BACKGROUND: Abdominal obesity is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease. It has been reported that metabolically obese is common even in normal weight individuals. In this study, we analysed characteristics of cardiovascular risk factors in normal and overweight men using waist- to -height ratio to find out whether it reflects such risks. METHOD: Study subjects were 510 men. (18.5or=0.5, Group 3; 25.0or=0.5. The prevalence, Odds ratio for cardiovascular risk factors were compared. RESULTS: In normal weight group, the prevalence of hypertension(P<0.01), high blood glucose(P<0.01), hypercholesterolemia (P<0.05), hypertrigtceridemia (P<0.01) was significantly higher in group 1 than group 2. In overweight group, the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia (P<0.01), low HDL(P<0.01) was significantly higher in group 4 than group 3. When compared odds ratio for each groups with reference to group 1, adjusted for age, smoking status and regular exercise, high blood glucose(4.48), hvpertrigtceridemia(5.91) in group 2,hyertension(3.54) ,hypertriglyceridemia (3.44) in group 3, hypertension(2.90), hypertriglyceridemia (3.81), low HDL(2.60) in group 4 were significantly higher. CONCLUSION: Waist-to-height ratio may be a useful method for early detection of abdominal obesity and it's related risk factors in normal and overweight individuals.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertriglyceridemia ; Male ; Mortality ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Odds Ratio ; Overweight* ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors* ; Smoke ; Smoking

Cystic lymphangioma of the spleen is extremely rare disease and the treatment is always surgical. In the present report we describe a symptomatic splenic cystic lymphangioma in a 44 year-old female. Clinical examination revealed palpable mass in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. Abdominal CT scan revealed enlarged spleen with multiple, variable sized cysts. A few cysts had peripheral calcification. Open splenectomy was performed and histologic examination permitted the accurate diagnosis to be made. In case of multiple cystic enlargement of spleen, consider the possibility of cystic lymphangioma of the spleen and splenectomy.
Abdomen ; Adult ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphangioma, Cystic* ; Rare Diseases ; Spleen* ; Splenectomy ; Splenomegaly ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: As Parkinson's disease (PD) can be considered a network abnormality, the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) need to be investigated in the aspect of networks. This study aimed to examine how DBS of the bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) affects the motor networks of patients with idiopathic PD during motor performance and to show the feasibility of the network analysis using cross-sectional positron emission tomography (PET) images in DBS studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We obtained [15O]H2O PET images from ten patients with PD during a sequential finger-to-thumb opposition task and during the resting state, with DBS-On and DBS-Off at STN. To identify the alteration of motor networks in PD and their changes due to STN-DBS, we applied independent component analysis (ICA) to all the cross-sectional PET images. We analysed the strength of each component according to DBS effects, task effects and interaction effects. RESULTS: ICA blindly decomposed components of functionally associated distributed clusters, which were comparable to the results of univariate statistical parametric mapping. ICA further revealed that STN-DBS modifies usage-strengths of components corresponding to the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits in PD patients by increasing the hypoactive basal ganglia and by suppressing the hyperactive cortical motor areas, ventrolateral thalamus and cerebellum. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that STN-DBS may affect not only the abnormal local activity, but also alter brain networks in patients with PD. This study also demonstrated the usefulness of ICA for cross-sectional PET data to reveal network modifications due to DBS, which was not observable using the subtraction method.
Aged ; Brain/*radionuclide imaging ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Deep Brain Stimulation/*methods ; Female ; Functional Laterality/*physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Parkinson Disease/radionuclide imaging/*therapy ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Severity of Illness Index ; Subthalamic Nucleus/*physiopathology

Pregnancy-associated breast cancer is defined as that occurring during pregnancy or within 1 year after delivery. The incidence of pregnancy-associated breast cancer is 0.2% to 3.8%. Tenderness, engorgement, increased size and increased prominence of the glandular tissue during pregnancy and lactation make mammography and clinical breast examination uncomfortable for the patient and less accurate for the detection of an abnormal breast mass. Pregnancy-associated breast cancer tends to be diagnosed at a more advanced stage, with an attendant adverse prognosis, than in women who are not pregnant or lactating. So physicians should perform a thorough breast examination at the first prenatal visit and maintain a high index of suspicion for cancer. We experienced 2 cases of pregnancy-associated breast cancer patients and reported these cases with a brief review of literature.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lactation ; Mammography ; Pregnancy ; Prognosis

OBJECTIVE: Patients with schizophrenia who are treated with aripiprazole experience some benefits including an improvement of social competence, but the underlying mechanism of this improvement has not been investigated yet. This study aimed to provide preliminary evidence that the GABA system may be involved in the effect of aripiprazole on social competence. METHODS: Seventeen outpatients with schizophrenia (9 taking aripiprazole and 8 taking risperidone) and 18 healthy controls underwent 18F-fluoroflumazenil PET, and GABAA receptor binding potential was compared between the three groups. RESULTS: Voxelwise one-way ANOVA showed that GABAA receptor binding potentials in the right medial prefrontal cortex (p=0.04) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (p=0.02) were significantly lower in the aripiprazole group than the risperidone group, and those in the left frontopolar cortex (p=0.03) and right premotor cortex (p=0.02) were significantly lower in the aripiprazole group than the risperidone and control groups. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that aripiprazole administration results in increased GABA transmission in the prefrontal regions, and that these increases may be a neural basis of aripiprazole's clinical benefits on an improvement of social competence.
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid ; Humans ; Mental Competency ; Outpatients ; Piperazines ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Quinolones ; Risperidone ; Schizophrenia ; Aripiprazole

Background: Neuroinflammation plays an important role in cognitive decline and memory impairment in neurodegenerative disorders. Previously, we demonstrated that Humulus japonicus (HJ) has anti-inflammatory effects in rodent models of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The present study aimed to examine the protective potential of HJ extracts against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cognitive impairment and scopolamine-induced amnesia in mouse models. Cognitive improvement of mice was investigated by novel object recognition test. For analyzing effects on neuroinflammation, immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRTPCR) assays were performed. Results: We found that the oral administration of HJ significantly improved cognitive dysfunction induced by LPS in a novel object recognition test. The LPS-induced activation of microglia was notably decreased by HJ treatment in the cortex and hippocampus. HJ administration with LPS also significantly increased the mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-10 and decreased the mRNA expression of IL-12 in the parietal cortex of mice. The increased expression of LPS-induced complement C1q B chain (C1bq) and triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (Trem2) genes was significantly suppressed by HJ treatment. In addition, HJ administration significantly improved novel object recognition in a scopolamine-induced amnesia mouse model. Conclusions These findings revealed that HJ has a beneficial effect on cognitive impairment and neuroinflammation induced by systemic inflammation and on amnesia induced by scopolamine in mice.

Purpose: Several previous studies and case reports have reported ethanol-induced symptoms in patients receiving anticancer drugs containing ethanol. Most docetaxel formulations contain ethanol as a solvent. However, there are insufficient data on ethanol-induced symptoms when docetaxel-containing ethanol is administered. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency and pattern of ethanol-induced symptoms during and after docetaxel administration. The secondary purpose was to explore the risk factors for ethanol-induced symptoms. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, multicenter, observational study. The participants filled out ethanol-induced symptom questionnaire on the day of chemotherapy and the following day. Results: Data from 451 patients were analyzed. The overall occurrence rate of ethanol-induced symptoms was 44.3% (200/451 patients). The occurrence rate of facial flushing was highest at 19.7% (89/451 patients), followed by nausea in 18.2% (82/451 patients), and dizziness in 17.5% (79/451 patients). Although infrequent, unsteady walking and impaired balance occurred in 4.2% and 3.3% of patients, respectively. Female sex, presence of underlying disease, younger age, docetaxel dose, and docetaxel-containing ethanol amount were significantly associated with the occurrence of ethanol-induced symptoms. Conclusion The occurrence of ethanol-induced symptoms was not low in patients receiving docetaxel-containing ethanol. Physicians need to pay more attention to the occurrence of ethanol-induced symptoms and prescribe ethanol-free or low-ethanol-containing formulations to high-risk patients.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine effects of nefazodone on depression, anxiety, sleep and sexual function in depressive patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This is an open, non-comparative, multi-center study. Antidepressant and other clinical effects of nefazodone were evaluated in 230 patients of 26 centers, aged 14 years or more, who met DSM-IV criteria to major depressive disorder or dysthymic disorder and didn't have other psychiatric disorders and were physically healthy. The clinical efficacy was assessed at week 1, 2, 4 and 8 using Clinical Global Improvement (CGI), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State and Trait Anxiety Inventory-State Anxiety (STAI-SA). Other clinical effects were assessed with Weekly Sleep Questionnaire, Sexual Functioning Questionnaire and GHQ-QOL-12, a scale for quality of life. Adverse drug reactions were checked with a questionnaire. Post-treatment effects of drug were compared with pre-treatment baseline condition. RESULTS: The response rates by Clincal Grobal Improvement and HAM-D after 8 weeks treatment were 62.4% and 75.2% respectively. Comparing to baseline, nefazodone was proved to have significantly higher antidepressant and antianxiety effects in depressive patients and it improved also sleep, sexual functions and quality of life. Both patients and physicians satisfied with the effects of drug. Adverse drug reactions were a few and not serious, and most of them disappeared as treatment continued. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that not only nefazodone has antidepressant effects and antianxiety effects, but also it improves sleep disturbance, sexual dysfunction and the quality of life in depressive patients. Adverse drug reactions were a few and not serious.
Anti-Anxiety Agents ; Anxiety* ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Dysthymic Disorder ; Humans ; Quality of Life* ; Surveys and Questionnaires