Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of an instrument devised for slit-lamp examination of donor corneas suspended in preservation medium. Methods: The study examined two donor corneas received at Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital in February 2023 and March 2023. The instrument has three main components: a plastic holder to hold the preservation medium bottle, a cube with a mirror for reflecting the slit beam, and a stand to attach the device to the slit-lamp. Using the instrument, the donor corneas were examined via slit-lamp: microscopy with the endothelium facing upward and downward. Specular microscopy and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) were also performed on the preserved donor corneas. Results: Slit-lamp examination of donor corneas in preservation medium using the instrument showed overall corneal buttoning and optical sections of the donor cornea. Using specular reflection and retroillumination, the endothelial layer was partially visible. However, specular microscopy and anterior segment OCT could not examine the donor cornea in preservation medium using the instrument. Conclusions The devised instrument facilitates slit-lamp examination of donor corneas in preservation medium, enabling a qualitative assessment of donor corneas before corneal transplantation surgery.

Objectives: This study compared the nutritional intakes of early and late preterm infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and at home. The dietary problems and the need for community care services for premature infants were further investigated. Methods: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study on 125 preterm infants and their parents (Early preterm n = 70, Late preterm n = 55). The data were collected by surveying the parents of preterm infants and from hospital medical records. Results: No significant differences were obtained between the early and late preterm infant groups when considering the proportion of feeding types in the NICU and at home. Early preterm infants were fed with a greater amount of additional calories at home and had more hours of tube feeding (P = 0.022). Most preterm infants had feeding problems. However, there was no significant difference between early and late preterm infants in the mental pain of parents, sleeping, feeding, and weaning problems at home. Many parents of preterm babies had no external support, and more than half the parents required community care to take care of their preterm babies. Conclusions Regardless of the gestational age, most preterm infants have several problems with dietary intake. Our study indicates the need to establish community care services for preterm infants.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to examine and share experiences of male nurses who have been rejected during their nursing practice by their patients. METHODS: The participants were 12 male nurses who have worked in several hospitals. Data were collected through personalized in-depth interviews. Collected data were analyzed with the content analysis method. RESULTS: The results can be categorized into three main themes. 1. Rejection based on gender stereotypes of nurses' roles. 2. Nurses' reactions when nursing was rejected 3. Reestablishing the role as a nurse. The results of this study showed that male nurses were struggling to maintain their own positions as professional nurses. They were refused by their patients and they experienced a lack of skill and knowledge in nursing practice. They were harmed physically and psychologically from being turned down, and sometimes they had serious conflicts with female nurses. Meanwhile, the male nurses tried to be faithful to their role as professional nurses. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show the following findings. 1. The male nurses' experiences where mostly ones of understanding and cooperation with patients' caregivers. 2. The need for public relations advertising and systematic support from the media. 3. The need for improving gender equality for nurses. 4. Strengthening male nursing students' endeavors for sound nursing professionalism.
Caregivers ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Nurses, Male ; Nursing ; Professionalism ; Public Relations ; Qualitative Research

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The incidence and severity of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) have increased worldwide, resulting in a need for rapid and accurate diagnostic methods. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted to compare CDI diagnosis methods between January 2014 and December 2014. The stool samples, which were obtained in presumptive CDI patients, were compared for their diagnostic accuracy and rapidity, including real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of toxin genes, C. difficile toxin assay, and culture for C. difficile. RESULTS: A total of 207 cases from 116 patients were enrolled in this study and 117 cases (56.5%) were diagnosed as having CDI. Among the 117 cases, the sensitivities of real-time PCR, C. difficile toxin assay, and culture for C. difficile were 87.2% (102 cases; 95% CI, 80.7%–92.8%), 48.7% (57 cases; 95% CI, 41.0%–59.8%), and 65.0% (76 cases; 95% CI, 60.2%–78.5%), respectively (P < 0.005). Notably, 34 cases (29.0%) were diagnosed with CDI by real-time PCR only. The time required to obtain results was 2.27 hours (136.62±82.51 minutes) for real-time PCR, 83.67 hours (5,020.66±3,816.38 minutes) for toxin assay, and 105.79 hours (6,347.68±3,331.46 minutes) for culture (P < 0.005), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed that real-time PCR of toxin genes is the most effective diagnostic method for accurate and early diagnosis of CDI. It also helps to diagnose hypervirulent CDI, such as ribotype 027 infection.
Clostridium difficile ; Clostridium ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Methods ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Retrospective Studies ; Ribotyping

No abstract available.
Female ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors* ; Humans ; Liver* ; Middle Aged* ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

PURPOSE: The lack of identified mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway downstream genes that overcome cross-talk in nonmuscle invasive low grade (LG)-urothelial carcinoma (UC) of the bladder is a clinical limitation in the use of mTOR inhibitor for the treatment of UC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Presently, gene expression patterns, gene ontology, and gene clustering by dual (p70S6K and S6K) siRNAs or rapamycin in 253J and TR4 cell lines were investigated by microarray analysis. mTOR/S6K pathway downstream genes suppressed to siRNAs, and rapamycin up-regulated or rapamycin down-regulated genes were identified. The mTOR downstream genes examined using a tissue microarray of 90 nonmuscle invasive LG-UC patients to assess whether any of these genes predicted clinical outcomes. A knockout study evaluated the synergistic effect with rapamycin. RESULTS: In the microarray analysis, mTOR pathway downstream genes selected consisted of 4 rapamycin down-regulated (FOXM1, KIF14, MYBL2, and UHRF1), and 4 rapamycin up-regulated (GPR87, NBR1, VASH1, and PRIMA1). In the tissue microarray, FOXM1, KIF14, and NBR1 were more expressed at T1, and MYBL2, and PRIMA1 were more expressed in tumors exceeding 3 cm. In a multivariate Cox regression model, KIF14 and NBR1 were significant predictors of recurrence in nonmuscle invasive LG-UC of the bladder. In a NBR1 knock out model, rapamycin treatment synergistically inhibited cell viability and colony forming ability compared to rapamycin only. CONCLUSIONS: The results implicate KIF14 and NBR1 as mTOR/S6K pathway downstream genes that predict recurrence in nonmuscle invasive LG-UC of the bladder and demonstrate that NBR1 knockout overcomes rapamycin cross-talk.
Biomarkers ; Cell Line ; Cell Survival ; Gene Expression ; Gene Ontology ; Humans ; Microarray Analysis ; Recurrence* ; RNA, Small Interfering ; Sirolimus* ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder*

PURPOSE: We aimed to compare the detection of breast cancer using full-field digital mammography (FFDM), FFDM with computer-aided detection (FFDM+CAD), ultrasound (US), and FFDM+CAD plus US (FFDM+CAD+US), and to investigate the factors affecting cancer detection. METHODS: In this retrospective study conducted from 2008 to 2012, 48,251 women underwent FFDM and US for cancer screening. One hundred seventy-one breast cancers were detected: 115 invasive cancers and 56 carcinomas in situ. Two radiologists evaluated the imaging findings of FFDM, FFDM+CAD, and US, based on the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System lexicon of the American College of Radiology by consensus. We reviewed the clinical and the pathological data to investigate factors affecting cancer detection. We statistically used generalized estimation equations with a logit link to compare the cancer detectability of different imaging modalities. To compare the various factors affecting detection versus nondetection, we used Wilcoxon rank sum, chi-square, or Fisher exact test. RESULTS: The detectability of breast cancer by US (96.5%) or FFDM+CAD+US (100%) was superior to that of FFDM (87.1%) (p=0.019 or p<0.001, respectively) or FFDM+ CAD (88.3%) (p=0.050 or p<0.001, respectively). However, cancer detectability was not significantly different between FFDM versus FFDM+CAD (p=1.000) and US alone versus FFDM+CAD+US (p=0.126). The tumor size influenced cancer detectability by all imaging modalities (p<0.050). In FFDM and FFDM+CAD, the nondetecting group consisted of younger patients and patients with a denser breast composition (p<0.050). In breast US, carcinoma in situ was more frequent in the nondetecting group (p=0.014). CONCLUSION: For breast cancer screening, breast US alone is satisfactory for all age groups, although FFDM+ CAD+US is the perfect screening method. Patient age, breast composition, and pathological tumor size and type may influence cancer detection during screening.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Carcinoma in Situ ; Consensus ; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Female ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Mammography* ; Mass Screening* ; Methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography* ; Ultrasonography, Mammary

No abstract available.
Nevus, Blue*

No abstract available.
Nevus, Blue*

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory cytokines play an important role in human immune responses to malaria, although the role of these mediators in pathogenesis is unclear. In this study, we evaluated changes in cytokine levels following chemotherapy, and determined whether cytokine levels in serum correlated with the hematological parameters in the Korean vivax malarial patients. METHODS: The study population was composed of 31 patients in Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital who were diagnosed with Plasmodium vivax infection. Cytokine profiles, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10 levels, were assessed in serum samples obtained from the malaria patients three times, at the time of diagnosis (stage I) and after treatment with hydroxychloroquine (stage II) and primaquine (stage III). The level of each cytokine was measured using commercially available serum-based ELISA kits. Hematological parameters were simultaneously measured using a hematology autoanalyzer. RESULTS: At thetime of diagnosis, the TNF-alpha (mean, 62.9 pg/mL), IL-6 (mean, 45.5 pg/mL), and IL-10 (mean, 237.7 pg/mL) levels in the malaria patients were higher than the reference values. After treatment with hydroxychloroquine, these levels (TNF-alpha, P<0.01; IL-6, P<0.05; IL-10, P<0.01) significantly decreased to near-normal levels. Significant positive correlations were observed among the cytokine levels, but not between the cytokine levels and other hematological parameters. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-10 levels increased at the time of diagnosis and rapidly decreased to normal levels after treatment the levels of these cytokines did not correlate with other hematological parameters.
Cytokines ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hematology ; Humans ; Hydroxychloroquine ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-6 ; Interleukins ; Malaria ; Malaria, Vivax ; Plasmodium vivax ; Primaquine ; Reference Values ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha