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Background: Although chemotherapy‐induced alopecia (CIA) is considered temporary, some patients report persistent alopecia several years after chemotherapy. There is, however, a paucity of long‐term prospective data on the incidence and impact of permanent CIA (PCIA). The objective of our study was to estimate the long‐term incidence of PCIA in a cohort of patients with breast cancer whose hair volume and density were measured prior to chemotherapy and who were followed for 3 years after chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Prospective cohort study of consecutive patients ≥18 years of age with postoperative diagnosis of stage I–III breast cancer expected to receive adjuvant chemotherapy at the outpatient breast cancer clinic at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, Korea, from February 2012 to July 2013 (n = 61). Objective hair density and thickness were measured using a noninvasive bioengineering device. Results: The proportion of participants who had PCIA at 6 months and 3 years was 39.5% and 42.3%, respectively. PCIA was characterized in most patients by incomplete hair regrowth. Patients who received a taxane‐based regimen were more likely to experience PCIA compared with patients with other types of chemotherapy. At a 3‐year follow‐up, hair thinning was the most common problem reported by study participants (75.0%), followed by reduced hair volume (53.9%), hair loss (34.6%), and gray hair (34.6%). Conclusion: PCIA is a common adverse event of breast cancer adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy. Clinicians should be aware of this distressing adverse event and develop supportive care strategies to counsel patients and minimize its impact on quality of life. Implications for Practice: Knowledge of permanent chemotherapy‐induced alopecia, an under‐reported adverse event, should lead to optimized pretherapy counseling, anticipatory coping techniques, and potential therapeutic strategies for this sequela of treatment. Chemotherapy‐induced alopecia is (CIA) considered temporary; however, some patients report persistent alopecia several years after chemotherapy. Long‐term prospective data on the incidence and impact of permanent CIA is scarce. This article reports the results of a study conducted to estimate the long‐term incidence of persistent CIA in a cohort of breast cancer patients with measurements of hair volume and density before and after chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTObjective:Our objective was to evaluate long-term altered appearance, distress, and body image in posttreatment breast cancer patients and compare them with those of patients undergoing active treatment and with general population controls.Method: We conducted a cross-sectional survey between May and December of 2010. We studied 138 breast cancer patients undergoing active treatment and 128 posttreatment patients from 23 Korean hospitals and 315 age- and area-matched subjects drawn from the general population. Breast, hair, and skin changes, distress, and body image were assessed using visual analogue scales and the EORTC BR-23. Average levels of distress were compared across groups, and linear regression was utilized to identify the factors associated with body image.Results: Compared to active-treatment patients, posttreatment patients reported similar breast changes (6.6 vs. 6.2), hair loss (7.7 vs. 6.7), and skin changes (5.8 vs. 5.4), and both groups had significantly more severe changes than those of the general population controls (p < 0.01). For a similar level of altered appearance, however, breast cancer patients experienced significantly higher levels of distress than the general population. In multivariate analysis, patients with high altered appearance distress reported significantly poorer body image (-20.7, CI95% = -28.3 to -13.1) than patients with low distress.Significance Of Results: Posttreatment breast cancer patients experienced similar levels of altered appearance, distress, and body-image disturbance relative to patients undergoing active treatment but significantly higher distress and poorer body image than members of the general population. Healthcare professionals should acknowledge the possible long-term effects of altered appearance among breast cancer survivors and help them to manage the associated distress and psychological consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The KISAP (Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources Seafloor Acoustic Probe) was developed to obtainin situcompressional wave velocity and attenuation profiles for seafloor sediments. The instrument comprises recording channel receivers, and an acoustic source, and can be attached to a corer or a probe. Here, we report experiments comparing KISAPin situvelocity to laboratory velocity of colocated piston cores. KISAP data matched laboratory data (corrected for temperature and pressure) reasonably. KISAP can be used to collectin situacoustic data and can be effectively used to calibrate previous laboratory data toin situdata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to measure the air concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO) in daycare centers to determine relevant influencing factors, including temperature, relative humidity (RH), type of facility, number of children, type of ventilation system, ventilation time, and air cleaning system. The authors measured HCHO, CO2, temperature, and RH in the center of classrooms in 289 daycare centers. Spearman’s correlation and Mann–Whitney analyses were used to examine the relationships and differences in HCHO and CO2for varying temperatures, RH values, and categorical indoor environmental factors. There were no significant differences in the HCHO and CO2air concentrations with varying numbers of children, ventilation times, or ventilation and air cleaning system types. However, both the HCHO and CO2air concentrations were significantly different for varying RH values, which were divided into five categories (p< 0.001). Only the HCHO air concentrations were significantly different for varying temperatures, which were divided into five categories (p< 0.001). Significant correlations were found between HCHO air concentrations and the temperature (r= 0.35,p< 0.0001), RH (r= 0.51,p< 0.0001), and CO2(r= 0.36,p< 0.0001). The study results support maintaining an appropriate temperature and RH range for reducing airborne HCHO in daycare centers. Further research is needed to elucidate the precise mechanisms responsible for the relationships observed in this study. Implications: Data from 289 daycare centers in Seoul, South Korea, indicate that HCHO concentrations show a positive correlation with indoor temperature and relative humidity. This indicates that keeping temperatures low will help keep HCHO concentrations low, by both a direct and an indirect effect, since low temperatures also cause low relative humidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]