The cells of glomerular mesangium is composed mostly of intrinsic contractile mesangial cells and a few macrophages. Injury to the mesangium is central to many glomerular diseases. This study was aimed to evaluate and compare the expressions of alpha-smooth muscle actin (ASMA) and lysozyme in the mesangium of various human glomerular diseases and also of according to the severity of their progressions. We performed immunohistochemical and transmission electromicroscopic examinations in 51 cases of renal biopsy including 5 normal kidneys. The results were as follows; (1) ASMA staining was negligible in normal glomeruli. (2) Increased ASMA staining was observed in the mesangium of glomeruli from all specimens of primary glomerular disease, regardless of their diagnosis. (3) The staining intensity of ASMA in mesangium was mild in minimal change disease and membranous glomerulonephritis, and strong in focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), diffuse mesangial hypercellularity, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), and IgA nephropathy (IgAN). (4) The staining intensity of ASMA have no correlation with mesangial immune deposits. (5) The staining intensity of ASMA in mesangium was inversely correlated with the disease progression in FSGS and IgAN. (6) Glomeruli showing global or segmental sclerosis invariably lacked ASMA. (7) Compared with ASMA, the mesangial cells with lysozyme expression were very rare, even though it was in proportion to ASMA staining. Interstitial ASMA expression was confined to fibrotic area in various glomerular diseases. In conclusion, the expression of ASMA and lysozyme in mesangium are increased in a variety of glomerular diseases, regardless of disease entity. Their intensity was in proportion to the mesangial cell proliferation. In progressive glomerulonephritis, such as IgAN and FSGS, the increased expression of ASMA was prominent in the early lesion, and decreased with the progression of the glomerular sclerosis.
Actin Cytoskeleton ; Actins* ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Disease Progression ; Glomerular Mesangium ; Glomerulonephritis ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; Glomerulonephritis, Membranoproliferative ; Glomerulonephritis, Membranous ; Glomerulosclerosis, Focal Segmental ; Humans ; Kidney ; Macrophages ; Mesangial Cells ; Muramidase* ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Nephrosis, Lipoid ; Sclerosis

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is known as considerable controversal tumor about it's histogenesis, differentiation and biologic behavior. It is traditionally regarded as smooth muscle tumor. To evaluate and clarify the origin of tumor, we performed immunohistochemical study of 23 cases of GIST on CD34 antigen, alpha-smooth muscle actin, S-100 protein, and compared the result with 4 cases of typical leiomyoma of GI tract. The results were as follows. CD34 antigen expression was noted in 21 cases (91.3%) of GIST, while typical leiomyoma was all negative. There were no difference of CD34 expression according to the biologic behavior. However, it's staining pattern was significantly different (p<0.05). Focal or multifocal expression was dominant in benign GIST (58.3%), while diffuse expression was dominant in malignant GIST (80%). Actin was expressed in 5 cases of benign GIST (38.5%) and 1 of malignant GIST (16.7%) focally. All typical leiomyoma showed diffuse strong positivity on alpha-smooth muscle actin. S-100 protein was expressed in 2 cases of benign GIST (16.7%) only. The pattern of CD34 expression was focal in the actin or S-100 protein positive cases. In conclusion CD34 antigen is useful marker in the separation of GIST, from typical smooth muscle tumor. Also it suggest that most GISTs are histogenetically primitive mesenchymal cell origin. However, CD34 expression was unrelated with biologic behavior of GIST.
Actins ; Antigens, CD34* ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors* ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Leiomyoma ; S100 Proteins ; Smooth Muscle Tumor

No abstract available.
Bipolar Disorder*

Transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is the most common cancer of the urinary tract and is characterized by frequent recurrence. Like the other malignant tumor, the genetic alterations leading to neoplastic transformation of the urothelium are related with the activation of oncogenes and loss of functional tumor suppressor genes. Cyclin D1 is a putative protooncogene as cell cycle regulator essential for G1 phase progression and is frequently overexpressed in several human tumor. In this study we performed immunohistochemical stainings of cyclin D1 and p53 in both primary and recurrent transitional cell carcinomas of urinary bladder from 56 patients including 20 cases of recurrent tumor, and compared their results with histopathologic features. The results were as follows. Cyclin D1 immunoreactivity was found in 10 of 10 cases (100%) of grade 1, 25 of 41 (61%) cases of grade 2, and 11 of 25 (44%) cases of grade 3 transitional cell carcinomas. p53 immunoreactivity was found in 40% of grade 1, 63% of grade 2, and 87% of grade 3 lesions. Cyclin D1 expression was significantly higher in Ta and T1 lesions than T2 to T4 by pathologic tumor stage. Conversely p53 immunoreactivity was increased in proportion to the T classification. Cyclin D1 was de creased in recurrent transitional cell carcinomas, compared with primary transitional cell carcinomas. However, there was no statistical significance. In conclusion, cyclin D1 immunoreactivity is associated with low histologic grade and low tumor stage. And there is inverse relationship between the cyclin D1 and p53 overexpression.
Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Cell Cycle ; Classification ; Cyclin D1* ; Cyclins* ; G1 Phase ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Humans ; Oncogenes ; Recurrence ; Urinary Bladder* ; Urologic Neoplasms ; Urothelium

No abstract available.
Craniocerebral Trauma* ; Head* ; Perfusion* ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

To evaluate the clinical and histopathological significance of electron dense deposits on capillary in IgA nephropathy, we reviewed and compared the clinical, laboratory, and pathological features of the patients with IgA nephropathy without loop extension of electron dense deposits(Group I, 91 cases) and IgA nephropathy with loop extension(Group II, 17cases) by ultrastructural examination using transmission electron microscope. IgA nephropathy associated with liver disease, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, systemic lupus erythematosus and the other IgA nephropathies associated with systemic diseases were excluded. The results were as follows; 1) There was no significant difference in age distribution. 2) Generalized edema was more common in group II. 3) Nephrotic ranged proteinuria(>3 g/24hr urine) was more prominent in Group II(52.9%) than Group I(8.8%). 4) Among the groups, segmental or mild deposits on the loops were noted in 13 cases, and severe and generalized deposits in 4 cases. Subendothelial deposits were noted in 6 cases, subepithelial deposits in 3 cases, subendothelial with intramembranous deposits in 1 case, subendothelial with subepithelial deposits in 1 case, intramembranous with subepithelial deposits in 2 cases, and subendothelial, subepithelial and intramembranous deposits in 4 cases. 5) The other associated ultrastructural changes of group II were diffuse effacement of foot processes with microvillous transformation, swelling or vacuolar degeneration of podocytes and glomerular endothelium. 6) According to the WHO morphologic criteria, the grade of Group II was significantly higher than Group I. From the above results, it can be concluded that the extension of electron dense deposits along the capillary loops in the cases of IgA nephropathy is highly correlated with proteinuria in the nephrotic ranged. It seems to be a poor prognostic indicator in view of the facts that it correlats with high histopathologic grading.

No abstract available.
Airway Obstruction* ; Electrocoagulation* ; Tuberculosis*

BACKGROUND: The granulocyte-specific antigen NA which exist specifically on neutrophils and eosinophils have its antigenic determinant on Fcgamma receptor III. The alloantibodies and autoantibodies against this antigen are responsible for neonatal alloimmune neutropenia, chronic benign autoimmune neutropenia of infancy and transfusion-related acute lung injury. After discovering of biallelic polymorphism of NA antigen, there have been attempts to replace technically cumbersome serotyping methods by DNA-typing. This study was performed to investigate the genotype frequency of NA antigen In Koreans by DNA typing. METHODS: Using genomic DNA extracted from venous blood of 200 Koreans, genotype of NA antigen system was determined through polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP), and the frequency was compared with previous studies. The NA genotypes of seven individuals were compared with their known phenotypes. RESULTS: The genotype frequencies of NA1+NA2-, NA1+NA2+, and NA1-NA2+ were 28.5%, 59.0%, and 12.5% respectively. The gene frequencies calculated from genotype frequencies were 0.58 and 0.42 for NA1 and NA2 respectively. The NA genotypes of seven individuals were correlated precisely with their phenotypes. CONCLUSION: The gene frequency of NA1 in Koreans was higher than that of Caucasian. The genotype frequencies of NA antigen in Koreans were similar to those of the Japanese and Chinese. This study will serve as a basic data for the study of the patients with diseases associated with granulocyte-specific antigens in Koreans.
Acute Lung Injury ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Autoantibodies ; DNA ; DNA Fingerprinting ; Eosinophils ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype* ; Humans ; Isoantibodies ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Serotyping

Fungi have been recognized as a significant cause of external otitis and it may be the primary pathogen or be part of a mixed infection. In the immunocompromised host, fungus is capable of producing infection in inner ear or middle ear. Otomycoses are most frequently caused by Aspergillus spp. and Candida sap. There are few reports that Aspergillus species other than A. fumigatus, A. niger and f. flavus have caused chronic otitis media. We report two cases of chronic otitis media caused by Aspergillus ferrous in Korea. One case is a 7-year-old girl who had recurrent serous otorrhea and otalgia for 4 years, was reattended otolaryngology clinics with otorrhea of 3 days durations and another is a 6-year-old girl who had serous otorrhea for 2 months and 3 day fever, was attended otolaryngology clinics with them. Microscopic appearance and colony morphology from ear discharge cultures revealed A. ferrous. The infection responded well to topical ketoconazole therapy. This report should help to raise medical personnel's awareness of such human opportunistic fungal ear infections.
Aspergillus* ; Candida ; Child ; Coinfection ; Ear ; Ear, Inner ; Ear, Middle ; Earache ; Female ; Fever ; Fungi ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Ketoconazole ; Korea ; Niger ; Otitis Externa ; Otitis Media* ; Otitis* ; Otolaryngology ; Otomycosis

BACKGROUND: Identification of specific antinuclear antibodies is useful for the diagnosis, subclassification and determination of prognosis in autoimmune disorders. In many diseases, multiple autoantibodies are detected, and simultaneous detection of multiple autoantibodies has been shown to be useful. Recently, a commercial kit (EL-ANA/6 profiles, TheraTest Laboratories, USA) losing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method for detection of six specific autoantibodies is avallable. In this study, we attempted to compare the results of EL-ANA/6 profiles with those of routinely used methods and evaluated usefulness of EL-ANA/6 profiles. METHODS: EL-ANA/6 profiles were performed with 28 sera which were positive for fluorescent antinuclear antibody (FANA) Simultaneously we tested anti-dsDNA antibodies with immnofluorescent (If) method and anti-Sm, anti-RNP, anti-SSA and anti-SSB antibodies with double immunodiffusion (DID). To evaluate specificity, EL- ANA/6 profiles tests were performed on 10 sera from healthy blood donors. RESULTS: Ten sera of healthly blood donors were all negative for EL-ANA/6 pro biles. In the results of EL-ANA/6 profiles on sera positive for FANA, the concordance rate with IF method for the anti-dsDNA antibodies was 89.3% (25/28) and the con- cordance rates with DID for anti-Sm, anti-Sm/RNP, anti-SSA and anti-SSB antibodies were 85.7% (24/28), 82.1% (23/28), 92.9% (26/28) and 82.1% (23/28), respectively. In 16 discordant settings, thirteen (81.3%) were negative on DID and positive on EL-ANA/6 profiles. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the EL-ANA/6 profiles show good concordance rates with If and DID. EL-ANA/6 profiles showing quantitative profiles for multiple autoantibodies is useful for diagnosis and tool)ow-up of autoimmune disorders.
Antibodies ; Antibodies, Antinuclear* ; Autoantibodies ; Bile ; Blood Donors ; Diagnosis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Immunodiffusion ; Prognosis ; Sensitivity and Specificity