PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical performance of the BTA TRAK assay and to compare it with that of voided urine cytology in the detection of bladder cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TRAK was evaluated two groups of patients. Bladder cancer group was comprised of patients wit histologically confirmed active bladder cancer. The second group of patients had a history of bladder cancers but were considered to have no evidence of disease on basis of cystoscopic evaluation of bladder and/or biopsy. Sensitivity was determined in urine samples from patients with histologically confirmed bladder cancer. Specificity was determined in samples from patients who had a history of bladder cancer but no current evidence of disease. RESULTS: BTA TRAK assay was positive in 21 of 24 samples from patients with diagnosed bladder cancer. The sensitivity of BTA TRAK assay (87.5%) was significantly higher than that of voided urine cytology (45.8%). According to grade, the sensitivity of BTA TRAK assay was significantly higher than that of voided urine cytology in urine samples from patients with grade 1 bladder cancer. The specificity of BTA TRAK assay was 80% in patients who had a history of bladder cancer but no current evidence of disease. CONCLUSIONS: The BTA TRAK assay is superior to voided urine cytology in the detection of bladder cancer. The difference of the sensitivity was statistically significant(p<0.05). The results of this study indicate that BTA TRAK assay is a useful adjunct to cystoscopy in the detection of bladder cancer and useful monitoring tool of bladder cancer.
Biopsy ; Cystoscopy ; Humans ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder*

No abstract available.
Diagnosis* ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder*

OBJECTIVES: Alzheimer's disease(AD) and mild cognitive impairment(MCI) affect several nervous structures involved with the autonomic nervous system. Association between neuropsychiatric deficits and heart rate variability has been observed. But cardiac autonomic function in AD has been scarcely studied and the results reported are conflicting. We investigated autonomic function in normal control, MCI, AD using heart rate variabil-ity(HRV) technique. METHODS: Time and frequency-domain variability of 5-min R-R interval series was comparatively evaluated in 26 normal control subjects, 22 MCI subjects and 34 AD subjects. Analysis of variance(ANOVA) was used to compare the differences across groups. Correlations between MMSE-KC and HRV components were performed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed among the groups in time, frequency-domain analysis of HRV (p>0.05). HRV were not found to be significantly correlated with the degree of cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences in HRV with MCI, AD subjects when compared with normal controls. Further investigation is required to use HRV technique as noninvasive parameters of MCI and AD.
Alzheimer Disease ; Autonomic Nervous System ; Heart ; Heart Rate ; Mild Cognitive Impairment

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the prevalence and composite score of the neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment(MCI), and dementia of Alzheimer's type(AD). The aim of this study is to analyze the correlation between the result of Korean Neuropsychiatric Inventory(K-NPI) and cognitive function. METHODS: A total of 163 patients diagnosed with MCI or AD was divided into three groups(55 MCI patients, 56 dementia patients with mild stage, and 52 dementia patients with moderate, severe stage). We examined neuropsychiatric symptoms by K-NPI and compared the prevalence and composite score of each subdomain in K-NPI among three groups. RESULTS: The most common symptoms in the MCI group were depression/dysphoria, sleep/night-time behavior, anxiety, and irritability/lability. In mild AD group, the most frequent disturbance was agitation/aggression, depression/dysphoria, anxiety, apathy/indifference, and sleep/night-time behavior. In moderate to severe AD group, the most frequent disturbance was apathy/indifference, depression/dysphoria, agitation/aggression, and delusion. The frequencies of delusion, hallucination, agitation/aggression, apathy/indifference, aberrant motor behavior, appetite/eating change were statistically significant. The total NPI score showed a negative correlation with MMSE-KC and a positive correlation with GDS. CONCLUSIONS: Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common features of MCI and AD. These symptoms observed in MCI are similar to those of mild AD. Psychosis is most common in moderate to severe AD, leading to a faster rate of cognitive decline. Therefore, proper management according to the neuropsychiatric symptoms of MCI and three stages of dementia is needed.
Anxiety ; Delusions ; Dementia ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Mild Cognitive Impairment ; Prevalence ; Psychotic Disorders

The effects of BCG and vitamin A acetate, either alone or in combination were studied on rats with bladder tumors induced by N-butyl -N-(4 -hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine. Therapy was started at week 12 and all rats were sacrificed at week 20. Vitamin A acetate therapy significantly reduced the mean number of tumors and the incidence of bladder cancer. The combination of vitamin A acetate and intraperitoneal BCG therapy, more effectively reduced the mean number of bladder tumors and the incidence of bladder cancer than vitamin A acetate therapy alone did. BCG therapy also significantly reduced the mean number of tumors and the incidence of bladder cancer. The difference between the effect of intraperitoneal BCG injection and that of intravesical BCG was not statistically significant. The combination therapy of BCG and vitamin A acetate more effectively reduced the mean number or tumors than BCG therapy along did. The incidence of bladder cancer was also reduced though the statistical significance was not definite (p =0.07). The above results suggest that vitamin A acetate and BCG therapy after initiation of precancerous lesions, alter favorably the course of the experimental bladder cancers in rats and the combination of the two does more effectively.
Animals ; Bacillus* ; Incidence ; Mycobacterium bovis ; Rats ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder* ; Vitamin A* ; Vitamins*

No abstract available.
Brain*

OBJECTIVES: Mild cognitive impairment(MCI) and dementia of Alzheimer's type(AD) are characterized by progressive decline of cognitive abilities and a wide range of neuropsychiatric symptoms like depression. Among various diagnostic tools of AD, many studies showed that elevated levels of serum total homocysteine are associated with increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders. We investigated whether elevated homocysteine concentrations are associated with depressive symptoms in MCI and AD. METHODS: A total of 86 patients diagnosed with MCI or AD participated. Total serum homocysteine levels in fasting blood samples were measured. We examined cognitive symptoms by MMSE-KC, Global Deterioration Scale(GDS), Clinical dementia rating(CDR) and depressive symptoms by Korean version of Geriatric Depression Scale(K-GDS). RESULTS: The total serum homocysteine levels were significantly higher in MCI with depression than in MCI without depression. There was no significant difference in the mean homocysteine levels between AD patients with depression and AD patients without depression. The total homocysteine levels showed a negative correlation with MMSE-KC and a positive correlation with CDR, GDS. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that elevated homocysteine level is a risk factor for the decline of cognitive function and depression. We found a significant relationship between elevated serum homocysteine level and depressive symptoms in MCI. But our study had several limitations, thus more research is needed to confirm this finding.
Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia* ; Depression* ; Fasting ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Mild Cognitive Impairment* ; Neurobehavioral Manifestations ; Risk Factors

This study was done to identify the effectiveness of a proper positioning on musculoskeletal complication on patient with Stroke by using a quasi-experimental study. A total of 18 patients were selected as a subject from June 1st to October 31th 1998 who had been hospitalized at Intensive Care Units in K medical center. A experimental group consists of 8 patients who were given proper positioning every two hours. A control group consists of 10 patients who were given traditional positioning. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS windows including chi-test(Fisher's exact method), Wilcoxon Rank Sum test and McNemar test. The result of this study was summerized as follows: 1) The experimental group with proper positioning has shown lower shoulder pain score, dorsiflexion contracture score, Shoulder subluxation score and higher Range of Motion and than the control group. 2) The experimental group with proper positioning has shown lower muscle pain score and edema score than the control group, but it was not statistically significant. Therefore, proper positioning could be applied as an independent nursing intervention for patients on Stroke in order to facilitate rehabilitation.
Contracture ; Edema ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Myalgia ; Nursing ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Rehabilitation ; Shoulder ; Shoulder Pain ; Stroke*

No abstract available.
Tracheal Stenosis*

Pityriasis rosea is sometimes accompanied with considerable pruritus. Ultraviolet B irradiation is reported to be beneficial in relieving pruritus. The purpose was to evaluate the effect of UVB phototherapy on severe pruritus of pityriasis rosea. Nine patients with severe pruritus had UVB irradiation three times a week Five patients became symptom free and three showed a marked improvement. One dropped out. UVB phototherapy could be an effective modality for relieving pruritus in pityriasis rosea.
Humans ; Phototherapy* ; Pityriasis Rosea* ; Pityriasis* ; Pruritus*