PURPOSE: To define and measure macular thickness and volume using Fourier domain OCT (FD OCT) and compare the values with Stratus OCT in normal eyes and eyes with macular disease. METHODS: On the same day, macular thicknesses of the ETDRS 9 subfield and total macular volumes were measured in 35 eyes of 23 normal subjects and 19 diseased eyes of 24 patients with FD OCT and Stratus OCT. The macular cube scan protocol for FD OCT and the fast macular thickness map protocol for Stratus OCT were used to measure macular thicknesses. RESULTS: Foveal thickness of the central subfield in FD OCT (251.49+/-79.45 micrometer) was thicker than the value of Stratus OCT (210.26+/-60.57 micrometer) (p<0.001) in all eyes. Total macular volume was 7.72+/-1.06 mm3 and 7.04+/-0.96 mm3 for FD OCT and Stratus OCT, respectively (p<0.001). Retina thickness of the ETDRS 9 subfields in FD OCT was thicker than the value obtained using Stratus OCT. In addition, foveal thickness differences were statistically significant in both the normal and diseased eye groups. CONCLUSIONS: Macular thickness and total macular volume as measured by the FD OCT were larger than the values obtained using the Stratus OCT in both the normal and the diseased eye groups. The measuring algorithm of FD OCT defines the top of RPE as the outer retinal boundary, but Stratus OCT defines the outer retinal boundary as the IS/OS junction of the photoreceptor. Therefore, macular thicknesses of FD OCT are thicker than those of Stratus OCT. This difference should be considered when comparing the results of FD OCT with those of Stratus OCT.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Cisplatin ; Doxorubicin ; Eye ; Humans ; Mitomycin ; Retina ; Retinaldehyde ; Tomography, Optical Coherence

PURPOSE: To report the frequency, severity and various types of artifacts associated with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) based on macular pathologies. METHODS: Data was collected retrospectively from 116 eyes of 116 subjects. SD-OCT (3D-1000, Topcon Corp., Japan) imaging was performed in 40 healthy eyes, 45 eyes with intraretinal pathology (IRP) and 31 eyes with subretinal pathology (SRP). The scan protocol was 12x6 mm radial scan. The frequency and types of artifacts were investigated in each scan and were analyzed based on macular disease. Additionally, the effect of artifacts on the measurement of macular thickness was studied. RESULTS: Errors occurred in 77 eyes (66.38%). Inner retinal boundary misidentification (IRBM) was the most common error (25.86%), with the frequencies of other types of artifacts being 10.34% for off-center fixation, 15.52% for degraded image and 8.6% for outer retinal boundary misidentification (ORBM). The overall error rate of SD-OCT in the retinal pathology group was much higher than that in the normal group. Macular thickness was underestimated in the IRP group because the outer retinal boundary of the IRP group tended to be misidentified toward the inner retina (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: SD-OCT can frequently cause various types of artifacts in patients with macular disease. When interpreting OCT images, the artifacts of SD-OCT should be considered in order to obtain accurate macular thickness and to prevent erroneous clinical decisions.
Artifacts ; Eye ; Humans ; Retina ; Retinaldehyde ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Optical Coherence

PURPOSE: This study compared the temporal artery temperature (TAT) measured by infrared temporal artery thermometers to the axillary temperature (AT) measured by standard mercury-in-glass thermometers, and evaluated accuracy of the TAT measurement for clinical practice. METHODS: A total of 247 adult inpatients in general wards in a tertiary medical center located in Seoul participated in the study. The TAT was measured within one minute after the AT measurement. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, linear regression, and the Bland-Altman plot. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in mean temperature between AT and TAT, 36.89℃ (SD=0.70) versus 37.35℃ (SD=0.72). The Bland-Altman plots demonstrated the difference between the AT and TAT as −1.29 to +0.33. The specificity and sensitivity of the TAT in detecting fever were high. The positive predictive values were 57.5% and 71.0% when the AT were higher than 38.0℃ and the TAT fever cutoff levels were 38.0℃ and 38.3℃ respectively. CONCLUSION: TAT and AT were highly correlated and agreeable, indicating that TAT is as accurate as AT. The findings suggested that TAT measurement can be used in clinical practice. For accurate communication between medical personnel, medical institutions need to provide guidelines for temperature measurement, especially for the use of thermometer and measurement sites.
Adult ; Body Temperature ; Fever ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Linear Models ; Patients' Rooms ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Seoul ; Temporal Arteries ; Thermometers

PURPOSE: For early detection of breast cancer, tests with high sensitivity and specificity are needed. Metabolomics, the study of chemical processes involving metabolites, can be used to identify diagnostic biomarkers for a variety of types of cancers. In this study we identified biomarkers of breast cancer by profiling urinary metabolites. METHODS: We performed metabolite profiling of 30 urine samples from 14 patients with breast cancer and 16 healthy controls by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. An orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), Student's t-test, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed to identify metabolites that were potential diagnostic biomarkers for breast cancer. RESULTS: The OPLS-DA showed clear separation between the two groups. Of the 95 metabolites detected, 24 potential biomarkers were identified by Student's t-test. A ROC analysis showed that concentrations of N-(2-furoyl) glycine, histidine, and D-tagarose were significantly higher (area under the ROC curve [AUC] >0.7) and those of trigonellinamide, L-galacto-2-heptulose, creatinine, and xanthine were significantly lower (AUC ≥0.8) in the patients with breast cancer than in the healthy controls. CONCLUSION Measurement of the concentrations of urinary metabolites can be used to screen for early breast cancer. We plan to explore diagnostic biomarkers of breast cancer in blood and urine further in a larger study.

Background: The hollow-fiber infection model (HFIM) is a valuable tool for evaluating pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics relationships and determining the optimal antibiotic dose in monotherapy or combination therapy, but the application for personalized precision medicine in tuberculosis treatment remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of adjusted antibiotic doses for a tuberculosis patient using HFIM. Methods: Model-based Bayesian forecasting was utilized to assess the proposed reduction of the isoniazid dose from 300 mg daily to 150 mg daily in a patient with an ultra-slowacetylation phenotype. The efficacy of the adjusted 150-mg dose was evaluated in a timeto-kill assay performed using the bacterial isolate Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) H37Ra in a HFIM that mimicked the individual pharmacokinetic profile of the patient. Results: The isoniazid concentration observed in the HFIM adequately reflected the target drug exposures simulated by the model. After 7 days of repeated dose administration, isoniazid killed 4 log 10 Mtb CFU/mL in the treatment arm, while the control arm without isoniazid increased 1.6 log 10 CFU/mL. Conclusion Our results provide an example of the utility of the HFIM for predicting the efficacy of specific recommended doses of anti-tuberculosis drugs in real clinical setting.

BACKGROUND: The pain-relief properties of tricyclic antidepressants can be attributed to several actions. Recent observations suggest that adenosine is involved in the antinociceptive effect of amitriptyline. The A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR) is the only adenosine subtype overexpressed in inflammatory and cancer cells. This study was performed to investigate the role of A3AR in the anti-nociceptive effect of amitriptyline. METHODS: Spinal nerve-ligated neuropathic pain was induced by ligating the L5 and L6 spinal nerves of male Sprague-Dawley rats. The neuropathic rats were randomly assigned to one of the following three groups (8 per group): a neuropathic pain with normal saline group, a neuropathic pain with amitriptyline group, and a neuropathic pain with amitriptyline and 3-ethyl-5-benzyl- 2-methyl-4-phenylethynyl-6-phenyl-1,4-(±)-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate (MRS) group. Amitriptyline or saline was administered intraperitoneally and 3-ethyl-5-benzyl-2-methyl-4-phenylethynyl-6-phenyl-1,4-(±)-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate (MRS-1191), an A3AR antagonist, was injected subcutaneously immediately before amitriptyline administration. The level of extracellular signal-regulated kinase P44/42 (ERK1/2), cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (CREB), and proinflammatory cytokines were assessed using immunoblotting or reverse-transciption polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Amitriptyline increased the mechanical withdrawal threshold of the neuropathic rats. The level of phospho-ERK1/2 and phospho-CREB proteins, and proinflammatory cytokines produced by spinal nerve ligation were significantly reduced by amitriptyline administration. However, the use of MRS-1191 before amitriptyline administration not only reduced the threshold of mechanical allodynia, but also increased the signaling protein and proinflammatory cytokine levels, which were reduced by amitriptyline. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the anti-nociceptive effect of amitriptyline involves the suppression of ERK1/2 and CREB signaling proteins, and A3AR activation also affects the alleviation of the inflammatory response.
Adenosine ; Amitriptyline ; Animals ; Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic ; Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein ; Cytokines ; Humans ; Hyperalgesia ; Immunoblotting ; Ligation ; Male ; Neuralgia ; Phosphotransferases ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Purinergic P1 ; Spinal Nerves