Background: Paradoxical responses (PR) occur more frequently in lymph node tuberculosis (LNTB) than in pulmonary tuberculosis and present difficulties in differential diagnosis of drug resistance, new infection, poor patient compliance, and adverse drug reactions. Although diagnosis of mediastinal LNTB has become much easier with the development of endosonography, limited information is available. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical course of mediastinal LNTB and the risk factors associated with PR. Methods: Patients diagnosed with mediastinal LNTB via endosonography were evaluated retrospectively between October 2009 and December 2019. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to evaluate the risk factors associated with PR. Results: Of 9,052 patients who underwent endosonography during the study period, 158 were diagnosed with mediastinal LNTB. Of these, 55 (35%) and 41 (26%) concurrently had pulmonary tuberculosis and extrapulmonary tuberculosis other than mediastinal LNTB, respectively. Of 125 patients who completed anti-tuberculosis treatment, 21 (17%) developed PR at a median of 4.4 months after initiation of anti-tuberculosis treatment. The median duration of anti-tuberculosis treatment was 6.3 and 10.4 months in patients without and with PR, respectively. Development of PR was independently associated with age < 55 years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 5.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.81–18.14; P = 0.003), lymphocyte count < 800/μL (aOR, 8.59; 95% CI, 1.60–46.20; P = 0.012), and short axis diameter of the largest lymph node (LN) ≥ 16 mm (aOR, 5.22; 95% CI, 1.70–16.00; P = 0.004) at the time of diagnosis of mediastinal LNTB. Conclusion As PR occurred in one of six patients with mediastinal LNTB during antituberculosis treatment, physicians should pay attention to patients with risk factors (younger age, lymphocytopenia, and larger LN) at the time of diagnosis.

PURPOSE: With the emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, profiling a wide range of genomic alterations has become a possibility resulting in improved implementation of targeted cancer therapy. In Asian populations, the prevalence and spectrum of clinically actionable genetic alterations has not yet been determined because of a lack of studies examining high-throughput cancer genomic data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To address this issue, 1,071 tumor samples were collected from five major cancer institutes in Korea and analyzed using targeted NGS at a centralized laboratory. Samples were either fresh frozen or formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) and the quality and yield of extracted genomic DNA was assessed. In order to estimate the effect of sample condition on the quality of sequencing results, tissue preparation method, specimen type (resected or biopsied) and tissue storage time were compared. RESULTS: We detected 7,360 non-synonymous point mutations, 1,164 small insertions and deletions, 3,173 copy number alterations, and 462 structural variants. Fifty-four percent of tumors had one or more clinically relevant genetic mutation. The distribution of actionable variants was variable among different genes. Fresh frozen tissues, surgically resected specimens, and recently obtained specimens generated superior sequencing results over FFPE tissues, biopsied specimens, and tissues with long storage duration. CONCLUSION: In order to overcome, challenges involved in bringing NGS testing into routine clinical use, a centralized laboratory model was designed that could improve the NGS workflows, provide appropriate turnaround times and control costs with goal of enabling precision medicine.
Academies and Institutes ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; DNA ; Humans ; Korea ; Methods ; Paraffin ; Point Mutation ; Precision Medicine ; Prevalence

OBJECTIVE: To investigate duration of the treatment effect of extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) on spasticity levels measured with Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) regardless of the patient group (stroke, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy) and evaluate its spasticity-reducing effect depending on the number of shocks and site of application. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and Scopus were searched from database inception to February 2018. Randomized controlled trials and cross-over trials were included. All participants had spasticity regardless of cause. ESWT was the main intervention and MAS score was the primary outcome. Among 122 screened articles, 9 trials met the inclusion criteria.
Ankle Joint ; Cross-Over Studies ; Elbow ; Fingers ; Humans ; Multiple Sclerosis ; Muscle Spasticity ; Shock ; Wrist

The symposium on “Oncology Leadership in Asia” was held as part of the official program of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Korean Cancer Association with International Cancer Conference. Given the increasing incidence of cancer in all countries and regions of Asia, regardless of developmental stage, and also in light of the recognized need for Asian countries to enhance collaboration in cancer prevention, research, treatment and follow-up, the symposium was held with the aim of bringing together oncology specialists from eight countries and regions in Asia to present the status in their own national context and discuss the key challenges and requirements in order to establish a greater Asian presence in the area of cancer control and research. The task of bringing together diverse countries and regions is made all the more urgent in that while Asia now accounts for more than half of all new cancer cases globally, clinical guidelines are based predominantly on practices adopted in Western countries, which may not be optimized for unique ethnic, pharmacogenomic and cultural characteristics in Asia. Recognizing the need for Asia to better gather information and data for the compilation of Asia-specific clinical guidelines, the participants discussed the current status in Asia in the national and regional contexts and identified future steps towards integrated and collaborative initiatives in Asia. A key outcome of the symposium was a proposal to combine and integrate the activities of existing pan-Asian societies, including the Asian Pacific Federation of Organizations for Cancer Research and Control (APFOCC) and Asian Clinical Oncology Society (ACOS). Further proposals included the expansion of pan-Asian society membership to include individuals and the essential need to encourage the participation of young researchers in order to ensure self-sustainability of cancer control efforts in the future.
Asia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cooperative Behavior ; Cultural Characteristics ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Leadership* ; Medical Oncology ; Specialization

Striatal-enriched protein tyrosine phosphatase (STEP) is abundantly expressed in the striatum, which strongly expresses dopamine and opioid receptors and mediates the effects of many drugs of abuse. However, little is known about the role of STEP in opioid receptor function. In the present study, we generated STEP-targeted mice carrying a nonsense mutation (C230X) in the kinase interaction domain of STEP by screening the N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)-driven mutant mouse genomic DNA library and subsequent in vitro fertilization. It was confirmed that the C230X nonsense mutation completely abolished functional STEP protein expression in the brain. STEP(C230X−/−) mice showed attenuated acute morphine-induced psychomotor activity and withdrawal symptoms, whereas morphine-induced analgesia, tolerance and reward behaviors were unaffected. STEP(C230X−/−) mice displayed reduced hyperlocomotion in response to intrastriatal injection of the μ-opioid receptor agonist DAMGO, but the behavioral responses to δ- and κ-opioid receptor agonists remained intact. These results suggest that STEP has a key role in the regulation of psychomotor action and physical dependency to morphine. These data suggest that STEP inhibition may be a critical target for the treatment of withdrawal symptoms associated with morphine.
Analgesia* ; Animals ; Brain ; Codon, Nonsense ; Dopamine ; Enkephalin, Ala(2)-MePhe(4)-Gly(5)- ; Ethylnitrosourea ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Gene Library ; Mass Screening ; Mice ; Morphine* ; Phosphotransferases ; Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases ; Receptors, Opioid ; Reward* ; Street Drugs ; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome*

Emphysematous gastritis is a rare infection of the stomach wall with high mortality rate. It is caused by gas forming organisms and may arise by local spread through the mucosa or hematogenous dissemination from distant focus. Clinical manifestation includes acute abdomen with systemic toxicity, and diagnosis is based on radiologic demonstration of gas within the gastric wall. Treatment should be aimed to cover gram-negative organisms and anaerobes using wide-spectrum intravenous antibiotics, and sometimes surgical management may be needed in order to enhance survival. Herein, we report a case of emphysematous gastritis in a patient with end stage renal disease on hemodialysis.
Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; Emphysema ; Female ; Gastritis/complications/*diagnosis/radiography ; Gastroscopy ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic/complications/*diagnosis ; Klebsiella pneumoniae/isolation & purification ; Middle Aged ; Renal Dialysis ; Sputum/microbiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Viral infections can be causative in many glomerular disease, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is closely related to a collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). This is known as HIV associated nephropathy (HIVAN) and is characterized clinically by proteinuria, often of sudden onset, with rapidly progressive renal dysfunction resulting in end stage renal disease (ESRD) over several months. Increasingly, other primary renal diseases are being described in HIV infected patients, including IgA nephropathy, an immune complex lupus-like neprhopathy, and tubulonephritis. We observed rare HIVAN case presenting membranous glomerulonephritis with nephrotic syndrome in a woman who was positive for HIV without hepatitis B viral infection. She was treated with Methylprednisolone 60 mg/day, zidovudine 600 mg/day, efavirenz 60 mg/day, and lamivudine 300 mg/day for 5 months. After treatment, proteinuria decreased from 4,092 mg/day to 419 mg/day and CD4 T cell count rose from 594/mL to 1,176/mL. The effectiveness and safety of corticosteroids in the treatment of HIVAN remained controversial but this case showed good response for steroid with triple antiviral therapy about HIVAN especially membranous glomerulonephritis.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; AIDS-Associated Nephropathy ; Antigen-Antibody Complex ; Cell Count ; Female ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; Glomerulonephritis, Membranous* ; Glomerulosclerosis, Focal Segmental ; Hepatitis B ; HIV Infections* ; HIV* ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Lamivudine ; Methylprednisolone ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Proteinuria ; Zidovudine

No abstract available.
DNA* ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Microsatellite Repeats*

Hypertensive pulmonary vascular disease can develop in those cases of congenital cardiac shunt in which critical levels of pulmonary artery pressure and flow are reached and exceeded. We have experienced two cases of plexogenic arteriopathy in complex congenital heart disease and tried to evaluate of distribution of arterial lesions by total mapping of the explanted lung. Case 1 and 2 were 12-year-old boy and 36 year-old man. They were treated with combined heart-lung transplantation. Mapping of the both lungs was done, and graded according to Heath and Edward's grading scheme. The elastic pulmonary artery was tortuous, dilated and aortic configuration. Both lungs showed mostly grade 3. Plexiform lesion or veinlike branches of hypertrophied muscular arteries arosed in a lateral branch of a muscular artery that might be proximal to an area of occlusion. Comprising the right and left lung, the right was more severe than the left. By getting closer to the distal part, the grade tended to increase to 4 to 5. By analyzing the pulmonary lobe, severe pulmonary hypertension of grade 4 or 5 was comparatively disseminated throughout the right lung. On the other hand, in the left lung, the grade of the lower lobe was higher than that of the upper lobe, and within the upper lobe, there was a tendency for the grade of inferior segment to be higher than that of the corresponding apical segment.
Adult ; Arteries ; Child ; Hand ; Heart Defects, Congenital* ; Heart-Lung Transplantation ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Lung ; Male ; Pulmonary Artery ; Vascular Diseases

PURPOSE: Recent advances in molecular technology have made it possible to detect small numbers of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood or bone marrow. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is an oncofetal antigen that is expressed in epithelial tumor cells. CEA mRNA may be a reliable marker for the detection of tumor cells in the peripheral blood of patients with epithelial cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed the peripheral blood of 46 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone curative resection. The presence of CEA mRNA was serially monitored using RT-PCR (Preop, Post op 15 day, 2 months (m), 4 m, 6 m, 8 m, 10 m, 12 m). The clinical characteristics, serum CEA level and immunohistochemical staining of tumor tissue were also evaluated. Patients were followed up for 6 to 12 months. RESULTS: There was no significant relationship seen between CEA mRNA RT-PCR positivity in the peripheral blood and sex, stage, serum CEA level or immunohistochemical staining for CEA antigen, During follow up,eight patients experienced recurrence; were positve for CEA mRNA RT-PCR recurrence was seen in 66.7% (6/9) of the patients who before clinical recurrence as compared to 5.4% (2/37) of patients who were negative (p=0.0002). Serial changes of CEA mRNA RT-PCR correlated with clinical recurrence; 100% in the positively converted group (3/3), 0% in the negatively converted group(0/18), 50% in all positive group (3/6) and 10.5% in all negative group (2/19) experienced recurrence, respectively. CONCLUSION: RT-PCR analysis of CEA mRNA in the peripheral blood seems to be a promising tool for the early detection of micrometastatic circulating tumor cells in gastric cancer patients and may be useful in determining patients at high risk for recurrence. However, definitive correlation with recurrence certainly requires a longer follow up duration in further studies.
Bone Marrow ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Recurrence ; RNA, Messenger* ; Stomach Neoplasms*