BACKGROUND: Interleukin-1alpha is interesting lymphokine to cardiologists because it has been implicated as a regulatory protein in the development and clinical sequale of atherosclerosis, including the modulation of low density lipoprotein metabolism, the regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell mitogenesis, the stimulation of leukocyte adherence to endothelium, and procoagulant activity. But most interleukin-1alpha remains in the cytosol of cells in its precursor form, and is transported to cell surface. and associated with cell membrane. Therefore considerable amount of interleukin-1alpha, contrast to interleukin-1beta, is not released by cells into the extracellular space and the circulation. Despite of increased production of interleukin-1alpha, circulating level may not be elevated because of autocrine and paracrine action of that. In order to elucidate whether interleukin-1alpha is systematically elevated or not in patients with coronary artery disease who are complaining of chest pain, we undertook this study. METHODS: We isolated lymphocytes from peripheral blood in patients and control group. After the peripheral lymphocytes were cultured in the presence or absence of phytohemmagglutinin in RPMI-1640 media for 24 hours, we measured the content of interleukin-1alpha in supernatant by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: 1) In the absence of phytohemagglutinin, the mean value of Interleukin-1alpha in the supernatant was 29.13+/-17.42 pmol/ml in control group and 27.28+/-18.80 pmol/ml in patients group(p=NS). 2) In the presence of phytohemagglutinin, the mean value of Interleukin-1alpha in the supernantant was 36.53+/-20.72 pmol/ml in control group and 152.13+/-91.85 pmol/ml in patient group(p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Significant increase of interleukin-1alpha in the presence of phytohemagglutinin in the patient group means that the peripheral lymphocytes in patients with coronary artery disease are activated to produce interleukin-1alpha.
Atherosclerosis ; Cell Membrane ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Cytosol ; Endothelium ; Extracellular Space ; Humans ; Interleukin-1alpha* ; Interleukin-1beta ; Leukocytes ; Lipoproteins ; Lymphocytes* ; Metabolism ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; Radioimmunoassay

We report a case of congenital giant pigmented nevus with malignant melanoma of brain in a 14-year-old male patient. He had giant pigmented nevus on the back and neck, and multiple satellite lesions over the whole body since birth. One year prior to visit to our hospital, the patient suffered from various neurologie symptoms including headache, nausea, vomiting, seizure and right side motor weakness. Flistologic findings of skin lesions were benign nevocytic nevi. Computed tomogram of brain demonstrated increased densities in the both fronto-parietal leptameninges and brain parenchyme. Histologic findings of brain parenchyme by stereotaxic long needle biopsy showed the infiltration of melanin containing atypical melanocytes. There was no evidence of malignant melanoma at other organs. All of these findings suggested that origin of malignant melanoma of brain parenchyme was leptomeninges rather than skin.
Adolescent ; Biopsy, Needle ; Brain* ; Headache ; Humans ; Male ; Melanins ; Melanocytes ; Melanoma* ; Nausea ; Neck ; Nevus ; Nevus, Pigmented* ; Parturition ; Seizures ; Skin ; Vomiting

Colorectal cancer during pregnancy is rare but the trend for women to delay pregnancy until later in life may result in increased incidence of colorectal cancer during pregnancy. The most common symptoms are rectal bleeding, abdominal discomfort, abdominal distension, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, constipation, anemia and weight loss. Rectal bleeding, if it is occurred, is often attributed to hemorrhoids, a common finding of pregnancy and many of these symptoms are commonplace in normal pregnancy. This delays diagnosis of colorectal cancer during pregnancy and leads to more advanced stage and poor prognosis compared to the general population. We experienced a woman at 27 weeks gestation who complained of low abdominal distention and was diagnosed of sigmoid colon cancer and underwent cesarean section and hemicolectomy at 30 weeks gestation, so we present it with brief review of literature."
Anemia ; Anorexia ; Cesarean Section ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Constipation ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhoids ; Humans ; Incidence ; Nausea ; Pregnancy* ; Prognosis ; Sigmoid Neoplasms ; Vomiting ; Weight Loss

No abstract available.
Tuberculosis, Miliary*

Hair follicle nevus is one of several nevi, in which hair and hair follicle are involved. Crowding of numerous tiny but mature hair follicles with thick fibrous root sheath are the characteristie histologic finding of the nevus. The patient was one month old male infant with pedunculated. mass l cm in size on the left preauricular area. Histologically the skin of the lesion is covered by acanthotic epidermis. In the corium are numerous small mature hair follicles with thick fibrous sheath and a few small Iobules of sebaceous gland embedded in a fibrovascular stroma. There are, however, no central plate of cartilage and adipose tissue.
Adipose Tissue ; Cartilage ; Crowding ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Hair Follicle* ; Hair* ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Nevus* ; Sebaceous Glands ; Skin

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: To determine correlations among ambulatory renin activity, ambulatory blood pressure and microalbumin excretion rate, 66 Korean essential hypertensives were studied after 4 week wash-out period. The ambulatory blood pressure was monitored every 30 minutes and mean BP were calculated automatically. Urinary microalbumin excretion rate(UAER) and ambulatory plasma renin activity(aPRA) collected at mid-day were measured by radioimmunoassays. Subjectives were divided into 2 groups by aPRA value(2ng/ml/hr). RESULT: 14 cases were high renin group and 52 cases low renin group. The mean BP were 148.83/94.69mmHg in low renin group, and 146.57/98.07mmHg in high-renin group without difference. UAER were not different also between both groups. 23.07%(4/14) of non-dippers were included in high renin group and 25.58%(12/52) in low renin group without statistical difference. The aPRA was significantly related to UAER and systolic and diastolic mean blood pressure. Also UAER was related significantly to day mean blood pressures. CONCLUSION: Thus aPRA is thought to be a meaningful indicator to predict hypertensive renal target organ damage as well as blood pressure measured with 24-hr ABPM.
Blood Pressure* ; Hypertension* ; Plasma* ; Radioimmunoassay ; Renin*

The management of the femoral neck fractures remains a major challenge to the orthopaedic surgeons because there are many critical complications such as non-union and avasular necrosis in spite of the advanced technics of treatment. The posterior comminution of this fracture is known to be an important comtributing factor of these complications as the most important cause of the instalility of reduction after internal fixation as well as difficulty of stable reduction, Authors reviewed 61 cases of the femoral neck fractures which were able to identify the presence or absence of posterior comminution on x-ray or operative findings and were managed at Daegu Fatima Hospital during the 10 years from 1975 to 1984 and the following results were obtained. 1. The incidence of posterior comminution in 61 femoral neck fractures was 56% in x-rays of lateral view and operative findings. 2. Open reductions were performed in 31% of 39 cases in which reductions were necessary for internal fixation and 43% of the fractures with posterior comminution were unstable to reduce by closed method while 88% of the fractures without postrior comminution were reduced by closed method. 3. The positions of reductio were in valgus in 46% and anatomic in the rest of cases and valgus reductions were more common in the cases of posterior comminution. 4. Loss of the reduction after internal fixation noted in 48% of the fractures with posterior comminution and 9% without posterior comminution. 5. 77% of the fractures united including 14% of mal-union and the late complication of non-union noted in 14% and avascular necroris in 9% in 35 cases which were followed for over 1 year. 6. The normal unions were more common in the fractures without posterior comminution, the cases of open reduction and the reduction in valgus position. 7. Most of the mal-unions and non-unions noted in the fractures with posterior comminution, the cases of closed reduction and the reduction in anatomic position. 8. These results suggest that the posterior comminution of the femoral neck fracture causes considerable instability and the better results could be expected in the femoral neck fractures with posterior comminution by the reduction in valgus and by the open reduction if necessary.
Clinical Study ; Daegu ; Femoral Neck Fractures ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Incidence ; Methods ; Necrosis ; Surgeons

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Diabetes is associated with a unique form of cardiomyopathy in the absence of atherosclerosis. The mechanisms of diabetic cardiomyopathy have not been defined, but is associated with early left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction following an altered LV contractile performance. However, less attention has been paid to the right ventricular (RV) diastolic function in diabetes. Therefore, the changes in the RV ans LV filling dynamics, in patients with early type 2 diabetes, were investigated. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The transtricuspid and trans-mitral flows were assessed by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography, at maximal inspiration and expiration, in 48 subjects (mean age: 62+/-9 years, M:F=16:32) with type 2 diabetes (Type 2 DM group) and 34 normal subjects (control group ; mean age:59+/-9 years, M:F=15:19, ranging from 45-75 years of age) with normal LV systolic function and ECG at rest. Subjects with diabetic complication, nephropathy (Cr >1.5 mg/dL), LVH and COPD were excluded. RESULTS: The mitral E/A ratio and DT (deceleration time) showed no significant difference between the type 2 DM and control groups. The LV and RV systolic functions also showed no significant difference between the two groups. However, the type 2 DM group had a lower tricuspid E/A ratio (0.98+/-0.25 vs. 1.17+/-0.21, p<0.001) and a longer tricuspid DT (241+/-65 msec vs. 208+/-51 msec, p=0.016) than the control group. CONCLUSION: The right ventricular diastolic function is frequently abnormal in early type 2 diabetes. This suggests that right ventricular diastolic dysfunction may be an important predictor for the early detection of diabetic cardiomyopathy.
Atherosclerosis ; Cardiomyopathies ; Diabetes Complications ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetic Cardiomyopathies ; Diastole ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive

The growth and maintenance of solid tumors are dependent on new capillary ingrowth:a process called "angiogenesis." Thus, after a new tumor has attained a smallsize of a few millimeters in diameter(about 106 cells), further expansion of the tumor-cell population requires the induction of new capillary blood vessels. These new vessels also increase the opportunity for hematogenous or lymph node metastasis. Thus this study was designed to examine the microvessel count at the invasive margin in colorectal carcinoma to determine how angiogenesis correlates with clinicopathologic factors and prognosis. Paraffinembedded tissues from 127 patients with primary colorectal carcinomas that had been completely removed were retrieved and analyzed for angiogenesis. Vessels were immunostained with anti-factor VIII polyclonal antibody, and areas with the most discrete microvessels were counted in a 200 x field, which were defined as angiogenesis score(AS). The mean AS for anti-factor VIII antibody in this study was 55+/-08; therefore, cases were classified into two subgroups : AS high group(n=67), for which AS was greater than 55 and AS low group(n=60), for which AS was equal to 55 or less. There were no significant intergroup difference regarding sex ratio, histologic grade, depth of invasion, or lymphatic invasion. AS was, however, significantly related to tumor size, venous invasion, lymph node metastasis, and liver metastasis(P=0.000, P=0.001, P=0.021, and P=0.004, respectively). The incidence of high AS group in Antler-Coller D was significantly greater than that in Antler-Coller A and B, and Antler-Coller C(P<0.05, respectively). The recurrence rate in high AS group was 32.0%, which was, though statistically insignificant, higher than that in low AS group(17.2%). The 3 year survival rates of high AS group were significantly (P=0.004 both for overall cases and curatively-resected ones) worse than those of low AS group. This study suggests that the growth of colorectal carcinoma is dependent on ingrowth of new blood vessels, and that angiogenesis assessed by the microvessel count using immunohistochemical stains is an important predictor of tumor behavior and may identify patients at higher risk for recurrence and early death.
Blood Vessels ; Capillaries ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Coloring Agents ; Humans ; Incidence ; Liver ; Lymph Nodes ; Microvessels ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Sex Ratio ; Survival Rate

The systolic time intervals were measured in 25 normal controls and 23 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy by simultaneous recording of the aortic valve echocardiogram and ECG. These values were compared to corresponding ones obtained from the method using simultaneously recorded phonocardiogram, ECG, and indirect carotid pulse tracings. And we assessed left ventricular function by systolic time intervals in dilated cardiomyopathy. The results were as followings. 1) High degree of correlation(r> or =0.94) was found between the two methods for each intervals, EMS, LVET, PEP, PEP/LVET. 2) In normal controls, PEP/LVET obtained from echocardiographic measurement was 0.31+/-0.02. 3) In the patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, PEP/LVET(0.59+/-0.13) was significantly higher(p<0.001), PEP index was longer(p<0.05), LVET index was shorter(p<0.05) than in normal controls.
Adult* ; Aortic Valve ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated* ; Echocardiography* ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Systole* ; Ventricular Function, Left