OBJECTIVE: Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that is involved in social emotional processing. A leading hypothesis is that oxytocin facilitates positive prosocial behaviors; the peptide may also play a more general role in inhibiting withdrawal-related social behaviors. The present study examined these possibilities. METHODS: A double-blind, placebo controlled crossover design was used with 31 healthy women. Forty-five minutes following the administration of 40 IU of intranasal oxytocin or a placebo, the participants were presented with two dot probe tests with pairs of face stimuli depicting emotional and neutral faces in adults. RESULTS: Oxytocin specifically reduced the attention bias toward the location of the faces of adults showing negative emotions, particularly in the case of disgust. Oxytocin did not enhance the attentional bias toward adult happy faces. The effect of oxytocin toward adult negative emotion was correlated with the sensitivity of the drive in the behavioral motivational system. CONCLUSION: Oxytocin reduces attention to negative social emotions in adults, which supports oxytocin serves to inhibit withdrawal-related social behaviour.
Adult* ; Bias (Epidemiology)* ; Cross-Over Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Neuropeptides ; Oxytocin* ; Social Behavior

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) has emerged as a social issue as e-cigarette use is rapidly increasing worldwide and is related to many deaths in the United States. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of EVALI in South Korea of a 24-year-old man with acute respiratory symptoms and a history of e-cigarette use. Chest CT revealed diffuse bilateral ground-glass opacities with subpleural sparing, airspace consolidation, and centrilobular micronodules as typical patterns of EVALI with organizing pneumonia and diffuse alveolar damage. Infection was excluded with meticulous laboratory examinations, and the patients’ illnesses were not attributed to other causes. EVALI was diagnosed by meeting the diagnostic criteria with consistent clinico-radiologic findings through a multidisciplinary approach. Radiologists should have good knowledge of EVALI radiologic findings and play a cardinal role in the proper diagnosis and management of EVALI.

Purpose: This study investigated metabolic health status as a risk factor for female bladder cancer using the National Health Checkups databases of Korea. Materials and Methods: We defined obesity if body mass index was ≥25 kg/m2 and normal weight as <25 kg/m2. Metabolic unhealthiness was defined when 3 or more criteria of metabolic syndrome were met. A total of 11,461,618 women who took National health Checkups between 2009 and 2012 were categorized as metabolic healthy normal weight (MHNW), metabolic unhealthy normal weight (MuHNW), metabolic health obese (MHO), and metabolic unhealthy obese (MuHO). Multivariable-adjusted Cox regression was done to analyze the hazard ratio of bladder cancer. Results: The mean age was 48±11.55 years and body mass index was 23.19±2.13 kg/m2. During 5.4±1.1 years of follow-up, 3,893 patients were newly diagnosed with bladder cancer. Compared to MHNW group, the hazard ratio of MuHNW group and MuHO group were 1.237 and 1.288, respectively, while 0.997 in the MHO group. As the number of metabolic unhealthy criteria increased, the cumulative incidence of bladder cancer increased. Conclusions As a result of a large-scale study conducted on the female population in Korea, the risk of bladder cancer increased with metabolic unhealthiness. Even with normal weight, if metabolically unhealthy, the risk of bladder cancer increased. The greater the degree of metabolic unhealthiness, the higher the risk of bladder cancer. Education on metabolic healthiness concerning female bladder cancer is necessary.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Exhaled nitric oxide (NO) has been extensively investigated as a marker of airway inflammation in asthma, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is recognized as a useful tool for its evaluation. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between FeNO levels and bronchodilator response (BDR), and between FeNO and mannitol-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), in patients with suspected asthma. METHODS: Clinical variables were collected from patients aged ≥ 13 years with suspected bronchial asthma and measured levels of FeNO. These levels were compared with patient values for forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and forced expiratory flow at 25 and 75% of the pulmonary volume (FEF(25-75%)) in bronchodilator response tests under control conditions, and during bronchial provocation with mannitol. Correlations and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves between FeNO levels and each test were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 259 patients were included in the analysis. The mean ages of the two test groups were 41.1 and 47.8 years, respectively. FeNO levels were strongly correlated with bronchodilator response (%) and with the mannitol dose producing a 15% fall in FEV1 (PD15). On the other hand, FeNO levels were only weakly correlated with FEF(25-75%). The optimal cut-off values for FeNO to predict a positive BDR and AHR were 38.5 and 29.5 parts per billion, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that FEV1 and FEF(25-75%) airway responses correlate with FeNO levels in patients with suspected bronchial asthma. FeNO levels may help to predict positive responses to BDR and AHR.
Asthma* ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Hand ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Mannitol ; Nitric Oxide* ; ROC Curve

Background and Objectives: The guidelines for cochlear implantation (CIs) are expanding, and the number of CI procedures performed on the elderly is increasing. The purpose of this study was to analyze the results and safety of cochlear implantation in the elderly, as well as to evaluate the predictive factors on CI outcomes. Subjects and Methods: The study included 56 patients aged ≥40 years, who received CIs between 2009 and 2020. They were divided into two groups: 27 younger adults (40-64 years) and 29 elderly (>64 years). The study compared their pre- and postoperative speech perception and category of auditory performance (CAP) scores, surgical complications, and hospitalization periods. It also evaluated associated factors in the elderly group by examining categorical and continuous variables and postoperative CAP score. Results: There was a significant improvement in speech recognition tests (both word and sentence) and CAP scores in both groups compared to the pre-implantation scores (p<0.001). Postoperative results were slightly lower in the elderly group than in younger adults for sentence recognition and CAP scores, except for word recognition. No significant associated factors were found on postoperative CAP scores, except for etiology. Postoperative CAP significantly improved in the sudden hearing loss group compared to the groups with other etiologies (p=0.045). The elderly group had more comorbidities than that in the younger adult group (p=0.026), but there were no significant differences in postoperative complications and hospitalization periods. Conclusions While speech recognition and CAP scores were relatively lower in the elderly group compared to the younger adults, the elderly group showed significant improvements in audiological results after CI. Moreover, CI was safe and well tolerated in elderly patients.

Citrus junos seeds (CS) have been traditionally used for the treatment of cancer and neuralgia. They are also used to manufacture edible oil and cosmetic perfume. A large amount of CS shells without oil (CSS) are discarded after the oil in CS is used as foods or herbal remedy. To efficiently utilize CSS as a by-products, it needs to be studied through chemical analysis. Therefore, we developed an ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)–diode array detection (DAD) method for simultaneous determination and quantitative analysis of five components (two flavonoids and threes limonoids) in CSS. A Waters Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column C18 (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.8 μm) was used for this separation. It was maintained at 40 oC. The mobile phase used for the analysis was distilled water and acetonitrile with gradient elution. To identify the quantity of the five components, a mass spectrometer (MS) with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source was used. The regression equation showed great linearity, with correlation coefficient ≥ 0.9912. Limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) of the five compounds were 0.09 – 0.13 and 0.26 – 0.38 μg/mL, respectively. Recoveries of extraction ranged from 97.45% to 101.91%. Relative standard deviation (RSD) values of intra- and inter-day precision were 0.06 – 1.15% and 0.19 – 0.25%, respectively. This UPLC–DAD method can be validated to simultaneously analyze quantities of marker flavonoids and limonoids in CSS.

Disseminated peritoneal leiomyomatosis (DPL) is a very rare benign disease, characterized by multiple solid subperitoneal or peritoneal smooth muscle nodules in abdominopelvic cavity and malignant transformation is extremely rare. Also, uterine smooth muscle tumors of unknown malignant potential (STUMP) is a rare tumor, which is regarded as subclassification in uterine smooth muscle tumors between benign and malignant criteria. Pathogenesis of DPL is uncertain, but increasing evidence of iatrogenic cause including laparoscopic myomectomy has been reported.We report a case of a 28-year-old female with previous history of laparoscopic myomectomy diagnosed with DPL with atypical feature and concurrent uterine STUMP using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as well as present a review of the literature.

Thromboembolic events are rare among systemic complications of inflammatory bowel disease; however, they are a significant cause of mortality when they occur. Several reports have considered thromboembolic events in patients with ulcerative colitis presenting with venous or arterial thromboembolism, such as cerebral thrombosis, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary thromboembolism, portal vein thrombosis, or mesenteric vein thrombosis. However, increased coagulability related to Crohn's disease is extremely rare compared with that of ulcerative colitis. We report a case of a 42-year-old man with complicated portal hypertension that occurred due to extensive portal vein and mesenteric vein thrombosis. He had a monozygotic twin brother who was also in remission with Crohn's disease. The patient showed protein C and protein S deficiencies; however, he recovered with early anticoagulation therapy.
Colitis, Ulcerative ; Crohn Disease ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; Intracranial Thrombosis ; Mesenteric Veins ; Portal Vein ; Protein C ; Protein S ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Siblings ; Thromboembolism ; Thrombosis ; Twins, Monozygotic ; Venous Thromboembolism ; Venous Thrombosis

The transplantation of neural precursor cells (NPCs) is known to be a promising approach to ameliorating behavioral deficits after stroke in a rodent model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Previous studies have shown that transplanted NPCs migrate toward the infarct region, survive and differentiate into mature neurons to some extent. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of NPC migration following transplantation into stroke animals have yet to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the fates of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived NPCs (ENStem-A) for 8 weeks following transplantation into the side contralateral to the infarct region using 7.0T animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). T2- and T2*-weighted MRI analyses indicated that the migrating cells were clearly detectable at the infarct boundary zone by 1 week, and the intensity of the MRI signals robustly increased within 4 weeks after transplantation. Afterwards, the signals were slightly increased or unchanged. At 8 weeks, we performed Prussian blue staining and immunohistochemical staining using human-specific markers, and found that high percentages of transplanted cells migrated to the infarct boundary. Most of these cells were CXCR4-positive. We also observed that the migrating cells expressed markers for various stages of neural differentiation, including Nestin, Tuj1, NeuN, TH, DARPP-32 and SV38, indicating that the transplanted cells may partially contribute to the reconstruction of the damaged neural tissues after stroke. Interestingly, we found that the extent of gliosis (glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive cells) and apoptosis (TUNEL-positive cells) were significantly decreased in the cell-transplanted group, suggesting that hESC-NPCs have a positive role in reducing glia scar formation and cell death after stroke. No tumors formed in our study. We also performed various behavioral tests, including rotarod, stepping and modified neurological severity score tests, and found that the transplanted animals exhibited significant improvements in sensorimotor functions during the 8 weeks after transplantation. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that hESC-NPCs have the capacity to migrate to the infarct region, form neural tissues efficiently and contribute to behavioral recovery in a rodent model of ischemic stroke.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cell Differentiation ; *Cell Movement ; Embryonic Stem Cells/cytology/metabolism/*transplantation ; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein/genetics/metabolism ; Humans ; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery/metabolism/pathology/physiopathology/*surgery ; Male ; Neural Stem Cells/cytology/metabolism/*transplantation ; *Psychomotor Performance ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, CXCR4/genetics/metabolism

PURPOSE: Reduced brain glucose metabolism and basal forebrain cholinergic neuron degeneration are common features of Alzheimer's disease and have been correlated with memory function. Although regions representing glucose hypometabolism in patients with Alzheimer's disease are targets of cholinergic basal forebrain neurons, the interaction between cholinergic denervation and glucose hypometabolism is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate glucose metabolism changes caused by cholinergic deficits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We lesioned basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in rats using 192 immunoglobulin G-saporin. After 3 weeks, lesioned animals underwent water maze testing or were analyzed by 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography. RESULTS: During water maze probe testing, performance of the lesioned group decreased with respect to time spent in the target quadrant and platform zone. Cingulate cortex glucose metabolism in the lesioned group decreased, compared with the normal group. Additionally, acetylcholinesterase activity and glutamate decarboxylase 65/67 expression declined in the cingulate cortex. CONCLUSION: Our results reveal that spatial memory impairment in animals with selective basal forebrain cholinergic neuron damage is associated with a functional decline in the GABAergic and cholinergic system associated with cingulate cortex glucose hypometabolism.
Acetylcholine/metabolism ; Alzheimer Disease ; Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/*pharmacology ; Basal Forebrain/*drug effects/metabolism ; Cholinergic Agents/administration & dosage/*pharmacology ; Cholinergic Neurons/*drug effects/metabolism ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; GABAergic Neurons/*drug effects/metabolism ; Glucose/*metabolism ; Gyrus Cinguli/*drug effects/metabolism ; Humans ; Injections ; Maze Learning ; Motor Activity/physiology ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Rats ; Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 1/*pharmacology