• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.69 no.4
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• pp.298-302
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• 2010

Scedosporium apiospermum, the anamorph of Pseudallescheria boydii, is a ubiquitous saprophytic fungus. S. apiospermum can cause life-threatening infections usually in immunocompromised patients or after near-drowning incidents. Here, we report the first case of disseminated infection caused by S. apiospermum after near-drowning in Korea. A 44-year-old healthy man developed aspiration pneumonia, followed by multiple brain abscesses, and endopthalmitis, after a near-drowning incident in a septic tank. S. apiospermum infection was diagnosed on the 33rd day after the incident had occurred. The patient died from the progressive renal failure 255 days after incident, although he had been treated with voriconazole.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.385-390
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• 2000

Background: To review the experience that used both ventricular assist device(VAD) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO) for children with congential heart disease requiring postcardiotomy mechanical circulatory support. Material and Method: Between March 1993 and May 1995, we applied mechanical assist device using centrifugal pump to the 16 patients who failed to be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass(n=15) or had been in cardiogenic shock in intensive care unit(n=1). The diagnosis were all congenital heart diseases and the ages of patients ranged from 20 days to 10 years (mean age=2.5$\pm$3.5 years). Result: The methods of mechanical circulatory support were LVAD(n=13), BVAD (n=1), and ECMO(n=2). The mean assist times were 54.0$\pm$23.7 hours. Post-assist complications were in orders: bleeding, acute renal failure, ventricular failure, respiratory failure, infection, and neurologic complication. It was possible for 9 patients(56.3%) to be weaned from assist device and 5 patients(31.3%) were discharged from hospital. There was no statistical significant between hospital discharged group and undischarged group by age, body weight, cardiopulmonary bypass time, and assist time. Conclusion: The ventricular assist device is an effective modality in salvaging the patient who failed to be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass, but multiple factors must be considered for improving the results of mechanical circulatory support ; such as patient selection, optimal time of starting the assist device, and prevention and management of the complications.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.613-616
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• 2004

Systemic lupus erythemotosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disorder with dermal, renal, and cardiac manifestations. It frequently has cardiovascular complications such as pericarditis, myocarditis, and valvular heart diseases. Valvular heart diseases in SLE comes mainly in the form of mitral or aortic insufficiencies. Report of aortic stenosis is extremely rare. Surgical treatments of valvular heart disease in SLE are not done frequently because of complications in other organs. Aortic stenosis developed in a 59 year-old woman with SLE, and aortic valve replacement was done successfully.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.633-639
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• 2002

Paraneoplastic nephrotic syndrome can be diagnosed from its clinical and immunological features. The development of several types of glomerular injury in patients with cancer have been recognized, and are considered as paraneoplastic syndrome. Most prominent are the occurrence of membranous glomerulonephritis in patients with carcinomas. We report a case of a 60-year-old-man with small cell lung cancer presenting as nephrotic syndrome. A renal biopsy revealed membranous glomerulonephritis. Six lots of chemotherapy were administered, which led to a complete tumor response with total resolution of the nephrotic syndrome following treatment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.386-389
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• 2001

An endobronchial metastasis is defined as a subsegmental or a more proximal central bronchial metastasis of a nonpulmonary neoplasm in the bronchoscopically visible range. However, the frequencies of endobronchial metastasis range from 2 to 50% of pulmonary metastases from extrathoracic neoplasms by a different definition of an endobronchial metastasis. Primary neoplasms of an endobronchial metastasis including breast cancer, colon cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and ovarian cancer are relatively common. However, an endobronchial metastasis arising from thyroid cancer, parotid gland tumor, bone tumor, bladder cancer, and stomach cancer has only rarely been reported in the literature. Here we report a case of an endobrochial metastases from a hepatocellular carcinoma.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.788-793
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• 2000

Tuberous sclerosis is a rare hereditary anomaly of variable penetrance characterized by mental retardation, epilepsy, and adenoma sebaceum. Pulmonary involvement is uncommon, but, when involved by tuberous sclerosis, it shows characteristic reticulonodular infiltration and cystic changes. Lymphangioleiomyomatosis is a rare disease of unknown cause that affects women of reproductive age. It is characterized by progressive proliferation of smooth muscle in the lung. We experienced one case of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis associated with tuberous sclerosis in a 26-year-old female patient. This case is reported with a brief review of the literature.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.278-286
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• 2008

Angiogenesis, the formation of blood vessels, is essential for preparing a closed circulatory system in the body, and for supplying oxygen and nutrition to tissues. Major diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and atherosclerosis include pathological angiogenesis in their malignant processes, suggesting anti-angiogenic therapy to be a new strategy for suppression of diseases. However, until the 1970s, the molecular basis of angiogenesis was largely unknown. In recent decades, extensive studies have revealed a variety of angiogenic factors and their receptors, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-VEGFRs, Angiopoietin-Tie, Ephrin-EphRs and Delta-Notch to be the major regulators of angiogenesis in vertebrates. VEGF and its receptors play a central role in physiological as well as pathological angiogenesis, and functional inhibitors of VEGF and VEGFRs such as anti-VEGF neutralizing antibody and small molecules that block the tyrosine kinase activity of VEGFRs have recently been approved for use to treat patients with colorectal, lung, renal and liver cancers. These drugs have opened a novel field of cancer therapy, i.e. anti-angiogenesis therapy. However, as yet they cannot completely cure patients, and cancer cells could become resistant to these drugs. Thus, it is important to understand further the molecular mechanisms underlying not only VEGF-VEGFR signaling but also the VEGF-independent regulation of angiogenesis, and to learn how to improve anti-angiogenesis therapy.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.481-487
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• 2010

The proteasome plays a major role in the degradation of abnormal proteins within the cell. Therefore, repressed proteasome function is accepted as one of factors contributing the pathogenesis of multiple degenerative diseases. In the present study, we have observed that xanthohumol C, which is one of prenylated flavonoids from hops, increases the expression of the proteasome subunits through the Nrf2 pathway. Treatment of murine renal epithelial TCMK-1 cells with xanthohumol C and its methoxymethoxy-derivative elevated the expression of the Antioxidant Response Element (ARE)-driven reporter gene, as well as Nrf2-target genes including NAD(P)H: quinoneoxidoreductaes 1 (Nqo1). Transcript levels for the catalytic subunits of the proteasome Psmb5 and Psmb6 were increased by these compounds. The activation of the psmb5 promoter by xanthohumol C was abolished when the ARE in this promoter was mutated, indicating that proteasome induction was mediated by the Nrf2-ARE pathway. These results suggest that xanthohumol compounds from hops have a potential benefit on various oxidative stress-associated human diseases through the induction of the proteasome.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2012

Streptococcus pneumonia is a very important pathogen for children and elderly people. Two types of pneumococcal vaccines are available in the market: pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). PPSVs have been used for more than 30 years, and PCVs for about 10 years. There have been many reports concerning the evaluation of the vaccines' efficacies in preventing pneumococcal diseases such as meningitis, pneumonia, and otitis media and bacteremia, but the clinical trials had been performed with different conditions, such as diverse vaccine valencies, age groups, races, target outcomes, immunological cut-off values, and follow-up periods. PPSV is recommended for elderly people and chronic disease patients such as asthma, diabetes mellitus, chronic renal failure, and hyposplenic patients. According to the data from several systemic reviews and population-based surveillances, PPSV is effective for pneumococcal pneumonia and vaccine-type bacteremia among healthy adults. Until now, however, there is insufficient evidence of the effectiveness of PPSV among high-risk adults. PCV is very effective in preventing vaccine-type invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) among children, but its efficacy for pneumonia is very low among children. The incidence of vaccine-related or non-vaccine-type IPDs is increasing after the introduction of 7-valent PCV (PCV7) as a routine immunization for children. Recently, 10- and 13-valent PCVs have been used for children, instead of PCV7. Therefore, continuous surveillance for serotype change among pneumococcal diseases is necessary to evaluate the vaccines' efficacy.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.163-169
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• 2008

The kidney toxicities of BDR-29 used for improvement of the vascular diseases, was examined using male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. The male and female rats were divided into 4 groups for intragastrical treatment with doses of 0, 5, 50, and 500 mg/kg/day for 13 weeks, respectively. In all male and female rats treated with BDR-29, no mortality and gross pathological findings were shown for 13 weeks. There substantially was no change in body weight in all rats with treatment of BDR-29. The renal functional parameters including urinary volume, urine osmolality, electrolytes excretory rate, creatinine clearance, and solute-free water reabsorption were not exchanged in all rats treated with BDR-29. Taken together, these results suggest that BDR-29 has no toxicity on kidney in all male and female rats.