Convcntional Kaposi's sarcorna is distinguished frorn AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcorna.. The authors report a case of 65 year-old male who presented with a nodular type of conventional Kaposi's sarcoma. The result of the serum antibody test against HTLV-3 in this patient was negative. Trial with b-interferon administered systemically and by local injection showed favorable results. Following 4 weeks of treatment, the tumor masses had markedly decreased in size. The authors suggest that b-interferon treatment for this patient was effectivc.
Aged ; Human T-lymphotropic virus 3 ; Humans ; Male ; Sarcoma* ; Sarcoma, Kaposi

No abstract available.
Female ; Ovary* ; Teratoma*

BACKGROUND: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is one of the candidate cytokines to play an important role in bone loss followed by estrogen deficiency. Recently, the IL-6 VNTR (various number tandem repeats) genotype was reported to be associated with bone mineral density, raising the possibility that genotyping at this site might be of value in identifying women who are at risk for postmenopausal osteoporosis. To evaluate whether allelic variants in the gene encoding the polymorphism of VNTR located at the 3 flank of the IL-6 gene in Koreans were also the same as those of Caucasian, we analyzed the distribution pattern of the polymerase chain reaction product of the IL-6 gene. METHODS: The IL-6 VNTR were examined in 134 postmenopausal Korean women. Bone mineral densities were measured by DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, Lunar Radiation, Madison, WI). RESULTS: The IL-6 VNTR polymorphism of Koreans was different from that of Caucasian, and four genotypes (KaKb, KbKb, KbKc and KbKd) were identified. The genotypes KaKb and KbKd were found only in one individual each and most Koreans had KbKb or KbKc genotypes. The overall prevalences of KbKb and KbKc genotypes were 76.9% Rlld 21.6%, respectively, and the distribution patterns of the genotypes were not different among normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic groups. The values of bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and femoral neck were not different between the frequent genotypes of KbKb and KbKc. Furthermore, the levels of alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin and urinary deoxypyridinoline/creatinine were also not different between the two genotypes. CONCLUSION: There are ethnic differences in IL-6 VNTR polymorphism, and IL-6 VNTR polymorphism may not be associated with postmenopausal osteoporosis in Korean women. Our data suggest that the analysis of IL-6 VNTR polymorphism may not be helpful in detecting patients at risk of developing osteoporosis.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Bone Density* ; Cytokines ; Estrogens ; Female ; Femur Neck ; Genotype ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; Interleukins* ; Osteocalcin ; Osteoporosis ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Postmenopause* ; Prevalence ; Spine

Background: and Purpose Recent studies suggested an increased incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We evaluated the volume of CVT hospitalization and in-hospital mortality during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding year. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of 171 stroke centers from 49 countries. We recorded COVID-19 admission volumes, CVT hospitalization, and CVT in-hospital mortality from January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2021. CVT diagnoses were identified by International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) codes or stroke databases. We additionally sought to compare the same metrics in the first 5 months of 2021 compared to the corresponding months in 2019 and 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04934020). Results: There were 2,313 CVT admissions across the 1-year pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic year (2020); no differences in CVT volume or CVT mortality were observed. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT volumes compared to 2019 (27.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2 to 32.0; P<0.0001) and 2020 (41.4%; 95% CI, 37.0 to 46.0; P<0.0001). A COVID-19 diagnosis was present in 7.6% (132/1,738) of CVT hospitalizations. CVT was present in 0.04% (103/292,080) of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the first pandemic year, CVT mortality was higher in patients who were COVID positive compared to COVID negative patients (8/53 [15.0%] vs. 41/910 [4.5%], P=0.004). There was an increase in CVT mortality during the first 5 months of pandemic years 2020 and 2021 compared to the first 5 months of the pre-pandemic year 2019 (2019 vs. 2020: 2.26% vs. 4.74%, P=0.05; 2019 vs. 2021: 2.26% vs. 4.99%, P=0.03). In the first 5 months of 2021, there were 26 cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), resulting in six deaths. Conclusions During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVT hospitalization volume and CVT in-hospital mortality did not change compared to the prior year. COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with higher CVT in-hospital mortality. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT hospitalization volume and increase in CVT-related mortality, partially attributable to VITT.