Eun Ja Lee

Hemichorea-hemiballism in primary diabetic patients: MR correlation.

Purpose The purpose of this work was to describe the characteristic imaging findings and clinical presentations in patients with hemichorea–hemiballism (HC–HB) associated with nonketotic hyperglycemia (NKH) in primary diabetes mellitus (DM). Method The MR findings from six patients with HC–HB associated with NKH in primary DM were evaluated. Their ages ranged from 43 to 81 years. CT was performed on three patients, one of whom underwent a SPECT exam and another who had follow-up MRI. Results A high-signal putaminal lesion was evident on the T1-weighted images in all cases without edema or mass effect. Three of the six cases also showed high-signal intensities in the caudate. Two cases revealed high-signal intensities in the globus pallidus, and the lesions extended to the midbrain in one patient. The T2-weighted and FLAIR images were more variable. One diffusion-weighted image showed increased signal intensity. All three patients who had postcontrast MRI showed no enhancement. Two of the three patients who had CT studies showed high attenuation and the other isodensity. The SPECT study showed decreased perfusion. In all our patients, the chorea resolved within days to weeks after correction of the underlying hyperglycemia. Conclusion In patients with HC–HB with NKH in primary DM, T1-weighted MR images showed hyperintense lesions of the putamen or caudate. Early recognition of these imaging characteristics may facilitate the diagnosis of primary DM with hyperglycemia and lead to prompt and appropriate therapy.

Citrus fruit intake and pancreatic cancer risk: a quantitative systematic review.

Objectives: The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the association between dietary intake of citrus fruits and pancreatic cancer risk. Methods: Authors searched electronic databases and the reference lists of publications of studies addressing diet and pancreatic cancer up to December 2007. All of the epidemiological studies that obtained individual data on dietary intake of citrus fruits and presented risk estimates of the association between intake of citrus fruits and risk of pancreatic cancer were identified and included. Using general variance-based methods, study-specific odds ratios (ORs)/relative risk and associated confidence interval (CI)/SE for highest versus lowest intake of citrus fruits level were extracted from each article. Results: Nine articles including 4 case-control studies and 5 cohort studies proved eligible. Overall summary OR using random effect model suggested an inverse association in risk of pancreatic caner with intake of citrus fruits (summary OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.70-0.98) with large heterogeneity across studies (I2 = 49.9%). Conclusions: Pooled results from observational studies showed an inverse association between intake of citrus fruits and the risk of pancreatic cancer, although results vary substantially across studies, and the apparent effect is restricted to the weaker study design (case-control studies).

Radiologic findings of peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor arising in the retroperitoneum

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to present the radiological findings of peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors that arise in the retroperitoneum. CONCLUSION Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) arising in the retroperitoneum tend to be large and aggressive. Although the imaging appearance of peripheral PNETs is nonspecific, these tumors should be considered in the differential diagnosis when one encounters a large retroperitoneal mass with aggressive features.

Immunological alterations associated with Plasmodium vivax malaria in South Korea.

Various haematological and immunological studies on patients infected with Plasmodium vivax were undertaken, at diagnosis (day 0), after treatment with chloroquine but during primaquine treatment (day 10) and after all treatment (day 59), in South Korea (where there has been a recent and abrupt increase in the incidence of such infection). The main aims were to gain an understanding of the haemato-immunological alterations of this malarial infection, both before and after treatment, and to identify at least one useful marker for the diagnosis and post-treatment monitoring of P. vivax malaria. Thirty-eight patients with P. vivax malaria were compared with 20, apparently healthy controls. At diagnosis, the patients had lymphopenia, marked eosinopenia (the eosinophil count being correlated with the platelet count) and thrombopenia. Cells of most of the lymphocyte subsets investigated [i.e. CD3+, CD8+, CD19+, CD56+, CD3−/CD56+ and CD8+/CD56+ but not CD4+, CD3+/CD56+ or CD25+] were significantly less common among the lymphocytes of patients at diagnosis than among those of the controls. After initiating treatment, the numbers of CD19+ lymphocytes gradually increased (to normal values by day 59), whereas those of CD3+/56+ lymphocytes remained abnormally low throughout the follow-up period. The proportions of lymphocytes identified as CD4+ appeared to be unaffected by treatment. Although serum concentrations of IgE (and, to a lesser extent, IgM) were elevated in the patients at diagnosis, they were subnormal on day 10 post-treatment and normal at the day-59 follow-up. Serum concentrations of IgG and IgA in the patients were always found to be similar to those in the controls. At diagnosis the serum concentrations of complements C3 and C4 were significantly elevated in the patients. C3 remained at the same high concentration during follow-up but the concentration of C4, like that of IgE, was found to be subnormal on day 10 and normal 7 weeks later. The level of parasitaemia (%) was only found to be significantly correlated with haemoglobin concentration. The observation of eosinopenia with elevated IgE and C4 could be a useful indicator of P. vivax malaria, and treatment response could be followed by serial monitoring of serum concentrations of IgE and C4.

Utility of the resistance index ratio in differentiating obstructive from nonobstructive hydronephrosis in children

We assessed the utility of the resistance index ratio (RIR) in distinguishing between obstructive and nonobstructive upper urinary tract dilatation in children.

Intraventricular Hemorrhage Caused by Lateral Ventricular Meningioma: A Case Report

Meningiomas causing intracranial hemorrhage are rare, and hemorrhage from a lateral ventricular meningioma seems to be even rarer. We report a case of trigonal meningioma in a 43-year-old woman who presented with intraventricular hemorrhage, and describe the CT, MRI and angiographic findings.

Fresh-frozen, optimal cutting temperature (OCT) compound-embedded bone marrow aspirates: a reliable resource for morphological, immunohistochemical and molecular examinations.

The usefulness of fresh‐frozen, optimal cutting temperature (OCT) compound‐embedded (FFOE) bone marrow (BM) aspirates was evaluated as a reliable resource for morphological, immunohistochemical and molecular examinations. One hundred BM aspirates were collected in polypropylene tubes and immediately frozen for 2 h in a deep freezer. Frozen BM was transferred to a cryomold filled with OCT compound and the prepared samples were stored in a deep freezer. Histological examination and immunohistochemical staining, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sequencing and reverse transcription (RT)‐PCR were performed to evaluate the quality of the FFOE BM sections in 10% of randomly selected samples. FFOE BM sections revealed better morphologies than paraffin‐embedded clot sections in haematoxylin and eosin staining because mature erythrocytes were removed during the staining process in frozen BM sections. Immunohistochemical staining for CD34 revealed excellent staining quality and oil red O staining showed that fat vacuoles in cells were well preserved. The quality of genomic DNA in FFOE BM sections was suitable for obtaining about 2000 bp PCR product for the human leucocyte antigen‐A locus followed by direct sequencing of the sample, and the quality of total RNA was suitable for detection of BCR‐ABL fusion transcript. FFOE BM aspirates are a reliable resource for various laboratory tests of diagnostic and research arenas.