We report a case that a 68-year-old man taking hydroxyurea for essential thrombocythemia produced milky urine during propofol infusion. Under microscopic analysis, the cloudy urine sample was revealed to comprise uric acid crystals. Postoperatively, kidney function such as urine output and blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio showed no abnormality. We suggest that the cloudy urine may be due to the increased excretion of uric acid after administration of propofol. Although this rare case of cloudy milky urine is resolved on its own, we need to consider the possibility of such urine color changes. It is particularly important to understand that medication, preoperative serum uric acid level, urine pH, and the hypothermal operating room can change the color of urine through the presence of uric acid crystals.
Aged ; Anesthesia, Intravenous* ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Creatinine ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Hydroxyurea* ; Kidney ; Operating Rooms ; Propofol* ; Thrombocythemia, Essential ; Uric Acid

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most frequent comorbid conditions in mood disorders. We aimed to examine the relationships between clinical phenotypes of acutely depressed subjects and co-occurring AUD.METHODS: Clinical assessment including diagnosis of mood disorder and co-occurring AUD, the severity of depressive or manic symptoms, and affective temperaments were conducted in 137 subjects suffering from a major depressive episode. According to the presence of AUD, clinical variables were compared between the two groups. Using binary logistic regression models, the effects of mood symptoms and affective temperaments on the risk of AUD were determined.RESULTS: Severity of manic symptoms, suicidal ideation, and childhood trauma were higher in the AUD group than in the non-AUD group. Scores for irritable and hyperthymic temperament were higher and the score for anxious temperament was lower in the AUD group. In regression models adjusting confounders, anxious temperament was an independent protector against AUD. On the other hand, the diagnosis of bipolar disorder and the irritable manic symptom dimension increased the risk of AUD.CONCLUSION: Anxious temperament decreased the AUD risk, whereas irritable manic symptoms increased the risk during depression. AUD in mood disorders may be an expression of manic psychopathology.
Bipolar Disorder ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Hand ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Mood Disorders ; Phenotype ; Psychopathology ; Suicidal Ideation ; Temperament

OBJECTIVES: Through a survey on perception of lung cancer screening and accompanying medical radiation exposure in Korea, the present study was to investigate its current situations and evaluate various perception of physicians regarding it in order to propose measures for improvements.METHODS: Medical specialists in national cancer screening institutions selected through stratified random sampling were subjected to face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. We investigated physicians' perception on effectiveness of lung cancer screening depending on screening modality, selection criteria for subjects of screening, types of equipment used to screen, and perception for seriousness of adverse effects following the test. In addition, odds ratios to underestimate risk of radiation exposure from screening were calculated through logistic regression analysis.RESULTS: Each response that chest X-ray is effective for lung cancer screening and that smoking history is not considered prior to screening recommendation accounted for more than 60% of respondents, suggesting the chance of unnecessary screening tests. Regarding adverse effects of lung cancer screening, about 85% of respondents replied that false positive, radiation exposure, and overdiagnosis could be ignored. About 70% of respondents underestimated radiation dose from lung cancer screening, and a low proportion of physicians informed patients of radiation exposure risk.CONCLUSIONS: It was found that most physicians underestimated harms of lung cancer screening including radiation exposure and were lack of awareness regarding lung cancer screening. It should be noted that physicians need to have proper perceptions about screening recommendation and accompanying possible harms, for successful implementation of the screening program.
Early Detection of Cancer ; Health Care Surveys ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung ; Mass Screening ; Medical Overuse ; Odds Ratio ; Patient Selection ; Radiation Exposure ; Radiography ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Specialization ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Thorax

PURPOSE: Cardiotoxicity is a serious late complication of breast cancer treatment. Individual treatment risk of specific drugs has been investigated. However, studies on the evaluation of the composite risk of chemotherapeutic agents are limited.METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of breast cancer patients who received adjuvant treatment and had available serial echocardiography results. Patients were assigned to subgroups based on chemotherapy containing anthracyclines (A), anthracyclines and taxanes (A+T), and radiotherapy (RT). The development of cardiac disease and serial ejection fraction (EF) were reviewed. EF decline up to 10% from baseline was considered grade 1 cardiotoxicity and EF decline >20% or absolute value < 50% was considered grade 2 cardiotoxicity. The most recent medical records and echocardiography results over 1 year of chemotherapy completion were also reviewed. Late cardiotoxicity was defined as a lack of recovery of EF decline or aggravated EF decline from baseline.RESULTS: In total, 123 patients were evaluated. A small reduction in EF was observed after chemotherapy in both chemotherapy groups. There were no significant differences between groups A and A+T in EF decline following chemotherapy. We could not find any differences in composite risk between the chemotherapy groups and the RT group during follow-up. Late cardiotoxicity was seen in 15.45% of patients. During follow-up, three patients were diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy.CONCLUSION: There was no significant composite risk elevation following adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. However, late cardiotoxicity was considerable and further research in this direction is necessary.
Anthracyclines ; Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Cardiotoxicity ; Drug Therapy ; Echocardiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Taxoids

OBJECTIVES: Through a survey on perception of lung cancer screening and accompanying medical radiation exposure in Korea, the present study was to investigate its current situations and evaluate various perception of physicians regarding it in order to propose measures for improvements. METHODS: Medical specialists in national cancer screening institutions selected through stratified random sampling were subjected to face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. We investigated physicians' perception on effectiveness of lung cancer screening depending on screening modality, selection criteria for subjects of screening, types of equipment used to screen, and perception for seriousness of adverse effects following the test. In addition, odds ratios to underestimate risk of radiation exposure from screening were calculated through logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Each response that chest X-ray is effective for lung cancer screening and that smoking history is not considered prior to screening recommendation accounted for more than 60% of respondents, suggesting the chance of unnecessary screening tests. Regarding adverse effects of lung cancer screening, about 85% of respondents replied that false positive, radiation exposure, and overdiagnosis could be ignored. About 70% of respondents underestimated radiation dose from lung cancer screening, and a low proportion of physicians informed patients of radiation exposure risk. CONCLUSIONS: It was found that most physicians underestimated harms of lung cancer screening including radiation exposure and were lack of awareness regarding lung cancer screening. It should be noted that physicians need to have proper perceptions about screening recommendation and accompanying possible harms, for successful implementation of the screening program.
Early Detection of Cancer ; Health Care Surveys ; Humans ; Korea* ; Logistic Models ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Mass Screening* ; Medical Overuse ; Odds Ratio ; Patient Selection ; Radiation Exposure* ; Radiography ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Specialization ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Thorax

OBJECTIVES: Through a survey on perception of lung cancer screening and accompanying medical radiation exposure in Korea, the present study was to investigate its current situations and evaluate various perception of physicians regarding it in order to propose measures for improvements. METHODS: Medical specialists in national cancer screening institutions selected through stratified random sampling were subjected to face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. We investigated physicians' perception on effectiveness of lung cancer screening depending on screening modality, selection criteria for subjects of screening, types of equipment used to screen, and perception for seriousness of adverse effects following the test. In addition, odds ratios to underestimate risk of radiation exposure from screening were calculated through logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Each response that chest X-ray is effective for lung cancer screening and that smoking history is not considered prior to screening recommendation accounted for more than 60% of respondents, suggesting the chance of unnecessary screening tests. Regarding adverse effects of lung cancer screening, about 85% of respondents replied that false positive, radiation exposure, and overdiagnosis could be ignored. About 70% of respondents underestimated radiation dose from lung cancer screening, and a low proportion of physicians informed patients of radiation exposure risk. CONCLUSIONS It was found that most physicians underestimated harms of lung cancer screening including radiation exposure and were lack of awareness regarding lung cancer screening. It should be noted that physicians need to have proper perceptions about screening recommendation and accompanying possible harms, for successful implementation of the screening program.

Objective: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the tissue adequacy and complication rates of percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) for molecular analysis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: We performed a literature search of the OVID-MEDLINE and Embase databases to identify original studies on the tissue adequacy and complication rates of PTNB for molecular analysis in patients with NSCLC published between January 2005 and January 2020. Inverse variance and random-effects models were used to evaluate and acquire meta-analytic estimates of the outcomes. To explore heterogeneity across the studies, univariable and multivariable metaregression analyses were performed. Results: A total of 21 studies with 2232 biopsies (initial biopsy, 8 studies; rebiopsy after therapy, 13 studies) were included.The pooled rates of tissue adequacy and complications were 89.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 85.6%–92.6%; I2 = 0.81) and 17.3% (95% CI: 12.1%–23.1%; I2 = 0.89), respectively. These rates were 93.5% and 22.2% for the initial biopsies and 86.2% and 16.8% for the rebiopsies, respectively. Severe complications, including pneumothorax requiring chest tube placement and massive hemoptysis, occurred in 0.7% of the cases (95% CI: 0%–2.2%; I2 = 0.67). Multivariable meta-regression analysis showed that the tissue adequacy rate was not significantly lower in studies on rebiopsies (p = 0.058). The complication rate was significantly higher in studies that preferentially included older adults (p = 0.001). Conclusion PTNB demonstrated an average tissue adequacy rate of 89.3% for molecular analysis in patients with NSCLC, with a complication rate of 17.3%. PTNB is a generally safe and effective diagnostic procedure for obtaining tissue samples for molecular analysis in NSCLC. Rebiopsy may be performed actively with an acceptable risk of complications if clinically required.

Background: Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) is considered a global threat to both human health and the poultry industry. MicroRNAs (miRNA) can modulate the immune system by affecting gene expression patterns in HPAIV-infected chickens. Objectives: To gain further insights into the role of miRNAs in immune responses against H5N1 infection, as well as the development of strategies for breeding disease-resistant chickens, we characterized miRNA expression patterns in tracheal tissues from H5N1-infected Ri chickens. Methods: miRNAs expression was analyzed from two H5N1-infected Ri chicken lines using small RNA sequencing. The target genes of differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs were predicted using miRDB. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis were then conducted. Furthermore, using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, we validated the expression levels of DE miRNAs (miR-22-3p, miR-146b-3p, miR-27b-3p, miR-128-3p, miR-2188-5p, miR-451, miR-205a, miR-203a, miR-21-3p, and miR-200a-3p) from all comparisons and their immune-related target genes. Results: A total of 53 miRNAs were significantly expressed in the infection samples of the resistant compared to the susceptible line. Network analyses between the DE miRNAs and target genes revealed that DE miRNAs may regulate the expression of target genes involved in the transforming growth factor-beta, mitogen-activated protein kinase, and Toll-like receptor signaling pathways, all of which are related to influenza A virus progression. Conclusions Collectively, our results provided novel insights into the miRNA expression patterns of tracheal tissues from H5N1-infected Ri chickens. More importantly, our findings offer insights into the relationship between miRNA and immune-related target genes and the role of miRNA in HPAIV infections in chickens.

Background and Objectives: Wireless streaming technology (WT), designed to transmit sounds directly from a mobile phone to hearing aids, was developed to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio. However, the advantages of WT during phone use and the specific demographic that can fully benefit from this technology has not been thoroughly evaluated. We aimed to investigate the benefits and identify predictive factors associated with bilateral wireless streaming among hearing aid users. Subjects and Methods: Eighteen adults with symmetrical, bilateral hearing loss participated in the study. To assess the benefits of wireless streaming during phone use, researchers assessed sentence/word recognition and listening effort in two scenarios: a noisy background with WT turned “OFF” or “ON.” Listening effort was evaluated through self-reported measurements. Cognitive function was also assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score. Results: Participant mean age was 57.3 years (range 27-70), and the mean MoCA score was 27.0 (23-30). The activation of WT demonstrated a significant improvement in the sentence/word recognition test and reduced listening effort. The MoCA score showed a significant correlation with WT (ρ=0.59, p=0.01), suggesting a positive association between cognitive function and the benefits of WT. Conclusions Bilateral wireless streaming may enhance sentence/word recognition and reduce listening effort during phone use in hearing aid users, with these benefits potentially linked to cognitive function.

Background and Objectives: Wireless streaming technology (WT), designed to transmit sounds directly from a mobile phone to hearing aids, was developed to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio. However, the advantages of WT during phone use and the specific demographic that can fully benefit from this technology has not been thoroughly evaluated. We aimed to investigate the benefits and identify predictive factors associated with bilateral wireless streaming among hearing aid users. Subjects and Methods: Eighteen adults with symmetrical, bilateral hearing loss participated in the study. To assess the benefits of wireless streaming during phone use, researchers assessed sentence/word recognition and listening effort in two scenarios: a noisy background with WT turned “OFF” or “ON.” Listening effort was evaluated through self-reported measurements. Cognitive function was also assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score. Results: Participant mean age was 57.3 years (range 27-70), and the mean MoCA score was 27.0 (23-30). The activation of WT demonstrated a significant improvement in the sentence/word recognition test and reduced listening effort. The MoCA score showed a significant correlation with WT (ρ=0.59, p=0.01), suggesting a positive association between cognitive function and the benefits of WT. Conclusions Bilateral wireless streaming may enhance sentence/word recognition and reduce listening effort during phone use in hearing aid users, with these benefits potentially linked to cognitive function.