No abstract available.
Animals ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Gene Expression* ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone* ; Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide* ; Rats*

PURPOSE: We designed this study to identify and suggest the reasonable timing of adjuvant radiotherapy in the treatment of uterine carcinosarcoma according to the surgical intent and patterns of progression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed a total of 50 carcinosarcoma patients diagnosed between 1995 and 2010. Among these 50 patients, 32 underwent curative surgery and 13 underwent maximal tumor debulking surgery. The remaining five patients underwent biopsy only. Twenty-six patients received chemotherapy, and 15 patients received adjuvant radiotherapy. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 17.3 months. Curative resection (p < 0.001) and stage (p < 0.001) were statistically significant factors affecting survival. During follow-up, 30 patients showed progression. Among these, eight patients (16.0%) had loco-regional progression only. The patients who had received adjuvant radiotherapy did not show loco-regional progression, and radiotherapy was a significant negative risk factor for loco-regional progression (p = 0.01). The time to loco-regional progression was much earlier for non-curative than curative resection (range, 0.7 to 7.6 months vs. 7.5 to 39.0 months). CONCLUSION: Adjuvant radiotherapy in the treatment of carcinosarcoma might be related to a low loco-regional progression rate. Radiotherapy should be considered in non-curatively resected patients as soon as possible.
Biopsy ; Carcinosarcoma ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: The treatment goal for patients with chronic hepatitis B infection is to prevent progression of the disease to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Current therapies include standard and pegylated interferon-alfa and nucleoside/nucleotide analogues: lamivudine, adefovir, entecavir, telbivudine, clevudine, and tenofovir. This study aims to analyze changes in the prescribing patterns of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) medications in South Korea between 2013 and 2014. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using National Patients Sample data compiled by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from 2013 and 2014. Patients with CHB were identified with Korean Standard Classification of Diseases code-6 (B18.0 and B18.1) and those who were maintaining active prescriptions with CHB medications covering the index date (December 1(st), each year) were included. The utilization of antiviral therapy was investigated during 2013 and 2014. RESULTS: A total of 4,204 and 4,552 patients in 2013 and 2014 respectively, were included in the analysis. The proportion of male patients was two of third and the patients 41-60 years old accounted for 60% of all analyzed patients. The most utilized drug was entecavir (55.1% in 2013 and 44.8% in 2014) and the second most utilized drug was tenofovir in both years (18.8% in 2013 and 29.0% in 2014). The percentage of combination therapy was 13.6% and 13.1% in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The proportion of tenofovir prescriptions was increased in 2014 compared with 2013. CONCLUSION: With the development of new drugs and the changes in clinical practice guidelines, the prescription pattern of the antiviral agents for patients with CHB has changed. The rate of utilization of tenofovir has increased.
Antiviral Agents ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Classification ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Drug Utilization* ; Fibrosis ; Hepatitis B, Chronic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic* ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Lamivudine ; Male ; Prescriptions ; Tenofovir

OBJECTIVE: The effect of transdermal nicotine patch on sleep physiology is not well established. The current study aimed to examine the influence of nicotine patch on homeostatic sleep propensity and autonomic nervous system. METHODS: We studied 16 non-smoking young healthy volunteers with nocturnal polysomnography in a double blind crossover design between sleep with and without nicotine patch. We compared the sleep variables, sleep EEG power spectra, and heart rate variability. RESULTS: The night with nicotine patch showed significant increase in sleep latency, wake after sleep onset, and stage 1 sleep; and decrease in total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and percentage of REM sleep. Also, spectral analysis of the sleep EEG in the night with nicotine patch revealed decreased slow wave activity in stage 2 and REM sleep and increased alpha activity in the first NREM-REM sleep cycle. Heart rate variability showed no differences between the 2 nights, but the low to high ratio (a parameter indicative of sympathetic nervous system activity) positively correlated with wake after sleep onset in night with nicotine patch. CONCLUSION: Transdermal nicotine patch significantly disrupts sleep continuity, sleep architecture, and homeostatic sleep propensity. The overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system may be responsible for these changes.
Adult* ; Autonomic Nervous System ; Cross-Over Studies ; Electroencephalography* ; Healthy Volunteers ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Male* ; Nicotine* ; Physiology ; Polysomnography ; Sleep, REM ; Spectrum Analysis ; Sympathetic Nervous System ; Tobacco Use Cessation Products*

Factor VII deficiency is a rare, inherited coagulopathy, which can lead to prolonged bleeding. Here, we present a case report of an adolescent with factor VII deficiency who experienced small bowel bleeding that was successfully treated with tranexamic acid. This case highlights the potential use of tranexamic acid as an effective therapeutic option for managing gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with hemostatic insufficiency of unknown etiology.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab for subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with combined severe diabetic retinopathy (DR). METHODS: This retrospective, interventional case series included eleven patients (mean age, 70.09 years; range, 54 to 83 years) with at least severe non-proliferative DR and subfoveal CNV secondary to AMD. Each subject was treated with intravitreal injections of 0.5 mg ranibizumab. The primary outcomes included change in best-corrected visual acuity and central subfield thickness (CST) on optical coherence tomography (OCT). RESULTS: The mean follow-up time was 16.7+/-14 months (range, 6 to 31 months). Mean visual acuity improved from 1.21+/-0.80 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) to 1.0+/-0.6 logMAR (P=0.107), 0.95+/-0.62 logMAR (P=0.044), 1.10+/-0.68 logMAR (P=0.296), and 1.13+/-0.66 logMAR (P=0.838) at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after injection, respectively. Eight patients (72.7%) gained or maintained vision (mean 0.32 logMAR), whereas three patients (27.3%) lost more than one line of vision (mean 0.51 logMAR). The mean OCT CST was 343.9+/-134.6 microm at baseline, and the mean CST at 1, 3, 6, 12 months after the injection was 367.8+/-172.1 (P=0.864), 346.2+/-246.2 (P=0.857), 342+/-194.1 (P=0.551), and 294.2+/-108.3 microm (P=0.621), respectively. CONCLUSION: Intravitreal ranibizumab injection can be considered to be a therapy for the stabilization of subfoveal CNV secondary to AMD with combined severe DR. However, these patients might exhibit limited visual improvement after treatment.
Choroidal Neovascularization* ; Diabetic Retinopathy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intravitreal Injections ; Macular Degeneration* ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Visual Acuity ; Ranibizumab

Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder, consisting of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, chronic neutropenia, neutrophil chemotaxis defects, metaphyseal dysostosis, short stature, dental caries, and multiple organ involvements. Although SDS is the second most common hereditary abnormality of exocrine pancreas following cystic fibrosis in the Western countries, it has rarely been reported in Asia. We diagnosed a case of SDS in a 42-month-old girl, and genetic analysis including the relatives of the patient confirmed the diagnosis for the first time in Korea. She had short stature, steatorrhea, dental caries, and recurrent prulent otitis media and pneumonias. Laboratory studies revealed cyclic neutropenia, and serum levels of trypsin, amylase, and lipase were decreased. Simple radiography revealed metaphyseal sclerotic changes at the distal femur. A CT scan demonstrated a fatty infiltration and atrophy of the pancreas. On direct sequencing analysis of Shwachman-Bodian-Diamond Syndrome gene exon 2 region, the patient was homozygous for the c.258+2T>C mutation and heterozygous for the c.183_184TA>CT mutation and c.201A>G single nucleotide polymorphism. Treatment with pancreatic enzyme replacement, multivitamin supplementation, and regular to high fat diet improved her weight gain and steatorrhea.
Child, Preschool ; Dental Caries/*genetics ; Dysostoses/*genetics ; Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency/*genetics ; Female ; Humans ; *Mutation ; Neutropenia/*genetics ; Pedigree ; Syndrome

Background and Objectives: Recurrent epistaxis requiring emergency department (ED) visits results in increased morbidity in the elderly and associated with high health care costs. This study is to analyze the frequency and characteristics of epistaxis patients in the elderly and to find out the risk factors and effective treatment for recurrent epistaxis. Subjects and Method We studied retrospectively the clinical cases of 977 emergency patients and 155 patients, aged over 65, for the treatment of epistaxis during the last 10 years from January 2008 to January 2018. The group A, comprised of 95 patients (68.29%), was treated with an initial treatment. The group B, which comprised of 60 patients (38.71%), visited for re-bleeding following an initial treatment. Results: Patients made 2 to 10 ED visits due to re-bleeding and 32 of the 60 patients (53.5%) visited twice. The electrocauterization was the most common (61.7%) for treatment method during rebleeding, followed by posterior packing (18.3%). The factors that increases the risk of recurrent epistaxis are anticoagulants, posterior epistaxis, anterior packing, inefficient ED packing. There was no correlation between comorbidities and rebleeding. Conclusion Accurate medical history taking of anticoagulants may enable personnel to provide more effective management of these patients. The most important factors in the failure of primary care were not being able to find the precise area of bleeding and ineffective packing during the initial treatment. Therefore, it is important that we must carefully check the areas using the endoscope to decrease the failure of initial treatment of epistaxis.

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in a pregnant woman is a rare catastrophic situation that places both the mother and fetus at high risk. When this situation arises, numerous relevant issues must be individualized in the effort to reduce hazards threatening both the mother and fetus. A 29 year old woman who was 39 weeks pregnant presented with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, secondary to a ruptured left ophthalmic artery aneurysm. Following initial full recovery, the simultaneous sequence of cesarean section followed by aneurysmal clipping was electively underwent. Successful maternal and perinatal outcome was achieved. The anesthetic management of the case is described and discussed.
Adult ; Anesthesia ; Aneurysm* ; Cesarean Section* ; Female ; Fetus ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm* ; Mothers ; Ophthalmic Artery ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

PURPOSE: The axillary reverse mapping (ARM) technique to identify and preserve arm nodes during sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) was developed to prevent lymphedema. The purpose of this study was to investigate the location and metastatic rate of the arm node, and to evaluate the short term incidence of lymphedema after arm node preserving surgery. METHODS: From January 2009 to October 2010, 97 breast cancer patients who underwent ARM were included. Blue-dye (2.5 mL) was injected into the ipsilateral upper-inner arm. At least 20 minutes after injection, SLNB or ALND was performed and blue-stained arm nodes and/or lymphatics were identified. Patients were divided into two groups, an arm node preserved group (70 patients had ALND, 10 patients had SLNB) and an unpreserved group (13 patients had ALND, 4 patients had SLNB). The difference in arm circumference between preoperative and postoperative time points was checked in both groups. RESULTS: The mean number of identified blue stained arm nodes was 1.4+/-0.6. In the majority of patients (92%), arm nodes were located between the lower level of the axillary vein and just below the second intercostobrachial nerve. In the arm node unpreserved group, 2 patients had metastasis in their arm node. Among ALND patients, in the arm node preserved group, the difference in arm circumference between preoperative and postoperative time points in ipsilateral and contralateral arms was 0.27 cm and 0.07 cm, respectively, whereas it was 0.47 cm and -0.03 cm in the unpreserved group; one case of lymphedema was found after 6 months. No difference was found between arm node preserved and unpreserved group among SLNB patients. CONCLUSION: Arm node preserving was possible in all breast cancer patients with identifiable arm nodes, during ALND or SLNB, except for those with high surgical N stage, and lymphedema did not develop in patients with arm node preserving surgery.
Arm ; Axillary Vein ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymphedema ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nitriles ; Pyrethrins ; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy