The first edition of the guidelines for the use of ultrasound contrast agents was published in 2004, dealing with liver applications. The second edition of the guidelines in 2008 reflected changes in the available contrast agents and updated the guidelines for the liver, as well as implementing some nonliver applications. The third edition of the contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) guidelines was the joint World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology-European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB-EFSUMB) venture in conjunction with other regional US societies such as Asian Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, resulting in a simultaneous duplicate on liver CEUS in the official journals of both WFUMB and EFSUMB in 2013. However, no guidelines were described mainly for Sonazoid due to limited clinical experience only in Japan and Korea. The new proposed consensus statements and recommendations provide general advice on the use of Sonazoid and are intended to create standard protocols for the use and administration of Sonazoid in hepatic and pancreatobiliary applications in Asian patients and to improve patient management.

PURPOSE: This purpose of this study was to develop evidence-based practice guideline for isolation in health care settings to prevent transmission of infectious diseases utilizing guideline adaption process. METHODS: The process of guideline adaptation was performed according to the Korean hospital nurses association's guideline adaptation manual which consisted of three main phases, 9 modules, and 24 steps. RESULTS: The adapted isolation guideline consisted of introduction, overview of isolation guideline, summary of recommendations, recommendations, references, and appendices. The guideline includes 224 recommendations in 4 sections which are organizational administration, standard precautions, transmission-based precautions, and education/counselling. CONCLUSION: The adapted isolation guideline is recommended to be disseminated and utilized by nurses and clinicians nationwide to improve the isolation practices for infected or colonized patients with communicable diseases and to decrease the transmission of infections in the healthcare settings.
Colon ; Communicable Diseases ; Delivery of Health Care ; Disease Transmission, Infectious ; Evidence-Based Nursing ; Evidence-Based Practice ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Patient Isolation

PURPOSE: This study analyzed the prognostic factors affecting admission in acute alcohol-intoxicated traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients visiting the emergency room. METHODS: A multicenter, retrospective observational study was conducted on 821 acute alcohol-intoxicated adult trauma patients, who visited 10 university hospital emergency centers from April to November 2016. The primary outcome was hospital admission. The secondary outcome was in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: One hundred sixty-eight patients diagnosed with acute alcohol-intoxicated TBI were analyzed. The increase in blood alcohol concentration was associated significantly with a mild decrease in admission (adjusted odds ratio, 0.993; 95% confidence interval, 0.989 to 0.998; p=0.01). Moderate to severe TBI patients showed a significant increase in admission compared to mild TBI patients (adjusted odds ratio, 12.449; 95% confidence interval, 3.316 to 46.743; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study showed that the admission was inversely correlated with the blood alcohol concentration and is correlated directly with the increase in the severity in TBI. Therefore, emergency physicians may be required to identify the severity of TBI rapidly and accurately in acute alcohol-intoxicated trauma patients visiting the emergency room.
Adult ; Alcohol Drinking ; Blood Alcohol Content ; Brain Injuries* ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Observational Study ; Odds Ratio ; Patient Admission ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.
ACTH-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma/complications/diagnostic imaging/surgery ; Adenoma/complications/diagnostic imaging/surgery ; Adolescent ; Biomarkers/urine ; Biopsy ; *Circadian Rhythm ; Creatinine/*urine ; Cushing Syndrome/*diagnosis/*urine ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone/*urine ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome ; Urinalysis

No abstract available.
Adult ; Biomarkers/analysis ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Goiter/complications/diagnostic imaging/immunology/*surgery ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G/*analysis ; Pain/diagnosis/*etiology ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Thyroid Gland/diagnostic imaging/immunology/pathology/*surgery ; *Thyroidectomy ; Thyroiditis/complications/diagnostic imaging/immunology/*surgery ; Treatment Outcome ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) combined with microbubbles enhances the therapeutic effects of chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pancreatic cancer xenograft model was established using BALB/c nude mice and luciferase-expressing human pancreatic cancer cells. Mice were randomly assigned to five groups according to treatment: control (n = 10), gemcitabine alone (GEM; n = 12), HIFU with microbubbles (HIFU + MB, n = 11), combined HIFU and gemcitabine (HIGEM; n = 12), and HIGEM + MB (n = 13). After three weekly treatments, apoptosis rates were evaluated using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling assay in two mice per group. Tumor volume and bioluminescence were monitored using high-resolution 3D ultrasound imaging and in vivo bioluminescence imaging for eight weeks in the remaining mice. RESULTS: The HIGEM + MB group showed significantly higher apoptosis rates than the other groups (p < 0.05) and exhibited the slowest tumor growth. From week 5, the tumor-volume-ratio relative to the baseline tumor volume was significantly lower in the HIGEM + MB group than in the control, GEM, and HIFU + MB groups (p < 0.05). Despite visible distinction, the HIGEM and HIGEM + MB groups showed no significant differences. CONCLUSION: High-intensity focused ultrasound combined with microbubbles enhances the therapeutic effects of gemcitabine chemotherapy in a pancreatic cancer xenograft model.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Drug Therapy* ; Heterografts* ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Microbubbles* ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Therapeutic Uses* ; Tumor Burden ; Ultrasonography*

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) was identified as a cell-intrinsic regulator of Th17 cell differentiation. Th17 cells have been associated with several autoimmune diseases, including experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and collagen-induced arthritis. In this study, we confirmed PPARgamma-mediated inhibition of Th17 cell differentiation and cytokine production at an early stage. Treatment with ciglitazone, a PPARgamma ligand, reduced both IL-1beta-mediated enhancement of Th17 differentiation and activation of Th17 cells after polarization. For Th17 cell differentiation, we found that ciglitazone-treated cells had a relatively low proliferative activity and produced a lower amount of cytokines, regardless of the presence of IL-1beta. The inhibitory activity of ciglitazone might be due to decrease of CCNB1 expression, which regulates the cell cycle in T cells. Hence, we postulate that a pharmaceutical PPARgamma activator might be a potent candidate for treatment of Th17-mediated autoimmune disease patients.
Arthritis, Experimental ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Proliferation ; Cytokines ; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Interleukin-17 ; PPAR gamma* ; T-Lymphocytes ; Th17 Cells*

No abstract available.
Alternative Splicing ; Biopsy ; Carney Complex/diagnosis/enzymology/*genetics/therapy ; Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinase RIalpha Subunit/*genetics ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; *Mutation ; Pedigree ; Phenotype ; Protein Isoforms ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Young Adult

Glucocorticoid-remediable aldosteronism (GRA) is an autosomal-dominant inheritable form of hyperaldosteronism with early onset hypertension. GRA is caused by unequal crossing-over of the steroid 11beta-hydroxylase (CYP11B1) and aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) genes. As a result of chimeric gene duplication, aldosterone is ectopically synthesized in the adrenal zona fasciculata under the control of adrenocorticotropin. Here, we describe three cases of GRA in a Korean family. The proband-a 21-yr-old female-was incidentally found to have high blood pressure (170/108 mmHg). Her 46-yr-old father had been treated twice for cerebral hemorrhage at the ages of 29 and 39 yr. Her 15-yr-old brother had a 2-yr history of hypertension; however, he was never treated. Their laboratory test results showed normokalemia, hyporeninemia, hyperaldosteronism, and a high plasma aldosterone concentration-to-plasma renin activity ratio. Normal saline loading failed to suppress aldosterone secretion. However, dexamethasone administration effectively suppressed their plasma aldosterone concentrations. Following genetic analyses with PCR and direct sequencing to document the chimeric gene and crossover site, respectively, we identified CYP11B1/CYP11B2 and determined the breakpoint of unequal crossover to be located between intron 2 of CYP11B1 and exon 3 of CYP11B2.
Adolescent ; Aldosterone/blood ; Aldosterone Synthase/*genetics ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group/*genetics ; Dexamethasone/therapeutic use ; Family ; Female ; Glucocorticoids/*therapeutic use ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism/diagnosis/drug therapy/*genetics ; Hypertension/etiology ; Magnetic Resonance Angiography ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Renin/blood/metabolism ; Republic of Korea ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Steroid 11-beta-Hydroxylase/*genetics ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Adiponectin ; Humans ; Plasma