BACKGROUND: DNA content analysis of human solid tumor is now widely performed by flow cytometric study. One of the most interesting and potentially observation in this field is that proliferative activity(S-Phase fraction of cell cycle) may profoundly affect the prognosis. METHOD: S-Phase fraction(SPF) have been measured by flow cytometric method using tumor cells isolated from paraffin embedded tissue. To evaluate the prognostic significance, SPF of small lung cancer cell was assessed in 42 patients who died after receiving anticancer chemotherapy. RESULTS: 1) Mean survival time of patients with small cell lung cancer was 190(± 156) days, Survival time were shortened, when TNM stage and PS scale were advanced. 2) Mean value of SPF of patients with small cell lung cancer was 27.4(±8.5)%. SPF had nothing to do with advance of TNM stage and PS scale. 3) In each identical TNM stage, there were not statistic significance between SPF and survival times. 4) There was a tendency like that higher SPF, better chemotherapeutic CONCLUSION: We could not find statistic significance between SPF and survival times, but SPF was a good predictive factor for chemotherapeutic response.
DNA ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Paraffin ; Prognosis ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma ; Survival Rate

Most cases of hypercalcaemia are secondary to malignancy or primary hyperparathyroidism. We report a patient presenting with a triad of hypercalcemia, metabolic alkalosis, and renal failure secondary to treatment of iatrogenic hypoparathyroidism and osteoporosis. Persistent ingestion of calcium carbonate and vitamin D caused milk-alkali syndrome. The patient was managed with intravenous fluids and withdrawal of calcium carbonate and vitamin D. She responded well to the treatment and the calcium concentration, renal function and metabolic alkalosis were normalized. Milk-alkali syndrome may be important as a reemerging cause of hypercalcemia.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Alkalosis ; Calcium ; Calcium Carbonate ; Eating ; Humans ; Hypercalcemia ; Hyperparathyroidism, Primary ; Hypoparathyroidism ; Osteoporosis ; Renal Insufficiency ; Vitamin D

PURPOSE: This study was to develop and prove the effects of aself management compliance promotion program for primary hypertension patients who reside in rural communities. METHOD: The content of the self management compliance promotion program developed by this study was as follows: A leader trains patients as a group or individually, in walking, education and green tea therapy from the first to twelfth week. From the thirteenth to twenty fourth week, the patients should perform walking and green tea therapy by themselves. One hundred twenty subjects volunteered to participate in the study, who were among those registered as hypertension patients in the 14 community health clinics located in Chungcheongbuk-do. RESULT: Systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, step width, and degree of obesity decreased significantly. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, step length, knowledge of hypertension, and self management compliance significantly increased. CONCLUSION: A self management compliance promotion program for primary hypertensive patients enhances biophysical index and knowledge on hypertension, thus ultimately suggesting a nursing intervention for promoting self management compliance.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Hypertension/psychology/*therapy ; Life Style ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patient Compliance ; *Patient Education as Topic ; Rural Population ; *Self Care

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the factors influencing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination adoption stages using the Precaution Adoption Process model. METHODS: A total of 173 female university students from B metropolitan city participated. Demographics, factors contributing to action, knowledge, health beliefs, and self-efficacy related to the HPV vaccination were measured. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analysis using SPSS for Windows version 21.0. RESULTS: Factors that contributed to the transition from the unaware and unengaged stages to the undecided about action stage included age, economic status, experience of recommendation from doctors, perceived severity of cervical cancer, and perceived barriers. Factors that contributed to the transition from the undecided about action stage to the deciding to act stage were perceived benefit and self-efficacy of the HPV vaccination. Factors that contributed to the transition from the deciding to act stage to the acting and maintenance stages were experience of recommendation from doctors and perceived severity of cervical cancer. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that aggressive HPV vaccination campaigns increase awareness. Further studies should develop tailored strategies for promoting HPV vaccination that emphasize health beliefs and self-efficacy.
Demography ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Papillomavirus Vaccines ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; Vaccination*

Background: Prediction of mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a key to improving the clinical outcomes, considering that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the collapse of healthcare systems in many regions worldwide. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with COVID-19 mortality and to develop a nomogram for predicting mortality using clinical parameters and underlying diseases. Methods: This study was performed in 5,626 patients with confirmed COVID-19 between February 1 and April 30, 2020 in South Korea. A Cox proportional hazards model and logistic regression model were used to construct a nomogram for predicting 30-day and 60-day survival probabilities and overall mortality, respectively in the train set. Calibration and discrimination were performed to validate the nomograms in the test set. Results: Age ≥ 70 years, male, presence of fever and dyspnea at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis, and diabetes mellitus, cancer, or dementia as underling diseases were significantly related to 30-day and 60-day survival and mortality in COVID-19 patients. The nomogram showed good calibration for survival probabilities and mortality. In the train set, the areas under the curve (AUCs) for 30-day and 60-day survival was 0.914 and 0.954, respectively; the AUC for mortality of 0.959. In the test set, AUCs for 30-day and 60-day survival was 0.876 and 0.660, respectively, and that for mortality was 0.926. The online calculators can be found at https://koreastat.shinyapps.io/RiskofCOVID19/. Conclusion The prediction model could accurately predict COVID-19-related mortality; thus, it would be helpful for identifying the risk of mortality and establishing medical policies during the pandemic to improve the clinical outcomes.

Background: Prediction of mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a key to improving the clinical outcomes, considering that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the collapse of healthcare systems in many regions worldwide. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with COVID-19 mortality and to develop a nomogram for predicting mortality using clinical parameters and underlying diseases. Methods: This study was performed in 5,626 patients with confirmed COVID-19 between February 1 and April 30, 2020 in South Korea. A Cox proportional hazards model and logistic regression model were used to construct a nomogram for predicting 30-day and 60-day survival probabilities and overall mortality, respectively in the train set. Calibration and discrimination were performed to validate the nomograms in the test set. Results: Age ≥ 70 years, male, presence of fever and dyspnea at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis, and diabetes mellitus, cancer, or dementia as underling diseases were significantly related to 30-day and 60-day survival and mortality in COVID-19 patients. The nomogram showed good calibration for survival probabilities and mortality. In the train set, the areas under the curve (AUCs) for 30-day and 60-day survival was 0.914 and 0.954, respectively; the AUC for mortality of 0.959. In the test set, AUCs for 30-day and 60-day survival was 0.876 and 0.660, respectively, and that for mortality was 0.926. The online calculators can be found at https://koreastat.shinyapps.io/RiskofCOVID19/. Conclusion The prediction model could accurately predict COVID-19-related mortality; thus, it would be helpful for identifying the risk of mortality and establishing medical policies during the pandemic to improve the clinical outcomes.

Typhlitis is a necrotizing colitis that usually occurs in neutropenic patients and develops most often in patients with hematologic malignancies such as leukemia and lymphoma. Typhlitis may proceed to bowel perforation, peritonitis and sepsis, which requires immediate treatment. Irinotecan is a semisynthetic analogue of the natural alkaloid camptothecin which prevents DNA from unwinding by inhibition of topoisomerase I. It is mainly used in colon cancer and small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), of which the most common adverse effects are gastrointestinal toxicities. To the best of our knowledge, no case of typhlitis after chemotherapy with a standard dose of irinotecan in a solid tumor has been reported in the literature. We, herein, report the first case of typhlitis developed after chemotherapy combining irinotecan and cisplatin in a patient with SCLC.
Camptothecin ; Cisplatin ; Colitis ; Colonic Neoplasms ; DNA ; DNA Topoisomerases, Type I ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Humans ; Leukemia ; Lymphoma ; Peritonitis ; Sepsis ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma ; Typhlitis

Purpose: Preoperative tumor size is associated with clinical stage, treatment plan and even survival rate of patient. We investigated the accuracy of tumor size estimation between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography (US) findings, comparing these with pathologic tumor size in the diagnosis of early breast carcinoma. Methods: Between 2011 and 2016, 136 patients with early breast cancer were analyzed and their tumor size on US and MRI findings were compared with their pathologic tumor size retrospectively. The background parenchymal enhancement of MRI was categorized as minimal, mild, moderate, and extreme. The patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, had positive resection margins, underwent excisional biopsy for cancer diagnosis, and had non-mass lesions on MRI scans, were excluded. Results: In all, 83.1% of the cases showed concordance between MRI findings and pathologic tumor size within 0.5cm. MRI overestimated the findings by 10.3% and underestimated them by 6.6%; 78.7% showed concordance between US findings and pathologic tumor size within 0.5cm. US overestimated the findings by 5.9% and underestimated them by 15.4%. The tumor size on MRI (r=0.87) showed a stronger correlation to the pathologic tumor size than that on US (r=0.64) in early breast cancer patients. US had a tendency to underestimate the tumor size. The degree of breast parenchyma did not affect the accuracy of the measurement of preoperative tumor size. Conclusion MRI is relatively more accurate than US for assessing preoperative tumor size in breast cancer patients. US tends to underestimate tumor size.

PURPOSE: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication during hospitalization and is an accepted risk factor for in-hospital mortality. However, the association of severity of AKI with the long-term risk of death is not well known. This study aimed to investigate the incidence and clinical significance of AKI in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). METHODS: To examine the effect of the severity of AKI on 1-year risk of death following AMI, we performed an observational study of 1,224 patients admitted for AMI. We evaluated the association between AKI and all-cause mortality. Patients with maintaining hemodialysis treatment (n=7), and who died during hospitalization (n=71) were excluded. Remaining 1146 patients were divided into three groups according to the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) criteria (Stage-1, -2, and-3). The primary end point of the study was 1-year all-cause mortality after hospital discharge. The relation between the severity of AKI and 1-year mortality after AMI was analyzed. RESULTS: AKI was developed in 222/1,146 (19.3%) patients during the hospital stay. Adjusted hazard ratio for 1-year mortality was 3.064 (95% CI 1.618 to 5.803, p=0.001), 6.112 (95% CI 2.344 to 15.935, p<0.001) and 20.030 (95% CI 5.428 to 73.912, p<0.001) in stage-1, -2, and stage-3 AKI groups compared with that of no AKI group. CONCLUSION: The severity of AKI is strongly related to 1-year all cause mortality in patients with AMI.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Fatal Outcome ; Hospital Mortality ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Length of Stay ; Myocardial Infarction ; Renal Dialysis ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: To report a case of toxic keratitis due to chronic use of sodium hyaluronate eyedrops. CASE SUMMARY: A 74-year-old female visited our clinic with severe ocular pain and decreased vision in both eyes. She had received refractive surgeries in both eyes 10 years prior. She had been using sodium hyaluronate eyedrops for the treatment of dry eye symptoms for 10 years. Slit-lamp examination revealed inferior punctate erosions in the inferior part of the cornea in both eyes. With her history of chronic use of sodium hyaluronate and after ophthalmologic examination, we suspected keratitis medicamentosa due to sodium hyaluronate eyedrops. We discontinued the eyedrops she was using and prescribed autologous serum. One month later, ocular discomfort and decreased vision were improved and corneal erosions were decreased. CONCLUSIONS: In the present case, toxic keratitis was assumed to be associated with the use of sodium hyaluronate eyedrops and corneal erosions improved after the eyedrops were discontinued. We suggest sodium hyaluronate eyedrops are potentially hazardous and recommend a regular follow-up should be performed by a qualified ophthalmologist.
Aged ; Cornea ; Female ; Humans ; Hyaluronic Acid* ; Keratitis* ; Ophthalmic Solutions* ; Refractive Surgical Procedures