We report a case of a 51-year-old woman with Evans syndrome (autoimmune hemolytic anemia and primary immune thrombocytopenia) and hypothyroidism. She was previously diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in 1994 (age, 35) and autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) 3 years ago. She was treated with oral prednisolone. After a period, in which the anemia waxed and waned, there was an abrupt development of thrombocytopenia (nadir 15×109/L) that coincided with the tapering off of prednisolone after 3 years of administration. Because her thrombocytopenia was refractory to prednisolone, we administered rituximab (375 mg/m2 weekly) for 4 weeks. Two weeks after the completion of the rituximab treatment, her platelet count was up to 92×109/L. No intermittent peaking of thyroid stimulating hormone occurred after rituximab treatment was initiated. Evans syndrome and autoimmune thyroiditis might share common pathophysiological mechanisms. This notion supports the use of rituximab in a patient suffering from these disorders.
Two strains Pleurotus eryngii 'Aeryni' and 'Na' carrying superior traits of a pileus and a earliness of harvest were selected to improve previously bred strains by single crosses. New hybrid, Aeryni 3 (Aeryni10 × Na5) showed superiority to other hybrids in yield, fruit body shape and days for harvest. The new strain, Aeryni 3 was harvested earlier than Keunneutari No. 2 by 2~3 days, and yielded 110.5 g/bottle (850 mL) which was 108% of that of Keunneutari No. 2. The ratio of diameter of pileus and stipe was 1.8 indicating that new stain will be likely low damage rate of fruit body during a distribution, and that was better than 2.1 of Keunneutari No. 2. A sensory test of taste of the new strain showed that 84.7% of evaluation panels selected "very good" while that of Keunneutari No. 2 was 55.5%. In purchasing intent test, 86.9% of panels will buy the new stain whereas 46.8% will buy Keunneutari No. 2 implicating that the new strain will likely be more marketability than previously bred strain.
Background: Melanoma antigen genes (MAGE) are expressed in many human malignant cells and are silent in normal tissues other than in testis and in placenta. But MAGE expression in benign lung diseases, such as pulmonary tuberculosis or cases with severe inflammation, needs further evaluation to overcome false-positive findings. We evaluated detection rates of the melanoma antigen genes (MAGE) RT-nested PCR in bronchoscopic washing samples from patients with benign lung disease, as well as in patients with malignancies. Methods: Bronchial washing fluid from 122 patients was used for cytological examination and MAGE gene detection using RT-nested-PCR of common A1-6 mRNA. We compared the results from the RT-nested PCR and the pathologic or bacteriologic diagnosis. We also analyzed the expression rate and false positive rate of MAGE gene. Results: Among 122 subjects, lung cancer was diagnosed in 23 patients and benign lung disease was diagnosed in 99 patients. In patients with lung cancer, the positive rate of MAGE expression was 47.8% (11/23) and in benign lung disease group, the expression rate was 14.1% (14/99). Among benign lung disease group, the expression rate of MAGE gene (25.0%) in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (11/44) was especially high. Conclusion: MAGE A1-6 RT-nested PCR of bronchial washing fluid can be used as a complementary method in lung cancer, but that test results in a high false positive rate in tuberculosis patients.
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