Purpose: This study aimed to identify changes in sleep patterns and fatigue levels during consecutive night shifts among shift nurses and to determine the association between sleep parameters and increased fatigue levels during work. Methods: This prospective observational study employing ecological momentary assessments was conducted using data collected from 98 shift nurses working in Korean hospitals between June 2019 and February 2021. The sleep patterns were recorded using actigraphy. The participants reported their fatigue levels at the beginning and end of each night shift in real time via a mobile link. Linear mixed models were used for the analysis. Results: Nurses spent significantly less time in bed and had shorter sleep durations during consecutive night shifts than on off-duty days, whereas their wake times after sleep onset were much longer on off-duty days than on on-duty days. Fatigue levels were higher on the second and third night-shift days than on the first night-shift days. A shorter time spent in bed and asleep was associated with a greater increase in fatigue levels at the end of the shift than at the beginning. Conclusion Nurses experience significant sleep deprivation during consecutive night shifts compared with off-duty days, and this sleep shortage is associated with a considerable increase in fatigue levels at the end of shifts. Nurse managers and administrators must ensure sufficient intershift recovery time during consecutive night shifts to increase the time spent in bed and sleeping.

No abstract available.
Adosterol/diagnostic use ; Adrenal Cortex/radiography/*radionuclide imaging ; Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms/pathology/radiography/*radionuclide imaging/surgery ; Adrenalectomy/methods ; Adrenocortical Adenoma/pathology/radiography/*radionuclide imaging/surgery ; Aged ; Aldosterone/blood ; Blood Specimen Collection/methods ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism/radiography/*radionuclide imaging ; Male ; Radiopharmaceuticals/diagnostic use ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Objective: Baseline amyloid burden in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has been linked to conversion to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the comparison of baseline and longitudinal changes in amyloid burden for predicting AD remains unresolved. The objectives of this study aimed to compare the prognostic ability of baseline and longitudinal changes in amyloid burden in MCI patients. Methods: Seventy-five individuals with MCI were recruited and examined annually by clinical interviews for a mean follow-up of 24 months (range, 11.6–42.0). [18F]Florbetaben positron emission tomography (PET) scans were performed. T1-weighted 3D volumes were acquired for co-registration, and to define regions of interest. We examined whether baseline and longitudinal amyloid burden changes can improve AD conversion by Cox proportional hazard model analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Cox proportional hazards model analysis showed that baseline amyloid burden was significantly associated with increased risk of conversion to AD (hazard ratio [HR]=10.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15–85.39; p=0.04), but longitudinal amyloid burden changes was not (HR=0.2; 95% CI, 0.02–1.18; p=0.07). When predicting AD, longitudinal amyloid burden changes had better ROC accuracy of 65.2% (95% CI, 48.4–82.0) than baseline amyloid burden of 59.6% (95% CI, 40.3–79.0), without statistical significance in pairwise comparison. Conclusion A single baseline amyloid PET could be sufficient in the prediction of AD conversion in MCI.

We investigated the diagnostic value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for restaging of treated uterine cervix squamous cell cancer with tumor maker elevation that was not explained by other conventional evaluation. We enrolled 32 cases who underwent PET/CT for the restaging of treated cervical cancer with tumor marker elevation that was not explained by recent conventional evaluation. All enrolled cases had squamous cell carcinoma. Increased tumor markers included squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC Ag) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). PET/CT findings were determined by pathologic confirmation or clinical follow-up. We compared PET/CT accuracy and clinical parameters including normalization of tumor markers in both the SCC Ag elevation group and the CEA elevation group. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of PET/CT in detecting recurrence were 100%, 83.3%, 82.4%, and 100%, respectively. Accuracy was significantly different between the SCC Ag elevation group and the CEA elevation group (p=0.0169). PET/CT with SCC Ag elevation was more accurate (100%) than PET/CT with CEA elevation (66.7%). Normalization of tumor markers was observed more often in the SCC Ag elevation group than in the CEA elevation group (p=0.0429). PET/CT showed high negative predictive value and sensitivity in the restaging of cervical cancer with unexplained tumor marker elevation. PET/CT was more accurate in patients with SCC Ag elevation than in those with CEA elevation.
Antigens, Neoplasm ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cervix Uteri ; Electrons ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neoplasms, Squamous Cell ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography ; Recurrence ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Serpins ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

Raynaud’s phenomenon (RP) is a functional vascular disorder, which can be defined as transient vasospasm of the peripheral arteries and arterioles in the affected areas exposed to the cold or other stress. The diagnosis of RP is mainly based on symptoms.Perfusion scintigraphy, with or without cold stimulation, can be used to evaluate RP. Studies with perfusion scintigraphy for RP have shown that patients with RP showed lower finger-to-palm ratio than patients without RP. Responses after cold stimulation were also different in patients with RP. Not only decreased perfusion or blood pool after cold stimulation but also paradoxically increased perfusion can be shown in patients with RP. Some studies have shown that primary and secondary RP can be differentiated by perfusion scintigraphy. Correlation between duration of disease and findings on perfusion scintigraphy was reported. Perfusion scintigraphy can show differences before and after treatment as well. However, the protocols for perfusion scintigraphy for PR vary among studies. The standard protocol of perfusion scintigraphy for RP should be established.

Background: Presenteeism is closely related to work performance, work quality and quantity, and productivity at work. According to the job demand-control-support model, job demand, job control, and support play important roles in presenteeism. The present study investigated job characteristics profiles based on the job demand-control-support model and identify the association between job characteristics profiles and presenteeism. Methods: This secondary data analysis used the Sixth Korean Working Condition Survey, a nationwide cross-sectional dataset. The study included 25,361 Korean wage workers employed in the workplace with two or more workers. Participants were classified into four job characteristics profiles based on the job demand-control-support model, using latent profile analysis, and logistic regression was performed to examine the association between study variables. Results: Overall, 11.0 % of study participants reported experience of presenteeism in the past 12 months. Age, sex, location, monthly income, shift work, work hours, health problems, and sleep disturbances were significantly associated with presenteeism. The rate of presenteeism was the highest in the passive isolate group. The passive collective, active collective, and low-stain collective groups had a 23.0%, 21.0%, and 29.0% lower likelihood of experiencing presenteeism, respectively, than the passive isolate group. Conclusions The job demand-control-support profiles and the risk of presenteeism were significantly associated. The most significant group that lowered the experience of presenteeism was the low-strain collective group, which had a low level of demand and high levels of control and support. Therefore, we need a policy to reduce job demand and increase job control and support at the organizational and national levels.

A 75-year-old man with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) underwent F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT for staging. PET/CT showed distant metastases to intra-abdominal lymph nodes (LNs) as well as bilateral mediastinal LNs (stage IV). He underwent PET/CT (restaging PET/CT) 1 week after the completion of first-line chemotherapy (docetaxel + carboplatin). It showed markedly increased FDG uptake in primary tumor, whereas tumor size decreased significantly, compared to prior PET/CT. This lesion was aggravated on follow-up CT 3 months after the completion of chemotherapy. Although there are several reports that FDG PET has potential to evaluate early response to chemotherapy and prognosis, there are a few cases to show mismatch between FDG uptake and size on PET/CT. Thus we report a case of NSCLC showed increased FDG uptake of primary tumor while decreased tumor size on restaging PET/CT.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis

Ectopic thyroid is not common disease and double ectopic thyroid is rare. Until January of 2008, dual ectopic thyroid has been reported only 23 cases in international literatures. Tc-99m sodium pertechnetate scan is playing an important role in the diagnosis of ectopic thyroid. In most of the cases, dual lingual thyroid tissues could be detected as two radiotracer uptake foci. We report a case of dual lingual thyroid mimicking mono-lingual thyroid in the anterior view of thyroid scan. Lateral view helped in this case to detect the dual lingual thyroid. With lateral view, the anatomical position and relationship could be examined in more detail.
Lingual Thyroid ; Sodium ; Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m ; Thyroid Dysgenesis ; Thyroid Gland

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare lymph node (LN) staging using ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with contrast-enhancement (CE) PET/CT and contrast-enhanced neck CT (neck CT) in patients with thyroid cancer with level-by-level comparison with various factors. METHODS: This was a retrospective multicenter study. A total of 85 patients were enrolled. Patients who underwent a preoperative evaluation by CE PET/CT and neck CT for thyroid cancer were enrolled. The gold standard for LN was the combination of surgical pathology and clinical follow-up. We compared CE PET/CT with neck CT using a level-by-level method. Factors, including age, sex, camera, arm position, tumor size, extra-thyroidal extension, tumor location, number of primary tumors, primary tumor maximum standardized uptake value, and the interval from scan to operation were also analyzed. RESULTS: Overall accuracy was 81.2% for CE PET/CT and 68.2% for neck CT. CE PET/CT was more sensitive than neck CT (65.8% vs. 44.7%). Also, CE PET/CT showed higher negative predictive value (77.2% vs. 66.1%). CE PET/CT showed good agreement with the gold standard (weighted kappa [κ], 0.7) for differentiating N0, N1a, and N1b, whereas neck CT showed moderate agreement (weighted κ, 0.5). CE PET/CT showed better agreement for the number of levels involved with the gold standard (weighted κ, 0.7) than that of neck CT with the gold standard (weighted κ, 0.5). The accuracies for differentiating N0, N1a, and N1b were 81.2% for CE PET/CT and 68.2% for neck CT. Level-by-level analysis showed that CE PET/CT was more sensitive and has higher negative predictive value for detecting ipsilateral level IV and level VI LNs than neck CT. Other analyzed factors were not related to accuracies of both modalities. CONCLUSION: CE PET/CT was more sensitive and reliable than neck CT for preoperative LN staging in patients with thyroid cancer.
Arm ; Electrons ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes* ; Methods ; Neck* ; Pathology, Surgical ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography* ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms*

Tetrofosmin is a ligand that forms a lipophilic, cationic complex with Tc-99m.1) Tc-99m tetrofosmin was developed as a myocardial perfusion imaging agent and also used to depict tumors.1-3) Mediastinal tumors is also detected by Tc-99m tetrofosmin.2-5) We report a case of extracardiac mediastinal activity detected by Tc-99m tetrofosmin scintigraphy, which revealed thymoma.
Myocardial Perfusion Imaging ; Thymoma ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon