The usefulness of E-cadherin immunostaining as a marker of malignancy in the body fluids was investigated in the present study. Thirty-three histologically proven cases of cell blocks from the pleural, peritoneal, and pericardial fluids were studied by immunocytochemistry for E-cadherin antibody using LSAB method. These cases were cytologically diagnosed as adenocarcinoma (25 cases) and atypical cells (8 cases). Tumor cells showed strong positive membranous staining for E-cadherin antibody in 21 out of 25 cases (84%) of adenocarcinoma. E-cadherin staining was not found in 6 of 8 cases of suspicious maligancy. The sensitivity and specificity were 84% and 75%, respectively. Reactive mesothelial cells and inflammatory cells scattered were all negative. In conclusion, E-cadherin is an useful adjunctive marker to distinguish reactive mesothelial cells from the carcinoma cells in the body fluids.
Sensitivity and Specificity ; Adenocarcinoma ; Neoplasm Metastasis

PURPOSE: This retrospective study was done to evaluate the status of nosocomial urinary tract infections and to determine the risk factors andtransmission route of causal IRPA through molecular epidemiology. METHOD: Two hundred ninety-nine of 423 patients admitted to the internal medicine and surgery ICU at a university hospital incity B had a positiveurine culture. Twelve of the 299 patients who had a urinary tract infection had IRPA strains. The data was collected from November 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005. The following results were obtained after the data was analyzed using percentile and UPGMA. RESULT: The rate of nosocomial urinary tract infections in the ICU was 10.8%. Therewere 16.8 cases of infection based on the period of hospitalization. There were 16.9 cases of infection based on the use of a foley catheter. The rate of nosocomial urinary tract infection in the ICU and urinary tract infections related to IRPA were higher in patients with the following characteristics: men, old age, admission through the emergency room, longer than seven days admission, severity of admitting causes, disturbance of consciousness, hydration less than 300cc in 24hours, a long course of antibiotics, a long period of foley catheterization and perineal care. Most of the microorganisms that caused the urinary tract infection were gram negative bacilli, among which P. aeruginosa was found in 70 patients (18.5%) and IRPA in 12 (4.0%). Among the 12 IRPA strains that were tested with PFGE, eight showed a dice coefficient higher than 80%, suggesting a genetic relationship. They were related with the period of hospitalization in the same ICU. These patients all received direct care for a urinary tract infection. CONCLUSION: Through these results, IRPA can be consideredas a contributing factors to urinary tract infections thus, active preventative measures are needed by the medical staff.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/*pharmacology ; Cross Infection/*epidemiology/etiology/microbiology ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Female ; Humans ; Imipenem/*pharmacology ; Intensive Care Units ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pseudomonas Infections/drug therapy/*epidemiology ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa/classification/drug effects/*genetics ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Urinary Catheterization ; Urinary Tract Infections/*epidemiology/etiology/microbiology

BACKGROUND: The large surfaces of the skin are often initial site of contact between microorganism and human. The skin are coated with epidermis and epithelial cells can recognize microorganism and mount a fast defense through the production of various inducible antibiotic peptides. This leads to chracteristic broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Recent studies introduce us new peptides with antimicrobial activity such as P,-defensins and cathelicidins. They are expressed on the epithelia and polymorphonuclear leukocytes, which are first lines of defence from various invasive environments. Futhermore, they are considered very interesting and important endogenous antibiotics. Our previous study has shown that the expression of human defensin(hBD-2) mRNA, which is potent antibiotic peptide against Gram-negative bacteria(P. aeruginosa), was upregulated with ultraviolet(UV) irradiation, tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and lipopolysaccharide(LPS) in HaCaT cells. A novel hBD-3, 5-kDa, nonhemolytic antimicrobial peptide, was demonstrated a salt-insensitive broad spectrum of potent antimicrobial activity against many potentially pathogenic microbes in especially, multiresistant S. aureus. We have analyzed the expression patterns of hBD-3 in HaCaT cell lines. OBJECTIVE: This research have done in order to evaluate the expression and regulation of hBD-3 mRNA in human keratinocyte cell lines. METHODS: HaCaT cell lines were used to all culture experiments. Cultured human keratinocytes were stimulated with UV irradiation or TNF-α or LPS to determine whether hBD-3 mRNA production occurred. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was per-formed to amplify hBD-3 cDNA from stimulated keratinocytes in a time dependant manner, and densitometry was used to verify the specificity of RT-PCR amplication products. RESULTS: Expression of hBD-3 was upregulated with UV irradiation, TNF-α and LPS in Ha-CaT cells compared to control CONCLUSIONS: Human keratinocytes are capable to induce hBD-3 mRNA, as well as hBD-2, in response to UV irradiation, TNF-α and LPS. suggesting that these cells could play an important role against the bacterial infection and UV light damage in human skin.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteria ; Bacterial Infections ; Cathelicidins ; Cell Line* ; Densitometry ; DNA, Complementary ; Epidermis ; Epithelial Cells ; Fungi ; Humans* ; Keratinocytes ; Necrosis ; Neutrophils ; Peptides ; RNA, Messenger ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Skin ; Ultraviolet Rays

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the corelation between an expression of lectins and survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix. METHODS: The cell surface carbohydrate profile of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue section of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix was evaluated using ulex europaeus agglutinin(UEA-1), peanut agglutinin(PNA), dolichos biflorus agglutinin(DBA), soybean agglutinin(SBA) and lotus tetragonobus lectin(LTL) by the avidin-biotin complex method. Fifty-one cases of squamous cell carcinoma and 10 cases of normal squamous epithelium of the uterine cervix were selected from the file which were treated during Jan. 89 to 31 Dec. 1992 in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Korea University Hospital. RESULTS: UEA-1 and LTL were negative in normal cervix while positive in 76.5%, 47.1% of squamous cell carcinoma respectively, and useful markers for differential diagnosis between normal and squamous cell carcinoma. SBA and LTL were useful for differential diagnosis of keratinizing and non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma. UEA-1 may play an important role in lymphovascular invasion of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. CONCLUSIONS: There was no correlation among clinical staging, patient's survival and lectins binding in squamous cell carcinoma.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cervix Uteri* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Dolichos ; Epithelium ; Female ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Korea ; Lectins* ; Lotus ; Obstetrics ; Paraffin ; Soybeans ; Ulex

Severely worn dentition causes various complications such as loss of tooth structure, discoloration, pulp complications and loss of function and aesthetics. In this case, the patient showed particularly severe attrition in the anterior teeth and lack of space for restoration. The amount of vertical dimension was determined based on the diagnostic wax up, and the patient’s adaptation was evaluated by using a removable occlusal splint for 6 weeks. Thereafter, the coordination of the muscular nervous system, aesthetics, temporomandibular joint were re-evaluated for 3 months by restoring the fixed provisional restoration. Through the above treatment process, the final restoration was completed with full mouth fixed prosthesis using monolithic zirconia, and functionally and aesthetically stable results were obtained.

PURPOSE: Residual head tilt has been reported in patients with superior oblique muscle palsy (SOP) after surgery to weaken the inferior oblique (IO) muscle. The treatments for these patients have not received appropriate attention. In this study, we evaluated the superior rectus (SR) muscle recession as a surgical treatment. METHODS: The medical records of 12 patients with SOP were retrospectively reviewed. Each of these patients had unilateral SR muscle recession for residual head tilt after IO muscle weakening due to SOP. The residual torticollis was classified into three groups on the basis of severity: mild, moderate, or severe. Both IO muscle overaction and vertical deviation, features of SOP, were evaluated in all patients. The severity of the preoperative and postoperative torticollis and vertical deviation were compared using a paired t-test and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: The torticollis improved in nine of 12 (75%) patients after SR muscle recession. The difference between the preoperative and postoperative severity of torticollis was statistically significant (p = 0.0008). After surgery, the mean vertical deviation was significantly reduced from 12.4 prism diopters to 1.3 prism diopters (p = 0.0003). CONCLUSIONS: Unilateral SR muscle recession is an effective method to correct residual head tilt after IO muscle weakening in patients with SOP. This surgical procedure is believed to decrease head tilt by reducing the vertical deviation and thereby the compensatory head tilt.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Diplopia/*surgery ; Female ; Head Movements ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Oculomotor Muscles/*surgery ; Retrospective Studies ; Strabismus/*surgery ; Torticollis/*surgery ; Treatment Outcome ; Trochlear Nerve Diseases/*surgery

A variety of disease states are marked by prolonged and profound eosinophilia associated with localized or widespread eosinophilic infiltrates. Cardiac involvement maybe a major cause of morbidity and mortality of this disease. We report a case of acute peri-myocarditis with eosinophilia, which was confirmed as eosinophilic myocardilic myocarditis by endomyocardial biopsy.
Biopsy ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils* ; Mortality ; Myocarditis*

No abstract available.

We report a case of Becker's nevus associated with smooth muscle hamartoma, in a 21-year-old male patient, which shows clinically match-head sized, flat topped, round to oval, grouped papules with hairs on the outer surface of the right arm, and microscopically reveals numerous bundles of smooth muscle fiber in the dermis.
Arm ; Dermis ; Hair ; Hamartoma* ; Humans ; Male ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Nevus* ; Young Adult

Large-cell acanthoma is a generally hyperkeratotic, sharply demarcated patch on sun-exposed skin with the outstanding pathologic feature being composed of large, relatively uniform keratinocytes. We describe a case of large-cell acanthoma that involved the skin of the nasal bridge. Patient was a 56-year-old women with a tannish brown patch, 2 cm in size and of 5 years' duration. Controversial issues about nosologic entity of large cell acanthoma are discussed.
Female ; Humans