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Biomedical subjects

T T Kuo

Publications and source records attributed to T T Kuo.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Cutaneous manifestations of non-01 Vibrio cholerae septicemia with gastroenteritis and meningitis.

A 58-year-old man with diabetes had fever and chills 5 days after ingestion of raw seafood. Nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhea, bilateral calf pain, and neck stiffness subsequently developed. Generalized edema and ecchymotic patches with a vesiculobullous eruption appeared on the extremities. Four blood cultures were positive for Vibrio cholerae non-01. The patient was successfully treated with antibiotics. This is the first documented case of V. cholerae non-01 septicemia with cutaneous lesions and meningitis in Taiwan.

Bacteremia↗

Ossifying dermatofibroma with osteoclast-like giant cells.

Dermatofibroma or cutaneous fibrous histiocytoma is a common cutaneous tumor. Rare histologic variants have been described. We report another variant of dermatofibroma characterized by osteoclast-like giant cells with metaplastic bone formation. Clinically the lesion was a small, brown, hard papule of several months' duration on the left anterior leg of a 58-year-old woman.

Female↗

Attenuation of antifibrillatory effects of lidocaine by its metabolite, glycylxylidide: application of modulated receptor hypothesis.

Lidocaine, one of the drugs effective in treating ventricular arrhythmias in acute myocardial infarction (AMI), sometimes loses its efficacy after prolonged administration, possibly owing to the counteraction of glycylxylidide, one of the metabolites of lidocaine, through modulation of binding of lidocaine to sodium channels. To determine whether glycylxylidide interferes with the antiarrhythmic action of lidocaine, we compared the antifibrillatory effects of lidocaine, glycylxylidide, and their combination in 14 anesthetized open-chest dogs. Although glycylxylidide alone prolonged intraventricular conduction time (CT) and did not affect ventricular effective refractory period (VERP), it had different effects when added to lidocaine; i.e., it had no effect on intraventricular conduction time but shortened VERP. Although glycylxylidide alone did not change ventricular fibrillation threshold (VFT), the increase in VFT induced by lidocaine was decreased by addition of glycylxylidide, possibly as a result of competition for the same cardiac sodium channels between lidocaine and glycylxylidide with similar onset but different offset kinetics, which may explain, at least in part, the drug-resistance phenomena that ensue from prolonged lidocaine administration.

Animals↗

Anticentromere antibodies (ACA): clinical distribution and disease specificity.

Sera from 3528 patients with autoimmune disease, and non-autoimmune disease, and 500 normal individuals were studied for the presence of anticentromere antibodies (ACA) by indirect immunofluorescence on HEP-2 cells. Sixty-seven specimens were identified showing discrete speckled staining: 55 (82.1%), 11 (16.4%), and one (1.5%), were from patients with autoimmune disease, non-autoimmune disease and normal control subjects, respectively. These ACA were present frequently in CREST syndrome (55%), Raynaud's disease (29.6%) and primary biliary cirrhosis (30%). Only 16.4% of the antibody positive patients carried a clinical diagnosis of CREST, which means that ACA are not specific for CREST syndrome. High antibody titre persisted irrespective of whether or not the patients had active disease. The ACA were present infrequently in Sjögren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, immune thrombocytopenic purpura, Graves' disease, immune haemolytic anaemia, and vitiligo. Sera from 107 patients with various other autoimmune diseases were negative for ACA.

Autoantibodies↗

Sweet's syndrome: clinicopathologic study of eleven cases.

BACKGROUND: The clinicopathologic manifestations of Sweet's syndrome associated with malignancy have been rarely studied in a large series. METHODS: We describe the clinical features of Sweet's syndrome in 11 patients seen during the past 12 years. Histopathologic findings of these patients are discussed. The clinicopathologic manifestations of 249 cases of Sweet's syndrome reported in the literature were reviewed. RESULTS: The clinicopathologic manifestations of Sweet's syndrome associated with hematologic disorders (HSS) were more severe and characterized by bullous pyoderma with more pronounced epidermal changes and ulceration, anemia, giant platelets and abnormal platelet counts. Approximately 40% of the Sweet's syndrome reported in the literature were associated with hematologic malignancy, and the other 7% of patients had solid tumors. CONCLUSIONS: Sweet's syndrome can be classified into three types: (1) association with hematologic disorders (HSS); (2) association with solid tumors (SSS); and (3) idiopathic or associated with various other disorders (ISS).

Adenocarcinoma, Follicular↗

Immunohistochemical analysis of dermal mononuclear cell infiltrates in cutaneous lupus erythematosus, polymorphous light eruption, lymphocytic infiltration of Jessner, and cutaneous lymphoid hyperplasia: a comparative differential study.

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (LE), polymorphous light-eruption (PMLE), lymphocytic infiltration of Jessner (LIJ), and cutaneous lymphoid hyperplasia (CLH) are often difficult to differentiate from one another by light microscopic examination. We conducted an immunohistochemical analysis of the mononuclear cell infiltrates in 13 LE, 12 PMLE, 10 LIJ, and 13 CLH with various antibodies. Antibodies L26, UCHL1, and S100 achieved statistically significant differences among the four diseases, but because of the overlaps in the number of UCHL1(+) T cells and S100 protein (+) cells in individual cases, these two antibodies were not useful. Only CLH could be distinguished from LE, PMLE, and LIJ by a greater number of CD20(+) B cells. The latter three conditions could not be differentiated. Contrary to previous reports, plasmacytoid-monocytes were not found to be increased in LIJ for the differentiation of the latter from LE and PMLE. Our results support the conclusion that CLH is a reactive lymphoid hyperplastic process with proliferation of both B and T cells, whereas the T cell was the predominant cell type in the infiltrates of LE, PMLE, and LIJ, indicating that they were related to T cell disorders. The histiocyte was only a minor component cell. The plasmacytoid monocyte in general was not significantly present in all four conditions, but relatively more plasmacytoid monocytes were present in CLH.

Analysis of Variance↗

Primary small-intestinal lymphomas in Taiwan: immunoproliferative small-intestinal disease and nonimmunoproliferative small-intestinal disease.

PURPOSE: The clinicopathologic findings in 45 adult Chinese patients with primary small-intestinal lymphoma (PSIL) are described and compared with those in Western countries and in underdeveloped nations. The efficacy of combination chemotherapy is also assessed. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Six patients had immunoproliferative small-intestinal disease (IPSID) indicated by the presence of alpha-heavy chain protein (alpha-CP) in body fluids or tumor tissues. Thirty-nine patients had non-IPSID, including one with postrenal transplant lymphoma. Thirty-three non-IPSID patients received a minimum of four cycles of combination chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (CHOP). RESULTS: All IPSID patients presented with the clinical and laboratory features of severe intestinal malabsorption, and all had diffuse lymphoplasmacytic infiltration in the mucosa of the small bowel. Lymphomas were localized mainly in the jejunum and mesenteric nodes. The histologic subtypes were diffuse large cell in two, immunoblastic in three, and diffuse mixed in one. All patients responded poorly to chemotherapy, with a median survival duration of 10.5 months. The common presenting symptoms of the 39 non-IPSID patients included abdominal pain (90%), weight loss (31%), abdominal mass (26%), obstruction (26%), and perforation (23%). Diffuse large-cell and immunoblastic lymphomas constituted 82% of cases. Four patients had stage IE, 19 stage II 1E, and 16 stage 112E disease according to the Musshoff's criteria; 22 had bulky tumors and 19 had multiple tumors. The tumors were completely resected in 14 patients. Of 33 patients treated with combination chemotherapy, 73% achieved a complete remission. With a median follow-up duration of 90 months, there have been four relapses, with only one at the primary tumor site. The overall 5-year survival and disease-free survival rates for non-IPSID patients who were treated with chemotherapy were 59% and 54%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Intensive chemotherapy produces long-term disease-free survival in locally advanced non-IPSID PSIL.

Adult↗

University of Wisconsin solution extends lung preservation after prostaglandin E1 infusion.

University of Wisconsin (UW) solution has been demonstrated to enhance and extend the preservation of the hepatic, pancreatic, renal, and cardiac allografts. Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1), which has been used to produce pulmonary vasodilatation, has improved preservation in lung transplantation. Experiments were designed to evaluate their potential role in 24-h preservation of the allografts in lung transplantation. Thirty-six dogs underwent left lung transplantation. The donor lungs (n = 6 in each group) were flushed with UW solution (group 1 and 2) or modified Euro-Collins (EC) solution (group 3) after PGE1 infusion (500 micrograms). In group 1, donor lungs were transplanted immediately. Lung allografts of group 2 and 3 were cold stored (4 degrees C) in the same preservation solution for 24 h in the inflated state and then transplanted. The right pulmonary artery and right main bronchus were ligated 1 h after completion of the transplantation, forcing the recipient dogs to survive with the transplanted left lung. The recipients were ventilated with an inspired oxygen fraction of 0.4 and end-expiratory pressure 10 cm H2O. Two dogs died prematurely in group 3, whereas all dogs in group 1 and 2 survived the experimental period. The arterial oxygen tension and saturation and dynamic lung compliance were significantly higher in dogs of group 1 and 2. Transplanted lungs of group 1 and 2 had significantly lower pulmonary vascular resistance, alveolar-arterial oxygen difference, and wet/dry lung weight ratio. Histologically, pulmonary edema, congestion, sloughing of bronchial mucosa, and peribronchial and peripulmonary arterial hemorrhage were shown in lungs of group 3, but not in those of group 1 and 2. Airway mucosa and pulmonary vascular structure were well preserved in lungs of group 1 and 2. There was no significant difference between group 1 and 2 in lung functions, hemodynamics, or morphologic features. We concluded that PGE1 and UW solution could effectively extend lung preservation up to 24 h in this in vivo canine lung allotransplantation model.

Adenosine↗

DNA flow cytometric study of thymic epithelial tumors with evaluation of its usefulness in the pathologic classification.

A DNA flow cytometric study was performed on 64 thymic epithelial tumors using the modified Hedley method with formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues to evaluate whether ploidy analysis can be a useful aid in differentiating invasive thymoma (IT) from non-invasive thymoma (NT) and in understanding the ploidy pattern of various histologic types of thymic carcinomas (TCs). The IT group was further subdivided into macroinvasive thymoma (macro-IT) and microinvasive thymoma (micro-IT). Six cases were excluded due to a coefficient of variation greater than 6. Aneuploidy with a DNA index greater than 1.05 was found in every group: two of 16 NTs, two of nine micro-ITs, 11 of 13 macro-ITs, and 12 of 20 TCs were aneuploid. However, the proportions of aneuploidy of macro-IT and TC were statistically significantly higher than those of NT and micro-IT (P < .001). Similarly, the DNA indexes of macro-IT and TC were significantly higher than those of NT and micro-IT (P < .004). Therefore, micro-ITs were cytometrically similar to NTs and could be grouped with the NTs. Although ploidy analysis cannot predict whether an individual thymoma is invasive, aneuploidy and a high DNA index would favor a macro-IT, which also has a significantly higher S-phase fraction. Thymic carcinoma and IT cannot be differentiated by DNA flow cytometry. No definite ploidy pattern was observed for various histologic types of TC, but transition from diploid to aneuploid was demonstrated in thymomas undergoing malignant transformation into TC.

Aneuploidy↗

Thymoma: a study of the pathologic classification of 71 cases with evaluation of the Muller-Hermelink system.

A pathologic study of 71 consecutive cases of thymoma was conducted to determine the value of histologic classification for predicting the invasive potential of thymomas. The traditional and newly proposed Muller-Hermelink classification systems were studied for correlation with thymomas of the three clinicopathologic stages identified as noninvasive thymoma, microinvasive thymoma, and macroinvasive thymoma. None of the histologic types classified by the traditional system were correlated specifically with invasive growth. In contrast, the cortical-type thymoma of the Muller-Hermelink system correlated strongly with both microinvasive thymoma and macroinvasive thymoma (P < .001 for both). Although not all cortical thymomas manifested invasive growth and not all invasive thymomas were of the cortical type, the statistical data suggested that cortical thymomas should be regarded as potentially malignant tumors with the propensity for invasive growth. Spindle-cell thymoma of the traditional system or medullary thymoma of the Muller-Hermelink system, on the other hand, was not associated with invasiveness and behaved as a benign tumor. All other thymomas that were not purely spindle cell or medullary cell in nature had a potential for invasion and aggressive behavior, and this potential seemed to be inversely proportional to the percentage of fusiform cells in such neoplasms. Nevertheless, the results of this study support the usefulness of the Muller-Hermelink classification system in predicting the aggressive potential of thymomas. A group of microinvasive thymomas was identified as a separate group for analysis in this study. Although no recurrences were observed during the follow-up period, microinvasive thymomas deserve further study as a separate group because they correlated strongly with cortical thymoma. The association of thymoma with myasthenia gravis was rather high (63.4%) in this study. Both the mixed-type thymoma of the traditional classification system and the cortical-type thymoma of the Muller-Hermelink system showed statistically significant correlation with myasthenia gravis (P = .002 and .001, respectively).

Adult↗

Study of Epstein-Barr virus early RNA 1 (EBER1) expression by in situ hybridization in thymic epithelial tumors of Chinese patients in Taiwan.

Forty-one thymic epithelial tumors from Chinese patients in Taiwan, including 14 noninvasive thymomas, seven invasive thymomas, and 20 thymic carcinomas, were investigated for the presence of Epstein-Barr virus transcripts by in situ hybridization using digoxigenin-labeled riboprobes for EBER1 expressions. None of the 14 noninvasive thymomas or seven invasive thymomas had detectable EBER1. Only one of 20 thymic carcinomas was positive for EBER1. This positive tumor was a lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma found in a 19-year-old patient. Four different cases of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma were negative. Of note, the present case and all previously reported cases of Epstein-Barr virus-associated thymic carcinomas were lymphoepithelioma-like carcinomas. These results are consistent with those of several Western studies and do not support the view that there are geographic or racial differences affecting the role of Epstein-Barr virus in the pathogenesis of thymic epithelial tumors.

Adult↗

alpha-Amylase as a marker for evaluating the stability of recombinant yeast in long-term cultivation.

We describe here a simple method for analyzing the stability of recombinant yeast. The mouse salivary alpha-amylase gene was used in this system as a marker since the stability of recombinant yeast can be detected easily by a halo zone-for-ming assay on starch-supplemented plates. We used this method to evaluate the stability of recombinant yeast harbouring a 2 mu directed episomal plasmid and of yeast harbouring the r-DNA directed integrative vector. Our results demonstrated clearly that the alpha-amylase gene was a convenient and reliable marker for evaluating the stability of recombinant yeasts in long-term cultivation.

Animals↗

Functional expression of rat M5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor in yeast.

We have produced the rat M5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, an integral membrane protein, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This was achieved by placing an M5 gene in the yeast vector under the control of the yeast alpha-factor promoter and leader sequence. Northern blotting revealed the presence of M5 transcripts in yeast transformed with the M5 plasmid constructs. Crude extract prepared from the transformant yeasts showed saturable binding of the muscarinic antagonist [3H]-N-methyl scopolamine ([3H]NMS) with a kd of 22.77 nM and Bmax of 134.76 fmole per mg protein. Results deduced from saturation binding assay of intact cell demonstrated clearly that the M5 receptor was translocated across the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum using the secretion signal on alpha-leader sequence and its binding site was still functional. Yeast expressing M5 receptor did not exhibit cell-cycle arrest in the presence of carbachol, a acetylcholine agonist, indicating that the recombinant M5 receptor could not couple directly to the endogenous yeast pheromone signaling G-protein.

Animals↗

HTLV-I-positive and HTLV-I-negative peripheral T-cell lymphomas in Taiwan Chinese.

The clinico-pathologic features of 107 adult Chinese patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (excluding primary cutaneous lymphoma) are described and a comparison between HTLVI+ and HTLV-I- patients is made. There were 27 HTLV-I+ and 80 HTLV-I- patients. The virus-positive and -negative groups both had a male predominance and an identical median age of 48. Most patients in both groups presented with stage-IV disease, B symptoms, lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. The HTLV-I+ group had a significantly higher incidence of skin and pulmonary lesions, bone marrow and peripheral blood involvement, hypercalcemia, and elevated LDH level compared to the HTLV-I- group. Sinonasal lesions (10), mediastinal mass (5), and GI tract involvement (6) were only seen in the HTLV-I- group. Leukocytosis with the presence of circulating pleomorphic lymphoid cells was characteristic of HTLV-I+ cases, while cytopenia was more frequently present in HTLV-I- cases. All of the 24 HTLV-I+ patients tested were CD4+CD8-; of the 67 HTLV-I- patients tested, 46 were CD4+CD8-, 9 were CD4-CD8 , 5 were CD4-CD8- and 7 were CD4+CD8+. Phenotypic studies revealed significant differences in the expression of CD7 and CD25 between virus-positive and -negative groups. Both groups responded poorly to therapy. The median survival of HTLVI+ and HTLV-I- patients was 4 months and 13.5 months, respectively. Apart from the presence of more than 3 extranodal lesions, none of the other clinical features or histologic subtypes had prognostic significance in the entire group or either of the subgroups. This series of peripheral T-cell lymphomas in Taiwan indicate that HTLV-I+ and HTLV-I- patients had many features in common, but presented several distinct differences.

Adolescent↗

Intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoietic tumor in hemoglobin H disease.

We report a Chinese patient with hemoglobin H (Hb H) disease who developed intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) 17 years following splenectomy for a blunt abdominal injury. The patient initially presented with extreme hyperbilirubinemia and multiple intrathoracic tumors. Hb H disease was diagnosed after investigation, and the marked jaundice, which declined gradually after supportive treatment, was attributed to his chronic hemolysis superimposed on an acute hepatitis C virus infection. A biopsy of the intrathoracic tumors revealed an EMH. Intrathoracic EMH, which is usually encountered in patients with beta-thalassemia and hereditary spherocytosis, has never been reported in Hb H disease. In areas where thalassemia is prevalent, EMH should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients who have chronic anemia with asymptomatic intrathoracic tumor to avoid unnecessary surgical interventions.

Adult↗