PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and effectiveness of tadalafil 5 mg once daily (quaque die [everyday], QD) among Korean men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)/lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in a real-world clinical setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a single-country, prospective, observational cohort study in which patients newly prescribed tadalafil 5 mg QD for the treatment of BPH/LUTS were followed-up for 12±2 or 24±2 weeks, or to the last treatment, during post-marketing surveillance. Safety was evaluated in terms of the frequency of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs). Effectiveness was assessed by changes in the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) from baseline to each endpoint. RESULTS: All patients receiving ≥1 dose of tadalafil 5 mg QD (N=637) were included in the safety population. Two percent of patients (n=13) experienced 15 TEAEs of mild (n=10; 66.7%) or moderate (n=5; 33.3%) severity. No severe TEAEs and no SAEs were reported. Effectiveness evaluations included all patients receiving tadalafil who had both baseline and endpoint observations (12-week, N=265; 24-week, N=44). Compared with baseline, the mean IPSS total score (±standard error) significantly improved by 4.7±0.3 and 6.4±0.7 points at the 12- and 24-week endpoints, respectively (p<0.0001), with significant improvements also observed on the storage, voiding, and quality of life subscores. In total, 69.1% of the patients had a clinically meaningful ≥3-point improvement in the IPSS total score. CONCLUSIONS: Tadalafil 5 mg QD was well tolerated and effective in Korean men with BPH/LUTS in a real-world clinical setting.
Cohort Studies ; Humans ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Male ; Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitors ; Prospective Studies ; Prostate ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Quality of Life ; Tadalafil* ; Urinary Tract*

Rupture limited to the lobar bronchus from blunt trauma is especially rare, and the symptoms are light so diagnosis is difficult. In a patient who visited the hospital complaining of shortness of breath after falling down, atelectasis continued in the chest x-ray. Four days after visiting the hospital, a left upper lobar bronchial rupture was diagnosed through a bronchoscopy and 3 dimensional chest computerized tomography. When diagnosis is delayed in the case of a rupture limited to the lobar bronchus, bronchial obstruction can occur from the formation of granulation tissue, so regular monitoring is important. Therefore, when atelectasis continues after blunt trauma, it is important to differentially diagnose a lobar bronchial rupture through tests such as bronchoscopy.
Bronchi ; Bronchoscopy ; Diagnosis ; Dyspnea ; Granulation Tissue ; Humans ; Lung Injury ; Pulmonary Atelectasis* ; Rupture* ; Thorax

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether there is an association between the characteristics of pain in endometriosis and chronic stress. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Fifteen women were diagnosed as endometriosis by diagnostic laparoscopy and 14 asymptomatic volunteers were enrolled. Case group was divided into two groups with their pain duration and severity. Saliva was collected four times a day with commercial collector, Salivette. Salivary cortisol was analyzed by enzyme immunoassay. Statistical association was assessed with Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, and repeated measures ANOVA test. RESULTS: In the curve showing diurnal changes of cortisol level, morning rise in cortisol level was significantly blunted among patients compared with control group (p<0.05). Among two patient groups, there was no significant correlation with disease severity, but with duration (p<0.05). CA 125 level, pain scaling score, and age showed no significant correlation. CONCLUSION: Morning rise in salivary cortisol level is blunted in women especially with chronic endometriosis. These is findings might be a small clues that the changes in the salivary cortisol level can be a sign of chronic stress state.
Endometriosis* ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Laparoscopy ; Saliva ; Volunteers

Botryoid Wilms tumor, a very rare variant of Wilms tumor, arises from the pelvocalyceal system, and its occurrence in the fetal or neonatal period has never been reported in the literature. Herein, we report an exceedingly rare and challenging case of botryoid Wilms tumor in a neonate who initially presented with fetal hydronephrosis. Postnatal ultrasonography revealed multiple lobulating hypoechoic masses with varying degrees of intralesional vascularity within the dilated pelvocalyceal system. To our knowedge, this is a case report of botryoid Wilms tumor of the youngest child in English literature.

Primary hepatic actinomycosis is one of the chronic abscess-forming infections of the liver. Accurate diagnosis is frequently delayed due to its indolent course and nonspecific clinical and radiological manifestations. We report a case of a 57-year-old man presenting with asymptomatic multiple hepatic masses on follow-up abdominal computed tomography performed 1 year after stomach cancer surgery. Although a percutaneous liver biopsy procedure was conducted twice in order to obtain confirmative pathology, only a nonspecific organizing abscess with plasma cell infiltration was revealed, without identification of any organism in the tissue cultures. Ultimately, actinomycosis was diagnosed following the detection of sulfur granules on open surgical biopsied tissue. This case suggests that primary hepatic actinomycosis should be considered as one of the possible causes for enigmatic inflammatory lesions of the liver.
Actinomycosis/*diagnosis/drug therapy/microbiology ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; Biopsy, Needle ; Humans ; Liver Abscess/complications ; Liver Diseases/*diagnosis/microbiology/pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Rupture limited to the lobar bronchus from blunt trauma is especially rare, and the symptoms are light so diagnosis is difficult. In a patient who visited the hospital complaining of shortness of breath after falling down, atelectasis continued in the chest x-ray. Four days after visiting the hospital, a left upper lobar bronchial rupture was diagnosed through a bronchoscopy and 3 dimensional chest computerized tomography. When diagnosis is delayed in the case of a rupture limited to the lobar bronchus, bronchial obstruction can occur from the formation of granulation tissue, so regular monitoring is important. Therefore, when atelectasis continues after blunt trauma, it is important to differentially diagnose a lobar bronchial rupture through tests such as bronchoscopy.
Bronchi ; Bronchoscopy ; Diagnosis ; Dyspnea ; Granulation Tissue ; Humans ; Lung Injury ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Rupture ; Thorax

PURPOSE: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of acute lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in infants and children. We investigated the association of meteorological conditions and air pollution with the prevalence of RSV infection. METHODS: Between January 2005 and December 2012, a total of 9,113 nasopharyngeal swab specimens from children under 3 years of age who were admitted to the hospital with acute LRTI were tested for RSV antigens using a direct immunofluorescence kit. Meteorological data (mean temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and relative humidity) and air pollutant levels including PM₁₀ (particulate matter with a median aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 µm in diameter), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and carbon monoxide (CO) in Seoul during the study period were collected from the national monitoring system. The correlations of the monthly incidence of RSV infection with climate factors and air pollutant levels were analyzed. RESULTS: RSV infection mainly occurred between October and February, and showed the peak in November. The prevalence of RSV infection had a moderate negative correlation with mean temperature (r=−0.60, P < 0.001), a weak negative correlation with relative humidity (r=−0.26, P=0.01), and precipitation (r=−0.34, P=0.001). Regarding air pollutants, RSV activity moderately correlated with NO₂ (r=0.40, P < 0.001), SO₂ (r=0.41, P < 0.001), and CO (r=0.58, P < 0.001). In the RSV peak season in Korea (between October and February), RSV epidemics showed a weak positive correlation with relative humidity (r=0.35, P=0.03) and precipitation (r=0.38, P=0.02). CONCLUSION: Meteorological factors and air pollutant levels may be associated with RSV activity. Therefore, further nationwide large-scaled intensive evaluations to prove factors affecting RSV activity are warranted.
Air Pollutants ; Air Pollution* ; Carbon Monoxide ; Child* ; Climate* ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct ; Humans ; Humidity ; Incidence ; Infant ; Korea ; Meteorological Concepts ; Nitrogen Dioxide ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses* ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Seasons ; Seoul ; Sulfur Dioxide ; Wind

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are known to play an important role in the repair of damaged blood vessels. We used an endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming assay (EPC-CFA) to determine whether EPC numbers could be increased in healthy individuals through regular exercise training. The number of functional EPCs obtained from human peripheral blood-derived AC133 stem cells was measured after a 28-day regular exercise training program. The number of total endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming units (EPC-CFU) was significantly increased compared to that in the control group (p=0.02, n=5). In addition, we observed a significant decrease in homocysteine levels followed by an increase in the number of EPC-CFUs (p=0.04, n=5), indicating that the 28-day regular exercise training could increase the number of EPC colonies and decrease homocysteine levels. Moreover, an inverse correlation was observed between small-endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming units (small-EPC-CFUs) and plasma homocysteine levels in healthy men (r=-0.8125, p=0.047). We found that regular exercise training could increase the number of EPC-CFUs and decrease homocysteine levels, thus decreasing the cardiovascular disease risk in men.
Blood Vessels ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Education ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Male ; Plasma ; Stem Cells*