Lipoma arborescens is a rare intra-articular lesion consisting of a villous lipomatous proliferation of the synovial lining. We experienced one case of lipoma arborescens of knee which was associated with avascular necrosis of femoral head. This case report draws the attention to history, physical findings, MR images, pathologic findings and arthroscopic appearance of this rare lesion. Arthro;copically, the lesion appears as a synovial lesion with numerous fatty-appearing globules and villous projections. Although the etiology is unknown, lipoma arborescens has been described in association with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes mellitus. MR imaging is diagnostic choice to differentiate the lesion from rheumatoid arthritis, pigmented villonodular synovitis and synovial chondromatosis in those patients who present with chronic, swollen and painfui joint. Arthroscopic removal was effective in this case and we think that treatment choice of this lesion is arthroscopic removal.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Chondromatosis, Synovial ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Head ; Humans ; Joints ; Knee* ; Lipoma* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Necrosis ; Osteoarthritis ; Synovitis, Pigmented Villonodular

Ankylosing spondylitis causes ankylosis of the spine due to ossification of the articular cartilage and ligaments around the vertebral body as well as the sacroiliac joint. This pathophysiology limits joint movement and, in many cases, causes pain and deformity of the spine. If this disease is left untreated, it ultimately causes ankylosis and ossification of the whole-body joints. The symptoms generally develop before age 30 years, and the gradual progression of the disease adversely affects the physical function, professional ability, and quality of life. This increases the likelihood of developing psychiatric disorders, such as depression. The authors are aware of this severity and introduce recent trends and studies to prevent surgical treatment with various medications before systemic ossification. This paper presents various surgical treatments and complications in patients who were unable to prevent progression and underwent surgical treatment.

To know the prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis infection and what are the most important risk factors, we evaluated the incidence and risk factors of enterobiasis among children attended in kindergartens in Busan metropolitan city, Republic of Korea. A total of 1,674 children from 21 kindergartens in 11 of 16 autonomous districts of Busan were evaluated for E. vermicularis infection by the cellotape anal swab technique. The overall egg-positive rate for E. vermicularis was 10.7% (179/1,674), and the prevalence of enterobiasis in each kindergarten ranged between 0% and 32.4%. There was an increasing tendency of the egg positive rate according to the population density; the higher the population density communities had, the higher egg-positive rate for E. vermicularis was detected (P = 0.001). Among personal hygiene factors involving children, thumb-sucking (P = 0.036) and fingernail-trimming (P = 0.024) were highly associated with enterobiasis. In addition, taking anthelmintic medications against E. vermicularis infection was strongly associated with enterobiasis (P = 0.014). Moreover, parents' knowledge of enterobiasis was correlated significantly with the incidence of enterobiasis of their children (P = 0.006). In conclusion, we need to consider not only personal hygiene but also parents' knowledge about enterobiasis as a factor in order to develop new strategies for elimination or to complete reduction of enterobiasis in Korea.

Histoplasmosis is a common endemic mycosis in North, Central, and South America, but Korea is not known as an endemic area. We treated an immunocompetent Korean patient who had histoplasmosis. A 65-year-old Korean man presented with multiple pulmonary clumps of tiny nodules in the both lungs. He had been diagnosed 40 years earlier with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and a fungus ball had been diagnosed 4 years earlier. He denied any history of overseas travel. The patient visited our hospital with dyspnea, blood-tinged sputum, and weight loss, which had appeared 2 months earlier. The patient underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lung biopsy. The biopsy sample showed necrotizing granuloma and the presence of multiple small yeast-like fungi. Tissue culture confirmed Histoplasma capsulatum, and he was finally diagnosed with pulmonary histoplasmosis. Therapy was initiated with 200 mg itraconazole orally once per day. The symptoms disappeared 1 week after the start of treatment. After 4 months, low-dose chest computed tomography showed improvement in the ground glass opacity and size of the lung lesions. In conclusion, we report a case of an immunocompetent patient who developed histoplasmosis in Korea. When a patient shows unexplainable progressive infiltrative lung lesions, histoplasmosis should be considered as one of differential diagnoses although Korea is not an endemic area.
Aged ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Dyspnea ; Fungi ; Glass ; Granuloma ; Histoplasma ; Histoplasmosis ; Humans ; Itraconazole ; Korea ; Lung ; South America ; Sputum ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; Weight Loss

Scanning with whole-body 131I scintigraphy after surgery has been a valuable diagnostic modality in the surveillance of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. Radioiodine uptake is rarely observed in non-lactating breast tissue, which mimics thyroid cancer metastasis. We now report a case of a 45-year-old female thyroid cancer patient who underwent radioiodine therapy, and in whom breast uptake of radioiodine was observed on a post-therapy whole body scan. Her serum prolactin level was elevated to 328 ng/mL at the time of the radioiodine uptake, and the hyperprolactinemia was induced by her antipsychotic medications. Six months after she discontinued that medication, her serum prolactin level was normalized to 12.6 ng/mL and breast uptake of iodine was no longer present in a follow-up whole body scan.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Breast ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hyperprolactinemia ; Iodine ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prolactin ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Whole Body Imaging

Tumor migration/invasion is the main cause of tumor progression and STAT3 is needed to enhance tumor migration/invasion by up-regulating MMP-9. Thus, agents that inhibit STAT3 activation may be used as an anticancer drug. We present herein that 6-methyl-2-propylimino-6, 7-dihydro-5H-benzo [1, 3]-oxathiol- 4-one (LYR71) , a derivative of trimeric resveratrol, has an anticancer activity through inhibition of STAT3 activation. We found that LYR71 suppressed STAT3 activation and inhibited the expression and activity of MMP-9 in RANTES-stimulated breast cancer cells. In addition, LYR71 reduced RANTES-induced MMP-9 transcripts by blocking STAT3 recruitment, dissociating p300 and deacetylating histone H3 and H4 on the MMP-9 promoter. Furthermore, LYR71 inhibited tumor migration/invasion in RANTES-treated breast cancer cells and consequently blocked tumor progression in tumor-bearing mice. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that LYR71 can be therapeutically useful due to the inhibition effect of STAT3-mediated MMP-9 expression in breast cancer cells.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Blotting, Western ; Breast Neoplasms/genetics/metabolism/pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement/drug effects ; Cell Survival/drug effects ; Chromatin Immunoprecipitation ; Female ; Gene Expression/drug effects ; Humans ; Imines/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Immunohistochemistry ; Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental/pathology/prevention & control ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9/genetics/*metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Molecular Structure ; Phosphorylation/drug effects ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; STAT3 Transcription Factor/genetics/*metabolism ; Stilbenes/chemistry ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays/methods