No abstract available.
Plasmacytoma

This study was designed to assess profile preferences among Korean youths in the year 1992. Facial esthetics was evaluated by means of silhouette profiles, eliminating the influence of a number of aspects that may affect judgment when normal lateral photographs are used. The main points of preference to be clarified here are as follows: First, on facial convexity, Second, on nasion depth, Third, on mentolabial sulcus depth, Fourth, on the position of upper and lower lips, Fifth, on facial type according to Angle's classification of malocclusion, Sixth, on Song's tangents. The 54 subjects printed in questionnaire as black and white silhouettes were selected from 300 tracings from cephalometric radiographs of people whose age ranging from 11 to 20 years. Photographs of six female subjects were retouched by computer graphic software and printed in color and black/white photographs which were used for adaptation of eyes of participants in selecting profiles in silhouette. They constitute 2 questions. The 54 subjects were grouped as 22 questions, each of them composed of 6 subjects, according to the aspects to be clarified. Twenty four questions in total were asked to assess profile preferences. For the assessment, the profile line, the facial esthetic triangle, Song's tangents, and Angle's classification of malocclusion were introduced. The profile line is composed of 11 component points which are Trichion, Glabella, Nasion, Pronasale, Subnasale, Labrale superius, Stomion, Labrale inferius, Supramentale, Pogonion, and Gnathion. The facial esthetic triangle is composed of 3 tangents: A-tangent which is the tangent of dorsum of nose, B-tangent which is the line passing through Sn and Ls, and C-tangent which is drawn on the turning point of the curve which lies between mentolabial sulcus (Sm) and pogonion (Pg). Angle's classification has 3 types of malocclusion which are Class I, Class II, and Class III. Class II malocclusion is subdivided into Division 1 and Division 2. The participants of the survey were composed of 861 college students (448 male students, 413 female students) whose majors grouped as Fine Arts Liberal Arts, and Natural Sciences, and whose mean age 21.8 years. The statistics program SPSS/PC + of SPSS Inc. was used to analyze answers of participants. Crosstabulation, Chi-square test, and Kendall test were done. The conclusions are as follows: First, Korean youths have a tendency to prefer the slightly convex face to the flat or concave face. Second, they prefer a moderately deep nasion. Third, they prefer a moderately deep mentolabial sulcus. Fourth, they prefer the position of lips which are near to Ricketts' E-line. The position of the upper lip which is slightly posterior to E-line is preferred. The upper lip which lies too far anterior or posterior to the lower lip is not perferred. Fifth, they prefer most, according to Angle's Classification of Malocclusion, Class I facial profile which has a slight inclination to Class II division 2. The order of preference is Class I, Class II division 2, Class III, and Class II division 1. Sixth, they prefer the type 2 and 3 of Song's tangents. The facial profile within which A-and B-tangent meet is preferred. The facial profile which has C-tangent that meets with A-tangent slightly posterior to the crossing point of A-and B-tangent or that parallels with B-tangent is preferred.
Adolescent* ; Computer Graphics ; Esthetics ; Female ; Humans ; Judgment ; Lip ; Male ; Malocclusion ; Natural Science Disciplines ; Nose ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility of cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) in leukemia patients after chemotherapy. METHODS: Leukemia patients with histologically confirmed hematologic malignancies were reviewed. We evaluated for CPET, between receiving chemotherapy and undergoing stem cell transplantation after 2 weeks. We recorded exercise testing and physiologic parameters during CPET between January 2013 to May 2015. All patients were subjected to symptoms limited to exercise testing, according to the Modified Bruce Protocol. We considered that if respiratory exchange ratio achieved was over 1.10, participants had successfully completed CPET. We dichotomized all participants into two groups (normal group, normal range of resting heart rate; higher group, over 100 per minute of heart rate). RESULTS: 30 patients were finally enrolled. All participants had no adverse effects during the exercise test. Mean peak double product was 26,998.60 mmHg·beats/min (range, 15,481–41,004), and mean peak oxygen consumption (VO₂ peak) was 22.52±4.56 mL/kg/min. Significant differences were observed in the normal group with VO₂ peak (mean, 24.21 mL/kg/min; p=0.027) and number of prior intensive chemotherapy, compared to the higher group (mean, 1.95; p=0.006). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that CPET in leukemia patients before stem cell transplantation was very safe, and is an efficient method to screen for patients with poor cardiac functions. As CPET presents the parameters which reveal the cardiopulmonary functions, including VO₂ peak, double product and exercise capacity, this exercise test would help to predict the physical performance or general condition of the leukemia patients.
Drug Therapy* ; Exercise Test* ; Feasibility Studies* ; Heart ; Heart Rate ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Humans ; Leukemia* ; Methods ; Oxygen Consumption ; Reference Values ; Rehabilitation ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Tachycardia

BACKGROUND: In 2026, the elderly population (age> or =65 years) in Korea is projected to be 20.8% of the total population. Along with this rise will be the rise in need for medical care in geriatric hospitals. Geriatric inpatients are vulnerable to infections because of functional disabilities and comorbidities. We investigated the clinical features of pneumonia in the elderly at these facilities. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study based on medical records looking at pneumonia, which was identified in 63 inpatients >65 years admitted to a geriatric hospital from October 2013 to December 2014. RESULTS: In-hospital mortality was 31.7%(20/63) and the 30-day mortality was 17.5%(11/63) of the total number of patients. Median age was 83 years (range, 67-94 years). Univariate analysis showed that the following factors were significantly different between survivors and nonsurvivors, number of comorbidities, history of antibiotics therapy in preceding 90 days, clinical improvement in 72 hours, alteration of mentality, respiration rate, serum albumin level, and peripheral blood leukocyte count. Multivariate analysis showed that the independent factors for predicting increased mortality were number of comorbidities > or =4 (odds ratio [OR], 9.803; p=0.030), failure to improve clinically in 72 hours (OR, 6.150; p=0.046), respiration rate> or =30/min (OR, 9.370; p=0.021), and serum albumin level< or =3.0 g/dL (OR, 32.022; p=0.010). CONCLUSION: When elderly inpatients with pneumonia have factors such as comorbidities greater than 4, failure to improvement clincally in 72 hours, tachypnea (> or =30/min), and hypoalbuminemia (< or =3.0 g/dL), escalation of empiric antibiotics or transfer to an acute care setting is necessary to reduce mortality.
Aged ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Comorbidity ; Geriatrics ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Hypoalbuminemia ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Leukocyte Count ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Pneumonia* ; Respiration ; Respiratory Rate ; Retrospective Studies ; Serum Albumin ; Survivors ; Tachypnea

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is among the five greatest causes of disability globally. It can have various causes and may develop concurrently with other health issues. Recently, there have been advances in the treatment of IDA associated with various comorbidities.Current Concepts: The causes of IDA include chronic blood loss, inadequate iron absorption, and increased iron demand. Oral iron supplements are primarily recommended for the treatment of IDA. In cases where oral supplements are ineffective or cannot be used, parenteral iron supplements are administered.Discussion and Conclusion: Identifying the underlying reason for IDA is essential for determining the appropriate and effective treatment plan. In adults, it is important to be aware that gastrointestinal malignancies can be detected as a cause of IDA. Ferrous sulfate tablets are primarily recommended as oral supplements for treating IDA. Among the parenteral iron supplements available in South Korea, both iron sucrose and ferric carboxymaltose can be used relatively safely without significant side effects. Recently, ferric carboxymaltose was reported as being effective for treating iron deficiency associated with heart failure, chronic kidney disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and preoperative IDA.

No abstract available.
Aorta, Abdominal* ; Aspergillosis*

No abstract available.
Blood Cell Count ; Bone Marrow Cells/metabolism/pathology ; Humans ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute/complications/*diagnosis/pathology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma/complications/*diagnosis/pathology ; Paraproteinemias/diagnosis ; Syndecan-1/metabolism

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to implement a software to visualize tumor and its surrounding fiber tracts simultaneously using diffusion tensor imaging and examine the feasibility of our software for investigating the influence of tumor on its surrounding fiber connectivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR examination including T1-weigted and diffusion tensor images of a patient with brain tumor was performed on a 3.0 T MRI unit. We used the skull-striped brain and segmented tumor images for volume/surface rendering and anatomical information from contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. Diffusion tensor images for the white matter fiber-tractography were acquired using a SE-EPI with a diffusion scheme of 25 directions. Fiber-tractography was performed using the streamline and tensorline methods. To correct a spatial mismatch between T1- weighted and diffusion tensor images, they were coregistered using a SPM. Our software was implemented under window-based PC system. RESULTS: We successfully implemented the integrated visualization of the fiber tracts with tube-like surfaces, cortical surface and the tumor with volume/surface renderings in a patient with brain tumor. CONCLUSION: Our result showed the feasibility of the integrated visualization of brain tumor and its surrounding fiber tracts. In addition, our implementation for integrated visualization can be utilized to navigate the brain for the quantitative analysis of fractional anisotropy to assess changes in the white matter tract integrity of edematic and peri-edematic regions in a number of tumor patients.
Anisotropy ; Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Diffusion ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to compare three different measures of the elderly human brain; the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) histogram, the percentage of brain parenchymal volume, and the volume of T2 hyperintense areas in terms of correlations with the study subjects' neurocognitive performance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five healthy community-dwelling elderly volunteers aged 60-82 years underwent dual fast spin-echo (FSE) imaging and magnetization transfer imaging. A semi-automated technique was used to generate the MTR histogram, the brain parenchymal volume, and the T2 lesion volume. The subjects' neurocognitive performance was assessed by using the Korean-Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) and additional tests. The peak height of the MTR (PHMTR), the percentage of brain parenchymal volume (PBV), and the normalized T2 lesion volume (T2LV) were compared between the normal group (Z score on the K-MMSE > or = -2, n=23) and the mild cognitive impairment group (Z score on the K-MMSE < -2, n=12), and these parameters were correlated with age and various neurocognitive performance scores. RESULTS: The PHMTR was significantly lower in the cognitively impaired subjects than the PHMTR in the normal subjects (p = 0.005). The PBV scores were lower in the cognitively impaired subjects than in the normal subjects (p = 0.02). The T2LV scores were significantly higher in the cognitively impaired subjects (p = 0.01). An inverse correlation was found between the PHMTR and T2LV (r = -0.747, p < ; 0.001), and also between the PBV and T2LV (r = -0.823, p < ; 0.001). A positive correlation was observed between the PHMTR and the PBV (r = 0.846, p < 0.001). Scores on the various neurocognitive tests were positively correlated with the PHMTR (6 of 7 items) and the PBV (5 of 7 items), and they were negatively correlated with the T2LV (5 of 7 items). CONCLUSION: Our findings of a correlation among the PBV, the T2LV, and the PHMTR suggest that MTR histograms and the PBV and T2LV can be used as a reliable method and valid statistical tool, respectively, for quantifying the total lesion burden in an aging brain.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Aging/*pathology ; Brain/*pathology ; Cognition Disorders/diagnosis/*pathology ; Comparative Study ; Female ; Human ; *Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Neuropsychological Tests ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't