PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to assess attenuation correction algorithms with the 137Cs point source for the brain positron emission tomography (PET) imaging process. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four different types of phantoms were used in this study for testing various types of the attenuation correction techniques. Transmission data of a 137Cs point source were acquired after infusing the emission source into phantoms and then the emission data were subsequently acquired in 3D acquisition mode. Scatter corrections were performed with a background tail-fitting algorithm. Emission data were then reconstructed using iterative reconstruction method with a measured (MAC), elliptical (ELAC), segmented (SAC) and remapping (RAC) attenuation correction, respectively. Reconstructed images were then both qualitatively and quantitatively assessed. In addition, reconstructed images of a normal subject were assessed by nuclear medicine physicians. Subtracted images were also compared. RESULTS: ELAC, SAC, and RAC provided a uniform phantom image with less noise for a cylindrical phantom. In contrast, a decrease in intensity at the central portion of the attenuation map was noticed at the result of the MAC. Reconstructed images of Jaszack and Hoffan phantoms presented better quality with RAC and SAC. The attenuation of a skull on images of the normal subject was clearly noticed and the attenuation correction without considering the attenuation of the skull resulted in artificial defects on images of the brain. CONCLUSION: the complicated and improved attenuation correction methods were needed to obtain the better accuracy of the quantitative brain PET images.
Brain ; Noise ; Nuclear Medicine ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Skull

Schwannomas arise from the neural crest-derived Schwann cells. Their most common locations are the extremities, neck, mediastinum, retroperitoneum, and cerebellopontine angle. They have rarely been reported to occur in the breast. We herein report on a case of schwannoma of the breast in a 30-year-old woman. The ultrasonographic examination showed a well defined ovoid hypoechoic mass in the upper outer quadrant of her left breast. A presumptive diagnosis of fibroadenoma was made, and the mass was then removed. The histopathologic and immunohistochemical features confirmed the diagnosis of schwannoma of the breast.
Adult ; Breast* ; Cerebellopontine Angle ; Diagnosis ; Extremities ; Female ; Fibroadenoma ; Humans ; Mediastinum ; Neck ; Neurilemmoma* ; Schwann Cells

This is a very important differential diagnosis for postpartum hemorrhage following cesarean delivery because repeated life-threatening bleeding may induce multiple blood transfusion and require emergency surgery including hysterotomy. False or pseudoanuerysm can be acquired in association with trauma, previous surgery, trophoblastic disease, neoplasm, infection or diethylstilbestrol exposure. When a punctured or lacerated artery does not seal completely, blood may escape and dissects the adjacent tissues, and collects in perivascular areas. If this collection maintains in communication with the parent vessel, a pseudoaneurysm could result. Typically the lesion are discovered because the patients have symptoms related to delayed rupture of the pseudoaneurysms, causing hemorrhage. Radiographic techniques (angiography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging) have provided the opportunity to diagnose pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous malformation. We report a case of postpartum hemorrhage following cesarean delivery attributed to a pseudoaneurysm of the uterine pedicle and treated with arterial embolization. Angiographic study confirmed the diagnosis and embolization of the false aneurysm was successful in controlling the hemorrhage.
Aneurysm, False* ; Arteries ; Arteriovenous Malformations ; Blood Transfusion ; Cesarean Section* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diethylstilbestrol ; Emergencies ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hysterotomy ; Parents ; Postpartum Hemorrhage* ; Postpartum Period* ; Pregnancy ; Rupture ; Trophoblasts ; Ultrasonography ; United Nations

No abstract available.
Infection Control* ; Jeollanam-do*

No abstract available.
Female ; Ovary*

This study was to investigate the effect of the education about general nutrition knowledge on the acceptance of TV food advertisements in adolescents. Twenty hours of nutrition related education in home economics classes were done during 3 months, to conveniently selected 784 first grade middle school students living in large and small cities and rural areas of Chungnam Province. The education effects were evaluated through questionnaire surveys before and after the education and their comparative analysis. Average TV watching time was 2.92 +/- 1.66 hours per day, which was about one hour longer on weekends. Nearly half of the subjects watched TV mainly after 9 PM. After nutrition education, nutrition knowledge scores of total subjects were significantly increased from 7.73 +/- 2.16 to 10.25 +/- 2.51 with a full score of 16. Food attitude and food habit scores also significantly increased from 32.45 +/- 4.65 (full score 50) to 33.93 +/- 4.68 and from 36.20 +/- 5.70 to 37.29 +/- 5.87, respectively. The general acceptance of TV food advertisements scored 25.25 +/- 4.44 (full score 40) before education and 26.90 +/- 4.55 after education, which was significantly raised by the education. Acceptance scores of TV food advertisements showed significant positive relationships with the scores of nutrition knowledge, food attitudes, and food habits. In addition, TV watching time had negative relationships with nutrition knowledge, food attitudes, and food habits scores, but not with acceptance score of TV food advertisements. The above results suggested that school-based nutrition education improved slightly but significantly the attitude of accepting TV food advertisements maybe through increasing nutrition knowledge and making food attitudes and habits better. Nutrition education focused on the evaluation and acceptance of food advertisements are further needed to improve the TV food advertisement acceptance of adolescents.
Adolescent ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Education* ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the association between executive functions and time perspectives in patients with adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The executive function including self-management to time, self-organization/problem solving, self-restraint or inhibition, self-motivation, and self-regulation of emotion was analyzed. In addition, the time perspective, including past-negative, past-positive, present-hedonistic, present-fatalistic, future-negative, and future-positive, were investigated. The correlations between the executive functions and time perspectives were analyzed in an adult ADHD patient group. METHODS: Thirty-six participants were divided into 17 in the ADHD group and 19 in the Control group. The participants conduct psychological tests including Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (BDEFS), ADHD Self-Report Scale, and the Swedish Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory to confirm their executive functions, attention, and time perspectives. The participants were recruited at Samsung Medical Center from April 2017 to November 2018. The collected data was analyzed using a t-test and Pearson correlation analysis. RESULTS: The adult ADHD patients group showed significantly higher scores in the BDEFS and ADHD Self-Report Scale than the control group. In time perspective scores, the adult ADHD patients group was higher in the past-negative, present-hedonistic, present-fatalistic time perspectives than the control group. In addition, the adult ADHD patients group was lower in future-positive than the control group. In the adult ADHD patients group, the future-positive time perspectives were negatively correlated with the executive functions. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the negative time perspective is related to the executive function deficits in an adult ADHD group, particularly in the self-management of time, self-organization/problem solving, and self-motivation.
Adult ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Psychological Tests ; Self Care ; Self-Control

Transplantation of ABO-nmatched solid organs has been associated with the development of immune hemolysis due to donor-erived antibodies produced by passenger lymphocytes in the graft, called "Passenger Lymphocyte Syndrome". In a liver transplantation, about 40% of patients at risk has detectable donor-erived antibodies and hemolytic anemia occurs in 29% of patients. It is characterized by hemoglobinemia, a rapid fall in hemoglobin, hyperbilirubinemia, and an excessive red cell transfusion requirement occurring 1 to 3 weeks after the transplantation. These clinical findings are accompanied by the laboratory findings of a positive direct antiglobulin test and the detection of unexpected antibodies in the patients' red cell eluate and serum. Both the hemolytic anemia and serology resolve over the course of weeks to months. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of hemolytic anemia due to passenger lymphocyte syndrome after ABO-nmatched liver transplantation in Korea.
Anemia, Hemolytic ; Antibodies ; Coombs Test ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia ; Korea ; Liver Transplantation ; Liver* ; Lymphocytes* ; Transplants

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To investigate the rate of detection of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals in the synovial fluid (SF) of patients with acute gouty arthritis and factors associated with false-negative results. METHODS: A total of 179 patients with acute gouty arthritis who had undergone SF crystal examination were identified from the data warehouse of two university hospitals. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained from the medical records. RESULTS: The overall rate of detection of MSU crystals was 78.8%. In univariate analyses, the only significant differences between the variables of crystal-negative and crystal-positive patients were a lower C-reactive protein level (p = 0.040) and fewer patients undergoing emergent surgery in the crystal-positive group (p = 4.5 x 10(-6)). In logistic regression analyses, MSU crystal-negative results were significantly associated with the interval from arthritis onset to crystal examination (p = 0.042), and this was the most significant risk factor for arthroscopic surgery (p = 2.1 x 10(-4)). Seventeen patients who underwent arthroscopic surgery had a significantly longer hospital stay (p = 0.007) and a significant delay in gout treatment (p = 8.74 x 10(-5)). The distribution of crystal-negative patients differed significantly between the SF samples that were evaluated by both the laboratory medicine and the rheumatology departments (p = 1.2 x 10(-14)), and the kappa value was 0.108. CONCLUSIONS: Although several clinical features were associated with detection failure, SF MSU crystal identification was critically dependent on the observer. Considering the impact on the treatment outcomes, implementation of a quality control program is essential.
Acute Disease ; Aged ; Arthritis, Gouty/diagnosis/*metabolism/*surgery ; Arthroscopy ; Biological Markers/metabolism ; Crystallization ; False Negative Reactions ; Female ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Microscopy, Polarization ; Middle Aged ; Observer Variation ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Reproducibility of Results ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; Synovial Fluid/*metabolism ; Time Factors ; Time-to-Treatment ; Treatment Outcome ; Uric Acid/*metabolism

BACKGROUND: Critical illness that requires major surgery is often associated with non-thyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS). The characteristic feature of NTIS is low serum triiodothyronine (T3) levels, and in severe illness, the levels of serum thyroxine (T4) are also low in the absence of a rise in thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). However, little is known about the changes in thyroid hormones during and after liver transplantation (LT). This study was conducted in order to evaluate the intra- or postoperative changes in thyroid hormones. METHODS: Twenty-two patients who underwent LT were enrolled. Serum levels of triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free T3 (FT3) and free T4 (FT4) were measured immediately after the induction of anesthesia (T1), at the end of the anhepatic period (T2), at the end of the surgical procedure (T3), and at 24 hours (T4) and 120 hours postoperatively (T5). RESULTS: The mean levels of T3, T4, FT3, FT4 and TSH were significantly decreased throughout the study when compared with the T1 value. The mean levels of T3, T4 FT3 and TSH were below the normal range from T2, T4 and T5. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that LT may induce NTIS by at least postoperative day 5. In the future, longer follow-up studies, and the effects of thyroid hormones on the prognosis and determination of the advantages and disadvantages of T3 replacement therapy to these patients will be required.
Anesthesia ; Critical Illness ; Euthyroid Sick Syndromes ; Humans ; Liver Transplantation* ; Prognosis ; Reference Values ; Thyroid Hormones* ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine ; Triiodothyronine