This is to report two unusual cases of plasma cell myeloma, in each respective case presumptive diagnosis of chronic inflammatory disease of cervical spine and tuberculosis of 11th thoracic vertebra was made.
Diagnosis ; Multiple Myeloma ; Plasma Cells ; Plasma ; Spine ; Tuberculosis

Aneurysm of the superficial temporal artery is rare. We reviewed seven cases of aneurysm of the superficial temporal artery, which were confirmed surgically and angiographically. The results were as follows: The most common site of aneurysm was left superficial temporal artery, major feeding artery was anterior branch of superficial temporal artery, mean diameter was 7.8mm×12.6mm, and all aneurysms showed lobulated margin with intraluminal filling defects.
Aneurysm* ; Arteries ; Temporal Arteries*

A 26-year-old man presented with a 7-month history of hyperkeratotic skin lesions on both elbows and heels. He also had marked subungal hyperkeratosis and splinter hemorrhage on the finger and toe nails. A biopsy specimen from the elbow revealed lichenoid re-actions with areas of epidermal atrophy with alternating acanthosis and foci of parakeratosis. We made a diagnosis of keratosis lichenoides chronica based on the characteristic clinicopathologic findings. We have treated the patient with etretinate, but only the skin lesions on the elbows and heels responded to treatment.
Acitretin ; Adult ; Atrophy ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Elbow ; Etretinate ; Fingers ; Heel ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Keratosis* ; Nails, Malformed* ; Parakeratosis ; Skin ; Toes

The authors experienced a case of gastroduodenojejunal trichobezoar detected by ultrasongraphic examination. We thought that tricholbezoar had relatively specific ultrasonographic findings such as a broad hyperechogenic superficial bandlike rim with a complete posteior sonic shadowing and multiple linear echogenic strands on its surface representing hairs, which were better seen after water ingestion. So we were able to get the correct diagnosis of trichobezoar prior to conventional barium studies in a patient who could not be suspected suspected clinically.
Barium ; Bezoars* ; Diagnosis ; Eating ; Hair ; Humans ; Shadowing (Histology) ; Ultrasonography* ; Water

In view of the potential of replicase protein as a diagnostic reagent for human caliciviruses (HuCVs), we have cloned and over-expressed this gene from the Snow Mountain-like Korean strains in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase (GST, and described the preliminary antigenic characterization of the recombinant products. Each 470bp fragment corresponding to highly conserved region of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase was generated by RT-PCR from stools of two diarrheal children, cloned in pMOSBlue T-vector, and subcloned between the EcoRI and SalI restriction sites of pGEX-47-3, a GST gene fusion vector, yielding pGCVpol. This construct expressed a Snow Mountain-like HuCV replicate under the control of the IPTG-inducible pac promoter. An extract prepared by sonication of the E. coli cell inclusion bodies bearing pGCVpol products was purified and analyzed by SDS-PAGE. After Coomassie blue staining, it was shown that the recombinant replicase migrated on the gels with an approximate molecular mass of 46.5 kDa, that was subsequently cleaved into a 26 kDa GST fragment and a 20.5 kDa replicase protein upon digestion with thrombin protease. The replicase was recognized on immunoblotting with the sera from symptomatic children with the HuCV-associated diarrhea but not by asymptomatic sera from adults. The results presented the first biological activity of individually expressed HuCV replicase subunit and provided important reagents for diagnosis of HuCV infection.
Adult ; Child ; Clone Cells ; Diagnosis ; Diarrhea ; Digestion ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Escherichia coli ; Gels ; Gene Fusion ; Glutathione Transferase ; Humans ; Immunoblotting ; Inclusion Bodies ; Indicators and Reagents ; RNA Replicase ; Snow* ; Sonication ; Staphylococcal Protein A ; Thrombin

This is to report a case of the homogeneous transplantation of the single articular surface and its supporting bone of the proximal one third of the humerus and humeral head for the treatment of the giant cell tumor involving the proximal humerus.
Giant Cell Tumors ; Humeral Head ; Humerus

A very rare case of multifocal eosinophilic granuloma without extraskeletal involvement in 35 year-old ma was experienced. The patient was admitted for the painful swelling of the right clavicular region and was treati with curettage and autograft of iliac bone. Five months later newly developed the pain in the trochanteric lesion left femur without fever, and also was confirmed as the same lesion. Both lesions were treated with curettage and iliac bone graft, and were followed by radiotheraphy. According to the pathological study, those lesions were confirmed as the multifocal eosinophilic granuloma.
Autografts ; Curettage ; Eosinophilic Granuloma ; Eosinophils ; Femur ; Fever ; Humans ; Transplants

Air pollution in the traffic areas in Seoul during the winter season was studied. The average level of sulfur dioxide concentration was 0.24 ppm through the day. Lowest was 0.14 ppm at 2~4 P.M. when the highest vertical temperature gradient was indicated, and 0.33~0.29 ppm during 10 P.M. to 8 A.M. at night. Average level of dust was 4.65 mppcf (2.1~12.8 mppcf) and higher levels were shown at 10 A.M., 6 P.M. and 10 P.M. as 5.44, 4.73 and 5.01 mppcf respectively. The noise level in the main traffic areas was 73.5 db in the average during this survey, 75.1 db in the daytime and 65.6 db in the night (11 P.M. ~7 A.M.) in the average. Various air pollutants in auto-exhaust gases and noise of automobiles were studied, since those are main sources of nuisance in the traffic areas. Carbon monoxide in the "Corona" taxi, formaldehyde in the jeep, and carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide in the "Senara" taxi were measured respectively in high concentration and there was no significant difference in other gases among the various type of vehides. As regards average Overall noise level at ordinary driving speeds, heavy vehicles emitted much more noise (30 KPH) (82.2~83.5 db) than light vehicles such as taxi (40~5O KPH) (71.5-80.2 db). The noise level when starting heavy vehicles was higher 88.5 db(94.2 phon) on the average and that of light vehicles was lower 69.4 db (76.2 phon). There were two types of automobile horn noise in the octave band; one was in 1,000 cps and the other 2,000~4,000cps. The average horn noise level of automobiles was 98 db (107.8 phon), with 106 db (11.05 phon) maximum and 88.8db (99.5 phon) minimum. In the epidemiological study of CO poisoning in urban areas, there were 260 deaths out of 532 patients in 201 incidents of poisoning occurring on a total of 128 days during January 1964 to Dec. 1966. The concentration of co in the main living rooms and kitchens was detected as 58 and 112 ppm respectively, and the level of carboxyl-hemoglobin in the blood of housewives was relatively high, 11.2% on the average. In outside air maximal concentration of CO was 80 ppm in Shinchon-Dong an urban area.
*Air Pollution ; Korea ; *Noise

No abstract available.
Blood Platelets* ; Diagnosis* ; Flow Cytometry* ; Integrin beta3* ; Thrombasthenia*

OBJECTIVES: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) mutation are commonly associated with hyperhomocysteinemia, and through their defects in homocysteine metabolism, they have been implicated as a risk factor for recurrent spontaneous abortion. Recent report describe that 28-bp tandem repeat polymorphism in thymidylate synthase enhancer region (TSER) that influence enzyme activity would affect plasma homocysteine level. We have investigated the relationship between TSER genotype and plasma homocysteine level in 54 patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion. METHODS: Plasma homocysteine level was measured by fluorescent polarizing immunoassay. MTHFR mutation (C677T and A1298C) was identified by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay and TSER mutation was analyzed by PCR method. The data were analyzed using the program SAS 8.2 for Windows. RESULTS: Total homocysteine level was significantly higher in MTHFR 677TT genotype (9.80+/-3.87 mumol/L) than MTHFR 677CC genotype (8.14+/-1.74 mumol/L) in Korean patients with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (p=0.0143). However, the plasma homocysteine level was not significantly different in the MTHFR 1298AA (8.42+/-2.65 mumol/L) and 1298CC (6.09+/-0.32 mumol/L; p=0.2058) and, TSER 2R2R (8.61+/-1.68 mumol/L) and 3R3R (8.05+/-2.81 mumol/L; p=0.9319) mutant genotypes, respectively. In this study, we found the combination effects of TSER and MTHFR C677T genotypes. Plasma homocysteine levels were the highest (11.47+/-4.66 mumol/L) in individuals with TSER 3R3R (8.05+/-2.81 mumol/L) and MTHFR 677TT (9.80+/-3.87 mumol/L) genotypes. Individuals with a combination of both TSER 2R2R/2R3R and MTHFR 677CC/CT genotypes (7.69+/-1.77 mumol/L) had lower plasma homocysteine levels than TSER 2R2R (8.61+/-1.68 mumol/L) and MTHR 677CC (8.14+/-1.74 mumol/L) genotypes, respectively. The effect of MTHFR polymorphism in the homocysteine metabolism appears to be stronger than that of TSER polymorphism. CONCLUSION: Although statistically not significant, we found the elevated level of plasma homocysteine in combined genotypes with TSER and MTHFR (C677T and A1298C) in Korean patients with unexplained habitual abortion. In this study, we reported the possibility that TSER polymorphism is a genetic determinant of plasma homocysteine levels in the Korean patients as well as MTHFR C677T polymorphism. A large prospective study is needed to verify our findings.
Abortion, Habitual ; Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Female ; Genotype ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Hyperhomocysteinemia ; Immunoassay ; Metabolism ; Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2) ; Plasma* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors ; Tandem Repeat Sequences ; Thymidylate Synthase*