PURPOSE: Nocturia and enuresis are common voiding problems in spinal cord injured patients despite a variety of management. The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of desmopressin, a synthetic analogue of antidiuretic mono, as an alternative treatment in the management of spinal cord injured(SCI) patients with neurogenic bladder dysfunction unresponsive to conventional therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen SCI patients with nocturia or enuresis were included in this study. The patients received 10microgram desmopressin intranasally at bedtime once every 24 hours. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in nocturnal urinary volume, frequency of nocturia and nocturnal enuresis during nighttime after desmopressin administration. Two patients stopped desmopressin because of side effects. 8 of 12 patients improved with desmopressin and the remainder had no effect. There was no serum abnormality, although there were side effects in three cases, such as gastro-intestinal trouble, chest discomfort or nasal congestion. CONCLUSIONS: Desmopressin is safe and effective in the management of nocturia or enuresis due to neurogenic bladder dysfunction in selected SCI patients.
Deamino Arginine Vasopressin* ; Enuresis ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Humans ; Nocturia ; Nocturnal Enuresis ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Spinal Cord* ; Thorax ; Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic*

No abstract available.
Classification* ; Humans ; Spinal Cord* ; Urodynamics*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between nurse managers' facilitative communication as perceived by nurses and nurses' self-esteem. METHODS: The subjects were 256 staff nurses at B hospital of C University in Kyeonggi-do. The data were collected between December 1, 2009 and January 12, 2010. The collected data were analyzed using the SAS program through t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson's correlation coefficients. RESULTS: Nurses' self-esteem was higher when nurse managers perceived them as facilitative communicators in empathic understanding and genuineness subgroup of facilitative communication (p<.05). There was a positive correlation between nurse managers' facilitative communication and nurses' self-esteem(r=.15, p=.015). Also there was a positive correlation among the nurse managers' facilitative communication subgroups, empathic understanding; genuineness; concreteness(r=0.18, p=.004; r=0.18, p=.003; r=0.19, p=.002) and nurses' self-esteem. CONCLUSION: Nurse managers are in need of facilitative communication. Therefore, job education and training for improving nurse managers' communication skills particularly related to empathic understanding, genuineness and concreteness are required.
Humans ; Nurse Administrators ; Phenothiazines

BACKGROUND: Many people experience varying levels of discomfort when confronted with the prospect of dental treatment. Dental treatment can be a traumatic experience, especially for children and adolescents with dental anxiety. In this age group, dental fear causes a significant problem in dental management and has been related to severe dental caries and dental pain. The Dental Fear Survey ( DFS ) is the most widely used measure of dental fear. This study was undertaken to develop the Korean version of the DFS ( K-DFS ) and test its reliability and validity. METHODS: The K-DFS, which uses projective techniques to measure children's and adolescents' dental fear, was developed. The DFS was translated into Korean and participants were selected via convenience sampling. Reliability and validity were tested using data from a sample of 813 middle school students in Gyeonggi Province, selected from the Self questionnaire survey. The K-DFS was administered twice to 102 adolescents aged 12-15 years. RESULTS: The K-DFS had high internal consistency reliability (99.1%) but low test-retest reliability. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the Korean versions of the DFS have good internal consistency reliabilities and test-retest validities. However, we need to further examine the test-retest reliability of the K-DFS and replicate the current study in different samples covering various age groups.
Adolescent ; Anxiety ; Child ; Dental Anxiety* ; Dental Caries ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Projective Techniques ; Reproducibility of Results*

Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze the results of several noninvasive prenatal tests (NIPTs) from a single center and confirm their efficacy and reliability. In addition, we aimed to confirm the changes in the number of invasive tests performed after introducing NIPT. Materials and Methods: NIPT data from a large single center from March 2014 to November 2018 were analyzed. Karyotyping was confirmed based on chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, or postnatal cord/peripheral blood sampling. Data on maternal age, gestational age, fetal fraction, and ultrasonographic results were analyzed. As the secondary outcome, the number of amniocentesis cases before and after the introduction of NIPT was compared. Results: Overall, 1,591 single pregnancy cases that underwent NIPT were enrolled. The mean maternal age was 36.05 (22-45) years. The average gestational age and fetal fraction were 12+1 (9+3 to 27+1) weeks and 10.95% (3.6% to 31.3%), respectively. A total of 1,544 cases (97.0%) were reported to have negative NIPT results and 40 (2.5%) had positive NIPT results. The sensitivity and specificity of the overall abnormalities in NIPT were 96.29% and 99.36%, respectively. The positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value were 72.22% and 99.93% respectively. The mean number of amniocentesis cases were 21.7 per month (21.7±3.9), which significantly decreased from 31.5 per month (31.5±4.8) before conducting NIPT as a screening test. Conclusion NIPT is currently a useful, powerful, and safe screening test. In particular, trisomy 21 is highly specific due to its high PPV. NIPT can reduce the potential risks of procedure-related miscarriages during invasive testing.

A 47-day-old male infant presented with fever, poor oral intake, irritability, and right-sided bluish buccal swelling. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography of the neck showed a round mass lesion of about 2.0x1.5 cm that suggested abscess formation in the right masticator space. Ultrasound-guided extraoral aspiration of the abscess at the right masseter muscle was successful. Staphylococcus aureus was identified in the culture from the aspirated pus and blood. Appropriate antibiotics were given and the patient recovered. The patient underwent follow-up ultrasonography that showed an improved state of the previously observed right masseter muscle swelling at about 1 month after hospital discharge. A masticator space abscess usually originates from an odontogenic infection in adults. We report a case of masticator space abscess in a 47-day-old infant in whom septicemia without odontogenic infection was suspected.
Abscess ; Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteremia ; Fever ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Masseter Muscle ; Neck ; Sepsis ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Suppuration

BACKGROUND: As single donor platelets (SDP) has been increasingly used, the quality of SDP, especially apheresis-induced platelet activation, has become a major issue. This study evaluated the activation of SDP platelets prepared with three different cell separators that are currently being used at the Korean Red Cross. METHODS: CD62p, CD63 and CD42 were measured in 35 units of SDP prepared with Amicus (Baxter, Deerfield, IL, USA), MCS+ (Haemonetics, Braintree, MA, USA), or Trima (Gambro BCT, Lakewood, USA) using flow cytometry. RESULTS: Expression of CD62p gradually increased with storage time, but no difference in expression was noted between cell separators. Expression of CD63 also increased with storage time and platelets prepared with the Amicus displayed significantly higher CD63 expression 72 and 120 hours after collection compared to those prepared with MCS+ and Trima. Expression of CD42b tended to decrease with storage time, but this was only significant for Amicus 120 hours after collection. No difference in CD42b expression was noted between cell separators. CONCLUSIONS: Platelet activation increased with storage time, and platelet activation was more pronounced in the platelets prepared with the Amicus. However, because in vitro results of platelet activation does not necessarily reflect in vivo platelet function and survival, additional studies are needed to clarify clinical effectiveness of activated platelets.
Blood Platelets* ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Platelet Activation* ; Plateletpheresis* ; Red Cross ; Tissue Donors

Intrathyroidal thymic tissue is rare and may be confused with a malignant thyroid nodule because of hyperechoic dots mimicking calcifications. We report the case of a thyroid nodule with malignant ultrasonographic findings in a 4-year-old child, which was confirmed cytologically as ectopic thymic tissue. The sonographic findings of ectopic thymus were similar to those of the thymus; therefore, clinicians should be familiar with ultrasonography findings of normal thymic tissue.
Child* ; Child, Preschool* ; Humans ; Pediatrics ; Thymus Gland ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Nodule* ; Ultrasonography

Shikonin, which derives from Lithospermum erythrorhizon, has been traditionally used against a variety of diseases, including cancer, in Eastern Asia. Here we determined that shikonin inhibits proliferation of gastric cancer cells by inducing apoptosis. Shikonin's biological activity was validated by observing cell viability, caspase 3 activity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and apoptotic marker expressions in AGS stomach cancer cells. The concentration range of shikonin was 35–250 nM with the incubation time of 6 h. Protein levels of Nrf2 and p53 were evaluated by western blotting and confirmed by real-time PCR. Our results revealed that shikonin induced the generation of ROS as well as caspase 3-dependent apoptosis. c-Jun-N-terminal kinases (JNK) activity was significantly elevated in shikonin-treated cells, thereby linking JNK to apoptosis. Furthermore, our results revealed that shikonin induced p53 expression but repressed Nrf2 expression. Moreover, our results suggested that there may be a co-regulation between p53 and Nrf2, in which transfection with siNrf2 induced the p53 expression. We demonstrated for the first time that shikonin activated cell apoptosis in AGS cells via caspase 3- and JNK-dependent pathways, as well as through the p53-Nrf2 mediated signal pathway. Our study validates in partly the contribution of shikonin as a new therapeutic approaches/ agent for cancer chemotherapy.
Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Death* ; Cell Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Far East ; Humans* ; Lithospermum ; Phosphotransferases ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Signal Transduction ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stomach* ; Transfection

Long-term indwelling catheters constitute a risk factor for the development of bladder malignancy. Our study was designed to compare the incidence of bladder cancer and histological changes in the urinary bladder of spinal cord injury patients who had been catheterized for more than 11 years (group 1) and less than 10 years (group 2). Mean duration of catheterization was 17.7 years (range 11-38 years) and 6.5 years (range 2-10 years), respectively in both groups. Our study was performed by cystoscopic evaluation and random bladder biopsy in 23 patients in group 1 and 25 patients in group 2 followed at the Korea Veterans Hospital. The follow-up interval, mechanism, level and degree of injury for both groups were similar. The suprapubic cystostomy was the most common voiding method in both groups (73.9% and 60.0%, respectively). Transitional cell carcinoma in one patient and adenocarcinoma in two patients were found in group 1 and transitional cell carcinoma in one patient was found in group 2. Two patients in group 1 showed squamous metaplasia. 18 patients in group 1 and 24 patients in group 2 showed chronic cystitis. Microscopic hematuria (greater than 2-4 RBC/HPF) was present in all patients. IVPs demonstrated no filling defect of upper tracts in all patients. Overall, the incidences of bladder cancer were 13.0% (3/23) in group 1 and 4.0% (1/25) in group 2. But there was no significant difference in the incidence of bladder cancer between both groups (p=0.279). We suggest that any spinal cord injury patient with hematuria needs a complete bladder evaluation and should undergo cystoscopy and random bladder biopsy.
Adenocarcinoma ; Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ; Catheterization ; Catheters ; Catheters, Indwelling ; Cystitis ; Cystoscopy ; Cystostomy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematuria ; Hospitals, Veterans ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Metaplasia ; Risk Factors ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder*