Microorganisms Causing Community-Acquired Acute Bronchitis: The Role of Bacterial Infection.

Background: Although acute bronchitis is quite common, there is relatively limited information regarding the microorganisms that are involved in this illness.

Methods: We performed a prospective study of acute bronchitis at 31 hospitals and clinics in Korea from July 2011 to June 2012. Sputum specimens were collected for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and culture of microorganisms.

Role of Atypical Pathogens and the Antibiotic Prescription Pattern in Acute Bronchitis: A Multicenter Study in Korea.

The role of atypical bacteria and the effect of antibiotic treatments in acute bronchitis are still not clear. This study was conducted at 22 hospitals (17 primary care clinics and 5 university hospitals) in Korea. Outpatients (aged ≥ 18 yr) who had an acute illness with a new cough and sputum (≤ 30 days) were enrolled in 2013.

[Association of hepatic iron deposition and serum iron indices with hepatic inflammation and fibrosis stage in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease].

Background/aims: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis can develop from nonalcoholic fatty liver and progress to severe liver disease such as cirrhosis. The mechanism determining the progression from fatty liver to steatohepatitis is unknown. Iron is suspected to enhance hepatic damage associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

[Is the prevalence of cryptogenic hepatocellular carcinoma increasing in Korea?].

Background/aims: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been characterized by a wide spectrum of liver damages that span from steatosis to cryptogenic liver cirrhosis and even to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aims of this study were to determine whether the prevalence of HCC arising from cryptogenic cirrhosis has increased during the last ten years and to characterize the clinical features of cryptogenic HCC in Korea.

Methods: A retrospective and hospital-based analysis of the clinical data was done in 1,145 HCC patients; group A (Jan.

[Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome presenting as a single mass in the liver].

Hypereosinophilic syndrome is characterized by persistent blood eosinophilia of 1,500/mm(3) or more in the absence of known causes and multiorgan dysfunction by eosinophil-related tissue damage. In Korea, some cases of hypereosinophilic syndrome with hepatic involvement have been described with prolonged benign clinical courses. Most of them were diffuse or multifocal lesions in imaging studies, and any case presenting as a large single mass lesion has not been described.

[Two cases of autoimmnune hepatitis associated with systemic lupus erythematosus].

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic necroinflammatory liver disease of unknown cause associated with circulating autoantibodies and high serum globulin level. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a disease of unknown etiology in which tissues and cells are damaged by pathogenic autoantibodies and immune complex, affecting multiple organs including the liver, kidney, and CNS. The difference between the hepatic involvement of SLE and autoimmune hepatitis has not been clearly defined in the past due to similarities in clinical and biochemical features.

Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the bladder with bone marrow involvement.

Involvement of the lower urinary tract by advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) has been reported in up to 13% of cases, but primary NHL of the urinary bladder is very rare. A 35-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a chief complaint of gross hematuria with left flank pain on April 12, 2001. Cystoscopy revealed an edematous broad-based mass on the left lateral wall of the bladder, and transurethral biopsy showed NHL, diffuse large B-cell type.