Study of filariasis to determine important factors involved in its ecology was carried out on Che Ju Island for three consecutive years from 1968 to 1970 in seven villages, three coastal villages and four islets remote from the main island. One village which was located in mountainous area far from the coast was surveyed to serve as control area. About 90% of population inhabiting the study area had at least one blood smear during the three-year period; about one third had three blood smears, and a little over one third had two, and the rest only one examination. Animal and mosquito surveys were carried out at the same period. Followings are the results obtained: All human cases but several had microfilariae identical to the description of B. malayi. The several cases who had morphologically different microfilariae from that of B. malayi need further study for definite conclusion. Five persons randomly sampled from Mf positives and bled every two hours demonstrated nocturnal periodicity between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. Human is considered to be only reservoir host for human filariasis in the area since animal survey and experimental exposure to the infective larvae of human filaria species showed failure to infect animals. Microfilaria rate, microfilaria density, prevalence of elephantiasis varied by area and age with correlation, which indicated cumulative process of the parasite by repeated exposure and development of host immunity to certain extent. Clinical manifestation of filariasis (symptom complex and elephantiasis ) taken from history and inspection was low in its prevalence with range of 0.9% 11.8% of total population. Only 5.2% of 517 Mf positives had the clinical manifestation. 24.8% of 109 persons with clinical manifestation had microfilaria; 42.9% with symptom complex only, 23.1% with both symptoms and elephantiasis, and none with elephantiasis only were microfilaria positive. Ae. togoi was the only species infected with the filaria. Mosquito infection rate by area showed positive correlation to the Mf rate and density of human population; where the Mf rate and density were high, the mosquito infection rate also high.
parasitology-helminth-nematoda ; ecology ; epidemiology ; Brugia malayi ; filariasis

This study was carried out for three years from 1968 to 1970. Three coastal villages and four remote islets of Che Ju Island were surveyed and 90% of all inhabitants were blood smeared. These study areas were grouped into five according to its characteristic for evaluation of mass treatment with diethylcarbamazine citrate (Hetrazan U.S.P.) and insecticide spray in control of human filariasis. To set baseline up for control group, placebo was administered. Followings are the results obtained: 81.1% of all mf positives accepted and completed the mass chemotherapy; main reason for refusal was side reactions told by neighboring villagers who experienced them. 6 mg of hetrazan/kg B.W. x 12 doses given every day turned mf postives to mf negative in 92.1%. The patients who had high mf density remained mf positive in 16.5% whereas only 2.1% for low mf density. 73.8% of mf positives after the treatment showed marked decrease in mf density. Most of them to less than 15n mg/20 mm(3) of blood that can not infect mosquito effectively. Mosquito infection rates were also dropped markedly in areas where mf positive were mass treated. Side reaction induced by diethylcarbamazine was frequent(64%-90%) and various. The most frequent symptom was headache and fever. DDT spray did not influence human mf rate and mosquito infection rate.
parasitology-helminth-nematoda ; chemotherapy-diethylcarbamazine citrate ; epidemiology ; Brugia malayi ; filariasis ; diethylcarbamazine citrate

Leiomyosarcoma is an uncommon tumor which arises from various sites including uterus, stomach, retroperitoneum, superficial soft tissues, bladder, kidney, and lung. Primary hepatic leiomyosarcoma is a very rare tumor and fewer than 70 cases of primary hepatic leiomyosarcoma have been reported since the first publication in Japan. And there was only one case report of cutaneous metastasis from hepatic leiomyosarcoma. We recently experienced a case of primary hepatic leiomyosarcoma presenting as subcutaneous palpable mass. Herein we report this case with a review of literatures.
Head and Neck Neoplasms/*secondary ; Humans ; Leiomyosarcoma/diagnosis/*secondary ; Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis/*pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Scalp ; Skin Neoplasms/*secondary

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Abdominal obesity and hyperinsulinemia or insulin resistance are of interest in connection with colon carcinogenesis. We conducted a prospective case controlled study for the evaluation of relationship between abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, and colorectal adenoma. METHODS: Fifty patients with colorectal adenoma and fifty healthy subjects were included in this study. Total colonoscopic examinations were performed in all the subjects. Fasting blood sugar (FBS), insulin, homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR), triglyceride (TG), cholesterol (CROL), BMI (body mass index), WHR (waist hip ratio), percent body fat (PBF) and obesity degree (OD) were measured. HOMA-IR was considered to represent insulin resistance. Diabetic patients were excluded from this study. RESULTS: There were no differences in sex, serum insulin, FBS, HOMA-IR, TG, CROL between adenoma and control group. Subjects with high BMI, WHR, percent body fat, and obesity were more likely to have colonic adenoma. Multiple logistic regression analysis after adjusting confounding factors, had revealed that WHR was the most important independent risk factor for colon adenoma. CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal obesity was most closely related to colonic adenoma. However, insulin resistance was not related to colonic adenoma. A larger case controlled study is needed.
*Abdominal Fat ; Adenoma/diagnosis/epidemiology/*etiology ; Aged ; Body Fat Distribution ; Body Mass Index ; Colonic Neoplasms/diagnosis/epidemiology/*etiology ; Colonoscopy ; Female ; Humans ; *Insulin Resistance ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Obesity/*complications/epidemiology/pathology ; Risk Factors ; Waist-Hip Ratio

Cholangiocarcinoma is usually diagnosed at the advanced stage because early symptoms and signs are relatively infrequent. The preoperative diagnosis of early extrahepatic bile duct cancer in common bile duct is uncommon. Also, an extrahepatic bile duct cancer arising from the lower portion of the common bile duct is usually papillary and rarely nodular or sclerosing. We decribe a case, preoperatively diagnosed as early extrahepatic bile duct cancer in lower portion of common bile duct, nodular type on endoscopic retrograde cholangiography. It was incidentally detected by the slight elevation of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase without any symptoms. An endoscopic retrograde cholangiography showed abrupt narrowing of the intrapancreatic portion of the common bile duct with irregular and nodular filling defect. The lesion was confined to mucosa on the endoscopic ultrasonography. This patient was diagnosed as early extrahepatic bile duct cancer and underwent Whipple's operation. A histopathologic examination of resected specimen revealed to be moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma at stage 1 (T1N0Mo) in the extrahepatic bile duct.
Adenocarcinoma ; Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic* ; Cholangiocarcinoma ; Cholangiography ; Common Bile Duct ; Diagnosis ; Endosonography ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase ; Humans ; Mucous Membrane

BACKGROUND/AIMS: p53 gene plays an important role in cell cycle control in response to DNA damage which may increase the probability of mutations leading to carcinogenesis. The role of p53 gene polymorphisms [codon 72 (exon 4) and 16-bp duplication (intron 3)] as potential markers indicating cancer risk remains inconclusive, and the data on gastric cancer are very limited. The aim of this study was to assess the role of p53 gene polymorphisms in the risk of gastric cancer and in the determination of genetic susceptibility to gastric cancer in Koreans. METHODS: We analysed p53 genotypes using a polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism assay in a population-based case-control study in 120 gastric cancer patients and 145 cancer-free controls in Koreans. RESULTS: There was no specific genotype of p53 gene polymorphism in the gastric cancer patients compared to cancer-free controls. In p53 codon 72 and 16-bp duplication polymorphisms, the frequency and distribution of genotypes showed no statistical significance (p=0.7125 and p=0.1659). There was no difference in genotype by histologic subtypes, location of lesion, and age. However, the genotypic distribution in the patient subgroups with a history of heavy cigarette smoking of p53 16-bp duplication polymorphism were significantly different from those of cancer-free controls (p=0.0079). CONCLUSIONS: The p53 codon 72 and 16-bp duplication polymorphisms were not associated with the increased risk of gastric cancer and did not seem to contribute to gastric cancer susceptibility among Koreans. It is possible that p53 16-bp duplication polymorphism modulates the risk of smoking-induced gastric cancer development in Koreans. In order to clarify the associations between specific genotypes and gastric cancer risk, the evaluations of these polymorphisms in other ethnic backgrounds with larger number of patients would be needed.
Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Codon ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Female ; *Genes, p53 ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Heterozygote ; Homozygote ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Stomach Neoplasms/*genetics/pathology ; Tandem Repeat Sequences/*genetics