Microsatellites are short nucleotide repeat sequences present throughout the human genome. Alterations of microsatellites, comprising extra or missing copies of these se quences, have been termed microsatellite instability(MSI, genetic instability, replication errors, RER(+) phenotype). To date, at least four genes involved in DNA mismatch repair, hMSH2, hMLH1, hPMS1 and hPMS2, are thought to account for the observation of microsatellite instability in tumor from Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) patients. The genetic defect responsible for the MIN+ phenotype in sporadic colorectal cancer, however, has yet to be clearly delineated. The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of MSI in sporadic cancer and to correlate its occurrence with clinicopathological parameters, we have studied six microsatellite loci by use of polymerase chain reaction amplification and denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We found that 20%(9 of 46 cases) sporadic colorectal cancers showed RER at two or several loci(RER+). Microsatellite instability was associated with location of the tumor in the proximal colon 66%(6 of 9 cases) and with poorly differentiated tumor phenotype 56%(5 of 9 cases). In order to better understand the role of somatic alterations within hMSH2 in the process of colorectal tumorigenesis, we examined the most conserved regions(codon 598~789) of this gene in nine patients with MIN spotadic colorectal cancer. 6 patient of RER(+) colorectal ca. patients had a polymorphism which was a T to C base change in the intron sequence at -6 position of the splice acceptor site at the 5'end of exon 13. This particular sequence variation is a polymorphism rather than a mutation which increase cancer susceptability. These data suggest that the genetic instability is detect ed in some colorectal cancers and play an important role in the pathogenesis of sporadic colorectal cancer.
Carcinogenesis ; Colon ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Colorectal Neoplasms, Hereditary Nonpolyposis ; DNA Mismatch Repair ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Exons ; Genome, Human ; Humans ; Introns ; Microsatellite Instability* ; Microsatellite Repeats* ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA Splice Sites

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe perception and performance of health assessment among clinical nurses. METHODS: The sample of this study consisted of 177 staff nurses working at university affiliated hospitals and a self-report questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed with SPSS WIN 12.0 program. RESULTS: The overall mean scores of perception and performance of health assessment were 3.67 and 1.71 respectively. There were no significant differences according to educational level, working department, and type of health assessment courses taken for perception of health assessment. The variable significantly affecting health assessment performance was the working department. There was a statistically significant correlation between perception and performance of health assessment. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest the need to develop a nursing education strategy to increase the performance of health assessment.
Education, Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Hydrothorax*

No abstract available.
Ileum*

No abstract available.
Infant, Newborn ; Meconium Aspiration Syndrome

No abstract available in English.

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: Cross-modality coregistration of positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR) could enhance the clinical information. In this study we propose a refined technique to improve the robustness of registration, and to implement more realistic visualization of the coregistered images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the sinogram of PET emission scan, we extracted the robust head boundary and used boundary-enhanced PET to coregister PET with MR. The pixels having 10% of maximum pixel value were considered as the boundary of sinogram. Boundary pixel values were exchanged with maximum value of sinogram. One hundred eighty boundary points were extracted at intervals of about 2 degree using simple threshold method from each slice of MR images. Best affined transformation between the two point sets was performed using least square fitting which should minimize the sum of Euclidean distance between the point sets. We reduced calculation time using pre-defined distance map. Finally we developed an automatic coregistration program using this boundary detection and surface matching technique. We designed a new weighted normalization technique to display the coregistered PET and MR images simultaneously. RESULTS: Using our newly developed method, robust extraction of head boundary was possible and spatial regishation was successfully performed. Mean displacement error was less than 2.0mm. In visualization of coregistered images using weighted normalization method, structures shown in MR image could be realistically represented. CONCLUSION: Our refined technique could practically enhance the performance of automated three dimensional coregistration.
Brain* ; Head ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Positron-Emission Tomography

No abstract available.
Vulva* ; Vulvar Neoplasms*

No abstract available.
Vulva* ; Vulvar Neoplasms*