
Alleles ; Chromosome Mapping ; DNA, Satellite/*genetics ; Female ; Heterozygote ; Human ; Male ; Mutation ; Myoglobin/*genetics ; *Paternity ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Primary Sjogren syndrome, which involves lesions in both the brain and spinal cord, is rarely reported. Related symptoms, such as intractable pain due to central nervous system involvement, are very rare. A 73-year-old woman diagnosed with primary Sjogren syndrome manifested with subacute encephalopathy and extensive transverse myelitis. She complained of severe whole body neuropathic pain. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a non-enhancing ill-defined high intensity signal involving the posterior limb of the both internal capsule and right thalamus on a T2 fluid-attenuated inversion recovery image. Additionally, multifocal intramedullary ill-defined contrast-enhancing lesion with cord swelling from the C-spine to L-spine was also visible on the T2-weighted image. Her intractable pain remarkably improved after administration of concomitant oral doses of gabapentin, venlafaxine, and carbamazepine.
Aged ; Brain* ; Carbamazepine ; Central Nervous System ; Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; Internal Capsule ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Myelitis, Transverse ; Neuralgia ; Pain, Intractable* ; Sjogren's Syndrome* ; Spinal Cord* ; Thalamus ; Venlafaxine Hydrochloride

PURPOSE: Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on uncultured amniotic fluid cells offers the opportunity for rapid screening of aneuploidies and has become an integral part of the current practice in many clinical cytogenetics laboratories. Here, we retrospectively analyzed the results of interphase FISH in 943 amniotic fluid samples and assessed the efficiency of FISH for rapid detection of aneuploidies. METHODS: Interphase FISH for chromosome 13, 18, and 21 was performed in 943 consecutive amniotic fluid samples for rapid diagnosis of aneuploidies referred from 2004 to 2006. Karyotypes from standard cytogenetic analysis were compared to the FISH results. RESULTS: A total of 45 chromosomal rearrangements (4.8%) were found after conventional cytogenetic analysis of the 943 amniotic fluid. After exclusion of known familiar chromosomal rearrangements and inversions (2.1%, 20/943), 2.7% (25/943) were found to have chromosomal abnormalities. Of this group, 0.7% (6/943) were chromosomal abnormalities not detectable by FISH and 2.0% (19/943) were numerical abnormalities detectable by FISH. All 14 cases of Down syndrome (Classic type, 13 cases; Robertsonian type, 1 case) and 5 cases of trisomy 18 were diagnosed and detected by FISH and there were no false-positive or -negative results (specificity and sensitivity=100%). CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates that FISH can provide a rapid and sensitive clinical method for prenatal identification of chromosome aneuploidies. However, careful genetic counseling is essential to explain the limitations of FISH, including the inability to detect all chromosomal abnormalities and the possibilities of uninformative or false-negative results in some cases.
Amniocentesis ; Amniotic Fluid ; Aneuploidy ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 13 ; Cytogenetic Analysis ; Cytogenetics ; Down Syndrome ; Female ; Fluorescence ; Genetic Counseling ; In Situ Hybridization ; Interphase ; Karyotype ; Mass Screening ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Trisomy