The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix had shown an increasing tendency, and which is related to the increased use of oral contraceptives or prevalent in human papillomavirus infection. Endocervical glandular dysplasia or adenocarcinoma in situ are occasionally associated with squamous neoplasms of the uterine cervix. This study was aimed to evaluate the histologic features and the incidence of endocervical glandular lesions associated with squamous neoplasms, the presence of human papillomavirus infection-suggesting histologic findings in adjacent squamous neoplasms and the immmunohistochemical findings of endocervical glandular lesions for carcinoembryonic antigen. The materials used were 105 cases of microinvasive and invasive squamous cell carcinoma, and 83 cases of squamous intraepithelial lesions which are consisted of 142 radical or total hystrectomy products and 46 conization or loop excision products. The results are as follows; 1. Among 188 cases, six cases(3.2%) had shown foci of high grade glandular dyaplasia, and 19 cases(10.1%) revealed the areas of low grade glandular dysplasia. There was no adenocarcinoma in situ case. 2. In four of six high grade glandular dysplasia cases, microinvasive or invasive squamous cell carcinomas were associated. In low grade glandular dysplasias, sqaumous intraepithelial lesions were occcupying 68.4%. 3. HPV infection-suggesting histologic findings had accompanied all high grade glandular dysplasia cases and in 17 cases(89.5%) of 19 low grade glandular dysplasias. 4. In 2 of 5 high grade glandular dysplasias and in 1 of 19 low grade glandular dysplasias, the immunohistochemical reaction for carcinoembryonic antigen was similar to that of adenocarcinoma. In conclusion, the clinicopathologic importance of endocervical glandular lesions associated with squamous neoplasms of the uterine cervix should be kept in mind, and further study for the relationship between endocervical glandular lesions and human papillomavirus infection or hormonal influence will be continued.
Humans ; Incidence ; Adenocarcinoma

Detailed mechanism of uterine cervical cancer progression still remains unclear. Altered programmed cell death (apoptosis) and cellular proliferation are associated with the development of neoplasia. The authors investigated the expressions of bcl-2, which inhibit apoptosis, and caspase-3, which is involved in the induction of apoptosis and has been considered to be correlated with apoptosis, and proliferating activity according to the degree of malignancy in the squamous neoplasia of the uterine cervix. Correlation between bcl-2 and caspase-3 expression and proliferating activity was done. The materials were low grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL, n=15), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL, n=15), microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma (n=15), and squamous cell carcinoma (n=15). Immunohistochemical stainings for bcl-2, caspase-3, and MIB-1 were done. bcl-2 and MIB-1 expressions were progressively increased in accordance with the increasing degree of malignancy, but caspase-3 immunoreactivity was higher in LSIL than invasive cancers. There was an inverse relationship between bcl-2 and caspase-3 expression, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. No significant correlation between MIB-1, bcl-2, and caspase-3 expressions was observed. These results suggest that an inhibition of apoptosis and the augmentation of proliferating activity of tumor cells might be separately involved in the development of the cervical squamous neoplasia.
Apoptosis ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Caspase 3* ; Cell Death ; Cell Proliferation ; Cervix Uteri* ; Female ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

PURPOSE: Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis(HSPN) accompanied by nephrotic syndrome(NS) is known to have a poor prognosis and effective treatment is still controversial, even though both corticosteroids and immunosuppresant have been used for therapy. Cyclosporine A(CsA) is a well known immunosuppresant and widely used in renal transplantation and glomerular diseases especially steroid resistant. The aims of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of CsA and to compare CsA with previously reported our data of rifampin(RFP) and azathioprine(AZA) in children with HSPN accompanied by NS. METHODS: 37 HSPN patients with NS confirmed by renal biopsy were selected. Of these, 17 patients were treated with CsA(5 mg/kg/day) for 6-8 months, 7 children were treated with RFP(10-20 mg/kg/day) for 9-12 months and 13 patients were treated with AZA(2 mg/kg/day) for 8 months. Along with these regimens, low dose oral prednisolone(0.5-1 mg/kg, qod) was also used. Sequential renal biopsy was done in all patients 1 month after termination of treatment. RESULTS: Complete remission rate of nephrotic syndrome was 5S.8% in CsA, 57.1% in RFP and 38.4% in AZA group after 17, 22, 11 months of mean follow-up period. Overall remission rate including partial remission was 88.2% in CsA, 85.7% in RFP and 84.6% in AZA group. Disappearance rate of hematuria was 58.8% in CsA, 57.1% in RFP and 46.2% in AZA group. Improvement of grade of clinical status was observed in 17 out of 17 CsA, 7 out of 7 RFP and 10 out of 13 AZA group. Improvement of pathologic class on sequencial renal biopsy was shown in 5 CsA(29.4%), none RFP(0%) and 2 AZA group(12.4%). Improvement on histologic immune-deposition was seen in 15 CsA(88.2%), 6 RFP(85.9%) and 4 AZA group(30.8%). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, Both CsA and RFP treated groups showed better result in complete remission rate of nephrotic syndrome and significant inprovement of histologic immune-deposition compared with AZA treated group(p=0.004). So, we recommend CsA and RFP rather than AZA for immunosuppresant treatment in HSPN with nephrotic syndrome.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Breast* ; Child ; Cyclosporine ; Diagnosis* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Prognosis ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch

Malignant transformation of benign cystic teratomas of the ovary is rare, with an incidence rate of 1-3%. The most common malignancy associated with benign cystic teratoma of the ovary is squamous cell carcinoma, which represents 90% of malignant transformations, followed by adenocarcinoma and carcinoid. Primary malignant neuroectodermal tumor in a mature cystic teratoma is extremely rare and microscopically can be subclassified as differentiated, primitive, and anaplatic. We experienced a case of primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) associated with mature cystic teratoma of the ovary in a 11-year-old girl. Grossly, the ovary was a unilocular cyst which contained sebum material and disclosed several large, yellow to gray-tan polypoid excresences attached to the inner cystic wall. Except a large, fish-flesh, soft mass, the other polypoid masses were covered with sebum and contained small pieces of cartilage and tooth, and microscopically represented as mature teratoma. The large, fish-flesh, soft mass disclosed sheets and lobules of closely packed small cells with thin fibrovascular septa, which frequently replacing and encroaching the mature cystic teratoma. The small tumor cells were uniform and made up of round to oval nuclei with coarse chromatin and prominent nucleoli, very similar to those of PNET of the central nervous system.
Incidence ; Cysts ; Adenocarcinoma

In this study, the trypsin gene (bgtryp-1) from the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, was cloned via the immunoscreening of patients with allergies to cockroaches. Nucleotide sequence analysis predicted an 863 bp open reading frame which encodes for 257 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence exhibited 42-57% homology with the serine protease from dust mites, and consisted of a conserved catalytic domain (GDSGGPLV). bgtryp-1 was determined by both Northern and Southern analysis to be a 0.9 kb, single-copy gene. SDS-PAGE and Western blotting analyses of the recombinant protein (Bgtryp-1) over-expressed in Escherichia coli revealed that the molecular mass of the expressed protein was 35 kDa, and the expressed protein was capable of reacting with the sera of cockroach allergy patients. We also discussed the possibility that trypsin excreted by the digestive system of the German cockroach not only functions as an allergen, but also may perform a vital role in the activation of PAR-2.
Allergens/analysis/chemistry/*genetics ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; Blattellidae/*genetics ; Blotting, Western ; Catalytic Domain/genetics ; DNA, Complementary/genetics ; Escherichia coli/metabolism ; Female ; *Genes, Insect ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Molecular Weight ; Receptor, PAR-2/metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins/analysis/biosynthesis/chemistry ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Sequence Alignment ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Trypsin/analysis/chemistry/*genetics

PURPOSE: This descriptive correlation study was done to investigate adolescent behavior that promotes health and to identify factors influencing this behavior. METHOD: The participants (702) were a conveniently selected sample of second grade high school students. Data were gathered by self-administered questionnaires and the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression with the SPSS program. RESULTS: 1) The score for health-promotion behavior was 2.49 (total possible score = 4). By subcategories, emotional support was the highest (3.02). 2) Of the factors influencing health-promotion behavior, self-efficacy was found to account for 37.5% of the variance, followed by family function, social support, perceived health status and internal health locus of control. Overall, these factors accounted for 50.6% of the variance. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that health-promotion behavior in adolescents was slightly above average. As self-efficacy and family function were identified as major factors in predicting health-promotion behavior, there is a need to consider interventions that will improve self-efficacy and family function.
Adolescent Behavior ; Adolescent* ; Humans ; Internal-External Control ; Statistics as Topic ; Child Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: The accuracy of analytical results of blood and urine heavy metals came out to the main issue on occupational health from late eighties. The discrepancy of the results for same samples from different laboratories made the diagnosis for occupational diseases be unreliable. Therefore, a quality control program for analysis of samples taken from workplace had been introduced in Korea since 1992. This study aims to show the quality control program f'or analysis of blood and urine samples and its proficient rates from 1992 to 1999 and to know how they have been being used in occupational health. METHODS: The quality control program runs twice a year with mandatory items of blood lead and urine hippuvic acid and voluntary items of blood cadmium and manganese and urine mandellic acid and methyl hippuric acid. Participant laboratories are receiving three levels for each items and two out of three samples have to be qualified for being a proficient laboratory for the item. The acceptable range of blood lead and urine hippuric acid is +/-15% and that of the others is within 3 SD(standard deviation) from the reference values. RESULTS: The proficient rates of blood lead and urine hippuric acid was 89%, 90%, repectively, however those of the other voluntary items have been from 51% to 62%. The proficient rates of urine mercury and urine N-methylformamide(NMF), which are introduced since 1999, were very poor. Urine hippuric acid and blood lead were analyzed frequently for the purpose of biological monitoring conducting by special health examination organizations. Urine and blood manganese and urine metabolites of trichloroethylene, urine phenol, methylhippuric acid and cadmium were followed. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the quality control program for biological monitoring has dramatically improve the ability of analysing blood and urine samples and eventually contributes to diagnose occupational diseases and to prevent occupational poisoning. However, some biological monitoring data, such as urine manganese, mercury and NMF, have been still reported from laboratories that were not accepted as a proficient laboratory.
Cadmium ; Diagnosis ; Environmental Monitoring ; Korea ; Manganese ; Metals, Heavy ; Occupational Diseases ; Occupational Health ; Phenol ; Poisoning ; Quality Control ; Reference Values ; Trichloroethylene

PURPOSE: A Phenomenological study was conducted to investigate the experiences of infertile women who had an unsuccessful in vitro fertilization (IVF) attempt and the structure of these experiences was identified in a socio-cultural context. METHOD: In-depth interviews were done with five participants from Nov. 1997 to Feb. 1998. Data was recorded and analyzed by Colazzi's method. RESULT: Significant statements were extracted from the data resulting in 4 themes and 11 concepts. The concepts were: 'lack of information', 'unable to anticipate the outcome', 'reaffirmation of need', 'financial strain', 'emotional suppression', 'change of social relationships', 'physical fatigue', 'blaming oneself or God', 'trying different ways', 'famous place shopping', and 'praying to God'. The significant themes of the participants' experiences with IVF emerged as: "uncertainty", "burden", "blaming" and "vigorous desire". CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the care of infertile women with an unsuccessful IVF attempt should be based on a deep understanding of their personal experiences. Also, information on alternative choices should be offered and supported.
Female ; Fertilization in Vitro* ; Humans ; Infertility ; Life Change Events

Arteriovenous malformation of the uterus is rarely encountered. It is potentially lethal because of profuse, uncontrollable bleeding at the time of diagnostic dilatation and curettage. To our knowledge, only 38 cases of localized uterine arteriovenous malformation have been reported in English and Korean literature. Recently we experienced a case of uterine arteriovenous malformation in a 28-year-old multiparous woman. Under the clinical impression of uterine tumors or arteriovenous malformation, a total hysterectomy was done. Gross examination demonstrated a vascular nature of the mass in the posterior wall of the fundus. Microscopically, there was an ill-defined mass composed of numerous irregular, anastomosing large vessels with various diameters.
Female ; Humans

Compared with osteosarcoma of bone, primary osteosarcoma of the soft tissue is very rare. Extraskeletal osteosarcoma is also a highly malignant pleomorphic sarcoma composed of cells exhibiting primarily osteoblastic, and to a lesser extent, chondroblastic differentiation. A case of extraskeletal osteosarcoma in the right sole is presented in a 67 year old male. The patient had noticed a progressively enlarging soft tissue mass, during about 14 months. This sarcoma was located in the soft tissues without attachment to the skeleton, as determined by examination of the X-Ray findings. The mass of right plantar portion was simply excised and pathologically confirmed to be an extraskeletal osteosarcoma. The clinical and pathological features of this sarcoma are described, and brief review of the literature is made.