PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify menstrual distress, coping method and relief of symptoms among female nurses who worked with 3-shift. METHODS: A total of 185 participants were recruited from November 18, 2011 to January 30, 2012. The measurement included menstrual distress and coping method questionnaire and relief of symptoms. The data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients with SPSS 19.0. RESULTS: The level of menstrual distress was moderate (mean 3.0), and there were significant differences in menstrual distress by age, education, stress, regularity of menstrual cycle. Among the coping methods, coping according to menstrual cycle specific was the most frequently used, followed by active recognizing coping, active behavioral coping, and avoidance coping. Among the degree of symptom relief, symptom relief score was the highest when used coping according to menstrual cycle specific. Menstrual distress was associated with stress, adequate amount of sleep, dysmenorrhea and number of coping method total. CONCLUSION: Nurses experienced moderate levels of menstrual distress and used various types of coping to relieve it. There is a need for hospital nurses to develop an effective nursing intervention to relieve the menstrual distress and utilize active coping methods.
Dysmenorrhea ; Female ; Humans ; Menstrual Cycle ; Menstruation ; Surveys and Questionnaires

We found that the expression and activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is increased in the hippocampus during exercise (Moon et al., 2006). However, the upstream regulatory factor on the eNOS expression in the hippocampus during exercise has not been clear. In this study, we investigate the role of acetylcholine (ACh) as a regulatory factor for the eNOS expression and activity in the hippocampus during exercise. The results of the present study demonstrate that voluntary wheel running exercise for two weeks increases the expression and activity eNOS. In addition, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immnunoreacitvity within the hippocampus was increased after 2 weeks exercise. We further found that the upregulation of ACh with treatment of physostigmine, a booster of ACh releasing, increase the expression and activity of eNOS in the hippocampus. This present study provides the evidence that the upregulation of eNOS during exercise may be mediated by ACh in the hippocampus.
Acetylcholine ; Choline ; Choline O-Acetyltransferase ; Hippocampus ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III ; Physostigmine ; Running ; Up-Regulation

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes not only loss of sensory and motor function below the level of injury but also chronic pain, which is difficult and challenging of the treatment. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the motor cortex, of non-invasive therapeutic methods, has the motor and sensory consequences and modulates pain in SCI-patients. In the present study, we studied the effectiveness of rTMS and the relationship between the modulation of pain and the changes of neuroglial expression in the spinal cord using a rat SCI-induced pain model. Elevated expressions of Iba1 and GFAP, specific microglial and astrocyte markers, was respectively observed in dorsal and ventral horns at the L4 and L5 levels in SCI rats. But in SCI rats treated with 25 Hz rTMS for 8 weeks, these expressions were significantly reduced by about 30%. Our finding suggests that this attenuation of activation by rTMS is related to pain modulation after SCI. Therefore, rTMS might provide an alternative means of attenuating neuropathic pain below the level of SCI.
Animals ; Astrocytes/*cytology ; Calcium-Binding Proteins/metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Microfilament Proteins/metabolism ; Microglia/*cytology ; Nerve Tissue Proteins/metabolism ; Neuralgia/etiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord Injuries/complications/pathology/*therapy ; *Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Aberrant expression of BORIS/CTCFL (Brother of the Regulator of Imprinted Sites/CTCF-like protein) is reported in different malignancies. In this study, we characterized the entire promoter region of BORIS/CTCFL, including the CpG islands, to assess the relationship between BORIS expression and lung cancer. To simplify the construction of luciferase reporter cassettes with various-sized portions of the upstream region, genomic copies of BORIS were isolated using TAR cloning technology. We analyzed three promoter blocks: the GATA/CCAAT box, the CpG islands and the minisatellite region BORIS-MS2. Polymorphic minisatellite sequences were isolated from genomic DNA prepared from the blood of controls and cases. Of the three promoter blocks, the GATA/CCAAT box was determined to be a critical element of the core promoter, while the CpG islands and the BORIS-MS2 minisatellite region were found to act as regulators. Interestingly, the polymorphic minisatellite region BORIS-MS2 was identified as a negative regulator that repressed the expression levels of luciferase reporter cassettes less effectively in cancer cells compared with normal cells. We also examined the association between the size of BORIS-MS2 and lung cancer in a case–control study with 590 controls and 206 lung cancer cases. Rare alleles of BORIS-MS2 were associated with a statistically significantly increased risk of lung cancer (odds ratio, 2.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.02–4.08; and P=0.039). To conclude, our data provide information on the organization of the BORIS promoter region and gene regulation in normal and cancer cells. In addition, we propose that specific alleles of the BORIS-MS2 region could be used to identify the risk for lung cancer.
Alleles ; Clone Cells ; Cloning, Organism ; CpG Islands ; DNA ; Gene Expression* ; Luciferases ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Minisatellite Repeats* ; Promoter Regions, Genetic

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters for differentiation of cysts from and solid masses in the anterior mediastinum. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The development dataset included 18 patients from two institutions with pathologically-proven cysts (n = 6) and solid masses (n = 12) in the anterior mediastinum. We measured the maximum diameter, normalized T1 and T2 signal intensity (nT1 and nT2), normalized apparent diffusion coefficient (nADC), and relative enhancement ratio (RER) of each lesion. RERs were obtained by non-rigid registration and subtraction of precontrast and postcontrast T1-weighted images. Differentiation criteria between cysts and solid masses were identified based on receiver operating characteristics analysis. For validation, two separate datasets were utilized: 15 patients with 8 cysts and 7 solid masses from another institution (validation dataset 1); and 11 patients with clinically diagnosed cysts stable for more than two years (validation dataset 2). Sensitivity and specificity were calculated from the validation datasets. RESULTS: nT2, nADC, and RER significantly differed between cysts and solid masses (p = 0.032, 0.013, and < 0.001, respectively). The following criteria differentiated cysts from solid masses: RER < 26.1%; nADC > 0.63; nT2 > 0.39. In validation dataset 1, the sensitivity of the RER, nADC, and nT2 criteria was 87.5%, 100%, and 75.0%, and the specificity was 100%, 40.0%, and 57.4%, respectively. In validation dataset 2, the sensitivity of the RER, nADC, and nT2 criteria was 90.9%, 90.9%, and 72.7%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Quantitative MRI criteria using nT2, nADC, and particularly RER can assist differentiation of cysts from solid masses in the anterior mediastinum.
Dataset ; Diffusion ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mediastinal Cyst ; Mediastinum ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thymoma

BACKGROUND: Many women with endometriosis have become pregnant through assisted reproductive technology (ART), and have often experienced placenta previa (PP) during pregnancy. The objective of this study was to assess the association between women with endometriosis, especially those who conceived with ART, and the risk of PP. METHODS: Two reviewers independently determined studies that were considered suitable for meta-analyses published in various medicine-related databases from March 1, 2004 through July 31, 2017 without language restrictions. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria, with a combined sample size of 21,930 women. Of these 21,930 pregnancies, 6,256 had endometriosis (endometriosis) and 15,674 had no endometriosis. Four of these studies included 8,161 women who conceived with ART, 1,640 of whom had endometriosis (endometriosis + ART), and 6,521 of whom did not have endometriosis. Meta-analyses were estimated with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using random effect analysis according to heterogeneity of studies. RESULTS: These meta-analyses showed women with endometriosis (endometriosis) have an increased risk of PP (OR, 4.038; 95% CI, 2.291–7.116; P = 0.000). These results showed women who conceived with ART (endometriosis + ART), have a substantially increased risk of PP (OR, 5.543; 95% CI, 1.659–18.523; P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: These meta-analyses demonstrate women with endometriosis have an increased risk of PP.
Endometriosis* ; Female ; Humans ; Odds Ratio ; Placenta Previa* ; Placenta* ; Population Characteristics ; Pregnancy ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted* ; Sample Size

PURPOSE: As a result of various independently proposed nomenclatures and classifications, there is confusion in the diagnosis and prediction of biological behavior of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). A comprehensive nationwide study is needed in order to understand the biological characteristics of GEP-NETs in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We collected 4,951 pathology reports from 29 hospitals in Korea between 2000 and 2009. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to determine the prognostic significance of clinicopathological parameters. RESULTS: Although the GEP-NET is a relatively rare tumor in Korea, its incidence has increased during the last decade, with the most significant increase found in the rectum. The 10-year survival rate for well-differentiated endocrine tumor was 92.89%, in contrast to 85.74% in well differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma and 34.59% in poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma. Disease related death was most common in the biliary tract (62.2%) and very rare in the rectum (5.2%). In Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, tumor location, histological classification, extent, size, mitosis, Ki-67 labeling index, synaptophysin expression, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, and lymph node metastasis showed prognostic significance (p<0.05), however, chromogranin expression did not (p=0.148). The 2000 and 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) classification proposals were useful for prediction of the prognosis of GEP-NET. CONCLUSION: The incidence of GEP-NET in Korea has shown a remarkable increase during the last decade, however, the distribution of tumors in the digestive system differs from that of western reports. Assessment of pathological parameters, including immunostaining, is crucial in understanding biological behavior of the tumor as well as predicting prognosis of patients with GEP-NET.
Biliary Tract ; Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine ; Digestive System ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intestinal Neoplasms ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Mitosis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Population Characteristics ; Prognosis ; Rectum ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Survival Rate ; Synaptophysin ; World Health Organization