OBJECTIVE: Because endometriosis is difficult to diagnose and has a high recurrence rate after treatment, a reliable serum marker of endometriosis is necessary. Therefore, the aim of this study is to measure the serum levels of CA125 and CA19-9 in patients with endometriosis before and after treatment and during recurrence, and to assess the usefulness of these levels in the diagnosis, clinical follow up and prediction of recurrence in endometriosis. METHODS: Eighty-eight patients who visited the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Ewha Mokdong Hospital from January 1994 to December 1998 and were diagnosed as endometriosis by laparoscopy or explo-laparotomy were enrolled as subjects. A retrospective analysis of serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels at 1 month before and 3 to 6 months after initiation of treatment was done. RESULTS: The serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels of endometriosis group(81.0+/-252.5, 36.6+/-53.4 ; mean+/-2SD, U/ml) before treatment was significantly higher than control group(11.6+/-12.8, 9.4+/-8.6)(p<0.05). Overall sensitivity rate for CA125, CA19-9 levels and both was 53.4%, 42.9% and 64.3% respectively. The sensitivity rate for endometriosis, stage 3 and 4(85.4%, 55.0%) was significantly higher than that, stage 1 and 2(p<0.05). The serum CA125 level in endometriosis group showed a significant increment according to stages(p<0.05) while the serum CA19-9 level showed an increasing trend(p=0.055) and both levels decreased significantly after treatment(p<0.05). The serum CA125 level was also higher at recurrence after treatment(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels are a useful marker for diagnosing severity of disease, monitoring efficacy of treatment and predicting recurrence in endometriosis.
Biomarkers ; Diagnosis ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Obstetrics ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

Azithromycin* ; Doxycycline* ; Scrub Typhus*

No abstract available.
Heart Septal Defects, Atrial*

Background: There is growing interest in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because many ADHD children have symptoms that last through adulthood, and adult ADHD has a high risk of comorbid mental disorders. This study examined the prevalence and comorbidities of adult ADHD, with a focus on depression and pathological internet use among Korean college students. Methods: This study included 1358 college students, who were asked to complete self-reporting questionnaires on their characteristics, ADHD symptoms, and related clinical factors. The study analyzed associations between ADHD and depression, anxiety, pathological internet use, and problematic alcohol use. Results: The prevalence rate of ADHD among college students was 5.7%. A significant association was determined between ADHD symptoms and school satisfaction, depression, anxiety, and pathological internet use. Multivariate analysis showed that ADHD symptoms in college students were significantly associated with depression and pathological internet use. Conclusion The prevalence of ADHD among college students was similar to that of children and adolescents. Moreover, the risk of depression and pathological internet use was high in the ADHD group. Early screening and intervention for ADHD and comorbidities will be required to prevent the negative consequences of the condition and help students adapt in the future.

No abstract available.
Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung*

No abstract available.
Mitral Valve* ; Rupture*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to survey health requirements of middle-aged women and their families and to provide guidelines for developing nursing interventions by describing the process of family health maintenance experienced by middle-aged women and its conceptual system. METHODS: To get saturated data, each of four researchers conducted two or three times of in-depth interview with eight middle-aged women aged between 40-64 years old and living in Seoul and Chuncheon from the 10th to the 30th of October 2004 and each interview was continued one or two hours. The Grounded theory adopted by Strauss & Corbin (1998) is a substantive theory that can explain the experiencing process of middle-aged women. RESULTS: We found that the casual condition of family health maintaining by middle-aged women was "confidence of health belief", and "pouring by body moving" was found to be its phenomenon. A textual condition that might respond to the phenomenon was "fatal roles acceptance", and intervening conditions that promote their family health were "retracing" and "gathering health information". These intervening conditions impacted middle-aged women's confidence in family health and led them to take actions/interactions such as "being a model of health", "adapting to circumstances", "do-it-myself", "taking-care" "harmonious mind" and "the pursuit of cleanness". These actions/interactions produced results such as "being stronger", "being unmanageable" and "being fruitful". CONCLUSIONS: Health confidence and practical health behaviors were observed in the process that the middle-aged female participants experienced unmanageable circumstances but they accepted their roles and responsibilities and recognized that they must be get stronger. The behaviors of health-together-with were divided into enthusiastic type, adaptation type and self-sacrificing type. Therefore middle-aged woman with the understanding of family health maintaining process as well as the theoretical system and practical principals needs to implement the intervention in acceptable level of family health process of preventing psychological and physical problems.
Family Health* ; Female ; Gangwon-do ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Nursing ; Seoul

No abstract available.
Cervix Uteri* ; Female ; Hysterectomy*

No abstract available.
Fistula* ; Pyriform Sinus* ; Thyroiditis, Suppurative*

Granular cell tumor is not uncommon and is a well recognized entity which may arise at virtually any site of the body. However, occurrence in the thyroid is extremely rare and has not been described well. Only three cases could be found in the English literatures. We report a case of granular cell tumor of the thyroid in a 30 year-old woman. The tumor was illdefined, infiltrative and was composed of diffuse sheets of polygonal to fusiform cells with abundant eosinophilic granular cytoplasm. The tumor showed evidence of Schwann cell differentiation in immunohistochemical and ultrastructural examinations. Differentiation from more common thyroid tumors having oncocytic granular cytoplasm should be made by immunohistochemistry or electron microscopy.
Adult ; Cell Differentiation ; Cytoplasm ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Granular Cell Tumor* ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Microscopy, Electron ; Thyroid Gland*