Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV core protein has been shown to modulate various cellular signaling pathways including the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) pathway which is associated with inflammation, cell proliferation and apoptosis. However, there have been conflicting reports about the effect of HCV core protein on NF-κB pathway, and the mechanism by which the core protein affects NF-κB activity remains nuclear. In this study, the functional interaction of HCV core protein and IκB kinase γ (IKKγ) was investigated using the expression plasmids of core and the components of IKK complex. The data revealed that HCV core protein activates NF-κB. Also, HCV core protein up-regulated the phosphorylation and degradation of IκBα. The activating effect of HCV core protein on NF-κB was synergistically elevated by IKKγ. It was noticed that the N-terminal IKKβ binding site, C-terminal leucine zipper, and zinc finger domains of IKKγ are not necessary for its synergistic effect. HCV core protein and IKKγ appeared to activate NF-κB by up-regulating the IKKβ activity resulting in the degradation of IκBα. As expected, HCV core protein induced the expression of NF-κB-targeted pro-inflammatory genes such as iNOS, IL-1β and IL-6 in the transcription level. These results suggest that HCV core protein induces NF-κB through the interaction with IKKγ and may play a critical role in the development of inflammation and related liver diseases.
Apoptosis ; Binding Sites ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cell Proliferation ; Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-6 ; Leucine Zippers ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Diseases ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphotransferases ; Plasmids ; Zinc Fingers

No abstract available.
Pregnancy* ; Rheology* ; Uterine Artery*

No abstract available.
Pregnancy* ; Rheology* ; Umbilical Arteries*

A 64-year-old male patient presented with hand numbness and gait disturbance. He had undergone cervical artificial disc replacement (C-ADR) at another hospital nine years earlier. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a protruded disc at the surgical level compressing the spinal cord. The implant and protruded disc were removed. Fusion was then performed. This case report highlights the importance of long-term follow-up of patients who have undergone C-ADR, and the need to be aware of the potential for late complications.In addition, it is important to ensure as complete a disk removal as possible during C-ADR.

A three-year-old female beaver (Castor canadensis) was referred to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of Chungbuk National University. It had been raised in the Cheong-ju zoo and had a history of malocclusion caused by improper feeding. General anesthesia was induced, and preoperative intraoral dental radiographs of the rostal maxillary and mandibular dentition were taken and lateral and ventrodorsal extraoral radiographs of the cheek teeth were also taken. The radiographs were negative for apical pathology and revealed a normal appearance of the cheek teeth. The lesion was likely to be related to the excessive length of the maxillary and mandibular incisors. Odontoplasty was performed to reduce overgrowth of the crowns of the incisors. Sequential transverse sections were removed until the crown was reduced by approximately its original length. The pulp chamber was not approached during the operation, as confirmed by postoperative intraoral radiographic evaluation of the incisors. Recovery from anesthesia was uneventful and the beaver returned to normal masticatory activities immediately after the operation.
Animals ; Animals, Zoo ; Female ; Incisor/pathology/*surgery ; Malocclusion/pathology/surgery/*veterinary ; Rodentia/*surgery

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to establish a prediction model of medication adherence in elderly patients with chronic diseases and to identify variables showing the highest classification accuracy of medication adherence in elderly patients with chronic diseases using support vector machine (SVM) and conventional statistical methods, such as logistic regression (LR). METHODS: We included 293 chronic disease patients older than 65 years treated at one tertiary hospital. For the medication adherence, Morisky's self-report was used. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews. The mean age of the patients was 73.8 years. The classification process was performed with LR (SPSS ver. 20.0) and SVM (MATLAB ver. 7.12) method. RESULTS: Taking into account 16 variables as predictors, the result of applying LR and SVM classification accuracy was 71.1% and 97.3%, respectively. We listed the top nine variables selected by SVM, and the accuracy using a single variable, self-efficacy, was 72.4%. The results suggest that self-efficacy is a key factor to medication adherence among a Korean elderly population both in LR and SVM. CONCLUSIONS: Medication non-adherence was strongly associated with self-efficacy. Also, modifiable factors such as depression, health literacy, and medication knowledge associated with medication non-adherence were identified. Since SVM builds an optimal classifier to minimize empirical classification errors in discriminating between patient samples, it could achieve a higher accuracy with the smaller number of variables than the number of variables used in LR. Further applications of our approach in areas of complex diseases, treatment will provide uncharted potentials to researchers in the domains.
Aged ; Chronic Disease ; Depression ; Health Literacy ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Medication Adherence ; Regression Analysis ; Support Vector Machine ; Tertiary Care Centers

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were to identify the factors that affect the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the elderly with chronic diseases and to subsequently develop from such factors a prediction model to help identify HRQoL risk groups that require intervention. METHODS: We analyzed a set of secondary data regarding 716 individuals extracted from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2008 to 2010. The statistical package of SPSS and MATLAB were used for data analysis and development of the prediction model. The algorithms used in the study were the following: stepwise logistic regression (SLR) analysis and machine learning (ML) techniques, such as decision tree, random forest, and support vector machine methods. RESULTS: Five factors with statistical significance were identified for HRQoL in the elderly with chronic diseases: 'monthly income', 'diagnosis of chronic disease', 'depression', 'discomfort', and 'perceived health status.' The SLR analysis showed the best performance with accuracy = 0.93 and F-score = 0.49. The results of this study provide essential materials that will help formulate personalized health management strategies and develop interventions programs towards the improvement of the HRQoL for elderly people with chronic diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is, to our best knowledge, the first attempt to identify the influencing factors and to apply prediction models for the HRQoL of the elderly with chronic diseases by using ML techniques as an alternative and complement to the traditional statistical approaches.
Aged* ; Chronic Disease* ; Complement System Proteins ; Decision Trees ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Machine Learning* ; Nutrition Surveys ; Quality of Life* ; Statistics as Topic ; Support Vector Machine

Background: We report our experiences with prepectoral placement breast implant surgery using Supporix (HansBioMed), a porcine acellular dermal matrix (PADM), for cosmetic and reconstructive indications. The clinical efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness of PADM were also discussed. Methods: A single-center, retrospective study was designed from December 2017 to December 2019. The participants were Korean women who underwent PADM-assisted prepectoral breast implant surgery performed by two surgeons. All complications were registered and analyzed. A systematic review and meta-analysis of complication rates after PADM-assisted prepectoral breast implant surgery were conducted for comparison with other studies. A subgroup analysis was performed according to the operation type: the cosmetic breast surgery (CBS) group, the immediate implant-based breast reconstruction (IIBR) group, and the delayed implant-based breast reconstruction (DIBR) group. Results: Twenty breasts in 16 patients were included in our study (median follow-up period, 8.25 months). In a systematic review, 20 publications with a total of 2,504 breasts in 1,921 women were quantitively analyzed. The overall complication rates in our study and other studies were 14% and 24% in the total group analysis, 0% and 12% in the CBS group, 62% and 26% in the IIBR group, and 0% and 28% in the DIBR group, respectively. Conclusions Our data support the effectiveness of PADM-assisted prepectoral breast implant surgery, which was comparable to other studies. PADM was effective for reducing seroma and hematoma in the revision CBS group and the DIBR group. In the IIBR group, it was helpful in preventing implant loss and explantation.

OBJECTIVE: Levonorgestrel releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) has been shown to treat patients with non-atypical & atypical endometrial hyperplasia (EH) successfully in many western studies. Our purpose was to examine the effectiveness of LNG-IUS in the treatment of Korean women with EH. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study of 12 women diagnosed with EH and treated with LNG-IUS insertion between February 2007 and August 2009 at the Department of Gynecology of Gangnam CHA Hospital, CHA University School of Medicine. Baseline endometrial biopsies were done before insertion of LNG-IUS, and outpatient follow-up endometrial biopsies were undertaken at 3-month intervals after insertion of LNG-IUS. We investigated the regression rate and the time to regression. RESULTS: Four patients had simple hyperplasia without atypia, 7 patients complex hyperplasia without atypia, and just 1 patient complex atypical hyperplasia. Complete regression of EH was achieved in all cases (100%, 12/12), with the significant proportion (66%, 8/12) achieving it within 3 months. The mean duration to regression was 4.5 months. All cases had regression within 9 months. In the case of complex atypical hyperplasia, the regression was attained at the 9th month after insertion of LNG-IUS. The mean follow-up duration was 12 months (range, 3 to 27 months). As long as LNG-IUS was maintained, the EH did not recur. CONCLUSION: LNG-IUS appears to be as highly effective in treating Korean women with EH.
Biopsy ; Endometrial Hyperplasia ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Levonorgestrel ; Outpatients ; Prospective Studies

We explored factors influencing presentation with advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease by age group. Data were derived from a city-wide cross-sectional survey of 759 HIV-infected adults living in Seoul, Korea. The significance of each observed factor was assessed via multivariate logistic regression. Of subjects aged 20-34 years, lower educational level had a positive influence on presentation with advanced HIV disease (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.43; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.36-4.34); those recently diagnosed with HIV were more likely to be presented with advanced HIV disease (aOR, 3.17; 95% CI, 0.99-10.2). Of the subjects aged 35-49 years, those w ith advanced HIV disease were more likely to have been diagnosed during health check-ups (aOR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.15-7.32) or via clinical manifestations (aOR, 3.61; 95% CI, 1.39-9.36). Of the subjects aged > or = 50 years, presentation with advanced HIV disease was significantly more common in older subjects (aOR per increment of 5 years, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.32-3.23) and less common among individuals diagnosed with HIV in 2000-2006 (aOR, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.04-0.83). In conclusion, a lower educational level in younger subjects and more advanced age in older subjects positively influence the presentation of advanced HIV disease.
Adult ; Age Factors ; CD4 Lymphocyte Count ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Demography ; Female ; HIV Infections/*diagnosis/*epidemiology ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Young Adult