Recent discoveries suggest that aging is neither driven by accumulation of molecular damage of any cause, nor by random damage of any kind. Some predictions of a new theory, quasi-programmed hyperfunction, have already been confirmed and a clinically-available drug slows aging and delays diseases in animals. The relationship between diseases and aging becomes easily apparent. Yet, the essence o...

Functional decomposition has recently been adopted for look-up tabel (LUT)-based field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology mapping with good results. In this paper we propose a novel method to unify functional single-output and multiple-output decomposition. We first address a compatible class encoding algorithm to minimize the number of compatible classes in the image function. After app...

In the evaluation of thyroid nodules the three major clinical concerns are malignancy, hyperfunction, and cosmetic effect. It is now well accepted that the isolated "cold" nodule is the clinical setting in which thyroid cancer most often occurs (1-2). The clinical problem most often inferred from the presence of a "hot" nodule is hyperfunction. However, the clinical course, and natural history ...

Adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) is the major regulatory hormone of steroid synthesis and secretion by adrenocortical cells. The actions of ACTH are mediated by its specific membrane receptor (ACTH-R). The human ACTH-R gene was recently cloned, allowing systematic determination of its sequence, expression and function in adrenal tumorigenesis. The presence of oncogenic mutations of the ACTH-R gene i...

INTRODUCTION Primary pigmented nodular adrenocortical disease is a rare cause of adrenocorticotropic hormone-independent Cushing's syndrome. We report an uncommon primary pigmented nodular adrenocortical disease case presenting with a unilateral adrenocortical nodule and provide a brief overview of the existing literature. CASE PRESENTATION A 27-year-old Caucasian woman was admitted to our De...

Adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare neoplasm and it has an invariably lethal prognosis. We report here on the fine needle aspiration cytologic findings of a solitary metastatic pulmonary adrenocortical carcinoma in a 24-year-old woman. The aspirate smears were very cellular and they were composed of a monomorphic population of large polyhedral cells with abundant granular or vacuolated cytoplasm...

THE SECRETION of hormones or closely related substances by tumours arising from tissues other than the endocrine glands has been widely reported and was reviewed recently by Bower & Gordan (1965) and Anderson (1966). The commonest example is the production of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) by some oatcell carcinomas of the bronchus (Brown, 1928; Christy, 1961; O'Riordan et al., 1966; and o...

Cavernous hemangiomas most commonly affect the skin and liver, with the first report of adrenal involvement published in 1955. Adrenal hemangiomas remain rare, with fewer than 40 reported cases. Cavernous adrenal hemangiomas, usually unilateral, become apparent in the sixth to seventh decade of life, with a 2:1 female-to-male predilection. These lesions usually become apparent as incidental rad...