Anemia, iron deficiency (ID), and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are common disorders. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of anemia, ID, and IDA in Korean females. We examined the associations between IDA, heavy metals in blood, vitamin D level and nutritional intakes. The study was performed using on data collected from 10,169 women (aged > or =10 yr), including 1,232 with anemia, 2,030 with ID, and 690 with IDA during the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V; 2010-2012). Prevalence and 95% confidence intervals were calculated, and path analysis was performed to identify a multivariate regression model incorporating IDA, heavy metals in blood, vitamin D level, and nutritional intakes. The overall prevalence of anemia, ID and IDA was 12.4%, 23.11%, and 7.7%, respectively. ID and IDA were more prevalent among adolescents (aged 15-18 yr; 36.5% for ID; 10.7% for IDA) and women aged 19-49 yr (32.7% for ID; 11.3% for IDA). The proposed path model showed that IDA was associated with an elevated cadmium level after adjusting for age and body mass index (beta=0.46, P<0.001). Vitamin D levels were found to affect IDA negatively (beta=-0.002, P<0.001). This study shows that the prevalence of anemia, ID, and IDA are relatively high in late adolescents and women of reproductive age. Path analysis showed that depressed vitamin D levels increase the risk of IDA, and that IDA increases cadmium concentrations in blood. Our findings indicate that systematic health surveillance systems including educational campaigns and well-balanced nutrition are needed to control anemia, ID, and IDA.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency/*blood/*epidemiology ; Body Mass Index ; Cadmium/*blood ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoradiometric Assay ; Middle Aged ; Nutrition Surveys ; Prevalence ; Regression Analysis ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk ; Vitamin D/*blood ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: There have been limited reports on the effectiveness of 5% lidocaine patches (L5Ps) for treating a few types of chronic pain. We utilized L5Ps for chronic pain patients with various diagnoses and who had incompletely responded to their current treatment regimen. This study aimed at describing the results of a retrospective review of an open-label L5P trial to assess L5Ps' effectiveness and safety for treating various chronic pain patients. METHODS: The chronic pain patients with pain lasting longer than 6-month duration were offered a 2-week L5P treatment trial. The patients were maintained on their other analgesic regimens. The treatment effect was measured according to the change from the baseline visual analog scale (VAS) to the week 2 VAS. After a 2-week trial, the patients were asked if they perceived pain improvement with L5Ps by using a four-item Pain Relief Scale (1 = a lot of relief, 2 = slight relief, 3 = no change, 4 = worse pain). RESULTS: In the combined patient population (n = 177), 2-week treatment with the L5Ps significantly improved the week 2 VAS (P = 0.000). Significant improvement in the VAS was reported by the chronic pain patients with postherpetic neuralgia, intercostal neuralgia, degenerative osteoarthritis at knee joint, and other maladies. A higher proportion of the chronic pain patients reported improving their pain by the L5Ps. Seven patients experienced mild or moderate patch-related adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: The L5P provided clinically meaningful pain relief in some refractory chronic pain patients without any severe adverse events.
Chronic Pain ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; Lidocaine ; Neuralgia ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; Osteoarthritis ; Retrospective Studies

Scleroderma is rare disease of unknown etiology characterized by fibrosis of skin and internal organs such as lung, gastrointestinal tract, kidney, heart and so on. The association between scleroderma and malignancy has been a controversy during recent years. We report a 77-year old female who had scleroderma and squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus. She was diagnosed as esophageal carcinoma and then sclerotic skin change developed in both hands and feet 3 months later. We present this case with a review of literatures.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagus ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Foot ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Hand ; Heart ; Humans ; Kidney ; Lung ; Rare Diseases ; Skin

The mammalian ovary has been known as receiving its innervation by sympathetic and sensory neurons of the peripheral nervous system from the brain. Recently, there were several functional reports that the vagus nerves were also regulating the ovarian function, but the vagus nerve had not been identified by clear morphological evidence. A viral transneuronal tracing technique has been used to demonstrate the morphological evidence for the central vagal involvement in ovarian innervation in brain areas. Bartha strain of pseudorabies virus injection was made into the ovary of Sprague Dawley rats. In experimental group, the vagus nerve of the same injection side was removed right after ovarian injection. At five days after initial injection, all the rats were sacrificed and brains were processed for immunohistochemistry. Several central nuclei including hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus showed strong bilateral positive labelings after unilateral injection in control rats, but the positive labelings were disappeared or decreased in several hypothalamic nuclei and nuclei of the vagus nerve. In conclusion, these results provide the morphological evidence that vagus nerve has neural connection to ovary and by which the central nervous system may maintains the state of ovulation and reproduction as a possible parasympathetic routes in mammals.
Animals ; Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Female ; Herpesvirus 1, Suid ; Immunohistochemistry ; Mammals ; Ovary ; Ovulation ; Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus ; Peripheral Nervous System ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reproduction ; Sensory Receptor Cells ; Vagus Nerve

BACKGROUND: Tricuspid regurgitation has been considered as a secondary lesion when it is combined with left valvular heart diseases. However, there have been some reports which show that tricuspid regurgitation keeps going and results in congestive heart failure even after a successful operation for left valvular heart disease. So far, there are no definite operation indications and predictive factors for the tricuspid regurgitation which is resulted from the left sided valvular heart disease. We designed this study to evaluate the effects of pulmonary artery pressure and left ventricular ejection fraction on the prognosis of tricuspid regurgitation, and to make an operation indication for the patients with secondary tricuspid regurgitation. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent surgery for the left sided valvular heart disease with tricuspid regurgitation and were followed for more than 1 year with echocardiograms. There was a total of 114 cases. We compared the grades of tricuspid regurgitations and pulmonary artery pressures and left ventricular ejection fractions on the basis of echocardiograms which were checked preoperatively and on the last follow up. RESULT: There were 43 cases of tricuspid annuloplasty. In these patients, the grades of tricuspid regurgitations were improved in 42 cases (97.7%). But in 71 cases without annuloplasty, 29 cases (41%) were improved, 32 cases (45%) had no change, and 10 cases (14%) were aggravated. This finding shows significant differences in the prognoses of tricuspid regurgitations between the two groups (p<0.05). There was no difference in pulmonary artery pressures and ejection fractions between the patients who showed progression of tricuspid regurgitations and those who didn't (p>0.05). The improvements of tricuspid regurgitations are not statistically related to the changes of pulmonary artery pressures or left ventricular ejection fractions. CONCLUSION: This study shows that it is impossible to predict the prognoses of tricuspid regurgitations with preoperative pulmonary artery pressures or left ventricular ejection fractions. Also, the excellent results of tricuspid annuloplasty is proven in controlling the secondary tricuspid regurgitations. Therefore, when tricuspid regurgitation is detected preoperatively, the procedures to correct the tricuspid regurgitation at the time of the operation for the left-sided valvular heart disease must be considered positively, regardless of the grades of tricuspid regurgitations, to prevent significant tricuspid regurgitation that may develop later.
Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Failure ; Heart Valve Diseases* ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Prognosis* ; Pulmonary Artery ; Stroke Volume ; Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the value of adding digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) to full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in the diagnostic workup of breast cancer and to determine which lesion variables affect cancer detectability in the combined modality. METHODS: Between March and May 2012, paired FFDM and DBT images were obtained from 203 women as part of a diagnostic workup for breast cancer. Images from FFDM alone, DBT alone, and DBT combined with FFDM were reviewed in separate sessions by six blinded readers. Jackknife alternative free-response receiver operating characteristic (JAFROC) figure of merit (FOM), sensitivity, and specificity were compared between the modalities. Lesion characteristics affecting the cancer detection rate when using the combined modality were also analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 203 women, 126 women had a total of 129 malignancies and 77 women had total of 77 benign lesions. The overall JAFROC FOM of the combined modality was higher than that of FFDM alone (0.827 vs. 0.775, p<0.001) and that of DBT alone was higher than that of FFDM alone (0.807 vs. 0.775, p=0.027). The overall sensitivity of the combined modality was higher than that of FFDM alone (80.0% vs. 73.2%, p<0.001) and that of DBT alone was higher than that of FFDM alone (78.3% vs. 73.2%, p=0.007). Compared to FFDM alone, the combined modality detected an additional 48 cancers. Using the combined modality, the presence of masses or microcalcifications was significantly associated with the cancer detection rate (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The combination of DBT with FFDM results in a higher diagnostic yield than FFDM alone. Additionally, DBT alone performs better than FFDM alone. However, even when DBT is combined with FFDM, breast cancers with no discernible masses and those lacking calcifications are difficult to detect.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast* ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Female ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Mammography* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity