Objective: The Thought-Action Fusion Scale (TAFS) is a self-reported instrument used to measure a cognitive bias, namely, thoughtaction fusion (TAF), in which intrusive thoughts have moral and actual consequences. The aim of this study is to investigate the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the 19-item TAFS (K-TAFS) in Korean samples. Methods: In this study, 628 university students and 93 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) completed the K-TAFS and several other psychological scales. Descriptive analyses, correlations, group comparisons, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. Results: The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated a two-factor structure with TAF-Morality and TAFLikelihood that best fits the data in the university sample. The reliability analyses showed that TAFS and its factors had excellent internal consistencies. Regarding the concurrent validity, positive correlations were observed between TAF-Likelihood and cognitive fusion, while the TAFS scores did not show any consistent correlations with other symptoms such as depression and anxiety. Compared to the university students, the OCD patients showed higher TAFS scores and their obsessive-compulsive symptoms were significantly associated with both TAF-Morality and TAF-Likelihood. Conclusion Overall, the findings of this study support the reliability and validity of the K-TAFS.

Objective: The Thought-Action Fusion Scale (TAFS) is a self-reported instrument used to measure a cognitive bias, namely, thoughtaction fusion (TAF), in which intrusive thoughts have moral and actual consequences. The aim of this study is to investigate the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the 19-item TAFS (K-TAFS) in Korean samples. Methods: In this study, 628 university students and 93 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) completed the K-TAFS and several other psychological scales. Descriptive analyses, correlations, group comparisons, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. Results: The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated a two-factor structure with TAF-Morality and TAFLikelihood that best fits the data in the university sample. The reliability analyses showed that TAFS and its factors had excellent internal consistencies. Regarding the concurrent validity, positive correlations were observed between TAF-Likelihood and cognitive fusion, while the TAFS scores did not show any consistent correlations with other symptoms such as depression and anxiety. Compared to the university students, the OCD patients showed higher TAFS scores and their obsessive-compulsive symptoms were significantly associated with both TAF-Morality and TAF-Likelihood. Conclusion Overall, the findings of this study support the reliability and validity of the K-TAFS.

To evaluate the prevalence of p53 gene expression and its role as a prognostic indicator in bladder carcinoma, we examined the paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from 43 patients with superficial and 31 patients with invasive bladder cancers. Nuclear expression of p53 proteins was detected by immunohistochemical analysis with microwave retrieve method, using the monoclonal antibody DO7 (Novocastra, UK). The p53 gene expression were divided into 4 categories (category 1: negative, category 2: <20%, focal, category 3: >20%, diffuse, heterogeneous, weak intensity, category 4: >20%, diffuse, homogeneous, strong intensity). In total 74 cases, 67 (90.5%) showed positive (category 3 and 4) nuclear staining. Difference of nuclear expression between superficial and invasive cancer was not seen (96%, 84% respectively). But category 4 was more frequently seen in cases with invasive carcinoma compared to in superficial cancers (65% vs. 35%), and it was highly found in cases with grade 3 than grade 1 and 2 (79% vs. 27.5%) (p<0.005). Recurrence, progression, and survival in patients with superficial and invasive carcinoma between negative and weak intensity group (category 1,2,3) and strong intensity group (category 4) were not statistically significant. Our results showed higher positive rates than other studies may be due to using microwave retrieve method. These suggest that most bladder tumors have p53 mutations not only invasive but also superficial tumors and immunohistochemical stain using microwave retrieve method of bladder tumor specimens could be a good screening method for the presence of mutant p53 protein. The nuclear expression of p53 protein showed the trend of a stronger intensity in patients with invasive tumors and high histologic grade than in patients with superficial tumors and low histologic grade. These results also suggest that the degree of mutant p53 expression may be more useful for aggressive biological natures than the presence of mutant p53 protein.
Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Genes, p53 ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Microwaves ; Prevalence ; Recurrence ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Bladder*

BACKGROUND: To understand causes of abnormal reaction for the urinalysis, we analyze the interfering substances of clinical urine samples. We focused the effect of urinary vitamin C and fluorescein sodium to the urine chemistry especially glucose, hemoglobin, and leukocyte esterase. METHODS: Incidence of urinary vitamin C was determined for patients and people underwent a medical check–up. We decided dipstick results of glucose, hemoglobin, and leukocyte esterase as false negative based on urine sediment and serum glucose results. Dipstick urinalysis was tested by URiSCAN Pro III with URiSCAN 11 strip (YD Diagnostics, Korea). Urine sediments tests were performed by manual microscopic analysis or Sysmex UF–1000i (Sysmex Co., Japan). RESULTS: The incidence of vitamin C was 20.4% for all subjects. The positive rate of the medical check-up group (34.6%) was higher than others. When vitamin C was detected in clinical urine samples, 42.3%, 10.6%, and 8.2% were defined as false negative for glucose, hemoglobin, and leukocyte esterase dipstick tests, respectively. Fluorescein sodium also interfered on the results of hemoglobin and leukocyte esterase of the dipstick reagents. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin C was frequently found in the clinical urine samples, and its incidence was higher in the people who underwent medical check-up. The urinary vitamin C and fluorescein sodium can cause interferences in urine dipstick results. Thus, it is expected that present study will give useful information to predict false negative rates of urine dipstick tests by vitamin C and fluorescein sodium.
Ascorbic Acid ; Blood Glucose ; Chemistry ; Fluorescein ; Glucose ; Humans ; Incidence ; Indicators and Reagents ; Leukocytes ; Urinalysis*

Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) is a clinicopathological syndrome associated with a variety of disease entities. The aim of this study was to review cases with initial diagnosis of BOOP applying uniform histopathologic criteria, and analyze the clinical characteristics of proven cases of BOOP including rapidly progressive form. A total of 81 cases, initially diagnosed as BOOP and with available tissue sections, was collected. Thirty six cases (44.4%) were excluded from the study, more than two thirds of which were given a revised diagnosis of interstitial pneumonitis/fibrosis other than BOOP. Thirty one patients were classified as idiopathic BOOP, 8 patients as secondary BOOP, and 6 patients as rapidly progressive BOOP. Open lung biopsy specimen from all six cases with lethal outcome showed more severe interstitial inflammation and septal fibrosis and/or alveolar exudate with a varying degree than those with good prognosis. There was no difference by the sexes. The two most frequent presenting symptoms were cough and dyspnea. Bilateral multifocal consolidation was a common radiological finding. More than 70% cases of idiopathic BOOP experienced clinical improvements. The diagnosis of BOOP is usually suggested by clinicoradiologic findings, but needs to be confirmed histopathologically, preferably through surgical open or video-assisted thoracoscopic biopsy.
Adult ; Blood Gas Analysis ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia/drug therapy/pathology/*physiopathology ; Disease Progression ; Female ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: Omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish oil have been reported to exert a beneficial effect on reducing cardiovascular disease. Reports about their mechanism have generated several interesting findings, including a change in small dense low density lipoprotein (sdLDL) cholesterol proportion, adiponectin, and apolipoprotein B (apoB), in addition to changes in the lipid profile. The principal objective of our study was to evaluate the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on plasma sdLDL, adiponectin, apoB100, and B48 in type 2 diabetic patients with hypertriglyceridemia. METHODS: We randomized 28 type 2 diabetic patients in a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial to receive either omega-3 fatty acids or placebo, both administered at a dose of 4 g daily for 12 weeks. LDL subfractions prior to and after treatment were separated via low-speed ultracentrifugation and analyzed via immunoelectrophoresis. Adiponectin, apoB100, and B48 levels were measured using an ELISA kit. RESULTS: sdLDL proportions were reduced in the omega-3 fatty acids group by 11% after 12 weeks of treatment (n = 17, P = 0.001), and were reduced by 4% in the control group (n = 11, P = 0.096). The patients receiving the omega-3 fatty acids evidenced a significant reduction in the levels of triglyceride (P = 0.001), apoB100, and B48 after 12 weeks (P = 0.038 and P = 0.009, respectively) relative to the baseline. Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation increased fasting blood glucose (P = 0.011), but the levels of HbA1c in each group did not change to a statistically significance degree. The adiponectin value was not reduced in the omega-3 fatty acids group (P = 0.133); by way of contrast, the placebo group evidenced a significant reduction in adiponectin value after 12 weeks (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Omega-3 fatty acid treatment proved effective in the reduction of atherogenic sdLDL and apoB in type 2 diabetic patients (Clinical trials reg. no. NCT 00758927, clinicaltrials.gov).
Adiponectin ; Apolipoprotein B-48 ; Apolipoproteins ; Apolipoproteins B ; Blood Glucose ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fasting ; Fatty Acids, Omega-3 ; Humans ; Immunoelectrophoresis ; Lipoproteins ; Plasma ; Ultracentrifugation

BACKGROUND: To accelerate the healing of diabetic wounds, various kinds of growth factors have been employed. It is the short half-life of administered growth factors in hostile wound beds that have limited wide-spread clinical usage. To overcome this limitation, growth factor gene therapy could be an attractive alternative rather than direct application of factors onto the wound beds. We administered two growth factor DNAs, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) into a cutaneous wound on diabetic mice. We compared the different characteristics of the healing wounds. METHODS: Streptozotocin was injected intraperitoneally to induce diabetes into C57BL/6J mice. The ultrasound micro-bubble destruction method with SonoVue as a bubbling agent was used for non-viral gene delivery of EGF828 and VEGF165 DNAs. Each gene was modified for increasing efficacy as FRM-EGF828 or minicircle VEGF165. The degree of neoangiogenesis was assessed using qualitative laser Doppler flowmetry. We compared wound size and histological findings of the skin wounds in each group. RESULTS: In both groups, accelerated wound closure was observed in the mice receiving gene therapy compared with non treated diabetic control mice. Blood flow detected by laser doppler flowmetry was better in the VEGF group than in the EGF group. Wound healing rates and histological findings were more accelerated in the EGF gene therapy group than the VEGF group, but were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Both non-viral EGF and VEGF gene therapy administrations could improve the speed and quality of skin wound healing. However, the detailed histological characteristics of the healing wounds were different.
Animals ; DNA ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Genetic Therapy ; Half-Life ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Laser-Doppler Flowmetry ; Mice ; Phospholipids ; Skin ; Streptozocin ; Sulfur Hexafluoride ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; Wound Healing