BACKGROUND: Follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) is the second most common thyroid malignancy and its differential diagnosis includes follicular adenoma (FA) and adenomatous goiter (AG). Several ancillary markers have been suggested to aid in the diagnosis of FTC, but the successful use of these methods still needs to be validated. METHODS: In the present study, we verified the immunoexpression of HMGA2, CEACAM6, survivin, and SFN/14-3-3 delta in lesions including 41 AGs, 72 FAs, and 79 FTCs. We evaluated their diagnostic usefulness, combined with galectin 3, Hector Battifora mesothelial 1 (HBME1), cytokeratin 19, and cyclin D1, in diagnosing FTC. RESULTS: The expressions of HBME1 (65.8%) and HMGA2 (55.7%) were significantly higher in FTCs than in FAs and AGs (p<.001 and p=.005, respectively). HBME1 was the only marker that was more frequently expressed in FTCs than in FAs (p=.021) and it was more frequently expressed in follicular neoplasms than in AGs (p<.001). Among the novel markers, the combination of HMGA2 and HBME1 showed the highest sensitivity (72.2%) and specificity (76.1%) for diagnosing FTC. CEACAM6, survivin, and SFN/14-3-3 delta were barely expressed in most cases. CONCLUSIONS: Our present results show that only HMGA2 can be beneficial in differentiating FTC using the novel markers.
Adenocarcinoma, Follicular* ; Adenoma ; Cyclin D1 ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Galectin 3 ; Goiter ; Keratin-19 ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroid Gland

PURPOSE: The present study was conducted to examine the effects of a health counseling program by occupational health nurses on the unemployed visiting the Employment Welfare Plus Center. METHODS: The one-group pretest-posttest design was used. The study presented a secondary analysis of the data collected in a health counseling program run by occupational health nurses for the unemployed visiting the Employment Welfare Plus Center. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Shapiro-Wilk test, χ² test and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to analyze 158 data collected between October 5, 2015 and January 5, 2016. RESULTS: After the intervention, the participants showed a significant decrease in the level of stress index (uBioMacpa), stress (discomfort), musculoskeletal pain and depression. In addition, the participants showed a significant increase in self-rated general health, exercise and regular eating behavior. CONCLUSION: The health counseling program offered by occupational health nurses is an effective intervention to improve the physical and mental health of the unemployed individuals visiting the Employment Welfare Plus Center.
Counseling* ; Depression ; Employment* ; Feeding Behavior ; Mental Health ; Musculoskeletal Pain ; Occupational Health* ; Unemployment

PURPOSE: To evaluate the US findings of soft tissue hemangiomas in extremities and to correlate the echo-pattern with MR signal characteristics of hemangiomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively studied forty-two patients either with pathologically proven cases or with characteristic features of hemangiomas on MRI, US and plain film. Hemangiomas were divided into two types according to the locations;subcutaneous and intramuscular. Analytic points on US and MR findings were gross morphology of the mass, internal echo-pattern or signal characteristics. We correlated the echo-pattern with MR signal characteristics in hemangiomas. RESULTS: Subcutaneous hemangiomas revealed homogeneously anechoic mass on US, which were well correlated with MR signal characteristics' homogeneous low singnal intensity(SI) on Tl-weighted image(WI) and high SI on T2-WI. Intramuscular hemangiomas showed heterogeneously mixed echoic masses on US. An anechoic component on US corresponded to dilated vascular channels on MRI. The signal intensity of intramuscular hemangioma was less than that of subcutaneous fat on T1-WI and greater than that of fat on T2-WI. Both types of hemangiomas had tubular or lace-like appearance with interspersed fibrofatty septa. CONCLUSION: The echo-patterns in US were well associated with MR signal characteristics on MRI. Regarding US and MR features, intramuscular hemangiomas were different to subcutaneous hemangiomas.
Extremities* ; Hemangioma* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Retrospective Studies ; Subcutaneous Fat

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to investigate factors affecting the discordance between body image and body mass index amongst Korean adults aged 19–39 years. METHODS: Data (N = 59,361) from the 2014 Korean Community Health Survey was analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: To examine the factors affecting body image discordance as observed in 43.1% of participants, the group was subdivided into underestimation and overestimation. There were 36.0% of participants that were body image discordant underestimators and 7.1% were overestimators. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the underestimators tended to be men, graduated from high school, married, current/ex-smokers, ex-drinkers, had between 5 to 9 hours sleep (inclusive), had fair to good self-rated health, and demonstrated healthy weight control behavior, relative to the reference group. In comparison, overestimators tended to be in the 19–29 year group and had signs of depression. The OR of individuals who were men, married, and had healthy weight control behavior was significantly lower in the overestimators group. CONCLUSION: These findings show that tailored interventions to promote accurate body awareness should be based on the type of body image discordance. In addition, it is necessary to develop and implement a program of body image improvement that considers the factors affecting body weight discordance.
Adult* ; Body Image* ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Depression ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Overweight

It is well known that the spatial patterns of basement membrane[BM] components show a close correlation with the morphogenetic process in developing organs during pre- and postnatal period. But little is known about the chronological changes in BM components during the development of thyroid gland. To investigate the correlation of the distribution of BM components with the development of the thyroid gland, immunohistochemical localization of the BM components was performed, using rat fetuses[from 15 to 21 days of gestation] and pups[from 1 to 14 days]. According to the histological features with H.E. staining, prenatal development[El5-21] of the rat thyroid could be divided into 3 representative stages : 1] Undifferentiated primordium of thyroid epithelia, forming cell cords or cell nests [until El5 day]. 2] An intervening stage of cell proliferation with the pattern of lobulation[El6-17 days]. 3] Stage of maturing follicles[El8-21 days]. It could be concluded that differentiation of the thyroid follicle are terminated during the prenatal period and growth in size and number occurs during the first two weeks after birth. By the immunohistochemical localization of laminin[LM], fibronectin[FN], type IV collagen[CIV], the basement membranes investing thyroid follicles could be clearly delineated at 15 days of gestation. Reactivity for LN and CIV associated with BM increased with advancing development, while that of FH was apparently weakened during the 2 weeks after birth. On the other hand immunoreactivity for CIV in the same age group increased, compared to that of previous swage of development. These results indicate that BM components were expressed in distinct spatial patterns with advancing development of thyroid gland. Based on these observations, it could be concluded that these BM components are important determinants in epithelial growth and differentiation during thyroid development.
Animals ; Basement Membrane* ; Cell Proliferation ; Collagen Type IV ; Fibronectins ; Hand ; Humans ; Laminin ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Rats* ; Thyroid Gland*

Purpose: This descriptive research study was conducted to investigate the factors influencing self-care agency of disabled persons with chronic diseases. Methods: The participants were 124 disabled persons with chronic diseases who were using a welfare center for the disabled in Seoul. Using a structured-questionnaire, the data was collected from April 15, to October 8, 2021. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, scheff tests, pearson correlation coefficients and hierarchical multiple regression with the IBM SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. Results: Self-care agency was positively correlated with the health literacy (r=.27, p=.002), social support (r=.38, p<.001) and perceived involvement in care (r=.28, p=.002). Factors influencing self-care agency were education (β=0.21, p=.014), social support (β=0.24, p=.006) and perceived involvement in care (β=0.17, p=.037). The input variables explained .241 of self-care agency. Conclusion The results of the study indicated that approaches focusing on enhancing perceived involvement in care and social support could potentially improve self-care agency of disabled persons with chronic diseases.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the cultural competence of nurses caring for foreign patients in general hospitals. METHODS: The subjects are 308 nurses who work in general hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The data, collected using a structured questionnaire on cultural competence, coping strategy, multicultural experience, intercultural uncertainty, and intercultural anxiety, were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression. RESULTS: Cultural competence was significantly associated with marital status, level of education, type of ward, and number of cared foreign patients. In hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the level of cultural competence was significantly associated with married, master degree qualified, high level of coping strategy and multicultural experience, and low level of cultural uncertainty. CONCLUSION: The findings revealed the need for educational programs which can contribute to lower the intercultural uncertainty and to enhance coping strategies dealing with foreign patients. In addition, individual and organization efforts to provide opportunities to expand nurses' multicultural experience will affect nurses' cultural competence development.
Anxiety ; Cultural Competency ; Education ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Marital Status ; Seoul ; Uncertainty

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to examine the relationships among hospice-palliative care (HPC) nurses' knowledge of delirium, self-efficacy and nursing performance. METHODS: This study was participated by 174 nurses working in the HPC unit. The nurses were asked to fill out a questionnaire that was structured to measure their knowledge of delirium, a self-efficacy in clinical performance scale (SECPS) and nursing performance. RESULTS: The mean score for knowledge was 32.83 out of 45, with correction rate of 73%. The mean score for self-efficacy was 7.08 out of 10. The mean score of nursing performance was 2.95 out of 4. Significant correlation was observed among the variables of knowledge (r=0.28, P < 0.001), self-efficacy (r=0.51, P < 0.001) and nursing performance. CONCLUSION: Nurses with high level of knowledge of delirium showed high level of self-efficacy, and consequently better HPC nursing performance. It is necessary to develop a training program on delirium considering nurses' needs of knowledge of the condition. The effectiveness of the training program should be also examined in future.
Delirium* ; Education ; Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing ; Nursing* ; Self Efficacy

Breast density is an independent risk factor for breast cancer, although variability exists in measurements. This study sought to evaluate the agreement between radiologists and automated breast density assessment software and assess the impact of breast density measures on breast cancer risk estimates using the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) model (v.2). A retrospective database search identified women who had undergone mammography between December 2021 and June 2022. The Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) breast composition index assigned by a radiologist (R) was recorded and analyzed using three commercially available software programs (S1, S2, and S3). The agreement rate and Cohen’s kappa (κ) were used to evaluate inter-rater agreements concerning breast density measures. The 5-year risk of invasive breast cancer in women was calculated using the BCSC model (v.2) with breast density inputs from various density estimation methods. Absolute differences in risk between various density measurements were evaluated. Overall, 1,949 women (mean age, 53.2 years) were included. The inter-rater agreement between R, S1, and S2 was 75.0–75.6%, while that between S3 and the others was 60.2%–63.3%. Kappa was substantial between R, S1, and S2 (0.66–0.68), and moderate (0.49–0.50) between S3 and the others. S3 placed fewer women in mammographic density d (14.9%) than R, S1, and S2 (40.5%–44.0%). In BCSC risk assessment (v.2), S3 assessed fewer women with a high 5-year risk of invasive breast cancer than the other methods, resulting in an absolute difference of 0% between R, S1, and S2 in 75.0%–75.6% of cases, whereas the difference between S3 and the other methods occurs in 60.2%–63.3% of cases. Breast density assessment using various methods showed moderate-to-substantial agreement, potentially affecting risk assessments. Precise and consistent breast density measurements may lead to personalized and effective strategies for breast cancer prevention.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain insights into the challenges encountered by families of children with congenital heart defects. Methods: This exploratory study utilized text mining and semantic network analysis methods. Data were collected from domestic portal sites and social networking services between 2020 and 2023 using the TEXTOM program. Keywords were related to the concepts of heart defects, children, and concerns or worries. Text mining was performed using TEXTOM, and semantic network analysis was conducted using UCINET 6.0. Results: In total, 2,083 keywords were extracted from 1,072 texts. Among these, "surgery," "hospital," and "echocardiogram" showed high frequency and centrality. Semantic network analysis indicated that families encountered challenges related to the needs for diverse information for caregiving, choosing healthcare institutions for the best outcome, challenges in disease management and uncertainty in recovery, and unmanageable treatment costs and financial assistance. Conclusion Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended to initiate support programs for families at the point of diagnosis within the community. These programs should be tailored to the specific needs of each family, with the involvement of specialized personnel, and should continue throughout childhood. Furthermore, systemic improvements are necessary to ensure that families have access to reliable official resources to aid in the selection of appropriate healthcare institutions.