Immunohistochemical analysis of 24 paraffin-embedded osteosarcomas was studied to evaluate the expression of simple cytokeratin, basal cytokeratin and epithelial membrane antigen(EMA) according to the histologic subtypes and anatomical locations. Mean age of the patients was 18 years. Anatomical locations of the tumors were femur(8), tibia(10), humerus(4), lumbar spine(1), and zygomatic arch(1). Histologic subtypes included osteoblastic(14), fibroblastic(4), chondroblastic(4), epithelioid(1), and mixed osteoblastic and fibroblastic(1). All were positive in the immunohistochemical stain for vimentin. The expression of cytokeratin and/or EMA was found in 10 cases(41.7%) regardless of anatomical locations and histologic subtypes. Positive immunoreaction for EMA was demonstrated in osteoblastic(5), chondroblastic(2), epithelioid(1), and mixed osteoblastic and fibroblastic(1) types. Osteoblastic (2), chondroblastic(2), and epithelioid(1) types among them also showed immunoreactivity with anti-simple cytokeratin monoclonal antibody, NCL-5D3. The expression of basal cytokeratin (NCL-LL002) was found in two osteoblastic, one chondroblastic, one epithelioid, and one mixed osteoblastic and fibroblastic types. These findings indicate that cytokeratin and EMA immunoreactivity can not be regarded as an absolute specific marker of the epithelial origin of tumor and may also occur in osteosarcoma.

No abstract available.
Animals ; Rats* ; Reperfusion*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Hypothermia* ; Rats*

Aldosterone synthase gene (CYP11B2) -344C/T polymorphism has been reported to be associated with serum aldosterone level, urinary aldosterone excretion, blood pressure, and left ventricular size and mass. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation between CYP11B2 polymorphism and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the Korean population and the association with CYP11B2 polymorphism and cardiovascular morbidity in ESRD patients on hemodialysis. Genotyping was performed in 134 control subjects and 271 ESRD patients for CYP11B2 polymorphism using polymerase chain reaction through subsequent cleavage with restriction enzyme. Also current blood pressure, demographic, anthropometric and biochemical variables were investigated. The genotype distribution did not differ between ESRD patients and controls and there were no significant differences in blood pressure, use of antihypertensive medication, left ventricular hypertrophy and cardiovascular disease among the three genotypes in ESRD patients on hemodialysis. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that CYP11B2 polymorphism may be associated with prevalence of ESRD and suggest that CYP11B2 polymorphism may not be a genetic marker for cardiovascular morbidity in Korean ESRD patients.
Aldosterone ; Aldosterone Synthase ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Genetic Markers ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Prevalence ; Renal Dialysis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dietary habits, nutritional status, and serum copper and zinc concentrations of adolescent athletes. 50 high school adolescent athletes (29 male, 21 female) took part in physical education high school and 47 high school adolescent non-athletes (21 male, 26 female) in general high school. Questionnaires, anthropometric measurements, 24-hour dietary recalls and blood analysis were conducted. In the males, the mean height, weight and body fat percents of athletes and non-athletes were 174.0/172.9 cm, 67.4/68.3 kg, and 8.9/20.0% (p < 0.001) respectively. In the females, the mean height, weight and body fat percents of athletes and non-athletes were 163.7/159.3 cm (p < 0.01), 58.7/55.7 kg (p < 0.05), and 18.6/30.1% (p < 0.001) respectively. In both male and female athletes, intakes of animal fat were significantly higher and intakes of vitamin C were significantly lower than those of non-athletes. There was no significantly difference in zinc and copper intakes between athlete and non-athlete groups. The average serum zinc level of male athletes was significantly lower than that of male non-athlete. The average serum copper levels of male and female athletes were significantly lower than those of male and female non-athletes. Based on these results, exercise may effect on zinc and copper utilization of adolescent. Further studies on zinc and copper nutrition of adolescent athletes were needed to understand more mineral nutrition and exercise.
Adipose Tissue ; Adolescent* ; Animals ; Ascorbic Acid ; Athletes* ; Copper* ; Female ; Food Habits* ; Humans ; Male ; Nutritional Status ; Physical Education and Training ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Zinc*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Interleukin-21 receptor (IL-21R) gene polymorphism is related with the development of systemic vasculitis. In this study, we investigated the polymorphisms of IL-21R gene in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We genotyped the promoter region of IL-21R gene (-2500 bp to +1 bp) in 100 patients with KD and 100 healthy controls. All study subjects were Korean. We designed five pairs of primers and performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct sequencing. We analyzed whole promoter sequences of 200 individuals with comparison to reference sequences of IL-21R gene (NG_012222.1/NC_000016.9). RESULTS: We found five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of which minor allele frequency (MAF) >0.01 in the promoter region of IL-21R gene. Those are -1681 G>T (chromosome site 27411802), -379 G>A (27413104), -332 G>C (27413151, rs2214537), -237 A>T (27413246), and -53 G>A (27413430). There is no significant difference in MAF of each SNP between patients with KD and healthy controls except -237 A>T. Twenty five patients with KD had more than 1 SNP in contrast to only seven healthy controls had. The patients with KD have significantly more IL-21R gene polymorphisms than controls (odds ratio: 3.0, 95% confidence interval: 1.6-5.6, p=0.0005). There was no significant correlation between IL-21R gene polymorphisms and the serum level of IL-21. The serum level of total IgE was not significantly correlated with the presence of IL-21R gene polymorphisms. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the genetic susceptibility profile for KD may include IL-21R gene.
Gene Frequency ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Interleukins ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Receptors, Interleukin-21 ; Systemic Vasculitis

This study is a multi-center clinical study, which aimed to compare CA125, HE4, and risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA) in predicting epithelial ovarian cancer of Korean women with a pelvic mass. Prospectively, serum from 90 Korean women with ovarian mass was obtained prior to surgery. For control group, serum from 79 normal populations without ovarian mass was also obtained. The HE4 and CA125 data were registered and evaluated separately and ROMA was calculated for each sample. Total 67 benign tumors and 23 ovarian cancers were evaluated. Median serum levels of HE4 and CA125, and ROMA score were significantly higher in patients with ovarian cancer than those with benign ovarian tumor and normal population (P < 0.001). In ROC curve analysis for women with a pelvic mass, area under the curve (AUC) for HE4 and ROMA was higher than CA125. Statistical differences in each study compared to CA125 were marginal (P compared to CA125; 0.082 for HE4 and 0.069 for ROMA). Sub-analysis revealed that AUC for HE4 and ROMA was higher than AUC for CA125 in post-menopausal women with a pelvic mass, but there were no statistically significant differences (P compared to CA125; 0.160 for HE4 and 0.127 for ROMA). Our data suggested that both HE4 and ROMA score showed better performance than CA125 for the detection of ovarian cancer in women with a pelvic mass. HE4 and ROMA can be a useful independent diagnostic marker for epithelial ovarian cancer in Korean women.
Algorithms ; Area Under Curve ; Biomarkers, Tumor/blood ; CA-125 Antigen/*blood ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial/*blood/*diagnosis ; Ovarian Neoplasms/*blood/*diagnosis ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prospective Studies ; Proteins/*metabolism ; ROC Curve ; Reference Values ; Republic of Korea

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is known to increase the risk of various cardiometabolic diseases and in-sulin resistance (IR) has known to have central role in the development of MS. Many surrogate indices of IR have been proposed and the detection of MS might be a suitable model for assessing the accuracy of surrogate indices. The aims of our study are to invest the most appropriate index by assessment of the diagnostic capacity of IR among each surrogate index and identifying cut-off values for discriminating uncomplicated MS in Korean adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed, assessing 294 Korean adults, 85 of whom were diagnosed with uncomplicated MS. The sensitivities and specificities of five surrogate IR indices were compared to discriminate MS from healthy subjects; these included fasting serum insulin, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance index, quantitative insulin sensitivity check index, McAuley index, and Disse index. Correlations between each index value were assessed using Pearson's and Spearman's correlation methods. RESULTS: The McAuley index showed the highest area under the curve (0.85), specificity (86.12%), accuracy (82.31%), positive predictive value (68.13%), and negative predictive value (88.67%) to distinguish MS, with a cut-off point of 5.3 defined. Correlation coefficients of the five indices showed that the McAuley index had the strongest correlation with IR. CONCLUSION: The McAuley index showed the best accuracy in the detection of MS as a surrogate marker of IR. To establish more effective and accurate standards of measuring IR, comprehensive and multi-scaled studies are required.
Adult* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Biomarkers* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Fasting ; Healthy Volunteers ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Insulin Resistance* ; Insulin* ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Tuberculosis remains as a major public health problem worldwide. In addition to classic pulmonary tuberculosis, tuberculosis may sometimes present atypically. In the case of atypical tuberculosis, the unusual sites and properties that mimic other diseases can lead to a misdiagnosis and therapeutic delay. Abdominal and pharyngeal tuberculosis are uncommon extrapulmonary manifestations of tuberculosis. To the best of our knowledge, a combination of abdominal and pharyngeal tuberculosis with endobronchial tuberculosis has not been reported. We report a case of concurrent abdominal and pharyngeal tuberculosis in a patient with chronic endobronchial tuberculosis mimicking a metastatic malignancy on computed tomography and FDG-PET.
Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Public Health ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

Tuberculosis remains as a major public health problem worldwide. In addition to classic pulmonary tuberculosis, tuberculosis may sometimes present atypically. In the case of atypical tuberculosis, the unusual sites and properties that mimic other diseases can lead to a misdiagnosis and therapeutic delay. Abdominal and pharyngeal tuberculosis are uncommon extrapulmonary manifestations of tuberculosis. To the best of our knowledge, a combination of abdominal and pharyngeal tuberculosis with endobronchial tuberculosis has not been reported. We report a case of concurrent abdominal and pharyngeal tuberculosis in a patient with chronic endobronchial tuberculosis mimicking a metastatic malignancy on computed tomography and FDG-PET.
Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Public Health ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary