This study investigated whether significant coronary artery stenosis in 231 consecutive unstable angina patients can be diagnosed by thoroughgoing history-taking initial electorocardiography and symptom- or sign-limited treadmill exercise ECG after medication. The unstable angina patients were divided into those with accelerated angina, those with new-onset effort angina and those with angina at rest based on the findings of detailed inquiry. Initial ECG showed that the sensitivity and specificity of detecting significant coronary artery stenosis in all patients were 55.2% and 63.2%, respectively. In accelerated angina, sensitivity and specificity were 52.2% and 50.0%, respectively. In new-onset effort angina, sensitivity and specificity were 46.7% and 57.1%, respectively. In angina at rest, sensitivity and specificity were 69.0% and 68.3%, respectively. Initial ECG provided valuable diagnostic information about angina at rest. Treadmill exercise ECG offered 66.0% sensitivity and 89.2% specificity in all patients, respectively. In accelerated angina, sensitivity and specificity were 80.0% and 66.7%, respectively. In new-onset effort angina, sensitivity and specificity were 70.8% and 87.8%, respectively. In angina at rest, sensitivity and specificity were 48.3% and 91.4%, respectively. Thus, treadmill exercise electrocardiograms provided valuable diagnostic information in the case of unstable angina, especially accelerated angina and new-onset effort angina. For patients with angina at rest, this testing was very useful for excluding significant coronary artery stenosis.
In conclusion, detailed inquiry, initial ECG and symptom- or sign-limited treadmill exercise ECG after medical stabilization proved to be of great value for diagnosing unstable angina patients with significant coronary artery stenosis.

OBJECTIVE: Today in United States, about one in eight women have been affected with breast cancer over their lifetime. Up to today, some various prediction models using SEER (Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results) datasets have been proposed in past studies. However, appropriate methods for predicting the 5 years survival rate of breast cancer have not established. In this study, we evaluate those models to predict the survival rate of breast cancer patients. METHODS: Five data mining algorithms (Artificial Neural Network, Naive Bayes , Decision Trees (ID3) and Decision Trees(J48)) besides a most generally used statistical method (Logistic Regression) were used to evaluate the prediction models using a dataset (37,256 follow-up cases from 1992 to 1997). We also used 10-fold cross-validation methods to assess the unbiased estimate of the five prediction models for comparison of performance of each method. RESULTS: The accuracy was 85.8+/-0.2%, 84.3+/-1.4%, 83.9+/-0.2%, 82.3+/-0.2%, 75.1+/-0.2% for the Logistic Regression, Artificial Neural, Naive Bayes, Decision Trees (ID3), Decision Trees(J48), respectively. Although the accuracy of Logistic Regression showed the highest performances, the Decision Trees (J48) was the lowest one. CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy of Logistic Regression was the best performances, on the other hand Decision Trees (J48) was the worst. Artificial Neural Network indicated relatively high performance.
Bays ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Data Mining* ; Dataset ; Decision Trees ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; SEER Program ; Survival Rate ; United States

OBJECTIVE: The Japan Society of Gynecologic Oncology (JSGO) initiated a nation-wide training system for the education and certification for gynecologic oncologists in 2005. To assess the impact of the quality of the JSGO-accredited institutions, JSGO undertook an analysis of the Uterine Cervical Cancer Registry of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) to determine the effectiveness of the JSGO-accredited institutions on the treatment and survival of women with cervical cancer. METHODS: The effectiveness of 119 JSGO-accredited institutions and 125 non-JSGO-accredited institutions on the treatment and survival of women with cervical cancer were compared by analyzing the tumor characteristics, treatment patterns, and survival outcomes of women with stage T1B–T4 cervical cancer utilizing the data in the JSOG nation-wide registry for cervical cancer (2006–2009). RESULTS: A total of 14,185 eligible women were identified: 10,920 (77.0%) cases for 119 JSGO-accredited institutions and 3,265 (23.0%) cases for 125 non-accredited institutions. A multivariate analysis showed that age, stage, histology type, and treatment pattern were independently associated with mortality. Moreover, women who received treatment at the JSGO-accredited institutions had a significantly decreased mortality risk compared to non-accredited institutions (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]=0.843; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.784–0.905). Similar findings on multivariate analysis were seen among subset of women who received surgery alone (aHR=0.552; 95% CI=0.393–0.775) and among women who received radiotherapy (aHR=0.845; 95% CI=0.766–0.931). CONCLUSION: Successful implementation of gynecologic oncology accrediting institution was associated with improved survival outcome of women with cervical cancer in Japan.
Accreditation* ; Certification ; Education ; Female ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Japan* ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Obstetrics ; Radiotherapy ; Surgical Procedures, Operative ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVESPrevious types of rock wool has been recently replaced with high-temperature wool (HT wool). HT wool is characterized by a chemical composition with a higher concentration of Al(2)O(3) and a lower concentration of SiO(2), lower biopersistence, and a higher melting point than previous types of rock wool. To evaluate the safety of HT wool, an asbestos substitute, we examined the biopersistence of HT wool in the lungs, based on changes in fiber count according to the length and fiber size (length and width), by performing a nose-only inhalation exposure study in rats.

METHODSMale Fischer 344 rats were exposed to fibers at the target exposure concentration of 30 mg/m(3) continuously for 3 hours daily for 5 consecutive days. Rats were sacrificed shortly after exposure, and 1, 2, and 4 weeks after exposure, and their lung tissues were incinerated at a low temperature. Then, fiber counts and sizes in the lungs were analyzed using a phase contrast microscope.

RESULTSThe fiber count in the lungs 4 weeks after exposure significantly decreased from the baseline value (shortly after exposure). The half-life of fibers calculated from the approximation curve was 34 days for all fibers and 11 days for fibers longer than 20 μm.

CONCLUSIONSBoth the length and width significantly decreased 4 weeks after exposure, probably because fibers were ingested by alveolar macrophages, discharged to outside of the body by mucociliary movement, or lysed by body fluid. In future studies, it is necessary to examine the long-term persistence of fibers in the lungs.