No abstract available.
Aging*

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate MR signal intensity(SI) of calcification and to assess the capability of MRI in detection of various intracranial calcifications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The MR findings and ROI value of experimental model of calcium carbonate suspension according to each concentration (20, 35, 50%) and diameter (1-10 mm) and hydroxyapatite suspension according to each concentration (10, 20, 30, 40, 50%) were analyzed. A specimen of calcification in cranio-pharyngioma was analyzed for its composition by XRD(X-ray diffractometer) and ICP(inductively coupled plasma) methods. MRI of 34 patients with intracranial calcifications were retrospectively analyzed for signal intensity of the calcification and its capability to detect calcifications according to size, location, and contrast with adjacent lesion. RESULTS: The calcium carbonate phantom with larger diameter and low concentration showed lower signal intensity on T2 than TlWl. Hydroxyapatite phantom showed high signal intensity in 10-30% concentration and low signal intensity in 40-50% concentration on T1 weighted image. The 5 cases of 34 intracranial calcifications showed high signal intensity on T1 weighted image. The capability of MRI in the detection of intracranial calcifications decreased in the circumstances such as small size(<2.5mm) and intraventricular location. Although the size of calcification was small, the detection was easy in the good contrast with adjacent lesion. However, the detection of the small sized calcification was easy if the contrast with adjacent lesion was good. CONCLUSION: lntracranial calcification shows generally low signal intensity on T1 and T2 weighted image with the exception of occasional high SI on TlWl. Detection of intracranial calcification in MRI is affected by its composition, size, location, and contrast with adjcent lesion.
Calcium Carbonate ; Durapatite ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Models, Theoretical ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of extended-field radiation therapy for patients with thoracic superficial esophageal cancer (SEC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May 2007 to October 2016, a total of 24 patients with thoracic SEC (T1a and T1b) who underwent definitive radiotherapy and were analyzed retrospectively. The median total radiotherapy dose was 64 Gy (range, 54 to 66 Gy) in conventional fractionation. All 24 patients received radiotherapy to whole thoracic esophagus and 23 patients received elective nodal irradiation. The supraclavicular lymph nodes, the celiac lymph nodes, and both of those nodal areas were included in 11, 3, and 9 patients, respectively. RESULTS: The median follow-up duration was 28.7 months (range 7.9 to 108.0 months). The 3-year overall survival, local control, and progression-free survival rates were 95.2%, 89.7%, and 78.7%, respectively. There were 5 patients (20.8%) with progression of disease, 2 local failures (8.3%) and 3 (12.5%) regional failures. Three patients also experienced distant metastasis and had died of disease progression. There were no treatment-related toxicities of grade 3 or higher. CONCLUSION: Definitive extended-field radiotherapy for thoracic SEC showed durable disease control rates in medically inoperable and endoscopically unfit patients. Even extended-field radiotherapy with elective nodal irradiation was safe without grade 3 or 4 toxicities.
Disease Progression ; Disease-Free Survival ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Esophagus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of extended-field radiation therapy for patients with thoracic superficial esophageal cancer (SEC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May 2007 to October 2016, a total of 24 patients with thoracic SEC (T1a and T1b) who underwent definitive radiotherapy and were analyzed retrospectively. The median total radiotherapy dose was 64 Gy (range, 54 to 66 Gy) in conventional fractionation. All 24 patients received radiotherapy to whole thoracic esophagus and 23 patients received elective nodal irradiation. The supraclavicular lymph nodes, the celiac lymph nodes, and both of those nodal areas were included in 11, 3, and 9 patients, respectively. RESULTS: The median follow-up duration was 28.7 months (range 7.9 to 108.0 months). The 3-year overall survival, local control, and progression-free survival rates were 95.2%, 89.7%, and 78.7%, respectively. There were 5 patients (20.8%) with progression of disease, 2 local failures (8.3%) and 3 (12.5%) regional failures. Three patients also experienced distant metastasis and had died of disease progression. There were no treatment-related toxicities of grade 3 or higher. CONCLUSION: Definitive extended-field radiotherapy for thoracic SEC showed durable disease control rates in medically inoperable and endoscopically unfit patients. Even extended-field radiotherapy with elective nodal irradiation was safe without grade 3 or 4 toxicities.
Disease Progression ; Disease-Free Survival ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Esophagus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: inhaled nitric oxide(iNO) is an excellent method for the postoperative pulmonary hypertension in congenital heart disease. But more detailed care is needed because of the development of rebound pulmonary hypertension after NO Withdrawal. We performed this study in order to discontinue the iNO successfully by way of presenting the adequate weaning and supplying methods. METHODS: Between January, 1998 and August, 1999 we sudied 10 patients who had rebound pulmonary hypertension(RPH) after iNO withdrawal. We completed the iNO in these patween the first the second trial of the weaning process. We tried to discover the differences between the first and second weaning process. We measured NO concentration at the start and just before NO withdrawal and during the period of weaning process. Moreover, to identify the iNO effects during the weaning of the iNO, we counted the degree of the change of PaO2/FiO2and mean PAP/SAP beween initial and at half of the initial NO concentration. RESULTS: Second weaning had a longer duration weaning process(11+/-0 cersus 5+/- hours, P<0.05), lower NO concentration just before NO withdrawal(2+/-.6 versus 4+/-ppm, P<0.05). In the change of the mean PAP/SAP and PaO2/FiO2as iNO was weaning from the initial iNO concentration to a half of the initial iNO concentration, the degree of increase in mean PAP/SAP(0.026+/-.07 versus 0.054+/-.07, P<0.05) and the degree of decrease in PaO2/FiO2(49+/-4 versus 65+/-2, P<0.05) were smaller in the second in the second weaning process than the first weaning process. CONCLUSION: A successful weaning of iNO can be performed with a low iNO concentration at the start and just before withdrawal and with the long duration iNO weaning process. Moreover, We speculate that the degree of change in the mean PAP/SAP and PaO2/FiO2at the half of the iNO weaning process are an indicator for the development of RPH.
Heart Defects, Congenital ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Nitric Oxide* ; Weaning*

Recepteur d'origine nantais (RON) is a receptor tyrosine kinase belonging to the subfamily of which c-MET is the prototype. Large epidemiologic studies have confirmed the strong association between RON and gastric cancer development. Constitutive activation of RON signaling directly correlates with tumorigenic phenotypes of gastric cancer and a poor survival rate in advanced gastric cancer patients. In this review, we focus on recent evidence of the aberrant expression and activation of RON in gastric cancer tumors and provide insights into the mechanism of RON signaling associated with gastric cancer progression and metastasis. Current therapeutics against RON in gastric cancer are summarized.
Epidemiologic Studies ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Phenotype ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Survival Rate

The purpose of our study was to determine the most accurate analytic method to define in vitro chemosensitivity, using clinical response as reference standard in prospective clinical trial, and to assess accuracy of adenosine triphosphate-based chemotherapy response assay (ATP-CRA). Forty-eight patients with chemo-naive, histologically confirmed, locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer were enrolled for the study and were treated with combination chemotherapy of paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 and cisplatin 75 mg/m2 for maximum of six cycles after obtaining specimen for ATP-CRA. We performed the receiver operator characteristic curve analysis using patient responses by WHO criteria and ATP-CRA results to define the method with the highest accuracy. Median progression free survival was 4.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.4-5.0) and median overall survival was 11.8 months (95% CI: 9.7-13.8) for all enrolled patients. Chemosensitivity index method yielded highest accuracy of 77.8% by ROC curve analysis, and the specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative predictive values were 95.7%, 46.2%, 85.7%, and 75.9%. In vitro chemosensitive group showed higher response rate (85.7% vs. 24.1%) (P=0.005) compared to chemoresistant group. ATP-CRA could predict clinical response to paclitaxel and cisplatin chemotherapy with high accuracy in advanced gastric cancer patients. Our study supports the use of ATP-CRA in further validation studies.
Adenosine Triphosphate/*analysis ; Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/administration & dosage ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/*administration & dosage ; Cisplatin/administration & dosage ; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor/*methods ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care)/methods ; Paclitaxel/administration & dosage ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stomach Neoplasms/*diagnosis/*drug therapy/metabolism ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Ozone exposure has been shown to modify the protective antioxidant defense network in the respiratory tract. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of ozone exposure on antioxidant status in murine model of asthma. METHODS: Enhanced pause of breathing (Penh) as marker of airway obstruction was measured to determine whether bronchoconstriction occurred in BALB/c mice using barometric whole-body plethysmography after ozone and ovalbumin (OVA) exposure. Antioxidant levels were determined using high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and lung tissue homogenates. RESULTS: Uric acid and gamma-tocopherol concentrations were significantly increased in BAL fluid following ozone and OVA exposure (p<0.01). Malondialdehyde concentrations in lung tissue homogenates were significantly increased in ozone and OVA exposed group than in the saline exposed group (p<0.05). Uric acid concentrations were increased in ozone and OVA exposed group than in the saline exposed group. Increases in Penh were significantly higher in ozone and OVA exposed group than in saline exposed group. The proportion of neutrophils in BAL fluid was significantly higher in ozone exposed group than in saline exposed group (p<0.01). The level of ascorbate was correlated with the level of gamma-tocopherol (r=0.65, p<0.05). Penh was not related with antioxidant responses. CONCLUSION: The data indicate that antioxidant responses may serve as protective mechanism to minimize the effects of ozone exposure in murine model of asthma.
Airway Obstruction ; Animals ; Antioxidants ; Asthma* ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; Bronchoconstriction ; Chromatography, Liquid ; gamma-Tocopherol ; Lung ; Malondialdehyde ; Mice ; Neutrophils ; Ovalbumin ; Ovum ; Ozone* ; Plethysmography ; Respiration ; Respiratory System ; Uric Acid

No abstract available.
Alleles ; Korea

BACKGROUND: CD44 is a cell surface adhesion molecule which has been implicated in various biologic functions as lymphocyte homing and activation, cellular migration and extracellular matrix adhesion. Over-expression of CD44v8- 10 has been found in several cancers and is considered to be associated with tumor progression and metastasis. Recently, a novel molecular method, CD44v8- 10/CD44v10 competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) has been developed for detecting cancer cells over-expressing CD44v8-10. METHODS: We analyzed from benign and malignant pleural effusion and ascites by CD44 competitive RT-PCR and compared to the conventional cytology. RESULTS: The CD44 competitive RT-PCR analysis showed that all the 24 samples associated with benign disease presented a predominant expression of the CD44v10 transcript (v8-10/v10 ratio: 0.126-0.948), whereas 6 of 7 malignant pleural samples associated with cytology positive cancer expressed the CD44v8-10 transcript (v8-10/v10 ratio > 1.00). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that CD44 competitive RT-PCR assay is a useful and adjunct to cytological examination in cancer diagnosis, especially in detecting exfoliated cancer cells in pleural effusion.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antigens, CD44/analysis* ; Ascites/pathology* ; Ascites/immunology* ; Base Sequence ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/pathology ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/immunology ; Comparative Study ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms/pathology ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms/immunology ; Human ; Lung Neoplasms/pathology ; Lung Neoplasms/chemistry ; Male ; Middle Age ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Pleural Effusion, Malignant/pathology* ; Pleural Effusion, Malignant/chemistry* ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't