BACKGROUND: Primary warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a relatively rare hematologic disorder resulting from autoantibody production against red blood cells. There has been very few studies about primary warm AIHA in South Korea because of its low incidence. We retrospectively analyzed the treatment outcome of primary warm AIHA. METHOD: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records of 9 primary warm AIHA patients from December 2002 to January 2015. We analyzed the causes and clinical characteristics of primary warm AIHA patients. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data in electronic medical records for 9 Korean patients with AIHA patients who were diagnosed during the period from December 2002 to January 2015 at the Regional University Hospital in Korea. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB #2015-08-007, Chosun University Hospital IRB). RESULTS: The mean age was 52 years (range 27~78), the mean hemoglobin level was 5.0 g/dL (range 2.5~6.4 g/dL). All patients received steroids at therapeutic dosages (corticosteroid 1 mg/Kg) as first line treatment. Eight of them showed complete response (5/8, 62.5%) and partial response (3/8, 37.5%), one patient required second-line treatment with rituximab. Two patients who responded first line treatment were relapsed at 86 weeks and 24 weeks after response, respectively. Only one patient of them was retreated with corticosteroid because of anemic symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that oral corticosteroid is an effective therapy for primary warm AIHA.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune* ; Electronic Health Records ; Erythrocytes ; Ethics Committees, Research ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies* ; Steroids ; Treatment Outcome ; Rituximab

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the sexual behavior, health risk related to reproductive health, and characteristics of sexual experience among college students in Korea. METHODS: Six thousands college students were selected through proportional quota sampling based on region, college, and gender. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used to describe the data. RESULTS: Thirty eight percent (N=2,285) of the participants reported sexual intercourse. The mean age of first time sexual intercourse was 19.3 years old. Respondents reported the following health risks such as smoking, drinking, not exercising, no regular meal patterns, chronic disease status, and weight loss over 10 kg in the past three months showed significant differences by sexual intercourse experience (p<.01). Among those who had sexual intercourse experiences, 7.1% of them reported having a history of STDs and 11.6% reported a pregnancy or pregnancy of one's partner. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study reflect the current trends of sex behaviors among college students and correlations between health risks related to reproductive health and sexual intercourse experiences. Developing reproductive health education programs based on the findings and providing the programs to college students through a school nurse is suggested.
Chronic Disease ; Coitus ; Drinking ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Meals ; Pregnancy ; Reproductive Health ; Risk-Taking ; Sexual Behavior ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Weight Loss

This study aimed to characterize and MRI track the mesenchymal stem cells labeled with chitosan-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide (Chitosan-SPIO). Chitosan-SPIO was synthesized from a mixture of FeCl2 and FeCl3. The human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSC) were labeled with 50 microg Fe/mL chitosan-SPIO and Resovist. The labeling efficiency was assessed by iron content, Prussian blue staining, electron microscopy and in vitro MR imaging. The labeled cells were also analyzed for cytotoxicity, phenotype and differentiation potential. Electron microscopic observations and Prussian blue staining revealed 100% of cells were labeled with iron particles. MR imaging was able to detect the labeled MSC successfully. Chitosan-SPIO did not show any cytotoxicity up to 200 microgram Fe/mL concentration. The labeled stem cells did not exhibit any significant alterations in the surface markers expression or adipo/osteo/chondrogenic differentiation potential when compared to unlabeled control cells. After contralateral injection into rabbit ischemic brain, the iron labeled stem cells were tracked by periodical in vivo MR images. The migration of cells was also confirmed by histological studies. The novel chitosan-SPIO enables to label and track MSC for in vivo MRI without cellular alteration.
Animals ; Brain Ischemia/chemically induced/pathology/therapy ; Cell Differentiation ; Chitosan/*chemistry ; Coordination Complexes/*chemistry/toxicity ; Ferric Compounds/*chemistry ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetics ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells/*chemistry/cytology ; Metal Nanoparticles/*chemistry ; Phenotype ; Rabbits

The Korea Nurses’ Health Study (KNHS) is an ongoing, large-scale, prospective cohort study of women nurses, focusing on the effects of occupational, environmental, and lifestyle factors on the health of women. The first KNHS survey was performed in 2013-2014 (n=20,613). As of December 2023, 11 follow-up surveys have been conducted. Participants who were pregnant were asked to participate in the early pregnancy survey (n=2,179) and postpartum survey after giving birth (n=2,790). The main variables included socio-demographic, work-related, lifestyle, physical, mental, and women’s health factors. Blood, urine, and toenail samples were collected from a participant subgroup of the first survey (n=1,983). The subgroups of the second survey completed a food frequency questionnaire in 2019 (n=300) and 2021 (n=871). In 2020, a subgroup of the first survey answered a coronavirus disease 2019-related survey (n=975). To examine various health-related factors in young adults, new participants were added to the KNHS cohort in the 11th (n=1,000) and 12th (n=1,002) surveys. The KNHS cohort will help identify health and illness determinants in Korean women. Data can be accessed at https://coda.nih.go.kr/frt/index.do.

Synthetic cannabinoids are one of most abused new psychoactive substances. The recreational use of abused drug has aroused serious concerns about the consequences of these drugs on infection. However, the effects of synthetic cannabinoid on resistance to tetanus toxin are not fully understood yet. In the present study, we aimed to determine if the administration of synthetic cannabinoids increase the susceptibility to tetanus toxin-induced motor behavioral deficit and functional changes in cerebellar neurons in mice. Furthermore, we measured T lymphocytes marker levels, such as CD8 and CD4 which against tetanus toxin. JWH-210 administration decreased expression levels of T cell activators including cluster of differentiation (CD) 3ε, CD3γ, CD74p31, and CD74p41. In addition, we demonstrated that JWH-210 induced motor impairment and decrement of vesicle-associated membrane proteins 2 levels in the cerebellum of mice treated with tetanus toxin. Furthermore, cerebellar glutamatergic neuronal homeostasis was hampered by JWH-210 administration, as evidenced by increased glutamate concentration levels in the cerebellum. These results suggest that JWH-210 may increase the vulnerability to tetanus toxin via the regulation of immune function.
Animals ; Cannabinoids ; Cerebellar Diseases* ; Cerebellum ; Glutamic Acid ; Homeostasis ; Immunosuppression* ; Mice* ; Neurons ; R-SNARE Proteins ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tetanus ; Tetanus Toxin

The first meeting of the National Control Laboratories for Vaccines and Biologicals in the Western Pacific Region was held on September 1–2, 2016 in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. The meeting objectives were to share results of current research and to promote collaboration between the National Control Laboratories. To this end, we first discussed each country’s current status of research on quality control of biologicals. Next, we reviewed quality control of snake venom and antivenom production and the progress of a collaborative study on the Korean reference standard candidate for snake venom. We also discussed the establishment of the second regional reference standard antivenom and the characterization of the Vero cell genome landscape and its application to quality control. Moreover, we also reflected on the importance of collaboration among interested parties participating in this meeting. In conclusion, the meeting initiated networking between the national control laboratories in the Western Pacific region and paved the way to continue collaboration, which will eventually improve the region’s capacity for quality control of biologicals.
Cooperative Behavior ; Genome ; Quality Control ; Republic of Korea ; Seoul ; Snake Venoms ; Vaccines* ; Vero Cells