Angiosarcoma is a very rare form of neoplasm derived from soft tissue. It is reported even more rarely in hepatobiliary system. Because of its nonspecific symptoms and difficulty in diagnosis, angiosarcoma is often presented in a progressed state and often results in poor prognosis. To our best knowledge, there has been no report regarding angiosarcoma in common bile duct worldwide. We report a case of 77-year-old-woman presented with right upper abdominal pain diagnosed as angiosarcoma in common bile duct.
Abdominal Pain ; Common Bile Duct* ; Diagnosis ; Hemangiosarcoma* ; Prognosis

Primary carcinoma of the fallopian tube is the rarest cancer of the female genital tract with an incidence of 1% all gynecologic tumors Moreover, adenocarcinoma in situ of fallopian tube accounts for approximately 1% of primary fallopian tube cancer. Ovarian cancer and primary carcinoma of the fallopian tube are similar in many aspects. Both carcinomas show an increase incidence among nulliparous women, are often of serous papillay histology, and they have not only a poor pronosis with stage and residual tumor size as important prognostic factors, but also respond to paclitaxel-based treatment. Nevertheless, presenting symptoms are variable and nonspecific, so pre-operative diagnosis of fallopian tube carcinoma is seldom made. We have experiened a case of primary adenocarcinoma in situ of fallopian tube and reported with brief review of literature.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Diagnosis ; Fallopian Tube Neoplasms ; Fallopian Tubes* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Ovarian Neoplasms

Dermatomyositis is an idiopathic, inflammatory myopathy characterized by proximal muscle weakness and cutaneous lesions. The association of malignancy with dermatomyositis is well established, especially with lung, breast, ovary, stomach, and colorectal cancers. The incidence of cancer appears to be increased especially in elderly person, and the prognosis is very poor. Malignancy may occur before the onset of dermatomyositis, concurrently, or afterward. Therefore extensive screening tests for an occult malignancy should be conducted in patient with dermatomyositis. We report a 76-year-old man presented with dermatomyositis and a search for possible occult malignancy found an otherwise asymptomatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma with massive lymph node metastasis.
Adenocarcinoma ; Aged ; Breast ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Dermatomyositis* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Mass Screening ; Muscle Weakness ; Myositis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ovary ; Pancreas ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Prognosis ; Stomach

Choroidal metastasis from colorectal cancer is very rare and has not been reported before in Korea. We report a case of eye hyperemia and discomfort in a patient with advanced colon cancer. Orbit magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography revealed an enhancing mass within the temporal side of the left orbit, suggestive of choroidal metastasis from the colorectal adenocarcinoma. The condition's rarity may be due to the long and distant pathway from the colon to the orbit. The presentation usually suggests extensive hematogeneous cancer dissemination and a poor prognosis. However, palliative radiotherapy may be an effective treatment for choroidal metastasis.
Adenocarcinoma ; Choroid* ; Colon* ; Colonic Neoplasms* ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Humans ; Hyperemia ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Orbit ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy*

A 58-year-old man had been diagnosed with non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCMP) according to echocardiography findings 16 years ago. Echocardiography showed ischemic cardiomyopathy (CMP)-like features with decreased systolic function but a non-dilated chamber. Coronary angiography was performed but showed a normal coronary artery. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed multifocal transmural and subepicardial delayed-enhancing areas at the anteroseptal, septal, and inferoseptal left ventricular (LV) wall, and wall thinning and decreased motion of the anteroseptal LV wall. Findings of ischemic CMP-like features by echocardiography suggested microvascular dysfunction. This late stage of HCMP carries a high risk of sudden death. Cardiac MRI evaluation may be necessary in cases of ischemic CMP-like features in HCMP. In this case, the diagnosis of end-stage HCMP with microvascular dysfunction was confirmed by using cardiac MRI after a follow-up period of more than 16 years.
Cardiomyopathies ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic* ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Vessels ; Death, Sudden ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Middle Aged

Fungi produce various secondary metabolites that have beneficial and harmful effects on other organisms. Those bioactive metabolites have been explored as potential medicinal and antimicrobial resources. However, the activities of the culture filtrate (CF) and metabolites of white-rot fungus (Schizophyllum commune) have been underexplored. In this study, we assayed the antimicrobial activities of CF obtained from white-rot fungus against various plant pathogens and evaluated its efficacy for controlling anthracnose and gray mold in pepper plants. The CF inhibited the mycelial growth of various fungal plant pathogens, but not of bacterial pathogens. Diluted concentrations of CF significantly suppressed the severity of anthracnose and gray mold in pepper fruits. Furthermore, the incidence of anthracnose in field conditions was reduced by treatment with a 12.5% dilution of CF. The active compound responsible for the antifungal and disease control activity was identified and verified as schizostatin. Our results indicate that the CF of white-rot fungus can be used as an eco-friendly natural product against fungal plant pathogens. Moreover, the compound, schizostatin could be used as a biochemical resource or precursor for development as a pesticide. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the control of plant diseases using CF and active compound from white-rot fungus. We discussed the controversial antagonistic activity of schizostatin and believe that the CF of white-rot fungus or its active compound, schizostatin, could be used as a biochemical pesticide against fungal diseases such as anthracnose and gray mold in many vegetables.
Agaricales ; Fruit ; Fungi ; Incidence ; Plant Diseases ; Plants ; Vegetables

Five monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that recognize human glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) have been selected and designated as monoclonal antibodies hGDH60-6, hGDH60-8, hGDH63-10, hGDH63-11, and hGDH91-14. A total of five mAbs recognizing different epitopes of the enzyme were obtained, two of which inhibited human GDH activity. When total proteins of human homogenate separated by SDS- PAGE, were probed with mAbs, a single reactive protein band of 55 kDa, which co-migrated with purified recombinant human GDH was detected. When the purified GDH was incubated with each of the mAbs, its enzyme activity was inhibited by up to 58%. Epitope mapping analysis identified, two subgroups of mAbs recognizing different peptide fragments. Using the individual anti-GDH antibodies as probes, the cross reactivities of brain GDH obtained from human and other animal brain tissues were investigated. For the human and animal tissues tested, immunoreactive bands on Western blots appeared to have the same molecular mass of 55 kDa when hGHD60-6, hGHD60-8, or hGHD91-14 mAbs were used as probes. However, the anti-human GDH mAbs immunoreactive to bands on Western blots reacted differently on the immunoblots of the other animal brains tested, i.e., the two monoclonal antibodies hGDH63-10 and hGDH63-11 only produced positive results for human. These results suggest that human brain GDH is immunologically distinct from those of other mammalian brains. Thorough characterization of these anti-human GDH mAbs could provide potentially valuable tool as immunodiagnostic reagents for the detection, identification and characterization of the various neurological diseases related to the GDH enzyme.
Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/*immunology/isolation & purification ; Cross Reactions ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Glutamate Dehydrogenase/classification/*immunology/isolation & purification ; Human ; Mice ; Organ Specificity ; Rats

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Noncardiac chest pain (NCCP) is substernal, squeezing chest pain, unrelated to the cardiac problem. Our study aimed to define the prevalence and clinical characteristics of reflux esophagitis in NCCP patients in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed medical records of patients who visited Department of Cardiology, St. Paul's Hospital due to chest pain and had normal coronary arteriography and who had received endoscopy within 6 months. Patients diagnosed with peptic ulcer or gastric cancer were excluded. The patients were classified into two groups according to their endoscopic results; the reflux esophagitis group and the control group. RESULTS: Two hundred seventeen NCCP patients were enrolled and 96 patients (44.2%) were diagnosed with reflux esophagitis: 68 patients (31.3%) with minimal change esophagitis; 26 patients (12.0%) with Los Angeles (LA) grade A; 2 patients (0.9%) with LA grade B. There were no patients with severe erosive reflux disease. There were no significantly different characteristics in the reflux esophagitis group and the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of reflux esophagitis in NCCP patients in Korea was 44.2%. Most patients had mild reflux esophagitis.
Angiography ; Cardiology ; Chest Pain* ; Endoscopy ; Esophagitis ; Esophagitis, Peptic* ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Humans ; Korea* ; Medical Records ; Peptic Ulcer ; Prevalence* ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Thorax*

Phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) is a tumor suppressor. Although it is well known to have various physiological roles in cancer, its inhibitory effect on inflammation remains poorly understood. In the present study, a human PTEN gene was fused with PEP-1 peptide in a bacterial expression vector to produce a genetic in-frame PEP-1-PTEN fusion protein. The expressed and purified PEP-1-PTEN fusion protein were transduced efficiently into macrophage Raw 264.7 cells in a time- and dose- dependent manner when added exogenously in culture media. Once inside the cells, the transduced PEP-1-PTEN protein was stable for 24 h. Transduced PEP-1-PTEN fusion protein inhibited the LPS-induced cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) and iNOS expression levels in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, transduced PEP-1-PTEN fusion protein inhibited the activation of NF-kappa B induced by LPS. These results suggest that the PEP-1-PTEN fusion protein can be used in protein therapy for inflammatory disorders.
Animals ; Cell Line ; Cyclooxygenase 2/*metabolism ; Cysteamine/*analogs & derivatives ; Enzyme Activation ; Humans ; Lipopolysaccharides/*pharmacology ; Macrophages/*metabolism ; Mice ; NF-kappa B/metabolism ; Nitric Oxide/*biosynthesis ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II/metabolism ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/*genetics ; Peptides/*genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins/*biosynthesis/genetics ; Signal Transduction