Background: Uncontrolled blood pressure (BP) is relatively common despite treatment with antihypertensive medication. This study aimed to investigate factors associated with uncontrolled systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) separately in hypertensive patients with high medication adherence in Korea. Methods: This population-based cross-sectional study included 3,236 participants in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2013 to 2015. Hypertensive patients with high medication adherence were defined when they stated that they were taking antihypertensive medication daily. “Uncontrolled SBP and DBP” were defined as SBP ≥140 mm Hg and DBP ≥90 mm Hg, respectively. Data were analyzed using logistic regression to determine the association between uncontrolled SBP or DBP and various factors. Results: The prevalence of uncontrolled SBP and uncontrolled DBP was 23.3%, and 9.0%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, uncontrolled SBP was positively associated with older age, female sex, blue-collar occupation or no work (vs. white-collar), presence of a spouse, short sleep duration, frequent heavy alcohol drinking, longer hypertension duration, diabetes, stroke, and missing antihypertensive medication on the examination day, but negatively associated with high stress. Uncontrolled DBP was positively associated with frequent heavy alcohol drinking, but negatively associated with older age, blue-collar occupation or no work (vs. white-collar), and diabetes. Conclusion After excluding low medication adherence, we identified various factors associated with uncontrolled SBP or DBP in Korean adults with treated hypertension. There were differences between factors associated with uncontrolled SBP or DBP. Separate analysis of SBP and DBP may help understand the factors involved in BP control.

In this study, we examined the effect of a combination of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) and retinoic acid (RA) on osteoblast and adipocyte lineage commitment and differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Pretreatment of human BMSCs with FGF-2 or RA for 5 days followed by osteoblast differentiation induction showed high calcium deposition compared to control. A combination of FGF-2 and RA further induced calcium deposition compared to FGF-2 or RA alone. The enhanced mineral deposition was accompanied with the increased expression of osteoblast differentiation markers, alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin. On the other hand, FGF-2 pretreatment followed by adipocyte differentiation induction also showed increased formation of lipid droplets in human BMSCs, whereas RA pretreatment suppressed formation of lipid droplets. However, a combination of FGF-2 and RA increased formation of lipid droplets and expression of adipocyte marker genes, including adiponectin, ADIPOQ, FABP4, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), and C/EBPα. During pretreatment of BMSCs with FGF-2, RA or in combination, the cells expressed similar levels of MSC surface markers such as CD29, CD44, CD90, and CD105, indicating that they maintain stem cell potential. To determine how RA cooperates with FGF-2 in osteoblast and adipocyte lineage commitment, the expression of RA receptors and intracellular lipid-binding proteins was examined. A combination of FGF-2 and RA strongly induced the expression of RA receptor α, β, γ, PPAR β/δ, CRABP-II, and FABP5. Collectively, these results demonstrate that combined pretreatment of human BMSCs with FGF-2 and RA enhances the commitment into osteoblast and adipocyte lineages through modulation of the expression of RA-related genes.
Adipocytes ; Adiponectin ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Antigens, Differentiation ; Bone Marrow* ; Calcium ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2* ; Fibroblasts* ; Hand ; Humans ; Lipid Droplets ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells* ; Miners ; Osteoblasts ; Osteocalcin ; Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors ; Peroxisomes ; Stem Cells ; Tretinoin*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop and to analyze the duty and the task of rehabilitation nurse in Korea. METHOD: The definition of rehabilitation nurse and job description was developed based on developing curriculum(DACUM) by panels who have experienced in DACUM analysis and rehabilitation nursing. 228 nurses who were working at rehabilitation centers and rehabilitation unit in general hospitals were participated. The questionnaire included frequency, importance, and difficulty of duties and tasks. The data were collected in March and April 2009, analyzed by descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The job description of rehabilitation nurse in Korea revealed 11 duties, and 61 tasks. On the all 11 duties, the highest duty in frequency and importance was direct nursing care (2.47+/-.31, 2.77+/-.28) and the highest duty in difficulty was self-development (2.39+/-.48). Among the tasks of duties 'direct nursing care' in 'manage medication' (2.87+/-.35) in frequency, the task 'prevent and manage bedsore' (2.91+/-.31) of duty 'direct nursing care' in importance, and 'cope emergency situations' (2.72~.49) of duty direct nursing care in difficulty showed the highest degree. CONCLUSION: The political efforts for the legislation of role and task of rehabilitation nurse were needed.
Emergencies ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Job Description ; Korea ; Nurse Practitioners ; Nursing Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Rehabilitation Centers ; Rehabilitation Nursing

Objective: To describe the incidence and survival outcomes of uterine cervical cancer during 1999–2018. Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with cervical cancer during 1999–2018 were identified in the Korea Central Cancer Registry. Age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) and annual percent changes (APCs) were calculated. Survival rates by histology, year of diagnosis (1999–2008 vs. 2009–2018), stage, and age at diagnosis were analyzed. Results: The absolute incidence of cervical cancer decreased over 20 years from 4,488 in 1999 to 3,500 in 2018, with an APC of −3.42% (p<0.0001). While ASR of squamous cell carcinoma (SCCA) more than halved from 13.27 per 100,000 in 1999 to 6.16 in 2018 (APC, −4.04%), adenocarcinoma continued to rise (ASR, 1.30 per 100,000 to 1.92; APC, 1.52%; p<0.0001). Patients with adenocarcinoma were younger than those with SCCA (mean, 49.9±12.7 vs. 52.9 ±14.6 years; p<0.0001). Five-year survival rate of cervical cancer patients overall was 78.0%. Adenocarcinoma had poorer survival than SCCA (5-year survival rate, 76.8% vs. 79.8%; p<0.0001). There was no survival difference between patients who were diagnosed between 1999–2008 and 2009–2018. Earlier-stage disease had better survival (5-year survival rate for localized, regional, and distant disease, 90.0% vs. 69.9% vs. 26.5%; p<0.0001). Younger patients aged <50 years had better survival than those aged ≥50 years (87.1% vs. 69.8%; p<0.0001). Conclusion The incidence of SCCA of the uterine cervix declined while adenocarcinoma continued to increase slowly but significantly from 1999 to 2018 in Korea. Adenocarcinoma was diagnosed at a younger age, but had poorer survival outcome than SCCA.

Objective: Primary peritoneal cancer (PPC), ovarian cancer (OC), and fallopian tube cancer (FTC) are considered as a single disease group. As knowledge of the pathogenesis and clinical presentation of peritoneal, ovarian, and fallopian tube (POFT) cancer grows, the tendencies in OC diagnosis are changing. We investigate the incidence and clinical characteristics of epithelial POFT based on cancer site and histologic type. Methods: Data from the Korea Central Cancer Registry for the period between 1999 and 2016 were analyzed. The incidence rates and annual percent changes (APCs) for each tumor site were reported. Results: Among 27,768 women with cancer, 1,086 (3.91%) had PPC, 25,847 (93.08%) had OC, and 835 (3.01%) had FTC. Age-standardized rates increased from 0.05 to 0.24, 3.51 to 5.48, and 0.04 to 0.28 in PPC, OC, and FTC, respectively. The proportion of PPC and FTC among all the POFT cases increased consistently during the study period (from, respectively, 1.48 and 1.06 in 1999 to 4.52 and 4.76 in 2016). The APC of PPC, OC, and FTC during 1999–2016 was 9.3%, 2.7%, and 8.6%, respectively. The incidence of PPC, OC, and FTC was highest among patients in the 65–69, 50–54, and 55–59 years age group, respectively. Conclusion The overall incidence of PPC, OC, and FTC cancer has steadily increased. The relative increase of PPC and FTC has been significant. In this study, OC incidence had a relatively young peak age, in contrast to FTC and PPC, which had an older peak age.

Background: The need for regulatory science development to evaluate advanced regulatory products is gradually increasing without hindering the technological development. Creating a research environment and fostering experts through the establishment of regulatory agency-led policies are essential for the development of regulatory science. Method: This is a comparative study of the United States, Japan, Singapore, and Korea. The literature and websites of each regulatory agency were reviewed, and the focus was on advantages and comparing advantages based on definition, development trends, and expert training projects. Results: The United States is striving to develop regulatory science in response to changes in the new pharmaceutical industry through the regulatory science report, and to foster expert both inside and outside the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Japan is promoting regulatory science centered on regulatory science centers, and is focusing on researching work-related regulatory science within the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) and improving employees’ ability to make regulatory decisions. Singapore was aiming to improve Southeast Asia’s regulatory capabilities under the leadership of Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE) within Duke-NUS University. In 2021, Korea is in its early stages, starting to run a university's degree program related to regulatory science this year. Conclusion Regulatory science should be developed with the aim of improving the regulatory ability of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety with Korea’s independent concept of regulatory science.

Presbyopia is characterized by a loss of the accommodative ability of the eye that negatively affects vision-aided health-related quality of life. Local inflammation in the eye diminishes parasympathetic cholinergic stimulation and contraction of the iris and ciliary muscle in the eyes via the muscarinic (cholinergic) receptor.Along with the cholinergic agent, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent is often integrated to ameliorate presbyopia. Chrysanthemum morifolium belongs to the Asteraceae. We examined whether Chrysanthemum morifolium flower extract (CME) has parasympathomimetic and anti-inflammatory activity in HLE-B3 human lens epithelial cells and RAW 264.7 macrophages. CME induced time- and dose-dependent production of IP 1 and Ca 2+ accumulation in HLE-B3 cells. In the LPS-induced inflammatory response, CME treatment downregulated inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and nitric oxide in RAW 264.7 macrophages. CME downregulated the levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) with no change in TNF-α levels. In addition, the phosphorylation of JNK and p38 was reduced with no change in ERK by CME in LPS-treated cells. These findings suggest that the parasympathetic and anti-inflammatory efficacy of CME can be applied to develop therapeutics against presbyopia.

Thoracic splenosis is an autotransplantation of splenic tissue to thorax resulting from splenic and diaphragmatic injury. Thoracic splenosis is usually discovered incidentally on routine thoracic imaging as single or multiple left-sided pleural-based masses without symptoms. Traditionally, patients often undergo an invasive diagnostic procedures including thoracotomy to acquire tissue samples in order to exclude other causes of lung mass. The combination of imaging findings and clinical history make it avoid unnecessary invasive diagnostic procedure to confirm. Therefore, thoracic splenosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of asymptomatic patients with multiple, left-sided pleural-based nodules and previous history of thoracoabdominal injury and splenectomy. Here we report a case of thoracic splenosis diagnosed without invasive procedure.
Autografts ; Diagnosis* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Lung ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Splenectomy ; Splenosis* ; Thoracotomy ; Thorax

OBJECTIVES: Fish vitellogenin (VTG) is produced in the female liver during oogenesis through the estradiol cycle and produced in the male liver by endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) such as alkylphenols. In this study, we propose that the VTG concentration in the pale chub could be detected using monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal antibodies against vitellin (Vn) in a VTG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. METHODS: Monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal antibodies were produced using the Vn extracted from the matured ovum of the ovary. The VTG was extracted from the plasma of the male pale chub. The Vn and VTG were confirmed by measuring the molecular weight of their proteins using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and the specificity of the antibodies was checked through western blotting methods. The assay system was validated with respect to optimal assay concentrations, specificity, recovery, and intra- and inter-assay variations. RESULTS: The Vn consisted of two protein bands with apparent molecular weights of 64 and 37 kDa. The SDS-PAGE indicated protein weights of 146 and 77 kDa in the VTG. The assay range was 15.6 ng/mL to 2,000 ng/mL, and the value of the intra- and inter-assay variations were within 10.0% and 14.7%, respectively. The recovery rate was 99.5+/-5.5%. CONCLUSIONS: A sandwich ELISA was developed that could be used to qualify the VTG of pale chub in screening for EDCs. Pale chub is an ideal species for observing estrogen activity in the environment because of its extensive habitat and extensive food chain. The ELISA developed here would be more favorable than those for other species for determining the effect of long-term food chain accumulation of EDCs in aquatic environments.
Antibodies ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Blotting, Western ; Cyprinidae* ; Ecosystem ; Electrophoresis ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Endocrine Disruptors ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay* ; Estradiol ; Estrogens ; Female ; Food Chain ; Humans ; Liver ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Methods ; Molecular Weight ; Oogenesis ; Ovary ; Ovum ; Plasma ; Platypus* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sodium ; Vitellins* ; Vitellogenins* ; Weights and Measures