Multiple Malignant Melanomas at Different Burn Scar Areas: A Case Report

Background. Malignant changes in burn scars occasionally develop, the majority being squamous cell carcinoma. Malignant melanomas (MMs) arising in burn scars occur rarely.
Objective. To present the case of a patient with a multiple MM developed at different burn scar areas.
Methods. A case report and review of literature are given.
Results. One was a large pigmented nodular lesion with central ulceration on right flank. It was widely excised and revealed lentigo MM. After that, we took notice another small pigmented lesion on right arm. It was also reported lentigo MM.
Conclusion. This case provided a valuable lesson. Another kind of tumor may be present even if one tumor is found by pathologic observation, especially in burn scar patients. Clinicians should carefully observe burn scars, chronic ulcers, and other pigmented lesions.     

Pregnant dreaming: Search for a typology of a proposed dream genre

Dreams during pregnancy were collected from post-partum women on the maternity ward of an Israeli hospital. Our data indicate that primipara women and women with complicated obstetrical histories were more likely to report increased dreaming during pregnancy. The collected dream corpus suggests that dreams during pregnancy can be viewed as a distinct dream genre. This paper develops a tentative typology of that genre. In addition, the authors argue that the context of disclosure was highly relevant to the sorts of manifest contents that were reported.     

A case of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in a patient with Crohn's disease]

Although adenocarcinoma is a well known complication of chronic inflammatory bowel disease, primary gastrointestinal lymphoma occurring in Crohn's disease is rare. A 40-year-old man with 10 year-history of Crohn's disease had multiple longitudinal ulcerative lesions on descending colon in follow-up colonoscopic examination. Microscopic examination of proximal descending colon revealed peripheral T cell lymphoma and other site of the descending colon was consistent with Crohn's disease. The patient reached complete remission of malignant lymphoma after three cycles of combined chemotherapy. He has been well for 10 months with sulfasalazine maintenance therapy but was admitted to the hospital due to spontaneous bowel perforation of ascending colon. Right hemicolectomy was done, but the patient died of post-surgical recurrent mesenteric abscess and sepsis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma complicating Crohn's disease in Korea which was confirmed by immunohistochemical studies.     

Mapping the rat somatosensory pathway from the anterior cruciate ligament nerve endings to the cerebrum

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) serves as the primary restraint to anterior tibial translation. In addition to this biomechanical function, the ACL appears to have a function in neuromuscular control. This hypothesis was formulated after the discovery of mechanoreceptors within the ACL. The full somatosensory pathway from the ACL to the cerebrum has yet to be elucidated. In order to map this sensory pathway, we conducted a viral trans-synaptic tracing experiment using the neurotropic pseudorabies virus (PRV). The pseudorabies virus was injected into the ACL of rats and allowed to replicate and spread trans-synaptically for 6-7 days. The brain and spinal cord of each sacrificed rat was then removed and processed immunohistochemically to detect the presence of PRV. PRV-immunoreactive neurons were found to be localized in several different regions from the spinal cord to the cerebrum. Four nuclei in the reticular formation of the brain stem demonstrated strong positive labeling: the mesencephalic reticular nucleus, magnocellular reticular nucleus, paragigantocellular reticular nucleus, and gigantocellular reticular nucleus. This finding suggests that the nerve endings of the rat ACL project into the cerebrum and that the reticular formation may play an important role in the afferent pathway of those nerve endings.     

Detection of pathology of the urinary system in students during preventive mass screening

Screening tests including the questionnaire method, urine analysis and radiorenography were used during mass screening of 1330 students. Comparison of the results of the first two methods showed a good informative value of the questionnaire method for the detection of pathology of the kidneys and urinary tracts. Radiorenography performed in 106 students with the detected nephrological symptom complex (risk group) revealed some changes practically in every other "risk group" student.     

Prevention of postsurgical tissue adhesion by anti-inflammatory drug-loaded pluronic mixtures with sol-gel transition behavior

Sol-gel transition temperature-controllable Pluronic F127/F68 mixtures including mildly crosslinked alginate and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (ibuprofen) were prepared to evaluate their potential as tissue adhesion barrier gels. The sol-gel transition temperatures of the Pluronic mixtures could be controlled by adjusting F127/F68 ratio and polymer concentration. The mildly crosslinked alginate with still flow property provided the residence stability of Pluronic mixture gels in the body. Ibuprofen was loaded in Pluronic mixtures to reduce inflammatory response in the body and, thus, to prevent tissue adhesion. The gelation temperatures of the Pluronic mixtures were not affected by the alginate but lowered by the addition of ibuprofen. The in vitro drug release behavior and in vivo peritoneal tissue adhesion of the Pluronic mixtures with the sol-gel transition just below body temperatures were investigated. The drug release behavior from the ibuprofen (1 wt%)-loaded Pluronic mixture gels at 37 degrees C was examined using a membrane-less dissolution model. The drug in the mixture gels was released continuously up to about 45-65% of the total loading amount during the first 7 days. For in vivo evaluation of tissue anti-adhesion potential, the Pluronic mixtures with/without drug were coated on the peritoneal wall defects of rats and their tissue adhesion extents and tissue reactions (inflammatory response, granulation tissue formation, and toxicity in organs) were compared. It was observed that ibuprofen has a positive effect for the peritoneal tissue anti-adhesion. The Pluronic F127/F68/alginate/ibuprofen mixture gel (25 wt% of F127/F68 [7/3], 1 wt% ibuprofen) was highly effective for the prevention of peritoneal tissue adhesion and showed a relatively low inflammatory response and non-toxicity, and thus can be a good candidate material as a coatable or injectable tissue adhesion barrier gel.     

Methylation and mutation patterns in the fragile X syndrome.

Chromosomes carrying the mutation causing the fragile X [fra(X)] syndrome have been shown to have an unstable DNA sequence close to or within the fragile site. The length variation is located within a DNA fragment containing a CGG trinucleotide repeat which is unstable in both mitosis and meiosis. We have used the probe StB12.3 from the region to analyze the mutations and the methylation patterns in 21 families segregating for the fra(X) syndrome. Among 40 fra(X) males all showed an abnormal pattern. The normal 2.8 kb band was absent in 36 individuals and replaced by a heterogeneous smear of larger size. The remaining four were shown to be "mosaics" with the presence of both mutated, unmethylated and mutated, methylated fragments. We found four normal transmitting males, one which was a great-grandson of another normal transmitting male indicating that the pre-mutation can remain stable through two meioses in the female. In nine fra(X) positive females the abnormal pattern consisted of a smear, usually seen in affected males, in addition to the normal bands. Five of these females were mentally normal. Of clinical importance is the prediction of mental impairment in females. We suggest that this is not made by the detection of the full mutation alone, but rather by the degree of methylation of the normal X chromosome. Our results suggest that difference of clinical expression in monozygotic twins may be correlated with difference in methylation pattern. Six out of 33 fra(X) negative females at risk were diagnosed as carriers. Our observations indicate that molecular heterogeneity is responsible for variable expression of the fra(X) syndrome in both males and females.     

Infected infradiaphragmatic retroperitoneal extralobar pulmonary sequestration: a case report

Infradiaphragmatic extralobar pulmonary sequestration is an extremely rare congenital malformation. It is more frequently diagnosed in the antenatal period due to routine ultrasonic examination of the fetus or in the first 6 months of life, though on rare occasions it is discovered incidentally in adults. A 32-yr-old man presenting with epigastric discomfort and fever was referred. Computed tomographic scanning showed that a 16-cm, multiseptated, dumbbell-shaped, huge cystic tumor was located beneath the diaphragm. On the next day, 850 mL of thick yellowish pus was drained by sonography-guided fine needle aspiration for the purpose of infection control and diagnosis, but no microscopic organisms were found in repeated culture studies. Surgical removal of the cyst was performed through thoracoabdominal incision and most of these pathologic lesions were removed but we could not find the feeding arteries or any fistulous tract to surrounding structures. Histopathologic study revealed that it was extralobar pulmonary sequestration and culture study showed that many WBC and necrotic materials were found but there were no microorganisms in the cystic contents. We report the first case of an infected infradiaphragmatic retroperitoneal extralobar sequestration which was administered a staged management and achieved an excellent clinical course.     

Comparison of chitin and Amberlite IRA-938 for alpha-galactosidase immobilization

Watermelon alpha-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.22) was immobilized on a natural (chitin) and a synthetic anion-exchange (Amberlite IRA-938) support by covalent coupling methods. The procedure entails the activation of supports with 1,1'-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI), followed by immobilization of the enzyme on to these supports without and with a spacer arm; gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Optimization of activation was performed by changing the CDI concentrations and coupling efficiencies. The comparison of two immobilization techniques for both chitin and Amberlite IRA-938 was made by comparing different enzyme concentrations against enzyme activity yield. Furthermore, the storage stability of the immobilized enzymes was also investigated and chitin immobilized alpha-galactosidase was found to be better. Although the activity yield of immobilized enzymes were the same for both supports, the short storage stability of immobilized enzyme on Amberlite IRA-938 is currently a drawback to its applications.