Many of early findings regarding intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and their niche in the human intestine have relied on colorectal cancer cell lines and labor-intensive and time-consuming mouse models. However, these models cannot accurately recapitulate the physiologically relevant aspects of human ISCs. In this study, we demonstrate a reliable and robust culture method for 3D expanding intestinal spheroids (InSexp ) mainly comprising ISCs and progenitors, which can be derived from 3D human intestinal organoids (HIOs). We did functional chararcterization of InSexp derived from 3D HIOs, differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells, and optimization culture methods. Our results indicate that InSexp can be rapidly expanded and easily passaged, and show enhanced growth rates via WNT pathway activation. InSexp are capable of exponential cell expansion and cryopreservation. Furthermore, in vitro-matured HIO-derived InSexp proliferate faster than immature HIO-derived InSexp with preservation of the parental HIO characteristics. These findings may facilitate the development of scalable culture systems for the long-term maintenance of human ISCs and provide an alternative platform for studying ISC biology.

Objective: This review aimed to investigate the effects of combined treatment with thermotherapy and electrical stimulation simultaneously in musculoskeletal pain disorders. Method: A systematic review was performed using electronic databases including PubMed and Embase. Following search terms were used: (simultaneous OR synchronous OR combined) AND (thermotherapy OR “thermal therapy” OR heat OR “hot pack” OR ultrasound OR microwave OR shortwave OR cold OR cryotherapy) AND (“electrical stimulation” OR electrotherapy OR TENS OR “interferential current”). Studies on the simultaneous application of thermotherapy and electrical stimulation, comparing with single physical modalities or massage were included. Results: After title and abstract exclusion, four articles were selected, according to the eligibility criteria. Combined treatment did not reveal a differential effect on pain reduction when compared to a single physical modality. However, combined treatment showed superior effects on functional aspects such as range of motion (ROM) and timed up-and-go score. Conclusion This review suggests that combined treatment with thermotherapy and electrical stimulation simultaneously seems to have a superior effect on ROM, balance, and gait ability, but not pain reduction, in musculoskeletal pain disorders. However, the number of included studies in this review was small and study designs were heterogeneous. Therefore, further research is needed to confirm these findings.

PURPOSE: This study was done to examine the importance of health promotion behavior for infants and toddlers as perceived by mothers of children in early childhood, and graduate students in nursing and to provide information for health promotion in early childhood. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey research study. The participants were 91 mothers of children in early childhood, and 115 graduate students in nursing. RESULTS: The comparisons showed that graduate students in nursing reported higher perception of the importance health promotion behavior for infants and toddlers than did the mothers. In health promotion behavior, the highest score was in the category of safety. CONCLUSION: Providing information by nurses is necessary to promote health promotion behavior for mothers of children in early childhood. Therefore, it is important for healthcare professionals to develop effective programs for these mothers who want to promote good health promotion behavior in their children.
Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Delivery of Health Care ; Health Behavior ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Infant ; Mothers ; Child Health

BACKGROUND: Menstruation is often regarded as a privilege for women allowing reproductive activity. However, abrupt hormonal fluctuations in menstrual cycle may cause distressing physical and psychological symptoms such as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). PMS is known to have a great impact on daily life activities and social functions, and might result in significantly decreased quality of life (QOL). In this study, we aimed to evaluate a relation between PMS and QOL in young adult Korean women. METHODS: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to a total of 514 women who were aged 16~35 years and who were employed in an industrial complex located in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. PMS was assessed using diagnostic criteria recommended by the American Psychiatric Association. QOL was assessed using Korean health related Quality of Life Scale. The association between PMS and QOL was examined in 440 women using the two-sample t-test after excluding 74 women who were missing for variables essential for the assessment of PMS and QOL. RESULTS: The prevalence of PMS was 7.3% (32 out of 440 women). Women with PMS had the worse QOL score in almost all domains of QOL except for spiritual health (physical function, psychological health, social function, pain, vitality, role limitation, health status perception, and health status change). CONCLUSION: There was a significant relation between PMS and QOL. The finding of significantly lower QOL in women with PMS suggests that PMS should be evaluated and treated actively in primary care.
Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Menstrual Cycle ; Menstruation ; Premenstrual Syndrome ; Prevalence ; Primary Health Care ; Quality of Life ; Women's Health ; Young Adult ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that coffee consumption has an influence on kidney function. This study investigated the relationship between habitual coffee consumption and renal impairment in Korean women, in consideration of diabetic status. METHODS: This study involved 2,673 women aged 35 to 84 years who had participated in the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, conducted in 2008. Habitual coffee consumption was classified into three categories: less than 1 cup per day, 1 cup per day, and 2 or more cups per day. Renal function impairment was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetes and renal function impairment was higher in women who drank < 1 cup of coffee per day. Compared with drinking < 1 cup of coffee per day, the odds ratio (OR) for renal function impairment was significantly lower (OR, 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37 to 0.95; P = 0.03) in those who habitually drank > or = 2 cups per day after adjusting for multiple confounding factors. When data were stratified according to the presence of diabetes, coffee consumption > or = 2 cups of coffee per day showed an inverse association with renal function impairment in only diabetic women (OR, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.88; P = 0.04), compared with consumption < 1 cup of coffee per day. CONCLUSION: In a representative sample of Korean women, coffee consumption was significantly associated with a decreased risk of renal impairment especially in middle and elderly-aged diabetic women.
Aged ; Coffee ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diet ; Drinking ; Female ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Kidney ; Korea ; Nutrition Surveys ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study is aimed at elucidating potential temporal associations between the occurrence of Kawasaki disease (KD) and various viral infections. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We obtained monthly patterns of KD from the seventh nationwide survey and viral detection data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2009 to 2011 and evaluated temporal correlations between them for each month. The respiratory viruses detected using a multiplex real-time-polymerase chain reaction kit were influenza virus (A/H1N1, A/H3N2, A/H5N1, and B), adenovirus, parainfluenza virus (type 1, 2, 3), respiratory syncytial virus (type A, B), human rhinovirus, human coronavirus (OC43/229E, NL63), human bocavirus, and enterovirus. RESULTS: We obtained data from a total of 13031 patients who were treated for acute KD from 87 hospitals with pediatric residence programs. During this survey, KD showed highest overall incidence in summer and winter seasons and lowest incidence in February and October. We received viral detection data for a total of 14267 patients. Viral detection was highest during winter and spring seasons. The most commonly detected virus was human rhinovirus (32.6%), followed by influenza virus (26.8%). The monthly incidence of KD showed significant correlation with the monthly overall viral detection (p=0.022, r=0.382). In particular, human bocavirus and enterovirus have significant correlations with monthly patterns of KD occurrence (p=0.032 and p=0.007, respectively) and influenza virus correlated with KD occurrence with borderline significance (p=0.063). CONCLUSION: The temporal association between monthly occurrence of KD and viral detection suggests the etiologic importance of precedent infection in the development of KD.
Adenoviridae ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Coronavirus ; Enterovirus ; Human bocavirus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Orthomyxoviridae ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; Rhinovirus ; Seasons

Amelanotic maliganat melanoma is a comparatively rare disease. It accounts for 1.8~8.1% of all malignant melanoma. It is sometime difficult to diagnose amelanotic malignant melanoma because there is no pigmentation, clinically. Polypoid melanoma is a variant of nodular melanoma, which in depth seldom reaches the reticular dermis. The main part of the tumor is located above the nearby epidermis, raised in the form resembling cauliflower. We report a rare case of amelanotic malignant melanoma with polypoid feature in a 78-year-old woman who presented a single bright red nodule on the left thigh.
Aged ; Brassica ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Female ; Humans ; Melanoma ; Melanoma, Amelanotic ; Pigmentation ; Rare Diseases ; Thigh

No abstract available.
Catheters* ; Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation of Lung, Congenital* ; Fetal Therapies* ; Lung*

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a multisystemic autoimmune disease in which the kidneys are frequently involved. Clinical diagnosis of SLE is based on the criteria of American Rheumatism Association (ARA). A few cases who were classified as SLE by the ARA criteria but were antinuclear antibody (ANA)-negative have been reported. It was reported that critical factor in ANA positivity is the choice of substrate. It is generally accepted that the cultured cell of human origin, especially HEP-2 cell, is better than tissue section or animal cells. Thus, the ANA test is negative only in approximately 2M of SLE patients when human tissue culture cells are used as substrate. We report a 25-year-old man admitted to our hospital because of generalized edema. He was found to have active lupus nephritis(WHO class IV), photosensitivity and pancytopenia. The result of FANA test which used HEP-2 cell as substrate was repeatedly negative, but anti-ds DNA and anti-Ro antibody were positive.
Adult ; Animals ; Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Cells, Cultured ; Diagnosis ; DNA ; Edema ; Humans ; Kidney ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Lupus Nephritis* ; Pancytopenia ; Rheumatic Diseases

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to review studies that have examined the quality of life of women with urinary incontinence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A review was conducted that used the databases PubMED, Proquest, CINAHL, and Sciencedirect. Articles were included that were published in English between 2005 and 2010 the key words use were urinary incontinence, women, and quality of life. RESULTS: A total of 18 studies were identified, and the prevalence of urinary incontinence varied depending on the definition of incontinence used and the age of the population studied. The Incontinence Quality of Life (I-QoL), Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-short form (IIQ-7), and King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) were the most commonly used instruments. Demographic, medical, physical, psychological, health, and intervention factors were reported as influencing factors on the quality of life of women with incontinence. Age, severity of urinary incontinence, type of urinary incontinence, number of urinary incontinence episodes, body weight, stress, and help-seeking behavior were statistically significant variables influencing quality of life. CONCLUSION: Future studies are needed to identify factors related to quality of life among women with incontinence and to use validated instruments according to specific subjects.
Body Weight ; Female ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Urinary Incontinence