Prevalence and management of pain by different age groups of Korean cancer patients.

The aims of this study were to evaluate the differences in cancer prevalence and pain management between young and elderly patients. The patients were grouped into 3 groups. The prevalence of cancer pain was 50.0% in those younger than 65 years, 55.9% in those aged between 65 and 75, and 58.3% in those older than 75 years. The prevalence of cancer pain was higher for patients in advanced stages and with poor performance status. Using logistic regression analysis, we found that performance status has a significant correlation with cancer pain. Severe cancer pain occurred in 8.0% of the patient and was most prevalent in the advanced stage. Side effects of analgesics were observed in 24.5%. Cancer pain correlates with performance status and cancer stage but not significantly with age.

CMR assessment of endothelial damage and angiogenesis in porcine coronary arteries using gadofosveset.

BACKGROUND: Endothelial damage and angiogenesis are essential for atherosclerotic plaque development and destabilization. We sought to examine whether contrast enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) using gadofosveset could show endothelial damage and neovessel formation in balloon injured porcine coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data were obtained from seven pigs that all underwent balloon injury of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) to induce endothelial damage and angiogenesis. Between one - 12 days (average four) after balloon injury, in vivo and ex vivo T1-weighted coronary CMR was performed after intravenous injection of gadofosveset. Post contrast, CMR showed contrast enhancement of the coronary arteries with a selective and time-dependent average expansion of the injured LAD segment area of 45% (p = 0.04; CI95 = [15%-75%]), indicating local extravasation of gadofosveset. Vascular and perivascular extravasation of albumin (marker of endothelial leakiness) and gadofosveset was demonstrated with agreement between Evans blue staining and ex vivo CMR contrast enhancement (p = 0.026). Coronary MRI contrast enhancement and local microvessel density determined by microscopic examination correlated (ρ = 0.82, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Contrast enhanced coronary CMR with gadofosveset can detect experimentally induced endothelial damage and angiogenesis in the porcine coronary artery wall.

Smoking, alcohol and gastric cancer risk in Korean men: the National Health Insurance Corporation Study.

We investigated the risk of gastric cancer by subsite in relation to cigarette smoking and alcohol in a large population-based cohort of 669 570 Korean men in an insurance plan followed for an average 6.5 years, yielding 3452 new cases of gastric cancer, of which 127 were cardia and upper-third gastric cancer, 2409 were distal gastric cancer and 1007 were unclassified. A moderate association was found between smoking, cardia and upper-third (adjusted relative risk (aRR) 2.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-3.5) and distal cancers (aRR=1.4; 95% CI=1.3-1.6). We also found a positive association between alcohol consumption and distal (aRR=1.3; 95% CI=1.2-1.5) and total (aRR=1.2; 95% CI=1.1-1.4) gastric cancer. Combined exposure to high levels of tobacco and alcohol increased the risk estimates further; cardia and upper-third gastric cancers were more strongly related to smoking status than distal gastric cancer.British Journal of Cancer (2007) 97, 700-704. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6603893 www.bjcancer.com Published online 17 July 2007.

Cytonuclear disequilibrium in a hybrid zone involving deep-sea hydrothermal vent mussels of the genus Bathymodiolus.

A hybrid zone involving the deep-sea mussels, Bathymodiolus azoricus and B. puteoserpentis, was recently discovered at Broken Spur hydrothermal vent field (29 degrees 10' N, 43 degrees 10' W) along an intermediate segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge axis. Examination of nuclear (allozymes) and cytoplasmic (mitochondrial DNA) gene markers in a new sample from Broken Spur revealed significant cytonuclear disequilibrium caused by an excess of the parental types (coupling phase) and a deficiency of recombinants (repulsion phase). An assignment test of individual multilocus genotypes also revealed an excess of parental genotypes in the admixed population. These results support the hypothesis that the Broken Spur mussel population comprises a nonequilibrium mixture of parental immigrants and hybrid individuals.

Size assessment of adenoid and nasopharyngeal airway by acoustic rhinometry in children.

Adenoid hypertrophy is known as the most common cause of nasal obstruction in children; thus, adenoidectomy with, or without, tonsillectomy is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in the paediatric population. Although many methods have been suggested, few studies have reported on how to assess adenoid size, pre-operatively. Acoustic rhinometry is an objective technique as well as a non-invasive method, which can be easily used in young children. This study confirmed that acoustic rhinometry is a non-invasive and objective technique for assessing the geometry of the nasal cavity and nasopharynx. Forty children were evaluated using symptomology, two different radiological measurements and acoustic rhinometry; the results were compared with endoscopic findings. Clinical symptoms and A/N ratio measured with Fujioka's method significantly correlated with the endoscopic assessment findings (r = 0.769 and 0.604 respectively). Significant increases in the cross-sectional area and volume of the nasopharynx were observed at the adenoid notch after adenoidectomy (p < 0.005 and p < 0.005, respectively). Acoustic rhinometry showed a high degree of correlation of which adenoid occupied the nasopharyngeal airway under endoscopic examination (r = 0.771). Thus, the study concluded that acoustic rhinometry can be as good an objective method for measuring adenoid sizes as endoscopy and can be used as one of the pre-operative examination tools for adenoidectomy.