Kwang-Gil Lee

Epidermal Changes in Active Vitiligo

Light and electron‐microscopic studies were performed on the vitiligo and adjacent, normal appearing skin from 97 patients with actively spreading vitiligo and 19 patients with stable vitiligo. The vitiliginous skin revealed complete loss of pigment and melanocytes. In addition to degenerative changes in melanocytes, vacuolar changes of basal cells, epidermal infiltration of lymphocytes, dermal infiltration of lymphocytes, and melanophages in the upper dermis were also seen in the normal appearing skin adjacent to vitiliginous skin. These epidermal and dermal changes are more prominent in the skin of actively spreading vitiligo than in stable vitiligo. These findings suggest that the adjacent, normal appearing skin of actively spreading vitiligo shows some characteristic histopathologic findings, especially in the epidermis, indicating that cellular immunity could be involved in the pathogenesis of vitiligo.

Prognostic value of vascular endothelial growth factor in Stage IB carcinoma of the uterine cervix

PURPOSE To clarify the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression as an independent prognostic factor in Stage IB cervical cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS A total of 117 patients with Stage IB cervical cancer who had undergone radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection with complete histopathologic examination were included. Eighty-eight (75.2%) patients received postoperative radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. VEGF expression was examined using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS Of 117 patients, 35 (29.9%) showed high-intensity VEGF expression and 69 (59%) had a high score for area of VEGF expression. Strong correlations were found between high VEGF intensity and both deep stromal invasion (p = 0.01) and positive pelvic lymph nodes (p = 0.03). The area of VEGF expression was significantly associated with tumor size (p = 0.02). In a multivariate analysis, high VEGF intensity (p = 0.009) and tumor size (p = 0.01) were significant prognostic factors for overall survival and disease-free survival (p = 0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively). However, the area of VEGF expression was not a prognostic factor for overall survival or disease-free survival. CONCLUSION Our findings on the correlation between VEGF expression and prognosis were conflicting. Functional and quantitative tools to assess tumor angiogenesis in addition to the expression of VEGF need to be developed and would be helpful to support the finding that tumor angiogenesis correlates significantly with prognosis in early-stage cervical cancer.

Acquired tufted angioma associated with pregnancy

Acquired tufted angioma is a distinctive condition that is different from other types of acquired vascular proliferation. Despite the progressive spread of these angiomas, they appear to be benign, and malignant change has not been encountered.1

Dual Gate ZnO-Based Thin-Film Transistors Operating at 5 V: nor Gate Application

We report on the fabrication of ZnO-based dual gate (DG) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with 20-nm-thick Al2O3 for both top and bottom dielectrics, which were deposited by atomic layer deposition on glass substrates at 200 degC. As characterized with single gate (SG), DG, and ground plane (GP) modes, our ZnO TFTs are well operated under 5 V. DG-mode TFT showed a field mobility of 0.38 cm2/V middots, a high saturation current of 6 muA, and an on/off current ratio of ~ 106, while SG- and GP-mode TFTs showed a similar value of mobility but with lower current. Using DG and GP modes, nor gate operation was well demonstrated.

Cytologic characteristics of subependymal giant cell astrocytoma in squash smears: morphometric comparisons with gemistocytic astrocytoma and giant cell glioblastoma.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the squash smear features of subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA) in comparison with gemistocytic astrocytoma and giant cell glioblastoma. STUDY DESIGN We compared the squash smear features of 3 cases of SEGA, 9 cases of gemistocytic astrocytoma and 3 cases of giant cell glioblastoma with the morphometric findings. RESULTS SEGA had, on average, a 15.84 +/- 5.03-microm nucleus, 33.22 +/- 12.05-microm cytoplasm and 0.50 +/- 0.12 nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio in squash smears. In addition, SEGA showed hairlike processes distributed along the squash direction like strap cells. While the gemistocytic astrocytoma had several tumor cells showing a vertically located nucleus, the tumor cells of SEGA showed nuclei oriented mainly in parallel. CONCLUSION These squash cytologic features of SEGA can be very helpful in the differential diagnosis by excluding mimics.