OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop the web-interface creator, which automatically changes the Case Report Form(CRF) web page when the protocol developer in any clinical study revises the ontology of CRF. METHODS: This study established the conceptual model of CRF on oriental and western medicine, and developed ontologies. A program was developed to produce online-based a input form through the parser that generates automatically HTML script from OWL. RESULTS: The CRF applied in this study is a draft through consensus of experts for stroke research at the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine. The ontology of CRF consisted of Label, ControlType and Value classes and hasControl, hasValue and hasSymptoms properties. The Label is the class of question items groups, so it could have CRF questionnaire instances. The ControlType is the class that expresses controls such as checkbox, text, etc in the HTML script. The Value class represents selections for each items. Finally, the HTML script was created by XSL transformation from the OWL script. CONCLUSION: Online-based automatic interface creation, which enables immediate coping with the continuous change in the medical knowledge system, assures reduced time requirement.
Consensus ; Korea ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional* ; Strigiformes ; Stroke

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the demographic, clinical, and criminal characteristics and legal judgments of criminal cases, in which psychiatric evaluation was requested, and to identify factors affecting criminal responsibility judgments. Methods: The medical records of 100 subjects that committed crimes and the judgment records of 51 subjects admitted to Yongin Mental Hospital from February 2005 to February 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. Psychiatric disorder groups were compared with respect to demographic, clinical, criminal characteristics, and legal judgments. Factors affecting criminal responsibility judgments were identified by comparing legal judgment groups. Results: Psychiatric history, criminal motivation, and criminal history differed significantly between psychiatric disorder groups. Differences between the opinions of the appraiser and courts regarding criminal responsibility were significantly dependent on psychiatric disorder type, and there was a consistent tendency according to the psychiatric disorders, but there was a difference of opinion between the two groups. Conclusion The findings of the current study suggest psychiatric diagnoses and symptoms such as psychotic symptoms and cognitive impairments that provoke crime can influence criminal responsibility judgments.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The stable cell line system of middle ear epithelial cells is essential for studying molecular pathogenesis of otitis media. Recently, we succeeded in establishing the human middle ear epithelial cell line (HMEEC) using a retrovirus. The cell line retains many of the phenotypic and morphological properties of the non-transformed, parental cultures such as the expression of cytokeratin and tight junctions. We aimed to show the conservation of mucosal characteristics and subcellular mechanisms of transcriptional regulation in this cell line. MATERIALS AND METHOD: RT-PCR was performed using mucin gene specific primers and total RNA extracted from HMEEC. The luciferase-expressing vector containing 5' flanking region of human beta defensin 2 (hBD-2), an inducible antimicrobial peptide, was transfected to HMEEC. After starvation of serum, HMEEC was treated with interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1alpha) and subsequently harvested 10 hrs later. Luciferase activity was measured using luminometer after the corresponding substrate was supplemented to the cell lysate. RESULTS: Expression of mucin genes (MUC1, 2 and 5B) in HMEEC was demonstrated by RT-PCR. Luciferase assay showed that IL-1alpha up-regulates the promoter activity of hBD-2 more than 10 fold. This transcriptional regulatory mechanism was also demonstrated in the well established reference cell lines, HeLa cells and A549 cells. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the conservation of mucin gene expression and transcriptional regulatory mechanism of hBD-2 in HMEEC. The proposed cell line can serve as a useful experimental model for elucidating the pathogenesis of middle ear mucosa-related diseases.
5' Flanking Region ; Cell Line ; Defensins ; Ear, Middle* ; Epithelial Cells* ; Gene Expression ; HeLa Cells ; Humans* ; Interleukin-1alpha ; Keratins ; Luciferases ; Models, Theoretical ; Mucins ; Otitis Media ; Parents ; Retroviridae ; RNA ; Starvation ; Tight Junctions

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Conventional studies for the middle ear ossicles destructed by cholesteatoma give relatively limited information on shape, mechanical strength and 3-dimensional relationship. Recently, Micro-CT scanning technology has been applied to analysis of skeletal structure. This study aims to reconstruct the 3-dimensional structure of normal ossicles and destructed ossicles by different cholesteatomas and to compare volume fraction of destructed ossicles with that of normal ossicles. MATERIALS AND METHOD: 13 pathological ossicles obtained during cholesteatoma surgery were used in this study (2 malleuses and 2 incuses from attic cholesteatoma;1 malleus and 2 incuses from sinus cholesteatoma;2 malleuses and 2 incuses from tensa retraction cholesteatoma; 2 incuses from congenital cholesteatoma). As a control, normal ossicles harvested from cadaveric temporal bone specimens were used. The structure of obtained ossicles was analyzed through Micro-CT (SkySan-1072, Belgium) by filming the 2-dimensional cross section image running perpendicular to the long axis of the ossicles. The 3-dimensional images were thereby reconstructed for each, and were analyzed using CT-Analyzer(TM) and ANTTM. Based on the results, the strength of each ossicle were measured. RESULTS: The volume fraction, indicating relative strengths of ossicles, was lower in the portion of destructed surface. The pattern of destructed ossicles by cholesteatoma was different according to pathological status of cholesteatoma. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary data of ossicular structure analyzed by Micro-CT scan will be helpful for elucidation of pathological ossicles in middle ear cholesteatoma and will make a great contribution to research of middle ear cholesteatoma.
Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Cadaver ; Cholesteatoma* ; Cholesteatoma, Middle Ear ; Ear Ossicles ; Ear, Middle ; Humans* ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Incus ; Malleus ; Microradiography ; Running ; Temporal Bone

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) caused by the Hantann virus occurs frequently in Korea. On the other hand, the incidence of HFRS is very low in Jeju Island. A 62-year-old man was transferred from another hospital because of persistent fever, myalgia, generalized edema, epigastric pain, conjunctival injection, costovertebral angle tenderness, thrombocytopenia and azotemia. On the second hospital day, he exhibited oliguric symptoms. His urine output increased from the fourth hospital day. The test for the anti-Hantaan virus antibody was positive. Finally, he was diagnosed with HFRS and recovered with conservative management. HFRS should be considered when acute renal failure develops in patients with fever and thrombocytopenia in Jeju Island.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Azotemia ; Edema ; Fever ; Hand ; Hantavirus ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Thrombocytopenia ; Viruses

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, has emerged as a major global public health challenge. However, the complexity of AD in its biological, genetic, and clinical aspects has hindered the development of effective therapeutic agents. Research plans that integrate new drug discoveries are urgently needed, including those based on novel and reliable biomarkers that reflect not only clinical phenotype, but also genetic and neuroimaging information. Therapeutic strategies such as stratification (i.e., subgrouping of patients having similar clinical characteristics or genetic background) and personalized medicine could be set as new directions for developing effective drugs for AD. In this review, we describe a therapeutic strategy that is based on immune-inflammation modulation for a subgroup of AD and related dementias, arguing that the use of stratification and personalized medicine is a promising way to achieve targeted medicine. The Korean AD Research Platform Initiative based on Immune-Inflammatory biomarkers (K-ARPI) has recently launched a strategy to develop novel biomarkers to identify a subpopulation of patients with AD and to develop new drug candidates for delaying the progression of AD by modulating toxic immune inflammatory response. Sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) and its metabolites, triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-2 (TREM2) related signals, and actin motility related proteins including Nck-associated protein 1 (Nap1) were selected as promising targets to modulate neuroinflammation. Their roles in stratification and personalized medicine will be discussed.
Actins ; Alzheimer Disease ; Biomarkers ; Dementia ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Neuroimaging ; Phenotype ; Phosphotransferases ; Precision Medicine ; Public Health ; Sphingosine