Probiotics exert various effects on the body and provide different health benefits. Previous reports have demonstrated that the P8 protein (P8), isolated from Lactobacillus rhamnosus, has anticancer properties. However, its efficacy in stem cells and normal cells has not been reported. In this study, the effect of P8 on cell proliferation and wound healing was evaluated, investigating its underlying mechanism. Based on scratch assay results, we demonstrated that P8 treatment significantly increases wound healing by activating the cell cycle and promoting stem cell stemness.Cellular mechanisms were further investigated by culturing stem cells in a medium containing Lactobacillus-derived P8 protein, revealing its promotion of cell proliferation and migration. Also, it is found that P8 enhances the expression of stemness markers, such as OCT4 and SOX2, along with activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling and Hippo pathways. These results indicate that P8 can promote cell growth by increasing stem cell proliferation, migration, and stemness in a manner associated with MAPK and Hippo signaling, which could contribute to the increased wound healing after P8 treatment. Furthermore, P8 could promote wound healing in keratinocytes by activating the MAPK signaling pathways. These results suggest that P8 might be a promising candidate to enhance stem cell culture efficiency by activating cell proliferation, and enhance therapeutic effects in skin diseases.

Probiotics exert various effects on the body and provide different health benefits. Previous reports have demonstrated that the P8 protein (P8), isolated from Lactobacillus rhamnosus, has anticancer properties. However, its efficacy in stem cells and normal cells has not been reported. In this study, the effect of P8 on cell proliferation and wound healing was evaluated, investigating its underlying mechanism. Based on scratch assay results, we demonstrated that P8 treatment significantly increases wound healing by activating the cell cycle and promoting stem cell stemness.Cellular mechanisms were further investigated by culturing stem cells in a medium containing Lactobacillus-derived P8 protein, revealing its promotion of cell proliferation and migration. Also, it is found that P8 enhances the expression of stemness markers, such as OCT4 and SOX2, along with activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling and Hippo pathways. These results indicate that P8 can promote cell growth by increasing stem cell proliferation, migration, and stemness in a manner associated with MAPK and Hippo signaling, which could contribute to the increased wound healing after P8 treatment. Furthermore, P8 could promote wound healing in keratinocytes by activating the MAPK signaling pathways. These results suggest that P8 might be a promising candidate to enhance stem cell culture efficiency by activating cell proliferation, and enhance therapeutic effects in skin diseases.

Probiotics exert various effects on the body and provide different health benefits. Previous reports have demonstrated that the P8 protein (P8), isolated from Lactobacillus rhamnosus, has anticancer properties. However, its efficacy in stem cells and normal cells has not been reported. In this study, the effect of P8 on cell proliferation and wound healing was evaluated, investigating its underlying mechanism. Based on scratch assay results, we demonstrated that P8 treatment significantly increases wound healing by activating the cell cycle and promoting stem cell stemness.Cellular mechanisms were further investigated by culturing stem cells in a medium containing Lactobacillus-derived P8 protein, revealing its promotion of cell proliferation and migration. Also, it is found that P8 enhances the expression of stemness markers, such as OCT4 and SOX2, along with activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling and Hippo pathways. These results indicate that P8 can promote cell growth by increasing stem cell proliferation, migration, and stemness in a manner associated with MAPK and Hippo signaling, which could contribute to the increased wound healing after P8 treatment. Furthermore, P8 could promote wound healing in keratinocytes by activating the MAPK signaling pathways. These results suggest that P8 might be a promising candidate to enhance stem cell culture efficiency by activating cell proliferation, and enhance therapeutic effects in skin diseases.

A 78-year-old man was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, and left nephrectomy was performed. He started pazopanib. One month later, he visited our hospital because of general weakness and dyspnea. His oxygen saturation was low. A chest X-ray showed pulmonary edema and bilateral pleural effusion. An echocardiogram showed a larger left ventricle and lower ejection fraction than observed at the previous examination. The patient discontinued pazopanib and started diuretics and digoxin. His symptoms improved and a follow-up X-ray showed improvement in the pulmonary edema with bilateral pleural effusion.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Digoxin ; Diuretics ; Dyspnea ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Failure* ; Heart Ventricles ; Heart* ; Humans ; Nephrectomy ; Oxygen ; Pleural Effusion ; Pulmonary Edema ; Thorax

This study was performed to evaluate the effects of diabetes on short- and mid-term clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Between October 2005 and December 2009, a total of 22,347 patients with AMI from a nationwide registry was analyzed. At the time point of the day 30 after AMI onset, landmark analyses were performed for the development of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), including death, re-infarction and revascularization. In this cohort, 6,131 patients (27.4%) had diabetes. Short-term MACEs, which occurred within 30 days of AMI onset, were observed in 1,364 patients (6.1%). Among the 30-day survivors (n = 21,604), mid-term MACEs, which occurred between 31 and 365 days after AMI onset, were observed in 1,181 patients (5.4%). After adjustment for potential confounders, diabetes was an independent predictor of mid-term MACEs (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.08-1.45; P = 0.002), but not of short-term MACEs (HR: 1.16; 95% CI: 0.93-1.44; P = 0.167). Diabetes is a poor prognostic factor for mid-term clinical outcomes but not for short-term outcomes in AMI patients. Careful monitoring and intensive care should be considered in diabetic patients, especially following the acute stage of AMI.
Acute Disease ; Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases/etiology ; Cohort Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/complications/*diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction/*diagnosis/epidemiology/mortality ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Registries ; Survival Analysis ; Time Factors

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To determine which drug-eluting stents are more effective in acute myocardial infarction (MI) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). METHODS: This study included a total of 3,566 acute MI survivors with CKD from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry who were treated with stenting and followed up for 12 months: 1,845 patients who received sirolimus-eluting stents (SES), 1,356 who received paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES), and 365 who received zotarolimus-eluting stents (ZES). CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 calculated by the modification of diet in renal disease method. RESULTS: At the 12-month follow-up, patients receiving ZES demonstrated a higher incidence (14.8%) of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) compared to those receiving SES (10.1%) and PES (12%, p = 0.019). The ZES patients also had a higher incidence (3.9%) of target lesion revascularization (TLR) compared to those receiving SES (1.5%) and PES (2.4%, p = 0.011). After adjusting for confounding factors, ZES was associated with a higher incidence of MACE and TLR than SES (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.623; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.442 to 0.879; p = 0.007; adjusted HR, 0.350; 95% CI, 0.165 to 0.743; p = 0.006, respectively), and with a higher rate of TLR than PES (adjusted HR, 0.471; 95% CI, 0.223 to 0.997; p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that ZES is less effective than SES and PES in terms of 12-month TLR, and has a higher incidence of MACE due to a higher TLR rate compared with SES, in acute MI patients with CKD.
Aged ; *Drug-Eluting Stents/adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction/*etiology/mortality/*therapy ; Paclitaxel/administration & dosage ; Prospective Studies ; Registries ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/*complications ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Sirolimus/administration & dosage/analogs & derivatives

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Recently, the prognostic value of N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in acute coronary syndrome has been demonstrated in many studies. However, NT-proBNP levels are influenced by various factors such as sex, age, renal function, heart failure severity, and obesity. NT-proBNP concentrations tend to decrease with higher body mass index (BMI). The aim of this study was to examine the influence of obesity on NT-proBNP as a predictive prognostic factor in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Using data from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry (January 2005 to September 2008), 2,736 AMI patients were included in this study. These patients were divided into men (n=1,972, 70%) and women (n=764, 30%), and were grouped according to their BMIs. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) during 1 year clinical follow-up were evaluated. RESULTS: NT-proBNP was significantly higher in lower BMI (p<0.001). Mean NT-proBNP levels of each obesity group were 2,393+/-4,022 pg/mL in the lean group (n=875), 1,506+/-3,074 pg/mL in the overweight group (n=724) and 1,100+/-1,137 pg/mL in the obese group (n=1,137) (p<0.01). NT-proBNP was an independent prognostic factor of AMI in obese patients by multivariative analysis of independent risk factors of MACE (p=0.01). CONCLUSION: NT-proBNP is lower in obese AMI patients than in non-obese AMI patients, but NT-proBNP is still of independent prognostic value in obese AMI patients.
Acute Coronary Syndrome ; Body Mass Index ; Brain ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Peptide Fragments ; Risk Factors

The incidence of ischemic heart disease has been increased rapidly in Korea. However, the clinical effects of antecedent hypertension on acute myocardial infarction have not been identified. We assessed the relationship between antecedent hypertension and clinical outcomes in 7,784 patients with acute myocardial infarction in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry during one-year follow-up. Diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, cerebrovascular disease, heart failure, and peripheral artery disease were more prevalent in hypertensives (n=3,775) than nonhypertensives (n=4,009). During hospitalization, hypertensive patients suffered from acute renal failure, shock, and cerebrovascular event more frequently than in nonhypertensives. During follow-up of one-year, the incidence of major adverse cardiac events was higher in hypertensives. In multi-variate adjustment, old age, Killip class > or =III, left ventricular ejection fraction <45%, systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg on admission, post procedural TIMI flow grade < or =2, female sex, and history of hypertension were independent predictors for in-hospital mortality. However antecedent hypertension was not significantly associated with one-year mortality. Hypertension at the time of acute myocardial infarction is associated with an increased rate of in-hospital mortality.
Acute Disease ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Cerebrovascular Disorders/etiology ; Diabetes Mellitus/etiology ; Female ; Heart Failure/etiology ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias/etiology ; Hypertension/*complications ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction/complications/*mortality/therapy ; Peripheral Vascular Diseases/etiology ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Registries ; Sex Factors

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We sought to characterize the lesion characteristics of mitral valve prolapse (MVP), which is being increasingly recognized as a cause of mitral regurgitation (MR) in Koreans SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 497 Patients with MVP that was diagnosed by echocardiography in 13 university-affiliated hospitals from Jan to Dec 2003 were prospectively enrolled in our study. RESULTS: A total of 497 patients (270 males, 54%) were enrolled and their mean age was 52+/-17 years. Grade 4 MR was present in 272 patients (54.7%); grade 3, 2 and 1 MR as present in 30.2%, 10.7% and 4.2%, respectively. MVP of the anterior and posterior mitral leaflet was present in 170 patients (34.2%) and 223 patients (44.9%), respectively; MVP developed in both leaflets in 104 patients (20.9%). In 37 patients (7.4%), MVP developed in all 6 segments of the mitral leaflet and these patients were younger (37+/-14 versus 54+/-16 years, respectively, p<0.05) and had a lower prevalence of chordae rupture and severe MR compared to the other patients. Among the 266 mitral segments showing prolapse in the 132 patients (26.6%) who underwent transesophageal echocardiography, the posterior medial scallop was the most frequently diseased one (26%), and this was followed by the posterior middle scallop (18%), the medial (17%), lateral (14%) and middle (13%) part of the anterior leaflet, and the posterior lateral scallop (12%). Younger patients with a mean age <45 years showed a lower prevalence of single segment prolapse, hypertension, severe MR and chordae rupture compared to the older patients (p<0.001, each). CONCLUSION: The medial part of both mitral leaflets was the predilection site for the development of MVP in Koreans and the lesion characteristics were different according to the patients' age.
Echocardiography* ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Korea* ; Male ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency ; Mitral Valve Prolapse* ; Mitral Valve* ; Pectinidae ; Prevalence ; Prolapse ; Prospective Studies* ; Rupture

Untill now occasional cases of jellyfish stings have been reported in Korean literatures but all of the reported patients contracted the stings abroad out of the country. Recently we have found a case of the jellyfish stings first in Korean coastline. The patient was an 11-year-old girl, who got the sting while she was swimming in the southern west coast of the country. The initial skin lesions showed typically whipped appearance and subsided in a month after taking both courses of the immediate toxic reaction and the late allergic reaction. Considering the ecological changes of the sea waters of the Korea, we think the jellyfish stings would occur more frequently also in the country and dermatologists should be familiar with the dermatitis.
Bites and Stings* ; Child ; Dermatitis ; Female ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Korea ; Seawater ; Skin ; Swimming