Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE) is an imperative method for the managment of inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). It is well known that primary HCC frequently invades the portal venous system and forms a tumor thrombus obstructing the portal blood flow which makes unfavorable prognosis of patiebt. We retrospetively reviewed 58 patients who reveived TACE(minimum 3 times) of HCC invading into portal venous system. Group 1(n=29) which showed peripheral portal vein invasion had better clinical and laboratory response. Group 2(n=17) which showed first order portal branch invasion had similar response to Group 3(n=12), which had main portal invasion. Group 1 showed no difference in survival time between TAC and TACE, but, in Group 2 and 3, emboliation with chemotherapy made longer survival than chemotherapy only. Clinical level of AFP was meaningful in Group 1 and 2 as decreasing value. Our results provides that careful selection of TACE and case by case Coil/Gelfoam embolization can improve the mean survival and clinical response when HCC evidently invades portal venous system.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Methods ; Portal Vein* ; Prognosis ; Thrombosis

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE) is an imperative method for the managment of inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). It is well known that primary HCC frequently invades the portal venous system and forms a tumor thrombus obstructing the portal blood flow which makes unfavorable prognosis of patiebt. We retrospetively reviewed 58 patients who reveived TACE(minimum 3 times) of HCC invading into portal venous system. Group 1(n=29) which showed peripheral portal vein invasion had better clinical and laboratory response. Group 2(n=17) which showed first order portal branch invasion had similar response to Group 3(n=12), which had main portal invasion. Group 1 showed no difference in survival time between TAC and TACE, but, in Group 2 and 3, emboliation with chemotherapy made longer survival than chemotherapy only. Clinical level of AFP was meaningful in Group 1 and 2 as decreasing value. Our results provides that careful selection of TACE and case by case Coil/Gelfoam embolization can improve the mean survival and clinical response when HCC evidently invades portal venous system.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Methods ; Portal Vein* ; Prognosis ; Thrombosis

Idiopathic thrombocytupenic purpura is known as an autommune t,hrombocytopenic purpura. It is characterized by either an acute or gradual onset of petechiae or ecchymoses in the skin and mucous membranes, especially in the mouth. Epistaxis, conjunct.ival hemorrhage, hemorrhagic bullae in the mouth, gingival bleeding, melena, and hematemesis may occur. We report a case of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in a 10-year-old male, who showed multiple petechiie and ecchymoses on both lower extremities, and hemorchagic bullae in the mouth. Periheral blood smear showed decreased platlet count, and in the bone marrow megakeyocytes were incraesed. Bleeding time was increased, but coagulation time was normal.
Bleeding Time ; Bone Marrow ; Child ; Ecchymosis ; Epistaxis ; Hematemesis ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Melena ; Mouth ; Mucous Membrane ; Purpura ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic* ; Skin

Most loci associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) discovered to date are within noncoding regions of unknown functional significance. By contrast, exonic regions have advantages for biological interpretation.

Most loci associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) discovered to date are within noncoding regions of unknown functional significance. By contrast, exonic regions have advantages for biological interpretation.

PURPOSE: This study analyzed the results of treatment of bone loss using Ilizarov fixation after resection of benign tumor in the long bone radiologically and clinically. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Initial diagnoses were 5 osteofibrous dysplasia, 1 aneurysmal bone cyst and 1 giant cell tumor. Three indices were used to evaluate the results; percentage transport, healing index and percentage increase. The function of the affected limb was assessed according to Ennecking rating. And we assessed the radiological and functional results according to A.S.A.M.I.'s classification. RESULTS: Percentage transport averaged 75% (range: 29-144), healing index averaged 64.5 day/cm (range: 34.8-108.6) and the percentage increase averaged 13% (range: 11-20). In Enneking rating, there were 6 cases that were classified as being better than good. In A.S.A.M.I.'s classification, there were 6 good cases, and 1 fair case each in the bone result and functional result, respectively. CONCLUSION: Ilizarov technique is a reconstruction method using living bone. It is safe and effective for the treatment of bone loss after the resection of a benign tumor in the long bone.
Aneurysm ; Bone Cysts ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Extremities ; Giant Cell Tumors ; Ilizarov Technique

PURPOSE: This study identifies the optimal incision site by describing the relationship between McBurney's point and the base of appendix using the coronal view of abdominal multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) in patients with acute appendicitis. METHODS: We reviewed the records of 206 patients with positive MDCT findings who were histologically diagnosed with acute appendicitis after appendectomy between January 2014 and September 2015. The outer 1/3 point between two points, the umbilicus and the right anterior superior iliac spine, was marked as McBurney's point on the coronal view. The superoinferior, mediolateral and radial distances between the base of appendix and McBurney's point were measured and recorded. RESULTS: The average age was 35.1±20.3 years. There were 34 patients below the age of 15-years-old (children), and 172 patients over 15-years-old (adults). In 35.4% of patients, the base of appendix was located within a radius of 2 cm from the McBurney's point, in 39.8% it was within 2~4 cm, and in 24.8% was over 4 cm. The average center coordinate of the base of inflamed appendix in our patients is 9.32 mm, 8.31 mm and the distance between two points is 12.5 mm. CONCLUSION: The location of appendix has wide individual variability; therefore the McBurney's point has limitations as an anatomic landmark. If we choose to customize appendectomy incisions considering the base of appendix by using an abdominal MDCT coronal view, additional incision site extension can be reduced.
Anatomic Landmarks ; Appendectomy ; Appendicitis* ; Appendix ; Humans ; Radius ; Spine ; Umbilicus

Permutation testing is a robust and popular approach for significance testing in genomic research that has the advantage of reducing inflated type 1 error rates; however, its compu-tational cost is notorious in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here, we developed a supercomputing-aided approach to accelerate the permutation testing for GWAS, based on the message-passing interface (MPI) on parallel computing architecture. Our application, called MPI-GWAS, conducts MPI-based permutation testing using a parallel computing approach with our supercomputing system, Nurion (8,305 compute nodes, and 563,740 central processing units [CPUs]). For 107 permutations of one locus in MPI-GWAS, it was calculated in 600 s using 2,720 CPU cores. For 107 permutations of ~30,000–50,000 loci in over 7,000 subjects, the total elapsed time was ~4 days in the Nurion supercomputer. Thus, MPI-GWAS enables us to feasibly compute the permutation-based GWAS within a reason-able time by harnessing the power of parallel computing resources.

OBJECTIVES: In mammals, cochlear hair cell loss is irreversible and may result in a permanent sensorineural hearing loss. Secondary to this hair cell loss, a progressive loss of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) is presented. In this study, we have investigated the effects of neural-induced human mesenchymal stem cells (NI-hMSCs) from human bone marrow on sensory neuronal regeneration from neomycin treated deafened guinea pig cochleae. METHODS: HMSCs were isolated from the bone marrow which was obtained from the mastoid process during mastoidectomy for ear surgery. Following neural induction with basic fibroblast growth factor and forskolin, we studied the several neural marker and performed electrophysiological analysis. NI-hMSCs were transplanted into the neomycin treated deafened guinea pig cochlea. Engraftment of NI-hMSCs was evaluated immunohistologically at 8 weeks after transplantation. RESULTS: Following neural differentiation, hMSCs expressed high levels of neural markers, ionic channel markers, which are important in neural function, and tetrodotoxin-sensitive voltage-dependent sodium currents. After transplantation into the scala tympani of damaged cochlea, NI-hMSCs-injected animals exhibited a significant increase in the number of SGNs compared to Hanks balanced salt solution-injected animals. Transplanted NI-hMSCs were found within the perilymphatic space, the organ of Corti, along the cochlear nerve fibers, and in the spiral ganglion. Furthermore, the grafted NI-hMSCs migrated into the spiral ganglion where they expressed the neuron-specific marker, NeuN. CONCLUSION: The results show the potential of NI-hMSCs to give rise to replace the lost cochlear cells in hearing loss mammals.
Animals ; Bone Marrow ; Cell Differentiation ; Cochlea ; Cochlear Nerve ; Colforsin ; Ear ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ; Guinea Pigs* ; Hair ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; Humans ; Ion Channels ; Mammals ; Mastoid ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells* ; Neomycin ; Neurons ; Organ of Corti ; Regeneration* ; Scala Tympani ; Sensory Receptor Cells ; Sodium ; Spiral Ganglion ; Transplantation ; Transplants

Golgi SNAP receptor complex 1 (GS28) has been implicated in vesicular transport between intra-Golgi networks and between endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi. Additional role(s) of GS28 within cells have not been well characterized. We observed decreased expression of GS28 in rat ischemic hippocampus. In this study, we examined the role of GS28 and its molecular mechanisms in neuronal (SK-N-SH) cell death induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). GS28 siRNA-transfected cells treated with H2O2 showed a significant increase in cytotoxicity under glutathione (GSH)-depleted conditions after pretreatment with buthionine sulfoximine, which corresponded to an increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cells. Pretreatment of GS28 siRNA-transfected cells with p38 chemical inhibitor significantly inhibited cytotoxicity; we also observed that p38 was activated in the cells by immunoblot analysis. We confirmed the role of p38 MAPK in cotransfected cells with GS28 siRNA and p38 siRNA in the cell viability assay, flow cytometry, and immunoblot. Involvement of apoptotic or autophagic processes in the cells was not shown in the cell viability, flow cytometry, and immunoblot analyses. However, pretreatment of the cells with necrostatin-1 completely inhibited H2O2-induced cytotoxicity, ROS generation, and p38 activation, indicating that the cell death is necroptotic. Collectively these data imply that H2O2 induces necroptotic cell death in the GS28 siRNA-transfected cells and that the necroptotic signals are mediated by sequential activations in RIP1/p38/ROS. Taken together, these results indicate that GS28 has a protective role in H2O2-induced necroptosis via inhibition of p38 MAPK in GSH-depleted neuronal cells.
Animals ; Buthionine Sulfoximine ; Cell Death ; Cell Survival ; Endoplasmic Reticulum ; Flow Cytometry ; Glutathione ; Hippocampus ; Hydrogen ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; Imidazoles ; Indoles ; Methionine ; Neurons ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; Rats ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; RNA, Small Interfering ; SNARE Proteins