Despite recent advances in the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines, the ease of international travel and increasing global interdependence have brought about particular challenges for the control of infectious diseases, highlighting concerns for the worldwide spread of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. Korea is also facing public health challenges for controlling imported cases of infectious diseases; dengue virus, which is the most commonly reported case of imported infectious diseases; the largest outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections outside the Arabian Peninsula in 2015; and the Zika virus infection, which was declared by the WHO as a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern." Although national and global partnerships are critical to controlling imported infectious disease threats, the role of local hospitals, public health sectors, and laboratory capacity remains the cornerstone for initial disease recognition and response. The current status of laboratory diagnosis for imported infectious diseases is reviewed.
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Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) are frequently used as rat models of essential hypertension. The mechanism for the development of hypertension is complicated and it is unknown. The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a key role in the control of blood pressure. Microarrays are a powerful tool for studying genetics. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes of gene expression in the heart tissues of SHR after losartan treatment to provide basic data that is useful in the early diagnosis of hypertension and gene treatment.
Rats were divided into three groups: the control (C) group; the hypertension (H) group (SHR), and the losartan (L) group; treated with losartan (10 mg/kg/day) in SHR. Rats were sacrificed at week 5 and microarray analysis was performed.
102 gene expressions including the genes associated with cell proliferation such as
According to microarray analysis, there was significant gene expression change in SHR compared with normal rats as well as significant gene expression changes after losartan treatment in SHR.
Primary rectal lymphoma is a rare disease among the gastrointestinal (GI) lymphoma. In particular, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) transformed from mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is often the primary type of GI lymphoma, mostly in stomach or duodenum, but has never been reported in rectum. Here we report an unusual case in which a 75-year-old male patient diagnosed with DLBCL transformed from MALT lymphoma in the rectum. The patient was diagnosed as rectal DLBCL transformed from MALT lymphoma as Lugano stage II2 and was treated with chemotherapy (R-CHOP) with CD-20 monoclonal antibody (rituxaimb). Complete remission of multiple lymphadenopathy and mass forming ulcer of the rectum was achieved after 6 cycles of R-CHOP. He has been free from disease for 12 months.
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Oseltamivir has been used as a worldwide preparation for treatment of influenza A and B including H1N1. Gastrointestinal discomforts as like nausea, vomiting are commonly reported but acute hemorrhagic colitis is a very rare adverse effect. We report a case of a 17-year-old male who showed abdominal pain, diarrhea and hematochezia after the second administration of oseltamivir. Computed tomography revealed continuous, circumferential and edematous wall thickening involving ascending to descending colon with pericolic infiltration. Colonoscopic examination revealed diffuse mucosal edema, congestion and friability, suggesting hemorrhagic colitis. Histopathological examination showed ischemia and focal loss of the crypts. It also showed hyalinization and minimal inflammatory cell infiltration in the lamina propria, consistent with acute to subacute ischemic colitis. This report is the first case of oseltamivir-related ischemic colitis proved by both endoscopic examination and pathologic findings in the patient who had no risk factor of ischemic colitis in Korea.
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Sarcoidosis is a multi-organ disease with various clinical manifestations. The lung is the most common site of manifestation; however, unusual findings may delay the correct diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Here we report a case of 32-year-old man with 4-month history of neck mass. Radiological findings revealed multiple pulmonary parenchymal nodules, with initial biopsy results of his neck lymph node showing chronic granuloma with focal necrosis. The patient was treated with anti-tuberculosis medications, but the size of the nodules did not change. Biopsy was performed from one of his pulmonary nodules, which revealed chronic granuloma without necrosis. Therefore, the patient was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. We present a case of sarcoidosis with multiple lung parenchymal nodules that is uncommon in Korea, with an aim to alert physicians of such unusual presentations.
Differential diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis from other pulmonary fungal infections including mucormycosis is important because the treatment is pathogen-dependent. Clinically, invasive aspergillosis is often discriminated from other mold infections on the basis of typical histopathologic features in the biopsy specimen. However, biopsy alone is not always complete because different fungal species can display similar histopathologic features. Surrogate markers or molecular-based assays can be useful when the results of conventional diagnostic modalities are conflicting. Here, we present a case of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis histologically mimicking mucormycosis, which was confirmed by fungal polymerase chain reaction.
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