MicroRNAs (miRs) are small noncoding RNAs that have been reported to be promising diagnostic tools. We used quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) to analyze differentially expressed miRNAs in prostate tumor samples to determine its prognostic value. From 2007 to 2009, tumor tissues were obtained from 73 radical prostatectomy specimens. Differentially expressed miR-96, -145 and -221 were validated by TaqMan RT-qPCR using all 73 tissues. The prognostic value was assessed in terms of biochemical recurrence using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. For our patient cohort, the mean age was 64.7 years (50-76 years) and the mean prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was 7.5 ng ml 21 . During the follow-up period (mean, 19.4 months), 14 of 73 (19.2%) patients developed biochemical recurrence. Expression of miR-96, -145 and -221 correlated strongly with each other, but there were no correlations between miRNA expression and clinicopathologic parameters. Kaplan-Meier survival curves using the log-rank test showed a decreased biochemical recurrence-free interval with pathologic stage (P,0.001). In addition, patients with Gleason scores over 8, compared with those with a Gleason score of 6, showed a decreased biochemical recurrence-free interval in Kaplan-Meier analysis (P50.001). However, expression of miR-96, -145 and -221 did not correlate with the biochemical recurrence interval in Kaplan-Meier survival curves or by multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazard regression model, either. In conclusion, we did not observe a significant correlation between the expression of miR-96, -145 and -221 and clinicopathologic parameters. To utilize miRNA as a diagnostic tool in clinical practice, more research is needed to understand miRNA mechanisms, identify miRNA targets, and further characterize miRNA function.

In all, 1327 up-regulated or 767 down-regulated genes that were over 3 times more prominent in cholesteatoma than in skin were identified by 5 samples of microarray data. Among these up-regulated or down-regulated genes in cholesteatoma, 291 genes were identified in 3 samples or more out of 5 samples as up-regulated expression more than threefold in density and 191 genes were down-regulated more than threefold in density. RT-PCR of 21 selected genes revealed that those expression levels were higher in choleasteatoma than retroauricular skin.

Methemoglobinemia is a condition in which the iron portion of hemoglobin, which binds to oxygen, is oxidized to produce methemoglobin, which increases blood concentration. There are many causes of methemoglobinemia, the most common being food, drugs, and chemicals. A 75-year-old male patient who had taken an herbicide did not notice any nonspecific symptoms. However, after 4 hours, his methemoglobin levels increased to 17.1%, while after 7 hours it increased to 26.5%, at which time intravenous administration of methylene blue 1 mg/kg (an antidote) was started. After a total of five doses of methylene blue at 1 mg/kg due to reactive methemoglobinemia for about 36 hours, the methemoglobin levels increased to 23.7%. Because no more methylene blue could be administered, 10 g of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) was administered intravenously. After 82 hours, ascorbic acid 10 g was administered six times for repeated reactive methemoglobinemia. No additional reactive methemoglobinemia was observed. The ventilator and endotracheal tube were successfully removed on day 5 after admission.