PURPOSE: To evaluate the spatial distribution of various proton metabolites in the human brain with use of water-suppressed in vivo 1H MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) technique MATERIALS AND METHODS: All of water-suppressed in vivo 1H MRSI were performed on 1.5 T whole-body MRI/MRS system using Stimulated Echo Acquisition Method (STEAM) Chemical shift Imaging (CSI) pulse sequence. T1 -weighted MR images were used for CSl Field Of View (FOV; 24 cm). Voxel size of 1.S cm3 was designated from the periphery of the brain which was divided by 1024 x 16 x 16data points. RESULTS: Metabolite images of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr) + choline/phosphocholine (Cho), and complex of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) -I- glutamate (Glu) were obtained on the human brain. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary study suggests that in vivo 1H MRSl could provide the metabolite imaging to compensate for hypermetabolism on Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans on the basis of the metabolic informations on brain tissues. The unique ability of in vivo 1H MRSI to offer noninvasive informations about tissue biochemistry in disease states will stimulate on clinical research and disease diagnosis.
Biochemistry ; Brain* ; Diagnosis ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid ; Glutamic Acid ; Humans* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Protons

Cholangiocytes, the lining epithelial cells in bile ducts, are an important subset of liver cells. They are activated by endogenous and exogenous stimuli and are involved in the modification of bile volume and composition. They are also involved in damaging and repairing the liver. Cholangiocytes have many functions including bile production. They are also involved in transport processes that regulate the volume and composition of bile. Cholangiocytes undergo proliferation and cell death under a variety of conditions. Cholangiocytes have functional and morphological heterogenecity. The immunobiology of cholangiocytes is important, particularly for understanding biliary disease. Secretion of different proinflammatory mediators, cytokines, and chemokines suggests the major role that cholangiocytes play in inflammatory reactions. Furthermore, paracrine secretion of growth factors and peptides mediates extensive cross-talk with other liver cells, including hepatocytes, stellate cells, stem cells, subepithelial myofibroblasts, endothelial cells, and inflammatory cells. Cholangiopathy refers to a category of chronic liver diseases whose primary disease target is the cholangiocyte. Cholangiopathy usually results in end-stage liver disease requiring liver transplant. We summarize the biology of cholangiocytes and redefine the concept of cholangiopathy. We also discuss the recent progress that has been made in understanding the pathogenesis of cholangiopathy and how such progress has influenced therapy.
Bile ; Bile Ducts ; Biology* ; Cell Death ; Chemokines ; Cytokines ; Endothelial Cells ; Epithelial Cells ; Hepatocytes ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Liver ; Liver Diseases ; Myofibroblasts ; Peptides ; Stem Cells

No abstract available.
Humans ; Hypertension* ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Renal Insufficiency*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Hypertension* ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Renal Insufficiency*

Purpose: Joint label fusion (JLF) is a popular multi-atlas-based segmentation algorithm, which compensates for dependent errors that may exist between atlases.However, in order to get good segmentation results, it is very important to set the several free parameters of the algorithm to optimal values. In this study, we first investigate the feasibility of a JLF algorithm for prostate segmentation in MR images, and then suggest the optimal set of parameters for the automatic prostate segmentation by validating the results of each parameter combination. Materials and Methods: We acquired T2-weighted prostate MR images from 20 normal heathy volunteers and did a series of cross validations for every set of parameters of JLF. In each case, the atlases were rigidly registered for the target image. Then, we calculated their voting weights for label fusion from each combination of JLF’s parameters (rpxy , rpz , rsxy , rsz , β). We evaluated the segmentation performances by five validation metrics of the Prostate MR Image Segmentation challenge. Results: As the number of voxels participating in the voting weight calculation and the number of referenced atlases is increased, the overall segmentation performance is gradually improved. The JLF algorithm showed the best results for dice similarity coefficient, 0.8495 ± 0.0392; relative volume difference, 15.2353 ± 17.2350; absolute relative volume difference, 18.8710 ± 13.1546; 95% Hausdorff distance, 7.2366 ± 1.8502; and average boundary distance, 2.2107 ± 0.4972; in parameters of rpxy = 10, rpz = 1, rsxy = 3, rsz = 1, and β = 3. Conclusion The evaluated results showed the feasibility of the JLF algorithm for automatic segmentation of prostate MRI. This empirical analysis of segmentation results by label fusion allows for the appropriate setting of parameters.

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the efficacy for preventing venous thromboembolism (VTE) and adverse effects of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) in order to launch a prospective clinical trial in Korea. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 108 consecutive patients who underwent gastric cancer surgery. These patients were divided into 2 groups according to the type of thromboprophylaxis: group A, LMWH combined with intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC); group B, IPC alone. The postoperative outcomes of the two groups were compared. RESULTS: Symptomatic VTE was observed in only 1 patient (0.9%) from group B. Postoperative bleeding was more common in group A than in group B (10.9% vs. 7.5%), although the difference was not significant (P = 0.055). Most bleeding episodes were minor and managed conservatively without intervention. Only a high body mass index was associated with a significantly increased risk of postoperative bleeding (odds ratio, 1.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-2.43; P = 0.051). CONCLUSION: A 40 mg of enoxaparin sodium is a safe and feasible dose for prevention of VTE. With the results of this study, we are planning a prospective randomized clinical trial to investigate the clinical efficacy of LMWH thromboprophylaxis in gastric cancer patients in Korea.
Body Mass Index ; Enoxaparin ; Hemorrhage ; Heparin* ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight ; Humans ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Prospective Studies ; Sodium ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Thromboembolism ; Venous Thromboembolism

This erratum is being published to correct the printing error on page 517 of the article. Corrections for Fig. 1 and main text in page 519 are needed. The authors apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

No abstract available.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Loss of Heterozygosity*

BACKGROUND: Mental stress prebably leads to disease by the effect on autonomic nervous system, especially on cardiovascular nervous system it leads deleterious effects ranging from the apperarence or worsenig of ischemia to lethal arrhythmia or sudden death. Especially after myocardial infarction this risks were increased. PURPOSE & METHODS: In order to assess the effect of postural change and arithmetic test on the state of autonomic nervous system in patients with AMI(acute myocardial infarction) autoregressive power spectral analyses were applied to 21 healthy subjects(51.9+/-6.5 years) and 20 AMI patients(55.3+/-7.4 years) during supine, standing and arithmetic test. RESULTS: R-R interval and systolic blood pressure decreased during standing compared with during supine position but there were no remarkable changes during arithmetic test compared with during supine position. In two groups, both during standing and during arithmetic test, compared with during supine position, the remarkable increase of LF(low frequency) spectral parameters(Nu, p<0.001) and decrease of HF(high frequency) spectral parameter(Nu, p<0.001) were observed. And during arithmetic test, compared with during standing, the remarkable increase of LF spectral parameter(Nu, p<0.01) and decrease of HF spectral parameter(Nu, p<0.01) were observed. LF/HF ratio and LFCCV/HFCCV ratio, so an index of sympatho-vagal balance, significantly increased during standing and during arithmetic test compared with during supine position and the increase was more prominent during arithmetic test(p<0.05). There was no significant difference of spectral parameters beteen two groups. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, sympathetic activity increased during standing and during arithmetic test. Especially, during arithmetic test it induced only sympathetic activity to increase remarkably without significant hemodynamic changes. The state of autonomic nervous system 7-10 days after AMI was not different from that of healthy subjects. Among the spectral parameters, Nu was more useful than either PSD or CCV in assessing autonomic nervous activity.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Autonomic Nervous System ; Autonomic Pathways ; Blood Pressure ; Death, Sudden ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Nervous System ; Supine Position

Bronchial carcinoid tumor was a low grade malignant and it was regarded as predictable clinical course and good survivality after surgical resection. But despite of its low grade malignant potentiality, bronchial carcinoid tumor was clearly capable of metastasizing and causing death. We present 2 cases of bronchial carcinoid tumors. One of them was typical carcinoid tumor in 44 year-old female and another was atypical carcinoid tumor in 53 year-old male patient. Currative therapeutic procedure was performed by lobectomy and wedge resection.
Carcinoid Tumor* ; Female ; Humans ; Male