Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly becoming a standard of care and hence, an unmatched and irreplaceable diagnostic method. However, patients with implantable cardiac devices have not been guaranteed safety when exposed to the MRI environment. For this reason, Medtronic has taken the initiative and developed SureScan™ devices, which are MRI compatible devices for patients that would enable them to undergo MRI scans safely. The current technological developments in magnetic resonance (MR) and their clinical applications are discussed.
Cardiology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Methods ; Safety Management ; Standard of Care

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate interpersonal competence and social support and their mediating effects on the relationship between caring efficacy and empathy in nursing students. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. Data collection was conducted from February 5 to February 12, 2019, from 254 students enrolled in the Department of Nursing in Jeollabuk-do and Chungcheongbuk-do. Data analysis was conducted using the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. Results: As a result of verifying the mediating effects of social support and interpersonal competence on the relationship between the empathy ability and caring efficacy of nursing college students, it was found that social support and interpersonal competence partially mediated the relationship between the two variables (Z=1.68, p=.046). Conclusion Through this study, a theoretical basis was provided that when applied to an educational program could improve nursing students' caring efficacy. Content that can improve not only empathy but also social support and interpersonal competence should be included.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate interpersonal competence and social support and their mediating effects on the relationship between caring efficacy and empathy in nursing students. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. Data collection was conducted from February 5 to February 12, 2019, from 254 students enrolled in the Department of Nursing in Jeollabuk-do and Chungcheongbuk-do. Data analysis was conducted using the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. Results: As a result of verifying the mediating effects of social support and interpersonal competence on the relationship between the empathy ability and caring efficacy of nursing college students, it was found that social support and interpersonal competence partially mediated the relationship between the two variables (Z=1.68, p=.046). Conclusion Through this study, a theoretical basis was provided that when applied to an educational program could improve nursing students' caring efficacy. Content that can improve not only empathy but also social support and interpersonal competence should be included.

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to observe recent changes in adolescents' dietary behavior and indirectly evaluate the effects of the government's nutritional policies in Korea. METHODS: We analyzed the secular trends in seven dietary behaviors using the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey data from 2005 to 2009. Through literature review, we included the policies implemented for the improvement of adolescents'dietary behaviors during the same periods. RESULTS: The significant linear trends were observed in all dietary behaviors (p<0.05). Overall, all behaviors except the fruit intake rate were desirably changed during five years but undesirable changes were observed between 2008 and 2009 in all behaviors. Within those periods, several policies were implemented including 'Ban on carbonated-beverages in school', 'Green Food Zone', etc. Despite confirmed evidence of their effects, the policies on individual behavior such as nutrition education didn't influence the prevalence of dietary behaviors because they were conducted to too limited persons. Polices on the school environmental improvement, such as ban on carbonated beverage in school, were more effective because they decreased the exposure of undesirable food environment. However, for effect of Green Food Zone improving community environment we couldn't come to a conclusion because of too short period after full implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Among government nutrition policies conducted from 2005 to 2009, those on environmental improvement, especially in school, were more effective than those on individual behavior. Therefore, the development and implement of policies on school environmental improvement are needed in Korea.
Adolescent ; *Adolescent Behavior ; *Environmental Policy ; Female ; *Food Habits ; *Health Behavior ; Humans ; Korea ; Linear Models ; Male ; *Nutrition Policy

BACKGROUND:Cervical facet joint stimulation is a good therapeutic option for treating chronic neck pain.Fluoroscopy is the gold standard, as an imaging tool, for performing cervical facet joint stimulation.Ultrasound guided stimulation is safe and accurate, but there have been no reports on using ultrasound guided cervical facet joint stimulation to treat chronic neck pain.We wanted to describe successful ultrasound guided cervical facet joint IMS for treating patients with chronic neck pain. METHODS:Twenty six adult patients were treated with IMS on a cervical facet joint.A low frequency ultrasound system was used (Qsonix by Ultrasonix, Canada with a 6?12 Hz linear probe).The patients were positioned in the prone position with a slight extended neck.A parasagittal posterior view of the cervical spine was obtained with using a sterile technique.This allowed visualization, in a single view, of all the cervical facet joints on the one side.We performed this procedure with a transverse approach after manually palpating the facet joint.This allowed real-time monitoring of the needle along its entire length. RESULTS:The posterior neck pain and the dorsal back pain were both decreased after needle stimulation.Ultrasound guided dry needling could be performed accurately for all the patients. CONCLUSIONS:This is the first description of cervical facet dry needle stimulation under ultrasound guidance for treating chronic neck pain.The advantages of ultrasound guidance include accurate targeting, reducing the unwanted injury and improved patient discomfort.
Adult ; Back Pain ; Canada ; Humans ; Neck ; Neck Pain ; Needles ; Prone Position ; Spine ; Zygapophyseal Joint

We present a recurrence prediction model using multiple clinical parameters in patients surgically treated for non-small cell lung cancer. Among 1,578 lung cancer patients who underwent complete resection, we compared the early-recurrence group with the 3-yr non-recurrence group for evaluating those factors that influence early recurrence within one year after surgery. Adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma were analyzed independently. We used multiple logistic regression analysis to identify the independent clinical predictors of recurrence and Cox's proportional hazard regression method to develop a clinical prediction model. We randomly divided our patients into the training and test subsets. The pathologic stages, tumor cell type, differentiation of tumor, neoadjuvant therapy and age were significant factors on the multivariable analysis. We constructed the model for the training set with adenocarcinoma (n=236) and squamous cell carcinoma (n=305), and we applied it to the test set with adenocarcinoma (n=110) and squamous cell carcinoma (n=154). It was predictive for the in adenocarcinoma (P<0.001) and the squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.037), respectively. Our results showed that our recurrence prediction model based on the clinical parameters could significantly predict the individual patients who were at high risk or low risk for recurrence.
Adenocarcinoma/mortality/pathology/surgery ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/mortality/pathology/*surgery ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/mortality/pathology/surgery ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms/mortality/pathology/*surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/*diagnosis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prognosis ; Regression Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVES: Understanding recent trends in cigarette smoking among adolescents is important in order to develop strategies to prevent cigarette smoking. The aim of this study was to compare recent trends in cigarette smoking for adolescents living in rural areas, small towns and metropolitan cities in Korea. METHODS: The raw data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS) from 2005 to 2009 were used. Data were analyzed by using the method of complex survey data analysis considering complex sampling design. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate significant linear time trends in cigarette smoking. The indicators of cigarette use behaviors were 'current smoking rate', 'frequent smoking rate', 'heavy smoking rate' and 'smoking experience rate before 13 years of age'. All analyses were conducted according to gender. RESULTS: Statistically significant increasing trends in current smoking rate and frequent smoking rate were observed and borderline significant increasing trends in heavy smoking rate were shown among rural boys. Among metropolitan city boys, statistically significant increasing trends were also seen for frequent smoking. Statistically significant decreasing trends in current smoking rate were observed among small town and metropolitan city girls. Smoking experience rate before 13 years of age for rural girls decreased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette smoking prevalence among adolescents in the rural areas has increased in the last five years especially among boys. Our findings suggest that anti-tobacco program for adolescents should be conducted primarily for those in rural areas.
Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior/*psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Prevalence ; Questionnaires ; Republic of Korea ; Rural Population ; Smoking/epidemiology/prevention & control/*trends ; Urban Population

OBJECTIVES: This study measured the impact of shifts in maternal age and parity on the increase in the low birth weight (LBW) rate in Korea. METHODS: We obtained raw data for all 6 397 945 live births registered at the Korea National Statistical Office between 1995 and 2005. We calculated the proportion of increment in the LBW rate due to changes in the distribution of maternal age and parity (AP-dis) and the proportion due to changes in the age- and parity-specific LBW rate (AP-spe). RESULTS: The LBW rate increased from 3.02% in 1995 to 4.28% in 2005. The multiple birth rate increased from 1.32% to 2.19% during the same period. Of the 1.26% points increment in the LBW rate, 0.64% points occurred among singleton births and 0.62% points occurred among multiple births. Changes in the AP-dis accounted for 50% of the increase in the LBW rate among singleton births, but did not contribute to the increase in the LBW rate among multiple births. The remainder of the total increment in the LBW rate was explained by the increase in the AP-spe. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that shifts in maternal age and parity among singleton births and increased multiple births were important contributors to the increment in the LBW rate. This study also revealed that the increase in the AP-spe was an equally important contributor as the shifts in maternal age and parity to the increment in the LBW rate among singleton births and was a major contributor among multiple births.
Adult ; Age Distribution ; Birth Order ; Female ; Humans ; *Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; *Maternal Age ; *Parity ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study determined the prevalence and determinants of seropositivity for rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibody, and anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV) antibody in unaffected first-degree relatives (FDRs) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. METHODS: A total of 337 subjects (135 with RA and 202 FDRs) were enrolled in this case-control study. Serum RF, anti-CCP antibody, and anti-MCV antibody were assayed. Subjects in multicase families (> or = 2 affected FDRs within the same family) were identified. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with RA-related autoantibodies. RESULTS: Seropositivity for RF, anti-CCP antibody, or anti-MCV antibody was detected in 14.4%, 5.0%, or 13.4% of unaffected FDRs, respectively. Anti-CCP antibody seropositivity was more prevalent in FDRs in multicase families (17.8%) than in those not in multicase families (1.3%, p < 0.0001). Significant correlations between RA-associated autoantibodies were detected in the FDR group (between RF and anti-CCP antibody: r = 0.366, p < 0.0001; between RF and anti-MCV antibody: r = 0.343, p < 0.0001; and between anti-CCP antibody and anti-MCV antibody: r = 0.849, p < 0.0001). After adjustment for age and sex, anti-CCP antibody seropositivity in FDRs was significantly associated with being in a multicase family (odds ratio, 49.8; 95% confidence interval, 5.6 to 441.6). CONCLUSIONS: The association between anti-CCP antibody seropositivity in unaffected FDRs and being in a multicase family suggests that genetic and/or environmental factors may increase the risk for RA development in unaffected FDRs.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/blood/*epidemiology/genetics/*immunology ; Autoantibodies/*blood ; Biological Markers/blood ; Case-Control Studies ; Chi-Square Distribution ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Gene-Environment Interaction ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Odds Ratio ; Pedigree ; Peptides, Cyclic/*immunology ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Vimentin/immunology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common pulmonary manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and an important cause of morbidity and mortality in RA. We compared demographic and clinical characteristics of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) patterns in RA patients and determined the prognostic factors that influence the survival of RA-ILD patients. METHODS: 51 enrolled RA patients (male n=21, female n=30) with ILD underwent HRCT. We categorized ILD into two groups, as the UIP pattern and the NSIP pattern, using HRCT. HRCT scans were scored to investigate the extent of the ILD. We divided the extent of the interstitial lung disease into 4 groups 1~14%, 15~19%, 20~24%, >25%. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the UIP and NSIP pattern in the clinical characteristics, except for age at the time of the study (RA-NSIP pattern vs RA-UIP pattern 62.3+/-11.7 vs 68.2+/-8.4, p=0.042). There were no significant differences in survival time between the RA-UIP and RA-NSIP pattern (Log rank p=0.985). The extent of ILD on chest HRCT was significantly associated with mortality (HR=1.044, 95% CI 1.019~1.069) and patients that were diagnosed with ILD at an older age (HR=1.109, 95% CI 1.024~1.200) were associated with a worse prognosis. Comparing four groups divided by the extent of the lung disease, there were significant differences in survival estimates (Log-rank p-value<0.001) based on an ILD extent of 15%. CONCLUSION: Our study reveals that the extent of ILD on chest HRCT was found to be significantly associated with poor prognosis of RA-ILD patients.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Female ; Humans ; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis ; Lung Diseases ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial ; Prognosis ; Thorax