Esophageal neuroendocrine carcinomas are very rare and have a poor prognosis. In addition, the optimum treatment has not been established due to the rarity of the condition. An accurate differential diagnosis is important because treatments and clinical courses differ from those of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas. We report a case of a 61-year-old female who underwent endoscopy for dysphagia and was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine carcinoma of the esophagus, which was successfully resected by esophagectomy.
Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Deglutition Disorders ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Endoscopy ; Esophagectomy ; Esophagus ; Female ; Humans ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Prognosis

Myxoma is the most common primary tumor in the heart. Cardiac myxomas can present in various manners including embolization and fever, sometimes simulating endocarditis. However, they are rarely infected. We report here a case of an infected left atrial myxoma that seeded a normal mitral valve and atypically presented with multiple embolic events in the lower extremities along with multiple splenic and a cerebellar infarction.
Endocarditis ; Fever ; Heart ; Infarction ; Lower Extremity ; Mitral Valve ; Myxoma ; Seeds

The title has been spelled incorrectly: "MEALS" should have appeared as "MELAS".

Hepatitis C was known to be associated with many autoimmune disease, but the pathophysiology was not well understood. Antiphospholipid antibodies, which are autoantibodies detected to negatively charged phospholipids, are sometimes detected in infectious diseases, including sypilis and autoimmun diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus and unknown etiology. A few reports suggested that there is a relation between primary antiphospholipid syndrome and hepatitis C. We recently experienced a case of primary antiphospholipid syndrome with chronic hepatitis C in 20 years old womam who developed cerebral infartion. A brief review of related literature is presented.
Antibodies, Antiphospholipid ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome* ; Autoantibodies ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Communicable Diseases ; Hepatitis C ; Hepatitis C, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic* ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Phospholipids ; Young Adult

We present a case report of brain death caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis bacteremia. A 53-year-old diabetic male was admitted to our hospital with stupor mentality and fever. No evidence of meningitis was found upon cerebrospinal fluid analysis, but diffuse brain edema was shown by magnetic resonance imaging. S. Enteritidis phage type 7 was isolated from blood cultures. We diagnosed the patient with encephalopathy associated with S. Enteritidis bacteremia and treated him by intravenous administration of ceftriaxone and dexamethasone. Fifteen days after admission, the patient was diagnosed with brain death and became a cadaveric donor. Although encephalopathy associated with S. Enteritidis bacteremia is rare, it should be considered as a serious and potentially lethal complication.
Administration, Intravenous ; Bacteremia ; Bacteriophages ; Brain ; Brain Death ; Brain Edema ; Cadaver ; Ceftriaxone ; Dexamethasone ; Fever ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Meningitis ; Middle Aged ; Salmonella ; Salmonella enterica ; Salmonella enteritidis ; Stupor ; Tissue Donors

To date, it has been well documented that there is a relationship between alterations in thyroid hormones and cardiac dysfunction. We experienced a case of a 36-year-old man with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) accompanied by undiagnosed primary hypothyroidism. In the current case, there was a significant improvement in the cardiac function following heart failure management and thyroid hormone replacement. Our case highlights that clinicians should consider the possibility of hypothyroidism as a cause of DCM.
Adult ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated* ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism* ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Hormones

Myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) is a multisystem clinical syndrome manifested by mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and recurrent stroke-like episodes. A 27-year-old female with MELAS syndrome presented with cerebral infarction. Echocardiography revealed a thrombus attached to the apex of the hypertrophied left ventricle, with decreased systolic function. The embolism of the intracardiac thrombus might have been the cause of stroke. There should be more consideration given to the increased possibility of intracardiac thrombus formation when a MELAS patient with cardiac involvement is encountered.
Acidosis, Lactic ; Cerebral Infarction ; Echocardiography ; Embolism ; Female ; Heart ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; MELAS Syndrome ; Mitochondrial Myopathies ; Muscular Diseases ; Stroke ; Thrombosis

CG200745 is a novel inhibitor of histone deacetylases (HDACs), initially developed for treatment of various hematological and solid cancers. Because it is water-soluble, it can be administered orally. We hypothesized that the HDAC inhibitor, CG200745, attenuates cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-induced hypertensive rats. For establishment of hypertension, 40 mg/kg of DOCA was subcutaneously injected four times weekly into Sprague-Dawley rats. All the rats used in this study including those in the sham group had been unilaterally nephrectomized and allowed free access to drinking water containing 1% NaCl. Systolic blood pressure was measured by the tail-cuff method. Blood chemistry including sodium, potassium, glucose, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels was analyzed. Sections of the heart were visualized after trichrome and hematoxylin and eosin stain. The expression of hypertrophic genes such as atrial natriuretic peptide A (Nppa) and atrial natriuretic peptide B (Nppb) in addition to fibrotic genes such as Collagen-1, Collagen-3, connective tissue growth factor (Ctgf), and Fibronectin were measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Injection of DOCA increased systolic blood pressure, heart weight, and cardiac fibrosis, which was attenuated by CG200745. Neither DOCA nor CG200745 affected body weight, vascular contraction and relaxation responses, and blood chemistry. Injection of DOCA increased expression of both hypertrophic and fibrotic genes, which was abrogated by CG200745. These results indicate that CG200745 attenuates cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in DOCA-induced hypertensive rats.
Animals ; Blood Pressure ; Body Weight ; Cardiomegaly* ; Chemistry ; Cholesterol ; Connective Tissue Growth Factor ; Desoxycorticosterone ; Desoxycorticosterone Acetate ; Drinking Water ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Fibronectins ; Fibrosis* ; Glucose ; Heart ; Hematoxylin ; Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors* ; Histone Deacetylases* ; Histones* ; Hypertension ; Methods ; Potassium ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Relaxation ; Sodium ; Triglycerides

We present a case report of brain death caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis bacteremia. A 53-year-old diabetic male was admitted to our hospital with stupor mentality and fever. No evidence of meningitis was found upon cerebrospinal fluid analysis, but diffuse brain edema was shown by magnetic resonance imaging. S. Enteritidis phage type 7 was isolated from blood cultures. We diagnosed the patient with encephalopathy associated with S. Enteritidis bacteremia and treated him by intravenous administration of ceftriaxone and dexamethasone. Fifteen days after admission, the patient was diagnosed with brain death and became a cadaveric donor. Although encephalopathy associated with S. Enteritidis bacteremia is rare, it should be considered as a serious and potentially lethal complication.
Administration, Intravenous ; Bacteremia ; Bacteriophages ; Brain ; Brain Death ; Brain Edema ; Cadaver ; Ceftriaxone ; Dexamethasone ; Fever ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Meningitis ; Middle Aged ; Salmonella ; Salmonella enterica ; Salmonella enteritidis ; Stupor ; Tissue Donors

In clinical therapy, the current goal of dental implants is to enhance quantity and quality of osseointegration. Surface roughness and oxide structure are considered to influence the behavior of adherent cells. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of different surface treatment on cellular response. The attachment and proliferation of osteoblast-like cell on sandblasted, sandblasted and etched, thermal oxidated surfaces have been compared. Sandblasting was done with Al2O3 particles(grain size of 50micrometer), etching was processed with NH4OH : H2O2 : H2O(1:1:5) at 90degrees C for 1 minute. Thermal oxidation was followed sandblasting and etching at 400degrees C, 600degrees C, 800degrees C for 2 hours. Measurement of surface roughness after the different treatment did not show any differences of Ra value between terated surfaces. Cell attachment and proliferation were increased during experiment period, but no difference was observed. SEM evaluation revealed a similar pattern of osteoblastlike cells, well attached with dendritic extension and producing numerous matrix vesicles on cell surface. The results of this study showed that oxide layer alteration by thermal oxidation did not affect the attachment and proliferation of osteoblast-like cells. This suggests the possibility that the cellular responses are further influenced by surface roughness than titaniun oxide structure. This study was supported by a grant(HMP-98-G-2-035-B) of the HAN(highly advanced National) Projected, Ministry of Health & Welfare, R.O.K
Dental Implants ; Osseointegration ; Osteoblasts