Among pancreatic cystic lesions, mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas are precursor lesions of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. IPMN is characterized by intraductal papillary proliferation of mucin-producing epithelial cells that exhibit various degrees of dysplasia. IPMN is classified as the main duct type (MD-IPMN), mixed type and the branch duct type (BD-IPMN) according to the location of involvement, and into four histological subtypes (gastric, intestinal, pancreatobiliary, and oncocytic) according to the histomorphological and immunohistochemical characteristics. Most patients with MD-IPMN undergo tumor resection due to moderate to high risk of malignancy. Patients with BD-IPMN who do not undergo resection may develop malignant change, and concomitant separate pancreatic cancer occurs in 2-10% of patients with IPMN. Patients with BD-IPMN who do not undergo resection should do careful surveillance including endoscopic ultrasound sonography for the early detection of malignant change and separate pancreatic cancer.

Inflammation is the immune system's response to infection and injury-related disorders, and is related to pro-inflammatory factors (NO, PGE2, cytokines, etc.) produced by inflammatory cells. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a representative inflammatory skin disease that is characterized by increasing serum levels of inflammatory chemokines, including macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC). Carpinus tschonoskii is a member of the genus Carpinus. We investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of C. tschonoskii by studying the effects of various solvent fractions prepared from its leaves on inflammatory mediators in HaCaT and RAW264.7 cells. We found that the chloroform fraction of C. tschonoskii inhibited MDC at both the protein and mRNA levels in HaCaT cells, acting via the inhibition of STAT1 in the IFN-gamma signaling pathway. In addition, the chloroform fraction significantly suppressed the expression of inflammatory factors induced by lipopolysaccharide stimulation, except COX-2 and TNF-alpha. These results suggest that the chloroform fraction of C. tschonoskii leaves may include a component with potential anti-inflammatory activity.
Betulaceae ; Chemokine CCL22 ; Chemokines ; Chloroform ; Cytokines ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Dinoprostone ; Inflammation ; Inflammation Mediators ; Keratinocytes ; Macrophages ; RNA, Messenger ; Skin Diseases ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

PURPOSE: It has been suggested that the exposure to aeroallergens during early infancy after birth is important in the subsequent development of sensitization and allergic diseases. In Korea, the level of house dust mites as one of the important aeroallergens is known to be the highest in autumn. The aim of this study was to test whether the distribution of month of birth bears a relationship to the presence of mite sensitization in children with respiratory allergy. METHODS: Skin prick tests and methacholine provocation tests were performed on 1,327 patients with chronic respiratory symptoms who visited Seoul National University Children's Hospital from January 1995 to May 2002. An analysis of patients' month of birth distribution according to the presence of mite sensitization was performed. RESULTS: Atopic subjects who had at least one positive skin test numbered 864(65.1%); and non- atopic subjects numbered 463(34.9%). Among atopic subjects, 787(59.3%) had positive skin tests to mites and 77(5.8%) had positive skin test only to minor allergens. A significantly greater than expected number of mite atopic subjects were born in the months between August and November(P=0.03), however, the birth month of non-atopic subjects didn't show a consistent seasonal preference. Asthma patients numbered 543(40.9%). Among these, atopic asthmatics numbered 421(77.5%) and non-atopic asthmatics, 122(22.5%). Dust-mite atopic asthmatics numbered 387(91.9%) out of 421 atopic asthmatics. Dust-mite atopic asthmatics were born significantly higher in the season lasting from August to November in comparison to non-atopic asthmatics(P=0.002). CONCLUSION: Month of birth seems to be related with sensitization to allergens. Our results show that August to November is the risk period for the development of mite sensitization in Korea.
Allergens ; Asthma ; Child* ; Dust* ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Korea ; Methacholine Chloride ; Mites ; Parturition* ; Pyroglyphidae* ; Seasons ; Seoul ; Skin ; Skin Tests

Postpartum ovarian vein thrombosis has been thought to be a rare disease of which clinical finding is not accurate. Most of postpartum ovarian vein thrombosis presents as symptoms consisting of fever, lower abdominal pain, abdominal mass. If the symptom does not response even with intravenous antibiotics therapy or diagnosis is inaccurate, a ultrasound or a CT scan should be obtained for diagnosis. We report a case of postpartum ovarian vein thrombosis after cesarean section diagnosed and treated, with a brief review of literatures.
Abdominal Pain ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cesarean Section* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fever ; Postpartum Period* ; Pregnancy ; Rare Diseases ; Thrombosis* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography ; Veins*

Pulmonary involvement of salmonella infection is very rare and only one case of salmonella empyema had been reported in Korea. A 53-year-old woman presented to Kyung Hee Medical Center with 2-months history of left chest pain and mild fever. 3 months prior to admission, the patient was taken to laparoscopic laser cholecystectomy due to gall stone in other hospital. Chest X-ray taken on admission day showed pneumonic infiltration at left lower lung field with pleural effusion. Salmonella Group B was identified from the cultures of stool, blood, and pleural fluid. After consecutive therapy with two weeks of ceftriaxone and three weeks of ciprofloxacin combined with repeated pleural aspirations, the patient was recovered and discharged. But she was readmitted two months later due to fever and generalized malaise. The result of blood culture showed growth of Salminella Group B. The excisional biopsy of right supraclavicular lymph node disclosed necrotizing lymphadenitis. She was recovered clinically and no more bacteremia occurred after two weeks of ciprofloxacin therapy. We present very rare case of empyema due to salmonella infection and review the pertinent literature.
Aspirations (Psychology) ; Bacteremia ; Biopsy ; Ceftriaxone ; Chest Pain ; Cholecystectomy ; Ciprofloxacin ; Empyema* ; Female ; Fever ; Gallstones ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphadenitis ; Middle Aged ; Pleural Effusion ; Salmonella Infections ; Salmonella* ; Thorax

OBJECTIVE: Gout is one of the most common forms of inflammatory arthritides among men, which is caused primarily by chronic hyperuricemia. Although pharmacological therapy is the mainstay treatment to manage gout, limiting the consumption of dietary purine is also important. Several epidemiological studies have reported that alcohol consumption is closely related to hyperuricemia and gout. The objective of this study was to determine the purine content in common Korean alcoholic beverages using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to provide a dietary guideline for those with hyperuricemia or gout. METHODS: Thirty-five alcoholic beverages were analyzed. Blindly labeled samples of each alcoholic beverage were degassed and frozen. The sample preparation prior to HPLC followed the methods of Japanese researchers. HPLC was performed to analyze adenine, guanine, hypoxanthine, and xanthine content in the alcoholic beverages. RESULTS: The standard curves were linear for all purines. Purine contents were as follows: beer (42.26~146.39 micromol/L, n=12), medicinal wine (8.2 and 40.41 micromol/L, n=2), rice wine (13.19 micromol/L), Makgeolri (11.71 and 24.72 micromol/L, n=2), red wine (0, 6.03, and 17.9 micromol/L, n=3). No purines were found in fruit wine (n=2), Kaoliang (n=1), white wine (n=1), or distilled alcoholic beverages, such as soju (n=10) or whiskey (n=1). CONCLUSION: Among popular Korean alcoholic beverages, beer contained a considerable amount of purines, whereas distilled alcoholic beverages did not. Patients with either gout or hyperuricemia should avoid alcoholic beverages, especially those containing large amounts of purines.
Adenine ; Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholic Beverages ; Alcoholics ; Arthritis ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Beer ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Fruit ; Gout ; Guanine ; Humans ; Hyperuricemia ; Hypoxanthine ; Male ; Purines ; Wine ; Xanthine

Background: A considerable proportion of patients warranting total knee arthroplasty (TKA) have night pain, neuropathic pain, and/or depressive disorder, which may not be resolved by TKA. This prospective, longitudinal cohort study aimed to document the prevalence of night pain, neuropathic pain, and depressive disorder in patients with advanced knee osteoarthritis undergoing TKA and to determine whether the specific coexisting pain and/or disorder at the time of TKA adversely affected postoperative outcomes. Methods: In this study, 148 patients undergoing TKA were longitudinally evaluated. The presence of night pain, neuropathic pain (determined using Douleur Neuropathique 4 [DN4]) and depressive disorder (determined using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]) was determined before and 6 weeks, 3 months and 1 year after TKA. In addition, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) scores were assessed before and 1 year after TKA. Potential associations of night pain, neuropathic pain, and/or depressive disorder with pre- and postoperative WOMAC and EQ-5D scores were examined in subgroup analyses. Results: Preoperatively, 72% (n = 106) of patients reported night pain, and the prevalences of neuropathic pain and depressive disorder were 15% and 17%, respectively. Preoperatively, compared with patients without night pain, those with night pain had significantly poorer preoperative WOMAC scores, but no significant difference was seen between groups 1 year after TKA. Preoperatively, the WOMAC, EQ-5D, and EQ-5D health scores of patients with neuropathic pain were not significantly different from those of patients without neuropathic pain, and there was no difference in clinical outcome scores 1 year after TKA between these groups. Preoperatively, the patients with depressive disorder showed significantly poorer preoperative WOMAC, EQ-5D, and EQ-5D health scores than those without depressive disorder, but no significant differences in scores were observed 1 year after TKA between these groups. Conclusion This study revealed a considerable prevalence of night pain, neuropathic pain, and depressive disorder in patients undergoing TKA and that patients with these specific conditions reported poorer functional and quality of life scores preoperatively. However, such adverse effects disappeared after TKA. Our study findings suggest that TKA can provide satisfactory outcomes for patients with these specific conditions.

We aimed to review the current data composition of the Korean Tuberculosis and Post-Tuberculosis Cohort, which was constructed by linking the Korean Tuberculosis Surveillance System (KNTSS; established and operated by the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency since 2000) and the National Health Information Database (NHID; established by the National Health Insurance Service in 2012). The following data were linked: KNTSS data pertaining to patients diagnosed with tuberculosis between 2011 and 2018, NHID data of patients with a history of tuberculosis and related diseases between 2006 and 2018, and data (obtained from the Statistics Korea database) on causes of death. Data from 300 117 tuberculosis patients (177 206 men and 122 911 women) were linked. The rate of treatment success for new cases was highest in 2015 (86.7%), with a gradual decrease thereafter. The treatment success rate for previously treated cases showed an increasing trend until 2014 (79.0%) and decreased thereafter. In total, 53 906 deaths were confirmed among tuberculosis patients included in the cohort. The Korean Tuberculosis and Post-Tuberculosis Cohort can be used to analyze different measurement variables in an integrated manner depending on the data source. Therefore, these cohort data can be used in future epidemiological studies and research on policy-effect analysis, treatment outcome analysis, and health-related behaviors such as treatment discontinuation.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by a marked infiltration of ecsinophils in the bronchial mucosa. Asthmatic bronchial muosa produces many factors described as king chernotaetic for inflammatory cells. IL-5, RANTES, and MCP-1 alpha are the chemotactic factors for eosinophils, but their roles are controversiaL Recently eotaxin that is a potent eosinophil chernoattracttnt cytokine was detected in a guinea-pig model of allergic airway inflammation, and human eotaxin was cloned. Eotaxin is a specific chemoattractant for eosinophils, but its role in asthma is not confirmed. We examined the in vivo expression of a,taxin in bronchi of asthmatic patients. METHODS: 11 asthmatics and 2 normal controls were enrolled. All subjects were underwent brcnchcscopy with bronchial biopsies in 2nd or 3rd carina. RNA extraction from biopsy samples was done by acid-guanidium method. Semi-quantitaive RT-PCR was done for evaluation of eotaxin mRNA expression. The extent of eosinophil infiltrartion was evaluated by counting the eosinophils in submucosa in HPF of microscope. RESULTS: Eotaxin mRNA expressed in symptomatic, uncontrolled asthma. Steroid inhibited expression of eotaxin mRNA in asthma. Expression of eotaxin mRNA correlated with eosinohil infiltration in bronchial tissues. CONCLUISON: Expression of eotaxin mRNA increases in uncontrolled asthma and eotaxin is involved in the recruitment of eosinophils.
Asthma* ; Biopsy ; Bronchi ; Chemokine CCL5 ; Chemotactic Factors ; Clone Cells ; Eosinophils ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-5 ; Mucous Membrane* ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger*