Background: This study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) Specific Antigen Induced Interferon-Gamma ELISPOT (enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot)/ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) procedure in predicting the risk of CMV infection/disease in immunocompromised patients through a systematic literature review. Methods: The searched electronic databases included MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. A total of 884 non-duplicate citations were retrieved and a total of 25 studies (15 cohort studies, 10 cross-sectional studies) were included in this review. Study subjects were selected among patients with solid organ, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or those who were on hemodialysis. Data extraction and literature quality assessment were carried out independently by two researchers. Results: Most of the studies were conducted on patients with solid organ transplants. As it is conducted outside the body, CMV Specific Antigen Induced Interferon-Gamma ELISPOT/ELISA assay was safe. Regarding its effectiveness, most studies on risk analysis based on prognosisrelated outcomes reported that the inactive group showed a significantly higher hazard ratio or odds ratio than the active group. Results of Kaplan-Meier survival analysis also showed that the inactive group had a significantly higher incidence of CMV event (CMV infection, CMV disease, other events) than the active group. However, various thresholds for CMV cell immune response were reported, as was a broad range of predictive diagnostic accuracies. Conclusion CMV Specific Antigen Induced Interferon-Gamma ELISPOT/ELISA assay has potential to stratify the risk of CMV infection/disease among solid organ transplant patients and to determine a policy for a prophylaxis/preemptive. However, additional literature evidence is needed to establish thresholds for CMV cell immune response and standardized tests.

Background: This study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) Specific Antigen Induced Interferon-Gamma ELISPOT (enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot)/ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) procedure in predicting the risk of CMV infection/disease in immunocompromised patients through a systematic literature review. Methods: The searched electronic databases included MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. A total of 884 non-duplicate citations were retrieved and a total of 25 studies (15 cohort studies, 10 cross-sectional studies) were included in this review. Study subjects were selected among patients with solid organ, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or those who were on hemodialysis. Data extraction and literature quality assessment were carried out independently by two researchers. Results: Most of the studies were conducted on patients with solid organ transplants. As it is conducted outside the body, CMV Specific Antigen Induced Interferon-Gamma ELISPOT/ELISA assay was safe. Regarding its effectiveness, most studies on risk analysis based on prognosisrelated outcomes reported that the inactive group showed a significantly higher hazard ratio or odds ratio than the active group. Results of Kaplan-Meier survival analysis also showed that the inactive group had a significantly higher incidence of CMV event (CMV infection, CMV disease, other events) than the active group. However, various thresholds for CMV cell immune response were reported, as was a broad range of predictive diagnostic accuracies. Conclusion CMV Specific Antigen Induced Interferon-Gamma ELISPOT/ELISA assay has potential to stratify the risk of CMV infection/disease among solid organ transplant patients and to determine a policy for a prophylaxis/preemptive. However, additional literature evidence is needed to establish thresholds for CMV cell immune response and standardized tests.

Purpose: Fractional microneedle radiofrequency (FMR) systems are used to treat inflammatory acne and scarring. Nonetheless, few controlled studies have combined this treatment with the traditional ablative fractional laser (AFL). We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of the combination of FMR and AFL versus AFL alone in treating acne and acne scars. Materials and Methods: In this 20-week, randomized, split-face study, 23 Korean patients with facial acne and acne scars underwent FMR and AFL treatments. One half of each patient’s face was randomly assigned to receive FMR+AFL, whereas the other half received AFL alone. Treatments were administered in three consecutive sessions at 4-week intervals. This study investigated the severity of inflammatory acne, acne scars, individual lesion counts, depressed scar volumes, as well as patient and physician satisfaction. In addition, five patients underwent skin biopsy, and sebum output was measured. Results: The FMR+AFL treatment demonstrated superior efficacy compared to AFL alone in terms of inflammatory acne and acne scar grading, lesion counts, and subjective satisfaction. The side effects were minimal and well-tolerated in both groups. Immunohistochemical findings from skin biopsy samples revealed that the application of FMR+AFL could induce an inhibitory effect on sebum secretion at the molecular level. Conclusion FMR combined with AFL is a well-tolerated and effective treatment modality for inflammatory acne and acne scarring.

BACKGROUND: Iron is essential for cell proliferation and viability. It has been reported that iron depletion by a chelator inhibits proliferation of some cancer cells. Deferasirox is a new oral iron chelator, and a few reports have described its effects on lymphoma cells. The goal of this study was to determine the anticancer effects of deferasirox in malignant lymphoma cell lines. METHODS: Three human malignant lymphoma cell lines (NCI H28:N78, Ramos, and Jiyoye) were treated with deferasirox at final concentrations of 20, 50, or 100 microM. Cell proliferation was evaluated by an MTT assay, and cell cycle and apoptosis were analyzed by flow cytometry. Western blot analysis was performed to determine the relative activity of various apoptotic pathways. The role of caspase in deferasirox-induced apoptosis was investigated using a luminescent assay. RESULTS: The MTT assay showed that deferasirox had dose-dependent cytotoxic effects on all 3 cell lines. Cell cycle analysis showed that the sub-G1 portion increased in all 3 cell lines as the concentration of deferasirox increased. Early apoptosis was also confirmed in the treated cells by Annexin V and PI staining. Western blotting showed an increase in the cleavage of PARP, caspase 3/7, and caspase 9 in deferasirox-treated groups. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that deferasirox, a new oral iron-chelating agent, induced early apoptosis in human malignant lymphoma cells, and this apoptotic effect is dependent on the caspase-3/caspase-9 pathway.
Annexin A5 ; Apoptosis ; Benzoates ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 9 ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Line ; Cell Proliferation ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Iron ; Lymphoma ; Triazoles

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether smoking is a risk factor for female sexual dysfunction (FSD) and to determine the relationship between the cumulative smoking dose and FSD in premenopausal women. METHODS: The study population consisted of sexually active premenopausal women. The frequency of FSD and female sexual function index (FSFI) total score were evaluated according to the smoking status (never/former and current smokers). Evaluation of sexual function was done using FSFI questionnaire, and women with FSFI score of < or =26.55 were considered to have FSD. In current smokers, sexual function was also evaluated according to the cumulative smoking dose and nicotine dependency. RESULTS: A total of 900 women were included, and the frequency of current smokers and the frequency of FSD were 62 (6.9%) and 496 (55.1%), respectively. In current smokers, the frequency of FSD was significantly higher and the median total FSFI score was significantly lower than in never/former smokers, and this difference of FSD remained significant after adjustment for confounding variables. Among current smokers, the cumulative smoking dose (pack-years) and the total FSFI score showed negative correlation, in which increased cumulative smoking dose was associated with lower total FSFI score (r=-0.278, P<0.05). In terms of nicotine dependency, the total FSFI score of moderately to heavily nicotine dependent smokers was significantly lower than that of lightly dependent smokers. CONCLUSION: In premenopausal women, current smoking was an independent risk factor for FSD. And cumulative smoking dose and nicotine dependency were associated with higher risk of FSD.
Confounding Factors (Epidemiology) ; Female ; Humans ; Nicotine ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking*

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify apoptosis-related genes of ovarian cancer cell lines following cisplatin treatment. METHODS: We used IC50 values and fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis to compare cell death in 2 ovarian cancer cell lines, namely, SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3, upon treatment with cisplatin. Moreover, the change in transcriptional levels of apoptosis-associated genes was measured with a dendron-modified DNA microarray. RESULTS: The protein levels for the up-regulated genes in each cell line were validated to identify the molecules that may determine the cellular behavior of cisplatin resistance. Eight genes were over-expressed in the 2 cell lines. The cisplatin-induced up-regulation of DAD1 in transcriptional and protein levels contributed to the cisplatin resistance of OVCAR-3, and the up-regulation of FASTK and TNFRSF11A in SKOV-3 resulted in its higher sensitivity to cisplatin than that of OVCAR-3. CONCLUSION: In the present study, we have identified a set of genes responsible for apoptosis following cisplatin treatment in ovarian cancer cell lines. These genes may give information about the understanding of cisplatin-induced apoptosis in ovarian cancer.
Apoptosis ; Cell Death ; Cell Line ; Cisplatin ; DNA ; Flow Cytometry ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; RNA, Messenger ; Up-Regulation

Objective: We aimed to explore the influence of public workers’ distress or viral anxiety on their level of depression and work engagement during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Additionally, we ascertain the mediation effect of resilience and public service motivation on this association. Methods: A total of 300 public workers participated in this online survey. Their demographic characteristics and responses to survey items were collected using the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics–6 items Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 items Scale, the Public Service Motivation (PSM) Scale, the Nine-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Korean Occupational Stress Scale–Short Form, and the Brief Resilience Scale. Results: Work engagement of public workers was expected by PSM (β=0.28, p<0.001), resilience (β=0.30, p<0.001), and work-related stress (β=-0.40, p<0.001) (F=57.4, p<0.001). Depression was expected by fewer years of employment (β=-0.12, p=0.02), viral anxiety (β= 0.21, p<0.001), and low resilience (β=-0.42, p<0.001) (F=22.1, p<0.001). Resilience and PSM partially mediated the effects of work-related stress on work engagement. Depression was influenced by COVID-19–induced viral anxiety, and their resilience—but not PSM—mediated the association. Conclusion Public workers’ resilience and PSM partially mediated the effects of work-related stress on work engagement. The influence of viral anxiety on public workers’ depression was mediated by their resilience but not PSM.

Interferons (IFNs) have been known as antiviral genes and they are classified by type 1, type 2, and type 3 IFN. The type 1 IFN consists of IFNα, IFNβ, IFNτ, and IFNω whereas the type 2 IFN consists of only IFNγ, which is a key cytokine driving T helper cell type 1 immunity. IFNλ belongs to the type 3 IFN, which is also known as IL-28 and IL-29 possessing antiviral activities. Type 1 IFN is produced by viral infection whereas type 2 IFN is induced by mitogenic or antigenic T-cell stimuli. The IFNτ of bovine was first discovered in an ungulate ruminant recognition hormone. IFNτ belongs to the type 1 IFN with the common feature of type 1 IFN such as antiviral activity. IFNs have been mostly studied for basic research and clinical usages therefore there was no effort to investigate IFNs in industrial animals. Here we cloned porcine IFNα8 from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Korean domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica). The newly cloned IFNα8 amino acid sequence from Korean domestic pig shares 98.4% identity with the known porcine IFNα8 in databank. The recombinant porcine IFNα8 showed potent antiviral activity and protected bovine Madin-Darby bovine kidney epithelial (MDBK) cells from the cytopathic effect of vesicular stomatitis virus, but it failed to protect human Wistar Institute Susan Hayflick (WISH) cells and canine Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial-like (MDCK) cells. The present study demonstrates species specific antiviral activity of porcine IFNα8.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Clone Cells ; Humans ; Interferons ; Kidney ; Ruminants ; Sus scrofa ; T-Lymphocytes ; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer ; Vesicular Stomatitis

Virus-like particles (VLPs) derived from human papillomavirus (HPV) L1 capsid proteins were used for HPV quadrivalent recombinant vaccine. The HPV quadrivalent vaccine is administrated in a 3-dose regimen of initial injection followed by subsequent doses at 2 and 6 months to prevent cervical cancer, vulvar, and vaginal cancers. The type 6, 11, 16, or 18 of HPV infection is associated with precancerous lesions and genital warts in adolescents and young women. The HPV vaccine is composed of viral L1 capsid proteins are produced in eukaryotic expression systems and purified in the form of VLPs. Four different the L1 protein of 3 different subtypes of HPV: HPV11, HPV16, and HPV18 were expressed in Escherichia coli divided into 2 fragments as N- and C-terminal of each protein in order to examine the efficacy of HPV vaccine. Vaccinated sera failed to recognize N-terminal L1 HPV type 16 and type 18 by western blot while they detected N-terminal L1 protein of HPV type 11. Moreover, the recombinant C-terminal L1 proteins of type 16 was non-specifically recognized by the secondary antibody conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. This expression and purification system may provide simple method to obtain robust recombinant L1 protein of HPV subtypes to improve biochemical analysis of antigens with immunized sera.
Adolescent ; Blotting, Western ; Capsid Proteins ; Condylomata Acuminata ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Escherichia coli ; Female ; Horseradish Peroxidase ; Humans ; Methods ; Papillomaviridae ; Recombinant Proteins* ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; Vaginal Neoplasms

The ex utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) procedure was introduced to reduce fetal hypoxic damage while establishing an airway in fetuses with upper and lower airway obstruction. Delivery of the fetal head and shoulders while maintaining the uteroplacental circulation offers time to secure the fetal airway. Here, we report two cases of EXIT procedure for fetal airway obstruction, which were successfully managed with extensive preoperative planning by a professional multidisciplinary team.
Airway Obstruction* ; Fetal Therapies ; Fetus* ; Head ; Laryngeal Diseases ; Lymphangioma ; Placental Circulation ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Shoulder