Search

Over the past decades, the immense clinical need for early detection methods and treatments for dementia has become a priority worldwide. The advances in PET biomarkers play increasingly important roles in understanding disease mechanisms by demonstrating the protein pathology underlying dementia in the brain. Amyloid-β and tau deposition in PET images are now key diagnostic biomarkers for the Alzheimer’s disease continuum. The inclusion of biomarkers in the diagnostic criteria has achieved a paradigm shift in facilitating early differential diagnosis, predicting disease prognosis, and influencing clinical management. Furthermore, in vivo images showing pathology could become prognostic as well as surrogate biomarkers in therapeutic trials. In this review, we focus on recent developments in radiotracers for amyloid-β and tau PET imaging in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Further, we introduce their potential application as future perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between vitamin C intake and obesity prevalence among Korean adults. Based on data of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2017), a total of 1,356 participants were included in this analysis. Increasing the dietary vitamin C intake resulted in a significantly decreased occurrence of BMI obesity prevalence (p for trend=0.0194) and WC obesity prevalence (p for trend=0.0452). Moreover, increasing the dietary vitamin C intake of Korean adults having a high frequency of eating breakfast resulted in significantly decreased BMI obesity prevalence (p for trend=0.0406) and WC obesity prevalence (p for trend=0.0432). Among the Korean adults who ate out frequently, decreased BMI obesity prevalence was determined with increased intakes of dietary vitamin C (p for trend=0.0193) and total vitamin C (food and dietary supplements) (p for trend=0.0429), whereas significant decrease in WC obesity prevalence was observed with increased dietary vitamin C intake (p for trend=0.0484). Our results provide conclusive evidence that consumption of dietary vitamin C is associated with obesity prevalence in Korean adults, according to their habits of eating breakfast and frequency of eating out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a chronic inflammatory condition involving multiple organs, including the salivary or lacrimal glands, orbit, pancreas, bile duct, liver, kidney, retroperitoneum, aorta, lung, and lymph nodes. It is histologically characterized by tissue infiltration with lymphocytes and IgG4-secreting plasma cells, storiform fibrosis, and obliterative phlebitis. In the thoracic involvement of IgG4-RD, mediastinal lymphadenopathy and perilymphangitic interstitial thickening of the lung are the most common findings. Peribronchovascular and septal thickening and paravertebral band-like soft tissue are characteristic findings of IgG4-RD. Other findings include pulmonary nodules or masses, ground-glass opacity, alveolar interstitial thickening, pleural effusion or thickening, mass in the chest wall or mediastinum, and arteritis involving the aorta and coronary artery. Radiologic differential diagnosis of various malignancies, infections, and inflammatory conditions is needed. In this review, we describe the imaging findings of IgG4-RD and the radiologic differential diagnoses in the thorax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To determine the clinical features, imaging findings and possible causes of pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) in thoracic disorder patients. Materials and Methods From 2005 to 2017, Among 62 PI patients, four of PI related with thoracic disease (6%) were identified. Medical records were reviewed to determine the clinical presentation, laboratory findings and treatment at the time of presentation of PI. Two experienced chest radiologists reviewed all imaging studies and recorded specific findings for each patient. Results The causative thoracic diseases for each four patient were severe asthma, emphysema and airway obstruction. The imaging appearance of PI, including the involved bowel segment and pattern of the air, were divided into two mesenteric vascular territories; three of our cases showed linear pattern of PI located in the ascending & proximal transverse colon and the fourth case (lung cancer) had bubbly and cystic PI in the distal transverse and descending colon. All of the remaining 3 patients, except one patient who had not been followed up, improved within 1 month by conservative treatment. Conclusion Thoracic disorder with obstructive lung disease may result in the development of benign PI. Such PI in thoracic disease patients has a similar linear and cystic appearance with ischemic bowel disease, but can nevertheless be managed by conservative treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary education on undergraduate student’s health, environment, and consideration. A total of 54 participants were recruited from an undergraduate student in Seoul. We conductive quantitative analysis of a structured questionnaire and qualitative analysis of interviews recorded by photovoice. There are significant differences among knowledge, dietary attitude, and food behavior in the field of health (p<0.001). In the field of health, photovoice data were categorized as ‘health care practice’, ‘Korean dietary lifestyles’, or ‘awareness of importance of health’ (p<0.001). In the field of environment, photovoice data were categorized as ‘environment-friendly dietary lifestyle’ and ‘environmental contamination minimization’(p<0.001). In the field of consideration, photovoice data were categorized as ‘gratitude for others’, ‘joy of cooking’or ‘eating meals together’(p<0.01). In conclusion, we found that dietary education about health, environment, and consideration may affect healthy dietary lifestyle among undergraduate students. Our findings may warrant further studies to develop significantly effective dietary education for undergraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to investigate the correlation between frequency of high-caffeine energy drink intake in adolescents and their mental health status using data from the Korean adolescent health behaviors online survey (2014-15). Mental health was classified by the five categories: Perception of stress (PS), Insufficient relief of fatigue after sleep (IRFS), Experience of sadness despair (SD), Suicidal ideation (SI), and Subjective unhappiness (SU). Regarding general characteristics, higher age, height, and body weight of subjects were associated with higher frequency of high-caffeine energy drink (HCED) intake (p< .0001). In the OR analysis, when the lowest group (≤2/wk) and highest group (1≥day) were compared, the highest group showed significantly higher OR in all five categories of mental health. According to gender, males did not show better PS, SD, and SI than females who had a high frequency of HCED (p for trend<.0001). According to school level, middle school students showed a higher risk rate than high school students in PS, IRFS, and SD (p for trend< .0001). Based on the above results, higher frequency of HCED intake among adolescents was associated with more adverse effects on mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asbestos was previously widely used due to its many favorable characteristics, such as durability, flexibility, and inexpensiveness. Asbestos has been prohibited in Korea since 2009, however, asbestos-related diseases remain an important public health issue because of its long latency time. Lung cancer is one of the most harmful asbestos- related diseases and patients with asbestos-related lung cancer receive compensation by law. The diagnosis of asbestos-related diseases is based on a detailed interview regarding the asbestos exposure, in addition to clinical, radiological, pathological, and laboratory data. This review provides a radiologic diagnosis of asbestos- related lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of home care nursing services provided by community health nurses and to identify barriers to the services. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with three types of community health care nurses. Participants were 257 nurses, 46 of whom were hospital based home care nurses, 176 were community based visiting nurses, and 35 were long term care insurance based visiting nurses. A structured questionnaire on 7 domains of home care nursing services with a 4-point Likert scale was used to measure activities and barriers to care. Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 21.0 program. Results: Hospital based home care nurses showed a high level of service performance activity in the domain of clinical laboratory tests, medications and injections, therapeutic nursing, and education. Community based visiting nurses had a high level of service performance in the reference domain. Long term care insurance based visiting nurses showed a high level of performance in the service domains of fundamental nursing and counseling. Conclusion: The results show that although health care service provided by the three types of community health nurse overlapped, the focus of the service is differentiated. Therefore, these results suggest that existing home care services will need to be utilized efficiently in the development of a new nursing care service for patients living in the community after hospital discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the impact of the proposed International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) system on staging and outcome of non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: With a total of 501 NSCLC patients with staging according to Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), 6th TNM (TNM-6) were reclassified according to the IASLC proposed TNM staging (TNM-7). The impact of TNM-7 in comparison with TNM-6 was evaluated at three levels: change in substage, staging, and outcome. The outcome measure was to compare the stage-specific overall survival of NSCLC between the two groups of patients. Results: A total of 214 (42.7%) patients had changed TNM staging, and 101 (20.2%) patients had changed stage groupings in TNM-7 compared to TNM-6. Among 100 patients showing changed stage grouping, 72 (14.4%) showed upstage and 29 (5.8%) demonstrated downstage. The TNM-7 system resuIted in better separation of survival curves among stage-specific NSCLC than TNM-6 system, especially in separation of stage IIA vs. IIB (p = 0.023) and stage IIIB vs. IV (p < 0.001). Conclusion: TNM-7 for lung cancer appears to be superior in defining stage-specific survival groups than TNM-6, especially between stage IIA vs. stage IIB and stage IIIB vs. stage IV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]