No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Middle Lobe Syndrome*

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a noninflammatory autoimmune disorder characterized by the association of arterial and/or venous thrombosis, recurrent fetal loss and elevated titres of antiphospholipid antibodies, namely lupus anticoagulant (LAC) and/or anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL). It can either occur as a free-standing condition (primary APS) or be associated with another autoimmune disease (secondary APS), mainly systemic lupus erythematosus. The precise pathogenesis of thrombosis in APS in unknown. For children with unexplainable venous or arterial thrombosis, APS should be considered. The diagnosis of APS in children requires a clinical event including venous or arterial thrombosis or immune thrombocytopenia and a laboratory abnormality including positive LAC test or positive aCL antibody test, moderate or high titer IgG. The laboratory abnormality should persist for at least 2 months. We report a 7-year-old girl who had pulmonary embolism and multiple arterial thrombosis caused by primary APS. The laboratory abnormality was positive LAC and beta2-glycoprotein I. She was treated successfully with low molecualr weight heparin (LMWH). After recovery, she was continuously treated with subcutaneous LMWH for another 3 months and switched to oral warfarin. She was symptom-free through 3 years of follow-up.
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome* ; Autoimmune Diseases ; beta 2-Glycoprotein I ; Child ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heparin ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Pulmonary Infarction* ; Thrombocytopenia ; Thromboembolism* ; Thrombosis ; Venous Thrombosis ; Warfarin

PURPOSE: To analyze the reasons for glaucoma evaluation and distribution of new patients visiting the glaucoma department. METHODS: In a retrospective study, 330 new patients underwent ocular examination using Goldmann applanation tonometry, gonioscopy, optic disc analysis, optical coherence tomography, and Humphrey perimeter under suspicion of glaucoma for the first time in the Glaucoma Department from January 2013 to December 2013. We analyzed the reasons and their diagnostic outcomes. RESULTS: The reasons for glaucoma evaluation were health screening (103 patients, 32.49%), other symptoms (102 patients, 31.55%), known glaucoma (56 patients, 17.67%), pre-refractive surgery evaluation (31 patients, 9.78%), family history (19 patients, 5.99%), and high myopia (6 patients, 1.89%). The diagnostic outcomes were as follows: glaucoma (139 patients, 43.85%), glaucoma suspect (60 patients, 18.93%), ocular hypertension (9 patients, 2.84%), neither glaucoma nor ocular hypertension (79 patients, 24.92%), normal (30 patients, 9.46%). The percentages of confirmed glaucoma according to the reasons for glaucoma evaluation were as follows: health screening, 26.21%; other symptoms, 40.20%; known glaucoma, 85.71%; pre-refractive surgery evaluation, 58.06%; family history, 15.79% and high myopia, 33.33%. CONCLUSIONS: The reasons for glaucoma evaluation were diverse. Glaucoma was confirmed in 43.85% of the patients and the predicted value of positive test for glaucoma including glaucoma suspect and ocular hypertension was 65.62%.
Glaucoma* ; Gonioscopy ; Humans ; Manometry ; Mass Screening ; Myopia ; Ocular Hypertension ; Outpatients* ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Optical Coherence

BACKGROUND: Atopic asthma is characterized by activation of Th2-type T cells in the bronchial mucosa. Several reports have suggested an important role for costimulation through the CD28/CTLA4 (cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4)-B7 (CD80/CD86) pathway in allergen activation of T cells in animal models of allergen-induced asthma, because B7-CD28/ CTLA4 interaction can promote the differentiation and development of the Th2 lymphocyte subset. OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we intended to investigate a potential role of humanized CTLA4-Ig on the inhibition of T and B cell activation by blocking B7/CD28 interactions. METHOD: For this purpose we produced humanized CTLA4-Ig fusion protein by transfection to CHO cell and examined its inhibitory effects for activated T and B cell responses. We evaluated the inhibitory effect of MLR (mixed lymphocyte reaction) and con A-stimulated T cell proliferation. And we assayed wheather B cell was inhibited by stimulation of costimulatory signal in LPS-induced B cell response and PFC assay. RESULT: In vitro assay, humanized CTLA4-Ig fusion protein inhibited T cell-specific immune response in dose-dependent manner: CTLA4-Ig inhibited allogeneic stimulation in murine MLR, and the proliferation of T cell by the stimulation of Con A. But CTLA4-Ig did not inhibit directly the proliferative response of B cell by the stimulation of LPS. In addition, in vivo assay, CTLA4-Ig inhibited the production of antibody from B cell, which was presented by plaque-forming cell (PFC) assay. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that humanized CTLA4-Ig is effective to inhibit the proliferation of activated T cell directly by blocking B7/CD28 costimulation. And humanized CTLA4-Ig influences antibody-producing capacity of B cell indirectly by regulating T cell.
Abatacept ; Animals ; Antibody Formation* ; Asthma ; Cell Proliferation ; CHO Cells ; Cricetinae ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Subsets ; Lymphocytes ; Models, Animal ; Mucous Membrane ; T-Lymphocytes ; Transfection

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify relationships between quality of sleep, symptom cluster, depression, environmental disorder, and quality of life among hospitalized cancer patients. METHODS: The subjects were 114 patients who underwent chemotherapy for colon cancer, gastric cancer, gynecologic cancer and breast cancer. They were recruited from the cancer center of a university hospital. Data were collected from August 4th to 30th, 2011. The questionnaires included the Korean sleep scale A (quality of sleep), MDASI-K (symptom cluster), the environmental sleep disturbing scale, Zung's depression scale, and the Korean version of EORTC QLQ-C30. The collected data was analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, multiple regression analysis using the SPSS 19.0 program. RESULTS: Functional QOL was negatively associated with symptom QOL (r=-.798, p<.001). Symptom cluster, depression, & spouse (46.3%) were the most powerful predictors for functional QOL (46.3%) and symptom QOL (53.4%). CONCLUSION: It is evident that oncology nurses need to evaluate two dimensions of quality of life for cancer patients, for example, functional and symptom QOL. We recommend nurses develop specific protocols for relieving physical symptoms and alleviating depression, and furthermore test the effectiveness of them.
Breast Neoplasms ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Depression ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Spouses ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was to identify how a navigation program would affect resilience, uncertainty and anxiety in patients with newly diagnosed gastric cancer. METHODS: A randomized controlled design was used with 103 participants recruited and randomly allocated in two groups. The experimental group (n=50) received the navigation program, which consisted of information provisions and psychological support, prior to treatment. The control group (n=53) received standard care with general educational intervention only prior to treatment. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, patients in the navigation program group showed signicant reduction in scores for anxiety (F=5.86, p<.017). However uncertainty (F=0.22, p=.642) and resilience (F=1.06, p=.503) were not signicantly different. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the navigation program has positive effects on anxiety in patients with newly diagnosed gastric cancer. We suggest that further studies be conducted to investigate other strategies for increasing the resilience and reducing the uncertainty of these patients.
Anxiety ; Humans ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Uncertainty

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.

Purpose: The aim of this study was (1) to compare the reverse engineering technique with other existing measurement methods and (2) to analyze the effect of implant angulations and impression coping types on implant impression accuracy with reverse engineering technique. Materials and methods: Three different master models were fabricated and the distance between the two implant center points in parallel master model was measured with different three methods; digital caliper measurement (Group DC), optical measuring (Group OM), and reverse engineering technique (Group RE). The 90 experimental models were fabricated with three types of impression copings for the three different implant angulation and the angular and distance error rate were calculated. One-way ANOVA was used for comparison among the evaluation methods (P < .05). The error rates of experimental groups were analyzed by two-way ANOVA (P < .05). Results: While there was significant difference between Group DC and RE (P < .05), Group OM had no significant difference compared with other groups (P > .05). The standard deviations in reverse engineering were much lower than those of digital caliper and optical measurement. Hybrid groups had no significant difference from the pick-up groups in distance error rates (P > .05). Conclusion The reverse engineering technique demonstrated its potential as an evaluation technique of 3D accuracy of impression techniques.

Purpose: The aim of this study was (1) to compare the reverse engineering technique with other existing measurement methods and (2) to analyze the effect of implant angulations and impression coping types on implant impression accuracy with reverse engineering technique. Materials and methods: Three different master models were fabricated and the distance between the two implant center points in parallel master model was measured with different three methods; digital caliper measurement (Group DC), optical measuring (Group OM), and reverse engineering technique (Group RE). The 90 experimental models were fabricated with three types of impression copings for the three different implant angulation and the angular and distance error rate were calculated. One-way ANOVA was used for comparison among the evaluation methods (P < .05). The error rates of experimental groups were analyzed by two-way ANOVA (P < .05). Results: While there was significant difference between Group DC and RE (P < .05), Group OM had no significant difference compared with other groups (P > .05). The standard deviations in reverse engineering were much lower than those of digital caliper and optical measurement. Hybrid groups had no significant difference from the pick-up groups in distance error rates (P > .05). Conclusion The reverse engineering technique demonstrated its potential as an evaluation technique of 3D accuracy of impression techniques.

Objectives: . The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of intratympanic injections of isosorbide on vestibular function in animal models of endolymphatic hydrops and to find a new treatment option for the acute onset of vertigo in Ménière disease (MD). Methods: . Seventy male guinea pigs received intratympanic injection of isosorbide (IT-ISB). The animals were divided into three study groups: control, a chronic hydrops model, and an acute hydrops model. Intracochlear drug concentrations were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. Vestibular function was analyzed using an animal rotator test with bidirectional sinusoidal harmonic acceleration before and after IT-ISB administration. Histological changes were also investigated. Results: . ISB successfully permeated the perilymph through the round window membrane (RWM) at all three concentrations (25%, 50%, and 100%). In the chronic hydrops model, while IT-ISB histologically induced a reduction of endolymphatic hydrops, vestibular function was unchanged. In the acute hydrops model, no endolymphatic hydrops was histologically observed, and vestibular symmetry was also preserved after IT-ISB. Conclusion . ISB passed through the RWM into the perilymphatic space even at lower concentrations. IT-ISB histologically reduced hydrops in the chronic model and preserved symmetrical vestibular function in the acute model. IT-ISB could be a treatment candidate for acute attacks of vertigo in MD.