Clinical professionals gain new information to assist in patient care when they read the medical literature. Similarly, in clinical preventive medicine, medical science documents that have previously published can be searched and evaluated in order to confirm the scientific support for the clinical preventive medical service offered in order to prevent chronic disease. This paper introduces the medical informatics techniques for knowledge extraction that can become the basis for clinical practice. Particularly, it discusses the clinical document retrieval and knowledge discovery tools that can search for extracting the knowledge which the medical expert desires with data mining techniques. For example, Clinical medical personnel and medical researchers can locate the information from the latest literature rapidly or find and evaluate the scientific basis for the treatment and prevention of infection. This study can be used when they analyze the correlation between accumulated and different type of data and contributes to the detection of new knowledge. Recently, the concern about the visualization of massive data and information is high as the importance of big data has received greater attention. Contributions to this technique and decision support tools will increase gradually due to the way support for decision-making through scientific evidence for the pattern changing disease is evaluated or as one of the clinical practice guidelines is accepted.
Artificial Intelligence ; Chronic Disease ; Data Mining ; Decision Support Techniques ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Medical Informatics ; Medical Informatics Computing ; Patient Care ; Preventive Medicine

No abstract available.
Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Nodule*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is often associated with extrahepatic autoimmune disease, and autoantibodies such as anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) or anti-smooth muscle antibody (ASA). The presence of autoantibodies may make discrimination between chronic hepatitis C with autoimmune features and type 1 autoimmune hepatitis difficult. We studied the prevalence of autoantibodies in patients with chronic HCV infection and their clinical significance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ANA, ASA, anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA), anti-microsomal antibody (AmA), rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cardiolipin antibody (aCL) and lupus anti-coagulant (LA) were tested in 116 patients (80 chronic hepatitis C, 36 liver cirrhosis). Genotypes of HCV were determined in 25 patients by INNO LiPA. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of autoantibody was 65.5%. The most common autoantibody was aCL (34.5%), followed by ANA (25%), RF (18%), LA (15.5%), ASA (6.9%), anti-microsomal antibody (6%) and AMA (1%). The positive rate of either ANA or ASA was 30.2%, but both were positive in 1.7% only. There was no difference in the demographic features, biochemistry, HCV genotypes and disease status between autoantibody-positive and autoantibody-negative patients. CONCLUSIONS: Autoantibodies were commonly found in patients with chronic HCV infection. But, the presence of autoantibodies may be a non-specific finding in chronic hepatitis C infection without clinical significance.
Autoantibodies* ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Biochemistry ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Genotype ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis C, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Autoimmune ; Hepatitis, Chronic* ; Humans ; Liver ; Prevalence* ; Rheumatoid Factor

No abstract available.
Anemia, Megaloblastic* ; Humans ; Megaloblasts* ; Methotrexate*

No abstract available.
Leukemia, Plasma Cell* ; Plasma Cells* ; Plasma*

No abstract available.
Catheters*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a major problem associated with liver cirrhosis which has high mortality. Increased production of inflammatory mediators, such as tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) and interleukin- (IL-) may be associated with development of renal impairment, one of the most important prognostic parameters in SBP. The aim of this study is to investigate the changes of these cytokines in ascitic fluid and plasma in patients with SBP and the relationship between these cytokines and development of renal impairment. METHODS: Forty patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites were studied 21 with SBP and 19 with sterile ascites. TNF-a and IL- levels in ascitic fluid and plasma were determined by ELISA at the time of diagnosis in both groups and 48 hours after antibiotics treatment in SBP patients. RESULTS: TNF-and IL- levels in ascitic fluid and plasma were significantly higher in patients with SBP than those without SBP (ascitic fluid TNF-a: 2.5+/-0.5 vs. 1.6+/-0.2; plasma TNF-a: 2.3+/-0.5 vs. 1.5+/-0.2; ascitic fluid IL-: 3.8+/-0.5 vs. 3.0+/-0.4; plasma IL-: 3.4+/-0.5 vs. 2.3+/-0.3, log pg/mL)(p<0.001). In patients with SBP, levels of TNF-a and IL- in ascitic fluid and plasma decreased 48 hours after antibiotics treatment. Eleven patients with SBP (11/21, 52%) developed renal impairment. Patients with renal impairment had significantly higher ascitic fluid and plasma TNF-a levels than those without renal impairment (median 2.5 vs. 2.1 for ascitic fluid, p=0.006; median 2.4 vs. 2.0, log pg/mL for plasma, p=0.04). Although four out of eleven (36%) patients who developed renal impairment died during hospitalization, all the patients without renal impairment survived (p=0.09). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the levels of TNF-a and IL- in ascitic fluid and plasma are increased in SBP and elevated levels of TNF-a in ascitic fluid and plasma may be associated with development of renal impairment, thus indicating poor prognosis in patients with SBP.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Ascites ; Ascitic Fluid* ; Cytokines ; Diagnosis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Mortality ; Necrosis* ; Peritonitis* ; Plasma* ; Prognosis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to define the factors affecting results in acute septic hip arthritis in children and to reduce the complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 27 children with 28 hip joint infections, treated with arthrotomy and followed up for more than 12 months. Results were evaluated according to Merle D'Aubigne's clinical grade and Bennett's radiological grade, and correlated with the time between symptom onset and treatment, the existence of a causative organism, its species, concomitant osteomyelitis, age of onset and normalized time of C-reactive protein (CRP). We analysed results using the Pearson Chi Square method. RESULTS: A delay in treatment, concomitant osteomyelitis of the proximal femur and old age, were factors associated with poor prognosis. Normalized time of CRP, the existence of a causative organism and species were not correlated with the treatment results. CONCLUSION: Shorter duration of disease from clinical onset to the initiation of therapy and concomitant osteomyelitis of the proximal femur are the most important factors in the treatment of acute septic hip arthritis in children. When analysing results correlated with the age of onset, precise prospective study is required in many cases of acute septic hip arthritis in children.
Age of Onset ; Arthritis ; Arthritis, Infectious* ; C-Reactive Protein ; Child* ; Early Diagnosis ; Femur ; Hip Joint* ; Hip* ; Humans ; Osteomyelitis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

Translocation of azurophil granules is pivotal for bactericidal activity of neutrophils, the first-line defense cells against pathogens. Previously, we reported that lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), an endogenous lipid, enhances bactericidal activity of human neutrophils via increasing translocation of azurophil granules. However, the precise mechanism of LPC-induced azurophil granule translocation was not fully understood. Treatment of neutrophil with LPC significantly increased CD63 (an azurophil granule marker) surface expression. Interestingly, cytochalasin B, an inhibitor of action polymerization, blocked LPC-induced CD63 surface expression. LPC increased F-actin polymerization. LPC-induced CD63 surface expression was inhibited by both a Rho specific inhibitor, Tat-C3 exoenzyme, and a Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, Y27632 which also inhibited LPC-induced F-actin polymerization. LPC induced Rho-GTP activation. NSC23766, a Rac inhibitor, however, did not affect LPC-induced CD63 surface expression. Theses results suggest a novel regulatory mechanism for azurophil granule translocation where LPC induces translocation of azurophil granules via Rho/ROCK/F-actin polymerization pathway.

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis(LAM) is a rare disease of unknown etiology that occurs mainly in woman in her reproductive age. We recently experienced two cases of bilateral diffuse cystic lesion of the lung on chest X-ray and HRCT. The first case, a 26-year-old female, who had been diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis be the presence of clinical manifestation such as mental retardation, bilateral renal angiomyolipoma, adenoma sebaceum and generalized seizure, was admitted due to recently developed hemoptysis. Chest PA showed diffuse ground-glass opacity with radiolucent cystic lesions of various sizes on both lung fields. HRCT showed innumerable small cystic lesions with suspicious diffuse ground-glass opacity on both lung fields. The second case, a 30-year-old female was admitted due to dyspnea and spewing of blood-tinged sputum for 2 weeks, shortly after delivery. Chest PA showed diffuse reticular and ground-glass opacities on both lung field. HRCT showed multiple well-difined and relatively uniform size air cysts with a uniform wall thickness on entire both lung fields, with small amount of right pleural effusion. By thoracoscopic lung biopsy she was diagnosed with pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis. We report these cases with a brief review of the literatures.
Adult ; Angiomyolipoma ; Biopsy ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Intellectual Disability ; Lung ; Lymphangioleiomyomatosis ; Pleural Effusion ; Rare Diseases ; Seizures ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Tuberous Sclerosis