No abstract available.
Dysentery, Bacillary*

OBJECTIVES: Laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) is a common surgical procedure that has recently been accepted as safe and feasible for the treatment of early gastric cancer. There have been many efforts to expand the indications of LADG to include the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of noncompliance rate as an indicator for D2 lymph node dissection (LND) validation in LADG. METHODS: The subjects were 48 patients who underwent distal gastrectomy with D2 LND at Kosin University Gospel Hospital from October to December 2010. Of them, 28 underwent LADG and 20 underwent open distal gastrectomy (ODG). We compared several factors including noncompliance rate to validate D2 LND. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in clinicopathologic factors except for BMI and tumor depth between the two groups. The average number of retrieved lymph nodes was significantly greater in the ODG group (45.9 +/- 2.9) than in the LADG group (35.5 +/- 2.0). The noncompliance rate was 43% in the LADG group and 40% in the ODG group with no significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: In terms of no difference of noncompliance rate, LADG with D2 lymph node dissection is a safe, feasible and oncologicallycamparable with open gastrectomy. A large scaled prospective randomized trial should be needed to confirm the benefit of LADG.
Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; Stomach Neoplasms

PURPOSE: This study was done to develop and to evaluate an integrative palliative care scale for cancer patients. METHODS: The process included construction of a conceptual framework, generation of initial items, verification of content validity, selection of secondary items, preliminary study, and extraction of final items. The participants were 173 cancer patients in Daegu and Gyeongbuk. Item analysis, factor analysis, criterion related validity, and internal consistency were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Eighteen items were selected for the final scale, and categorized into 3 factors explaining 58.3% of total variance. The factors were labeled as social/environmental palliative care (9 items), psychological palliative care (4 items), and physical palliative care (3 items), and spiritually palliative care (2 items). The scores for the scale were significantly correlated with the quality of life of cancer patients. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 18 items was .88. CONCLUSION: The above findings indicate that the integrative palliative care scale has good validity and reliability when used for cancer patients.
Daegu ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Palliative Care* ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results

No abstract available.
Skin*

Glutathione S-transferase(GST) is a family of enzymes which plays an important role in cellular detoxification by catalyzing the conjugation of electrophilic xenobiotics with glutathione and recently have been shown to be closely associated with chemical carcinogenesis and resistance to cytotoxic drugs in several types of malienancies. However, it remains ill-defined about the role of GST in bladder tumor. Herein we performed immunohistochemical study using polyclonal antibody directed against acidic(pi form) and basic GST and analyzed the intensity(0-3+) and proportion(grade 1-4) of staining in bladder specimens from 50 patients with bladder tumor and from 10 normal controls. On GST-pi immunohistochemical stain, normal bladder mucosa was stained only focally and in low intensity, whereas the staining intensity and proportion were significantly increased in transitional cell hyperplasia, dysplasia /carcinoma in situ(CIS), and overt carcinoma (p<0.05). The staining intensity and proportion of GST-pi were significantly lower in invasive and high grade (III, IV/VI) transitional cell carcinoma(TCC) compared to superficial and low grade TCC (p<0.001). There were no significant differences in the intensity and proportion of GST-pi staining between superficial bladder TCC which recurred and which did not recur after prophylactic intravesical chemotherapy. On basic GST immunohistochemical stain, normal bladder as well as preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions or the bladder showed only focal and low intensity staining. These results suggest that GST-pi may be a marker of preneoplatic lesions and low grade, superficial TCC or bladder and that invasive and high grade TCC of bladder may have another cellular deloxilication mechanism different from GST. GST may not be the major mechanism of drug resistance in superficial bladder TCC. The role or basic GST in normal bladder as well as in bladder TCC is in doubt.
Carcinogenesis ; Drug Resistance ; Drug Therapy ; Glutathione Transferase* ; Glutathione* ; Humans* ; Hyperplasia ; Mucous Membrane ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder* ; Xenobiotics

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of career decision making by Korean nursing students. METHODS: The participants were 18 nursing students from one nursing college. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews, and the main question was, “Could you describe your experience of making a career decision?” Data from the field and transcribed notes were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory methodology. RESULTS: Core category of nursing students' experiences in making career decisions was ‘trying to find the way of being a nurse’. Action/interaction strategies were ‘becoming one's own self’, ‘actively exploring the way of being a nurse’, and ‘experiencing one’s own achievement as a future nurse’. Consequences were ‘deciding on the career on one’s own’ and ‘career indecision on one's own’. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that nursing students tried to know themselves, explore careers and experience their achievements, and that their efforts were influenced by real situations and support systems. Therefore, nurse educators should develop systems and programs to help students in nursing make career decisions.
Career Choice ; Decision Making ; Grounded Theory ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Qualitative Research ; Students, Nursing*

Benign metastasizing leiomyoma usually occurs in women and is associated with a past hysterectomy in 80% of the cases, which is a rare entity. The patient was a 39-year-old woman who complained of cough and sputum. She underwent hysterectomy beacuse of benign leiomyoma ten years age. Chest X-ray showed nodular lesion in the left lung field. Chest CT showed a 3cm sized round well defined mass at left hilum with mild indentation of segmental bronchi of left upper lobe and a small tiny nodule in right lower lung field. Nodular lesion of left upper lobe was resected by thoracotomy.Pathological evaluation showed benign spindle-like cells having nuclei without cytotic atypia similar to those of benign leiomyoma. Immunohistochemical stainings for desmin and smooth muscle actin were positive. Therefore these nodules are considered as benign metastasizing leiomyoma from a uterine leiomyoma. We report this case with the review of literature.
Actins ; Adult ; Bronchi ; Cough ; Desmin ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Leiomyoma* ; Lung* ; Muscle, Smooth ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND: Hair constitutes an integral part of our self and our self-identity, which is why hair loss may cause a broad range of psychological problems related to our identity. However, the association between quality of life (QOL) in alopecia areata (AA) patients and their clinical characteristics has not yet been investigated in Korea. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to compare the QOL in patients with AA and healthy controls by using Hairdex scale. The relationship between their QOL and their clinical characteristics will be investigated. METHODS: 102 AA patients and 82 healthy controls were recruited in this study and compared by use of Hairdex. Correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between the QOL and the clinical characteristics of patients with AA. RESULTS: The total Hairdex scores and all domain scores, except those of the symptomatic domain, of the Hairdex scales in AA were higher than those of the healthy controls. Clinical characteristics, including the age, disease duration, AA type, AA area, treatment satisfaction, treatment history, anxiety and depression, showed significant correlation with QOL. Of these characteristics, the depression and treatment satisfaction showed strong association with QOL. CONCLUSION: AA can a impair patient's quality of life and has a significant psychological impact.
Alopecia ; Alopecia Areata ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Hair ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Weights and Measures

Nodular pulmonary amyloidosis is one of the rare manifestation of amyloid disease. It is known to be caused by anyloid L fibrils in the majority of case. We experienced an unusual case of a forty-one year-old woman who was presented with multiple nodular lesion on the chest X-ray. CT-guided core needle bilpsy, performed on the lesion, showed apple green birefringes, when stained Congo red and examined under polarized light. Ultrastructurally, there are randomly oriented, forming densed networks, and consists of fine, 7.5 to 10nm diameter, rigid, non-branching filaments of various lengths in electron-microscopic finding. We report a case of primary diffuse nodular pulmonary amyloidosis only localized in the lung, which was confirmed by CT guided core needle biopsy.
Amyloid ; Amyloidosis* ; Biopsy, Large-Core Needle ; Congo Red ; Female ; Humans ; Lung* ; Needles ; Thorax

Imaging findings of secondary hepatic lymphoma have been reported as variable, ranging from single or multiple small nodules to diffuse infiltrative tumor patterns. We hear present a rare case report concerning aggressive B cells, secondary Burkitt's lymphoma in non-AIDS demonstrating a surprising periportal lymphoma infiltration, without upper abdominal lymphadenopathy or splenomegaly on the sonography and CT scans. Clinically, the case was characterized by atypical and highly aggressive course, with the patient presenting an abruptly developed obstructive jaundice with rapidly deteriorating hepatic function that could be indicative of cholestatic hepatitis, which differs in its clinical manifestations from hepatic lymphoma without functional deterioration in respect of its non-tissue destructive growth pattern. We suggest that hepatic lymphoma can sometimes be consistent with periportal infiltrating homogeneous mass, with no lymphadenopathy or splenomegaly on the imaging examination, with a predictable aggressive clinical course of the disease and poor prognosis.
Abdomen ; Burkitt Lymphoma/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Fatal Outcome ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; *Tomography, X-Ray Computed