Cavernous hemangioma of the renal pelvis is a rare benign vascular tumor. We experienced a case of this disease, which associated with renal infarction and hemorrhage in 35 year-old female. I. V. P, R. G. P and abdominal C. T were performed. Now, we introduced the pathologic and radiographic findings.
Adult ; Female ; Hemangioma, Cavernous* ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Infarction* ; Kidney Pelvis*

No abstract available.
DNA* ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders*

No abstract available.
DNA* ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders*

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, which invades a wide range of hosts including humans. The exact mechanisms involved in its invasion are not fully understood. This study focused on the roles of Ca2+ in host cell invasion and in T. gondii replication. We examined the invasion and replication of T. gondii pretreated with several calcium modulators, the conoid extrusion of tachyzoites. Calmodulin localization in T. gondii were observed using the immunogold method, and Ca2+ levels in tachyzoites by confocal microscopy. In light microscopic observation, tachyzoites co-treated with A23187 and EGTA showed that host cell invasion and intracellular replication were decreased. The invasion of tachyzoites was slightly inhibited by the Ca2+ channel blockers, bepridil and verapamil, and by the calmodulin antagonist, calmidazolium. We observed that calcium saline containing A23187 induced the extrusion of tachyzoite conoid. By immunoelectron microscopy, gold particles bound to anti-calmodulin or anti-actin mAb, were found to be localized on the anterior portion of tachyzoites. Remarkably reduced intracellular Ca2+ was observed in tachyzoites treated with BAPTA/AM by confocal microscopy. These results suggest that host cell invasion and the intracellular replication of T. gondii tachyzoites are inhibited by the calcium ionophore, A23187, and by the extracellular calcium chelator, EGTA.
Animals ; Calcium/*physiology ; Calcium Channel Blockers/pharmacology ; Calmodulin/antagonists & inhibitors ; Chelating Agents/pharmacology ; Hela Cells ; Host-Parasite Relations ; Humans ; Ionophores/pharmacology ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Toxoplasma/drug effects/pathogenicity/*physiology

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A carboxy-O-methyl transferase inhibitor entacapone has been introduced as an adjuvant drug for Parkinson disease (PD) patients. Although clinical trials reported beneficial role of entacapone, a long-term trial over 3 years failed to show significant effect. The goals of this study were to evaluate the clinical benefit and the efficacy of entacapone in an open clinical practice. METHODS: After the completion of a double-blind placebo-controlled entacapone study, 149 patients from 4 centers were included. Antiparkinsonian medications were optimized by the judgment of the neurologists in charge. The clinical global impression (CGI) scale was obtained at 6 months and 1 year after the initiation of entacapone treatment. RESULTS: Of the 149 patients, 117 patients chose to try entacapone in an open-label fashion. Sixty-nine (59%) patients completed the 1-year trial. Twenty-nine patients discontinued entacpaone before 6 months, and 19 between 6 months and 1 year during trial. Twelve patients out of 48 patients discontinued entacapone because of its poor efficacy. The CGI scale was 3.9 (+/-1.5) at the beginning of the trial, 4.3 (+/-1.1) at 6 month, and 3.8 (+/-1.3) at 1 year, respectively. The CGI scale of those who discontinued between 6 month and 1 year was 3.4 (+/-1.7), which was worse, but insignificantly, than that of the continuer. CONCLUSIONS: The dropout at 1 year of our study was very high at 41%. Even though entacapone is indicated for advanced PD patients with motor fluctuation, the fluctuators commonly have dyskinesia and mental symptoms, which can become more troublesome with entacapone. In the patients with advanced PD, the clinical efficacy and side effects should be carefully considered in a long-term use of entacapone.
Dyskinesias ; Humans ; Judgment ; Parkinson Disease* ; Patient Dropouts ; Transferases

Purpose: The incidence and prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders have rapidly increased, indicating an urgent need for assistance through parenting interventions. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a sociodrama-based communication enhancement program on mothers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.Method: A non-randomized controlled experimental study design was employed. The experimental and control groups had 16 and 18 participants, respectively. The once-a-week six-session intervention was conducted from September to November 2017, in South Korea. The effects of group, time, and group-by-time interactions among the groups were verified using generalized estimating equations with an autoregressive correlation structure. Results: There was a significant decrease in the parenting burden, alongside a significant improvement in parent-child communication and parenting competence in the experimental group compared to the control group. Conclusion The sociodrama-based communication enhancement program was found to positively influence the parenting burden, communication, and parenting competence of mothers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. These findings suggest that sociodrama-based programs may be an effective intervention strategy for parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The sociodrama-based communication enhancement program can be applied to decrease parenting burden and improve parent-child communication and parenting competence. Through continuous parenting interventions, an improvement in expressive language and an increase in the attachment behaviors of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities could be expected.

PURPOSE: To find the incidence and risk factors for polyomavirus (PV) infection, we monitored urine decoy cell (UDC) after renal transplantation. METHODS: From March 2003 to September 2004, 142 de novo renal recipients were prospectively monitored for UDC at post-transplant 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 months. According to the number of UDC in Cytospin, patients were divided into 3 groups: A (0), B (1~9) and C (> or =10). We decreased immunosuppression (IS) when group C status persisted for more than 1 month or more than 4 UDC was continuously detected for more than 3 months. Differences in demographics and clinical characteristics among the groups were compared. RESULTS: Forty four (31%) patients were found to have positive UDC at least at one examination (30 in group B and 14 in C). The number of patients with positive UDC at postoperative 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 months were 10 (22.7%), 14 (31.8%), 17 (38.6%), 27 (61.3%), 20 (45.4%) respectively with a highest at 9 months. One PV nephropathy was documented by renal biopsy. During the period from January 2001 to December 2002 when we did not prospectively monitor UDC, 7 PV nephropathy cases were documented among 116 recipients. Tacrolimus (Tac) and episode of acute rejection (AR) were significant risk factor for positive UDC (P=0.036, 0.010, respectively). Cumulative incidence of PV infection was significantly different by the use of Tac and episode of AR (P=0.03, 0.013, respectively). CONCLUSION: Use of Tac and episode of AR were risk factor for positive UDC and PV infection. Modulation of IS by the result of UDC monitoring could decrease the development of PV nephropathy after renal transplantation.
Biopsy ; Demography ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Incidence ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Kidney* ; Polyomavirus ; Polyomavirus Infections ; Prospective Studies* ; Risk Factors ; Tacrolimus

This report describes a patient with hepatic congestion due to right heart failure mimicking liver tumor. The patient had a history of breast cancer and left total mastectomy 30 years ago, tricuspid valve regurgitation and tricuspid valve replacement 4 years ago. Three years ago, abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) was performed to evaluate inguinal hernia, which revealed multiple small hepatic nodules. After 1 year, the number and size of liver nodules were increased in CT scan. The patient underwent gun biopsy and histopathology revealed sinusoid enlargement. The patient recently had jaundice, abdominal distension, and peripheral edema. Liver dynamic CT scan was done to evaluate the palpable liver. The number and size of liver nodules were more increased in CT than 2 years ago. In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), numerous variable sized ill-defined nodules replacing entire liver with progressing centripetal enhancement, which were suggestive of malignancy such as angiosarcoma, were noted. MRI finding suspects malignancy or hemangiosarcoma. Finally, the patient received repeated gun biopsy, and histopathology revealed findings compatible with hepatic congestion.
Biopsy, Needle ; Female ; Heart Failure/*complications ; Humans ; Liver Diseases/*diagnosis/etiology/pathology ; Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

The seroepidemiologic studies on anti-Toxoplasma antibody titers were carried out using ELISA and indirect latex agglutination test. Among 899 sera prepared from pregnant women, 39 cases (4.3%) revealed positive reaction and 218 sera from middle school students showed 4 positive reaction (1.8%) by ELISA. By LAT(newly established by National Veterinary Research Institute, Korea), the sera of 7 pregnant women (0.8%) showed positive reaction. When 80 sera showing +S1:8 by LAT were used for comparing the results obtained from LAT and Toxotest-MT (Eiken Chemical Co., Japan), 7 cases and 8 sera were positive, respectively. All of 11 sera of proven toxoplasmosis patients showed positive reaction in both tests. Overall proportion of agreement between LAT kit and Toxotest-MT was 0.94( -index= 0.632, p<0.01), and LAT was considered to be useful for the screening of toxoplasmosis.
parasitology-protozoa ; Toxoplasma gondii ; indirect latex agglutination test ; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ; pregnant women

OBJECTIVE: We performed a genetic association study with schizophrenic patients to investigate whether the V-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (AKT1) gene plays a role in obstetric complications. METHODS: One-hundred-eighty patients with schizophrenia (male, 113; female, 67) were included. All patients fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia. Obstetric complications were measured by the Lewis scale. Prenatal and perinatal information was retrospectively collected from the patients' mothers. We selected six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for the AKT1 gene: SNP1 (rs3803300), SNP2 (rs1130214), SNP3 (rs3730358), SNP4 (rs 1130233), SNP5 (rs2494732), and SNPA (rs2498804). The genotype data were analyzed for an association with the Lewis total score in terms of allele, genotype, and haplotype distribution. RESULTS: The mean total Lewis scores were 1.30+/-1.61 for males and 1.54+/-1.87 for females. Higher total score tended to be correlated with an earlier age of onset of schizophrenia in females. In the total sample, no SNP was associated with obstetric complications. However, the additional analyses for male and female subgroups found a significant association between SNPA and SNP4 and Lewis score in females (p=0.02 for SNPA, p=0.04 for SNP4). The SNP5-SNPA haplotype showed a positive association with obstetric complications (p=0.03) in the female patient group. CONCLUSION: We found an association between SNPs in the AKT1 gene and total Lewis score measuring obstetric complications in female patients with schizophrenia. Because these findings did not survive a correction for multiple testing, the significance should be interpreted carefully and replication studies are required.
Age of Onset ; Alleles ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Female ; Genetic Association Studies ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Male ; Mothers ; Oncogenes ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Retrospective Studies ; Schizophrenia ; Thymoma