BACKGROUND: Microbial screening tests of umbilical cord blood (UCB) are essential for stem cell transplantation. We analyzed the microbial contamination rate and distribution of isolated microorganisms over 10 years of samples from the MEDIPOST Cord Blood Bank. In addition, we studied the influence of inoculum volume microorganism culture and compared the yield and speed of microorganism detection. METHODS: Microbial screening tests were performed using a manual method, which includes using an inoculum of 2 mL of plasma, a byproduct of UCB processing from pediatric culture bottles. When positive blood culture was detected, each set was once again inoculated with 2 mL and 4 mL of plasma. RESULTS: From 2004 to 2013, a total of 133,610 UCB units were screened, of which 1,311 (0.9%) tested positive for contamination. The most frequently identified microorganism was Escherichia coli (34.6%), followed by Bacillus spp. (12.8%), Enterococcus faecalis (5.3%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (4.4%). The total yield rate increased by 0.2% over this time period, although the yield rate of Bacillus spp. increased by 8.3%. CONCLUSION: The results of this study could be used in many ways with both domestic and international data regarding cord blood contamination. Also, other microbiology laboratories using culture conditions similar to ours could refer this study when preparing guidelines. Finally, by detecting low levels of bacteria, we have contributed to cord blood safety.
Bacillus ; Bacteria ; Enterococcus faecalis ; Escherichia coli ; Fetal Blood* ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Mass Screening ; Plasma ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Umbilical Cord*

Purpose: This study analyzed raw data from the 2022 Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) to explore the relationship between physical activities and the mental health of middle-aged individuals, and examined factors influencing chewing discomfort. Materials and Methods: Data pertaining to 104,500 middle-aged people aged between 40 and 64 were analyzed. The variables analyzed included general characteristics, perceived level of health, level of oral health, physical activities, mental health (PHQ-9), and statusof chewing discomfort. Cross-analysis was conducted to explore the differences in general characteristics, physical activities, mental health factors, and chewing discomfort status. Meanwhile, logistic regression analysis was performed on factors influencing chewing discomfort. Results: It was observed that chewing discomfort was more severe for middle-aged individuals who reported that theiroral health level was neither good nor poor compared with those who reported that their oral health was good (OR: 8.443, P < 0.001), those who reported that their perceived level of health was poor (OR: 49.173, P < 0.001), those who reported not performing the walking exercise (OR: 1.354, P < 0.001), those who reported that they had suicidal ideation compared with those who did not (OR:2.543, P < 0.001), those who reported that they had made a suicidal attempt compared with those who had not (OR: 4.456, P < 0.001), and those who reported that their level of depression was severe or more serious (OR: 4.624, P < 0.001). Conclusion In middleaged individuals, physical activities and mental health needs to be considered as a risk factor in the improvement of oral health.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting oral function by general characteristics and mental health level. Materials and Methods: Raw data from the 1st year of the 9th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2022 - 2024) were used to analyze 3,518 individuals aged 20 to 80 years. The difference in oral function problems according to mental health level was assessed using the Chi-squared test. Logistic regression was performed to determine the risk factors affecting mental health level and oral function problems. Results: Chewing difficulty, phonation difficulty, and tooth pain were found to be higher in the high stress group than in the low stress group, showing a significant difference. When adjusting for general characteristics, it was confirmed that more severe levels of depression and anxiety had a significant impact on chewing difficulty, phonation difficulty, and tooth pain. Conclusion Recognizing the close relationship between oral function and mental health, it is important to develop integrated programs that not only provide regular oral checkups for individuals suffering from oral function problems but also manage mental health systematically and periodically.

Purpose: This study analyzed raw data from the 2022 Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) to explore the relationship between physical activities and the mental health of middle-aged individuals, and examined factors influencing chewing discomfort. Materials and Methods: Data pertaining to 104,500 middle-aged people aged between 40 and 64 were analyzed. The variables analyzed included general characteristics, perceived level of health, level of oral health, physical activities, mental health (PHQ-9), and statusof chewing discomfort. Cross-analysis was conducted to explore the differences in general characteristics, physical activities, mental health factors, and chewing discomfort status. Meanwhile, logistic regression analysis was performed on factors influencing chewing discomfort. Results: It was observed that chewing discomfort was more severe for middle-aged individuals who reported that theiroral health level was neither good nor poor compared with those who reported that their oral health was good (OR: 8.443, P < 0.001), those who reported that their perceived level of health was poor (OR: 49.173, P < 0.001), those who reported not performing the walking exercise (OR: 1.354, P < 0.001), those who reported that they had suicidal ideation compared with those who did not (OR:2.543, P < 0.001), those who reported that they had made a suicidal attempt compared with those who had not (OR: 4.456, P < 0.001), and those who reported that their level of depression was severe or more serious (OR: 4.624, P < 0.001). Conclusion In middleaged individuals, physical activities and mental health needs to be considered as a risk factor in the improvement of oral health.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting oral function by general characteristics and mental health level. Materials and Methods: Raw data from the 1st year of the 9th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2022 - 2024) were used to analyze 3,518 individuals aged 20 to 80 years. The difference in oral function problems according to mental health level was assessed using the Chi-squared test. Logistic regression was performed to determine the risk factors affecting mental health level and oral function problems. Results: Chewing difficulty, phonation difficulty, and tooth pain were found to be higher in the high stress group than in the low stress group, showing a significant difference. When adjusting for general characteristics, it was confirmed that more severe levels of depression and anxiety had a significant impact on chewing difficulty, phonation difficulty, and tooth pain. Conclusion Recognizing the close relationship between oral function and mental health, it is important to develop integrated programs that not only provide regular oral checkups for individuals suffering from oral function problems but also manage mental health systematically and periodically.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of mental health factors on oral symptoms and the relationship between the two in Korean adolescents. Materials and Methods: Raw data of 54,948 Korean adolescents among the participants of the 17 th Korean Youth Health Behavior Survey conducted in 2021 by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency were analyzed in this study. Results: Mental health factors evaluated in this study included sadness and despair, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, loneliness, stress, depression, and anxiety. Our findings showed that all mental health factors were associated with oral symptoms. Particularly, factors affecting dental pain were suicidal thoughts, stress, anxiety, loneliness, depression, sadness, and despair. Further, all mental health factors affected ulorrhagia. Conclusion In conclusion, the findings in this study are expected to contribute to the development of programs for the intervention of key mental health factors affecting oral symptoms to improve overall health in Korean adolescents.

Purpose: This study analyzed raw data from the 2022 Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) to explore the relationship between physical activities and the mental health of middle-aged individuals, and examined factors influencing chewing discomfort. Materials and Methods: Data pertaining to 104,500 middle-aged people aged between 40 and 64 were analyzed. The variables analyzed included general characteristics, perceived level of health, level of oral health, physical activities, mental health (PHQ-9), and statusof chewing discomfort. Cross-analysis was conducted to explore the differences in general characteristics, physical activities, mental health factors, and chewing discomfort status. Meanwhile, logistic regression analysis was performed on factors influencing chewing discomfort. Results: It was observed that chewing discomfort was more severe for middle-aged individuals who reported that theiroral health level was neither good nor poor compared with those who reported that their oral health was good (OR: 8.443, P < 0.001), those who reported that their perceived level of health was poor (OR: 49.173, P < 0.001), those who reported not performing the walking exercise (OR: 1.354, P < 0.001), those who reported that they had suicidal ideation compared with those who did not (OR:2.543, P < 0.001), those who reported that they had made a suicidal attempt compared with those who had not (OR: 4.456, P < 0.001), and those who reported that their level of depression was severe or more serious (OR: 4.624, P < 0.001). Conclusion In middleaged individuals, physical activities and mental health needs to be considered as a risk factor in the improvement of oral health.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting oral function by general characteristics and mental health level. Materials and Methods: Raw data from the 1st year of the 9th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2022 - 2024) were used to analyze 3,518 individuals aged 20 to 80 years. The difference in oral function problems according to mental health level was assessed using the Chi-squared test. Logistic regression was performed to determine the risk factors affecting mental health level and oral function problems. Results: Chewing difficulty, phonation difficulty, and tooth pain were found to be higher in the high stress group than in the low stress group, showing a significant difference. When adjusting for general characteristics, it was confirmed that more severe levels of depression and anxiety had a significant impact on chewing difficulty, phonation difficulty, and tooth pain. Conclusion Recognizing the close relationship between oral function and mental health, it is important to develop integrated programs that not only provide regular oral checkups for individuals suffering from oral function problems but also manage mental health systematically and periodically.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate on nutrient intake status and diet quality of middle and old aged vegetarian women in Korea. The research group was composed of vegetarian women (n = 91), all of them were Seven Day Adventists, who had been on vegetarian diets, over 20 yrs. Their anthropometric measurements, dietary intakes, and diet quality indices were compared to omnivores (n = 122). The average age of vegetarians and omnivores were 61.8 yrs and 60.3 yrs, respectively. The mean daily energy intakes of vegetarians and omnivores were 1428.8 kcal and 1424.5 kcal, respectively and there was no significant difference. The vegetarians consumed significantly lower intakes of protein (p<0.05), zinc (p<0.001) and vitamin B2 (p<0.05) compared to omnivores. In the diet quality, zinc and vitamin B2 nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) of vegetarians were significantly lower than those of omnivores. Mean adequacy ratio (MAR) of vegetarians and omnivores were 0.80 and 0.77, respectively and there was no significant difference. The KDDS (Korean's Dietary Diversity Score) of vegetarians and omnivores were 3.7 and 4.0, respectively, and there was significant difference (p<0.01). The KDQI (Korean's Diet Quality Index) of vegetarians (1.5) was significantly lower than that (2.1) of omnivores (p<0.001). In conclusion, vegetarian women have low intake status of protein, zinc and vitamin B2, and partly low diet quality. Therefore it was needed that well planed diets to replace the nutrients supplied from excluded food groups in middle and old aged vegetarian women.
Diet* ; Diet, Vegetarian ; Female ; Humans ; Korea* ; Riboflavin ; Zinc

Objective: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the tissue adequacy and complication rates of percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) for molecular analysis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: We performed a literature search of the OVID-MEDLINE and Embase databases to identify original studies on the tissue adequacy and complication rates of PTNB for molecular analysis in patients with NSCLC published between January 2005 and January 2020. Inverse variance and random-effects models were used to evaluate and acquire meta-analytic estimates of the outcomes. To explore heterogeneity across the studies, univariable and multivariable metaregression analyses were performed. Results: A total of 21 studies with 2232 biopsies (initial biopsy, 8 studies; rebiopsy after therapy, 13 studies) were included.The pooled rates of tissue adequacy and complications were 89.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 85.6%–92.6%; I2 = 0.81) and 17.3% (95% CI: 12.1%–23.1%; I2 = 0.89), respectively. These rates were 93.5% and 22.2% for the initial biopsies and 86.2% and 16.8% for the rebiopsies, respectively. Severe complications, including pneumothorax requiring chest tube placement and massive hemoptysis, occurred in 0.7% of the cases (95% CI: 0%–2.2%; I2 = 0.67). Multivariable meta-regression analysis showed that the tissue adequacy rate was not significantly lower in studies on rebiopsies (p = 0.058). The complication rate was significantly higher in studies that preferentially included older adults (p = 0.001). Conclusion PTNB demonstrated an average tissue adequacy rate of 89.3% for molecular analysis in patients with NSCLC, with a complication rate of 17.3%. PTNB is a generally safe and effective diagnostic procedure for obtaining tissue samples for molecular analysis in NSCLC. Rebiopsy may be performed actively with an acceptable risk of complications if clinically required.