No abstract available.
Animals ; Rats* ; Transplants* ; Veins*

No abstract available.
Hyperbaric Oxygenation* ; Skin* ; Transplants*

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is defined as a syndrome of cardiac failure occurring in tbe latter part of pregnancy or in the puerperium, without obvious cause and without prior evidence of heart disease. Despite its infrequency, this clinical problem may have devastating consequences upon maternal and fetal outcome. It is important to recognize the association of cardiac failure and pregnancy as a separate syndrome so that, once identified, peripartum cardiomyopathy can be treated promptly and aggressively. We experienced two cases of peripartum cardiomyopathy, and report these cases with a brief review of the literatures.
Cardiomyopathies* ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Failure ; Peripartum Period* ; Postpartum Period ; Pregnancy

Synovial sarcoma most commonly affects the extremities, especially the lower thigh and knee region. However, a smaller number develops in a central or axial distribution, an area which encompasses the trunk, orofacial, cervical and parapharyngeal regions. The retroperitoneum is an extremely unusual site and has never been recorded in the literature as primary a site for synovial sarcoma. We investigated a case of retroperitoneal synovial sarcoma in a 40-year-old woman. The specimen consisted of fragmented large bulky multinodular masses separated by slit-like spaces. The tumor was 130 gm in weight. Microscopically, the tumor was composed of nests of plump ovoid to polygonal shaped cells and bundles of spindle shaped cells, which had vesicular nuclei and a small amount of cytoplasm. In some areas, there were cleft like spaces and pseudoglandular structures lined by flat or cuboidal cells. Myxoid change, collagen deposition, foci of calcification and osseous metaplasia were also present. Immunohistochemically, the polygonal cells and some of the spindle cells reacted positively for keratin. The spindle cells, especially in the perivascular area were positive for vimentin. S-100 protein and GFAP were negative in both type of cells.
Female ; Humans

Pulmonary tumors exhibiting neuroendocrine differentiation are classified as typical carcinoid, atypical carcinoid, and small cell lung carcinoma(SCLC). Travis et al. proposed a fourth category of large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, which is characterized by light microscopic neuroendocrine appearance, cells of large size, polygonal shape, low nuclear cytoplasmic ratio, coarse nuclear chromatin, with prominent nucleoli high mitotic rate and frequent necrosis; and neuroendocrine features by immunohistochemistry or electron microscopy. High grade neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCAC-NE) revealed aggressive clinical course. We report two cases of neuroendocrine tumors of the lung characterized by a trabecular pattern of large pleomorphic cells with frequent mitoses and wide necrosis. The frequent metastatic sites of atypical carcinoid were liver, bone and brain. One of our case is presented, at first, as an ovarian mass, which shows multifocal rosettes and revealed metastasis from lung. Both cases expressed neuroendocrine differentiation by light microscopy and immunohistochemistry. However clinical neuroendocrine symptom were not present.
Brain ; Carcinoid Tumor ; Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine* ; Chromatin ; Cytoplasm ; Female ; Immunohistochemistry ; Liver ; Lung* ; Microscopy ; Microscopy, Electron ; Mitosis ; Necrosis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Ovary

A case of primary gastric carcinoma with patterns resembling those of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is reproted. This patient who represented high serum alpha-fetoprotein(AFP) underwent a subtotal gastrectomy for stomach cancer and lobectomy of liver metastasis. The hepatoid component of the tumor was characterized by solid nests of large polygonal cells arranged in cords and trabeculae, with central nuclei, prominent nucleoli, and abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm; single-nuclear giant cells were frequently noted. These tumor cells of stomach stained positive immunohistochemically for AFP, ACT(alpha-1-antitrypsin), AACT(alpha-1-antichy-motrypsin). Thus, this hepatoid gastric adenocarcinoma tumor cells demonstrated both morphologic and immunohistochemical features of partial differentiation to the HCC. Careful histologic examination in conjunction with the immunohistochemical demonstration of AFP can provide a useful contribution to the diagnosis of this rare histological type of gastric carcinoma And the presence of metastatic hepatoid adenocarcinoma from the stomach should be considered in a patient with hepatic tumor mimicking HCC. Because of frequent venous and lymphatic invasion, as well as liver metastasis, prognosis appears to be poor. The authors reviewed 45 cases of hepatoid adenocarcinoma of stomach reported in the literature, also.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Stomach Neoplasms

No abstract available.
Adolescent* ; Humans ; Male* ; Psoriasis*

No abstract available.
Hair ; Survival Rate ; Transplants

PURPOSE: Some authors noted unilateral testicular torsion often leading to a damage in the contralateral testis. But it is not known whether this is the result of an intrinsic abnormality in the remaining testis or testicular injury associated with the ischemic event. Recently some authors noted an increase in germ cell apoptosis in the contralateral testis and suggested the involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in the apoptosis of germ cells. We aimed at the NO involvement in testicular torsion in this study, in which we measured inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expressions and found pathological changes in the torsed and detorsed testes of the rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Adult, male, Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: I) unilateral left testicular torsion persisting for 1, 4, 8 hours. II) torsion for 4 or 8 hours followed by detorsion. Testes were fixed in scrotal wall with a suture. Testes were fixed in formalin solution and prepared in paraffin blocks and slide mounted. All histologic examinations were done by a single observer. The expression of iNOS gene in the testis was determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and relative iNOS mRNA levels were assessed with normalization to beta-actin mRNA levels. RESULTS: Histologically, the degeneration and inflammation were found in 4 hours after torsion and the necrosis was found in 8 hours after torsion. In contralateral testis, normal findings were noted in 4 hours and 8 hours after torsion. iNOS gene expression was found in the normal control testis. In the torsed testis, iNOS gene expression significantly increased in 1 hour after torsion, then decreased to the control level. In contralateral testis, iNOS gene expression was also increased in 1 hour to 8 hours after torsion. After detorsion, iNOS gene expression significantly decreased in detorsed testis, but constantly increased in contralateral testis. CONCLUSIONS: In rats, iNOS gene expression and histological changes were observed in torsed and detorsed testes. These results support the hypothesis that NO by iNOS protein may play a role in contralateral testicular damage, such as ischemic-reperfusion injury.
Actins ; Adult ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Formaldehyde ; Gene Expression ; Germ Cells ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Male ; Necrosis ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; Paraffin ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; RNA, Messenger ; Spermatic Cord Torsion ; Sutures ; Testis*

PURPOSE: A descriptive survey was used in this study to identify the relationship between nurses' critical thinking disposition, self-directed learning readiness and professional nursing competency and to examine factors that influence professional nursing competency. METHODS: The data were collected from 188 nurses and analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe' test, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression analysis with the SPSS/WIN 20.0 PC program. RESULTS: Professional nursing competency was found to have significant pure correlations with critical thinking disposition (r=.59, p<.001), and self-directed learning readiness (r=.54, p<.001). The most influential factor influencing nurses' professional nursing competency was critical thinking disposition, followed by self-directed learning readiness (beta=.25, p=.003), work department (beta=.19, p=.001), total clinical career (beta=.19, p=.003), and position (beta=.12, p=.040), and these factors explained 43.8% of the variance in professional nursing competency. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate the necessity of developing and applying strategies and educational programs to enhance individual nurse's critical thinking disposition and self-directed learning readiness. Furthermore, exploration is needed on ways to enhance professional nursing competency.
Learning* ; Nursing* ; Thinking*