No abstract available.
Cervix Uteri* ; Female ; Health Expenditures*

PURPOSE: This study was to identify behaviors preventing the recurrence of breast cancer and the level of quality of life. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted using a structured questionnaire from November 1, 2006 to December 25, 2006 . One hundred and twenty two women breast cancer survivors were recruited by convenience sampling. RESULTS: The most frequent behavior for preventing recurrence of the breast cancer was dietary treatment (90.9%) and exercise (86.8%) was the second behavior. In addition, most of them perceived these behaviors as 'very effective' (82.8%). The degree of the quality of life of a breast cancer survivor was 5.34 point indicating a 'medium level'. CONCLUSION: Breast cancer survivors pursued various behaviors for preventing recurrence of breast cancer. Therefore, the nursing interventions should be focused on a systematic educational approach considering healthy behaviors to prevent breast cancer recurrence for breast cancer survivors.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Adult ; Aged ; Breast Neoplasms/prevention & control/*psychology/therapy ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Demography ; Dietary Supplements ; Exercise Therapy ; Female ; *Health Behavior ; Humans ; Life Style ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/*prevention & control ; *Quality of Life ; Questionnaires ; Recurrence ; Survivors/*psychology

PURPOSE: To evaluate choroidal thickness in diabetes patients using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. METHODS: We examined 203 eyes of 203 diabetic participants and 48 eyes of 48 healthy controls. The choroidal thickness at the foveal lesion was measured by enhanced-depth imaging optical coherence tomography. The participants were grouped according to diabetic retinopathy grade: no diabetic change, mild-to-moderate or severe non-proliferative, or proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The study parameters included history, age, axial length, intraocular pressure, central retinal thickness, fasting glucose, and blood pressure. RESULTS: The subfoveal choroidal thickness was thinner in eyes with non-proliferative or proliferative diabetic retinopathy than in normal eyes (p < 0.01). However, there was no difference between eyes with non-proliferative and proliferative diabetic retinopathy or between eyes with no diabetic change and the controls. Eyes exhibiting macular edema showed no significant difference in choroidal thickness compared with eyes having normal macular contours. CONCLUSIONS: The central choroid is thinner when eyes show diabetic changes on the retina. However, the presence of diabetic macular edema or proliferative change is not associated with more pronounced choroidal thinning.
Adult ; Aged ; Choroid/*pathology ; Diabetic Retinopathy/*diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Reproducibility of Results ; Retrospective Studies ; Seveso Accidental Release ; Tomography, Optical Coherence/*methods

Post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder occurs in transplant recipients in whom immunosuppressivetherapy has compromised the immune system. In patients who have undergone transplants, suppressor T lymphocytefunction is suppressed, leading to unbridled B lymphocyte proliferation. We encountered a case withpost-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder which manifested as a focal hepatic mass in transplanted liver.This mass was isoechoic, with a peripheral hypoechoic halo on ultrasonogram, while on all three phases of helicalCT scan low attenuation without contrast enhancement was seen.
Humans ; Immune System ; Liver* ; Lymphocytes ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders* ; Transplantation ; Ultrasonography

Though intravenous digital subtraction angiography (IV DSA) has several advantages over conventionalangiography in diagnosis and follow up of various vascular disease, it also has several undesirable problems suchas large volume of the contrast medium and inferior image quality compared to conventional angiography. Sorecently intraarterial digital subtraction angiography (IA DSA) was introduced for better image quality usingsmall amount of contrast medium. The authours had good clinical results IA DSA which were made in 20 patients withour own system, SRM-II, developed by cooperation of Departements of Radiology and Medical engineering, Seoul.National University Hospital. Intraarterial digital substraction angiography was found to have several advantagesover conventional angiography: (a) small amount of contrast medium, (b) reduced need for selective arterialcatheterization,(c) lower film cost, (d) shortened examination time, (e) ability to obtain a “road map”, and (f)easier detection of contrast medium. Also IA DSA has several advantages over IV DSA : (a) less dependency oncardiac output, (b) far less vessel overlapping, (c) reduction in patient motion through less painful procedure byreduced volume of contrast media and shorter imaging time.
Angiography ; Angiography, Digital Subtraction ; Contrast Media ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Vascular Diseases

No abstract available.
Child ; Femoral Fractures ; Humans

This study was conducted to assess the relationship between estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and bone mineral density (BMD) in Korean postmenopausal women with mild renal dysfunction. A total of 328 postmenopausal women who underwent BMD measurement during health check-up was investigated. BMD was measured in lumbar spine (L1-L4), femoral neck, total proximal femur and femoral trochanteric areas by dual energy radiography absorptiometry and renal function was estimated by eGFR using Cockcroft-Gault equation. Of the 328 subjects, 317 (96.6%) had an eGFR > or =60 mL/min/1.73 m2. By using simple linear regression analysis, age, height, weight and eGFR were significantly associated with BMD for the 4 aforementioned anatomic sites, while serum levels of creatinine and blood urea nitrogen did not influence BMD. When multiple regression analyses were applied, age and body weight still had significant associations with BMD at 4 different anatomic sites (P < 0.001). A significant association of eGFR with BMD remained in the lumbar spine, femoral neck and proximal total femur (P < 0.05) but not in the trochanteric area (P = 0.300). Our study suggests that a decline of renal function is associated with lower BMD in the lumbar spine, femoral neck and total proximal femur areas in Korean menopausal women with mild renal dysfunction.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Aged ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; *Bone Density ; Creatinine/blood ; Female ; Femur Neck/physiology ; *Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Kidney Diseases/*physiopathology ; Kidney Function Tests ; Lumbar Vertebrae/physiology ; Middle Aged ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal/*physiopathology ; Republic of Korea

PURPOSE: To analyze the morphologic and enhancement patterns of focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) of the liver observed at triphasic helical CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The triphasic helical CT findings of 15 pathologically-proven FNHs in 15 patients (male: female = 7:8; mean age, 40 years) were retrospectively analyzed. Triphasic helical CT images were obtained at 30 secs (arterial phase), 70 secs (portal phase), and 3 mins (equilibrium phase) after the initiation of contrast injection of a total of 120 mL nonionic contrast material at a rate of 3 mL/sec. Image analysis focused on the morphologic and enhancement patterns of the FNHs. Morphologically, their size and margin conspicuity were determined, as well as the presence or absence of a capsule, central scar, malformed arterial vessel, calcification, and mosaic pattern. As for the enhancement pattern, the degree of tumor enhancement (hyper-, iso-, or hypoattenuation) was compared with the surrounding hepatic parenchyma at each phase. All hyperattenuating FNHs were further analyzed after dividing them into two groups, strongly and weakly enhanced. RESULTS: Ten of the 15 tumors were less than 3 cm in diameter. With regard to the other morphologic parameters, a central scar, malformed arterial vessel, and capsule were found in four, four, and five FNHs, respectively. Eleven FNHs showed hyperattenuation, with strong enhancement at the arterial phase. During the portal and equilibrium phases, the enhancement pattern changed to iso- or hypoattenuation in nine and 13 FNHs, respectively. Of six hyperattenuating FNHs at the portal phase, five were weakly enhanced. CONCLUSION: Though our sample was small, we found that FNHs were hyperattenuating lesions, strongly enhanced at the arterial phase but iso- or hypoattenuating during the portal and equilibrium phases. A central scar, malformed arterial vessel, and capsule were observed fairly frequently. Thus, for the differentiation of FNH from other hypervascular hepatic tumors, precise recognition of their CT findings is important.
Cicatrix ; Female ; Focal Nodular Hyperplasia* ; Humans ; Liver* ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Spiral Computed*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The study was designed to measure the change of serum aldosterone concentration after noise exposure in BALB/c mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: BALB/c hybrid mice with < or =25 dB nHL in auditory brainstem responses (ABR) were used. Six mice were exposed to 120 dB SPL broad white band noise for 3 hours per day for 3 consecutive days. ABRs in all mice were examined after noise exposure. Serum aldosterone concentration was checked by radioimmunoassay in three mice without noise exposure, in three mice immediately after noise exposure (0 day after noise group), and in three mice 3 days after noise exposure (3 days after noise group). RESULTS: Permanent noise exposure-related threshold shift was induced in mice of 0 day after noise group and 3 days after noise group (83.3+/-2.9 and 88.3+/-2.9 dB nHL, respectively). The serum aldosterone concentration of the mice after noise exposure was significantly lower than control mice (p=0.046). The changes of aldosterone concentration were 879+/-137.5 pg/mL without noise exposure, 623+/-75.9 pg/mL immediately after noise exposure, and 683+/-49.2 pg/mL 3 days after noise exposure. CONCLUSIONS: In BALB/c mice, serum aldosterone concentration is decreased significantly after noise exposure.
Aldosterone ; Animals ; Chimera ; European Continental Ancestry Group ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Mice ; Noise ; Radioimmunoassay

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To determine the value of fusion imaging with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) and computed tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance (MR) images for percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of very-early-stage hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) that are inconspicuous on fusion imaging with B-mode ultrasound (US) and CT/MR images. METHODS: This retrospective study was approved by our institutional review board and the requirement for informed consent was waived. Fusion imaging with CEUS using Sonazoid contrast agent and CT/MR imaging was performed on HCCs (<2 cm) that were inconspicuous on fusion imaging with B-mode US. We evaluated the number of cases that became conspicuous on fusion imaging with CEUS. Percutaneous RFA was performed under the guidance of fusion imaging with CEUS. Technical success and major complication rates were assessed. RESULTS: In total, 30 patients with 30 HCCs (mean, 1.2 cm; range, 0.6-1.7 cm) were included, among which 25 (83.3%) became conspicuous on fusion imaging with CEUS at the time of the planning US and/or RFA procedure. Of those 25 HCCs, RFA was considered feasible for 23 (92.0%), which were thus treated. The technical success and major complication rates were 91.3% (21/23) and 4.3% (1/23), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Fusion imaging with CEUS and CT/MR imaging is highly effective for percutaneous RFA of very-early-stage HCCs inconspicuous on fusion imaging with B-mode US and CT/MR imaging.
Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*diagnosis/radiography/ultrasonography ; Catheter Ablation ; Contrast Media/diagnostic use ; Female ; Ferric Compounds/diagnostic use ; Humans ; Iron/diagnostic use ; Liver Neoplasms/*diagnosis/radiography/ultrasonography ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Oxides/diagnostic use ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed