PURPOSE: DNA flow cytometry is a simple and easy method to assess the DNA content and the cell-cycle distribution of a tumor cell. The prognostic significance of the DNA content and the S-phase fraction in a gastric carcinoma has been controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of the nuclear DNA content and the S-phase fraction in patients with a gastric carcinoma. METHODS: Between May 1995 and March 1996, 94 patients who were underwent a gastric resection for a gastric carcinoma were evaluated with DNA flow cytometry. Of them, 88 patients underwent a gastric resection with curative intent. The relationship of variable clinicopathological factors and of recurrence pattern to survival and nuclear DNA content were assessed. RESULTS: The mean age was 55 years. 55 patients (58.5%) exbitied diploidy and 39 patients (41.5%) aneuploidy. There was no relationship between the clinicopathological factors and either the ploidy pattern or the S-phase fraction. Though the recurrence and its pattern were not different between the two ploidy group (p=0.860, 0.137), diploidy tended to recur locoregionally and aneuploidy hematogenously. CONCLUSION: The ploidy pattern was a significant prognostic factor in gastric carcinomas, but should be interpreted carefully.
Aneuploidy ; Diploidy ; DNA* ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Ploidies ; Prognosis ; Recurrence

Objectives: Maltreatment experiences can alter brain function related to emotion regulation, such as cognitive reappraisal. While dysregulation of emotion is an important risk factor to mental health problems in maltreated people, studies reported alterations in brain networks related to cognitive reappraisal are still lacking. Methods: Twenty-seven healthy subjects were recruited in this study. The maltreatment experiences and positive reappraisal abilities were measured using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, respectively. Twelve subjects reported one or more moderate maltreatment experiences. Subjects were re-exposed to pictures after the cognitive reappraisal task using the International Affective Picture System during fMRI scan. Results: The maltreatment group reported more negative feelings on negative pictures which tried cognitive reappraisal than the no-maltreatment group (p < 0.05). Activities in the right superior marginal gyrus and right middle temporal gyrus were higher in the maltreatment group (uncorrected p < 0.001, cluster size > 20). Conclusions We found that paradoxical activities in semantic networks were shown in the victims of maltreatment. Further study might be needed to clarify these aberrant functions in semantic networks related to maltreatment experiences.

One author's name is misspelled. Correct Seungho Rhu into Seungho Ryu.

Anatomical reduction is essential for successful treatment of distal radius fractures. In-depth understanding of the implant is mandatory in order to obtain adequate fixation of the fracture fragments and to avoid implant-related complications. Selection of an improper implant and screw length may lead to rupture of flexor or extensor tendon as a complication. This article will briefly discuss the pros and cons of the traditional fixation methods such as percutaneous pin fixation and external fixation, and will focus on the recent development of the volar locking plate. Variable-angle locking plate, which was introduced in an effort to provide surgeons with more freedom for fixation, may have inadequate fixation strength if screw locking is repeated. From the biomechanical study, at least four distal locking screws are enough to have strength to maintain fracture fixation. Measuring screw length may be difficult; therefore, information about the ratio of the metaphysis and diaphysis will be helpful in deciding on the proper screw length. Locking screws are recommended as they are stronger than locking pegs. In order to avoid flexor tendon ruptures, the plate should not be placed too far distally.
Diaphyses ; Fracture Fixation ; Freedom ; Patient Selection ; Radius ; Radius Fractures ; Rupture ; Tendons

We present a patient diagnosed with skin sarcoidosis, breast cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, and peritoneal sarcoidosis with a past history of colorectal cancer. During stage work up for breast cancer, suspicious lesions on peritoneum were observed in imaging studies. Considering our patient's history and imaging findings, we initially suspected peritoneal carcinomatosis. However, the peritoneal lesion was diagnosed as sarcoidosis in laparoscopic biopsy. This case demonstrates that abdominal sarcoidosis might be considered as a differential diagnosis when there is a lesion suspected of being peritoneal carcinomatosis with nontypical clinical presentations.
Biopsy ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma* ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Peritoneum ; Sarcoidosis* ; Skin ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) receives dense projections from cholinergic neurons of the basal forebrain. Acetylcholine can contributes to amygdala-dependent behaviors: formation and extinction of fear memory and appetitive instrumental learning. However, the cholinergic mechanism at the circuit level has not been defined yet. We demonstrated that cholinergic-induced di-synaptic inhibition of BLA pyramidal neurons exhibits a retrograde form of short-term synaptic inhibition, depolarization-induced suppression of inhibition (DSI). Activation of nicotinic receptors was sufficient to evoke action potentials in cholecystokinin (CCK)-positive inhibitory neurons, which strongly inhibit pyramidal neurons through their perisomatic synapses. Our cell type-specific monosynaptic retrograde tracing also revealed that CCK neurons are innervated by basal forebrain cholinergic neurons. Therefore, our data indicated that CCK inhibitory neurons mediate the cholinergic-induced di-synaptic inhibition of BLA pyramidal neurons.
Acetylcholine ; Action Potentials ; Basal Forebrain ; Basolateral Nuclear Complex ; Cholecystokinin ; Cholinergic Neurons ; Conditioning, Operant ; Iontophoresis ; Memory ; Neurons ; Pyramidal Cells ; Receptors, Nicotinic ; Synapses

The meta-analysis has become a widely used tool for many applications in bioinformatics, including genome-wide association studies. A commonly used approach for meta-analysis is the fixed effects model approach, for which there are two popular methods: the inverse variance-weighted average method and weighted sum of z-scores method. Although previous studies have shown that the two methods perform similarly, their characteristics and their relationship have not been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, we investigate the optimal characteristics of the two methods and show the connection between the two methods. We demonstrate that the each method is optimized for a unique goal, which gives us insight into the optimal weights for the weighted sum of z-scores method. We examine the connection between the two methods both analytically and empirically and show that their resulting statistics become equivalent under certain assumptions. Finally, we apply both methods to the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium data and demonstrate that the two methods can give distinct results in certain study designs.
Case-Control Studies ; Computational Biology ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Methods* ; Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND: Dependent self-employment is precarious employment, which can be vulnerable to mental health problems. This study aimed to investigate the association of dependent self-employment with depression, anxiety, and sleep disorder in South Korea. METHODS: This study used data from the Fourth Korean Working Conditions Survey and included 32,691 paid workers. Dependent self-employment and self-reported depression/anxiety, and sleep disorder were investigated using a questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between dependent self-employment and mental health problems. RESULTS: Of the 32,691 paid workers, 2,371 (7.3%) were dependent self-employed workers. The odds ratio (OR) of dependent self-employment for self-reported depression/anxiety was 1.78 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.29–2.45) and the OR of dependent self-employment for self-reported sleep disorder was 1.26 (95% CI: 1.01–1.59) compared to other paid workers. CONCLUSIONS: Dependent self-employment is related to an increased risk of self-reported depression/anxiety and sleep disorder in South Korea.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Employment ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Mental Health ; Odds Ratio ; Sleep Wake Disorders

Objective: Thought-action fusion (TAF), which is a tendency to make the relationship between one’s thoughts and external consequences, is a dysfunctional belief linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While the TAF is commonly evaluated using the Thought-Action Fusion Scale (TAFS), it cannot fully reflect the actual experience of experimentally evoked TAF. In the present study, we applied a multiple-trial version of the classic TAF experiment and evaluate two variables, reaction time (RT) and emotional intensity (EI). Methods: Ninety-three patients with OCD and 45 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. The participants were asked to read the name of a close or neutral person embedded in different positive (PS) or negative (NS) TAF statements. During the experiments, RT and EI were gathered. Results: The OCD patients presented with longer RT and lower EI in the NS condition than HCs. In each group, the HCs showed a significant relationship between RT in the NS condition and TAFS scores, whereas the patients did not, although they had higher TAFS scores than the HCs. In contrast, the patients showed a trend toward a correlation between RT in the NS condition and guilt. Conclusion These findings may indicate our multiple-trial version of the classical TAF showed reliable results of the two new variables, especially RT, in the task and allow to newly identify paradoxical patterns in which the TAFS scores are high but actual performance is impaired, that is, the inefficient activation of TAF in OCD.

Objective: Although cognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) fall into two categories: cognitive deficit models and dysfunctional belief models, these approaches have their own ways and have hardly been reconciled. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential relationships between cognitive deficit (using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, WCST) and dysfunctional belief (measured by scales of dysfunctional beliefs) mediated by neural activity in OCD patients. Methods: Thirty OCD patients and 30 healthy participants performed the WCST condition and a baseline MATCH condition during the 3T-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition. Results: Engagement of additional frontoparietal networks with poorer performance of WCST was found during the fMRI scan in OCD patients. Selected regions of interest from activated regions have positive relationships with dysfunctional beliefs and with the unacceptable thoughts symptom dimension in the OCD group. Conclusion Findings suggest that alteration in frontoparietal networks related to cognitive deficits can be associated with dysfunctional beliefs while performing conventional neurocognitive tasks and this association with dysfunctional beliefs may be pronounced in the unacceptable thoughts domain-dominant OCD patients.