For the identification of proliferating cells in tissue, the argyrophilic method for the demonstration of nucleolar organizer regions (Ag-NORs) have been described. To evaluate the applicability of Ag-NORs in surgical pathology, the authors have done Ag-NORs staining on 144 cases of routinely processed, formalin-fixed paraffin sections of various tissues; 15 normal tissues, 12 reactive and hyperplastic lesions, 30 benign neoplasms, 4 borderline lesions, and 83 malignant tumors. The results were summerized as follows; 1) In normal tissues, the mean numbers of Ag-NORs were highter in labile cells, especially in actively proliferating cells such as germ cells of testis, crypt epithelial cells in gastrointestinal mucosa, and lymphocytes from germinal center of tonsil and lymph node, than those of stable cells. 2) The mean numbers of Ag-NORs in reactive and hyperplastic lesions, benign neoplasms, and borderline lesions were similar to those of normal labile cells. 3) The mean numbers of Ag-NORs in carcinomas and sarcomas, (usually more than 2) significantly exceeded those of normal and non-malignant conditions. However, certain cases of carcinomas such as papillary carcinomas of thyroid, mucinous carcinoma of stomach, bronchioloalveolar carcinoma of lung, and adenoid cystic carcinoma of lung, and some of the leiomyosarcoma, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, and malignant schwannoma showed relatively lower numbers of Ag-NORs. 4) In non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, the high grade lymphomas showed more Ag-NORs than the low grade ones. From above results, it is suggested that the Ag-NORs technique is helpful in differentiation between malignant and non-malignant lesions. However, further evaluation on the significance of Ag-NORs upon the behavior of the cancer is to be made.

A 49-year old man was admitted to the Korea university hospital, department of surgery, for evaluation of anterior neck mass which was slowly growing for five years. His past history was unremarkable except for known hypertension for several years. Physical examination revealed high blood pressure, measuring 180 mmHg in systolic phase and 120 mmHg in diastolic phase. A soft nontender mass was palpated at anterior neck just above the sternal notch with smooth surface and its size was about 4 x 5 cm in cross. On laboratory examination, diabetic evidence such as high blood sugar (FBS 170 mg/dl, PP2hr. 234 mg/dl) and glucosuria. The CBC finding suggested polycythemia with high hemoglobin (18.0 g/dl) and hematocrit (54%) levels. The differential count and platelet count were within normal limits.
Male ; Humans

Rhinoscleroma, or scleroma, is a chronic, slowly progressing granulomatous disease involving the upper respiratory tract, especially the nasal vestibules, choanae, pharynx, and larynx. Almost certainly the causative agent is Klebsiella rhinoscleromatis. The disease occurs frequently in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Latin America, but it is hard to find such case in Korea. We prisent a case of rhinoscleroma involving the nasal vestibule in a 18-year-old male who was admitted due to nasal obstruction for 5 years and epistaxis for 2 months. The resected specimen was an irregular polypoid mass with relatively firm consistency and measured 3 cm in the largest diameter. Microscopically, the lesion was characterized by extensive fibrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration. The infiltrates consisted of predominantly lumphocytes, plasma cells, foamy or granular histiocytes which were singly scattered or grouped in clusters. In the cytoplasm of the histiocytes, round slightly basophilic bodies were noted. Warthin-Starry satin showed short positive rods within the cytoplasm of the cell (Mikulicz cell). Electron microscopically, the cytoplasm of Mikulicz cells contained large, round or irregular shaped clear vacuoles in which numerous Klebsiella bacilli attached to the boundaries of the vaculoes were noted. With higher magnifications, the bacilli were seen as roung or rod-shaped organisms.
Male ; Humans

Fabry's disease is a rare hereditary metabolic disease caused by alpha-galactosidase deficiency, resulting in abnormal accumulation of galactosyl galactosyl galactosyl ceramide (ceramide trihexoside) in various organs. Articles in English reported approximately one hundred cases but only two cases in Korea. Recently the authors experienced a case of Fabry's disease of a male patient and studied the electronmicroscopy on skin biopsied tissue and enzyme assay of alpha -galactosidase activity in his peripheral blood leukocytes. The male patient was a 21-year-old soldier who suffered from anhidrosis with heat intolerance and generalized telangietatic papules (Angiokeratoma corporis diffusum) since childhood. Other clinical findings were ocular change, paroxysmal pain of lower extremities and proteinuria with oval fat bodies on urinalysis. The ultrastructural study of skin demonstrated abnormal lysosomal deposits of finger-prints or "zebra" body configuration in the endothelial cells, pericytes, perineural cells and intercalated ductal epithelium of sweat glands. Enzyme activity of alpha-galactosidase was markedly decreased in the peripheral blood leukocytes comparing to the normal control, which was conclusive to make a diagnosis of Fabry's disease.
Child ; Male ; Female ; Humans

Fabry's disease is a rare hereditary metabolic disease caused by alpha-galactosidase deficiency, resulting in abnormal accumulation of galactosyl galactosyl galactosyl ceramide (ceramide trihexoside) in various organs. Articles in English reported approximately one hundred cases but only two cases in Korea. Recently the authors experienced a case of Fabry's disease of a male patient and studied the electronmicroscopy on skin biopsied tissue and enzyme assay of alpha -galactosidase activity in his peripheral blood leukocytes. The male patient was a 21-year-old soldier who suffered from anhidrosis with heat intolerance and generalized telangietatic papules (Angiokeratoma corporis diffusum) since childhood. Other clinical findings were ocular change, paroxysmal pain of lower extremities and proteinuria with oval fat bodies on urinalysis. The ultrastructural study of skin demonstrated abnormal lysosomal deposits of finger-prints or "zebra" body configuration in the endothelial cells, pericytes, perineural cells and intercalated ductal epithelium of sweat glands. Enzyme activity of alpha-galactosidase was markedly decreased in the peripheral blood leukocytes comparing to the normal control, which was conclusive to make a diagnosis of Fabry's disease.
Child ; Male ; Female ; Humans

A 38-year-old woman presented with a week’s history of binocular horizontal double vision and acute vertigo with gaze-induced nystagmus. We considered a diagnosis of one of the six syndromes of the sixth cranial nerve and evaluated several causes. She had history of severe anemia, vitamin B12 deficiency, and hypertension. Magnetic resonance imaging with angiography showed stenosis of the right vertebral artery and hyperintensity on both basal ganglia. As we describe here, we should consider vertebrobasilar insufficiency as a cause for sixth cranial nerve palsy if a patient has high risk for microvascular ischemia, even in the absence of acute brain hemorrhage or infarction.

PURPOSE: Clinicopathological characteristics of mucinous gastric adenocarcinomas (MGC) are unclear. Also, whether the surgical results of a MGC are unfavorable is still controversial. A tumor is defined as a MGC when more than 30% of the tumor area has mucin pools. Also, MGC are subdivided into the well-differentiated (WD) and poorly differentiated (PD) types, according to the degree of glandular formation of the tumor cells. To clarify the significance of MGC, the clinicopathological profiles and prognoses of patients were studied. METHODS: Thirty-four patients with MGC and 1, 036 with non-mucinous gastric adenocarcinomas (NMGC) who were operated on between 1992 and 2002 at the Department of Surgery, Hanyang University Hospital, were included. Patients were evaluated with regard to age, gender, tumor location, size, depth of wall invasion, lymph node status, distant metastasis, stage at presentation, lymphatic and vascular permeation, operative curability, and preoperative serum levels of CEA and CA19-9. RESULTS: MGC tumors, compared with NMGC tumors, had larger sizes (8.0 vs. 5.9 cm), more frequent incidences of T2 or more invasion (91 vs. 66%), positive lymph node metastasis (85 vs. 57%), distant metastasis (18 vs. 6%), stage III and IV (74 vs. 45%), noncurative surgery (32 vs. 10%), lymphatic permeation (88 vs. 63%), and abnormal serum CEA level (32 vs. 14%). However, the overall survival rate of those patients with a MGC was not significantly different from that of those with a NMGC. With a MGC, there was no significant correlation between the degree of mucin content and the prognosis. Conversely, the survival rate was higher in the WD than in the PD types (100 vs. 45%, P=0.0185). CONCLUSION: The mucinous histological type itself is of no prognostic significance in patients with gastric carcinomas. The biological behavior of MGC is determined by the degree of glandular formation of the tumor cellss (i.e., histologic differentiation).
Adenocarcinoma* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymph Nodes ; Mucins* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Survival Rate

Objectives: ：The purpose of this study is to compare bleeding tendency of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI) using platelet function analyzer (PFA-100) in patients with major depressive disorder. Methods: ：This study is a prospective open-label study conducted by a single institution. A total of 41 subjects diagnosed with major depressive disorder under the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria participated in this study.The subjects were classified into SSRI (escitalopram) groups and SNRI (duloxetine) groups, respectively, according to random assignments. The closure time (CT) was measured using a platelet function analyzer (PFA-100) before each antidepressant was administered and after 6 weeks. Paired-sample t-test was conducted within each group to determine whether a specific antidepressant had an effect on closure time. In order to confirm the rela-tive change in platelet function between the two groups, an independent sample t-test was conducted to compare and analyze the change in closure time between the two groups. Results: ：There was no significant changes in closure time (CEPI-CT, CADP-CT) before and 6 weeks after drug administration in the SSRI and SNRI groups, and there was no difference in the amount of changes in closure time between the two groups. Conclusions ：Our results showed no difference in bleeding tendency between SSRI and SNRI. This study suggests that further large-scale studies on bleeding tendency for various antidepressants are needed in the future.

Alcohol is a well-known risk factor for premature morbidity and mortality. The per capita alcohol consumption of the world’s population rose from 5.5 L in 2005 to 6.4 L in 2010 and was still at the level of 6.4 L in 2016. Alcohol-attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) declined from 2000 to 2016 by 17.9% and 14.5%, respectively. However, these gains observed in the alcohol-attributable burden have proportionally not kept pace with the total health gains during the same period. In 2016, 3.0 million deaths worldwide and 132 million DALYs were attributable to alcohol, responsible for 5.3% of all deaths and 5.0% of all DALYs. These burdens are the highest in the regions of Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. The alcohol-attributable burden is particularly heavy among young adults, accounting for 7.2% of all premature mortalities. Among the disease categories to which alcohol is related, injuries, digestive diseases, and cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of the alcohol-attributable burden. To reduce the harmful use of alcohol in a country, the ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of society’ approaches are required with the implementation of evidence-based alcohol control policies, the pursuit of public health priorities, and the adoption of appropriate policies over a long period of time. In this review, we summarize previous efforts to investigate the alcohol-attributable disease burden and the best ways to protect against harmful use of alcohol and promote health.

Percutaneous mitral ballon valvuloplasty(PMV) is an effective nonsurgical procedure for patients with mitral stenosis. PMV was performed in 13 patients(mean age, 41 years) with mitral stenosis. All patients underwent echophonocardiography(Echophono) before and after PMV. Two dilatation balloons were used in which the diameters approximately equaled the mitral valve annulus diameter as determined. After PMV, the mean mitral valve pressure gradient decreased(22.3+/-1.89mmHg to 5.2+/-2.6mmHg), the mean left atrial pressure decreased(21.3+/-5.1mmHg to 9.0+/-4.5mmHg) and the mitral valve area increased from 0.8+/-0.3cm2 to 1.7+/-0.6cm2. The Echophono data are correlated with clinical and hemodynamic changes produced by PMV. PMV resulted in echophono changes consistent with decresed severity of mitral stenosis ; shortening of Q-S1, from 88+/-14 to 73+/-11 mses(p<0.01) and (Q-S1)-(S2-OS), from 0.9+/-1.7 to -2.1+/-1.6(p<0.001) ; prolongation of S2-OS from 80+/-15 to 103+/-14 msec(p<0.001) and increase of EF slope from 14.7+/-5.4 to 26.7+/-8.1 mm/sec(p<0.001). Compared with pre-PMV, post-PMV Echophono showed significant decrease in the severity of mitral stenosis. Thus Echophono is a simple, low cost method helpful in evaluation and follow-up patients undergoing PMV.
Atrial Pressure ; Balloon Valvuloplasty ; Dilatation ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Mitral Valve ; Mitral Valve Stenosis