PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the expressions of alpha-1 -antichymotrypsin(ACT) and/or p53 protein in advanced prostate cancer were related with bony metastases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The immunohistochemical study with ACT and p53 included 7 archival transurethral resection and 14 prostate biopsy specimens from patients with prostate cancer who showed high serum PSA level(>10ng/ml) and periprostatic or lymph node involvement on imaging study. Whole body bone scan was perfomed to detect bony metastatis in all patients. RESULTS: Four out of 5 cases showing strong expression patterns with ACT protein showed abnormal hot uptakes on whole body bone scan. ACT proteins were weakly expressed in seven out of eight cases without bony metastases. p53 protein was expressed in 13 cases, but there was no statistically significant relation between the expression of p53 protein and bony metastasis. Either, there was no significant relation between ACT and p53 protein expression patterns. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that the strong expression of ACT protein combined with high serum PSA level(>10ng/ml) and whole body bone scan could be the useful method for confirming bony metastasis although not adequate for screening test. The expression of p53 protein appears to be associated with progression of prostate cancer, but there was no statistically significant relation with bony metastasis.
Biopsy ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Mass Screening ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Neoplasms*

True hermaphroditism represents the rarest of all intersex disorders. The condition is defined by the presence of both ovarian and testicular tissue in the same individual. True hermaphroditism is usually diagnosed during the newborn period in the course of evaluating ambiguous genitalia. We present an unusual case of a 15-year-old boy with phenotypically normal male genitalia and bilaterally descended ovotestis, who was seen for evalution of intermittent scrotal swelling and pain.
Adolescent ; Disorders of Sex Development ; Genitalia, Male ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Ovotesticular Disorders of Sex Development*

More than 90% of bladder cancers are transitional cell carcinomas. Transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder ordinarily does not pose diagnostic difficulties and is well known its clinical behavior. However, variation from the classic histology can cause problems in recognition. Recently several variants of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder have been described to promote the recognition of, or to draw attention to, possible differences in clinical behavior. The presence of a micropapillary component in transitional cell carcinoma is associated with high-stage and high-grade transitional cell carcinoma with a tendency of vascular invasion, and with poor prognostic histologic feature. We report a case of micropapillary transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder.
Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder*

Distal thrombosed aneurysm of the superior cerebellar artery (SCA) is extremely rare and is often associated with cerebellar infarction or subarachnoid hemorrhage. We report herein on a case involving a patient with a ruptured thrombosed distal SCA aneurysm which was treated successfully through the endovascular approach.
Aneurysm ; Arteries ; Humans ; Infarction ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Capillary hemangioma of the testis is extremely rare. Because it is difficult to differentiate from malignant testicular tumors clinically and radiologically, radical orchiectomy is usually performed. Although the fate of hemangiomas of the testis left untreated is unknown, there is no evidence that hemangiomas become malignant. We report a case of a 2-year-old child with capillary hemangioma of the testis which was diagnosed as a malignant tumor preoperatively.
Capillaries* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Hemangioma ; Hemangioma, Capillary* ; Humans ; Orchiectomy ; Testicular Neoplasms ; Testis*

OBJECTIVES: The present study was designed to develop KAVLT (Korean Auditory Verbal Learning Test)and to examine its reliability and validity. The KAVLT is a modified Korean version of RAVLT (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) The KAVLT assesses immediate supraspan memory, registration, retention, retrieval, recognition, learning strategy, and interference effect. METHODS: Final version of KAVLT was developed through preliminary trials. The KAVLT was administered to 75 normal healthy adults and 30 organic brain syndrome patients. Twenty-five normal controls were retested 3 weeks after the first trial to examine the test-retest reliability. The scores of basic and combined indices of KAVLT were compared between normal controls and patients. Factor analysis was done to investigate the construct validity. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between the test-retest scores of most of the basic indices. Discriminant validity which differentiates organic brain syndrome patients from normal controls was excellent. In order to accomplish the structure analysis of the KAVLT, different sets of scores were submitted to factor analysis procedure. Factor analysis of KAVLT basic indices revealed 2 factors, 'aquisition' and 'retention'. In the factor analysis of KAVLT's basic and combined indices, 4 factors emerged: 'general learning', 'retroactive interference', 'proactive interference', and 'primacy/recency effect'. CONCLUSION: The newly developed KAVLT was found to be a reliable and valid tool for evaluating multifactorial assesment of verbal memory and learning in Korean subjects.
Adult ; Brain ; Equidae ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Learning ; Memory ; Reproducibility of Results ; Verbal Learning*

BACKGROUND: It is well known that some trace elements such as zinc and copper play a significant role in many forms of hair loss. However, the effect of zinc and copper in the pathogenesis of hair loss is still unknown. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the zinc and copper status in each of four types of hair loss. METHODS: A study was carried out with 30 health controls and 312 patients who were diagnosed with alopecia areata (AA), male pattern hair loss, female pattern hair loss and telogen effluvium (TE) (2008 to 2011; Hallym University Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital). Zinc and copper serum concentrations were evaluated between controls and each of four types of hair loss patients. RESULTS: In all of the hair loss patients, the mean serum zinc was 84.33+/-22.88, significantly lower than the control group (97.94+/-21.05 microg/dl) (p=0.002), whereas the serum copper was 96.44+/-22.62, which was not significantly different (p=0.975). The analysis of each group showed that all groups of hair loss had statistically lower zinc concentration, but not copper concentrations. However, the ratio of the patients with serum zinc concentration lower than 70 microg/dl was significantly high in only the AA group (odds ratio, OR 4.02; confidence interval, CI 1.13 to 14.31) and the TE group (OR 1.12; CI 1.12 to 17.68). CONCLUSION: The data led to the hypothesis of zinc metabolism disturbances playing a key role in hair loss, especially AA and TE, whereas the effect of copper on hair growth and shedding cycles still needs more study.
Alopecia ; Alopecia Areata ; Copper* ; Female ; Hair* ; Heart ; Humans ; Male ; Metabolism ; Trace Elements ; Zinc*

Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC) consists of several clinical syndrome characterized by chronic, treatment-resistant, superficial candidal infections of skin, nails and oropharynx. The patients with CMC usually have other manifestations including non-candidal infections, endocrinopathies and autoimmune diseases. These findings suggest that patients with CMC have multiple or complex abnormalities in their immune systems, especially of cell mediated immunity. The scrofuloderma or scrofuloderma-like BCGitis is used to describe the skin reaction and enlargement of regional lymph node with suppuration. In contrast to chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, BCGitis does not suggest underlying host immune defect in most cases. In our knowledge, there is no report about scrofuloderma-like BCGitis and chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis occurring in the same patient. Herein, we report a case of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis associated with scrofuloderma-like BCGitis.
Autoimmune Diseases ; Candidiasis, Chronic Mucocutaneous ; Humans ; Immune System ; Immunity, Cellular ; Lymph Nodes ; Nails ; Oropharynx ; Skin ; Suppuration ; Tuberculosis, Cutaneous

Although inverted papillomas of urinary tract have been reported, the lesion of the ureter is rare and peculiar tumor characterized by unique microscopic finding. The prognosis of ureteral inverted papilloma is very favorable, only small number progress to higher grade tumor. We report 2 cases of ureteral inverted papilloma which were treated by segmental resection with end-to-end anastomosis of ureter.
Papilloma, Inverted* ; Prognosis ; Ureter* ; Urinary Tract

Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is an uncommon aseptic pustular eruption that usually follows recent administration of oral or parenteral drugs. Characteristic AGEP features include the sudden onset of fever with widespread erythematous eruption, rapidly progressing to a fine, non-follicular, micropustular rash. The illness usually resolves spontaneously with fever and pustulation clearing within 15 days, sometimes followed by desquamation. Histopathology shows non-follicular spongiotic pustules in the epidermis filled with neutrophils, a mixed perivascular infiltrate of neutrophils and occasional eosinophils with papillary dermal edema. We describe a 10-month-old boy with AGEP secondary to exposure to amoxicillin. This is an uncommon condition in children.
Acute Generalized Exanthematous Pustulosis ; Amoxicillin ; Child ; Drug Eruptions ; Edema ; Eosinophils ; Epidermis ; Exanthema ; Fever ; Humans ; Infant ; Neutrophils