Objective: This study evaluated the health behavior level of urological cancer survivors after surgery.Understand the experience of change and identify the factors that affect it for health. Selection of the best intervention steps and effective intervention adopt a lifestyle. It is intended to contribute to the creation of basic data for development of guidelines. Methods: The study was conducted with patients diagnosed with urological cancer at a hospital in Seoul.Study data were obtained by having 100 patients who agreed to the study self-fill out a questionnaire through interviews, and the 2018 World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research Score (2018 WCRF/AICR SCORE) was used to estimate the level of health behavior. Results: The study examines health behavior among urolgical cancer survivors based on the 2018 WCRF/AICR SCORE. Higher household income and younger age were associated with better health behavior scores, with those under 60 and earning over 3 million won being more likely to have higher scores. Conclusion Based on these results, this study requires comprehensive data collection considering the missing variables, suggesting that high household income and young age can positively affect healthy behavior. In addition, we conclude that education for cancer survivors and development of strategies to bridge the health gap for low-income and elderly populations are necessary.

Objective: This study evaluated the health behavior level of urological cancer survivors after surgery.Understand the experience of change and identify the factors that affect it for health. Selection of the best intervention steps and effective intervention adopt a lifestyle. It is intended to contribute to the creation of basic data for development of guidelines. Methods: The study was conducted with patients diagnosed with urological cancer at a hospital in Seoul.Study data were obtained by having 100 patients who agreed to the study self-fill out a questionnaire through interviews, and the 2018 World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research Score (2018 WCRF/AICR SCORE) was used to estimate the level of health behavior. Results: The study examines health behavior among urolgical cancer survivors based on the 2018 WCRF/AICR SCORE. Higher household income and younger age were associated with better health behavior scores, with those under 60 and earning over 3 million won being more likely to have higher scores. Conclusion Based on these results, this study requires comprehensive data collection considering the missing variables, suggesting that high household income and young age can positively affect healthy behavior. In addition, we conclude that education for cancer survivors and development of strategies to bridge the health gap for low-income and elderly populations are necessary.

Objective: This study evaluated the health behavior level of urological cancer survivors after surgery.Understand the experience of change and identify the factors that affect it for health. Selection of the best intervention steps and effective intervention adopt a lifestyle. It is intended to contribute to the creation of basic data for development of guidelines. Methods: The study was conducted with patients diagnosed with urological cancer at a hospital in Seoul.Study data were obtained by having 100 patients who agreed to the study self-fill out a questionnaire through interviews, and the 2018 World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research Score (2018 WCRF/AICR SCORE) was used to estimate the level of health behavior. Results: The study examines health behavior among urolgical cancer survivors based on the 2018 WCRF/AICR SCORE. Higher household income and younger age were associated with better health behavior scores, with those under 60 and earning over 3 million won being more likely to have higher scores. Conclusion Based on these results, this study requires comprehensive data collection considering the missing variables, suggesting that high household income and young age can positively affect healthy behavior. In addition, we conclude that education for cancer survivors and development of strategies to bridge the health gap for low-income and elderly populations are necessary.

OBJECTIVE: Understanding the neural functional organization of swallowing in the elderly is essential when diagnosing and treating older adults with swallowing difficulties. While brain-imaging studies in young adults have implicated multiple cortical regions in swallowing, only a few investigations were performed on older subjects. In this study, we aimed to compare neural activation in regions for swallowing between healthy young and older adults and to better understand neural control of deglutition, complex sensory-motor process which occurs as a result of old age. METHOD: Fifteen young and fifteen older healthy individuals without a swallowing problem were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during voluntary saliva swallowing. Functional image data was obtained with a T2 gradient-echo, echo planar imaging (EPI) pulse sequence optimized for blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast. Two samples t-test was conducted to perform group comparison (younger adults versus older adults) for the areas in which the activation was larger for the swallowing condition than the non-swallow condition. RESULT: Both groups showed activations in areas involved in the motor control and execution. In both groups, main regions of activation included bilateral prefrontal cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, insula, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. Between-group comparisons revealed statistically stronger activations in the prefrontal cortex and middle temporal gyrus of older adults during swallowing. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that swallowing requires larger and more widespread areas of neural control in older adults group, especially in prefrontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus. These findings suggest that more demanding swallowing tasks are necessary for elderly patients because of their inefficient neural network due to their age.
Adult ; Aged ; Basal Ganglia ; Cerebellum ; Deglutition* ; Echo-Planar Imaging ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Methods ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Saliva ; Somatosensory Cortex ; Temporal Lobe ; Young Adult

Identifying the patterns of gene expression in breast cancers is essential to understanding their pathophysiology and developing anticancer drugs. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with different subtypes determined by distinct biological features. Luminal breast cancer is characterized by a relatively high expression of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) genes, which are expressed in breast luminal cells. In ~25% of invasive breast cancers, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is overexpressed; these cancers are categorized as the HER2 type. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), in which the cancer cells do not express ER/PR or HER2, shows highly aggressive clinical outcomes. TNBC can be further classified into specific subtypes according to genomic mutations and cancer immunogenicity. Herein, we discuss the brief history of TNBC classification and its implications for promising treatments.

Cardiac fibroblasts constitute one of the largest cell populations in the heart, and contribute to structural, biochemical, mechanical and electrical properties of the myocardium. Nonetheless, their cardiac functions, especially electrophysiological properties, have often been disregarded in studies. Ca2+-activated K+(KCa) channels can control Ca2+influx as well as a number of Ca2+-dependent physiological processes. We, therefore, attempted to identify and characterize KCa channels in rat Cardiac fibroblasts. First, we showed that the cells cultured from the rat ventricle were cardiac fibroblasts by immunostaining for discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR-2), a specific fibroblast marker. Secondly, we detected the expression of various KCa channels by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and found all three family members of KCa channels, including large conductance KCa (BK-alpha 1- and -beta 1~4 subunits), intermediate conductance KCa (IK), and small conductance KCa (SK1~4 subunits) channels. Thirdly, we recorded BK, IK, and SK channels by whole cell mode patch clamp technique using their specific blockers. Finally, we performed cell proliferation assay to evaluate the effects of the channels on cell proliferation, and found that the inhibition of IK channel increased the cell proliferation. These results showed the existence of BK, IK, and SK channels in rat ventricular fibroblasts and involvement of IK channel in cell proliferation.
Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Fibroblasts ; Heart ; Humans ; Myocardium ; Physiological Processes ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rats ; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Receptors, Mitogen ; Reverse Transcription

BACKGROUND: It is not possible to measure how much activity is required to understand and code a medical data. We introduce an assessment method in clinical coding, and applied this method to neurosurgical terms.METHODS: Coding activity consists of two stages. At first, the coders need to understand a presented medical term (informational activity). The second coding stage is about a navigating terminology browser to find a code that matches the concept (code-matching activity). Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) was used for the coding system. A new computer application to record the trajectory of the computer mouse and record the usage time was programmed. Using this application, we measured the time that was spent. A senior neurosurgeon who has studied SNOMED CT has analyzed the accuracy of the input coding. This method was tested by five neurosurgical residents (NSRs) and five medical record administrators (MRAs), and 20 neurosurgical terms were used.RESULTS: The mean accuracy of the NSR group was 89.33%, and the mean accuracy of the MRA group was 80% (p=0.024). The mean duration for total coding of the NSR group was 158.47 seconds, and the mean duration for total coding of the MRA group was 271.75 seconds (p=0.003).CONCLUSION: We proposed a method to analyze the clinical coding process. Through this method, it was possible to accurately calculate the time required for the coding. In neurosurgical terms, NSRs had shorter time to complete the coding and higher accuracy than MRAs.
Animals ; Clinical Coding ; Humans ; Medical Informatics ; Medical Record Administrators ; Methods ; Mice ; Neurosurgeons ; Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine

Identifying the patterns of gene expression in breast cancers is essential to understanding their pathophysiology and developing anticancer drugs. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with different subtypes determined by distinct biological features. Luminal breast cancer is characterized by a relatively high expression of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) genes, which are expressed in breast luminal cells. In ~25% of invasive breast cancers, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is overexpressed; these cancers are categorized as the HER2 type. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), in which the cancer cells do not express ER/PR or HER2, shows highly aggressive clinical outcomes. TNBC can be further classified into specific subtypes according to genomic mutations and cancer immunogenicity. Herein, we discuss the brief history of TNBC classification and its implications for promising treatments.

BACKGROUND: It is not possible to measure how much activity is required to understand and code a medical data. We introduce an assessment method in clinical coding, and applied this method to neurosurgical terms. METHODS: Coding activity consists of two stages. At first, the coders need to understand a presented medical term (informational activity). The second coding stage is about a navigating terminology browser to find a code that matches the concept (code-matching activity). Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) was used for the coding system. A new computer application to record the trajectory of the computer mouse and record the usage time was programmed. Using this application, we measured the time that was spent. A senior neurosurgeon who has studied SNOMED CT has analyzed the accuracy of the input coding. This method was tested by five neurosurgical residents (NSRs) and five medical record administrators (MRAs), and 20 neurosurgical terms were used. RESULTS: The mean accuracy of the NSR group was 89.33%, and the mean accuracy of the MRA group was 80% (p=0.024). The mean duration for total coding of the NSR group was 158.47 seconds, and the mean duration for total coding of the MRA group was 271.75 seconds (p=0.003). CONCLUSION We proposed a method to analyze the clinical coding process. Through this method, it was possible to accurately calculate the time required for the coding. In neurosurgical terms, NSRs had shorter time to complete the coding and higher accuracy than MRAs.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID)-sparing effect of symptomatic slow-acting drugs for osteoarthritis (SYSADOA) in knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on a cohort of knee OA patients who visited a single academic referral hospital from 2013 to 2014. Among all patients, NSAID users in their first visit were extracted and divided into SYSADOA users and SYSADOA non-users. All patients were observed from their first visit with knee OA to their last visit, NSAID discontinuation, or the date of data collection, July 2017 (mean observational periods: 369.1 days). To evaluate the NSAID-sparing effect of SYSADOA, Cox regression analysis was performed after adjusting for confounding factors. RESULTS: Patients for this study (n=212) were divided into SYSADOA users (n=57) and SYSADOA non-users (n=155). The mean age (68.8 vs. 66.6 years old, p=0.31) and the number of comorbidities (p=0.73) were comparable between the two groups. The SYSADOA users showed higher Kellgren–Lawrence (KL) grade (66.7% of patients with more than KL grade 3) than SYSADOA non-users (42.6% of patients with more than KL grade 3) (p=0.02). In treatment, the frequency of intra-articular injection was higher in the SYSADOA user group than the SYSADOA non-user group (33.3% vs. 9.0%, p<0.01). In Cox regression analysis, SYSADOA use contributed to NSAID discontinuation in knee OA patients (hazard ratio 2.97, 95% confidential interval 1.42∼6.22). CONCLUSION: This real-world analysis demonstrated that SYSADOA use combined with NSAIDs had a significant effect on NSAID discontinuation in patients with knee OA.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; Cohort Studies ; Comorbidity ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Injections, Intra-Articular ; Knee ; Osteoarthritis ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; Referral and Consultation ; Retrospective Studies