No abstract available.
Hirschsprung Disease* ; Hypoventilation*

Pulmonary carcinosarcoma(Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung) is a rare pulmonary malignancy, which is defined as having an admixtture of both carcinomatous and sarcomatous components. Pulmonary carcinosarcoma occurs most frequentlly in males between 50 and 80 years of age. It predominantly affects the upper lobe and/or the principal bronchi, and is associated with a history of smoking. Here, we report a case of pulmonary carcinosarcoma with a left lobe atelectasis due to an endobronchial mass in a 56-year-old male. After a left pneumonectomy, the pathologic stage was IIb (T3N0M0). Four months later, an abdominal mass was observed and exploratory laparotomy revealed metastases of the pulmonary carcinosarcoma to the pelvic cavity.
Bronchi ; Carcinosarcoma* ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pneumonectomy* ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Smoke ; Smoking

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma is a rare malignant tumor of probably histiocytic origin. It is more common in soft tissue than bone. Usually it involves metaphysis or diaphysis of long bone. Primary spinal malignant fibrous histiocytoma is exceedingly rare. Authors report a case of primary malignant fibrous histiocytoma which showed rapid spinal cord compression in thoracic spine with review of literatures.
Diaphyses ; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous* ; Spinal Cord Compression ; Spine*

The increase in size of lymph node on Ct scan is the single most important finding of lymphadenopathy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the size of mediastinal lymph nodes in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with no evidence of malignancy or current infection. CT scans of 70 patients (16 with conventional CT and 54 with high-resolution CT) were assessed for lymph node size and locations. The duration of symptoms, and the extent and patterns of the parenchymal lung disease on CT scans were correlated with lymph node enlargement. In 54 of 70 patients, more than one lymph nodes were larger than 1-1.5cm. The prevalence of mnode enlargement increased significantly with a longer duration of symptom (p=0.001), larger extent of the disease (p=0.043), and with a greater proportion of honeycomb pattern (p=0.0344). Right paratracheal, subcarinal, right tracheobronchial, and paraesophageal nodes were the most common sites of nodes enlargement. In conclusion, mediastinal lymph node enlargement is common in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and is more frequently seen in patients with a longer duration of clinical symptoms, greater extent of the disease, and with a larger proportion of honeycomb pattern.
Humans ; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis* ; Lung Diseases ; Lymph Nodes* ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Prevalence ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed*

BACKGROUND: Post remission therapy is one of the most important issues in the treatment of acute myelocytic leukemia (AML). Recently, autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) has become an accepted procedure to support high dose chemotherapy in children with AML. But collection of PBSC from small pediatric patients provides many challenges not faced when collecting from adult patients. Therefore, the efficient procedures and optimal timing to perform the leukapheresis should be decided. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the practice of PBSC mobilization and collection and establish predictors of the leukapheresis in children with AML. METHODS: From November 1995 to February 1998, PBSC mobilizations were performed in 15 patients with AML. PBSCs were mobilized by high dose of cytosine arabinoside and etoposide plus G-CSF. CBC and peripheral blood smear were performed daily after WBC nadir. Leukapheresis was started when the WBC count recovered to 1,000/microliter from myelosuppression and monocytes appeared on the peripheral blood smear. Leukapheretic products were assayed for mononuclear cells, CD34+ cells and CFU-GM colonies. Correlations between the yields of leukapheresis and patients characteristics were evaluated by Wilcoxon rank sums test and Pearson correlation analysis. RESULTS: Eighteen mobilizations were done in 15 patients. The duration of absolute neutrophil count<0.5x103/microliter and platelet count<20x103/microliter were 6 days (0~10 days) and 8 days (5~21 days) after mobilization chemotherapy, respectively. Duration of fever was 1 day, but documented septicemia was not occurred in any of the patients. A median 5 leukaphereses (range : 3~6) were undergone per patient. The WBC on the first day of the leukapheresis was 1,640/microliter (850~16,840/microliter) and percentage of monocyte on the first day of the leukapheresis was 12% (4~36%). A median 5 leukaphereses yielded median of 11.02x108 (4.5~26.42x108) MNCs/kg, 7.63x106 (0.33~42.21x106) CD34+ cells/kg, and 8.46x104 (0.27~147.83x104) CFU-GM/ kg. The dose of 1x108 MNCs was harvested in 100% after 3 harvests and 1x106 CD34+ cells in 87% after 3 harvests. No serious adverse effects occurred in all patients during the leukapheresis procedures. A rapid rise in WBC count (> or = 3,000/microliter/day) during recovery was independent variable correlated to the peak MNCs, average MNCs, peak CD34+ cells and average CD34+ cells (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Mobilization procedures using high dose cytosine arabinoside and etoposide plus G-CSF are tolerable and the leukapheresis can be initiated when WBC count recovers to 1,000/microliter from myelosuppression and monocytes appear on the peripheral blood smear. Sufficient numbers of PBSC can be obtained by three leukapheresis procedures without serious adverse effects in children with AML.
Adult ; Blood Platelets ; Child* ; Cytarabine ; Drug Therapy ; Etoposide ; Fever ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Progenitor Cells ; Humans ; Leukapheresis* ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* ; Monocytes ; Neutrophils ; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; Sepsis ; Stem Cells*

BACKGROUND: Despite of aggressive treatments, the long-term survival rate is about 30% in stage 4 neuroblastoma (NBL). Recently, dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy is emerging as a promising tool in cancer treatment. But it is very difficult to get sufficient amount of autologous tumor as the source of tumor antigen in DC-based immunotherapy. The purpose of this study was to test whether DCs loaded with allogeneic NBL tumor antigens can prime effective anti-tumor immune responses. METHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were differentiated into immature DCs in the presence of GM-CSF and IL-4. As the source of tumor antigens, human neuroblastoma cell lines, SK-N-MC, SK-N-SH, and IMR-32, were used after induction of apoptosis by UV irradiation. The immature DCs were loaded with apoptotic tumor cells, and then cultured with PBMCs for priming the tumor antigen-specific T lymphocytes. The tumor-specific cytotoxicity of T lymphocytes against NBL cells was analysed after coculture. RESULTS: Incubation of DCs with apoptotic tumor cells effectively loaded DCs with tumor antigens and induced maturation of DCs. The tumor antigen-challenged T lymphocytes effectively killed the NBL cells, which were used as tumor antigens. Furthermore, the T lymphocytes showed a broad ranged cytotoxicity to all of the NBL cell lines, which were not challenged as tumor antigens. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the apoptotic NBL tumor cells induced maturation of DCs and could be used as tumor antigens, and DCs loaded with apoptotic NBL tumor cells could induce effective anti-tumor specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes to allogeneic NBL tumors.
Antigens, Neoplasm ; Apoptosis ; Cell Line ; Coculture Techniques ; Dendritic Cells ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Interleukin-4 ; Neuroblastoma* ; Survival Rate ; T-Lymphocytes ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic

No abstract available.

In view of this pandemic, as of February 2020, South Korea has the second highest number of confirmed cases in the world. Herein, we report four confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the early stage of the pandemic in South Korea and describe the identification, diagnosis, clinical course, and management, including one patient’s initial mild symptoms at presentation and their progression to pneumonia on day 21 of illness. Within 48 hours of hospitalization, all four patients underwent evaluation for initial laboratory parameters, COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and chest computed tomography (CT) findings. All four mild COVID-19 patients were discharged, and they were re-examined 14 days after discharge. Despite all four of them being asymptomatic, one patient was re-admitted after confirmation of COVID-19 through PCR viral nucleic acid detection. She could be discharged after 7 days with two subsequent negative COVID-19 PCR at 24-hour intervals. Patients with mild COVID-19 generally have normal follow-up chest CT scans after discharge, even if the early chest CT definitely indicates pneumonia. Re-hospitalized patients with COVID-19 PCR positive results after discharge were not related to her initial chest CT, lab, symptoms compared other three patients.

Objective: To investigate the effects of customized biomechanical foot orthosis (BFO) on kinematic data during gait in patients with hallux valgus (HV) deformities and compare the results with those of a normal control group. Methods: Ten patients with HV deformities and 10 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. HV deformity was diagnosed using biomechanical and radiological assessments by a rehabilitation physician. Patients received the customized BFO manufactured at a commercial orthosis laboratory (Biomechanics, Goyang, South Korea) according to the strictly defined procedure by a single experienced technician. The spatiotemporal and kinematic data acquired by the Vicon 3D motion capture system (Oxford Metrics, Oxford, UK) were compared between the intervention groups (control vs. HV without orthosis) and between the HV groups (with vs. without orthosis). Results: The temporal-spatial and kinematic parameters of the HV group were significantly different from those of the control group. After applying BFO to the HV group, significantly increased ranges of plantar flexion motion and hindfoot inversion were observed. Furthermore, the HV group with BFO showed improved gait cadence, walking speed, and stride length, although the results were not statistically significant. Conclusion Our results suggest that it is imperative to understand the pathophysiology of HV, and the application of customized BFO can be useful for improving kinematics in HV deformities.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of combined inhibition of protein kinase B (AKT) and SRC on the growth and metastatic potential of human pancreatic cancer cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: AKT and SRC were inhibited using 10-DEBC and PP2, respectively. The expression of their messenger RNAs were down-regulated by specific small interfering RNA (siRNA). Changes in pancreatic cancer cell growth and metastatic potential were determined using a cell viability assay and a xenotransplant model of pancreatic cancer, as well as cell migration and invasion assays. Signal proteins were analyzed by Western blot. RESULTS: The inhibitors 10-DEBC and PP2 suppressed cell proliferation in a dose-dependent fashion in pancreatic cancer cell lines MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1. The simultaneous inhibition of AKT and SRC at low concentrations resulted in a significant suppression of cell proliferation. Knockdown of AKT2 and SRC using siRNAs also significantly decreased cell proliferation. In a pancreatic cancer model, combined treatment with 10-DEBC and PP2 also significantly suppressed the growth of pancreatic cancer. Application of 10-DEBC with PP2 significantly reduced the metastatic potential of pancreatic cancer cells by inhibiting migration and invasion. The combined inhibition suppressed the phosphorylation of mTOR and ERK in pancreatic cancer cells. CONCLUSION: Combined targeting of AKT and SRC resulted in a synergistic efficacy against human pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis.
Blotting, Western ; Cell Line ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival ; Humans* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Phosphorylation ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; RNA, Messenger ; RNA, Small Interfering