PURPOSE: To compare the efficacy of 14 gauge(G) Vim-Silverman needle biopsy with that of 16G automatic gunbiopsy for kidneys and to determine the optimal needle size for renal biopsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Weretrospectively reviewed the pathologic and medical records of 119 (110 native, 9 allograft) patients who hadundergone 14G Vim-Silverman needle biopsy and 71 (34 native, 37 allograft) who had undergone 16G automatic gunbiopsy. The number of retrieved glomeruli and post-biopsy complications were compared between the two groups. Exvivo renal biopsies of a dog were performed using an automatic gun mounted with 14G-20G needles and the numbers ofretrieved glomeruli were compared. RESULTS: The number (mean+/-standard deviation) of retrieved glomeruli perbiopsy in native/allograft/total kidneys was 32.1+/-20.9/24.0+/-15.2/31.5+/-20.6 in the 14G Vim-Silverman needlebiopsy group, and 26.9+/-16.2/14.3+/-10.1/20.9+/-14.9 in the 16G automatic gun biopsy group. In the dog, the numberof retrieved glomeruli per biopsy was 17.2+/-6.3/9.2+/-3.9/5.7+/-4.5/3.9+/-2.6 in the 14G/16G/18G/20G groups,respectively. CONCLUSION: Although significantly more glomeruli were retrieved in the 14G Vim-Silverman needlebiopsy group, the number retrieved in the 16G automatic gun biopsy group was sufficient for adequate pathologicinterpretation. Experimental study suggests that when an 18G automatic gun is used, sufficient glomeruli areretrieved.
Animals* ; Biopsy* ; Biopsy, Needle ; Dogs ; Humans ; Kidney ; Medical Records ; Needles*

Gestational trophoblastic disease comprises a spectrum of interrelated conditions originating from the placenta. Malignant gestational trophoblastic disease refers to lesions that have the potential for local invasion and metastasis. This compromises many histological entities including hydatidiform moles, invasive moles, gestational choriocarcinomas, and placental site trophoblastic tumors. Before the advent of sensitive assays for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and efficacious chemotherapy, the morbidity and mortality from gestational trophoblastic disease were substantial. Currently, with sensitive quantitative assays for beta-hCG and current approaches to chemotherapy, most women with malignant trophoblastic disease can be cured. We present a case of malignant gestational trophobalstic tumor with serum beta-hCG concentration over 1million IU/L that metastaze to the lungs and have a hyperthyroidism, but negative urine hCG testing. We report a case with a brief review of literatures.
Choriocarcinoma ; Chorionic Gonadotropin ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Gestational Trophoblastic Disease ; Humans ; Hydatidiform Mole, Invasive ; Hyperthyroidism ; Lung ; Mortality ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Placenta ; Pregnancy ; Trophoblastic Tumor, Placental Site ; Trophoblasts

Objective: Contact frequency with adult children plays a critical role in late-life depression. However, evidence on possible moderators of this association remains limited. Moreover, considering alterations in contact modes after the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic, there is a need to investigate this association post-pandemic to develop effective therapeutic interventions. Methods: This study included 7,573 older adults who completed the Living Profiles of the Older People Survey in Korea. Participants’ contact frequency and depressive symptoms were analyzed. Regression analysis was performed after adjusting for covariates. The moderating effects of variables were verified using a process macro. Results: Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that infrequent face-to-face (odd ratio [OR]=1.86, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.55–2.22) and non-face-to-face contact (OR=1.23, 95% CI=1.04–1.45) in the non-cohabitating adult children group was associated with a higher risk of late-life depression compared to that in the frequent contact group. Linear regression analysis indicated consistent results for face-to-face and non-face-to-face contact (estimate=0.458, standard error [SE]=0.090, p<0.001 and estimate=0.236, SE= 0.074, p=0.001, respectively). Moderation analysis revealed that the association between late-life depression and frequency of face-toface contact was moderated by age, household income quartiles, number of chronic diseases, physical activity frequency, presence of spouse, nutritional status, and whether the effect of frequency of non-face-to-face contact on late-life depression was increased by participation in social activity, frequent physical activity, and good cognitive function (p for interaction<0.05). Conclusion Frequent contact with non-cohabitating children lowers the risk of depression later in life. Several variables were identified as significant moderators of contact frequency and depression symptoms.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by deficits in memory and cognitive functions. The accumulation of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) and oxidative stress in the brain are the most common causes of AD. MATERIALS/METHODS: Caffeic acid (CA) is an active phenolic compound that has a variety of pharmacological actions. We studied the protective abilities of CA in an Abeta25-35-injected AD mouse model. CA was administered at an oral dose of 10 or 50 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks. Behavioral tests including T-maze, object recognition, and Morris water maze were carried out to assess cognitive abilities. In addition, lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide (NO) production in the brain were measured to investigate the protective effect of CA in oxidative stress. RESULTS: In the T-maze and object recognition tests, novel route awareness and novel object recognition were improved by oral administration of CA compared with the Abeta25-35-injected control group. These results indicate that administration of CA improved spatial cognitive and memory functions. The Morris water maze test showed that memory function was enhanced by administration of CA. In addition, CA inhibited lipid peroxidation and NO formation in the liver, kidney, and brain compared with the Abeta25-35-injected control group. In particular, CA 50 mg/kg/day showed the stronger protective effect from cognitive impairment than CA 10 mg/kg/day. CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest that CA improves Abeta25-35-induced memory deficits and cognitive impairment through inhibition of lipid peroxidation and NO production.
Administration, Oral ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Amyloid beta-Peptides ; Animals ; Brain ; Kidney ; Lipid Peroxidation ; Liver ; Memory ; Memory Disorders ; Mice ; Nitric Oxide ; Oxidative Stress ; Phenol ; Water

Background: Odontogenic cysts associated with lower third molar are common. The prognosis for surgical treatment is relatively good. However, postoperative infection discourages the clinicians. Hence, we would like to investigate the factors associated with infection after surgical treatment of cysts associated with the mandibular third molar. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical and radiographic records of 81 patients who were diagnosed with dentigerous cyst or odontogenic keratocyst and underwent cyst enucleation. The factors affecting postoperative infection were divided into host factor, treatment factor, and cystic lesion factor. To identify the factors associated with postoperative infection, we attempted to find out the variables with significant differences between the groups with and without infection. Results: A total of 81 patients (64 male and 17 female) were enrolled in this study. There was no statistical relationship about the postoperative infection between all variables (gender, smoking, diabetes mellitus, age, bone grafting, related tooth extraction, previous marsupialization or decompression, type of antibiotics, cortical perforation associated with cystic lesion, preoperative infection, preoperative cyst size). Conclusions The results of this study suggest that it is not necessary to avoid bone grafts that are concerned about postoperative infection.

PURPOSE: Bone single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) has been widely used for evaluation of femoral head viability in patients with femoral neck fracture. The current study aimed to investigate utility of standardized uptake value (SUV) from quantitative bone SPECT/CT for assessment of femoral head viability.METHODS: From March 2015 to November 2018, quantitative bone SPECT/CT was performed in 9 patients with non-viable femoral head post femoral neck fracture and in 31 controls. Maximum (SUV(max)), mean (SUVmean), and minimum standardized uptake values (SUVmin) were measured over femoral head and neck. Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction was used to compare SUVs of ipsilateral and contralateral femurs from femoral neck fracture patients with those of control femurs.RESULTS: As for femoral head viability, SUV(max) and SUVmean were not significantly decreased in non-viable femoral heads compared to those in controls. Only the SUVmin was significantly reduced in non-viable femoral heads (mean ± standard deviation, 0.57 ± 0.38) than in controls (0.95 ± 0.26, p = 0.006) and contralateral femoral heads (1.36 ± 0.59, p = 0.008). The cutoff SUVmin of 0.61 (g/mL) yielded a sensitivity of 77.8% and specificity of 87.1% for detection of non-viable femoral heads (p = 0.006). Contralateral femoral necks of the femoral neck fracture patients showed significantly higher SUVmean and SUVmin (3.17 ± 1.20 and 1.64 ± 0.63) than those of controls (2.32 ± 0.53 and 1.04 ± 0.27; p = 0.021 and p = 0.002, respectively), which seemed to reflect weight bearing effect or metabolic derangement.CONCLUSIONS: The non-viable femoral heads from the femoral neck fracture showed significantly reduced SUVmin. Quantitative bone SPECT/CT holds promise for objective evaluation of femoral head viability.
Femoral Neck Fractures ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Head ; Humans ; Neck ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Weight-Bearing

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Neuroinflammation plays critical role in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated the effect of three licorice varieties, Glycyrhiza uralensis, G. glabra, and Shinwongam (SW) on a mouse model of inflammation-induced memory and cognitive deficit. MATERIALS/METHODS: C57BL/6 mice were injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 2.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) and orally administrated G. uralensis, G. glabra, and SW extract (150 mg/kg/day). SW, a new species of licorice in Korea, was combined with G. uralensis and G. glabra. Behavioral tests, including the T-maze, novel object recognition and Morris water maze, were carried out to assess learning and memory. In addition, the expressions of inflammation-related proteins in brain tissue were measured by western blotting. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in spatial and objective recognition memory in LPS-induced cognitive impairment group, as measured by the T-maze and novel object recognition test; however, the administration of licorice ameliorated these deficits. In addition, licorice-treated groups exhibited improved learning and memory ability in the Morris water maze. Furthermore, LPS-injected mice had up-regulated pro-inflammatory proteins, such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin-6, via activation of toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NFκB) pathways in the brain. However, these were attenuated by following administration of the three licorice varieties. Interestingly, the SW-administered group showed greater inhibition of iNOS and TLR4 when compared with the other licorice varieties. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the brain of LPS-induced cognitively impaired mice that were administered licorice, with the greatest effect following SW treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The three licorice varieties ameliorated the inflammation-induced cognitive dysfunction by down-regulating inflammatory proteins and up-regulating BDNF. These results suggest that licorice, in particular SW, could be potential therapeutic agents against cognitive impairment.
Alzheimer Disease ; Animals ; Behavior Rating Scale ; Blotting, Western ; Brain ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Cognition Disorders ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Glycyrrhiza uralensis ; Glycyrrhiza* ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-6 ; Korea ; Learning ; Memory ; Mice* ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; Toll-Like Receptor 4 ; Water

PURPOSE: Bone single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) has been widely used for evaluation of femoral head viability in patients with femoral neck fracture. The current study aimed to investigate utility of standardized uptake value (SUV) from quantitative bone SPECT/CT for assessment of femoral head viability. METHODS: From March 2015 to November 2018, quantitative bone SPECT/CT was performed in 9 patients with non-viable femoral head post femoral neck fracture and in 31 controls. Maximum (SUV(max)), mean (SUVmean), and minimum standardized uptake values (SUVmin) were measured over femoral head and neck. Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction was used to compare SUVs of ipsilateral and contralateral femurs from femoral neck fracture patients with those of control femurs. RESULTS: As for femoral head viability, SUV(max) and SUVmean were not significantly decreased in non-viable femoral heads compared to those in controls. Only the SUVmin was significantly reduced in non-viable femoral heads (mean ± standard deviation, 0.57 ± 0.38) than in controls (0.95 ± 0.26, p = 0.006) and contralateral femoral heads (1.36 ± 0.59, p = 0.008). The cutoff SUVmin of 0.61 (g/mL) yielded a sensitivity of 77.8% and specificity of 87.1% for detection of non-viable femoral heads (p = 0.006). Contralateral femoral necks of the femoral neck fracture patients showed significantly higher SUVmean and SUVmin (3.17 ± 1.20 and 1.64 ± 0.63) than those of controls (2.32 ± 0.53 and 1.04 ± 0.27; p = 0.021 and p = 0.002, respectively), which seemed to reflect weight bearing effect or metabolic derangement. CONCLUSIONS The non-viable femoral heads from the femoral neck fracture showed significantly reduced SUVmin. Quantitative bone SPECT/CT holds promise for objective evaluation of femoral head viability.