Epidermolysis bullosa aimplex is a dominantly inherited syndrome characterized by the dissolution of the basal epidermal cells with mechanical stress. A 23 year-old man developed recurrent bullous eruptions with pain on hands, feet and face since childhood, which healed spontaneously without scarring. Grandmother of his father's side, father, aunt of his father's side and two of his three brothers had suffered similar skin lesions. Light and electron microscopy showed degeneration and bulla formation in the basal cell layer of epidermis and intact basement membrane attached to dermis.
Basement Membrane ; Cicatrix ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Epidermolysis Bullosa Simplex* ; Epidermolysis Bullosa* ; Fathers ; Foot ; Hand ; Humans ; Microscopy, Electron ; Siblings ; Skin ; Stress, Mechanical ; Young Adult

Acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis, which was introduced to the dermatologic literature by Sweet in 1964, is characterized by persistent high fever and preceding upper respiratory infection like symptoms, polymorphonuclear leukocytosis in the peripheral blood, raised painful plaques on the limbs, face and neck, histologically a dense dermal infiltration with polymorphonuclear leukocyte, dramatic response to corticosteroids, and the absence of scarring. Case 1 was a 35 year-old female who had suffered from malaise, sore throat, and fever 3 to 7 days before the each episode of the cutaneous manifestation. Painful, red, raised, well-demarcated plaques appeared on the face with tendency of recurrences, and was accompanied by a few, small, shallow ulcerations on the lower Iip and tongue, and conjunctivitis. Polymorphonuclear leukocytosis (10400 with 65%, 11600 with 75%) and elevated ESR(23mm/hr, 19mm/hr) were found on two occasions. Histologically a dense inflammatory cell infiltration composed predominantly of polymorphonuclear neutrophils, small round cells, and a few eosinophils were seen in the dermis and subcutis, especially around the dermal capillaries. Alao there were many nuclear debris and marked endothelial cell proliferations. (countinued...)
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Adult ; Capillaries ; Cicatrix ; Conjunctivitis ; Dermis ; Endothelial Cells ; Eosinophils ; Extremities ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Leukocytosis ; Neck ; Neutrophils ; Pharyngitis ; Recurrence ; Sweet Syndrome* ; Tongue ; Ulcer

Malignant schwannoma is a rare spindle cell tumor derived from schwann cells. There is no significant age or sex distribution. The typical clinical presentation is that of a painless slowly enlarging soft tissue mass, occasionally associated with a peripheral neuropathy. Tumors tend to recur lacally and eventually metastasize, commonly to the lung. We report a case of solitary malignant schwannoma with metastsis to the regional axillary lymph nodes. The patient is a 50-year-old male who had the recurred tumor on right upper arm and child fist sized palpable painless mass on right axilla, which were confirmed to be malignant schwannoma and. lymph node metastasis. But we could not find any evidence of pulmonary metastasis. Tumor and metastatic lymph nodes were widely excised and skin graft was performed.
Arm ; Axilla ; Child ; Humans ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Neurilemmoma* ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Schwann Cells ; Sex Distribution ; Skin ; Transplants

The Parasitological investigation on the encysted metacercariae in brackish water fish, Tribolodon taczanowskii Steindachner , in the downstream of Hyungsan river which is located in Kyungpook province of Korea, were carried out, and the following results were obtained. Metacercariae of Metagonimus species were found in seventy five fishes (40.5 percent) out of 185 examined. Parasitic frequencies of the encysted matacercaria of Metagonimus species in Tribolodon taczanowskii were 23.2 percent (43 out of 185) in the scale, 7.0 percent (13 out of 185) in the gill, and 10.3 percent (19 out of 185) in the flesh. The number of the metacercaria in the scale, gill and flesh were fewer than that of the others. The worms were identified as Metagonimus yokogawai Katsurada, 1912 by morphological studies on the adults and eggs, and compared with prereported Metagonimus species.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Metagonimus yokogawai ; epidemiology ; Tribolodon taczanowskii

No abstract available.
Acrodermatitis* ; Humans ; Siblings* ; Zinc Sulfate* ; Zinc*

No abstract available.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Pancreas*

Transitional cell carcinoma(TCC) of the urinary bladder shows marked heterogeneity in biological behaviors. Evidence has accumulated that biological markers may provide significant information to predict the potential aggressiveness of TCC. We have assessed the expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins in 56 cases of TCC to investigate the prognostic significance of differential expression of these oncoproteins using an immunohistochemical method. We analysed the expression patterns of these oncoproteins according to tumor stage and grade. And we assessed the probability of progression-free survival in stage T1 tumors according to their expressions. Positive rates of EGF-R (>+3 staining intensity), c-erbB-2 (intense membrane staining) and p53 proteins (>20% positive cells) were 73.2%, 37.5% and 42.9%, respectively. Invasive tumors had significantly higher positive rates of all three factors than did superficial tumors (p<0.005 for EGF-R and c-erbB-2, p<0.05 for p53). High grade tumors had significantly higher positive rates of c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins (p<0.005). In superficial tumors, T1 tumors had higher positive rate of p53 protein compared with Ta tumors (p<0.05). Twelve cases of superficial tumors (34.3%) were positive for EGF-R and negative for c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins. Nine cases of superficial tumors(25.7%) were negative for all three factors. In invasive tumors, however, 42.5% of the cases were positive for all three factors. The overexpression of p53 protein was the only useful marker to predict the rapid progression in stage T1 tumors (p<0.05, log-rank test). These results suggest that the differential overexpression of EGF-R, c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins could be useful to depict tumor aggressiveness of TCC of the urinary bladder. And, the overexpression of a p53 protein may be a useful marker to predict the possibility of rapid progression in stage T1 tumors.
Biomarkers ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Membranes ; Oncogene Proteins ; Population Characteristics ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Staphylococcal Protein A* ; Urinary Bladder*

"Background: In using the Double-lumen tube (DLT), knowing the minimum bronchial cuff volume (MCV) for an effective air-tight seal will be useful; to provide a collapse of the lung; and to avoid pressure damage. The aims of the present study are thus three-fold: to measure the MCV; to measure the diameter of left main bronchus (LMBD); and to prove any relationships between two parameters. METHODS: One hundred men and forty women who needed intubation of left-sided DLT were enrolled in this study. 37 Fr DLTs were used in male patients, and 35 Fr DLTs were used in female patients. We evaluated the MCV by air bubble method and measured the LMBD in chest PA. We also evaluated the pressure/volume characteristics of the bronchial cuffs by control inflator. RESULTS: 29 patients of 100 patients (29%) exhibited persistent air leakage in 2.5 ml cuff volume in male patients (group of MCV >2.5). On the contrary, 18 patients of 40 patients (45%) did not require any cuff volume in female patients (group of MCV 0). The mean LMBD were 13.23 1.45 mm in male and 11.09 0.96 mm in female. There were significant positive correlations between MCV and LMBD in both sex and their respective correlation coefficients were 0.264 (P=0.008) in male and 0.484 (P=0.002) in female. The equations of linear regression were: LMBD = 12.394 0.429xMCV in male, LMBD = 10.725 0.438xMCV in female. CONCLUSIONS: The MCV of the brochial cuffs in left-sided DLTs has significant relationships with the LMBD measured in chest PA.
Bronchi ; Female ; Humans ; Intubation ; Linear Models ; Lung ; Male ; Thorax

The protein encoded by the Bcl-2 proto-oncogene has been shown to prolong cell survival by preventing programmed cell death (apoptosis). Recent work has elucidated Bcl-2 expression in many solid tumors including bladder tumor. Because there exists some controversy as to the prognostic significance of Bcl-2 in bladder cancer, we examined the cellular expression of Bcl-2 protein using immunohistochemistry in tumor samples from 89 patients with bladder cancer and determined whether expression of Bcl-2 has prognostic significance in bladder cancer. We found Positive staining for Bcl-2 (>5% positive cells) in 41 patients (40%). Bcl-2 expression was strongly correlated with tumor stage and grade (superficial vs. invasive, p<0.025; grade II vs. grade III&IV, p<0.005). In superficial tumors, Bcl-2 expression was not correlated with disease- free survival (p>O.l) and weakly correlated with progression-free survival (p In invasive tumors, Bcl-2 expression was correlated with shortened actuarial survival (p<0.025). We assessed the effect of Bcl-2 status on the response to chemotherapy or radiotherapy in 25 patients with invasive tumor. The patients with Bcl-2 positive tumors had significantly higher response rate than with Bcl-2 negative tumors (p<0.05). These results suggest that Bcl-2 protein plays an important role in tumorigenesis of bladder cancer and that Bcl-2 expression is not superior to tumor stage and grade in assessing the prognosis of patients with superficial tumors. However, Bcl-2 expression is associated with shortened actuarial survival in the patients with invasive tumor, which may be partly due to chemosensitivity or radiosensitivity in relation to the apoptotic process.
Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Cell Death ; Cell Survival ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Prognosis ; Proto-Oncogenes ; Radiation Tolerance ; Radiotherapy ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder*

OBJECTIVE: The present study was performed to investigate whether apoptosis occur in human embryos by annexin staining and detect the expression of Fas, Fas-ligand (FasL), Bax, and Bcl-2 in human fragmented embryos derived from IVF-ET by immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using annexin staining, immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis on normal and fragmented embryos, we were able to detect apoptotsis and apoptotic gene products in fragmented embryos. RESULTS: Phosphatidylserine (PS) translocation, the marker for apoptosis, were detected frequently in fragmented embryos. Bcl-2 and Bax protein were detected in both fragmented and non-fragmented embryos. When fragmented embryos compared to normal embryos, immunofluorescent intensity of Bcl-2 tended to be lower in fragmented embryos. Bax gene expression increased in the fragmented embryos compared to the normal embryos. This result supports a model in which the molar ratio of Bcl-2 to Bax determines whether apoptosis induced or inhibited in human embryo. Fas was highly expressed in human preimplantation embryos but not FasL. It suggests that embryo may undergo apoptosis by binding with FasL produced by follicular or immune cells. CONCLUSION: The over expression of Bax and Fas will trigger apoptosis to lead embryo fragmentation and change embryo to be nonviable.
Apoptosis* ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; Blastocyst ; Blotting, Western ; Embryonic Structures* ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Gene Expression ; Humans* ; Molar